the gods forbid [the walking dead]

1.18

Opal nodded, her lip quivering along with her arms shaking. Her knee bounced quickly and she held back a whimper as Patricia stuck the needle into her arm.

"How much are you starting with?" Rick questioned, his voice slower due to the amount of blood that had been transferred over to Carl earlier.

"The same amount as we took from you," Patricia told, giving Hershel some of Opal's blood.

"All at once? That's a lot of blood," Rick added.

Patricia nodded, "Well, we need it."

Rick sighed as Patricia continued to pull blood from Opal's forearm. He started to study her features, her eyes were shut tight and her jaw was clenched. HEr face was turning paler by the minute.

"Can I get some water?" Opal asked, her voice shaky.

"Beth, get her some water," Hershel ordered, continuing to work on carl.

"Alright, that's all we need," Patricia said, tainking the needle out of her arm and putting a small piece of gauze over it.

"LEt's go to the living room," RIck said, standing up and putting an arm out for Opal to grab.

Opal nodded and grabbed Rick's hand instantly tripping over her own feet.

"Woah," Rick started, "Steady now."

Opal leaned against Rick's shoulder, tiredness taking over. The two walked into the living room, Lori, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog all staring at then, waiting to know how Carl was doing.

"Is he okay?" LOri asked, standing up as Ric placed Opal down on the couch. Rick shrugged, not entirely sure, "don't' know yet, Opal gave a lot of her blood, though."

SHane nodded, "Yeah, looks like it. How much they take?"

"As mucha s they took from me."

"Wow." Shane was surprised. HE didn't think that Carl had lost that much blood.

As time passed everyone sat in silence, waiting until arl's surgery was over. Opal had passed out, exhausted from all the blood take from her. She was leaned up against T-Dog, making it so he couldn't do anything, except take an occasional sip of water that Opal never drank.

Yet, almost an hour after Rick and Opal left, Maggie, Hershel and Patricia walked out of the room, blood staining each of their hands and shirts. "He's gonna live," Hershel announced.

Smiled spread onto everyone-- except Opal's faces. Rick and Lori hugged and shared a kiss, nothing but joy in their systems.

"Where's Otis?" Patricia uestined.

The vibe was ruined. Everyone's happiness turned into guilt as they remembered the man who died to save a life.

The silence hinted enough for Patricia to tell that her lover was gone. The silence was then quickly replaced by the sobbing of the older woman, her family instantly going to comfort her.

"Y'all can sleep out her for the night. OH, and if she's up," Maggie spoke as her family dragged Patricia away, "before us, give her a glass of orange juice and there should be a leftover sandwich in the fridge."

RIck nodded as Opal shifted onto his side, as if she could hear people talking about her.

Rick glanced at his wife as let out a long, loud yawn. "It's getting' late, do you know when the rest of the grup is gonna be here?" He asked, letting out a contagious yawn.

Glen shrugged, not sure on the exact time, of course. "PRobably noon? Don't know really."

The leader nodded, "Let's get set up for bed, I know I'm tired. "Rick then noticed how tired he actually was, the blood that had been taken earlier was just now really affecting him, although it started to get to Opal immediately. HIs eyelids started to droop and he knew that once he laid down eh'd be out like a light.

"I'll take the floor," T-Dog offered, "I don't think there's a chance that she'll wake up now."

"Me too," Glenn spoke, "That way you two can put the chairs together and sleep on 'em."

RIck and Lori nodded as T-Dog and Glenn started to move chairs as quietly as possible They didn't want to risk waking up Opal, who was in desperate need of sleep due to so much blood loss.

After everything was set up, Rick and LOri instantly took comfort on the chairs around them, quickly drifting into sleep.

--

When Opal awoke in the morning she had to idea of where she was. She felt incredibly dizzy, yet as the memories of the previous day came into mind, she instantly felt a wave of sadness go over her. She sat up, almost instantaneously feeling the need to throw up. Yet, she had nothing to actually throw up. THe girl looked around, seeing her group members all sitting on chairs, their eyes now on her.

"Do you want something to eat?" Rick asked, his hand intertwined with Lori's.

Opal nodded, another wave of nausea coming over as she did.

RIck nodded and left lOri's side, walking to the kitchen to grab the sandwich Maggie had talked about earlier. As he walked in he noticed Hershel sitting at the table, eating a bagel with jam spread on it.

"Morning Hershel."

"Morning. IS your group coming today?" Hershel asked, taking a sip of orange juice.

Rick nodded, "yes."

"Y'all can sleep outside," Hershel said, his voice sour.

Rick's face scrunched up in confusion, why was Hershel now being so inconsiderate? "Alright. Last night, Maggie mentioned a sandwich in the fridge for Opal."

Hershel nodded lightly, "It's in there."

Rick quickly grabbed it out of the fridge before thanking Hershel. He entered the living room to see everyone having a conversation, except Opal, who looked like she was about to pass out again. "Het," Rick spoke, alerting Opal, "here's your sandwich."

Opal nodded, taking the plate from Rick and almost instantly devouring it.

Rick sat down next to Opal, a hand placed on his head, trying to calm the budding headache that was approaching.

"You should get something to eat too," Lori mentioned, worry on her face.

"Nah, I'll get something later, when the group comes back." Rick said, his eyes starting to droop.

"Are you sure? You don't look really good." Lori continued.

"Here," Opal said, extending her arm to Rick, "take the rest of mine, I can't finish."

Rick nodded, taking the plate out of her hands. HE muttered a quick thanks to Opal before taking slow bites out of the half eaten sandwich.

"They're here," T-Dog made aware.

Rick stood and looked outside, seeing Dale's RV, Carol's Minivan and Daryl's motorcycle. Everyone roamed outside, Opal leaning on Glenn as he helped her keep a steady walk.

Smiles came on to the group member's faces as they noticed Opal, yet Carol's twisted into worry as she noticed her daughter wasn't beside her. "Where's Sophia?" she questioned, stepping forward, her gaze on Opal for answers.