Alone (Henry TWD) (Needs major editing)

29.) Trapped

I screamed.

I pulled out my handgun, searching my memory for the obvious directions on how to pull the trigger.

"Nah, ya don't pull. Ya squeeze it."

I squeezed the trigger. One walker went down. I backed up, falling onto my back and then pushing myself back up.

"Come on!" Rick yelled, grabbing my arm and dragging me across the store. I heard gunshots, and yelling. I couldn't see anybody else. Just Rick.

We found an old janitors closet, Rick stuffed me inside. He came in after, shutting the door and tying a strong knot around the handle. Walkers pounded on the door. Somebody yelled. My eyes watered. Tears dripped. A pair of comforting arms pulled me into a just as comforting chest.

"It's okay," he whispered. "We're strong."

"Somebody screamed. What if somebody's hurt-"

"Nobody is hurt. Trust me. Once people heard you scream, we followed the procedure. They hid. I saved you. If there's a herd of walkers with no way out, we all hide, and one or two people save whoever's in danger."

"Are they all okay?"

Rick took out his walker talkie. "Everybody good?" He asked.

"I have Maggie and Henry," Ezekiel said.

"I have Jesus," Aaron said. "But he got shot in his armor. His armor stopped it but he's in a lot of pain. Somebody shot him. Somebody else is in this building."

"Where was he shot?" I asked.

"His left shoulder."

"Can you check for bruising?"

"One second.............. Yeah, it's bright purple. About 4 inches all around."

"Okay. Leave his vest off. I want you to feel his pulse and count it for 15 seconds."

Silence. We waited about 30 seconds. "I got 11."

"No," I whispered to Rick, not letting him turn on the walkie talkie. "His heart is failing. He needs a booster vaccine, which is back in the carriage."

Rick looked up, gulping a little as he shook his head. "What else can we do?" He asked me.

"I..." I looked down, trying to remember the things Saddiq told me. "I... I don't know. There's something else but I don't remember."

Rick turned the knob to the walkie talkie. "This is Rick Grimes," he said. "I'm with the group that went to Southbound. I need Saddiq, we've gotten in trouble."

We waited.

"What happened?" Saddiq asked. Rick handed me the talkie.

"Jesus got shot and the bullet hit his vest right near his heart. He has a B-Purple bruise, 4 inches diameter. His pulse is 44. His heart is failing, and the booster we need is in the carriage, which we can't get too because there's too many walkers."

"Take a pen, take it apart, use the main tube to-"

"I remember," I cut him off. I handed the device back to Rick as I started digging through his bag. Rick said goodbye to Saddiq, switched the channel, and explained what's going on.

"What are you doing?" He asked me.

"Ask Aaron where he is."

"The glass closet down by the bolts," Aaron told us.

"I can run there," I told Rick, finding a pen and taking it out of his bed. "I have too."

"Hold on," he said to me and Aaron, untying his knot and looking out of the door a little. He shut the door. "You can't."

"I have too-"

"No. You're telling Aaron what to do. We can't get out of here. We're trapped." He retied the knot. I sighed, grabbing the walkie talkie.

"Aaron... do you have a pen? One that clicks?"

".....yes."

"I'm gonna tell you what to do. The goal is to get the tube of the pen into his heart so blood comes out and stops overwhelming it. I'm gonna tell you how, okay?"

"I... um I... Okay..."

"Okay. First step."

***

"Slowly, Aaron."

"I - what if I don't do it right?"

"You have too. You're lucky he's unconscious. Otherwise he'd be screaming. You have to do this right, okay? Go slowly. You got this."

Silence. Rick and I waited, it felt like hours.

"I got it in," Aaron said quietly.

"And? Is blood coming out?"

"No."

"Just wait..."

Waiting. "Yes, it's coming out. Slowly."

"Good, it'll stop when it's done. Leave it in. That's all you can do until we get the vaccine."

I gave the walkie talkie back to Rick, sitting down on the bucket.

"Everybody still here?" Rick asked.

"Yep," Ezekiel responded.

"We're trapped. We're gonna have to wait it out."

My nails scratched at my hands, my palms. I knew this sign. It was my anxiety. I was getting stressed out and anxious. I took a breath, my mouth feeling dry. I need some water. When's the last time I drank water? I need some. We don't have any. We don't have any water.

I stood up quickly, too quickly. My head banged up against something, I fell into Rick's arms, mind going black.