The Walking Dead Season 2

Chapter 5

Isabelle

I woke to the sound of screaming. Carl screaming. I bolted up, my stiff joints popping. I rushed into the room and stopped short. Shane was holding Carl down, Hershel had some sort of tool in his chest. Patricia was jamming a needle into Rick's arm. And Carl was screaming. "Dad!!" he screamed. Then his screams got worse. "STOP YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Rick screamed. "Rick, do you want him to live?!" Hershel asked. "Do it NOW!" Shane yelled. Then Carl passed out.

Hershel pulled the tool out. A bullet shard dropped to the plate with a clang. "One down. Five to go." Hershel said.

Hershel was taking Carl's pulse as a tube pumped blood from Rick into him. I sat on a chair in the corner. Patricia unhooked Rick as he blabbered on. "Lori needs to be here. She doesn't even know what's going on. I've gotta go find her, bring her back." He said. "You can't do that. He's going to need more blood." Hershel said. I walked out and into the waiting room where Maggie and Otis waited. I wondered where Beth- the blond girl- and Jim -her husband- were at. I hadn't seen them since we got here.

Rick staggered out, nearly being held up by Shane. Maggie and Otis sat up. "He's stable for now." Shane said. "Lori has to be here, Shane." Rick said. "Ok. I get that. I'm gonna handle it. But you've gotta handle your end." He said. "My end?" Rick asked. "Yeah. Being here. For your son. Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there's no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. I'd break your legs if you tried, and you know that right?" Shane finished. "If something happened and you weren't here, if he slipped away while you were gone, you'd never forgive yourself for that, and neither would Lori." He added. "You're right." Rick said slowly. "Man, when was I ever wrong?" Shane chuckled.

"When you were in that hospital, man, you should have seen Lori. She was like... the strength of that woman, man, that's what you've gotta have now. I mean Carl, he needs that from you." I blinked tiredly.

Hershel walked out, and we all stood up. "He's outta danger for the moment, but I need to remove those remaining fragments." He said. "How? You saw how he was." Rick asked. "I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others. There's more." Hershel said. "Tell me." Rick stated. "His belly is distended, his pressure is dropping, which means that there is internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I'll have to open him up, find the bleeding, and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there. And I mean at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll severe an artery and he be dead in minutes. To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breath on his own. Same bad results."

I felt my face turn white. If I hadn't ever demanded to go, we wouldn't be here. This was all my fault. I felt sick.