Rori Rhee has survived this long, been through so many death. Yet she still had Carl, her parents, and the rest of the group. Except, she's slowly losing her family and herself. After Beth's death, it felt like she would never be happy again. Her Au...
"Aurora? Rori?" I could hear talking but I couldn't tell who it was. I blinked multiple times to try and clear my vision. I was on the ground with Rosita, Mom, and Dad by me. Everybody else was looking at me with worry.
"What happened?" I groaned. I didn't dare move. I knew if I did it would just bring pain.
"You passed out from blood loss," Rosita explained.
"Oh."
"How do you feel? Does your hip hurt?" Mom asked. Her face was scrunched up in concern.
"Yeah. It hurts a lot," I admitted, tears welling up in my eyes.
"Oh, baby," Mom sighed. She came over and sat next to me. I leaned into her and cried. My hip was on fire!
"It's hurt," I cried. I felt a hand on my back and assumed it was Dad.
"Rosita, is there anything you can do?" I heard Dad asked.
"No, I'm sorry. Without pain pill and antibiotics, she could very well..." Rosita trailed off.
"Die? I could die?" I asked, beginning to panic.
"No, princess. You're not gonna die," Dad soothed, running his hands through my hair. I held my arms out towards him and he collected me in his arms. My crying slowly came to a stop.
"Now that you're awake, we need to get out away from here," Rick said. The group began to grab all their stuff. Dad turned away from me and crouched down. Mom grabbed me under my armpits and attempted to lift me onto Dad's back. It worked and soon we were off. We followed the train tracks just past the Terminus sign before veering off into the forest. It was all over. No sanctuary. No prison. Just each other.
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It had been a day or two. We were still on the move. At night we'd stop and the adults would take turns on watch. We had stopped a few minutes ago to feed Judith and do some other things.
"She's cute," I said, smiling at Carl. Carl returned my smile.
"Your cute," Carl said cheekily.
"And you're cheesy," I said with a smile.
"Tell me something I don't know," Carl said.
"You're cheesy and-" I groaned as a wave of nausea passed through me. Carl looked over at me with concern. And Tara rushed to my side.
"Are you alright?" Tara asked, gently placing her hands on my arms so I didn't fall over.
"Yeah. Just a little nauseous," I said after the nausea passed.
"May I?" Tara asked, her hands moving towards the edge of my shirt. I nodded and she gently lifted my shirt. "It looks alright. I don't know much medical stuff but I think it's starting to get infected." Tara sighed.
"I'll be alright," I said. I gave her a grin full of pain.
"It still hurt?" Tara asked. She let my shirt fall back into place.
"Yeah. Hey, I've been so exhausted lately. Could you help me take off my jacket? I'm sweating to death," I said. Tara nodded. I let her gently sit me. Even that small off movement was painful.
"Alright. Nope. I don't need my jacket off," I groaned.
"No, you really should take it off. You've got to be sweating to death," Carl said from my side.
"I hate it when you don't agree with me," I groaned.
"Come on, we'll go nice and slow," Tara encouraged. I nodded and let her sit me up fully. Carl set Judith's empty water bottle on the ground and put a hand on my back. He kept the other around Judith.
"You doing okay?" Tara asked after I was sat up for a moment.
"Yeah."
"I'm gonna take your left arm out of your jacket," Tara explained. I nodded and she started to pull my arm out. I bit my lip to not cry out.
"You're doing great, Rora," Carl said.
"Rora?" Tara asked. She let my left arm dangle. I will admit, it felt good to get out of that jacket.
"It sounds like Aurora, but short. And Rori is a common nickname for Aurora so I wanted to come up with something new," Carl explained, shrugging lightly. Tara gave him a teasing smile.
"Mhm. Now right arm, Rori," Tara said. I took a deep breath in and gave her a nod. She carefully pulled my right arm out of the jacket.
"Holy moly, that hurt." I breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.
"How do you feel now?" Tara asked.
"Tired," I said. I leaned my head against Carl's leg.
"Right. Get a little bit of sleep. We'll wake you up when it's time to go." Tara stood up and patted my knee. With closed eyes, I smiled at her.
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"Baby, hey. Come on. Time to wake up," Dad's voice flooded my ears. I let out a loud groan. I was still very tired.
"What's going on?" I asked tiredly.
"We're leaving," Dad replied. I nodded and let Mom help me stand. She supported most of my weight while Dad crouched down. I climbed onto his back. Tara came over and wrapped some rope around my back and Dad's stomach to help keep me from falling off.
"How's your hip?" Mom asked as Dad began to walk.
"Painful," I replied. My eyes fell shut and my head fell limp against Dad's shoulder. Suddenly, I missed Aunt Beth a lot. And Grandpa.
"I'll have to check your hip when we stop for the night," Rosita chimed into the conversation.
"I check it a little bit ago. I think it's starting to become infected," Tara said to Rosita. I didn't hear Rosita reply so I assumed she nodded instead of verbally replying.
"Can I go to sleep now?" I asked.
"Your still tired?" Mom asked. She didn't even try to hide the concern in her voice.
"I'm exhausted," I said.
"Alright. Get some sleep but I want you to eat something later," Mom said firmly. I nodded and let myself doze off against Dad's shoulder.
