The Road Ahead | Daryl Dixon [EDITING]

Part 1 - Hospital

Rosalie Walsh was rushing round the busy ER department of the Kings County Hospital. She noted how much busier it was than usual as she ran around trying to attuned to five patients at once. Her messy brown hair was falling out of its bun and her scrubs were covered in both dry and fresh blood. She stopped at the nurses station to grab a patients chart that had been left there by mistake.

"Hey Rose!" The nurse behind the station called out to her.

"What is it Chloe?"

"Another person with a bite, that's the third one today" Rosalie watched as a pale elderly man was wheeled down the corridor clutching a bloodied cloth to his hand. "What the hell? That's the fifth one I've seen so far this week"

"I'm telling you it's drugs" Chloe stated as she leaned across the table "I was talking to another nurse from Atlanta and she said it's even worse over there"

"Strange" Rosalie mumbled to herself before she quickly bid farewell to Chloe. she made her way towards her next patients room. The patient was exhibiting a unusually high fever so the doctor wanted her to collect some blood to see what could be causing it.

She entered the room and turned to the man who looked deathly pale and was sweating through his hospital gown. "Hello Mr Robinson my name is Rosalie. I'm just going to take some blood okay?"

"Sure" the man croaked out "do you know what's wrong with me?"

"Not yet sir but when the results come back we hopefully will" Rosalie gave him a reassuring smile as she prepared the needle. A commotion could be heard outside, someone shouting about a gunshot wound but Rosalie ignored it deciding to find out what was going later.

"It's funny you know? I was just walking home from work when all of a sudden this guy jumps me, I thought he was robbing me at first but then I saw that he was trying to bite me...lucky for me a got him off but he scratched my arm pretty good" he lifted up his other arm showing Rosalie bandage that covered his right arm. "Now I'm sat in a hospital bed dying"

"All done sir, I'd try not to worry it's probably just an infection" Rosalie smiled as she walked out of the room to send the blood down for testing. Rosalie lent against the desk as she watched everything rush by in front of her eyes. she was thinking about all the sick people, the ones with the bites and infections. They had to be connected somehow but she wasn't sure how.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a man wearing a police uniform walking down the corridor towards her. She smiled at him but that smile quickly disappeared once she saw his somber face and the puffiness of his eyes. Rosalie quickly rushed over to her brother wanting to know what happened, she saw blood on his uniform and started to panic, quickly she scanned his body for injuries only to let out a small sigh as she realised it wasn't his.

"Oh my god Shane! What happened?!"

"I-I didn't see him, it's my fault I didn't see him" Shane mumbled out tears glistening in his eyes

"Shane what-"

"He shot him Rose, he shot Rick. If I'd just seen him, if I'd just double checked" Silent tears ran down Shane's face as Rosalie pulled him into a tight embrace, her own tears streaming down her face. Her best friend had been shot

"Now you listen to me Shane Walsh this is not your fault okay? You did everything you could. It's not your fault" the two siblings stood silently still clinging onto one another for a couple more moments before slowly parting. Shane ran a hand down his tear stained face clearly too stressed and exhausted to deal with this right now.

"He's in surgery now, doctor said it could take a couple hours at least, it's bad Rose"

"Hey he's gonna be fine, he'll pull through this" Rosalie gave Shane a small reassuring smile. Checking her watch she silently cured it was 6:10pm and shed promised Connor she'd be home by 6. "Damn it, I promised Connor I'd be home by 6 but I don't want to leave you here alone"

"Actually Connors here with Lori and Carl. He insisted that he come with us after he found out about Rick"

"Okay, after seeing how Lori's doing I'll take both boys back to mine. It's getting late and it's been a long day for us all"

"Sounds like a good idea Rose, let's go" Shane guided her to a waiting room not far down the hall. Once Rosalie stepped into the room her heart ached at the sight. Lori was sat staring into space a heartbroken look on her face, her gaze then turned to the floor where Connor and Carl were sat playing a board game although neither looked to be fully invested.

Rosalie caught her sons eye and he immediately jumped up and ran into her open arms. She kissed the top of his head as his arms tightened around her waist, she felt tears staining her shirt and rubbed her sons back "it's gonna be okay sweetie, your uncle Rick's a strong man he'll be just fine" Rosalie glanced up at Lori who gave the woman a small smile.

"Hey Rosalie, do you..have you heard any news on Rick" she asked in a shaky voice.

"No but I can check with one of the nurses. Then afterwards I can take the boys back to mine, it's getting late and they need food and rest"

"Thank you so much. Hey Carl you want to go with aunt Rose and Connor to their house?" Lori asked the little boy who had moved to sit in the chair beside his mother.

"Can't I stay with you mum, I want to see dad" as Lori and Carl continued to discuss the matter Rosalie made her way over to the nearest nurses station to find out any information on Rick.

"Hey Jackie you got an update on a patient named Rick Grimes?" The older nurse scanned the computer in front of her for a couple minutes before turning to face Rosalie. "Sorry Hun looks like he's still in surgery"

"Okay thank you" she rushed back to the waiting room where four sets of eyes turned to her as she walked in "he's still in surgery which most likely means that he won't wake until morning now" Rosalie turned and walked over to Carl kneeling down in front of him "he's gonna be okay and in the morning I'll bring you straight here so that you can see him okay?"

Carl slowly nodded his head, clearly the young boy was too tired to argue anymore. They all said their goodbye before Rosalie and the young boys headed to the car. The journey home was silent as was dinner nobody was in the mood to talk, it had been an exhausting day for everybody. As Rosalie was saying goodnight to Carl he spoke for the first time in hours."Do you really think my dads going to be okay?"

"Of course I do buddy, your dad is one of the strongest men I know. Remember he's super cop, he'll be back up and fighting crime in no time" a small smile made its way onto Carl's face as he nodded his head agreeing with her statement.

Rosalie quietly shut the door to Carl's room and made her way into her own. She sat on the edge of the bed holding her face in her hands as she finally let the tears fall. Her best friend was in hospital fighting for his life she just prayed that he would make it.

Edited: 15/05/2018