Chapter 18 - Triggerfinger

"Bree! Breanna wake up!"

I faintly hear someone calling my name as I'm surrounded in the darkness. Their calling becomes louder as the darkness seems to fade from around me. I feel someone tapping on my face, my shoulder being pushed as everything becomes clearer. I open my eyes slowly and look around, wondering where the hell I am.

"Bree?"

I turn my head and see Lori kneeling above me, "Lori?" I ask confused.

She lets out a breath of relieve, "Oh thank God." She breathes.

"What happened?" I ask, barely getting out my question.

"We got into an accident." She states.

I vaguely remember seeing the walker in the road, the feeling of flying into the air but I don't remember much else. I got to sit up when I feel a head rush come over me and only then do I notice the throbbing sensation radiating throughout my head.

"Easy does it. Just sit up nice and slowly." She says, helping me into a sitting position.

I feel a steady ache in my body as I look around, trying to get my bearings. I notice the car wreck beside us as well as two walkers that lie dead on the road, "You were attacked?" I ask, taking them in.

She glances over at them, "Yeah, but I'm fine. What about you?" She asks, looking over me in concern.

"My head hurts," I state and I feel blood enter my mouth, "And I think my lips is busted."

She nods, "Yeah, we'll have to get Hershel to look at it." She states, "Do you think you can keep walking? We gotta be closer to the town then Hershel's farm." She says, looking up the road.

I nod my head and regret it instantly, "Yeah, I can keep going."

She nods and gets to her feet and she offers me a hand, "Come on, we need to keep moving before more of those things come out. The noise must be attracting them." She states, looking around.

I reach up my right hand to take it and she pulls which cause me to let out a yell at the pain in my wrist, "Ah fuck!" I hiss, cradling my hand to my chest.

I look at my wrist and see it is covered in cuts and it aches, "I must have hit it against something."

I take a deep breath before I hold out my left hand and she pulls me up slowly, a stabbing pain in my side. I look down and see a large shard of pultruding glass coming from my side, blood all over it.

"My god Bree." She says, looking at it in shock.

"It's nothing, I've had worse." I say, thinking back.

I reach down and slowly pull out the glass, biting my lip to keep from screaming. It comes out and I drop it to the ground, letting out a breath. I look up at her, "Let's go."

"You sure you can walk?" She asks, looking at my unconvinced and I nod my head, "Yeah, let's go."

She nods and pulls my good arm around her shoulder, wrapping her other arm around my waist. She takes extra care making sure to be careful of the wound on my side. She pulls a torch out of her pocket and turns it on, "Alright, let's go." She says, shining it before us.

We begin to make our way down the road in the direction we were heading towards the town, though we're going much slower now. I feel my body aching but I ignore it and continue on, knowing that we can't be too far away now. I'm not sure how much more time has passed before we hear another car coming from behind us. We turn and slow down when we recognise the car. The door open and Shane strides out, "You two alright?" He asks, looking between the two of us.

"We're fine." Lori says and he shakes his head, "You're not fine, I saw the wreck."

He takes the light off of her, "Let me look at you."

He turns to her first and I stifle a chuckle, seeing how much he cares for her. He shines the light into her eyes, "What happened?"

"Looked down at the map and hit a walker." She explains.

"Next time stay out, you won't need a map." He says, turning away from her and looking me over, "God Bree you're a mess."

"You don't look to good yourself." I mutter as he shines the light into my eyes to see if I have a concussion.

"Let's get you both back." He says, putting his arm around my waist.

"No, we gotta find Rick." Lori argues and we both look at her.

"He's back. They're all back, they're all safe and sound." He says.

"Really?" She asks and he nods his head, "Yeah."

She lets out a relieved breath, "Oh thank God."

She makes her way towards the car and opens up the back door as Shane leads me over to the car. I climb into the back with his help and they soon quickly get into the front. He starts the car and turns around, driving us back towards the farm. I slowly twist my wrist to see how damaged it is and I can barely turn it before a searing pain comes alive. I grit my teeth and cradle it against my chest as I look out the window.

After around ten minutes we turn onto the Greene's property and make our way towards the farm house. As we pull up I see people gathered by the campsite. My first reaction is too look for Daryl, but I see he isn't there. The disappointment adds to pain as Lori opens the back door and helps me out. We begin to walk towards the others and Andrea walks up to us, "Oh my God are you alright? What happened?" She asks, looking between the two of us as she wraps her arm around me.

"We were in an accident, I'm fine. I really am." She states as Shane walks over to her.

"Where's Rick?" She asks, looking at Andrea.

I notice Shane walk away and everyone looking at her sadly. The realisation hits me and I know that Shane lied to her to bring her back. 

She takes in everyone's faces, "They're not back?" She asks.

They remain quiet and she turns to Shane, "Where are they?"

"Look, I had to get you back here." He states.

I see the anger on her face as she storms towards him, "You asshole!"

"Lori-" He begins and she shoves him back, "He's my husband!"

He holds her off, "Look I will go after them and I will find them!" He says as she continues to fight him and he pushes her back.

"Hey! Look, first things first I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's alright okay?" He says, looking at her.

My jaw drops as I realise what he just said and Carl steps forward, voicing all of our questions, "You're having a baby?" He asks, looking towards Lori.

She turns towards him in shock and he grows upset, "Why didn't you tell me?" He demands.

"Uh, uh-" She stutters, lost for words as she looks at her son.

The group is silent as we process what has just been said and soon Dale turns to us both, holding out an arm, "Come on, let's make sure the both of you are alright."

"Come on." Andrea says to me.

Dale steps to Lori and she turns and glares at Shane before we make our way towards the house. I grit my teeth as we walk, the wound on my side becoming a problem. Maggie and Patricia join us and she turns to Andrea and I, "You can put her in the room where Daddy put Daryl the other day."

She nods and Patricia speaks, "I can't do a lot, but I'll check you over to make sure there isn't any obvious damage."

I nod my head as we begin to make our way up the steps at the front of the house. Maggie opens the door for us all and Dale and Lori go off into the lounge room while Andrea, Maggie and Patricia lead me into the spare bedroom. Andrea leans down and I take a seat on the edge of the bed and Patricia turns to me, "Where is there pain?" She asks.

"My head hurts," I say, raising my good hand to my head, "My wrist feels like it's broken," I add, looking down at it, "And I pull a large shard of glass out of my side earlier." I say, feeling light headed.

"Sounds like you could have a concussion. We'll have to try and keep you awake. There not much I can do. For now I can stitch up your lip the cut on your side, give you some antibiotics and some painkillers. You're gonna have some bruising on your face, I'll make sure Hershel checks you over when he gets back." She explains.

I nod my head, "Okay."

"I'll go grab everything." She says, turning and making her way out of the room.

Maggie follows after her and Andrea looks down at me, "Where were you?"

I remember back to the reason I left and shake my head, "I needed to leave, clear my head. I didn't realise how far out I was until Lori picked me up."

"Everything alright?" She asks, looking down at me in concern.

I nod my head, "Yeah, everything is peachy keen." I say, wincing as I move my wrist.

"You know you can talk to me right? About anything." She says, looking down into my eyes.

I look at her for a moment and nod my head, "Thanks."

Patricia walks back into the room and I turn to Andrea, "You go check out in Lori. I'm fine here."

She looks at me hesitantly for a moment before nodding, "Yeah okay, but I'll be back later."

I nod and she turns, making her way out of the room and Patricia hands me some pills to take before beginning her work on making me better.

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"Alrighty, let's get you up."

Carol helps get me up out of bed and I ignore the pain as I get to my feet. I pause on the spot and let out my breath and she turns to me, "You good?" She asks.

I nod my head, "Yeah."

She lets go of me and I cradle my side with my good hand as we make our way out of the room. We walk down the hallway and I see Patricia, Jimmy and Maggie sitting in the living room. They turn and look at us as we walk down the hallways.

"How're you feeling?" Jimmy asks, looking over at me.

I nod my head, "I've had worse."

Suddenly the sound of a car pulling up grabs our attention and we all make our way outside. I notice Rick, Lori and Carl embracing as I step out onto the porch. Maggie runs past me and down the steps and she bypasses Hershel and grips onto Glenn.

"Patricia! Prepare the shed for surgery!" Hershel says angrily, hurt by Maggie's rejection.

I turn my head and see Daryl looking at me and all the hurt and anger from yesterday comes flooding back. I glare at him when T-Dog yells, "Who the hell is that?"

I follow his point and look into the back of the car to see a figure sitting in the backseat, a blindfold over his eyes, "That's Randall." Glenn states.

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"We couldn't just leave him behind, he would have bled out. If he lived that long." Rick says from his spot at the head of the table. I sit beside Jimmy at the dining room table as we all hear Rick explain what happened last night.

"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn states.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea asks.

Rick looks as if he goes to say something when Hershel walks into the room, wiping his hands on a clean towel, "I've repaired his calf muscle as best I can but he will probably have nerve damage. He won't be on his feet for at least a week." He explains.

"When he is, we'll give him a canteen. Take him out to the main road, send him on his way." Rick says.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asks and I hear the door open from behind me.

I glance behind me and see Daryl looking at me and I turn around, ignoring his presence as I focus back in on the conversation, "He'll have a fighting chance." Rick says.

"We're just gonna let him go?" Shane asks from the back, "He knows where we are."

"He was blindfolded the whole way here, he's not a threat." Rick argues.

"Not a threat. How many of them were there? You kill three of their men, you took one of them hostage but they ain't just gonna come looking for him?" Shane asks.

"They left him for dead, no one is looking!" Rick yells.

"We should still post a guard." T-Dog states.

"He's out cold right now, will be for hours." Hershel explains.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane mutters as he walks out of the room, "Look at this folks! We're back in fantasy land!"

"You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet? Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all," Hershel says, following after him, "This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone, Rick talked me out of it but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favour, keep your mouth shut."

Shane looks at him for a moment before turning and making his way out of the house angrily, not saying a word. Rick goes forward to speak to Hershel and I get to my feet, getting ready for Hershel to check me over. My eyes meet Daryl's and I glare at him for a moment before I turn to Hershel.

"Come with me Bree." He says, holding out a hand.

I follow him into the room and I take a seat on the bed and he walks over to me, "So, tell me what happened." He says, beginning to look me over.

"Car accident, I don't really remember much else." I say as his hands prod at my temple.

"Your head still hurt?" He asks and I shrug, "Not as much today but a little."

"What about your side and wrist?" He asks, looking down at my bandaged wrist.

"My side is still sore but I don't think the glass did anything major, I mean we would have noticed by now right?" I ask and he nods his head, "Yes, we would have."

"My wrist is really sore though." I explain, looking down at the bandage.

"Mind if I have a look?" He asks and I nod my head and hold my arm out to him, "Sure, go ahead."

He begins to unwrap my wrist and the movement causes pain. I bite my lip and soon he begins to examine it. There is a large bruise surrounding the whole wrist as well as some cuts that Patricia took care of. He turns my wrist slightly and I let out a hiss. He turns I t the other way and it causes the same reaction.

"Well your wrist is broken, at the least fractured. You will have to have it bandaged for a few weeks until it heals. Mind if I take a look at your side?" He asks.

I shake my head and pull up my shirt, revealing the large bandage underneath. He pulls it away and prods around the wound which is tender and sore, "There seems to be some a small sign of infection but nothing some antibiotics won't fix. You're pretty lucky, though I do notice some damage on your ribs from awhile ago. They haven't healed properly from past breakage. You know what that is?" He asks, looking up at me.

I grow quiet and nod my head, "Yeah, I broke them before."

He shakes his head, "These seem to have been broken multiple times." He states.

I look down at the ground and remain quiet, not really wanting to bring up my past with a man I barely know. I glance up and see him looking at me in understanding, "I see."

He nods his head and begins to rewrap my wrist, "Well, overall everything seems to be fine. I am going to have to keep an eye on your wrist and make sure that it heals properly, for now take the antibiotics and painkillers and that should help for now." He says as he finishes and hands the bottles of pills to me.

"Thank you." I whisper, smiling at him gratefully.

He nods his head and gives me a small smile, "You're welcome Bree."