luna mortimer-smith had long learned not to trust anyone, staying in the middle of the woods as to avoid any contact with the dead or any other humans.
one evening, she'd gone out to check her hunting traps like usual. little did she realize, thoug...
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At first, Luna didn't know what to do. She was frozen, in fear and in confusion. Hundreds of walkers all flooding inside the walls, filling the streets. Then, she saw Rick, Carl, Michonne and a few others run into Jessie's house. Her mouth went dry as she watched for a moment, before her instincts finally kicked in. She hurried down the ladder, swinging her rifle around in front of her before she began to shoot at some of them. More of them than she would've liked turned her way, so she turned around-intending to run back to her tower. Too many walkers had closed in around the ladder, so she began to panic. Her body seemed to run nearly on auto pilot as she started shooting, just barely clearing enough of a path for her to start running. She tried saving her bullets, but her rifle soon ran out of ammo. She used the end of it to bash walkers' skulls, pushing them out of her way as she kept running.
There were too many walkers for her to make it to Jessie's, so instead she cut across the infirmary. She pulled the back door open, tripping on the stairs and falling inside when a walker grabbed her. She started struggling, trying to get her pistol out so she could shoot it when she heard footsteps running her way. Aaron killed the walker as someone else pulled her inside, and Spencer shut the door quickly. She was pulled to her feet, coming face-to-face with Heath.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah." She nodded, trying to put pressure on her ankle and letting out an involuntary hiss of pain. "Maybe not."
"It's probably twisted." Heath said. "Come on, let's sit you down." Heath helped her into the main room and into a chair. She looked around, seeing Heath, Spencer, and Aaron.
"Where's Denise?" Luna asked.
"We don't know." Aaron said. "Not here. She must've been out when the tower fell, ran somewhere else."
"We're gonna move everyone else upstairs, just in case." Heath said, sitting on one of the stools.
"So what do we do?" She asked. "I-I mean, what can we do?"
"We just have to wait."
—————
It was dark out now. Luna had slowly been putting pressure back on her ankle, but she was pretty sure it was twisted. No one else had come to the infirmary, but no walkers had tried to get inside either. Heath and Aaron were keeping watch out the windows in case anyone tried to get to them, but so far nothing had happened.
"It's Denise!" Aaron's voice made Luna look up. He and Heath were at the door in seconds. "Come on, come on!" Aaron pulled the door open and Denise ran through, slamming against one of the walls as the doors shut.
"You okay?" Spencer asked.
"I'm fine." Denise nodded, breathing heavily. "How are my patients?"
"They're doing well." Heath said. "We moved them upstairs." Denise nodded, doubling over as she tried to catch her breath. Aaron was staring out the window, and moved the curtain away as he got closer.
"Oh my god." He breathed out. Luna sat up, trying to cane her neck for a view, but she couldn't see as the other four crowded around the window.
"It's the kid." Heath said, and Luna felt her heart rate triple. She forced herself to her feet, limping over, though her leg gave out when she reached them. Spencer caught her and pulled her up, allowing her to look outside. Her breath caught in her throat and tears immediately started pooling in her eyes. Michonne and Rick running through the crowd of walkers, Carl's limp body in Rick's arms. One side of his face was covered in blood. "Is he bit?"
"Nope." Denise breathed. She started towards her equipment so the others followed, Spencer helped Luna into a chair before going to help Denise. "I need bandages, top shelf, next to the sink. Two IVs from the fridge, and all the clean towels you can find. Aaron, grab the gurney." Denise moved over to the door, pulling it open just for Rick to run inside seconds later. It was almost like Luna had gotten the wind knocked out of her when she saw Carl as Rick laid him down on the gurney. All of the blood on his face was coming from one spot, his right eye-though it was completely gone. "This is a gunshot?"
"Handgun, close range." Michonne said as she came inside, shutting the door quickly. Luna couldn't hear anything else as she stared at Carl, unaware of the silent sobs that left her. Tears were streaming down her face, and her entire body was shaking. She felt like she couldn't breathe, watching as Denise cleaned and sewed up his eye. She hadn't even realized that Rick had gone outside and starting fighting the walkers until everyone but Denise ran outside to join him. Her mind was blank. She didn't know what to do or how to feel. It was like there was nothing inside of her. Finally, Denise had moved away from Carl, now turning to Luna. She'd started to speak, but Luna couldn't hear her.
"Luna!" Finally Denise's voice cut through the ringing in Luna's ears. Denise was now blocking Luna's view of Carl, her hands on Luna's shoulders. "Luna, look at me." Luna blinked a few times, the tears blurring her vision. "Can you hear me?" Luna couldn't speak, so she just nodded. "I need you to breathe, you're having a panic attack. Breathe with me, okay?" Luna nodded again, doing her best to follow Denise's lead and take slow, deep breaths. Eventually she was able to just fine, and by then she'd stopped crying. "Can you stand up?"
"I-I think so." Luna's voice was quiet, and scratchy.
"Okay, you need to help me move Carl onto the bed in the other room." Denise moved away, helping Luna stand up. "Can you do that?" Luna nodded, her eyes refocusing on Carl. He was still breathing. She tried to focus on that, limping into the bedroom and helping Denise move him onto the bed. Denise left the room to get bandages, and Luna moved over next to him. She put her hand on his chest, recoiling when she felt the blood and guts. Looking down, she realized he had a sheet covered in the stuff draped over him. Despite how hard it was with her ankle, she managed to pull it off of him, letting it fall to the floor in a heap.
"Don't leave me." She breathed, her hand clutching around his shirt. Her leg gave out again and she fell against the side of his bed. Tears started to stream down her face again as she raised her hand, touching the side of his face. "Don't leave me."
