Chapter 26

"The Saviors are gone." Michonne said with a little hope in her voice. "We can get everyone to Hilltop, we can get Carl there." She said to Rick who was still in shock.

"Carl? No." Rick said simply.

"Daryl can get one of the cars-" Michonne started.

"Carl won't make-" He shook his head. "He can't leave here, he can't, I have to stay with him, I have to stay here." Rick stated, Michonne giving him a nod.

"We'll both stay." Michonne stated.

"Will you-" Rick closed his eyes collecting his thoughts for a moment. "Will you take Judith? She needs to be there, she- if he- if..." Rick became a sobbing wreck.

"I'll take her." Daryl stepped in, trying to help his friend in any way he could. "I'll get her there, I'll keep her safe, I got this." Daryl reassured them.

"Let me say goodbye." Carl said weakly, everyone turned to look at him.

Carl kissed Judith's hand and patted her head. The two gave each other knuckles, something Carl proudly taught her. Judith reached out for Carl whimpering, Rick pulling her away, causing her to wail loudly.

"Wait, one more thing." Carl spoke up. We all looked at him again, Carl lifted his large sheriff's hat. "I want Judith to have it." Carl said simply. It was like watching a baton be passed on, Judith would be the next Grimes to stand up.

"Here we go." Daryl scooped up Judith, taking the hat from Carl's hand. "These people, you saved them all, that's all you man." Daryl said with admiration to Carl. Even though Daryl was holding Judith he still hugged me, leaving a kiss on my cheek. "You gotta save him." Daryl whispered into my ear. I nodded at him. The large group of people left with Daryl.

"Alright if it's clear I'm heading up there." I said after we got Carl comfortable on the cot. "Siddiq stays hear and keeps an eye on Carl."

"I'll go with you." Michonne jumped up. "You may run into trouble out there, and I'm sure extra hands to carry supplies wouldn't hurt." I looked at her then Rick, then Carl's pale face, there wasn't time to argue.

"Let's go." I said determined.

I grabbed an empty pack, I adjusted my ax on my back and climbed up the sewer ladder. I gently lifted the sewer lid, careful not to make too much noise just in case. Once we were out in the smoky air, we rushed for the infirmary that we hoped was still standing. I held my ax in my hands as we snuck through the community, houses were completely destroyed, some on fire, it was heart breaking to see. Luckily the infirmary had minimal damage as it was pretty close to the middle of the large community. There was smoke damage along one side of the house a few windows broken.

"Get in, get what you need. We need to hurry back." Michonne hissed. I could hear walkers in the smoke, and I didn't want to get cornered by them.

I ran inside grabbing bandages, suture kits, tweezer things, anything that looked useful, I didn't know the name of all the tools, tubes, needles, IV bags. I grabbed antibiotics, pain management that would hopefully help. I wished we could have moved Carl here, it would've made this simpler, but I would get what I could. I shoved everything in my pack, I stuffed more into another bag, I wanted to be prepared. When I stepped outside Michonne was slicing through a cluster of walkers, about five.

"I got it." I called to her.

She cut down one more walker and we rushed to the sewer. Michonne headed down first, I dropped the bags down to her, climbing down after. I shut the sewer lid, then hopped down, the two of us grabbing the bags and heading back to Carl.

"How is he?" I asked. As I started pulling bandages and alcohol from the backpack.

"He's in and out, he's lost a lot of blood." Siddiq updated.

"We're the same blood type, I can give him mine." Rick spoke up with a shaky voice.

"Perfect." Siddiq chimed.

I passed the bag of tools to Siddiq and he started digging through for what he needed. He passed me what I would need to start Rick and Carl's transfusion. I quickly tied Rick's arm, then Carl's, efficiently poking them both with their needles and the transfusion started.

"I need light." Siddiq commanded. I lifted a flashlight, shining it on Carl's wound. "Once I pull this out, we'll find out if it nicked anything. I'll need gauze."

I passed him the gauze, he had all his tools ready, and began digging the debris from Carl's wound. Probably a half hour passed when Siddiq finally took the final and biggest piece from Carl's side. "I see the source of the bleeding. I need clamps, and a suture kit." I passed the tools to Siddiq and he got to work quickly.

Rick was growing weary, I needed to stop the transfusion or Rick wouldn't last.

"Michonne, hold this light for me." I ordered. She did as I asked quickly. I rushed to Rick, pressing gauze to the inside of his elbow where the needle was, and pulled it out. "Stay sitting, we'll see if we can find something for you in a bit." Rick nodded weakly.

"Hazel I need vitals." Siddiq ordered. I quickly did as I was told, sitting for several minutes listening and checking vitals.

"He's still with us. Just weak." I updated.

"I'm almost done, I have to stitch this wound closed and bandage him." Siddiq said focused. "After that we wait."

"Maybe we can get a stretcher for him." Rick spoke up quietly. "Get him to Hilltop."

"He needs some time to heal before we move him." I said simply. "He's not out of the woods yet."

"Thank you." Rick said weakly to Siddiq and I, both of us giving him a nod.

A while later Siddiq bandaged up Carl's side, wrapping up his torso like a mummy, it was a large wound. I set out to look for some sort of stretcher or wheelchair. I knew once Carl woke up Rick would want to move. I checked our vehicles, we had a van we could put in him, I would just have to get more gas for it. There was no way in this disaster that any of our reserve gas made it. I looked anyway.

I went to our pantry, that was also the armory and whatever else we could fit in here. The house was pretty rough, looked like it would collapse; it wasn't in the direct explosion, but the house next to it was completely gone. I opened the door and a big cloud of black smoke rushed at me. The house was unattainable, a fire started inside of it last night, and was still smoldering.

"Damn it." I fell to the ground defeated.

Honestly I was just exhausted, and this just added to it. How were we supposed to get Carl out of here if he couldn't walk? After a moment I rubbed my tired eyes and started walking through the community. Any house that was still standing I went inside looking through their garages and sheds. Then I stopped in front of mine and Daryl's house, half of it had collapsed, the sight pained me. I went over to the garage door, lifting it up, it luckily opened. There it was, almost like it was on display, on the shelf. A gas canister. The canister was even full, yes, I was feeling hopeful again.

As I left my house I chopped into a walkers head with my ax, I had to watch out for those. I continued my search through the community for something that we could carry Carl with, something flat. I came across long metal poles, maybe I could attach these to his cot. I searched around for duct tape, rope, zip ties, anything to attach these to Carl's cot. I found heavy duty zip ties, and paracord that would have to work.

I went to the van, dropping my supplies next to it, and began filling the tank. I chopped into a few more walkers before picking up my supplies and went back down to the sewer. Everything was how I left it, Carl laying in the cot unconscious, Rick sitting next to him, and Michonne sitting by his feet.

"I found gas for the van, we could take Carl in it. I also found stuff we could make a stretcher with." I said hopeful.

"It should work, when he wakes up we'll try moving him." Siddiq said confidently.

I got to work fastening the poles to the cot Carl was laying in, with zip ties and the Paracord, it would do.

"So we'll have to take him through the sewer to the other end, it'll be easier to get him out over there." I suggested. Rick agreed.

"Do you need more to eat?" I asked Rick who still seemed unsteady.

"No, I'm okay." Rick shook his head. Now I see where Carl gets it from.

"Yes you do. Here." I dug through my pack until I found a jar of peanut butter and a spoon. "You need your strength if we're gonna get Carl to Hilltop." He hesitated before taking it.

"Thank you." Rick said politely.

I looked at Carl who looked peaceful, then I looked at Siddiq. I gestured Siddiq to follow me out of ear shot from Rick and Michonne.

"Have you given him anything for the pain, and in case of infection?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm thinking he should wake up in a few hours." Siddiq added.

"And if he doesn't?" I whispered. "Should we move him now?" I asked.

"It would be risky moving him with everything being so fresh." Siddiq added.

"I know the risks. The only reason we are still here is because we told them to stay here." I hissed.

"I thought you were okay with staying here until he wakes up." Siddiq looked hard at me. "Why are you ready to leave suddenly?"

"I forgot how impatient I am when I said that. I have everything ready to go, now we just need to go. Hilltop is better equipped to care for him." I shrugged.

"We wait a few more hours, if he hasn't woken up, we'll move him. Right now I have to check his vitals." Siddiq walked away from me. I probably just lost any respect he had for me after that conversation.

While waiting for Carl to wake up, we talked through the plan to leave, Rick would take the van, since he was too weak after the transfusion. He wasn't happy that he had to leave us with a stranger, but he would do it. Michonne and Siddiq would carry Carl through the tunnels, I would lead, in case of walkers.

"Ow." Carl muttered quietly. Rick and Michonne were quick to his side. "I'm alive." He said weakly.

"You are. You're still here." Rick smiled pushing Carl's hair from his forehead.

"Are we, still in the sewer?" Carl asked as he scanned the dark tunnel.

"Yeah, we were waiting for you to wake up. We're gonna move you to Hilltop." Michonne said.

"How's your pain?" Siddiq asked.

"It's there." He grunted, his legs squirming a bit.

"I'll give you some more pain management before we move you." Siddiq said simply.

Within the hour the plan began. It was pitch black outside now, only the moon shining down on us. I helped Rick out of the sewer into Alexandria, he took a moment to look around at the ruins of our home. I helped him over to the van.

"Hazel, thank you." Rick thanked me again.

"It's not a big deal, I'm just helping family." I shrugged.

"But you could've left like he told you too." Rick said simply.

"Why would I do that? A stranger gave me a second chance at life. So to have the opportunity to give someone else another chance of course I would do it." I smiled. Rick sat down in the driver's seat and started up the van. "We'll see you at the end." I shut the driver's door and went back to the sewer.

"He good?" Michonne asked, referring to Rick.

"Yeah. Let's get moving."

Siddiq and Michonne picked up Carl's cot, and they began following me through the dim sewer. I had loaded all of our supplies into the van so we wouldn't have to carry it.

I held my hatchet in one hand and my flash light in the other, moving at a pace that Siddiq and Michonne could keep. I could hear Carl groan in discomfort a few times, but after twenty minutes we made it to the end, where Rick was waiting.

"Any trouble?" Rick asked.

"None, let's get to Hilltop." I urged.

We put Carl in the back of the big van, Rick, Michonne, and Siddiq sat in the back with Carl. I drove the van to Hilltop, it had been a long time since I had driven, I didn't tell them that though. We made it to Hilltop early in the morning, the dirt road that led to Hilltop's gates was rough on Carl, but he made it. I waved my arm out the window as we approached.

"I have Rick and Michonne, and Carl, he's injured badly!" I yelled to the guard at the gate. The gates opened and I drove in, right up to the infirmary.

Several members of our group rushed over to the van, Tara, Rosita, Jesus, Maggie, Carol, and Daryl. Tobin and Scott helped get Carl inside Hilltop's infirmary. I stepped out of the van, physically and mentally exhausted, Daryl rushed over to me, hugging me tightly.

"I made it." I said tiredly.

"You did." Daryl sniffled. "You're here with me."

"I need a bed." I groaned.

"There's places all over for people to sleep, plenty of tents and trailers out back." Maggie explained. I looked at her a little shocked that she even spoke to me.

"Thank you." I whispered as she walked away. I cleared my throat, biting my lip feeling tears brim my eyes. "God damn it." I whispered, as I wrapped my arms around myself crumbling to the ground. I couldn't hold myself together, I was falling apart and I couldn't stop it. I was so exhausted it came out in tears at this point.

Daryl pulled me to my feet, leading me to the back, over to one of the unoccupied tents. We climbed inside not even bothering to shut the tent door, our feet hanging out as we curled up on the frumpled sleeping bags. Daryl pulled me against his side, wiping my tears as they fell, trying his best to comfort me, but I wasn't one for comfort and I knew he wasn't either. I usually released then moved on when I was by myself. Now having Daryl here to hold me and comfort me, I allowed the emotion to overflow.

Carl's pale face kept running through my head, the screeching that tore through my body when I saw his wound in his side, over and over again. I couldn't take it anymore. I sat up, wiping my tears, and slapping my cheeks a little harder then intended but I was trying to stop myself from crying. I took a very deep breath letting it out in a huff, before laying back with a blank stare on my face.

"He's alive, he's fine, we got him here." I said to myself. "I'm gonna see this war until the end, I'm not giving up." I bit the inside of my cheek.

"And I'll be right by ya." Daryl grumbled looking me over with those blue eyes of his.

"I can't sleep, I would rather be doing something productive." I sighed as I got up.

"Same." Daryl grunted as he got up. "See if Maggie needs us to do something, c'mon." Daryl reached his hand out to me, and I took it with a light smirk, the two of us going off into Hilltop.

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A/NEnjoy the rewrite.As always thank you for reading!