lemonbxrry

[lemonbxrry]

Doctor's Orders

ZERO / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN

Season Two, Episode One: What Lies Ahead

"[NAME], LET'S GO," Dale called out, slapping the side of his RV a bit. I look up from where I was crouched, having been looking through the cars that we were siphoning gas at. I nodded, standing up and dusting off my pants, walking back to where Shane was so we could get into the RV. I tried to keep my distance from him as best as possible, but somehow we always wound up working together.

"You doin' good?" he asked, knowing that once we made the first stop the first thing I did was throw up after getting out of the car.

"Yep, with all the bodies and events of today, I think that was the way of my body pushing everything out," I told him. We head down the freeway, having only two cars fully working now, aside from Daryl driving his motorcycle. I hummed to myself quietly, looking out at the view that we were passing, sitting in one of the seats. I heard Andrea make some small talk with Shane, not paying much attention as we continued down the road.

"Oh jeez," Dale said aloud, slowing down before coming to a stop. I looked over from my notebook, having written down most of what happened the past couple of days, seeing as I couldn't really write as much as I used to at the quarry.

"Aw, no," I muttered, putting it away. Daryl pulled up, talking to Dale before circling around and heading ahead of us again.

"Maybe we should just head back, there's a bypass," Glenn began, looking at the map.

"Can't waste the fuel like that," Dale and Shane said, I give a small sympathetic smile at Glenn before leaning over his seat and looking out through the windshield, watching as we made our way around all of the cars, seeing more and more pileups and abandoned cars. I held my breath, seeing how many still had dead bodies. Then a white smoke popped out where the engine was, causing a sputtering noise to be made.

"Jeez," I muttered, the RV coming to a stop. We exited the RV, Dale shaking his head.

"I said it a thousand times. Dead in the water," he said as we checked up where the engine was.

"Problem, Dale?" Rick asked, popping up.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of," he glanced back, seeing Daryl pick something out of the back of a car. "Okay, that was dumb," he said, sighing a bit.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here, there's a whole bunch of stuff we can find," Shane said as Daryl continued looting the back.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start," T-Dog said, passing by us to check out other cars.

"Maybe some water," Andrea suggested.

"Or food," Glenn added to the list.

"Medicine, there has to be more medicine here," I mumbled to myself, glancing around at the cars, pulling out a bandana I found, and dabbing at my head, wiping off the sweat that collected. I stuff it into my back pocket, hoping to find a hat or something to keep off the heat.

"This is a graveyard," Lori said, we stayed quiet, not knowing how to argue that we were morally right. "I don't know how to feel about this,"

"Come on, y'all, let's look around," T-Dog said after a moment, soon everyone heading into different areas of the board we were on.

I carefully make my way around a couple of cars, peeping in and seeing if there was anything. I looked inside a blue car, grateful that it was unlocked, I opened the door and spot a couple of bags of trail mix on the floor, unopened. I put them into my backpack, looking around for more stuff we could use. When I turn to tell Lori and Carol what I found I see Rick racing towards us, the man obviously running to warn us.

"Get down, get down low and stay quiet," Rick orders us quietly as he could. I do as told, taking out my knife and crawling underneath the car, pushing my bag into the backseat of the car, far enough that I could reach it without the worry of the walkers getting to it. I held the knife tightly, watching as they made their way along the road. I held my breath as they passed by, the car rocking by how many were pressing up against it. I glanced to the side, seeing Sophia, Carl, and Rick in the car line with me. No longer hearing the shuffling I stayed low, not daring to move. After a moment Sophia crawled out, right as a walker stumbled right in front of her. The girl immediately took off to the side where the woods were, and a couple more walkers stumbled after her. I crawled out from under the car, about to run after her and go with Rick until I heard someone shout.

"[Name], you gotta help him," Daryl called out, carrying T-Dog who had fresh blood all over him.

I jogged over to them, "Where is it, where's the blood coming from," I asked T-Dog, grabbing my bandana out of my pocket and putting some of the clean water I had over the bandana, wiping away at the blood that collected on his arm, causing T-Dog to hiss in pain, "Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay, what happened?" I ask, looking back at Daryl, knowing that T-Dog wouldn't be able to really answer from the pain.

"I don't know, doesn't look like it was a walker," he said, I relaxed at his words, before grabbing T-Dog's arm, pushing T-Dog to sit down.

"We gotta keep this elevated," I told him, raising his arm up a bit, at least above where his heart is. Blood trickled down his arm, showing a shallow and long cut going down his arm. "It didn't hit any major veins, so we look good here, however, we might have a chance of infection since we don't know what was on what cut you," I told him, "Shane, grab me some water or something to clean him up," I ordered, applying pressure onto his arm. The blood quickly soaked up the rag, he jogged over with a jug of water, placing it and kneeling next to me to help. "Lucky for you I got some ointment to help clean it out too, it's gonna sting like a bitch though," I told him, grabbing a shirt that I packed from the CDC building, tearing off a part of it, and pouring some of the water onto it, cleaning around his wound and at the edges of it, he winced in discomfort, closing his eyes. "C'mon, keep it together T-Dog, this is the worse of it for right now," I told him, finding the antibiotic ointment and applying it to the wound as best as I could, soon wrapping it with another part of the shirt as tight as I could without hurting him. "Let's get him back into the RV, he needs a change of clothes, don't remove the bandaging without me, we can risk infecting it if it's removed too much," I explained as we helped T-Dog up, seeing Rick come back up without Sophie. I gave a frown, knowing that the news he was to bring us wouldn't be good news at all.

THE WALKING DEAD

I looked through the cars before Shane started pushing them out of the way of the road, finding anything useful we could use, thankful for getting some canned goods and even a small first aid kit someone packed, but it wasn't going to be enough to last two months depending on how severe people's wounds could get. I soon began to head back to where everyone was grouped, helping Lori and Carl stack items that are able to be moved to another area.

"Going back's going to be easier than trying to get through this mess," Shane commented, looking at the cars that lay on the road.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol stated, looking like we were trying to abandon her.

"That goes without saying," Lori chimed in, trying to reassure the other mother.

"Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay? If Sophia is hurt [Name] is here to help too, she knows what to do," Shane said, gesturing at me. "It's just a matter of time,"

"Can't be soon enough for me," Carol told him.

"I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it,"

"Yeah, what was that? All of them marching along like that,"

"A herd sounds about right," Shane mused.

"I feel like it was almost like a migration, like the night the camp got attacked, and how there was a herd of them," I comment, giving a small sympathetic look towards Andrea. "Like when animals have to migrate because of how cold it's getting, they might be migrating because there's no, well, food," I continue, looking down the road that the herd came from.

Shane cleared his throat, looking at me then looking around, "Come on, people. We still got a lot to do," he said, "Let's stay on it. Let's go, come on," he said, pushing us to get right back to work clearing the road and scavenging for what we can. "[Name], let's go look for stuff," Shane said, looking at how many cars we haven't checked out yet.

"Oh, I thought you wanted to move the cars out of the way," I tell him, opening my bag and checking to see how much room I had in it, there was still quite a bit of space left seeing that there wasn't too much of anything in the cars.

"It's fine, let's go," he said, gently grabbing my arm and pulling me along after him, glancing back at where the others were, Lori and I had locked eyes before she was hidden by the cars.

"Why'd you want to go collect with me?" I ask him after checking a couple of cars.

"Just didn't want to be around everyone while we talk," he said, shrugging.

"Oh, what did you want to talk about?" I ask, feeling my hands get clammy and a cold feeling washes over me despite the hot sun beating down on us.

"What happened back there? You looked so out of it when you got back to the jeep," Shane said, grabbing my wrist, stopping me from trying to look further into the car, I look up at him, seeing him glance back at the group, only seeing their silhouettes, then glance back at me.

"Nothing, I just, it took a little longer to convince Andrea," I told him, trying to pull my wrist from his grasp.

"Seems a little more than that, don't think you noticed this but I have seen the glances you throw at me," he replied, turning me around fully to face him. At this, I furrow my brows, and I feel my body grow cold and clammy despite the heat that beat down on us. He knows that Lori told me. "I can protect you, y'know, you can depend on me, you can, need me" he comments. I take in a deep breath, realizing he doesn't know. He thinks I'm into him. I glance back towards the silhouettes of the group, I could do this for Lori, but I couldn't do this to Glenn, it's unfair to him.

"What about Glenn, he doesn't deserve this," I told him, grabbing his forearm, my heart beating heavily against my chest, feeling like I am doing the worst thing morally possible. Shane gave a hum, thinking this over, he rolled his shoulders back, letting go of my wrist.

"Just tell him you guys should stop, easy," he replies, smiling a sickeningly sweet smile, "He'll understand, plus, it looks to me you guys haven't done anything in a while anyway," he shrugged, "You can't depend on a guy like Glenn, you can depend on me, after all, you need me, you need me to protect you, haven't I been doing that from the start?" he asks rhetorically, then glances back at our group. "Just, give it some thought, I already know your answer, but think about it [Name]," Shane said, leaving and heading back. After he made some distance between us, I fell onto my knees, covering my mouth and squeezing my eyes shut. Tears spilling out, I muffled my cries to make sure he wouldn't come back, planning to blame it on me dropping something if he turns back and questioned why I suddenly disappeared from view. I opened my eyes, tears still flowing as I looked back at the whole group, minus Sophia. I can talk with Lori about this, but there's no good way to tell the whole group about Shane and his antics, I scratch at my cheek, wincing as a small stinging sensation appears. I take a deep breath in, wiping furiously at my eyes and cheeks to get the tears away, I stand up, brushing off the dirt that's collected onto my pants, and head back to the others, not daring to look at anyone in the eyes.

"I found some food and some medicine, not too much," I muttered quietly, heading into the RV and setting my findings down on the table, coming back out and looking around, not seeing Carl anywhere in the immediate area. I glanced at Lori, furrowing my brows. "Where's Carl at?" She turns to her side, about to answer before she falls quiet, stopping.

"He was right here with me," she muttered, looking up and around, panic set in between the two of us before we hear footsteps running towards our area.

"Shane!" Carl called out, running with a black object to where Shane was working on a car.

"Carl, what happened?" Lori asked, running up to Carl, I follow after, my anxiety calming down after seeing he was okay.

"I found something cool, [Name], look," he said, putting what he had carried in his arms down on the ground, unraveling it to show some axes and similar, "It's an arsenal," he said excitedly, looking up at me and then back at Shane.

"That's cool bud, go give them to Dale," Shane said, giving just a glance and then back to what he was doing, not sounding at all interested in what Carl was trying to show. I bit the inside of my cheek, he didn't need to be taking out his anger on a child.

"Check this one out," Carl said, not noticing Shane's tone, pulling out a hatchet, "Whoa, it's a hatchet,"

"Whoa, careful there Carl, they're pretty sharp," I tell him, standing beside him while giving him my attention and showing him interest. He still played around with the hatchet though, his mother giving a sigh and holding her hand out to him.

"What did [Name] just say?" she asked him.

"Can I keep one?" Carl asked instead, not paying any attention to his mom.

"Are you crazy?" Lori said in reply, grabbing the hatchet.

"No way. Shane. Shane tell her to let me keep one," Carl begged, looking at the man. I glanced at Shane, looking back at Carl.

"Maybe when you're a little older or something kid," I told him, ruffling up his hair.

"Hey, man, go give them all to Dale now. Go," Shane said, putting his tools down, his voice filled with annoyance. Lori picked up the arsenal, putting the pack back into Carl's arms, Carl looked down, hurt on his features. I gave a look at Shane, an annoyed look on my face as I walked with Carl to where Dale was, rubbing his back in reassurance.

"I'll talk with him, [Name]," Lori said, squeezing my shoulder softly, watching as we walked off.

"Shane might have a lot on his plate right now, still not fair he told you that," I told Carl, trying to lift his mood a bit. Carl only shrugged in response.

"He's been like that for a while I think," Carl told me, we waved at the other members of our small group, them waving back at us. We make it to Dale's RV, put the arsenal into it, and head back out, seeing everyone huddle around the car Shane was working on.

"Is that a local signal?" we heard Glenn ask once we got closer to the group.

"It's got to be fifty miles of here," Dale said, glancing around at everyone.

"Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm," the radio said, I rolled my eyes, it seemed to be a very late broadcast, "Help is on the way. The emergency alert system has been activated," it continued before Shane leaned down and turned it off.

"Asshole," Shane muttered, shaking his head and looking at all of us, I held Carl to my side, his arms wrapped around my leg a bit, "Okay, let's get back to work," he patted the car door, everyone dispersing. "[Name], do you have all your stuff together?" Shane asked, right as I was about to head off after Carl left with his mom.

"Uhm, yeah, I always keep my stuff together," I furrowed my brows, popping my knuckles anxiously.

"Good, good," Shane said, looking back at the car, seeming to have dismissed me. I blink a couple of times before heading back to the group, wrapping my arms around Glenn's waist, who turns and gives me a soft kiss on my forehead.

"Haven't really seen you too much," he said, smiling down at me. I give a soft hum, nodding, cuddling closer into him.

"Yeah, things have been getting a little too hectic despite how life is right now," I tell him, shrugging. I choose to not tell Glenn about what Shane did earlier in the day, feeling like Lori was the only person I can actually talk to. He gives a small hum back, gently kissing my lips as we set off together to look for more supplies.

THE WALKING DEAD

Dale was showing Glenn and me more about how to fix the engine of the RV, Andrea walking over to where our small trio was.

"Where's my gun?" she demanded to Dale, Glenn, and I standing awkwardly, watching the interaction, "You have no right to take it," she told him, slight anger in her tone. Glenn gently tugged me away, I flashed a small sympathetic smile at Andrea, following after him.

"Do you think Sophia is okay?" Glenn asked as we looked at the edge of the forest, the two of us holding one another's hand. I gave a small frown, shrugging in reply.

"I would like to think that she stumbled upon some people who were kind enough to let her stay with them," I told him honestly, walking off to carry some food in a crate with him, making small talk as we walked back to the RV.

"Oh god, they're back," Glenn said, setting down his crate, I set mine down, putting my hands on my hips, furrowing my brows again, they didn't show up with Sophia.

"We'll pick it up again at first light," I heard Rick tell Carol, getting close enough to hear their conversation.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods," Carol's voice started to break towards the end, crying. I hold Glenn's hand tightly when he stands next to me, placing my head against his shoulder. Is this what my mom is feeling right now? I can't imagine the grief that she must be in.

"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl said, shaking his head, his voice laced with pity, "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost,"

"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own, you didn't find anything?" Carol begged, close to full-on sobbing as Lori reassuringly rubbed her back.

"I know this is hard, but I am asking you not to panic," Rick told Carol, "We know she was out there. We tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organized effort, Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this,"

"Is that blood?" Carol gasped out, looking at Daryl. Everyone's attention diverted to where he stood, he looked down at himself looking back up.

"We took down a walker," Rick explained, trying to calm her down.

"Walker? Oh my god," Carol said, fidgeting around in place, swaying almost.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia,"

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked, antagonizing Rick.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure," Daryl answered, Carol sat down against the railing, muttering a small 'oh god'.

"How could you just leave her out there, to begin with?" she asked Rick, anger, and sadness in her voice, "How could you just leave her?"

"Carol, he might have had reason to, like walkers were around them, he had to steer them away," I tried explaining, wanting to find a reason that he had no choice.

"There were two walkers on us. I had to draw them off, it was her best chance," Rick explained, glancing at me and giving a small nod, giving his attention back to Carol.

"Sounds like he had no choice, Carol," Shane came up beside Rick, looking down at her.

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own?" Carol asked, tearing up again, "She's just a child," she repeated, now sobbing, Lori having to pull her back away from Rick.

"It was my only option. The only choice I could make," Rick told her, kneeling down and staring up at Carol.

"I'm sure nobody doubts that," Shane said, leaning against the rail, I bit my cheek, he sure sounded like he doubted Rick.

"My little girl got left in the woods," she cried, everyone quiet and hurting too. Rick walked off towards the area Shane and I were looking at earlier, his mind seeming to be filled with trouble.

"Let's go back to the RV," Glenn said, steering me away from where Andrea and Lori were comforting Carol, I gave a small nod, following after him, exhaustion hitting like a brick.

THE WALKING DEAD

"Everybody takes a weapon," Rick said, spreading out the arsenal.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need, what about the guns?" Andrea said, scoffing at Rick.

"I mean, these are the best to have right now. It doesn't draw any noise if used correctly, and they're sharp enough to go through the walker's head," I tell her, looking over it, I decided I didn't need any, seeing as I have my bat and knife that I could use if I couldn't use my gun.

"We've also been over that, Daryl, Rick, [Name], and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles," Shane said leaning against the RV.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea said, giving Shane a look, before nodding in confirmation at my reasoning.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happening to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it," Shane slung his bag over his shoulder, making it known he was ready to go.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side," Daryl explained, I watched as Glenn picked up a hatchet, a smile on his face as he held the weapon in his hand. I give a small laugh, patting his shoulder before walking over to where Shane, Daryl, and Rick stood, "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark,"

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick said, turning away.

"Everybody assemble your packs," Shane ordered, tossing up his water bottle and catching it.

"Dale, keep on those repairs, we've got to get this RV ready to move," Rick told Dale, the man standing up.

"Won't need to stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there, bring Sophia back," Dale said in response.

"Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone?" Rick asked him, glancing at his son, I stood near them, having not been told if I was on his pack or Daryl's.

"I'm going with you, you need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible," Carl said, not understanding that he couldn't.

"Your call, I can't always be the bad guy," Lori said, shaking her head.

"Well, he has all of you to look after him. Even got a doctor with ya," Dale said, propping his arm up on the door frame of the RV, "I'd say he's in good hands,"

"Okay, stay close with [Name] then, she's the best chance for helping you if you get hurt," Rick said, smiling at the two of us. I give a smile and thumbs up, following after Carl, helping him collect his own bag.

"Always within my sight, you mom's, or your dad's, got it?" I tell him, ruffling his hair as he nodded, I spot Glenn walking over to us, giving him a small peck on the cheek, "Be safe, got it?" I tell him, and he nods, kissing my cheek back.

"When am I not?" he asks jokingly, walking off to his own crew, all of us soon making our leave to the woods.

THE WALKING DEAD

We follow after Daryl, a trail being made for us from when Daryl and Rick looked last night. I hum quietly to myself, looking around, the scenery was beautiful despite the reason we were here. Carl left my side, going behind me to talk to Shane.

"Shane, look, dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I was-" Carl was telling him excitedly before Shane cut him off.

"Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia, you need to focus on the task," he told the young boy. I walk back to walk alongside Carl, giving Shane a look, he only shrugged his shoulders at me, as Carl slowed his steps, walking dejectedly.

"Got to keep up," Lori said, ushering her son to walk with her.

"Shane, whatever is going on, don't take it out on Carl, he's a good kid and he respects the hell out of you," I tell him, shaking my head.

"Well, more important things are happening [Name], can't coddle him and listen to him all the time," he huffed out.

"Still, he's a kid, doesn't matter if it's the end of the world or not, he's a child who still thinks there's good," I catch up after Lori and Carl, not staying to listen to what Shane has to say next.

Daryl stops us, everyone crouching at the sight of the tent, quiet settling among us.

"She could be in there," Shane muttered quietly amongst the group, the only one standing close enough to the tent.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl muttered, making his way towards it. Daryl, Rick, Shane, and I walk towards the tent quietly, I have my knife out, ready to stab into the walker if needed. Daryl motions for me to follow, seeing that I had my knife out already, we walked to the tent, peeking inside the tent, not seeing anything.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol called out softly, her voice having hope as Daryl and I stood, ready to attack if it wasn't her, "Sophia it's mommy. Sophia we're all here baby, it's mommy," her voice started to break a little. No movement came, as Daryl unzipped the tent an awful stench came through, showing the corpse of a man inside, having shot his head through his mouth, Daryl grabbed the gun, glancing at me before pocketing it. I shrugged, not caring he took it.

"It's not her," I say, coming out of the tent.

"What's in there?"

"Some guy did what Jenner said. Opted out, ain't that what he called it?" Daryl said, reloading his crossbow. As we looked around to see if Sophia was around here the sound of church bells ringing sounded. We looked around at each other, soon racing to find the source of the bells.

"What direction?"

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure," Rick pointed, we raced forward a bit, losing the sound a bit.

"Damn, it's too hard to tell out here," I mutter, popping my knuckles again.

"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too," Carol said hopefully.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others," Glenn suggested.

"Or signaling they found her," Andrea added.

"She could be ringing them herself," Rick suggested, leading us to follow him.

THE WALKING DEAD

We cross the tree line, coming upon a church, standing on the outskirts of a graveyard.

"That's can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells. Rick," Shane called out, as Rick decided to move forward anyway despite the obvious. Soon he broke into a run, forcing the rest of us to race after him, our bags almost slipping off as we chased after the sheriff. We make it up to the front door, finally catching up to Rick. He motioned for us to be quiet, slowly opening the door to let us see inside, there sat a few people spread out on the pews, looking right where the priest would be. Instead of living bodies, it was the undead, still, in their Sunday clothes, they snarled at our arrival, turning towards us. They slowly got up, not making too quick of moves to attack as a few of us went around to kill the walkers. We looked around, seeing that Sophia was still nowhere in sight.

"Sophia!" Rick screamed, opening doors as we spread around, trying to find out if there was another way she could possibly be arriving at.

"Yo, J.C., you taking requests?" Daryl asked the crucified Jesus statue, I let out a small snort, shaking my head at the dumb joke, or desperation Daryl was coming to at the moment, turning my attention back to looking around.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick," I heard Shane say once I got close enough to hear them talking. I gave a small frown.

"Maybe it's a-" I was cut off by the bell ringing again, we all rushed outside again to only see a speaker, and I give a sigh of defeat, "A timer," I mutter, kicking the grass as Glenn tore the wires out to stop it from ringing.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit," Carol said, her voice sounding far away. Everyone started to follow after, I stayed back for a bit, clenching and unclenching my hands. We felt so close yet so far away from where she could be. It sucked. I glanced to the side, spotting Andrea standing for a moment, I reached my hand and squeezed hers gently, giving her a sympathetic look, and she gave a sad smile before going to the side of the church, and sitting down. I go back inside quietly, seeing Lori and Shane exit, the two of them looking a bit heated.

"Hey, [Name], come sit with me," Glenn called out, patting the spot next to him, smiling as I sat next to him. I give a thin smile back, thinking back to what Shane said. Telling Glenn what Shane did could put the three of us at risk of the ex-cop's wrath, and I would rather not put Lori's or Glenn's life in danger.

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeming to catch onto the low mood I was feeling.

"With everything going on, especially with Sophia going missing, I don't think I can handle being with you like this right now. It sounds so shitty, but I just, I can't right now," I tell him, biting the inside of my cheek as I watch his once-happy smile going into a frown, seeming to have not expected that.

"Oh, oh..." he trailed off, not seeming to find anything to say, "Did I do something?" he asked, furrowing his brows, trying to find an answer to why I suddenly wanted to end things.

"It's not you at all, just with the stress of everything I don't think I can be the right type of support in a relationship," I quickly tell him, not wanting him to think of it as anything else, "I'll always be here to support you but I don't think I can do that as your partner," I explain, trying my best to try and make this situation better. It felt wrong though. This whole situation felt wrong. Right as Glenn was about to talk again Lori walked up, a worried look on her face as her eyes darted between us.

"Um, [Name], I just gotta talk with you," She said, glancing at Glenn.

"Oh, I'll take that as my queue then, I'll talk with you more [Name], don't think you can't talk to me after this," Glenn said, standing up and going to talk with T-Dog.

"Is it Shane?" I asked, my voice soft and quiet so that she can only hear. She nods her head, glancing around.

"He wants to leave, but he seems to want to take you with," she messes with the flannel she's wearing. I blink, absolutely surprised that he would even think about wanting to take me with him.

"What? Why would he be thinking that?" I ask, anxiety already eating, feeling a deep dread within my stomach.

"I don't know, he just seems to think that you are for sure on his side and going with, even after I mention how it'll break Carl's heart if both of you go," Lori explained better.

"That's worrying, I'll definitely see why he is thinking that, I know I don't want to go, at all," I tell her, she only nods in return, squeezing my shoulder in assurance and leaving to go sit behind Carol. I take a deep breath in, clenching and unclenching my hands again, feeling my fingernails press hard into my palms, soon unclenching my hands when the pain got too much. I lost my vision for a minute before I blinked a couple of times, taking in a deep breath, 'Things are getting bad again,' I thought to myself, walking to where Glenn and T-Dogg were at.

THE WALKING DEAD

"Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge," Shane said after a moment of talking with Rick outside, "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area for another hour or so just to be thorough, [Name] is staying with just in case Sophia is hurt,"

"You're splitting us up, you sure?" Daryl asks, making sure that they're certain of their choice.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you," Shane said, trying to convince us all.

"I want to stay too, I'm her friend," Carl says, taking a step forward toward Rick and Shane. Lori and Rick share a look before looking back at me.

"[Name], can you make sure Carl stays careful, don't want him to get hurt or anything," Lori said, giving a small smile at me.

"You can trust me, no worries here," I tell her, giving her a thumbs up.

"Carl, stay by [Name] as best as you can," she told her son, hugging him.

"I will," Carl said in reply, hugging back.

"Oh when did you start growing up," she said, most likely reminiscing about what Carl was like when he was much younger. Rick then walked over, giving her a kiss and a tight hug, the two saying their goodbyes for the moment. I glance to my other side, seeing Andrea and Shane share a look before she glances at me, and he starts walking off. Andrea lets out a huff before following the rest of the crew. I put my hand on Carl's shoulder, gently leading him after Rick, waving goodbye to Glenn and the others as we make our way to continue searching. Rick walked up to where Shane, Carl, and I were standing, stopping for a moment to talk with us.

"Give me a minute?" Rick asked, heading back towards the church, we nodded in agreement, following after him. We stay out at the front of the church, waiting for Rick to come back, I hold Carl close to my side, trying to make sure Shane doesn't try and snap at the poor boy. I stare at the graveyard, thinking about how I used to go to church when I was younger with my family almost every Sunday, despite my parents having been very religious they still allowed us to go out and figure out ourselves and what we believe in.

"[Name], do you think we can talk when we get back?" Shane asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shrug my shoulders, about to reply until Rick came back, seeming to be finished with what it was that he needed to do, "Get what you needed?" he asked Rick, watching him come out of the church.

"Guess I'll find out," Rick answered, walking off in a direction.

We quickly follow after him, keeping quiet, I kept Carl in front of me, glancing back periodically to see how Shane watched the two of us, I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to call out his creepy behavior and cause problems in front of Carl. A branch snaps, stopping us, I put a protective arm out in front of Carl, pulling out my knife and going into a defensive stance. Shane stepped in front of me, we watched as a figure stumble, the trees obscuring our vision. We get to the side, and seeing that it was a deer, we watch in awe, surprised that we were so close to it. I give a small smile, it was a gorgeous sight.

Carl took some careful steps toward it, as we watched him step closer and closer to it. The deer turned his head towards the boy, still standing proud. I held my breath, surprised it was allowing the boy to stay so close. Then a gunshot rang through the air, tearing through the deer and Carl fell flat onto his back. I felt my body grow cold as I ran forward, screaming his name. Shane and Rick yell after and try to help stop the bleeding and see who shot Carl.

#reader insert #x reader #romance #daryl dixon #female reader #rick grimes #shane x reader #daryl x reader #twd daryl #daryl fanfiction #the walking dead daryl #the walking dead show

[lemonbxrry]

Doctor's Orders

ZERO / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN

Season One, Episode Six: TS-19

A BRIGHT LIGHT engulfed us.

"Daryl, you cover the back," Rick said, everyone filing in.

"Hello?" I called out, "Hello?" I called again, louder, after receiving no answer.

"Close those doors, watch for walkers," Shane told everyone. We looked around, lost. Then, our eyes locked onto a man who stood with a gun aiming at us.

"Anyone infected?" he called out, keeping his distance.

"One. Just one of our group was," I answered, standing behind Shane and Rick. "He didn't make it," I answered honestly.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" the man asked, taking a couple of steps towards us.

"A chance," Rick answered him, I bit the inside of my cheek, watching how he walks towards us.

"That's asking for an awful lot these days," he answered. Rick nodded.

"I know," The man just stared at all of us, our eyes meeting each other, he glanced at Rick.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission,"

"We can do that," I told him, looking back at the others.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed," we all hurried and ran out and grabbed our bags from the cars, running back in. When everyone was in, the man pressed on a security system.

"Vi, seal the main entrance, kill the power-up here," he told it. The shutters closed, blocking the outside world.

"Rick Grimes," Rick introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner," he replied. I perked up, looking at him.

"Whoa, we have another doctor," Carl exclaimed, looking between Dr. Jenner and me.

THE WALKING DEAD

We rode in the elevator in silence, all looking around.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked, raising a brow.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself," Dr. Jenner answered, looking around at us. "But you look harmless enough," he glanced down at Carl, giving a small smile. "Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you," he gave Carl a small smile and he chuckled.

THE WALKING DEAD

"Are we underground?" Carol asked as we walked down a long hallway.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked in response.

"A little,"

"Try not to think about it," the sound of our footsteps bouncing off the walls.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room," the room lit up in response. "Welcome to Zone 5," Jenner said, the room is lit up and a humming noise emits throughout it. We all stared in awe, amazed at what was inside.

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked as we continued to walk after Jenner did. I took a small glance at Shane, furrowing my brows, then looking back at Jenner and Rick. "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it," Jenner answered, "It's just me here,"

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked him, holding onto Carl's hand and holding her bag up. "Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them, welcome," Soon a robotic voice sounded throughout the room.

"Hello, guests. Welcome,"

"I'm all that's left, I'm sorry," Jenner said, turning away from us.

THE WALKING DEAD

"What's the point?" Andrea asked as Jenner drew her blood. I sat in the front, watching closely, "If we were infected we'd all be running a fever,"

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here," Jenner said in response, "Let me just at least be thorough," he puts the syringe down, letting out a small click as it settled into the waste bin. "All done,"

"Ooh," Andrea said, stumbling a bit. I stood up quickly, catching Andrea just as Jacqui did. I rubbed her back softly, trying to make her steady again.

"Are you okay?" Jenner asked, worry in his voice.

"She hasn't eaten in days, hell, none of us have," I answered, looking back at him. "Might have been good for us to have eaten before this," I muttered to myself, sitting Andrea down. He looked at us all, realization finally set in at how long we've been out there and how long he's been sitting in there.

THE WALKING DEAD

Everyone was laughing around the table, drinking wine or some juice, especially seeing that the kids couldn't drink it.

"You know in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale said, handing a glass to Lori, looking at Carl, "And in France," he pointed out, setting the bottle back down.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori replied, drinking from her glass. I sat in my chair, having one of my legs crossed over the other, eating my food and just watching everyone mingle. Rick was trying to convince Lori to allow Carl a taste, everyone around them giggling and laughing. She throws her hand up in the air slightly, giving in.

"There you are, young lad," Dale said, handing him a small cup full. Carl takes it, drinking and pulling himself back, a look of disgust on his face.

"Ew," he replied, grabbing his cup and drinking that to get the taste out. All of us laughed in response.

"That's my boy, that's my boy," she said, rubbing his back, a smile on her features.

"Just stick to soda pop there, bud," Rick said, passing Carl another soda.

"Not you Glenn, you too, (Name)" Daryl said, pointing at him slightly.

"What?" we both asked, I drank some more of the soda in retaliation, staring right at Daryl.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get," Daryl replied, picking up another beer, slightly stumbling. He then pointed at me, "And you, you need to drink, haven't seen you drink a single thing," he said, plopping a bottle of beer in front of me.

"Hey now, I'm still a doctor, I gotta be not under the influence," I replied, "I will drink some later when everyone is settled," I told him, putting the bottle in my bag. Soon the sound of glass being tapped against sounded, causing our talking to quiet as we looked over at Rick.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick said, standing.

"He is more than just our host," T-Dogg replied, holding his glass up. A couple of 'Hear hear' sounds throughout the room as everyone raised their glasses or bottle, I give a small grin to Glenn, tilting my head and holding up my cup of soda.

"Here's to you, Doc. Booyah!" Daryl said, sitting back down. Everyone murmured the same and went back to talking.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asked, an accusatory tone in his voice. I sat up a little straighter, still eating some of my food. Everyone went silent, looking between Shane and Dr. Jenner, eating their food slowly. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" He tapped the rim of his glass, looking into the middle of the table. I set my utensils down.

"Shane, we can talk about this later, right now we're celebrating, let's just have this moment of joy and happiness," I told him, slightly exasperated.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move. Supposed to find all the answers," he gave me a small stare down. I just stared at him right back, trying not to feel small against his stare. "Instead we," he gives a small empty chuckle, "We found him. Found one man. Why?" he asked, pointing at Dr. Jenner.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families, and when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted," he stared into the distance, having a blank look on his face. I understood though, hell, even I ran when the hospital was being overrun.

"Every last one?" Shane asked, not believing him.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They," he gave a small pause, "opted out. There was a rash of suicides," I placed my arms on the table, setting my face in my palms. I felt sorry for him, having to deal with his co-workers leaving and the others killing themselves, it felt, awful. "That was a bad time," he looked down.

"You didn't leave," Andrea said, looking at him with sympathy. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good," he answered, I felt a small twinge of respect fall onto everyone.

"I get it, I mean, if I was in a building that could protect me and have a possible way to end this all, I would stay and do my hardest," I told Jenner, we locked eyes for a moment, nodding to one another softly. Glenn got up, looking right at Shane.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," sitting down next to me, holding my hand and grabbing it, placing a gentle kiss. I give him a small smile as we now ate in silence, finishing off our plates and drinks.

THE WALKING DEAD

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here," Jenner said, giving us another small tour as we walked through the hallway, pointing at the various rooms. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power," he told the kids, getting down to their eye level. Sophia and Carl nod, understanding. "The same applies," he pointed at us adults. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water," Glenn turned back at us, squeezing my hand in excitement.

"Hot water?" he asked in disbelief, smiling at us.

"That's what the man said," T-Dogg said, the three of us slightly jogging after him, trying to find a suitable room to stay in.

THE WALKING DEAD

I let the water run down my face, it was on a lukewarm setting, so it was bearable. I took in a couple of breaths, leaning against the wall, my arms covering my face. I closed my eyes tightly, feeling the grunge of everything that's happened come off. I felt a few tears escape, thinking about who we'd lost over the past month or so. Time felt so long and so short like it doesn't even exist now. I tried keeping track of everything but then the days seemed to merge like it was all one big moment. I washed my hair, and feel relieved they at least had that here. Things still feel tense, especially with how Shane has been acting, I don't know what happened since Rick got here, but he has not been his best. I shrug it off, feeling some light kisses pepper my shoulders, I look up, meeting a pair of brown eyes. I smile, giving him a couple of kisses.

"Glenn, I thought you were coming in after me," I joked.

"Couldn't wait, decided to join," he replied, I closed my eyes and deepened the kiss as he pushed me against the wall gently.

THE WALKING DEAD

I sat in my room, humming softly, drying my hair out as best as I could. I look at my new clothes, which were a pair of grey sweat pants, and a cream nightshirt, having my plaid jacket lay on the spot next to me, feeling like it was too warm to wear. I pop my neck, standing up and unclicking a button on my nightshirt, feeling like it was lightly choking me. Then I felt a cold feeling wash over me, I stopped at where I was, my hands shaking. Something is wrong. Something is very much wrong. I began to walk around, trying to find where everyone is or if someone at some point has seen them with another person. Then I saw Shane come out of a room, stumbling and angry, I pressed myself against the wall, trying to not be noticed as he walked down the other way. After a moment of waiting, I went into the room and saw Lori sobbing and holding herself. My heart stopped, seeing her on the ground. I sped up to her, pulling her into my arms as she cried, shaking and continuously telling me that she told him no and how he said that Rick was dead the entire time before Rick showed up. I held her tightly, murmuring that it wasn't her fault.

"Shane told me he died. You told me he died," she cried against my chest as we slowly sunk into the floor. I nodded slowly, brushing my hand through her hair.

"I know. I know Lori, We thought so, hell, I couldn't even detect a heartbeat and I'm a certified doctor," I told her, furrowing my brows, "That doesn't excuse what he did to you, what he did was wrong and is not your fault," I muttered to her, listening as she cried and repeated everything. We stayed there for a while until it was time to go back, making sure she was okay enough to walk, I gave her the bottled water I brought with me, having not noticed I even brought it while looking. She drank it, thanking me softly.

"Please don't tell anyone. Please don't tell Rick," she quietly begged, I nodded my head.

"Patient confidentiality, I won't say anything without permission or if you're bit," I told her, rubbing her arm. I walked her to the room that Rick and Carl shared, making sure it was safe. "I am right down the hall, if you need me, just come to my room," I told her, she nodded in response, entering the room. I walked back to my room after a minute of waiting to see if Shane was going to show up. I sat down on a cot, pulling my knees to my chest and Glenn laid back, resting. I rubbed at the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes and lost in thought. Since Shane tried to rape Lori, this was going to cause a rift in the group, especially with Shane not knowing that I know. I give a small sigh, getting under the covers with Glenn as he turned and wrapped his arms around me, I pressed my face against his chest, trying to calm my breathing.

"We're safe (Name), it's okay, we're safe," Glenn mumbled against my forehead, pressing soft kisses.

Are we safe when Shane is losing himself around us?

THE WALKING DEAD

"Hello," Rick said as he entered the cafeteria, I look up from my plate, smiling at him and rubbing Glenn's back softly as I sat across Lori. I continued eating my eggs and toast, attending to the two.

"Morning," I replied trying to get Glenn to eat.

"Are you hungover?" Carl asked Rick, having a small smirk as he ate some of his cereal. Lori looked over at him, having a small exasperated look on her face. "Mom said you'd be,"

"Mom is right," Rick answered as he put himself next to Lori, smiling at her.

"Mom has that annoying habit," she replied, eating her bacon. I give a small laugh, nodding.

"Extra annoying if it's coming from your mom while you're in med school," I told them, smiling faintly, remembering my mom calling one morning after seeing my posts on Facebook about my night out with a few colleagues after pulling off a good surgery.

"Eggs, powdered, but, but I do them good," T-Dogg said, coming from the corner with a pan. Glenn only groaned in response, I give him a small sigh, giving him some more water.

"Protein helps the hangover," T-Dogg said, I only nodded in response, agreeing with him.

"Thank you for cooking T-Dogg," I said, smiling up at him and trying to feed Glenn again.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked, confused.

"Jenner," Lori and I replied in unison.

"Could you help me, please?" Rick asked, handing her a bottle of aspirin.

"He thought we could use it," Lori told him.

"Thank you," he responded.

"Some of us, at least," Glenn muttered, "Don't ever ever ever let me drink again," he said, looking at me with a small pained look.

"Not my fault you can't handle your alcohol," I joked, pressing a kiss against his head. He only groaned again in response, finally accepting some eggs, his face seeming to relax.

"Hey," Shane greeted, I glance behind me, watching him walk up.

"Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked, trying to make small talk.

"Worse," Shane answered, pouring himself coffee. I take a small glance at Lori as she swallows her food slowly, looking only at her plate.

"The hell happened to you?" T-Dogg asked, looking at Shane with a worried look. "Your neck," he commented.

"I must have done it in my sleep," Shane responded, not looking at any of us.

"Never seen you do that before," Rick said, concerned for his friend.

"Me neither, not like me at all," he said, looking right at Lori. I bit the inside of my cheek, my grip on my fork tightening until my knuckles paled from how much I was gripping the fork.

"Sometimes people do things in their sleep all the time, doesn't mean that it's not unlike you," I responded, we had a small staredown, his attention now on me and not Lori, I felt the wave of relief hit her as he took his eyes off of Lori.

"Morning," Dr. Jenner said, joining us.

"Hey, Doc,"

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing," Dale began, looking up at him.

"But you will anyway," Jenner said, brewing himself a cup of coffee.

"We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea said. Dr. Jenner turned to us, giving a small sigh, but nodding.

THE WALKING DEAD

We walked into the area where we first entered the facility and saw the actual building, looking up at the big screen.

"Give me playback of TS-19," Jenner said, clicking on the computer.

"Playback of TS-19," Vi replied, the screen turning on.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this," he told us, looking back at our group spread out. On the screen multiple scans of someone's or multiple people's brains were on display, I stared in amazement, only imagining what medicine would look like if we had these types of scans available at the hospital, "Very few," then a small montage of a person on the scan started playing, showing their brain and the pale outline of their body on the screen. I stood next to Carl, my eyes wide at the technology.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked, confused and intrigued.

"An extraordinary one," Jenner tells Carl, leaning down to the boy. Carl smiled at him and looked at me back at the screen.

"Have you seen a brain?" He asked me quietly, amazed. I give a small smile back at him, ruffling his hair.

"Yeah, it was gross, you wouldn't wanna see one, it's slimy," I told him, wiggling my fingers at him, he gave a small laugh, the two of us looking back up at the screen.

"Not that it matters in the end," Jenner continued, giving a solemn look. "Take us in from E.I.V.," he told Vi, the computer immediately responding 'Enhanced internal view'.

We stared in silence as the screen went into the hologram of the brain, showing all the billions of neurons that scattered around in your brain, relaying each message that it needed.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked confusion and amazement in his voice.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories. It's everything," Jenner explained, looking back at the screen, I gave a small gasp of awe, enjoying seeing how it's all there for us to see. "Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light is you," he pointed at us all, a small smile on his face. "The thing that makes you unique, and human," he explained to us all, the smile still there.

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked him in a slightly condescending tone. I cleared my throat, looking over at him.

"He means that there's something in our brains that all make us unique, like how your parents always said you were special or similar wording," I explained, popping the knuckled on my thumbs. Jenner gave me a small nod, beginning to talk again, pointing up at the screen.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death, Jenner finished.

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked, walking over to him.

"Yes," Jenner said, sounding like he was far away, he then turned to us a bit, "Or rather the playback of the vigil,"

"This person died?" Andrea asked quietly, taking a couple of steps forward. I gave a slight frown, knowing what it was like to lose a patient.

"Who?" I asked him, looking at him, "If you don't mind me asking," I added, slightly backtracking.

"Test subject 19," Jenner said, sounding flat, "Someone who was bitten and infect, and volunteered to have us record the process," he sounded a little pained, I would have to question about that soon. "Vi, scan forward to the first event," the computer replied. A small beeping sound emitted throughout the room. Then the screen showed all the once light blue branches growing dark and black, I raised my hand to my mouth, having a small shocked expression.

"What is that?" Glenn asked, confused.

"It invades the brain like meningitis," Jenner said, the person on screen gasping for air, panicking, "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs," as he said that the whole brain went dark, the body convulsing for a moment and then stopping, "Then death," he said solemnly, "Everything you ever were or ever will be," he gave a small pause, "Gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked Carol, looking up at her.

"Yes," she said, giving a small and strained smile. We all stayed quiet, looking around at each other, Glenn came up next to Carl and me, grabbing my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, I squeezed his hand back, reassuring him as best as I could. Andrea choked back a sob, looking down, wrapping her arms around herself.

"She lost somebody two days ago, her sister," Lori told Jenner, a look of sympathy going towards the other woman.

"I lost somebody too," Jenner told her, "I know how devastating it is," the two share a small look, and he backed up a bit from her, standing straight. "Scan to the second event," he called out, Vi simply repeating what he said, "The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of the patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds," I watched in fascination as a red electricity-like cloud sparked up in their brain, biting on one of my fingernails.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked, appalled that it was doing something so outwardly.

"No, just the brain stem," I told her, "It's just getting them up and movin'," I explained, my eyes going all over the screen, trying to take as much information as possible.

"But they're not alive?" Rick asked, stepping closer to Jenner.

"You tell me," he replied, gesturing up to the screen.

"It's nothing like before, most of that brain is dark," Rick stated, trying to figure out if it was dead or not.

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct," he said, we then watched as an object came into view, a bright flash going through the patient's head, and watching as it glided through the brain.

"God, what was that?" Carol asked, I stayed looking at the screen, not daring to take my eyes off of it.

"He shot his patient in the head," I stated, gently squeezing Carl's and Glenn's hands, "Didn't you?" you asked Dr. Jenner, looking over at him.

"VI, power down the main screen and the workstations," he replied, turning around and walking away. Vi repeated back what he said, turning everything off.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked, leaning against one of the monitors, then she stood up and started doing a small circle around Jenner.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal," Jenner listed off, his voice monotone.

"Or the wrath of God?"Jacqui said.

"There is that,"

"Somebody must know something, I mean, [Name] doesn't know and she's a doctor, you don't know and you're a scientist. Somebody somewhere," Andrea said, exasperated.

"There are other facilities, right Dr. Jenner?" I asked, hoping that he wasn't our only last hope. He looked at us then back down.

"There may be some, people like me," he answered, swallowing.

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick asked, fear and anger lacing his voice as he stood up to Jenner.

"Everything went down communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month," Dr. Jenner answered Rick.

"So it's not just here," Andrea said, "There's nothing left, anywhere? Nothing?" She asked, trying to hope that this trip, despite it being a haven, was for nothing. "That's what you're really saying, right?" she asked.

"Hey, there might be something, we don't know, I mean for God's sake we were up at the Quarry when everything went to shit," I told her, trying to defend Jenner. Everyone stayed silent, Andrea only scoffed, shaking her head, and Jacqui gave a soft 'Jesus' at him not answering.

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again," Daryl said, about to head off, rubbing at his eyes.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but, that clock, it's counting down. What happens at zero?" Dale asked, looking over at him.

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel," he turned around quickly, not trying to look at us. There's something else.

"Then what?" I asked, he walked away, not answering. "VI, what happens when the power runs out?" I ask, looking around the room.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur," the computer system responded.

THE WALKING DEAD

"Decontamination, what does that mean?" Glenn asked as T-Dog, Shane, Rick, and I raced down into the basement.

"It means to remove anything hazardous, but I don't know why it's facility-wide," I answered, holding the flashlight tightly in my hands as I glared at the back of Shane's head.

"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that," Shane said as we followed after Rick.

"What's wrong with him? Seriously, man, is he nuts, medicated, what?" T-Dog asked, fed up with how Jenner acted. We stopped to look at a map on the wall, and find the area we needed.

"In there," Rick said and we marched down the hall, flashlights turned on and pointing around. As we entered the room I felt around, feeling a switch and flicking it, the room lighting up. We turned off the flashlights and looked around, "T-Dog, Gleen, you check that way, [Name], Shane and I will check this way," I furrow my brows, biting the inside of my cheek, looking over at Glenn, he gave me a small sympathetic smile, not knowing why I didn't want to be grouped with Shane. We continue walking around, finally stumbling onto a generator using a canister. Rick went to move it, almost tipping it over. "It's empty," he muttered, the generator clicked, the lights go off and I quickly take a step away from Shane, almost bumping into the other compartments as the lights turn back on, except much dimmer this time.

"Emergency lighting on," VI said, her voice sounding throughout the area.

"What the hell?" Shane asked, then noticing how I moved, he raised a brow but decided not to ask as Glenn and T-Dog ran up to where we were.

"Hey, you guys kill the lights?" Glenn asked, spotting us.

"It just went out now," I told Glenn, looking at the meter, seeing how dangerously low it was.

"Anything?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count," T-Dog replied, making it to where we were huddled up at.

"It can't be down to just that one," Shane said.

THE WALKING DEAD

We race back upstairs, seeing that everyone was getting back into the main area where we just watched the screening of TS-19.

"Rick?" Lori called down, we all halted in our tracks, looking up at them. I look back to see Dr. Jenner coming down the stairs and watching as everyone followed him, he only walked silently and quickly.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked, more demanding than anything.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power," Jenner replied, "It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark," he glanced at the clock on the wall, "Right on schedule," he took a large swig of whatever he held, handing it to Daryl who snatched it out of his hands. "It was the French," I furrowed my brows.

"What about the French?" I asked, grabbing Glenn's hand. "They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know," he answered Andrea's question from earlier, "While our people were bolting up the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution,"

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here, no power grid, ran out of juice. The world runs off of fossil fuels. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner said, finally seeming to lose it.

"Let me tell you," Shane began to charge at him, Rick and I pushed forward to grab Shane before he did anything stupid.

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care," Rick said, turning to look down at where I stopped after grabbing Shane and then at his wife. "Lori, grab our things, [Name], grab anything you can that can help. Everybody, get your stuff, we're getting out of here now!" Rick ordered, his voice rising at the end as we all began to scramble away. A loud alarm started to sound throughout the room, I duck and covered my head, my eyes widening and tears threatening to fall out, I tried taking in some deep breaths and looking around.

"What the hell is that," I heard someone say, not seeing who said it. Everyone else stopped, looking around.

"30 minutes to decontamination," Vi called out.

"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yelled from where we were, which was halfway across the room, I shakily stood up, clinging onto Glenn's arm.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick, get your stuff," Shane shouted over the alarms. Right as we ran to the doors they went up, locking us in. I stopped in my tracks. He's locking us in.

"He locked us in!" Glenn screamed turning around. Jenner sat down in an area, seeming to be talking to something. We all ran back up the stairs to where Jenner, Shane, and Rick were. There Daryl began to charge at Jenner.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl hissed, wielding the drink from earlier, about to smash Jenner's head with it.

"Shane! [Name]!" Rick called, the two of us racing to hold onto him before he could make it to Dr. Jenner.

"Daryl, don't!" I yelled, holding onto one of his arms, trying to pull him off of the man.

"You locked us in here!" Daryl yelled, his anger coming off in harsh waves, he struggled against Shane and me, trying his best to continue at Daryl. I gritted my teeth, closing my eyes and making sure not to lose hold of the angered redneck, opening my eyes and glancing back at Dr. Jenner and the others, seeing T-Dog come and help Shane and me with holding Daryl back.

"Daryl, I know you're mad, I know you're really fucking mad, but you cannot attack him when he is the one who knows how to get us out," I tried reasoning with him as he continued thrashing around, he glanced around at the three of us having a semi-circle around him, keeping him in place and not allowing him to throw the wine bottle at Jenner. "You cannot be acting like this right now," I told him, glancing back to see Rick and Jenner arguing.

"Well open the damn thing," Rick almost yelled, frustration evident in his voice.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that," Dr. Jenner said, not budging from his spot. Daryl stilled for a moment, before locking eyes with me, giving a small nod, finally not trying to charge after him. Shane, T-Dog, and I released our hold on him, finally going over to meet with the group. Everyone had various reactions and held onto those who they held close. "It's better this way," Dr. Jenner said, trying to convince us that this was the best way to go out.

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asked, getting close to Dr. Jenner. The scientist stared at Rick for a moment before turning and typing on his computer, not answering what Risk asked. "What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick yelled, shoving Jenner a bit.

"You know what this place is?!" Jenner screamed back, rising to his feet and almost going toe-to-toe with Rick, his face flushed an angry red, "We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" he screamed, walking a bit, looking at everyone. "Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" he screeched, spit flying from his mouth. We circled him, almost like a small moment of cat and mouse, yet it was hard to distinguish who was the cat and who was the mouse in this scenario. He sat back down after everyone stayed quiet, fluffing out his lab coat and making himself almost presentable again. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure, a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent organisms from getting out," He explained, looking up at Rick and me.

"What, what is that? H.I.T.s?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"VI, define," Dr. Jenner said, looking down.

"HITs, high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear," the computer defined. I stared at Dr. Jenner, horror was written on my face, and I felt my body grow cold. I took in a shaky breath of air, holding my hand to my chest, and hearing the cries of Carol and Sophia behind me. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired," I feel a hand on mine, looking to my side I see Glenn, I give it a small squeeze, soon wrapping my arms around him, tears threatening to pour yet I couldn't bring myself to even cry.

"It sets the air on fire," Jenner said, not daring to look at any of us, "No pain, an end to sorrow, grief, regret," he monologues, "Everything,"

THE WALKING DEAD

Daryl throws the wine bottle from earlier at the door to our exit, the bottle not even making a dent in the metal door. "Open the damn door!" he screamed, pointing behind him as he looked at Jenner. I stayed over by Lori and Carl, looking at the others trying to break the door down, watching as Shane ran at it with an ax, and just hearing the metal grind on each other. T-Dog tosses Daryl another ax, then Shane and he begins to continuously hit the door, not making any progress. The kids sobbed into their mother's arms, Carol crying alongside them, Lori and I didn't cry though, the two of us having lost expressions. I held my head in my hands, looking down at my lap, trying to think of anything that could help us get out without Dr. Jenner continuing his death speech.

"You should have left well enough alone, it would've been so much easier," Dr. Jenner said as Dale came over.

"Easier for who?" I asked, looking up from my lap, having my patience wear thin from everything around me.

"All of you, you know what's out there. A short, brutal life and agonizing death. Your, your sister, what was her name," he said, turning to Andrea. I felt my blood rise.

"Don't fucking talk to her," I hissed, standing on my feet, and walking to Andrea, gently placing my hands on her shoulder from where she sat. Andrea gave me a sad look, shaking her head.

"Amy," she replied, looking at Dr. Jenner.

"Amy," he repeated the name, "You know what this does. You've seen it, is that what you really want for your wife and son?" Dr. Jenner asked Rick, looking up at him from his chair.

"I don't want this," Rick said emphatically, turning away from Dr. Jenner and going over to Shane.

"Can't make a dent," Shane said, shaking his head.

"Those doors are made to withstand a rocket launcher," Dr. Jenner said, Daryl, making a speedy walk towards him.

"Yeah, well your head ain't," Daryl said, raising his ax and about to swing it down onto the man.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Daryl!" everyone screamed, rushing to hold the man back.

"Just back up! Back up!" Rick ordered as we pushed Daryl back, I turn back seeing as the other men carry him off, seeing Dr. Jenner stand.

"You do want this," he said, "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead," he was looking directly at Rick.

"What?" I heard Lori ask, her eyes glazed with tears, she looked between her husband and the scientist.

"You really said that?" Shane asked, anger lacing his voice. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick said, looking at his wife.

"There is no hope," Dr. Jenner began, "there never was," he tried convincing Rick.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere," Rick said, appalled that Jenner even tried convincing him that there was no chance of survival out there.

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea asked from her spot, she had already given up.

"Andrea," I mumbled quietly, shaking my head, "No, there is more out there, there has to be," I said, looking at Rick, and then back to Dr. Jenner. "There is more out there and you're taking it away from us,"

"You should really listen to your friend," Dr. Jenner said, shaking his head. "This is what takes us down, this is our extinction event," he ended, everyone stayed quiet or continued crying. My hands turned into fists at my side as I looked down, hot tears threatening to pour down my face. Glenn came up beside me, pulling me into his chest for a tight hug, trying to comfort me. I shook with hot anger, anger at Dr. Jenner and for planning all of our deaths without our voices, anger at the world for becoming what it is, anger at myself for not being the doctor I wanted to be. I just felt anger.

"This isn't right. This isn't fair. You don't get to play God because you gave up," I said, lifting my head from Glenn's chest, and pointing my finger at Dr. Jenner. "You don't get to force us to give up either," I shouted at him, the angry tears spilling out finally.

"One tiny moment, a millisecond. No pain," he said, trying to convince me. He already made up his mind.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this," Carol cried out, shaking her head.

"Wouldn't it be kinder? More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Dr. Jenner asked, a solemn look on his face. The sound of a rifle being cocked brought our attention to where Shane was, walking towards Dr. Jenner with a rifle.

"Shane, no!" Rick yelled, trying to block Shane.

"Out of my way, Rick!" Shane screamed back, "Stay out of my way," he pointed the gun right at Dr. Jenner, glaring down at him. "Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" Shane screeched, I stood in front of Lori and Carl, Glenn standing in front of me. I glanced between the two men, not daring to move and grab a gun out of Shane's hands. Rick carefully walked beside Shane, gently pulling his arm.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way we do this. We will never get out of here," Rick told him, glancing back at the rest of us, his eyes softening seeing Glenn and me in front of his family.

"Shane, please, listen to Rick, if you kill him we can't get out," I spoke up, placing my hand on Glenn's back, looking at where Shane and Rick stood. "If he dies you run the chance of us never getting out," I tried convincing him. He faltered for a moment before screaming and shooting at the computers that were behind Dr. Jenner, everyone yelling in fear.

"Shane!" I screamed, ducking and still covering where Lori and Carl were sat at, trying to make sure nothing flew at them from his shooting. Rick pushed up the gun in Shane's arms, shooting at the lights above us, sparks shooting out. Rick punched him, and then shoved him down using his elbow, Shane falling onto the floor with a loud thud. Rick held onto the gun tightly, looking down at his friend. Lori stood up, everyone having a bewildered look at what had just happened.

"Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick asked Shane, holding the butt of the gun up in case he had to hit Shane with it.

"Yeah, I guess we all are," Shane said, an angered look in his eyes and something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I reached my hand out for Carl's giving it a tight squeeze before I helped him up, Glenn checking over us both. After a moment of silence, Rick handed the gun to T-Dog, glancing around at everyone. We stared at Rick in silence, scared to even speak in case something happened again.

Rick turned towards Dr. Jenner, "I think you're lying," he told the scientist, stepping back a bit.

"What?" Dr. Jenner asked, not understanding what Rick was saying.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" Rick asked him after his small declaration. I watched Dr. Jenner's movements, holding my breath.

"It doesn't matter," Dr. Jenner shook his head, Rick took a couple of steps towards him.

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" Rick pressed further, crouching down to look at Dr. Jenner eye-to-eye.

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise," he pointed at the screen, "To her. My wife," he said, his voice quiet.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" I asked quietly, holding onto Carl and Glenn.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could," he shrugged, throwing his arms out a bit and they landed at his sides with a light slap, shaking his head. "How could I say no?" Pounding could be heard from Daryl trying to take the door down still. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just," he gave a small pause, "Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me," he said defeatedly.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's, that's all we want. A choice, a chance," Rick told him, trying to convince him one last time.

"Dr. Jenner please just let us have this one last chance," I begged softly, Lori hugging onto Carl tightly. Dr. Jenner looked at us all before locking eyes with me, nodding softly before looking right back at Rick.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those," he made his way to his keypad, using his ID and passcode, unlocking the doors that held us in here in this room. The door opened quickly, Daryl lowering his ax.

"C'mon, let's go!" Everyone started saying, racing to the door. Glenn and I waited at the door, waiting to make sure everyone was coming. We glanced back, seeing Rick and Dr. Jenner still together, talking.

"Please watch him," Lori said, gently pushing Carl into my hands, I nodded, holding onto his shoulders and watching her run to her husband, grabbing him as he leaned back from Dr. Jenner. He had an expression I couldn't read before I glanced over at the clock.

"We have four minutes, let's go!" I yelled.

"I'm staying!" Jacqui said, pulling away from her husband. We stared at her, I felt my heart crack a bit.

"Jacqui," I began before she shook her head.

"There's no time to argue. Now get out. Get out," she said tearfully, backing away.

"Dog, come on, man," Shane said, grabbing T-Dog's arm, almost dragging him away. We turned away, racing to our rooms before I look and realize Andrea isn't there. I stop in my tracks, Glenn almost falling over.

"[Name], we gotta go," he said, glancing between the group and me.

"No, no, not without Andrea," I said, "Go get our stuff, I'll see you soon," I told him, leaning up and kissing him gently on the lips and racing back to the control room where Dale is standing with Andrea and Jacqui.

"Andrea, this isn't what Amy would want for you," I heard Dale tell her once I reached the pair.

"She's dead, and you need to leave," she said numbly, not looking at him.

"Please Andrea, we have to go, I can't lose you too," I told her, looking at the timer and our exit.

"Time's almost up," she said, watching the clock tick down. I held her hand, tears in my eyes, I blinked furiously, trying to not let them fall.

"You win," Dale said, I open my eyes, looking over at him, and he stood up and sat down in a chair.

"Dale, what are you doing?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"I said okay," He's planning to stay too.

"Don't pull this, Dale," she glanced at me, seeing me sit down next to her, quiet, "[Name], don't do this too,"

"I'm not pulling anything, neither is [Name]. If you're staying, we're staying too. He's right. We know what's waiting for us out there. I don't want to face it alone," he stated.

"I don't want to face it without my sister, I don't care if we're not blood, we are sisters," I told her, holding her hand.

"Dale, [Name], get the hell out. I don't want you here," Andrea said, tears in her eyes as she began to lightly cry.

"No, no you don't get that choice," I told her, shaking my head, "You can't come into our lives and make us care and then check out. That isn't fair," I gripped her hand and she squeezed back.

"We're staying, the matter is settled," Dale and I sat quietly, tears dripping down my face as I tried to dry them up, biting the inside of my cheek. Yet, this was probably one of the safest choices that could be brought up for us, to just go out peacefully. The world will probably never get back to how it used to be, so what's the point of trying. But I still have Carl, who is learning so much, Glenn, who makes it so much easier day today, and Lori and Rick, the two feeling like the closest I have to parents that I could have. I can't leave them.

"I don't want to die here," Andrea admitted, looking at us.

"Then let's go," I told her, standing up and grabbing her hand, helping her up. Dale nodded, getting up. Dr. Jenner, grabbed my arm gently, pulling me to the side, a small look of comfort on his face.

"I am only telling you and Rick this, nobody else knows," he said quietly, leaning down and whispering in my ear, my eyes go wide as I look at him, feeling my mouth go dry.

"You're certain?"

"Yes, but I know you'll do great things Dr. [Name], now go, try and change the world," he said, gesturing to where Dale and Andrea stood, the group already having gotten their stuff. We raced down the hallway, seeing the glass broken from where they came out at. We raced to the cars before Lori screamed out at us to get down. We hid behind the sandbags and huddled over one another as the building exploded. I peeked my head out, looking over the bags at where we were at just a moment before.

"Holy shit," I muttered, helping Andrea and Dale into the RV before heading to the jeep Shane was in, breathing heavily. Everyone started the cars, heading back to where we came from.

"You made it [Name], you made it," Shane told me as I closed my eyes, taking in deep breaths and nodding, I choked out a cry, leaning my head onto the dashboard as he rubbed my back with his other hand, driving with the other. I continued to cry from how much has happened in the past couple of months, finally feeling the weight of it all hit me after that near-death experience.

I feel like I'm going to puke.

#reader insert #romance #x reader #daryl dixon #female reader #twd fanfiction #fanfiction #twd daryl #twd #thewalkingdead #shane x reader #rick grimes

[lemonbxrry]

Doctor's Orders

ZERO / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN

Season One, Episode 5: Wildfire

        I LAY IN MY TENT, staring at the wall. I cracked my knuckles, dry pieces of blood chipping off. 

"(Name), you gotta come out," Shane said outside of the tent, I didn't respond. I closed my eyes and counted backward, trying to figure out what I could have done differently. He sighed and left my tent, his footsteps getting quieter as he walked away. I curled into a ball, shutting my eyes tightly. She was going to turn at any point and I couldn't even get up and see how long that was going to be. I killed her. I didn't kill her, a walker did. I could have saved her if only I was fast enough. I should have been fast enough. I'm a doctor for crying out loud. I covered my ears, pushing those thoughts out of my head. I sat up, looking at the cloth door. I need to do something, anything. I unzip the tent, seeing Andrea hovered over Amy still. The rest of the adults were huddled around each other, talking. 

"Are you bleeding?" I hear as soon as I get close enough in range. I stop in my steps, looking over at Jacqui and Jim. 

"I just got some on me from the bodies," Jim tried explaining. 

"That blood is fresh. Were you bit?" I asked, anxiously, getting closer to the two. Jim bends down to pick up one of our people, standing back up. 

"No, I got scratched during the attack," he lied. 

"You got bit," Jacqui stood and backed up, I stood in front of her, narrowing my eyes. 

"Jim, you can't lie about something like this," I began to tell him. 

"I'm fine," he tried to change the topic. 

"Show me. Show me your scratch. Prove you aren't bit," I pleaded, something like this can't be happening now. He looked up at me from where he was about to pick up what was on the ground. Everyone glanced over. 

"Don't tell, please," he whispered. I took a step back with Jacqui, trying to keep my distance. 

"A walker got him, a walker bit Jim," Jacqui began to call out. Everyone began to circle, enclosing Jim like an animal. 

"I'm okay, I'm-"

"Show it to us. Show it," Daryl called out, having his pickaxe ready. Jim turned around and got his shovel, wielding it to protect himself. 

"Jim, easy, we're just wanting to help," I told him, trying to calm him down. "Put it down," T-Dog came up behind him, grabbing his arms and putting them behind his back. I cautiously walk over, trying not to startle him more before pulling up his shirt up to the middle of his ribs. A large bite mark on his left side, oozing with blood. 

"I'm okay," Jim kept repeating even after everyone saw he was bitten. We stared at him in fear, backing up. 

"I say we put a pickaxe through his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl said, looking at us all. 

"Daryl he hasn't shown any signs of turning yet," I tried to point out, "No fever, no slow movements, nothing,"

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked Daryl, I stood next to him, expecting a yes already from the man. 

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it," Daryl told him plainly.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale said, convinced by what the hillbilly said. 

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick said, his hands placed on his hips. 

"I'm not suggesting-" Dale tried to talk, Rick cutting him off and continuing his tangent. 

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" 

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be," Daryl told Rick. 

"What if we can get him help? There obviously has to be something, I mean for God's sake he is still alive and moving," I told him, throwing my hands in the air a bit, frustrated with how things were going, "Last I remember hearing was that the C.D.C. was working on a cure," I tried convincing everyone who wasn't on Rick and I's side. 

"I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," Shane said, shaking his head. 

"What if the C.D.C. is up and running?" Rick asked, trying to go back to my point of the C.D.C.

"Man, that is a stretch right there," Shane said, shaking his head, looking at Rick, and then back at me. 

"Why?" I asked, exasperated about how difficult this conversation was becoming. It was like Shane had lost all hope ever since Rick came back. "If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they?"

"It's our best shot. Shelter, protection-" Rick began to back me up, Shane interrupting him. 

"Okay, Rick, you want all those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning," Shane said, talking of a location that is the complete opposite of where we are trying to go now. 

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction," I slightly exclaim, throwing my arms out in frustration. 

"That is right, but it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me, if that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there, (Name), they could probably especially use your help, seeing that you're trying to be a doctor," he fought for his side of the argument, trying to persuade me out of my own side. 

"That doesn't help us though, the military was on the front lines of this outbreak," I told him, "They got overrun, we all saw it. The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance," A couple of people glanced back at Jim, who was a little ways off from our meeting. 

"You go looking for Aspirin, do what you need to do," Daryl said, he began to take a running start at Jim, "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem," everyone ran after him, Rick and I getting there the quickest out of the group, I ran in front of Jim, trying to use myself as a shield as Rick held his pistol at Daryl's head. Daryl stared right at Jim and me, huffing. 

"Hey hey hey! We don't kill the living," Rick told him, Daryl turned to look at him as Shane came up beside me, holding his shotgun. 

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head," Daryl told him.

"We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down, go on," Shane told Daryl. Daryl looked at me and handed the pickaxe to me, huffing and stomping away. Shane followed after him, I waited to see what Rick wanted to do. 

"Come on," Rick picked Jim up. 

"Where are you taking me?" he asked worriedly, not liking what has been happening at all. 

"Somewhere safe," he answered. 

THE WALKING DEAD

 I stood there, talking with Rick and Shane about what we planned to do, and what we should have for Jim, seeing that the infection hasn't gotten to him yet. Then something caught my eye. The corpse of Amy sitting up and Andrea just letting it happen. I gently pat their arms to get their attention to look and they noticed, getting into a defense and attack stance. I follow after them as they both bring out their pistols, having, the three of us quietly and briskly walk towards Andrea and the animated body of Amy. Then she did what none of us thought she would do. She shot Amy right through the head. The shot rang through the area, loud and clear as day. Andrea just caressed the now fully dead body of her sister. We all stayed silent. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We walked up to where Daryl was at the end of complaining to Shane and Rick, "These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are,"

"There are no rules," Rick answered, looking up at Daryl, stopping from digging one of the graves. 

"Well that's a problem," Lori spoke, causing everyone to glance at her, "We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do," she finished. We helped put our people into the ground, Amy is one of the last people to be buried. Andrea struggling to bury her and Dale trying his best to help. Once that was over, we began our trek back to camp. I walked alone, trying to think and letting the people who needed to mourn, mourn. Carl walked up to me, holding onto my hand. 

"Are you going to leave too?" he asked, looking up at me. I furrowed my brows, confused. 

"No, I'm not going to leave," I told him, giving his hand a small squeeze. "I have so much I want you to learn and we still have all the time in the world," I tried to lift his spirits. He nodded, as though he understood. We got back to the camp and Carl ran off to go play with Sophie, I made a beeline to the RV that Jim was in. He was sweating profusely. 

"Oh shit," I mumbled, looking through my bag and finding a water bottle, filled with the lake water from a little while ago. I dig through the cabinets of Dale's RV, trying to find a bowl. Luckily finding one, I dump the water into it, grab a clean rag and dip it into it, then go and press it on Jim's forehead, trying to cool him off. His bandage already needed a new change, damnit. I sighed through my nose, trying to think of the best possible solutions to make Jim more comfortable and also require fewer resources. I turn back hearing footsteps, seeing Lori and Rick come in, "His fever is worse," I told them, going back to dabbing at Jim's head with the cold water.

"You need anything?" Lori asked him. 

"Uh, water. Could use more water," he answered, his voice raspy.

"I'll get some," 

"Okay," Jim mumbled quietly. I wrung out the water into the bowl and scooped a new clump of water into the cloth, I think I had some more towels in my tent, I don't remember. Lori left and Rick sat across from where we were. 

"You save a grave for me?" Jim asked, swallowing hard. Rick looked away, biting his cheek. 

"Nobody wants that,"

"It's not about what you want," Jim gave a small pause and looked distant. "That uh, that sound you hear, that's God laughing while you make plans," Jim had a solemn look on his face, already accepting his defeat. 

"What I want, Jim, if God allows, is to get you some help," I told him, a concerned look placed on my face, He gives a small and short smile until his face contorts into pain and he starts having a coughing fit. Rick hands me a pot that sat beside him, giving it to Jim as he coughs blood into the pot. He groaned, inhaling some fresh air, and finally began to calm down from the fit. 

"Watch the mangroves. The roots will gouge the whole boat. You know that, right? Amy is there swimming. You'll watch the boat, right?" he glanced between Rick and me. I placed my hand over my mouth, nodding. He stayed looking at Rick, who hadn't given him his answer yet. "You said you would," 

"I'll watch the boat, (Name) and I will both watch it," Rick told him. Jim nodded, mumbling a small okay. 

Rick stepped out of the RV as I continued watching over Jim, dumping out the old water into the ground through a window, opening another lake water bottle, and getting fresh water. I wrote in my notebook about the last couple of days, seeing I wasn't really able to write about last night. I ran a hand through my hair, letting it out of its usual updo, it causing a massive headache from how tight I've been putting it up. 

THE WALKING DEAD

I was sitting on one of the pullout chairs next to Carl, showing him one of the newest books I got him and for the other kids to read. Then Shane, Dale, and Rick came back from their sweep, finding their place in the small broken-up circle. 

"I've uh, I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no, uh, there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first to admit that. I've known this man for a long time," he looked directly at Rick, then glanced at me. "I also trust (Name)'s instincts about this too, she's a doctor and the C.D.C. probably has stuff for her to help with. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?" he asked rhetorically, knowing we couldn't really say much about the time. 

THE WALKING DEAD

I awoke at dawn, panting, I unzipped my tent and began to walk out. Stumbling out I headed out to start packing, finding anything that I could take and what I should leave behind or possibly give to another person. After a couple of hours, everyone began to wake up and pack, I had a black duffle bag, a small grey medical bag, and my own bag. 

"Those of you with C.B.s., we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane finished, making sure everyone knew what the plan was. I stood next to him, having been told by him that he wants to be riding with me, seeing that he needs to make sure I am protected as best as possible, not really trusting anyone with my well-being seeing as the last couple of times I went out without him I met a couple of bad experiences. 

"We're uh," Morales began, causing everyone to look at him. "We're not going," everyone stared in disbelief. 

"We have family in Birmingham," his wife, Miranda, explained. "We want to be with our people," she held her daughter Eliza tightly. 

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane told them, trying to convince them to stay. 

"We'll take the chance. I gotta do what's best for my family," Morales explained, looking at Rick. 

"You sure?" Rick asked. 

"We talked about it, we're sure," 

"Alright, Shane," Rick said, the two going through the duffel bag with the guns. They handed him a gun and some ammo. 

"Thank you all, for everything," Miranda said, her voice cracking. Carl sat on the hood of the car, crying to himself as Lori stood up and hugged Miranda. I walked over to Eliza and Louis, giving them both hugs, shifting through my bag, and handing them some candy I found while going on a supply run that I was planning to give them later during the trip. 

"You guys take care of your mom and dad, alright?" I told them, rubbing both r of their shoulders reassuringly. The kids all hugged, crying, then they began to walk away to their car. 

"What makes you think our odds are any better?" Shane asked Rick, not saying goodbye or feeling saddened by their leaving. "Come on, let's go, let's move out," that made everyone go into the cars that they were assigned to. I gave a small smile and waved at Glenn before getting into the car that Shane had for us. I stared out the window, my legs propped up on the seat. Just thinking and watching the scenery pass by as we went faster behind everyone. I closed my eyes, trying not to cry from everything we lost. Shane grabbed hold of my hand, giving it a tight squeeze and then just gently holding it. I took a small breath, knowing that I wouldn't be here without him and know who I know today. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We stood in the street, looking at the RV. It overheated and steam was pouring out of the engine area. 

"Y'all, Jim," Jacqui said, getting out of the RV. "It's bad, I don't think he can take anymore," she told us. I quickly rushed into the RV after her, I sit beside Jim, placing my hand on his head, wincing at how hot his head felt. 

"Leave me here," Jim begged. "I'm done, I want to be with my family," he told me. Rick stood behind me. 

"They're dead, I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever, you've been delirious more often than not," Rick tried to convince him to stay. 

"You don't think I don't know?" Jim replied, wincing in pain. "I'm clear now. In five minutes, I may not be," he told us, I furrow my brows. He's right. The infection is going faster at this moment. "Rick, (Name), I know what I'm asking," he told us solemnly. "I want this, leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay? My decision, not your failure," I looked down. 

THE WALKING DEAD

"It's what he wants," Rick told the group. 

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked, not believing us. 

"It appears that yes, he is lucid. He was responding to us extremely well and knew what was happening around him," I told her, knowing that they were most likely going to take my word for it seeing that I am the only doctor in the group at the moment. 

"I would say yes, back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have the answer," Dale said solemnly, turning to look at us all. 

"We just leave him here? We take off? Nah, I'm not sure I could live with that," Shane said, glancing down, then looking back up at Rick and me. 

"It's not your call, either one of you," Lori said, giving us a look. I sigh, heading back into the RV to tell Jim about what we decided. 

THE WALKING DEAD

 Shane and Rick lay Jim against a tree, the three of them grunting. I dab at his forehead with the towel from earlier, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. 

"Yeah, that's it," Rick mumbled to himself, we circled him with solemn stares. Everyone came up to the hill where we laid Jim, each person having mixed emotions. 

"Hey, another damn tree," Jim chuckled, looking at Shane. 

"Y'know Jim, I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this," Shane tried to plead with him. 

He shook his head in response, "It's good. The breeze feels nice," Shane nodded his head, looking down. 

"Okay," he told Jim, standing up, "Alright," he swiped at his face, backing up from Jim.

Jacqui knelt next to Jim, placing her hand on his cheek in a comforting move, "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight," she gave him a kiss on his cheek, standing and walking away, lightly crying. Rick knelt next to him, holding out a small pistol. 

"Do you want this?" he asked him, wanting to not leave him with nothing to defend himself. 

"No, you'll need it," Jim said. Rick nodded, "I'm okay," Dale was next to say goodbye to the man, 

"Thanks for uh, for fighting for us," he gave a thin smile, patting Jim on the leg lightly. Jim only nodded, mumbling a small 'Okay'. Soon everyone began to disperse, I lingered behind with Daryl, the two sharing a look. Daryl turned to leave, walking back with the group. 

"I wish I could say you are going peacefully, but I can't promise anything," I told him softly, squatting down next to him. "I can only hope and pray for whatever you believe in that it is peaceful," I squeezed his hand, giving him a soft look. "Though, I can say that you are going to see your family again," he smiled up at me, nodding, then looked at the sky and closed his eyes. I took this as my queue to leave and walked back to the group, getting in Shane's jeep. 

THE WALKING DEAD

 We exit the cars, finally coming up onto the CDC building. All of us got out quietly and carefully. We hold our breaths, the stench of rotten corpses filling our senses. My eyes began to sting, and I furiously blink, trying to get my tears out of the way. I held my bat closely, making sure I had my knife in range.

"Alright, everybody. Keep moving, go on," Shane whispered to us, waving his hand in a circular motion so we weren't just sitting ducks gagging at the bodies lingering around us. I stop for a second, thinking, 'What if there are some medical supplies,' I shook my head, moving again, 'Someone would have gotten it by now,'. "Stay quiet, let's go," he jogged up to where Rick and I were, looking around. Flies buzzed all around us, flying into our clothes and onto our faces. 

"Stick together, keep moving, come on," Rick and Shane said, the two taking the lead, I turned around to try and hush anyone who was walking too loudly, making sure the kids were okay and that their moms were too. The others began walking faster, almost bumping into one another. A couple of 'Oh gods' were mumbled amongst the group. We were finally at the entrance of the door, all of us jogging up to it. 

"Keep together, we're almost there," I called out gently. Rick pressed against the door, it only squeaked against his weight. Shane tried pushing with his back, the door again only squeaking against the pressure but not moving. Shane began to pound on the door, it makes a loud couple of rattles. 

"There's nobody here," T-Dogg said, sounding defeated. 

"Then why are the shutters down? The only way to have them down is if someone is in here," I told him, looking around the door and down at the other shutters.

"Walkers!" Daryl called out, everyone aiming their guns at the walkers starting to come around. Carl or Sophia whimpered in fear. "You led us into a graveyard!" he exclaimed, walking furiously towards me, I back up a bit, trying to not close the distance. 

"She made a call!" Dale tried excusing. 

"It was the wrong damn call!" 

"No, there's someone in there, there has to be," I tried to explain, trying to make it seem like this was for nothing. Once he got a little too close Shane jumped in between us, shoving Daryl away. 

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane told the man, pointing at him, "(Name), this is a dead-end," Shane said, turning to look at Rick and me. 

"Where are we going to go?" Lori asked, pulling Carl into her. 

"Do you hear me? No blame," Shane told us, Rick and I looked around, trying to find anything. 

"He's right, we can't be here this close to the city after dark," Lori explained, Carl whimpered into her, the boy tightening his grip on her. 

"Fort Benning, it's still an option," Shane pleaded, desperate. 

"On what? No food, no fuel, that's 100 miles," Lori argued. 

"125, I checked the map," Glenn said, cocking his shotgun. 

"Not the time to be a smart-ass Glenn," I commented, glancing at him, giving him an exasperated look.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now," Lori demanded, looking between us all. Everyone begins to talk hurriedly, repeating 'Let's go,'. I look back up at the camera, noticing it moved.

"Rick, Rick the camera, it moved, I told him, grabbing his wrist and pointing up. 

"You imagined it," Dale said, glancing at me and then back at the camera. 

"It moved," I pleaded to Rick, trying to convince him that it did. 

"It's an automated device, it's just gears. They're just winding down, come on," Shane said, grabbing my arm. I tried to stand my ground, putting all my weight down, "Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, (Name)," I pulled myself away from him, looking right at the camera, pounding on the shutter. 

"I know you're in there. I know you can hear me," I called out, anger swelling in my body. "Please we're desperate. Please help us, we have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left," I begged, tears threatening to pour out. Glenn walked up to me as I threw my hand out, pushing me back from the camera. 

"(Name), there's nobody here," Glenn tried shoving me back as I pushed against him. 

"We have nowhere else to go," I pounded against the door, almost throwing myself into it. 

"If you don't let us in, you're killing us," I screamed at the camera, tears falling already as I wiped furiously, looking back at the group. "Please!" I begged, Shane and Glenn, having to drag me away as everyone headed back to the cars. Everyone shouting over each other. I kept repeating, "You're killing us!" over and over again to the camera, fighting against the two men. Then the sound of the shutters opened behind as they threw me forwards, I stumbled a bit, catching myself and looking back, my eyes wide and tears still falling. Everyone looked at the sight, a bright light engulfing us.

#reader insert #romance #x reader #female reader #daryl dixon #glenn x reader #merle dixon x reader #quotev #rick grimes #shane x reader #daryl x reader

[lemonbxrry]

Doctor's Orders

ZERO / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN

Season One, Episode Four: Vatos

        I REACH A hand out to try and ground Daryl, not wanting him to panic even more. "Daryl, I want you to listen to me, take some deep breaths, I can even do them with you," I suggested, trying to make him focus on me. Glenn, Rick, and T-Dog stared at me with worry, not knowing how he was going to react. Daryl just nodded, slowly taking his eyes off of the severed hand. He looked me in the eyes, I took a deep breath in and he followed suit, I held it in for five seconds, then released. He followed with me, I placed a hand on top of his hand, trying to keep him grounded. "There isn't too much blood, which means no walkers came up here. He also covered it so that he didn't bleed out he couldn't have gone far, okay?"

"He's all I have left," Daryl shakily said, looking at me with tear-filled eyes. I felt my heartache at the sight of him looking so upset. 

"We will find him, Daryl. We will," I tell him, promising myself and him. I look over at the group, "For now we need to try and find him, we can't do that if we're standing here," He nods in reply, wiping at his nose, blinking away the tears. He looked over at T-Dog, sniffling a bit, eyes squinted because of the sun. 

"You got a do-rag or something'?" Daryl asked him, T-Dog just silently gave it to him, Daryl takes it and gingerly picks up the severed hand, wrapping it in the cloth. "Guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs, ain't that a bitch. You think you can sew it back on?" He asked, looking up at me. I squat down next to him, looking at it. I probably looked conflicted. 

"Probably not, it's been too long since it was attached," I answered honestly. "If anything we can try, but I wouldn't want to risk it much," I told him. He stood up and walked over to Glenn, opening his bag and putting it in there. I felt a small snicker come up, seeing Glenn look disgusted at having to carry around a severed hand. 

"He must have used a tourniquet, maybe his belt, there would be a lot more blood if he didn't," I said to the others, looking at them. Daryl walked more along the roof, following the small blood trail. T-Dog called me over and gave me the case that had all of Dale's tools. We both headed off after the other three, seeing another door. 

"Merle? You in here?" Daryl called out. We got into an office of sorts, there stood a woman walker, Daryl shooting it right in the head. He checked around, grabbing his arrow. We soon made it into a bigger office, two walkers laying dead. "He had enough energy to take down the two sons of bitches, one-handed," he commented. "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother, Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails," 

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is," Rick said, I shot him a small look, not wanting him to say that in front of Daryl right now. 

"Merle!" Daryl called into the new room, looking around the corner. 

"We're not alone here," Rick reminded Daryl, looking the opposite way of him. 

"Screw that," Daryl muttered, "He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself," I readied my knife, keeping quiet. We came upon a stove that was still lit, and a metal sheet with blood on it. It smelt burnt in here. 

"He cauterized the wound," I said quietly, surprised. Not many people would have thought of using the fire to burn their skin back together if they didn't have the right equipment in their situation. 

"What? What is that burned stuff?" Glenn asked, confused. 

"Skin," I replied nonchalantly.

"Told you he was tough," Daryl said to Rick, "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle,"

"Don't take that on faith, he's lost a lot of blood," Rick said, trying to be his best realistically. 

"He could live for a while considering he cauterized it, he also used his belt so it wouldn't cause much of a blood flow," I tell him, I had the knowledge to help Daryl feel better but also be realistic, "He just needs to find medicine so he doesn't get sick, and wash it too," 

"Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap," he walked over to a window that was busted.

"He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows," Daryl answers, "Doing what he's got to do, surviving," 

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog asks, "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by your sorry pricks," he pointed at Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog, not mentioning me at all. "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard,"

"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards? Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm going to go get him," Daryl got shoved back by Rick. Causing him to bump into me slightly. 

"Daryl wait,"

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me!" He claimed, upset. 

"I don't blame you, he's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine, I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head,"

"I could do that," Rick looked over at T-Dog. 

"Only if we get those guns first, I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay? Plus we have (Name), she can't defend herself with just a knife, she has to have something more," he pointed out. We sat around a small mini-map made by Glenn, with random items used as us and certain items key to our mission. 

"If we got out there as a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look," he sets down a small plastic piece, "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now," he places a post-it in front of the 'tank', "That's the bag of guns, here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl, (Name), and I will go," Daryl and I look up at him confused. 

"Why me?" Daryl asked. 

"You crossbow is quieter than his gun," Glenn jerked his head towards Rick, "And (Name) is also quick on her feet," he grabbed a piece of a gum wrapper and placed it a little ways from the 'tank', "While Daryl and (Name) wait here in the alley, I run up the street and grab the bag," 

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

"You and T-Dog, right," he grabs an eraser and places it down a little up from where Daryl and I are stationed, "You'll be in this alley here," 

"Two blocks away? Why?"

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off, if that happens I won't go back to Darl or (Name). I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me," we all nodded in understanding. "Afterwards, we'll all meet back here," 

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked Glenn.

"Delivered pizzas, why?" Glenn responded, confused slightly. Everyone nodded, understanding finally how he knew Atlanta so well. 

THE WALKING DEAD

The three of us carefully climbed down the ladder attached to the building, making sure to not cause too much noise. I had my knife out and Daryl had loaded his crossbow. 

"You got some balls for a chinaman," Daryl told Glenn. I gave him a 'what the fuck' look.

"I'm Korean,"

"Whatever," we hid behind a dumpster. He took off to the opening of the alleyway, as I stood by the entrance with him, waiting for a walker to appear. He crouched behind whatever he could, trying to not attract the walker's attention. I was sitting next to Daryl, listening. Then came the sound of walking, Daryl got up once the sound got close enough. I stayed hidden, trying to not make it a bigger hassle. 

"Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" it sounded like a teenager. 

"I'm looking for my brother, he's hurt real bad. You seen him?" Daryl asked, his crossbow aimed at the person. 

"Ayudame!" the boy screamed. 

"Shut up! You're gonna bring the geeks down on us. Answer me," he continued aiming, not taking his eyes off. I slowly began to show myself, trying to not startle him. 

"Ayudame! Ayudame!" the boy continued yelling out, it was Spanish, he was yelling in Spanish. Daryl hit him across the face. 

"Daryl!" I yelled at him, the boy now screaming louder as Daryl hit him continuously. "Darl he's scared, stop hitting him, he's going to get louder," I told him, he clasped his hand over the kid's mouth, trying to quiet him. 

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Daryl continuously whispered angrily, not looking up at me. Then I felt a shove and fell to the ground.

"Oh fuck," I muttered, then looked up, seeing Daryl getting hit continuously by two men. I look down the alleyway, seeing Glenn, "Glenn fucking run!" I yell at him, he stared at me and then looked back at the men.

"That's it. That's the bag, vato," the one in the bandana said, "Take it! Take it!" the larger of the two ran towards Glenn, punching and tackling him. I got up from my spot, running after the men, I decided to ram into the one wearing the bandana, causing him to falter. He turned around and punched me with blind rage, causing me to stumble, I felt my vision falter a bit, and Glenn screaming. 

"Get off me! Get off me!" he yelled, I tried balancing myself, seeing one of them get hit with Daryl's arrow. The sound of a car finally came, "Daryl! (Name)!" Glenn called for us, I tried going after them, but my eye getting swollen already. Walkers were attacking the car as it sped off, I watched with my one good eye as they peel off. I felt myself grow cold. They took him. 

"Come back here you sons of bitches!" Daryl yelled, closing the gate, just in time for Rick and T-Dog to get there, seeing the two of us beat up and no guns or Glenn. Daryl started heading over to the kid, I ran in front of him, looking at Daryl the best I can. 

"Don't fucking touch him," I told him, blocking the angered man from him. Rick held him back a little, trying to calm him down. 

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl threatened him. T-Dog was holding the kid against the wall, "They took Glenn, that little bastard, and his little bastard homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!" Daryl continued to yell across the alley at him. 

"Guys! Guys we're cut off," T-Dog pointed out, I watch as the walkers continue pushing harder against the chain fence. 

"Get to the lab. Go," Rick ordered T-Dog, the kid, and I. T-Dog grabbed the kid by his arm and we take off to the lab, me leading the way in case any walkers got attracted to that side of the alley. We make it back into the lab, panting from running so fast. 

I was cleaning up the kid's face with some Kleenex I found that wasn't dirty, only had dust collected on them. Daryl did a number on him, but he'll manage, just a busted lip and some bruising will happen. 

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they were headed," Rick told him, the kid looked at me then back up at Rick.

"I ain't telling you nothing," he looked back down from Rick. 

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked, looking at Daryl. 

"Told you, this little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped us. Hell, (Name) you shouldn't even be helping him," Daryl said, looking at me with an angry expression. 

"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault," I nodded, finishing upon his face. I assumed Daryl didn't kick the kid's body since he wasn't uncomfortable sitting down or having run back here. 

"They took Glenn, could have taken Merle too,"

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle," the kid joked, having a cruel smile. Daryl came barging over, Rick holding me back and I stood in front of him. 

"Damn it, Daryl. Back off," I spat at him.

"Why the hell do you keep protecting this little jackass?!" Daryl asked, confused and angry that we won't let him take his anger out.

"He's just a kid, man, leave him," I told him, popping my neck. He looked at me and then at the bag Glenn had. He walked over to it, grabbed the bandana that had the hand in it, unwrapping it.

"Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" Daryl asked the kid, tossing the hand onto his lap. The kid screamed, jumping out of the chair. I stared at Daryl, exasperated. He tried going to the kid again before I blocked him, staring up at him with a scowl. He stared down at me, then pointed at the kid, "Start with the feet this time," he threatened emptily. I shove him away, turning and kneeling in front of the boy. 

"The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out," I explained, not wanting to further alarm him. Thanks to Daryl it reset all trust. The kid looked at me shakily, nodding his head. 

"I can do that, you don't act like him," he said, glancing over at Daryl with fear. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We get to an abandoned warehouse, looking at it.

"You sure you're up for this?" Rick asks, looking up at T-Dog from his spot. 

"Yeah," T-Dog responds, nodding and reassuring us and himself. 

"Okay," Rick says. T-Dog leaves with the guns, forcing us to all sit in uncomfortable silence. 

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know," Daryl threatened again. I look up from my lap, sighing through my nose with an unamused look. I glanced at him, raising my brows in a 'are you serious' look that a parent would normally give their child.

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know," the kid replied. 

"G?" Rick asked, confused. 

"Guillermo. He's the man here," the kid explained. Rick reloads his gun, looking up at the small group.

"Okay then," he cocks his gun, "Let's go see Guillermo," We all trail behind Rick, I helped the kid up to his feet, making sure that Daryl didn't try and shove him or anything. He tried kicking the kid up but stepped back once I got behind the teen. I gave him a small glare, turning to look back at where Rick was going. We duck under a cut fence, making sure to not get snagged on the edges of the broken pieces. Rick gently pushed the kid in front of him, the teen walking in front of the three of us a bit slowly, Daryl and Rick had their guns pointed out ahead of us, I kept my bat in my hand, making sure neither of them was going to be trigger happy. I looked around, seeing how empty and broken the place was on the outside. The air was tense, we didn't know who we were going against or how many there were, all we know is that they have one of our people and we have one of theirs. We walked for a bit before stopping at a large rusted metal door, the doors sliding open to reveal who we assumed to be Guillermo. He looked the boy up and down, doing a quick check over on his well-being. 

"You okay, little man?" he asked, he had a slight Spanish accent and his voice was a bit rough. 

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal," the boy said,  his voice a bit more high-pitched, presumably from fear. 

"Cops do that?" Guillermo asked, narrowing his eyes at Rick, the boy shook his head.

"Not him, this redneck puto here," he gestured to Daryl, "He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me," he started talking faster, stepping closer to me. "Except her, she was the only one who didn't threaten me or nothin'," he said, looking Guillermo in the eyes. 

"Shut up," Daryl hissed at the boy, then another man comes up with another guy with a gun. 

"Hey, that's that vato right there, homes," he pointed his gun right at him. Daryl aimed his crossbow right at the man, "He shot me in the ass with an arrow. What's up, homes, huh?" the man taunted, fury in his eyes. Guillermo lowered his member's gun down, having a calm expression. 

"Chill, ese, chill. Chill," he repeated, he looked over at me, raising his brows. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet?" he asked, "That's pretty sick, man," 

"He," I pointed at Daryl, "Is being irrational about the whereabouts of his brother and is taking it out on everyone, I promise I wasn't going to let anything happen to Miguelito," I told the leader, "We just wanted a calm discussion," 

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass, and you want a calm discussion?" Guillermo asked, obviously not trusting us, I sure as hell would be suspicious if these people who attacked my group came and claimed they wanted a calm discussion, "You fascinate me,"

"Heat of the moment," Rick tried to back me up, still aiming his gun up at them, "Mistakes were made on both sides," Guillermo looks between the three of us.

"Who's that dude to you anyway? None of you look related," 

"We're all a part of the same group, more or less," I explained.

"I'm sure you have a few like him," Rick tried to connect with Guillermo. 

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl asked finally after cooling off from getting almost shot at. 

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys, but I've got Asian, you interested?" Guillermo asked.

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine," Rick said, trying to bargain with the man, "Sounds like an even trade," 

"Don't sound even to me," he moved around on the balls of his feet, getting antsy. 

"G," Miguelito pleaded softly, frightened that Guillermo wasn't going to try and get him back to safety., "Come on, man,"

"My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point," he sniffles and brushes his hand against his nose, "Where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"The bag Miguel saw in the street, the bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns,"

"You're mistaken," Rick started.

"I don't think so,"

"About it being yours, it's my bag of guns," 

"The bag was in the street," I couldn't argue with that logic, it has been a day since Rick left the guns here, "Anybody could come around and say it was theirs, I'm supposed to take your word?" Guillermo finished, cocking his eyebrow at Rick. "What's to stop my people from unloading on you, right here and now, and I take what's mine?" he asked, the two men, Felipe aiming right at Daryl and the man wearing the blue bandana aiming at Rick, he put his hands in his pockets, looking down on us from his nose. Then more men showed up behind him, each having their weapons. 

"You could do that, or not," Rick gestured for Guillermo to look up at where T-Dog was, the said man on the roof aiming his gun right at Guillermo. Guillermo looked down from where T-Dog was, looking back at us. He gave a small smirk and huffed a bit. 

"Oye," he gave a small shout. We looked up, seeing two men and a man with a bag on his head. I felt my heart stop, my palms getting clammy. It's Glenn, he's still alive. They ripped the bag off of him, Glenn's hat missing, and duct tape over his mouth. We grew antsy, shuffling around a bit. "I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood," Guillermo locked eyes with me, giving the challenge to us. He looked at Rick, turning around and heading back inside, his two men pointing their guns at us and then turning in behind him. They shut the doors behind them, locking us away from Glenn. 

THE WALKING DEAD

Rick placed the bag of guns on the counter roughly, skimming through them. "Them guns are worth more than gold," Daryl said, "Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?" he asked Rick, giving me a side glance. I scowled at him, sitting next to Miguel. 

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree, but you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T-Dog said, his leg propped up on a chair, looking at Rick and Daryl. They already knew my input, but I would occasionally talk about my standpoint on this. 

"You calling G a liar?" Miguel asked, Daryl stops right over him, seething with anger. I jump up and push him back a bit.

"Are you a part of this? (Name) get out of my way," he said, about to sock Miguel in the face. "You want to hold onto your teeth?" T-Dog looked down at Miguel and then back at Rick, who hasn't said a word since we got back.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?"

"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life, Glenn worth that to you?" Daryl asked us all, looking at Rick when talking about risking his life. 

"What life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but didn't. Neither will I," Rick gave his explanation on why he was set on saving Glenn. 

"So you're gonna hand the guns over?"

"I didn't say that. There's nothing keeping you two here," he gestured to T-Dog and Daryl, "Her, I know why. You should get out, head back to camp," he tried to usher the two out. 

"And tell your family what?" T-Dog asked, rubbing a hand on his head. Rick looked up from the bag, looking at the three of us, thinking of what to do. Rick started handing out the guns to us three, Miguel standing up, panicked. 

"Come on, this is nuts," Daryl silently pushed the boy back down on the floor, getting him to sit. Miguel grabbed his head in his hands, breathing heavily and looking at the three of us. His expression was of just fear, "Just do like G says," he painfully tried to convince us, Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog putting in their ammo. I loaded a pistol, placing it on my belt holster. Tightening my grip on my bat. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We walked back to their camp, Daryl having put a rag over Miguel's mouth and his hands behind his back, keeping his hands tight on Miguel's so he didn't leave. Guillermo's men opened the door and as soon it was wide enough Daryl shoved him in there. I kept a straight face on, trying to not seem too panicked. We entered behind Miguel, everyone's weapons were up. I gave a quick look around, it looked like an abandoned garage shop. 

"I see my guns but they're not all in the bag," Guillermo says, doing a once-over on Rick, seeing it on Rick's back.

"That's because they're not yours, I thought I mentioned that,"

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese, all right? Unload on their asses, ese," Felipe said, looking right at Daryl, seeming to only want to kill him. 

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation," Guillermo told Rick, trying to get Felipe to back off.

"No, I'm pretty clear," I go behind Miguel, cutting off his makeshift handcuffs out of an old rope. He runs over to Felipe, taking off the cloth over his mouth. 

"You have your man, I want mine," I said, looking at Guillermo. We had a small starring contest, he then looked at Rick, knowing that he has what he truly wanted.

"I'm gonna chop up your boy, I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale," he got closer to Rick, the two almost nose to nose, "I told you how it has to be, are you woefully deaf?" 

"No, my hearing's fine. You said come locked and loaded," Daryl cocked his gun, aiming right at Guillermo, his men aiming at us now, "Okay then, we're here," Rick aimed right at his head. 

"Felipe! Felipe!" A woman called out, coming out behind all these men was a little old woman in her nightgown and a white cardigan, looking confused. 

"Abuela, go back with the others, now," Felipe tried commanding his mother. I set my bat down to my side, not wanting it to be raised at the old woman. 

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl said, not wanting to shoot her. 

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now," Guillermo also tried convincing her. 

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff," she explained, panicking herself for a different reason, "Carlito didn't find it, he needs his medicine," Rick pulled down his gun, looking right at the old woman known as Abuela. 

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay?" Guillermo told him, looking back at him, "And take grandmother with you," he commanded. Felipe began talking to her in Spanish, she looked back at us, confusion now set on her face. 

"Who are those people?" Felipe tried talking to her again in Spanish. 

"Don't you take him," she began to beg. 

"Ma'am?" I asked, confused. 

"Felipe's a good boy, he have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here," Rick looked at Guillermo's group then back at her, crouching a bit to look at her eye level.

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson," Rick tried explaining. 

"When what do you want him for?" she asked.

"He's... helping us find a missing person," I said, locking eyes with Rick for a second and then back at her, "His name is Glenn," 

"The Asian boy? He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come, come, I show you," she grabbed my hand, leading me to where Glenn would be, "He needs his medicine," she continues again about Mr. Gilbert. 

"Let 'em pass," Guillermo said, dejectedly, the men dropping their weapons and no longer blocking us. We follow her, going up a set of stairs and into a courtyard. I looked around, then we get into a clean area. A nursing home, I realized. An old man coughing and people whispering filled the air. I look into one of the rooms and see a hospice nurse. I blink, finally seeing someone else alive that was in the medical field. 

"Abuela, por favor, take me to him," Felipe asked her, we continued into a larger room, seeing a circle of people and an old man coughing in the middle. "All right, all right, nice and easy, just breathe," Felipe said, handing the man his inhaler. I see Glenn staring at the scene, with no marks of harm on him from what I can see. 

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked him, Glenn, not even realizing we were there. 

"An asthma attack," he replied, giving us a short glance then back at the man in the wheelchair, "Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden," he said, I slipped into the spot next to him, grabbing his hand and giving it a small squeeze, he looked down, finally noticing that we came back for him. He smiled and gave a small kiss on my forehead, filled with glee. 

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man," T-Dog said, exasperated. Glenn gave a confused look and turned to a small bed, we then see three small chihuahuas. The middle one barks at us and wags its tail excitedly. Rick turned to Guillermo. 

"Could I have a word with you?" He grabbed my shoulder too, taking me with and I followed in after him and Guillermo. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met, we walked in there ready to kill every last one of you," Rick scolded the man. Guillermo nodded, agreeing. 

"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way,"

"If it had, that blood would be on my hands,"

"Mine too, we'd have fought back, wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine, what's left of it," Guillermo explained. I furrowed my brows, thinking about the medicine I was lucky enough to find during our rescue mission. I had a couple of cough syrups and painkillers, enough to hopefully last them a couple of months that I would be okay with leaving if they needed it. "These people, the old ones, the staff took off, just left 'em here to die." We looked at them all, I bit my bottom lip, using my index finger to count my knuckles, and repeated after I finished counting the first time. "Me and Felipe were the only ones who stayed,"

"What are you, doctors like her?" Rick asked, gesturing to me. 

"Felipe's a nurse, a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian," Guillermo explained. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We walked into the break room, Rick no longer carrying the bag of guns on his back, and set the bag down on the ground. I sat down, opened my own bag, and went through it. 

"What about the rest of your crew?" I asked Guillermo where I was.

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too, we need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind, plunderers, the kind that take by force,"

"That's not who we are," Rick said.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage- appearances," 

"Guess the world changed," T-Dog said, sitting on the counter.

"No. It's the same as it ever was, the weak get taken. So we do what we can here, the vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut, except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here. they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can," Rick said, handing him a gun and going through his bag of guns. I grab out the medicine I was searching for, finding two bottles of cough syrup and a large container of Tylenol. 

THE WALKING DEAD

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat," Glenn said jokingly. 

"Don't tell anybody," Rick said, looking back at the four of us. 

"You've given away half our guns and ammo, for what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long do you think they got?" Daryl said, upset but also relieved we still have some. 

"How long do any of us?" I asked in response. We all stopped in our spots, panicked. 

"Oh my god," Glenn mumbled. 

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked, angered again. 

"We left it right there, who would take it?" Glenn asked, upset. 

"Merle," Rick said.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp," Daryl muttered, shaking his head. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We jogged silently up the mountain trail, trying to get to the camp as fast as possible. I felt the air have a different feeling to it. Something is wrong, they're in trouble, they're hurt. I began to get faster, getting more speed and ahead of the four other men with me. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes and I felt my lungs burning but I can't stop now. Something is wrong.

THE WALKING DEAD

Screams and guns firing filled the air. 

"Oh my god," Rick muttered, "Go! Go!" I grab my gun out from its holster, shooting at the walkers, everyone in the camp spread about. I grab my bat after my gun runs out of ammunition, swinging it down onto every single one I see in the way of the RV. Feeling an adrenaline rush take over, I just smash my way to make a clearing, barely even breathing as I continued to smack one of the walker's heads into the ground, creating a mush on the dirt. Crying was heard and everyone was breathing heavily. I look around, trying to find any more walkers. I see Andrea over Amy, blood-caked onto her arms. My eyes widened, realization hitting me that Amy got bit. Andrea was sobbing above her sister, a sob I haven't heard since I worked at the hospital when someone close you know is going to die. I walk over to Andrea slowly, trying not to startle her. 

"Andrea, Andrea let me take a look, okay?" I suggest, taking my bag off and finding a cloth and finding a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, I rip the cloth in half, pouring the peroxide onto the cloth, pressing it against Amy's bite. Please God, please don't let her die. I thought, trying to make sure she didn't die like this. Andrea held onto the clean and dry cloth, pressing it into her sister's shoulder, trying to keep the blood from spilling. I was too late, she already lost too much. Amy tried speaking, she gasped in pain. Andrea held her sister in her hands, tears falling fast. Amy gently touched her sister's face, soon stopping her breathing and closing her eyes. I sat back against the RV, holding my head in my hands, shaking. I could have saved her if I was here. Andrea screamed for her sister, wailing into the night. I shook, trying to regain my breath and stop shaking. I couldn't. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. Then I heard Jim's voice, throughout all the cries happening around.

"I remember now, why I dug the holes,"

#reader insert #romance #x reader #daryl dixon #female reader #glenn x reader #merle dixon x reader #quotev #rick grimes #shane x reader #twd fanfiction #the walking dead #daryl x reader

[lemonbxrry]

these guys friggin crushed me istg this is not fair

[lemonbxrry]

New tumblr app icon dropped

[lemonbxrry]

Udon the cat, my beloved

look at him

[lemonbxrry]

Technically! Lunar new year is a thing so I'm not late to post this 🫡 HAPPY NEW YEAR ❤️❤️❤️

[lemonbxrry]

Doctor's Orders

ZERO / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN

Season One, Episode Three: Tell It to the Frogs

        Continuing to drive we finally caught up to where the van was with everyone else in it. I calmed down after a while, and the car alarm finally tuned out from how long I had to listen to it. "This was the lousiest date ever," I teased Glenn, looking at him and smiling He just laughed.

"Sorry I couldn't take you out to something fancy, I know that every place doesn't have wait lines now," he joked back. We then passed the van, speeding ahead of them, Glenn whooping excitedly still. The adrenaline must still be in his veins from that event. I hum, hoping that my bag was picked up before they got into the van. I gave it to Jacqui, it had some books I found at a small convenience store. I could continue helping the kids learn despite what this world turned into. We started coming up to the camp, our car alarm still blaring. We made it up to the camp, Glenn still having the time of his life. We both got out, everyone swarming us. 

"Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Shane yelled at Glenn right as he got close enough. Glenn just laughed, smiling with so much joy and adrenaline. 

"I don't know how!" Shane looked over at me, making sure nothing happened. 

"I'm fine, just a little scraped up from earlier," I told him, he nodded, getting over to the hood. 

"Pop the hood, please. Pop the damn hood, please," Shane said, trying to grab Glenn's attention while Amy ran over to him, grabbing his attention. 

"My sister Andrea," Amy begged, trying to figure out where she is. I go over to the front passenger side, seeing that Glenn was being bombarded. 

"Pop the damn hood!" Shane called out, not noticing I was already on it. 

"Yeah, okay," I told him, I pulled on the button. 

"Is she alright, is she okay?" Amy continued to ask, not bombarding me. 

"She's okay! She's okay!" I told her, grabbing her arms to try and calm her down. 

"Is she coming back?" 

"Yes!" Shane finally got the car to stop blaring its alarm. 

"Why isn't she with you two?" She asked us, looking bewildered. "Where is she? She's okay?" She obviously wasn't paying attention to what was said earlier. 

"She's fine! Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much," I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose. I had a headache coming on already since of how much happened today. 

"Are you two crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here?" Shane asked us, mainly looking at Glenn. "Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?" he asked rhetorically. He sounded like he was scolding two children who got caught stealing something. 

"I think we're okay," Dale tried to diffuse the situation, looking between the three of us. 

"You call being stupid okay?" Shane asked back. 

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source," he explained, trying to get Glenn's and I's asses not chewed out still. "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying," he defended himself after Shane gave him a look, "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, wouldn't it," Dale then got on Glenn with a bit more passiveness than Shane was giving us. 

"We're sorry," I apologized, fidgeting with my gloved hands. I had my regular ones back on, pulling on the hem of the opening. 

"We got a cool car," Glenn tried pointing out. Everyone agreed with that. Soon we heard the truck approaching. Glenn and I smiled at each other, knowing everyone made it out okay. Amy and Andrea ran to each other, Amy crying in relief. Soon Morales's family ran up to him, the family hugging each other tightly. I glanced behind me, seeing Lori talking with Carl, I couldn't hear anything but knew they wanted their husband and father back. I leaned into Glenn's side, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, kissing the top of my head. I hope our families are okay. I want them to be safe. 

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked us all. Jacqui came up to me, handing me my bag, I give her a small thanks and a smile. 

"New guy, he got us out," Glenn replied.

"New guy?"

"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town," Morales explained. "Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello!" he called to Rick. Rick shut the door to the truck, coming out and seeing our group fully. "The guy's a cop, like you," Shane looked at him, trying to figure him out. Then looked like he saw a ghost. Rick did the same, then he began to jog over towards Carl and Lori. He picked Carl up, hugging him tightly, and the family finally reunited. The whole family cried happy tears. I saw Lori look at Shane, feeling like something happened between them both for the past month that they were here at the camp. 

THE WALKING DEAD

It was now nighttime, everyone circling the fire aside from Ed, Carol, and their daughter. I was leaning against Glenn, wearing a red plaid jacket, having the grey hood cover my head, warm from him and the fire that was in front of us. 

"Disoriented," Rick said, looking at the fire then at his wife and Carl, "I guess that comes closest. Disoriented," everyone was quiet, just listening to the fire and Rick talk. "Fear, confusion, all those things but," thunder rumbled in the distance, "Disoriented comes closest,"

"Words can be meager things," Dale said, causing everyone to look at him, "Sometimes they fall short," he finished. 

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else," everyone knew what that felt like, "For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might wake up from ever," he paused, thinking back to when he got shot. I was there taking care of him, making sure that he was having a good recovery time. That was when I met Shane, he came in while I was checking on his vitals and that's when we got to talking. 

"Mom said you died," Carl commented quietly. Lori had her mouth open, running her hands through Carl's hair and looking at Rick, saddened. 

"She had every reason to believe that," he smiled down at Carl. "Don't you ever doubt it," Shane and Lori shared a similar thought, looking away from each other. Lori spoke up, breaking the silence that was now settling on the group.

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta," I felt my skin grow cold despite being cuddled into Glenn and in front of the fire. They told me that too, the only people who really knew I guess was the chief. I bit my lip and held Glenn a little tighter, trying to not feel guilty for leaving Rick and the other patients and nurses and doctors there, "And it never happened," she finished. 

"They didn't tell the staff what was happening, everything started to fall so quickly," I muttered softly, Lori gave me a soft and pained look, not holding anything against me. 

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell," Rick said, not holding a grudge against his family for leaving or towards me for leaving him in the hospital room. We agreed with him. "And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive, I barely got them out, you know?" Shane said, looking at Rick from across the fire. 

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane," Rick told his friend, "I can't even begin to express it," I stayed quiet, it would break him to know his wife and best friend were sleeping with each other while he was presumed dead. I couldn't blame them, though. I would want my significant other to be happy and with someone, they felt cared for. 

"There go those words falling short again," Dale said, having a small laugh, "Paltry things," Ed began to throw more logs into his fire, causing his to lighten up and get bigger. 

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane asked, looking over at him. 

"It's cold, man," Ed replied, not even looking at Shane. 

"The cold doesn't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" 

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once," Ed retaliated. Shane got up from his spot, heading over to where Ed was sitting at. Glenn, T-Dog, and I glanced at each other wearily. 

"Hey, Ed," Shane patted him, he hushed his voice so none of us could hear except for where Ed and his family were. My heart clenched for Carol and their daughter. He got so angry and he took it out on them, I try my best to help her and her daughter. He just keeps making more bruises on her. I just see Carol stand up and take the log out while her husband just sat there. 

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale asked, Glenn and I weren't a part of this conversation. We couldn't help even if we tried. "He won't be happy to hear you left his brother behind," 

T-Dog stayed looking at the fire as he spoke, "I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me," Rick shook his head in reply. 

"I cuffed him, that makes it mine," Glenn butted in with his own remark. 

"Guys, it's not a competition, I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy," he explained. We nodded. 

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him." T-Dog spoke, still not looking at anyone. 

"We could lie," Amy suggested. 

"Or we could tell the truth," I disagreed with her, lying would get us nowhere. 

"Merle was out of control," Andrea backed me up, "Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary," Andrea comforted Lori. "And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's." 

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked, "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Andrea shook her head.

"I can try and talk to him, he doesn't seem to have anything to be mad about with me," I suggested, Glenn looked down at me, shaking his head. "I helped him with everything he brings back and I haven't tried disagreeing with him since we've been grouped, he can't use anything against me," I further explained. "Plus hearing this from a stranger that someone locked his brother up on the roof in Atlanta is not going to sit well," 

"We're going to have a handful when he gets back from his hunt," Dale said, shaking his head. 

"I was scared and I ran," T-Dog explained himself for leaving, "I'm not ashamed of it,"

"We were all scared," Andrea comforted him, "We all ran. What's your point?" 

"I stopped long enough to chain that door," he confessed. That would give Merle enough protection against the walkers, I thought. "Staircase is narrow, maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it. at any one time. It's not enough to break through that, not that chain, not that padlock. My point, Dixon's alive. He's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us." He finished his talk and headed to his tent. After a while everyone began to head to their own tents, I walked to Glenn's tent, which was located a little way from my tent, and he followed after like a small puppy. 

"So do I get my reward now?" he cheekily asked. 

"Mhmm, you sure do," I said, pulling him down on top of me, and zipping up the tent.

THE WALKING DEAD

        I sat where the laundry was being hung up, helping Andrea, Amy, and Lori hang and fold the laundry that came through. I made sure to give Lori a pack of clothes for Rick, seeing as his uniform wasn't going to be a good fit here at the camp. I looked up from my spot after writing down what happened yesterday in my journal, seeing Glenn talking with Rick. He was sad about how they were dismantling his car, calling them vultures. Rick walked over to us, heading towards Lori. I popped my knuckles, I needed to check his bandage. I don't think anyone has medically checked on him in a month. 

"Hey Rick, is your wound okay? It hasn't been looked at in a month last I checked," I asked him, I didn't want to take him away from his wife. 

"Oh, this man Morgan took care of it," he lifted the side of his shirt to show a new bandage, which was kept perfectly over the wound. I smiled, thankful someone was able to patch him up better otherwise it might get infected, considering he was up and moving around all of yesterday. Continuing to put the clothes away as Rick and Lori talked I made small talk with the sisters. We hushed when Rick brought up about leaving Merle on the roof, then Shane came back up on the Jeep from collecting water. We head over to help unload it, so the two can talk. Then the children started screaming. I set down the canister and grabbed my knife out of my pocket, running to the kids. They can't get hurt, I won't allow it. 

"Carl? Eliza? Louis? Sophie? Where are you guys?" I called out, trying to pinpoint them. I felt my heart beating in my eyes, I couldn't allow my fear to overdrive my senses. 

"I got him," Rick said, holding onto Carl. I put Sophia by Lori, telling her to watch her since Carol wasn't here yet. Eliza and Louis ran to their mother, I took off with Rick, Shane, Glenn, and Jim. We stopped, watching a walker eat a deer. The walker didn't pay attention to us, just continuing to eat. The walker got up and turned around, looking right at me. He started going towards me when before I stabbed him in the neck, lifting my leg and kicking him down on his chest. Soon the rest of the guys began to hit him with whatever they had in their hands. I watched them stab him, and hit him until Dale chopped the walker's head off with his ax. They all stepped back, all of us breathing hard. Glenn placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to ground me. 

"That's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain," Dale commented. 

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's why," Jim said, looking down at the decapitated body. Then more rustling came from the bushes, everyone picking up their places, Waiting and quiet, then out came Daryl, surprised at seeing us all pointing or raising something at him. 

"Oh, Jesus," Shane muttered. 

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer," he groaned out, obviously mad about losing the food. 

"Daryl you stupid ass, we almost took you out," I told him, he shrugged off my comment. 

"Look at it. All gnawed on by this, filthy, diseasing-bearing, motherless poxy bastard," he exclaimed, kicking it each time he insulted it. 

"Calm down son, that ain't helping," Dale said, trying to calm him down. 

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "On Golden Pond"?" he sighed, defeated, "I've been tracking this deer for miles," he pulled his arrows out of the deer carcass, "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" he asked, looking up at us, hoping this deer wouldn't go to waste. 

"I don't want to risk the group to the disease, we don't know much about it other than if you get bit you get infected," I explained to him, "Thank you for trying to get this back to us in time," I thanked him, trying to make him feel better. 

"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do," he stepped away from the head of the walker right as it opened its eyes, groaning still. I stared at it wide-eyed. I didn't realize it was still able to move its head despite being unattached from its body. I squatted down, looking it over. Its eyes were glossed over and there was blood from the deer around its mouth. "Get it in the head, you gotta get its brain," Daryl said, watching me carefully around the head of the walker. I stabbed the walker's head right between the eyes.

Everyone started heading back to the camp, I lingered behind everyone, trying to jot everything down from memory. The walker could still move its head despite being away from its body, Daryl suggested it can only be killed if you get the brain, which makes sense considering that's how all life works, I thought to myself. I tapped my finger to my chin, continuing to think about how this virus worked. 

"Merle!" Daryl began to call, "Merle get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew em' up," he said, setting them down by the fire.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit, I need to talk to you," Shane began after he set his stuff down in the back of his truck. 

"About what?" Everyone faltered a bit, not knowing what to do. 

"About Merle, there was a, uh, there was a problem in Atlanta," Shane said, which sounded like Merle died. He didn't, he's just locked up on the roof of a department store. Everyone stared at Shane and him. 

"He dead?" he quietly asked. 

"No, he isn't dead, at least from what I was told,' I answered him honestly. 

"So is he dead or not?!" Daryl said aggressively, stepping towards me. I held my ground, looking at him in the eyes. 

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick said, walking towards the three of us. 

"Who are you?" Daryl asked, looking at him.

"Rick Grimes,"

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there," Rick explained, making sure to point out there was a reason that his brother has handcuffed. 

Daryl wiped his eyes, "Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!" He screamed at Rick. 

"Yeah." Daryl paced around before throwing his vest at Rick, Rick dodging the throw. Shane came in from the side, tackling Daryl down. The two rolled away from each other and Daryl got his knife out, slashing it towards Rick. I felt my hands tingle with anxiety. Rick and Shane grabbed both of his arms. "(Name), grab his knife, now," Rick ordered. I nodded and immediately went for his knife, Shane told Rick to let him go and he got Daryl into a headlock. I stared in horror, we shouldn't be doing this. I held onto his knife tightly. 

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl said, trying to get out of Shane's grip. 

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane replied nonchalantly. Daryl grunted, still trying to get out of his grip. 

"Choke hold's illegal," he said, bringing up the fact that cops shouldn't be doing this. 

"You can file a complaint. C'mon man, we can do this all day," Rick squatted down to look Daryl in the eyes, I stood beside them, not knowing what I needed to do. 

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asked Daryl, Shane tightened his grip, "Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asked again. Daryl grunted in reply. 

"Mm, yeah," Shane unhooked him, releasing Daryl from the hold, I handed him his knife back, checking over him. Choke holds put a lot of pressure on the neck, I just needed to make sure it was only going to bruise. I rubbed my hand on his back, trying to help him calm down from being in the chokehold, I gave a small glare at Shane. Daryl panted, rubbing his throat. 

"What I did was not on a whim, your brother does not work and play well with others," Rick explained. 

"It's not Rick's fault, I had the key," T-Dog butted in, "I dropped it," 

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked, looking up at T-Dog. 

"Well, I dropped it in a drain," Daryl scoffed at his answer, shaking his head. I helped him stand back up on his feet, balancing him. He started walking away.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't," he said, about to leave the group. 

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof, so the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock,"

"It's gotta count for something," Rick tried to make him feel better. Daryl stood there, wiping his eyes furiously. He was understandably upset. 

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him," Daryl started to beg. 

"He'll show you," Lori said, "Isn't that right?" Rick nodded.

"I'm going back," he confessed. Everything went quiet after that, everyone dispersing to their spots now. I pop my neck, lost in thought. I use my nails to lightly scratch at my fingertips as I try and think of all the possible situations if we go out there. I need to make sure they're better prepared. I go and grab my bag from last time, making sure it has items that I know I need, such as a water bottle, some peanuts, and dried fruit. I go over to Shane, about to talk with him about me heading out. I wanted to go in case there was a medical emergency. Before I got there Rick did first. 

"So that's it, huh? You're just going to walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?" Shane asked condescendingly. I watched awkwardly, not wanting to intrude but it'd be awkward if I just turned around and left and then immediately come back. 

"I'm not saying to hell with anybody, not you, Shane; Lori least of all," he started walking off. 

"Tell her that," Shane called after him, Rick turned around, raising a brow and placing his hands on his hips. 

"She knows," he walked off again. I stood there for a second before walking up to Shane.

"Hey Shane, I know everything is really tense right now but-" he cut me off, not allowing me to say anything. 

"Just go, don't you get yourself hurt out there, I mean it. If anything goes south when going for Merle you come right back. I don't care if you have to leave someone else, you come back," he told me, ruffling my hair slightly. He jogged to catch up to Rick, trying to convince him that it wasn't a good idea to head out there, especially for a guy like Merle. I hum softly, walking up to the group right as Lori asked her question. 

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" she asked, Rick looked over at Glenn, and Glenn groaned. 

"Oh, come on," he complained. 

"You know the way, you've been there before," Rick tried convincing Glenn, "In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. (Name) too, she knows how to help medically, she can help us if any of us get hurt," he said, glancing over at me. I nod, throwing a thumbs up to confirm I'm going with. 

"That's just great, you're going to risk four men now?" Shane asked, assuming it was only going to be three of us. 

"Five," T-Dog said. Daryl scoffed, shaking his head and checking his arrows. 

"My day just keeps getting better and better, don't it?" he sarcastically asked. 

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" 

"Why you?"

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language," T-Dog answered. 

"That's five," Dale said, looking between the five of us. 

"It's not just five. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp," Shane rambled anxiously, trying to put his foot down. He was losing his leadership role here at the camp and was obviously trying his best to keep it. 

"It seems to me what you really need the most here are more guns," Rick told him. 

"Right, the guns," Glenn backed up Rick. 

"Wait. What guns?" Shane asked, I perked up, looking at Glenn and Rick, Glenn and Rick never mentioned anything about guns. 

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left, I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just there on the street, waiting to be picked up," Rick continued. 

"Ammo?" 

"700 rounds, assorted,"

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked, upset. Carl looked up at Rick from his spot next to Lori. 

"Dad, I don't want you to go," he quietly begged. Rick looked over at the two of them finally. 

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in," she stated. I stared at her for a moment, finally chiming in. 

"Lori, I get it, you don't want him to go. I know he just got back and you just got him back, but Merle is someone's family too. We cannot leave him there knowing he's there alive, at best, and we know where he is. We can't just leave him there knowing we can do something, that won't sit right with any of us," I finished, looking her in the eyes. I needed to start putting my foot down too if I'm going to be the medic here. I can't let my people get hurt especially when I can do something about it. Rick walked over to Lori after acknowledging my small speech. 

"Lori, I owe a debt. If it weren't for this man and his little boy I wouldn't have even made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him," he explained to her. 

"What's stopping you?" she asked him, wiping her nose a bit. 

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer,"

"These are our walkies?" Shane asked, contemplating. I tapped my foot anxiously, I felt like we were wasting time talking about this. We either go or don't. 

"Yeah."

"So use the C.B., what's wrong with that?" Andrea suggested. 

"The C.B.'s fine, it's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars," Shane explained to Andrea. 

"I need that bag," Rick told Lori again, she finally seemed to give in. Rick then checked in with Carl, making sure to reassure his son. 

THE WALKING DEAD

"Rumor is you have bolt cutters," Rick said to Dale, walking over to the man. 

"Maybe," Dale said, looking at the three of us. I gave Jim and him a small wave. 

"Yeah, we get to that roof, though, we'll need to cut that chain and the handcuffs," T-Dog told Dale, the man leaning up right now. 

"I never like lending tools. The last time I did, and yes, I am talking about you," he pointed at T-Dog, "let's just say your bag of guns wasn't the only bag that was dropped. My tools got left behind with Merle," 

"We'll bring your tools back Dale, I will personally bring them back to you," I tell him, showing my bag. "I can carry them in here if needed, I will make sure they come back,"

"Think of the bolt cutters as an investment," Rick said.

"I'm holding you to that (Name), and that sounds more a gamble," he muttered, going to get the bolt cutters. Before handing them off to T-Dog he looks up at Rick, "What do I get in return?" he asked. 

"What do you want?" 

"How about one of those guns you bring back? My pick," he said. Rick thought for a second, nodding. 

"Done,"

"Dale, let's sweeten the deal a little bit," Jim said, looking over at the van. "Now that cube van of yours," 

"What about it?" Rick asked, trying to figure out what he is planning. 

"The R.V.'s radiator hose is shot. That's a problem if we need to get somewhere and wanna get very far. And the hose on that van is just about a perfect match, well, enough that I can make it fit," he told Rick. 

"I'll tell you what, we get back, you can strip that van down to the bare metal," Rick told him, accepting the proposal. Then the truck horn sounded. 

"Come on, let's go!" Daryl said, pacing around the back of the van. I grab the bolt cutters, putting them in my backpack, and heading up to try and lessen Daryl's anxiety. Maybe I can find a pharmacy and get some meds, that might help even relieve my tension with the fact we have little to no medical supplies. I sat in the back with Daryl and T-Dog, a silence amongst us. Then we headed off, I sat looking at my pocket watch, running my thumb over the glass as the hands of the clock didn't move, the batteries have died long before this mess even started, feeling a bit saddened at the fact I couldn't contact my family. At least I had this, it made days easier knowing it's on me or at least in the area. I put the watch back in my pocket, making sure the chain was looped through my pants belt loop. 

THE WALKING DEAD

"He'd better be okay," Daryl said, "It's my only word on the matter," he told T-Dog. 

"I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us," T-Dog reassured Daryl. Glenn stops the van, looking back at us. 

"We walk from here," he turns off the van. We all get out, making sure our weapons were out, jogging to get inside the city. We got to a chain-link fence, Glenn opening it up and allowing us to all go through. 

"Merle first or guns?" Rick turned, looking at us all. 

"Merle! We ain't having this conversation," Daryl said, looking at Rick with a look of shock. 

"We are," Rick said sympathetically, "You know the geography, it's your call," he looked at Glenn. 

"Merle's closest, the guns would mean doubling back," Glenn said, leading us, "Merle first," he repeated. We crept into the building quietly, seeing a woman walker, Daryl readied his crossbow. 

"Damn. You are one ugly skank," he fired, getting her right in the forehead. We continued scanning the first floor, I spotted some shirts that I missed, tossing them into my bag, making sure they didn't cover the bolt cutter. We race up the stairs, I was behind Rick and Glenn with the box cutters, my knife in my other hand to ensure that I wasn't defenseless. We all make it to the door, seeing it was still locked. I lift the cutters, snapping the chains right off. Daryl kicked the door open right as the chain fell, all of us heading right onto the roof. 

"Merle! Merle!" Daryl called, racing to his spot, we looked in shock and horror and devastation. "No! No!" Daryl cried, pacing around in his spot, wanting to stay looking and also not wanting to. There in his place was a bloody hacksaw, a hand, and a bloody handcuff.

[lemonbxrry]

Doctor's Orders

ZERO / ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN /

Season One, Episode Two: Guts

       WE SAT AROUND WAITING for anything to come from Glenn, watching the walkie-talkie with such intensity that I was sure something was going to happen. I fidgeted with my fingers, gnawing on my bottom lip, now staring at the floor with large intensity. I needed him to come back in one piece. He has to come back. Then the crack of the walkie-talkie came to life with Glenn's voice. 

"I'm back, Got a guest plus four geeks in the alley," Morales and T-Dog raced to the door, waiting for the arrival of Glenn and the newcomer. Andrea was pissed, she already had that energy once she heard about the zombies, pacing around and muttering profanities under her breath. I raced after Morales and T-Dog holding the door open for the four of them, Glenn and the officer, raced past me, followed by T-Dog and Morales. Closing the door and making it closed all the way I follow after the two of them, coming in right as Andrea shoved the officer against the cabinet, pointing the gun at him. 

"You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you," she hissed, he was defenseless, holding his hands up, everyone staring at Andrea. I stood by Glenn, looking at the officer, scrunching my brows in thought. I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't bring myself to exactly remember from where.

"Just chill out, Andrea, back off," Morales said, tired-looking, taking off his protective gear. Jacqui neared Andrea, looking at her with fear for herself and the newcomer. 

"Come on, ease up," she said, Andrea continuing to aim the gun at the newcomer. Andrea glanced at Jacqui and then back at the officer.

"Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole," she hissed out in anger. Morales walked up to her finally getting out of the gear. 

"Andrea, I said back the hell off," there was a small staring contest. Glenn and I watched in fear of how one of our friends turned so angry, and the fear she might attract other walkers. After a while of heavy breathing, she finally put it away, nearly sobbing. 

"We're dead, all of us, because of you," she looked at the officer, shaking. 

"I don't understand, " he said, Morales grabbed the officer dragging him to the side. 

"Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies," he dragged him to the front of the store, all of us following after the pair. I grabbed Glenn's hand, squeezing it while looking at everyone with fear. "You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! Do you know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and sneaking out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral," he angrily pointed at the doors that now had multiple zombies knocking on the door, hungry. 

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds," T-Dogg began to rag on the officer, and all of us stare at the door. I bite my bottom lip, Glenn squeezing my hand tightly, looking down at me to try and comfort me. 

"You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea said, finally calmed down from earlier. 

"Do you get the picture now?" Morales asked. We back away after noticing the walker with a brick, hiding behind the racks of clothes. 

"What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked him, I finally took notice of his name tag. Rick. He was the one who I took care of at the hospital. 

"I was trying to flag the helicopter," Rick tried explaining, we stared at him in disbelief. 

"Helicopter? Man, that's crap," T-Dog said, "Ain't no damn helicopter,"

"You were chasing a hallucination," Jacqui said, trying to sound as gentle as possible. "Imagining things, it happens," she tried to reason. 

"I saw it," Rick stated, looking doubtful but regaining his confidence. Everyone looked doubtful. 

"Hey T-Dog, try that C.B., can you contact the others?" T-Dog got onto the controller, trying to gain a connection. 

"Others? The refugee center?" Rick asked, I looked at him, disbelief on my face. 

"No, we aren't with the refugee center, there isn't one," I tried explaining as calmly as possible. How long has he been out there? He doesn't even know anything that has been happening. 

"I got no signal, maybe the roof," T-Dog said, frustrated with not being able to contact anyone. Then we heard gunshots, I glanced back at the doors. 

"Oh no, is that Dixon?" Andrea said, exasperated, everyone exclaiming their own things. Everyone racing to head to the roof. "That maniac is going to get us all killed," We continued running up to the roof where we see Merle shooting. Morales in the lead already starts yelling at him. 

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!" Morales said, looking at the man in disbelief and lividly. Merle laughed and shot again in response, "Oh jeez," I mutter, already feeling the stress gnaw at me. I really shouldn't have come as Shane said. As everyone continued yelling at him he turned around. 

"Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun!" he yelled back out to them. He hopped off the ledge, walking toward us, "Only common sense," 

"Man you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog yelled, running at him as Merle just laughs. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill!" T-Dog pleaded, and I popped my knuckles, watching the exchange. 

"Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you?" Merle said dangerously, sizing himself up against T-Dog. 

"Hey, (Name), let's come over here, I don't want you to see this," Glenn said, moving me away from the fight. I follow after him, hidden behind the stairway, "Are you okay?" he asked, holding my face in his hands, rubbing small circles with his thumbs to calm me down. I nod, taking a deep breath. 

"First time I ever come out and we're about to die cause of Merle's psychotic ass, I wasn't really expecting this," I answered honestly. He frowned, shaking his head. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't want this to happen, especially to you," 

"You're fine, you didn't make this happen," I told him, hugging him around the waist. He hugged me back just as tight, rubbing small circles into my back. "We're going to get out of here just fine, and we're gonna do something to celebrate that," I said, picking my head up from his chest, and giving him a small wink. Then yelling ensued, and the two of us ran back, seeing Merle pinning T-Dog down with a gun pointed at him. My grip on Glenn's armed tightened. After a few seconds which felt like hours, Merle just spat on him, getting back up. 

"We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, talk about who's in charge here," he said, aiming the gun at everyone. I glanced back at T-Dog, I needed to see what the hell Merle did to him. I cannot have someone die or be in critical condition because Merle's a racist asshole. "I vote me. Anyone else?" Merle said confidently, mocking us all.  "Huh? Democracy time y'all," I darted for T-Dog, Jacqui, Andrea, and Glenn helping me drag him away and to help him up while I checked for anything too bad. I grabbed a rag from my bag and a water bottle, dotting the rag with the water, and began to clean up the blood that was on his face. Merle continued his rant of power, "Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh?" Morales leaned against the wall, still catching his breath from when Merle punched him. "Come on, let's see 'em," he taunted, raising his free hand. No one replied or moved to raise their hands or disagree, my back was to him, continuing to tend to T-Dog. 

"You just might be severely bruised, I won't know until we are back with the others," I explained, giving him the water from earlier to make him drink. I looked up at the others to see their hands up, I knit my brows in worry, raising my hand too to 'vote'. He had a gun pointed at us for fucks sake. 

"Yeah that's good, now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah, anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?" 

"Merle put the gun down, you don't need to make us vote this way," I tried reasoning, turning around to face him. I was on my knees since I was tending to T-Dog. 

"You look awful good bein' on your knees there (Name)," he said, smirking and eyeing me up and down. I scowled, then saw Rick come up behind him. 

"For your answer earlier, yeah," Merle turns around only to be smacked in the face with the end of a gun, knocking him down. Rick got on his chest, putting a handcuff on Merle's hand and the other one on a pipe. 

"Who the hell are you man?" Merle groaned out as Rick propped him up.

"Your friendly neighborhood cop," Rick replied sarcastically, "Look here, Merle, things are different now. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white trash. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart," Rick told him. 

Merle gave a pissed look, "Screw you man," he said in retaliation. 

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point," Rick said, sounding like he was scolding a child.

"Yeah? Well screw you twice," 

Rick pulled the same move Merle did to us, pointing the gun right at his head, "Ought to be polite to a man with a gun," he cocked the gun. "Only common sense." I looked back at T-Dog, then back at Merle and Rick.

"You wouldn't, you're a cop," Merle confessed to him.

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose," Rick told Merle, "I'll give you a moment to think about that," he pats Merle down, finding a tube of coke in his pocket. "You got some on your nose there," 

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" He laughed, "Hey! What are you doing? Man, that was my stuff!" Merle yelled as Rick tossed it over the edge. Merle began yelling even more at Rick, angry that he was cuffed and his stash was gone. I stayed with the others as Morales went to go talk to Rick, looking at Glenn with worry. 

"We need to find out a way to leave, and soon. That glass could break at any minute, and we definitely need T-Dog here to get to the camp where I can check on him better," I explained. After a few minutes of resting and T-Dog resting he got back to work on the C.B. trying to get a connection again. 

"How's that signal?" Morales asked, T-Dog huffed, shaking his head. 

"Like Dixon's brain, weak," he said, glaring at the man chained across from him. 

"Keep trying," Morales said, Andrea looked over at him.

"Why? There's nothing they can do," she leaned back from the curb of the wall, "Not a damn thing," I looked over the edge at the number of walkers surrounding the entrance. Tapping my finger on the pavement. Damn, I miss listening to music, I thought to myself, bored. We have been up in the building for a good hour or so. 

"Got some people outside the city is all, there's no refugee center, that's a pipe dream," Morales explained to Rick. Rick looked down at us all from his position, squinting cause of the sun's rays. 

"She's right, it's up to us to find a way out," he said, trying to lift our spirits about being surrounded by walkers. 

Merle scoffed, "Good luck with that, these streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear," I walked over to the bag to help Andrea organize the container of tools, finding a hammer I put it in my back pocket, hoping it'll be useful if needed. Merle smirked at Andrea and me, eyeing us up and down, "Ain't that right, sugar tits?" I roll my eyes, ignoring him. I didn't need to get into a physical fight with a hick. "Hey, honeybunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies?" he asked me. I look up at him, with a disgusted face. 

"I would rather have sex with a walker than have sex with you," I told him flatly. Glenn stifled a laugh with a cough, looking away from me, I looked back up at him having a small smile. Standing back up and making sure the hammer doesn't slip from my pocket. 

"Rug muncher, I figured as much," Merle said, mad at the fact that I wouldn't give him the time of day. 

"Street's aren't safe, now there's an understatement," Morales said, glancing down. 

"Why not under the streets? Through the sewers," Rick suggested. All of us glanced up at him, hearing some news that might really help us out right now. 

"Oh man, hey Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?" Morales asked, Glenn jumped up from where he was sitting and ran across the roof careful not to trip. He stayed looking around, soon running back over towards us. 

"No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are," Glenn said, looking defeated. 

"Maybe not, old building like this built in the '20s. Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements," Jacqui explained, Glenn looked at her confused, like she said it was an average fun fact of the day she just knew. 

"How do you know that?" he asked. 

"It's my job, was. I worked in the city zoning office," she told Glenn, looking over at Rick. We then headed back down, leaving Merle and T-Dog up on the roof. Hopefully, T-Dog doesn't murder him, Daryl would be pissed. We went down into the basement, finding a ladder leading down into a hole. 

"This is it? Are you sure?" Rick asked, looking at everyone. 

"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here. It's the only thing in the building that goes down," Glenn said, shining his flashlight down, all of us looking down. "But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" he asked, staring down while the rest of us looked up at him. He didn't hear anyone confirm and saw all of us staring at him. His face fell, "Oh. Great." He said sarcastically. 

"We'll be right behind you," Andrea began, trying to reassure him. 

"No, you won't, not you," Glenn said quickly, looking at her in disbelief. 

"Why not? You think I can't?" Andrea asked, frustrated. I stayed quiet, it wasn't my fight but if she tried anything on him I would make it my fight.

"I wasn't," Glenn began, mumbling now. 

"Speak your mind," Rick told him, he had a way with us that made us feel confident in what we were doing. Kind of like Shane, when he wasn't in a mood. 

"Look, until now, I always came here by myself, in and out, grab a few things, no problem. The first time I bring a group everything goes to hell. No offense," he said, trying to make him seem less of a bad guy. "If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine, but only if we do it my way," he finished, finally taking charge of the group. "It's tight down there, if I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me and getting me killed," he explained. "I'll take one person, not you either," he told Rick, "You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass." Rick nodded his head, understanding completely. "(Name), you're the only one with medical knowledge, I can't take you either, and you've got the only other gun so you should go with him," he told Andrea. He pointed at Morales, "You be my wingman, Jacqui stays here with (Name). Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry." I nod and Jacqui confirms it. 

"Okay, everybody knows their jobs," Rick said, finalizing the decision that was made for us. He pats Glenn's back before he began his descent down the stairs. I grab his face, pressing a soft kiss against his cheek. 

"You better not die on me dumbass," I told him, he just smiled at me, a small twinkle in his eyes. He climbed down the ladder, Morales following after him. Jacqui and I stood, watching. 

"You know you two would make a good couple, why don't you make it official?" she asked, I look up at her, having a faint blush. 

"It seems tough to be in a relationship during this whole, infestation. I don't want him to be worried about me, plus, it seems tough on people who have kids or something, I don't want to do that to Glenn," I answer honestly, "I would love to be with him, I just don't want either of us losing each other in case something ever did happen," Jacqui nodded, understanding what I was trying to say. We stayed quiet for the rest of the time, waiting for anything to happen. Glenn and Morales came up after a couple of minutes, not looking too happy. Then we heard glass breaking, everyone booked to the front of the store to see the walkers get through the first set of doors. 

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked Morales and Glenn, holding his gun up and watching the walkers. 

"Not a way out," Morales shook his head. 

"We need to find a way, and soon," Andrea said, all of us standing there and watching the walkers bang continuously on the door. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We all came back up onto the roof to scope out if there was another way we could have gone, thunder rumbling off in the distance. Rick handed the binoculars down to Morales looking down at us all from the line we formed. 

"That construction site, those trucks, they always keep eyes on hand," Rick explained, we looked back down towards the street, seeing the horde dispersed out more in the street. 

"You'll never make it past the walkers," Morales said, defeated. Rick looked over at Glenn. 

"You got me out of that tank," he reminded Glenn, I looked up at him with widened eyes. Not believing that Glenn was that close to him. He could've gotten hurt or killed. 

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted," Glenn said, walking around. 

"Can we distract them again?"

"Right. Listen to him. He's onto something," Merle piped in, we called and looked at him, expecting to hear a stupid remark. "A diversion, like on "Hogan's Heroes"," he said. Jacqui scoffed shaking her head.

"God, give it a rest," she told him

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick asked, looking at Merle and then back at us. 

Glenn popped up, "Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come,". 

"What else?"

"Aside from them hearing you, they can see you, smell you. If they do catch you they will eat you," I answered. "We don't look or smell like them, they will notice us quickly." 

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked me, confused. 

"Can't you smell them?" I questioned back. 

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct," Andrea answered. We're going to smell dead if we don't get any of those body supplies, I thought to myself, stifling a small laugh. Rick pondered for a bit, looking up at Glenn and me. 

THE WALKING DEAD

We were back down in the basement, Rick grabbing gloves and plastic bags. We stared at him with slight fear at what he wanted to attempt. 

"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this one would take the gold," Glenn said humorlessly. I punch his arm lightly, trying to lighten him up from what might happen. Rick continued grabbing anything he deemed would work for his plan. 

"He's right. Just stop, okay? Take some time to think this through," Morales tried reasoning with Rick. 

"How much time? They already got through one set of doors," Rick told him, "That glass won't hold forever." He tossed a pile at Glenn and then a pile at me. I caught mine barely and Glenn caught his pile just fine, looking down at his pile with a sigh.

Morales and Rick run out into the back of the alleyway, grabbing one of the walkers that they killed earlier, and dragging him in. We all stood in a circle over the corpse, Rick having a safety helmet on. He used the crowbar and broke into the case that held the emergency ax for the building. We all stared down at the body, unsure of what to do. Glenn looked away right as Rick got a small running start with the ax about to drop it down onto the corpse. Rick stopped himself, taking off the helmet and throwing the ax down, being to pat the dead man's body. He found a wallet in his pocket, opened it, and looked at what was inside. 

"Wayne Dunlap," he said, looking up at us. "Georgia license. Born in 1979," he handed the license to Glenn and me. The two of us looked at it for a while, I put it in my bag. I was going to write down who he was in my journal when we get back. "He had $28 in his pocket when he died, and a picture of a pretty girl," Andrea looked like she was going to cry, I squeezed her hand in reassurance, hoping to let her know that she isn't alone. "With love, from Rachel," Rick read what was on the back of the photo. "He used to be like us, worrying about bills, or the rent or the super bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne," he stood back up, handing me the wallet, which I then put the license back in and put away in my backpack. He picked the helmet and ax back up. 

"One more thing," Glenn said, looking around at everyone, "He was an organ donor,". We stared at him, I felt a small smile. It was something so useless during this time but felt so reassuring. After a minute Rick raised this ax and swung it down, hard. Everyone winced at hearing the sound of flesh tearing and squishing. The smell was awful but I got used to it after watching countless surgeries while in medical school. Rick continued swinging, tearing the corpse apart. Wayne's guts are now exposed to everyone, Rick then cut off one of Wayne's arms. The squishing of the meat sounded throughout the room. Rick hit him a couple of more times, more coming out of the body. He took off his mask, wiping at his nose with his arm. Glenn leaned over a stool and puked, I rubbed small circles along his back, trying to reassure him he was okay, offering something to wash out the puke that lingered in his throat. 

"Keep chopping," Rick told Morales. After Morales swung down a couple more times Rick looked at everyone.

"Everybody got gloves? Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes," I told them. "Keep the blood of him off of any of your exposed skin, we don't know how easy this thing is to get infected,". After everyone had their gloves on we began to dig through the body, the feeling of gloves and feeling the organs reminded me of a surgery I helped on. It was of course nothing like this. We covered ourselves in the guts, I started rubbing some of the walker blood on Glenn's back, and he applied the same amount onto my back. We lathered ourselves in it, Andrea grabbed an intestine and put it on Glenn's shoulders. 

"This is bad, this is so bad," Glenn said, shivering from being so grossed out. 

"Think about something else, puppies and kittens," Rick said. 

"Dead puppies and kittens," T-Dog added humorlessly. I bit my lip from laughing at the bad moment, Glenn hunched over again and hurled. 

"That is just evil, what is wrong with you?" Andrea said, comforting Glenn. Jacqui looked up at Rick, still lathering him in the walker chunks. 

"Next time let the cracker beat his ass," she told him. I forgot Merle was with us. 

"I'm sorry, yo," T-Dog attempted to apologize. After Glenn caught his breath from puking and Andrea and I helped him clean himself up he just looked up at him.

"You suck."

"Do we smell like them?" Rick asked, I nod my head, finishing putting the blood on myself. 

"Oh yeah," Andrea answered him.

"Glenn," Andrea said, grabbing his attention. She was handing him her gun, "Just in case," she put the gun in his pants. I had my hammer ready in case I needed to smack some heads in. 

"If we make it back, be ready," Rick told everyone, serious now. 

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog asked. Rick reached into his pockets and tossed the keys over to T-Dog, who luckily caught them. He put his glove back on, making a grabbing motion towards Morales. 

"Give me the ax," he told him. Morales handed him the ax, "We need, we need more guts," he said. Andrea said a small 'Oh god' before Rick slammed back down with the ax. 

THE WALKING DEAD

Rick, Glenn, and I walked out into the alleyway, careful of the walkers that were there. We looked at each other and began to sluggishly walk. Glenn got close to one, trying his best to not make any sudden movements. We passed by the two walkers with ease. We then crawled under one of the buses that were strewn across the streets. Getting out from under there we picked up our act, continuing to blend in. Thunder sounded through the air, it might rain. We continued our stumble across the construction site. I held my breath in some areas because of the fear that was eating away at me. 

"It's gonna work, I can't believe it," Glenn said to us both, looking forwards still. 

"Don't draw attention," Rick whispered back. A walker came up behind me, brushing against my back and shoulder, growling lowly. I gave out a slow growl back, looking down at the ground. Glenn and Rick tried not to make any sudden movements in case she tried anything with them too. She then walked away from me. The sky was getting darker, then I felt the drops of water. Fuck, our scent might get washed off. The walkers definitely smelt us, they were eyeing us and slowly coming towards us. 

"Our smell is washing off, isn't it?" Glenn asked worriedly, starting to freak out. 

"It's not washing off," Rick tried to reason. I slowly grabbed my hammer from my pocket, making sure that I didn't attract too much attention. I held it tightly in my hand, the walkers were starting to growl more at us. 

"Well, maybe," Rick said, at perfect timing, a walker decided to lunge at him, Rick thinking fast rose the ax and slammed it into its head. "Run!" he yelled at Glenn and me. We start running towards the fence, Rick and I bashing our weapons into the heads of the walkers. Everything was wet since the blood and the cold burst. We finally make it to the fence ahead of the walkers, jumping onto it the fence and climbing over it. I couldn't hear Rick or Glenn, only the sound of my heartbeat and the walker's groans. We strip ourselves of the jacket we used to cover ourselves in the walker's guts, throwing it down on the floor. Glenn and I book it, Rick stopped a little before us and started to shoot the walkers that were trying to climb over the fence, luckily shooting them in the head. We got to the key box and Glenn grabbed a key for Rick, tossing it to him. We raced to one of the moving trucks, getting in and slamming the car doors shut, just in time. A walker slammed his hands against the window, trying to get in. 

"Go go go go go!" I screamed, Rick put the vehicle in reverse, startling me. I kept looking forward, watching the walkers push down the fence finally. We started going away from the building. 

"Oh god, they're all over that place," Glenn said, freaking out. 

"You guys need to draw them away. Those roll-up doors at the front of the store. That area? That's what I need cleared. Raise your friends, tell them to get down there and be ready," Rick explained to us. We weren't leaving them behind, we just needed to get them out as safe and as quickly as possible without luring too many walkers to them. 

"We're drawing away the geeks how? I missed that part," Glenn said, flustered. 

"Noise," was all Rick said. 

THE WALKING DEAD

Rick smashed the butt of his ax into the window of a car, the car alarms blaring throughout the area. He unlocked the car door and got into the key ignition, turning the car on. He successfully hijacked a car. How. Glenn and I raced through the streets, getting the attention of all the walkers that were standing around with how loud and constant the car alarm was. We followed after Rick, I clicked on the C.B. alerting the rest of the group as Glenn continued driving. 

"Those roll-up doors at the front of the store, facing the street, meet us there and be ready," I told them, as Glenn swerved a bit, passing Rick as we continued getting the rest of the walkers to follow us. We continued down the street, passing a bunch of walkers. Glen stopped, reversing. Once the walkers got close enough he turned the car around, getting the attention of the rest of the walkers. "Glenn if you don't kill us I swear to God I am going to make you the happiest man this whole week," I told him, gripping the seat, scared out of my life once again. We raced along the interstate, him just whooping excitedly at being able to drive the car and knowing he was about to get rewarded in the best way possible.

#glenn x reader #reader insert #romance #x reader #twd fanfiction #the walking dead #rick grimes #carl grimes #shane walsh #fanfic #fanfiction #shane x reader #twd daryl #daryl dixon #merle dixon x reader #merle dixon #female reader #quotev

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So proud of my mother for doing her own research after I sent her that meme. A sign she hung in her car window.

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Doctor's Orders

Zero / One / Two / Three / Four / Five / Six / Seven

hello! this will be the first chapter of my Doctor's Orders series! this will be updated every time with a link to the new chapter!

Season One, Episode One: Days Gone By

I WAS LOGGING IN his info when I heard shouting in the hallway. Shane, who always came to see the patient, Rick, looked out the hallway. The shouting and sounds of running feet are now louder than ever. He stopped one of the nurses, asking what was happening and why everyone was running. I glanced over his shoulder, seeing her panicked expression as she kept running. We both took notice that the military was here now and dragging her to the other end of the hallway. He stepped out fully and ran down, I stayed in the room, making sure nothing happened to RIck. 'What the hell is happening,' I thought, worried, my heartbeat sounding like it was outside of my body. Then I heard the gunshots, I whipped my head to the door just as Shane came back with a bed. 

"We need to leave, we gotta take Rick, they're shooting everyone," he pleaded. I felt like I couldn't move, fear overtaking my body.

"I don't understand, I, I don't understand," I murmured, shaking. Shane had a solemn look as he picked up Rick, then noticed the machine he was hooked up to. It was his life support machine, he couldn't leave without it. Then footsteps got closer, after putting RIck back down on his bed Shane grabbed me and tugged me down, crouching beside the bed, hoping whoever came in couldn't see us. We heard the door open and the pair of feet leave the room. More gunshots firing down the hallway. Shane popped up, beginning to plead to his friend. 

"I need you to wake up, I need you to do it right now," he pleaded, frustration and fear lacing his voice. As Shane continued pleading to his friend an explosion hit, rocking the whole building, knocking Shane and me back down a bit, Rick's monitor flashing then turning off. His oxygen wasn't off which was good, he could still breathe. I shakily reach out to Shane, grabbing his arm. 

"Shane, we need to go, I can check for his heartbeat, okay, but we really need to go," I pleaded to the officer, tears in my eyes from fear. Shane nodded, allowing me to lean over and check for his heartbeat. I laid my head on his chest, my own heartbeat not allowing me to hear. I bit my lip, leaning back up and shaking my head. Shane stifled a sob, not wanting to hear that his friend had passed so quickly. He leans over his friend, shaking, taking deep breaths, and trying to calm down. He paces around and then grabs his gun from its holster, aiming it down the hallway, watching the military execute everyone further down the hallway. He grabs my hand and grabs me out of the room. Shutting the door and pressing a cloth against his mouth and nose and hanging me another cloth, I follow what he does. He closes the door and pushes the bed he was going to use earlier in front of the door so no one comes through. We watch some patients and other nurses stagger toward us, but something looked awful about them. The way their skin looked like it was peeling off. We both ran down the hallway, barely making it out of there without drawing suspicion. 

THE WALKING DEAD

I awoke with a start, sweat dripping down my face, unable to breathe, coughing I hunch over, trying to gain my breath back. Blinking and trying to remember where I was, looking around wildly. Soon coming to the realization I was back in my tent, opening the zipper I get hit with the scent of the woods around me. I roll up the sleeves of my shirt, the black long sleeve making me feel too hot, leaving my mask beside my sleeping bag. I crawl out of the tent and stretch my arms up. I needed to get more medical supplies and everyone definitely needs more clothing. I don't even know what time of the year it is, or the time really. I look at the other tents and the trailer and cars surrounding me. Sighing and running a hand through my (Hair color) locks. I sat beside where the campfire was, lost in thought. Maybe I can go with the group today to look for stuff. Hopefully, Daryl will bring something back when we return. It's been about a month I think since the presumed outbreak. Hell, we barely got out of there alive. I was lucky enough to have met Shane last month when I did, otherwise, I would probably be like them. I went back to my tent, looking inside my bag for something to eat, anything, finding a granola bar I hadn't reached yet, cheering and thanking the Lord for having something to eat. I sit back in my spot, taking small bites, savoring the fruity granola bar. Soon others began to come out of their tents, Carl waving at me happily. I wave back at him, smiling. He and the other kids are a delight to have here, especially with how scary it is. The only problem I have is that I am usually stuck babysitting them. After everyone came to the center that was when Shane began his daily task list.

"Daryl is still out finding us food, so he is already doing his task, Amy, you're going to help Miranda and Carol watch the kids, Lori you're here. We are running low on supplies, I am going to need a group to go to Atlanta to get us supplies, such as food, water, anything we need," he began to list. I cleared my throat, raising my hand to not interrupt him. 

"Shane, I need to go on this trip, I need to get certain medicines in case anyone gets a cold, infected by a cut, or even a fever. I also need to get some feminine items too for the women here," I stated, crossing my arms and leaning back a bit on my chair, careful not to tip over. 

"[Name], I already told you that we need-" he got interrupted by Glenn, Shane giving him a dirty look while Glenn spoke. 

"She should come! She knows much more about medicine than any of us, plus I can go, I'll protect her," the ex-pizza boy said, fixing his hat. He glanced over at me, smiling, I smile back, telling myself that I need to thank him for sticking up for me. 

"Now I won't let that little Asian boy just go off with her, I'll go too, don't trust these damn kids," Merle said, getting up from the back of his truck. Giving Glenn a stink eye and smirking at me, "Plus I'll definitely take good care of the lil' missy here," I scowled at him, rolling my eyes, turning to look at Shane. He rubs the bridge of his nose, thinking. 

"It can't just be you three, it needs to be a bigger group," he explained. T-Dog stood up from his spot, along with Andrea, Jacqui, and Morales. Shane huffed, "Fine, but if it's too risky come right back. [Name] better come back unharmed too, she's the only person here who can help us medically," he warned everyone. He looked at me one last time before heading off. That was the end of that meeting, everyone spread out to do their tasks for the day. I head back to my tent, grabbing my brown leather bag, noticing the small rips and scratches that were left on it, that was at the end of my sleeping bag. I popped my neck, lost in thought. I grabbed my notepad and pencil, writing down a list of items we needed. Feminine products, deodorant, cause Jesus did we stink; cold and fever medicine, maybe some new clothes for the kids, toys too if I can pack them, books for the adults possibly. I just began listing off random items for the group that would be a necessity and put the books and toys as possible wants. Glenn tapped my forehead, I glance up at the man, and he gave a small smirk at me.

"Seems like you have quite a list there," he teased. I rolled my eyes, punching him softly. 

"Yes, it's just a list of necessities first and then wants," I explained. He nodded, agreeing with the items on the list. 

"Alright bitches, let's head out," Merle said, slapping his truck. My happiness fading as the sudden feeling of fear washed over me. I haven't been outside of the camp since we came here. Biting my lip and rolling my shoulders back I tried to loosen up the fear, Glenn grabbing my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. I then walked off with the scavenging crew to the car we were going to take to get there. After all of us loaded in we mainly stayed quiet aside from the occasional directions being given by Glenn. He usually scavenged on his own and this was the first time he had to bring a group like this with him. Popping my neck I watched the scenery go by, lost in thought. I hope my family is alright, I haven't seen them for a while. Then again they are about halfway across the country. Soon we end up on the outskirts of Atlanta, everyone hopped out, grabbing their items to protect themselves. I hung onto my wooden bat, patting my front pockets feeling for my pocket knife, feeling the folded blade in my pocket, and breathing a small sigh of relief through my nose. We start to head off to one of the department stores knocking out any walkers that were in the way as quietly as possible. I kept looking back to make sure we weren't being followed since I was in the back of the group.

"[Name], get your ass in here," Merle hissed, holding the door open before I ducked in under his arm and into the store. Once we were all in, we spread out to make sure there wasn't any inside the building with us or anyone alive. It was doubtful that anyone would still be alive here in the city, everything went down so quickly. I found myself in the clothes section, skimming through the racks, and trying to find anything that would be wearable for this time. Everything was either too thin or just pretty looking. Groaning to myself in disbelief I look for any shoes I could at least bring back for the kids at the camp or some shirts for everyone. That was when I heard it, I was the closest to the door, and a horde was right outside. Crouching I slowly crawled over to the doors, seeing that they had twisted the locks. I began to lock each door to make sure they couldn't just push through without a care. Crawling away from the door, I go to find the others and alert them about the horde that was right outside our way out. I bumped into Merle of all people, swallowing my distaste for the man I clenched and unclenched my gloved hands. 

"There's a giant horde outside, we can't get through," I said, shaken up. They didn't notice my movements earlier but something set them off quickly. Merle looked at me then looked around the wall, seeing them clumped in front of the doors. Only the glass doors would protect us now, he muttered a few swears, anger overtaking him. 

"Fuck," he muttered, going off to find the rest, grabbing my sleeve, and dragging me with him to tell the others. We explained what is happening, and everyone had similar reactions. That was when Glenn took off from the outside doors into the alleyway, heading off to find whatever was attracting them, leaving the rest of us to wait and panic to ourselves. I popped my neck anxiously and went off to the clothes again, grabbing whatever I could grab now, if anything I could use these for bandages. And now we wait to see if Glenn would make it back.

#the walking dead #x reader #reader insert #female reader #romance #relationship #glenn x reader #shane x reader #merle dixon x reader #glenn rhee #maggie greene #twd fanfiction #michonne #daryl dixon #maggie rhee #rick grimes #twd daryl #zombie #tv show fandom

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🩸Devil Child🩸

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QUOTEV

WATTPAD

AO3

Here are my other writing accounts! Quotev is currently where all of my works are, and I will be moving my other works onto the other accounts. :)

#writing #reader #reader insert #x reader #romance #quotev #ao3 author #wattpad #author #writers #queer writers