Comatose ➢ Daryl Dixon

Part IV. Welcome, Lori

Sitting against the worn, tired barn I began to pick the dirt out from underneath my nails, taking in every soft snarl that came from those poor sick people when my ears picked up another noise. A horse, galloping towards the front of our family home.

Forcing myself up from the pile of hay I take in the sight of my younger sister on a horse, another woman was quickly escaping the comfort of her saddle while a look of pure fear spread across her face.

She looked so heartbroken and I could tell by the look on Maggie's face I was correct. Quickly, I jogged back over to the front of our house, letting my tired feet carry me up the familiar squeaky stairs when I caught sight of Rick again.

This time he was behind his wife as she laid next to her little boy. She whispered to him and sobbed out into the silence while I felt everything within me shatter. No mother deserved this, no parent deserved to watch their child pain in like this.

Tentatively, I took a few steps closer to the distressed couple, they had no idea I was here and I made my presence known by knocking lightly on the doorway.

"Hi, I'm Emily, can I get you anything?" I inquired, looking straight into the woman's eyes as she sent me a small nod.

Awaiting an answer I watched her sit up, her bony hands pushed strands of hair back while her eyes slammed shut. "If I can have some water, that'd be nice." The man's wife choked out, escaping the comfort of the guest bed.

Listening to the mothers wants I headed over to the kitchen and grabbed the nearest glass. Wiping it down with a damp cloth I filled it halfway with water, popping a few heart shaped ice cubes Beth made inside.

"Here's your water." I beamed, trotting back into the room with a small smile. If I looked down I wouldn't be helping much and maybe with some fake happiness I could lighten the mood.

The woman quickly forced a smile and ridded me of the glass. She was waiting patiently for her husband to be done when Patricia finally popped the needle out and patted him on the back. "Slow, slow, how many transfusions?" Asked Lori as I instantly looked over at dad.

"Two, only two." Came Rick while I let out a sigh of relief; this man didn't need to give too much blood and with the way he was acting, how his words would slur, how his eyes would close in pain I knew he couldn't take another.

"Yeah, and it'll be your last one, Mr. Grimes. I'll be taking your spot. You don't need to give anymore." I lectured like I was his mother, Lori sending me a nod of approval as I went to go change the young boy's bandages.

--

Hours flew by and it was soon night. That man Shane and our friend Otis had yet to return and I was starting to get worried. I found out from Maggie that they left not too long after I did and with how far that school was, well, they should already be back.

Lifting myself up and off the soft couch I began to kick around small dust bunnies on the floor. Watching closely as they skipped and danced around on the freshly cleaned wood. Bundling up together like a bunch of penguins trying to get warm when I practically jumped straight out of my shoes.

It was Lori's yelling that caused this, her voice cracked with every barked out word and I knew she was most likely scolding her husband. He seemed to be very hard headed and with how long Otis was taking he most likely wanted to chase after.

"That's exactly what you do! If you need to pray or cry or tell god he's cruel, you go right ahead! But you're not leaving, Rick. Carl needs you-- here. And I can't do this by myself. Not this one-- I can't, I can't." Lori explained, whispering out those last few words.

I couldn't agree more with the lady, Rick was in no condition to go running around outside. He needed to sit and talk with his wife, help one another get over this and help make smiles. Being sad was the last thing they needed and if they could just laugh, just once, it'd make everything that much better.

Taking one last glance at the room Carl laid in I heard the familiar noise of a car engine. It's bright lights filled the packed living room and its loud roaring came to a stop. I knew deep inside this wasn't Otis, his old blue truck made the sounds of a dying goose, sputtering every time it came to a stop and coughing up smoke every time it shut off.

Letting curiosity get the best of me I cautiously slipped out the house, taking a seat next to my younger sister while two very confused men stood at the bottom of the staircase. The two took in the tiny droplets of blood, swallowing hard as they probably thought we were some serial killers.

"So uh, do we ring the bell? I mean it looks like people live here." Came the Asian looking kid. He looked like he was around Maggie's age and his look screamed I used to play at the card shop before all this started.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" asked the darker man. He was covered up with a blanket while sweat dripping down his forehead. The small beads that signified he was cooling off gathered at his jaw and he looked like he wanted to pass out right on our grass.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" my sister interrogated as she adjusted her position and looked at the two oblivious men. They had no idea we were sitting here and as soon as I took a better look at the Asian I could tell he was checking out Maggie.

A light blush spread across his cheeks as he searched his mind for words. "Uh, hi." The boy started with, looking like a kindergartner meeting his teacher for the first time. "Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything. Uh, hello. It's nice to see you again. We met before, briefly."

The Asian continued to stammer, thinking of ways to talk to Maggie as I let out a soft laugh and stood to my feet. Brushing past the two men I swung the door open and motioned towards the couches.

"Look blushy, get inside, we could use yall's help and we can fix that thing up." I motioned towards the other man's arm. It was clear as day that he was injured and the sweat was due to a high fever, but with some meds and a little nursing, we'd have four more sets of hands. It's what we needed at a time like this.

A/N

Took a while to write this, I'm a bit stuck with this book as I'm trying to think of things to do before Daryl pops up.

But don't worry, we're getting there!

This book now has update days: Fridays and Tuesdays (Sometimes extra updates Sunday's and Wednesday's.)

Let me know what you think, loves! Comments are always nice and I know this chapter is a bit rough around the edges, sorry.