Falling Down (Rick Grimes Romance)

Chapter 2

It was early evening when Shane and I had arrived by the grace of God in one piece at the camp. Battered, brused dehydrated and clinging to life we had just barley made it. By sheer determination and strength Shane had carried me both in his arms and a brace he had formed by binding his shirt around some branches. For thirty miles through the back woods, up rocky inclines and in immense heat Shane refused to leave me behind.

The camps security detail has seen us at the base of the ridge from high up in their perches. Sending out a team to scope out who we were they circled around us. Hidden within the safety of the landscape they knew so well they tracked us not realizing it was their old friend. The very friend who search parties were sent out for days after his disappearance. Here in the flesh was their friend that they mourned for and debated if they should have a funeral even if they couldn't find a body.

We were completely surrounded when only half of the team made themselves visible guns drawn on is. The leader calling out for us to stop, drop all weapons and to lay on the ground with our hands above our heads. A standard beginning in which they greeted all strangers. For even they had learned the hard way that people were just as dangerous as walkers.

"It's me Mike," Shane called out as he continued to walk. "Jena is hurt we have to get her to Doc."

"Shane?" Lowering his gun somewhat the tall slender man held his hand up blocking the sun from his eyes. Cautiously he stepped forward as if he could believe his own eyes "Holly shit man it is you."

Rushing forward Mike clasped Shane on the back nearly knocking Shane to the ground in his exhaustion. "Oh shit man we thought you were dead. Sent out search parties and everything but we found nothing."

The rest of the team left their hiding places to see for themselves if this was truly indeed their lost friend. After having been missing for months without a trace they had been sure Shane had met his end. It was as if a ghost had appeared from the past.

Using his hands to steady Shane Mike took the ends of the tree frame in which I was laying on while someone else grabbed the other end lifting me. Two of the other team members tucked Shane's arms around their shoulders in order to brace him as we started up to camp.

"Where's Lori?" Mike asked as he looked over his shoulder at my unconscious body. "Has she been bit? Her shoulder!"

"No we had an accident and Jenna was burned, she needs Doc." Shane ground out impatiently. "Lori is fine it's a long story."

Clinging to strands of life for the next few days they struggled to keep me alive. Hooked up to a ventilator they pumped me full of fluids and intravenous antibiotics. Operated putting in a shunt to drain the blood which was filling in my collapsed lung. Cutting out and cleaning where my shirt had burned into my skin. It was to late to stitch the gaping cut on my face. They could only apply tape it and apply a topical antibiotic cream. My injuries becoming scares of my struggle to survive.

They told Shane to prepare for the worst as the infection ravished my body. A constant bedside companion Shane said more prayers than he had in his entire life that I would survive. For the guilt of taking me with him from the prison, crashing the jeep and forcing me to spend the night beneath it weighed heavily on him. In Shane's mind I had trusted him to keep me safe and it was the one thing he didn't.

One of his many prayers must have touched gods ears for when I should have died I began to get better. The fever broke, my blood pressure lowered and my lungs stopped filling. Far from being out of danger I found my way back from the darkness towards life.

It took a while before I was able to come out of the fog long enough for my brain to attain and understand even simple words. Holding my hand Shane sat at my bedside as the man I now knew as Doc stood at the end of my bed.