Survive ( twd carlgrimes)

Chapter 74

MADISON'S POV.

"Hey." I smile.
He stands at the door, not moving and when he doesn't smile back I start to worry.
"What's wrong?"
He raises a brow. "You're in a hospital bed."
I relax, relieved everything else is okay.
"Well, it's not a real hospital, if that's any consolation."
"That actually makes this situation a lot worse."

"Well then will you just believe me if o say I'm fine."
"No."
"What?"
"Well you hadn't been fine long before and you never told us."
He has a point.
"Okay, how about this, I promise if there's something wrong with me from now on, I will tell you. So we can settle for, 'I will be fine'?"

He nods and finally strides over to me and crouches to pull me into a gentle embrace. When he finally pulls away he lingers there for a moment so I close the space between us first by pressing my lips gently against his. I feel his shoulders relax and he leans into the kiss more. And right there and then I knew everyone would be okay. The sense of ease and safety that washes through me is almost overwhelming.

We finally pull away and although he stays crouched down on the floor next to me he doesn't let go of my hand.
"Why did you come in last." I ask.
"I wanted to be with you alone." He answers.

"How are you feeling though, honestly?" He asks. I rocks uncomfortably on the backs of his heels on the floor and I wonder how long he'll last before his legs begin to cramp.

I pat the bed and he lifts himself up to sit next to me on the bed, while never releasing my hand.
"I'm f-"
"You promised." He cuts in.
I did promise. I promised to tell him honestly how I felt.

"Honestly?" I ask and he nods.
"Honestly, I've been better, a lot better actually. Dawn kinda explained to me what was wrong with me, but I couldn't really concentrate." I sigh.
"Are the meds working? For the pain?"
"I'm not sure. Everything still hurts, especially the stitches but maybe they're supposed to hurt more. I guess I was moving around a lot earlier so they must be working."
"It just feels like they're not?"
I answer with a shrug.

"This place, it's-" I'm not sure I have the words to describe it.
"Thanks to you we found a safe haven. This place has food, medication, electricity. It's a total jackpot. They save people here." He tells me.
Something still seems off about this place and I can't quite put my finger on it.

"Whats it like here? The people, the food..." I ask.
"The people are ... kind but oblivious. Arrogantly oblivious. It's annoying but you can't snap because it's not really their fault." He seems to struggle to choose his words carefully.

I shake my head in confusion.
"I'm not sure I understand."
"Most of the people here haven't stepped a foot outside since the beginning of all this. They know what they need to. The city is roaming with walkers and it's dangerous and most importantly they don't question it. As long as they get their food and water, they won't question it. It's mostly all families here."

"Everyone's nice?"
"Well I think it's only fair to excuse the odd dickhead every now and again I can only imagine their cabin fever." He adds.
I chuckle.
"Plus you met Dawn, but I have a feeling she's just a dickhead regardless."
"Couldn't agree more."

"She has a lot of rules." I state.
"Yeah."
"Do they matter?"
He nods. "I suppose so. Everywhere needs to have some sort of system or they'd all kill each other.
"True."
"I feel the need to ask you specifically not to break her rules. You tend to do shit like that a lot."
"Really?" I mock surprise.

He smiles but it doesn't last. "If you break her rules the consequences aren't pretty."
I'm about to ask what he means by that but he moves on quickly.
"The hospital is huge. It looks kinda small on the outside for a hospital but they actually have like five stories. Some of them are underground. Those are cleared off for staff members only."