We're The Ones Who Live | The Walking Dead (2)

Part 46 - Rest in Peace

"She got bit, hurry up and help me!"

"Put her on the table. Grab some gauze, anything you can find!"

"Find something to use as a torniquet, quickly!"

Pain flooded all over CJ's body, barely able to keep her eyes open, and the voices around her coming across as muffled and echoey. She felt her back against a cool surface of a table, and a pillow placed under her pounding head. Someone was gripping her left hand with all the strength they had, and she knew it was her husband. Sharp bolts of pain radiated from her right arm, coursing through her body, keeping her weak.

"D... Daryl..." she tried to speak as she whimpered in agony, and she felt the grip on her left hand tighten.

"Shhh, it's gonna be okay," Daryl's voice echoed, sounding like he was crying.

CJ wasn't sure if the voice was even real – that's how echoed it was. She wasn't sure if any of what was happening was real.

The only thing confirming to her that she was still alive was the searing pain her body was being tormented by. Her arm was sticky with blood that continued to pour out, and her head pounded from when she had fallen and hit the ground.

She cried out when she felt someone grab her right arm and pull it away to lean it on a cold surface, and she heard Daryl snapping at whoever it was to be careful. Something was tied around her upper arm tightly, and whatever it was, it felt like it was digging into her skin. She tried to move her arm away out of reflex, only for someone to pull her back again.

"Someone needs to hold her down," she barely heard a slow British accent say fast. It was Yumiko's brother, Tomi - a doctor who had been in the Commonwealth since the start. "She's shuffling around too much."

"I got her," Daryl's voice was scared as he put his arm across CJ's chest to hold her down, still clinging to her hand with his free one.

She was trying to struggle as the pain refused to let her exhausted muscles relax. Daryl had to squint his eyes closed as he sniffed, gathering himself as he watched the love of his life in so much pain.

Tomi was clearing all the blood he could whilst he waited for someone to bring over the gauze and towels. He had to reach in to hold an artery that was spurting out blood, and he applied a firm pressure, pushing the artery against the bone to stop the blood flow. 

Upon closer inspection of the wound, he realised and said out loud. 

"It's not a bite."

Daryl's eyes shot over to the man. "W-what?" he gasped through his attempts at holding back a sob. 

"It's too clean a cut, and there's glass in there," Tomi explained, remaining calm as possible. "Trust me, I know the difference. Looks like her arm was dragged across the broken glass when the walker grabbed her." 

In shock, Daryl just stared at the doctor, and Tomi confirmed.

"It's not a bite, Daryl."

Relief flushed over the Dixon, despite the urgency of the moment. Fresh tears built as he looked down at his wife, praying to anyone who might be listening that she'd be okay. 

Carol ran over with a pile of gauze pads, starting to put pressure on the wound that travelled from the inside of CJ's elbow right down to her palm. Tomi kept a firm pressure on where the majority of the bleeding was coming from whilst also trying to clean the blood around the laceration. 

All this meant nothing for CJ as her eyes slammed shut tightly, and she cried out in immense agony.

"S-STOP! STOP!" Tears were leaving the corners of her eyes as she frantically shook her head and screamed out. It felt like her arm was on fire. She was sobbing as she writhed on the table, physically feeling the life within her draining away. "I...I-I can't..."