Georgia, outskirts of Merte County, Green farmhouse, October 2010, 13:21 pm.
Rick stood outside the house with Hershel, the old man owning this big land of farms.
He was anxious; he didn't know how a search for Sophia turned to his son getting shot.
It was unintentional.
Otis, the one who shot Carl, aimed for the deer that Carl was watching nearby, and it just happened that the bullet pierced through it and into Carl's abdomen.
Sophia disappeared, Sasuke too...and now his own son was shot. Rick felt like he was on the brink of defeat here.
But he still holds his own. Shane had gone to bring the tools needed for the operation; that idea of taking things from the CDC as Sasuke had suggested before may be the thing that saves his son's life now.
He had already transfused blood to his son. and was taking a short rest waiting for his wife and others.
"You are lucky; this place is beautiful. I can't believe how calm and untouched it is." Rick sighed seeing the big land, no destruction, no walkers in sight, and no desperation.
It almost felt like all things outside there are mere bad dreams.
"We weren't completely unscathed, we lost friends...neighbors." Hershel told him how the place was owned by his family for 160 years.
He told Rick how the pandemic resulted in the death of his wife and stepson.
"I'm sorry."
"I still have my two daughters, all we have left is each other here, hoping for the cure."
There was a brief silence as Rick decided to share the truth.
"We came from the CDC; it's no more...and there's no cure." Rick swept his sweaty forehead, it was a hard situation, but at least Jenner solved just as dangerous an issue for them with Sasuke's help.
"I don't believe that." Hershel smiled lightly, keeping to his hope.
And Rick soon grew frustrated; Hershel believed that it was just another form of disease, like the flu pandemic, smallpox, etc...
Something that endangered humanity yet was cured shortly after.
No matter how much Rick tried to make him see that walkers are just...different.
Hershel was stubborn in that belief.
It was then they spotted a figure riding a horse coming into view...it pulled closer, and Rick saw his wife riding the horse behind Hershel's daughter, Maggie. And run to embrace her.
He accompanied her inside, where Carl was lying unconscious in the bed, pale and sweating; that scene broke their hearts.
Maggie stood beside her sister Beth and Otis's wife, unsure of what to do.
It was then a young man walked inside, telling them about cars coming up the way to the farmhouse.
...
…
.
Hershel, Rick, Lori, and others from the farmhouse soon exited, hearing the engines sound.
A caravan was coming up the road to the house.
Hershel knew from Rick that they have a big group; thus, he turned to give him a look.
He didn't expect such a number, and he didn't like the idea of having all of them on his lands.
Rick, who wasn't focused on him, rushed to the blue pickup and stopped seeing the figure of a handsome young man with raven black hair and a sword tied to his hip getting out from the Humvee, Sasuke.
He grew even more relieved seeing Sophia waving at him from the RV's window.
"Sophia!? Sasuke...you are safe." He embraced them and briefed Billy and others with what happened before taking the tools needed for Carl's treatment.
"This place looks safe, look...no walker," a woman told her husband, getting out from the bus, and Sasuke exchanged a look with Billy.
'Hear that shit, old man?'
Billy rolled his eyes lighting a cigarette.
"Um, hi, we meet again." Sasuke turned, looking at Glenn, who greeted a lady, Maggie.
"Mhm, your group is big. Is it okay if you camp around here?" She smiled back and greeted Billy, who seemed to be their leader, her gaze wandering to a little girl who was giggling while sitting atop a guy's shoulders.
"Sure, we are sorry for the disturbance we may have caused. Is there a specific spot your people needs us to be?" Billy nodded cooperatively; it wasn't their land after all, and he respected that. Most others here didn't voice an objection either.
"Not really, just around would be fine."
"Jenner, can you come please? We need your help." Rick came back striding and asked for the Doc.
He wasn't really a surgeon, but his experience was enough to help.
"I'll not be of much help, Rick... Sasuke was shot and treated himself, he is more suitable for this." Jenner pointed to Sasuke; he had already checked the wound, and everything was treated the right way.
"Shot? You were shot? Who?" Rick asked him, he was surprised by that news.
"Let's talk later, Katniss; I will be back shortly." He put Ciri to the ground near Katniss and followed after Rick.
Otis watched from the side, confused.
Why would they let a kid in there? He was almost as young as Beth...
"Alright people, we form a perimeter there, just as in the camp. Get your tents and start unloading only the necessary things, and for those alone, pair with two and use one tent if possible; no need to crowd the place." Billy clapped, and soon with Morgan, Dale, Jim, and others, they started making an area for themselves.
...
Hershel and Otis's wife, who were already making preparations with Maggie and Lori by their side, were surprised to see Rick rush in with a Caucasian man and another Asian boy.
"I thought you said there's only one doc with you. Who is that?" The old man spoke to Rick.
"Sasuke, I heard that the bullet was fragmented when it pierced his body, 7 pieces...I can help with that," Sasuke told him, taking a closer look at Carl.
"No, get out and wait with others."
Sasuke held a curse hearing that...it started getting on his nerves even when he knew it was not the man's fault.
"I can vouch for—" Jenner was about to speak when Sasuke picked a glass by the table and squeezed, shattering it.
That action surprised everyone, making Hershel even angrier, seeing him taking a pillow, shredding it and doing something.
"What do you think you are doing!?" Hershel's shout and sentiment were shared by all women in there.
"I will apologize later, fragments? Look." Sasuke flicked his wrist, pulling two senbons from his arm-brace, and then using them like pincers and moving close to Hershel to make him see better.
"It's not my first time treating injuries caused by fragmented metals; we both know what simulation this is." His fingers work like they had a mind each, manipulating senbons to pull the many pieces of glass pierced into the cotton.
It wasn't the same as flesh, but Hershel picked the most important detail.
Others may not understand the difference, but he did.
The swiftness and precise moves were much more practical than what his frail hands can achieve; if done to Carl, they would result in less trouble than his way.
"You were a surgeon?"
"I have experience." Sasuke left it at that.
"Alright, you take the lead, and I'll be the aide. Start with the outer fragments; I will clean the gash. Hand him the gloves, Patricia." Hershel turned to Otis's wife, telling her to step back as he would be the aide.
"But how can he—"
"Patricia, gloves." He too wouldn't want to trust a random kid, but not when he saw him do a job he would need triple the amount of time to finish, with the right tools, not two fucking long needles.
And Sasuke already unraveled the wound of bullet treated on his shoulder.
"Alright," she nodded and helped Sasuke wear the gloves.
Rick shook his head at Lori, who was about to say something.
"Adjust the light, please," Sasuke said, and soon he started working on the wound.
Hershel and Jenner moved around, helping him and watching in amazement as the boy operated on the wound, taking fragments and moving the tools in a way that should be impossible.
Unaware that Sasuke was using chakra to manipulate them to be better at removing the fragments with minimal damage done to the muscle tissues.
Half an hour later Sasuke finished closing the wound and bandaging it, and then the trio stepped outside, with Hershel telling the others that Carl's situation is stabilized.
Still impressed by the skill of the boy, he figured he may have been studying to be a surgeon before the breakout.
Rick, hearing that, smiled in relief and hugged them before rushing with his wife inside, and Sasuke left to see the group outside, he waved at Shane who was nearby, and received a thankful nod from him.
...
…
.
"Am I allowed in?" Sasuke smirked, standing at the entrance of the tent, his meaning known to her only.
"Anytime, come in," Katniss chuckled as she made his bed.
Seeing 3 mattresses, he asked who the third was, already knowing her answer.
"Of course you are sleeping here. Why? Don't want to?"
"Sasuke sleeping with us? Yaaay!!" Ciri, who ran from the outside right in time to hear that laughed and jumped at his back; he always told her weird but funny stories at night.
"Well, it's decided then."
"Yep, and you need to sleep, mister, now." She crossed her arms, not wanting to hear a no. She didn't know if he had slept yesterday, and knowing him? He probably hadn't.
"Alright, alright, sheesh." Lying on one side, he shared the vision with the white snake who was doing the scouting before closing his eyes to rest...whatever needed to be discussed can be left for later.