Shoe Thief

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, B9 -> D10
Skills: Scavenging

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Thalia needed more then simple support and canned food, a blood transfusion would be ideal but he lacked the equipment on his person to do anything like that. But doing nothing wasn't going to help at all so he figured he would take the time to see what there was medical supply wise. "Beatrice, I am going to see what I can find that might help us out. Keep an eye on her alright? And try to keep the rest of her clothes on. With the weather the way it is she is bound to get sick of she keeps going at this rate." He didn't need priority patient number 1 walking around drugged up, moaning around, missing limbs, and half naked. Anyone with a functional brain might mistake her for a walker at a distance. That would be a shitty way to go.

Looking around the house there wasn't anything Manny found particularly useful medical wise. That was unfortunate, anything, even some bandages would have been nice. Manny used a lot patching up Thalia today and he really didn't want to run out next time they needed some. "Damn, not even a toothbrush." People really seem to ignore dental hygiene until it's caused damage. It's a shame really.

Manny got back just in time to be volunteered to give a checkup to the drugged up scary girl. Granted, he was the doctor here so it falls to him anyways. "Beatrice, is she behaving or should I avoid giving her a sucker at the end of this?" Manny tried to say jokingly. Little jokes helped at times. Manny was hesitant though to do much though. Seemed the girls wanted their own time, he didn't blame them but he had personally mixed messages. He figured he would let them finish, he new Thalia was in decent enough shape, even if not the best. Though he would prefer not making out with the completely drugged out patient.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, G10 -> B9
Skills: N/A

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Manny was ready to wake up, the inside of his mind was hell, seeing all those who had not made it to this point of the end. In his dreams he had run outside of his building trying to get away from all of this madness. Once outside he found himself in a field of tall grass, maybe up to his knees. He was scared, he was tired, so he sat down looking across the grassy field. Behind him, the undead forms of those he had known were slowly making their way to him. "Oh god... what have I done..." He just wanted things to be back to normal, he wanted to be back in his own bed, in his own home, he was ready to fall asleep in his own life and not wake up in this nightmare. "Pull yourself together." A voice spoke from behind him. Turning he saw a man only a handful of years younger then Manny. "Al'? What are.... you're..." The man that Manny knew as Al' sat down by the doctor. "You're better then this. Stop acting like a pussy and pull yourself together you old bastard." Manny tried not to burst out laughing at Al's words. "Great words of motivation. You pick it up from you uncle?" Al' shrugged. "Maybe, he still had the common sense to not let himself fall apart." He stopped in his thoughts for a moment. "At least until he drank most the bottle. Then he might a little."

Manny looked back at the group of undead behind them, they were taking their time. They were in no rush, and Manny wasn't moving any time soon. "You still never answered my question." Al' chuckled. "I am knocking some sense into you, though not literally, you get a free pass there. So don't waste it, I don't normally do that. Jimmy was a good kid, but he was reckless. Even if he somehow didn't get himself infected then he would have at the stadium. If not then, soon after. What he did later wasn't you either, and if you say that again I will hit you." He said this with a blank face, giving the impression he actually might. "He asked me to shoot him." Manny said this, realizing he still had the shotgun in his hand. "Yeah, and you made the choice to be human. I would have fuckin' crushed his skull in. I really don't think you want to be like how I was. Infact, I think you worked on making me less of a dick. People fuck up, so grow a pair and keep doing what you do best." Manny set aside the gun. "That is?" Manny asked, hoping he wouldn't say something stupid like pulling teeth. "I don't know, I didn't think I would get this far. Was sort of hoping that would be enough to get you back in track. Seems like I at least got your attention." Manny gave a fast glance at the horde again, hundreds of people he had once known, all making their way over.

"They're getting closer." Al' shrugged. "Let 'em. You have bigger problems, like real people and not your own ego complex to worry about. Take care of them, and stop letting you fucking doubts get in your way. Grief yeah sure whatever, but stop letting it get in the way you old fart." Manny smiled. "Congrats, you only swore once that time. I get what you're saying... Just... I'm getting old, and it's showing. What if I can't do what I need to do anymore?" Al' stood up. "It's bullshit then, you seem fine to me? Fucking man up. Hell, you got your hands, you got a gun, you got enough of a brain? Use them." Manny didn't speak for a while. When he decided he did know what to say he looked at his former friend. They smiled for a moment, Manny wouldn't have minded this lasting a while. Though, it would be cut short by a loud thud and a lot of commotion.

Manny woke up watching Thalia struggling on the floor half naked. "What the fuck?" Took him a moment to realize what was going on, then he remembered the hell from his dreams were a lot more real then he would have preferred. He also had a patient who was drugged up on whatever they could scrap up. As Manny was standing up Alexander walked over to him checking on his waking state. "I'm up yeah, debating about sleeping still, but back." Looking at Thalia again, she was getting help by Beatrice which meant Manny had a moment to wake up. "It has been a while, but scavenging runs take a while. If she's not back by morning we can try for something then. It would be stupid for us to go out at night in our condition unless we knew exactly where she went. What we should consider now is what we'll do when this weather breaks and day comes." Manny got up and made his way to Thalia, mostly trying to keep his balance along the way. "How's she doing? Drugs hitting her harder then planned?" A transfusion might help, Manny lacked on him what they needed to do a proper one though. The house might have something but he didn't think it was likely. No harm in looking though? Not like he had anything better to do.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, G10
Skills: N/A

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Manny was sound asleep, it felt like the best sleep he had gotten in years. Though mostly that was because he hadn't had a decent bed in who knows how long. In his dream he was just coming into his former dental office. Clean, and as pretty as it always was. He had put his heart and soul into this place, and it was thriving. He told himself he would retire someday, though he didn't have any plans on doing so for a while as he was still in great health, and worked more or less reasonable hours. Manny had arrived early that day, he noticed over the last few days the there have been a lot of traffic adding hours to his drive to work in some cases. SO he figured arrive a couple hours early, clean the place up, make some good coffee, and maybe reorganize the files he said he would organize last year.

Finding his way into his office he was stunned to say the least. His office was trashed, as if someone had pillaged it a dozen or so times for anything valuable. "What the actual fuck." He didn't swear often, but this had pissed him off. He left his office nice and clean the night before and now some piece of shit broke in during the night and ransacked his office. Furious he turned to get his phone from his bag so he could call the police, stopping in his tracked. The rest of the building was trashed now too, it looked looted clean as well, but this time it looked as if a war had gone through, killing everything in it's path. Blood was splattered on the walls, gunshot holes were present all over the place, a body at the end of the hall...

What had happened? What the hell had just happened? That was all Manny could get through his mind. He ran as fast as he could toward the body on the floor. He couldn't figure out who they were, no one else was supposed to be here yet? Getting closer he could see nurses garbs. "Oh god... Oh god no." Getting down by them he checked for a pulse, he couldn't find one. SO he turned over the body of the nurse to see their face. In his panicked state he couldn't register it at first, but he still seemed to be moving. "Jimmy?" Manny said softly. The body replied slowly, and weakly. "Ya let us die ya stupid Sonava Bitch." Manny, startled fall backwards and crawled back. His former nurse's face was half gone, and his neck torn out. "Oh god Jimmy..." He was still backing up but he wanted to help him so badly. "YA LET ME DIE! YOU LET ME KILL SUSAN!" The screams were deafening.

Manny stood up now, backed to a wall as Jimmy came closer. "Do whatchya should've done all them years 'go. Ya knew what would happen ta me. Do it ya old Bastard." Manny was confused at first, he was scared. He knew what he was talking about, but he still wasn't registering what he should be doing. Not until his ancient looking double barrel found its way to his hands, the end of the barrel soaked in blood. "No... No I can't Jimmy." Manny was on the verge of tears. Things were making sense now. "DO ET!" The walking corpse screamed as it charged him. Manny, out of instinct fired both barrels out of the shotgun, but instead of the usual buckshot, it sent out a wave of blood and bone that vaporized Jimmy to a pile of gore against the walls. Manny stood there for a moment in shock, then threw away the gun. The old man slid down the wall to a sitting position listening to the voices of those he let down. Back in reality, he has barely moved a muscle, he's an old man running on sleep deprivation and Adrenalin. A good night sleep would do him.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, C8 -> House, G10
Skills: N/A

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Alexander had found enough water to keep them all going a while. That was probably the best thing Manny could have seen right now, he felt almost like collapsing, and the idea of decent water was a nice boost in moral. Though exhausted he still had more to do. He'd need to rest soon but he hated letting his age show. Looking around though, he wasn't in a position to drop from exhaustion. Sleep, maybe. But they were not in a position to have another person to keep watch over. Manny spent what energy he had left putting up blankets and setting the mattress against the glass door. Manny spoke trying to get Beatrice's attention. "If the weather holds like this, do you think what we have here will be enough?" He wasn't sure if they could do any better, but fortifying the place may not go as well with the conditions outside and the lack of resources inside.

Once Manny did what he could he found a spot on the floor to lay down. "We'll need to start planning our next move soon. Do we stay here? Do we move on? And how do we go about either. Because with how things are going, I don't think we'll be able to keep up like this much longer." They were good at what they did, but they were doing a lot. They have two people missing limbs, an old man with the endurance of a dying turtle, and two woman who were left to pick up the rest. "Who knows, maybe Thana will come back with the remnants of the army. We'll all get a hot meal, and I can pick up my old hobbies again. Granted, I was never any good at them." He said with a chuckle.

Manny stayed awake for a little longer, soon just falling asleep. Sleep was hard for him at times. Tonight he was so exhausted that he didn't even care he was on the floor. Though he would most likely curse himself out for that in the morning for being so stupid. But right now, it just felt so good to close his eyes, and forget that the world was over. Tonight, it was good to relax, and not have to worry about a thing. For a moment, he even pictured some fonder memories of his life.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, C8
Skills: N/A

Thalia had woken up rather suddenly, enough so that Manny had one hand on his shotgun before he realized what had happened. Though ti didn't move at all, he was ready for the worst. "Dammit... You scared the living shit out of me. Glad to see you're still alive though." She wasn't int he clear yet, though waking up is a good sign. Meant she still had enough fight in her to pull through this, and seems like an infection hasn't set in. So overall, a win. All things considering. "I'm afraid we lack pain killers, but if we look around I think we can find alcohol or something. My first Husband always said that worked just as well if you had enough of it." Manny said with a simple laugh.

Manny eventually heard the call of duty. Box springs and mattresses. Normally he wasn't the kind of person pulled for this, but he was the only other person with all their limbs, so guess he was the perfect person for the job. "Yeah I can help out with that. Heart finally slowed down enough so my head could keep up." He would still need to keep an eye on Thalia, but as long as a fever dind't break out, she should be fine. That was his main concern. That, and booze sounded great right about now. No idea why everyone was so obsessed with the canned O's. Alcohol was where the real fun was at.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, C9
Skills: N/A

Manny found himself staring at Thalia's wound again. He didn't want to, he just couldn't help but look at what he had done. Every few minutes or so he would find himself staring, then he would snap back out of it, only to keep looking. He was no trauma surgeon, but he was closer then most people still alive on the planet. Didn't help that many doctors found themselves on the fronts with the soldiers to help with the chaos. Lot of good that did. God, he needed Thalia to pull through. Manny wasn't sure he could keep up the stress of watching the people he tried to save die in front of him while he moves on barely touched.

When Alexander started talking to him Manny needed a moment to think, he was still fixated on that damn stub. "If she's lucky, a couple days. Should help past the worst of the pain. Though if we're lucky, tonight or tomorrow. We'll need her functional as soon as possible. But this is a little above where my training capped off, for all I know she wont wake up." He stopped to breath, then started to realize his tone. "She's stable though, and I have seen people pull their way back from much worse then this. Knowing her, I'd say she'd recover and probably just hit things twice as hard with her remaining hand just to make up for the missing hand." He left out the part where they would fall into states of depression and start developing suicidal tendencies. Not all did, but this kind of thing did leave people feeling... less then themselves.

Thalia was reacting to her dreams though, Manny wasn't sure if that was good or not. Could she feel the pain she was in right now? Beatrice eventually got his attention. "The wind is definitely a problem, I lived a bit further south from here and this entire state is prone to hurricanes, some worse then others. We'll need to move Thalia to a room without windows like you said, if we can't find one, then we'll need a room that will be easy to board up the windows. We could all hunker down in the bathroom, but it's most likely a small room with little space, let alone enough to lay someone down." He also didn't like the idea that any moment now, a hoard of walkers could wonder their way to the house and they wouldn't know it until it was too late to run. Especially if they were in a room that was sealed off. It would protect them from the storm but only prevent them from seeing the undead.

Manny grabbed his shotgun and hung it from it's sling on his back. "I agree, we need to take more precautions against the storm here, Thana going out in it was a foolish choice. But if she thinks it's what we need most now, hopefully she's careful enough to not get killed. Also, someone will need to keep watch. If walkers start heading this way we wont know until they start trying to tear the doors down. That'll put us in a bad situation." If they were really lucky, maybe the storm would die, or maybe soldiers would show up and tell them this whole thing would be over? Manny laughed a little at his internal thought. If there were any soldiers left, then Florida would be a poor place to start. The area isn't great for long term survival for large amounts of people. But who knows, maybe he's wrong.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, C9
Skills: N/A

Sawing off limbs with power tools wasn't what Manny had in mind when he applied to medical school. Mostly he was thinking that he could escape his past, help others better themselves, and make an honest living. Thinking about how things have been, at least he was helping others still. The operation was bloody, messy, and now Manny would be seeing that every time he came into the main room. God, he hated that idea. Getting yet another reminder of what he now has to do just to keep people alive.

When Manny had gotten himself off the floor again Manny was surprised to get a can of canned pasta pressed against his chest. With the simple command of keeping Thalia alive. Simple being a relative term. Once she gave everyone their jobs Manny tried to cut her off. "Is you heading out there really the best idea? We only have a couple able bodies, and now you want to go out and risk your life so carelessly?" He knew why, they needed medical supplies. And who else was there to send out? Who would keep watch? What would they do if Thalia didn't make it? God he hated that idea. "For fucks sake, just be safe. You die we're going to be in a bad spot." He knew nothing he said would change her mind. They needed those supplies anyways.

After she left Manny tried to get Alexander's attention. "Shotgun's against the wall, feel free to use it if need be. Box of shell are right here." He pulled them out, setting them on the counter. Also covered in blood, and whatever else decided to catch the attention of the blade. "We're going to need to figure things out sooner rather then later. Either we need more people, or we will need someplace to bunker down." They had this place for now, but Manny didn't like the idea of staying here anymore. Even with the supplies here.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, C9
Skills: Fast reflexes, general medical

Thalia had stayed calm overall so far, but she seemed to be getting sick of the petty jokes to keep her calm. What did take Manny by surprise, almost making his old heart skip a beat, was the circular saw that Thana had brought in. "Are you fucking crazy that is the exact opposite of calm and collective! Are you trying to paint the walls red with all natural paint?! Because that's what we're about to do!" We're. Manny knew there wasn't much in terms of options here. Thalia had seconds before it would be too late to do this. "Fuck my life..." Manny spoke with a dead tone, he couldn't let emotions get in the way now. Emotions got people killed.

Everyone else was emotional enough though to keep things moving, that was good. Everyone was comforting, preparing for the worst, preparing for the best, and... Manny was pretty sure flirting. He knew some Spanish, enough that he could follow some conversations, but he was almost sure that there was flirting going on. He never shared that he knew any Spanish, he couldn't speak it well at all, and he could barely understand it. Though it did give him the benefit of knowing what the girls were talking about when they thought he couldn't understand them. He hoped that Thalia and Beatrice could both be happy together. Like all the girls in Manny's life, they scared the ever living shit out of him.

Now, with the saw in hand, and the young girl pinned to the table. Manny would begin. "BRACE!" was all he said. Short enough to get people's attention, but not long enough for Thalia to jerk away. By the time she would instinctively jerk and resist the pain of the now aging saw there would be several people on top of her, keeping her from moving too much. The large circular blade cut through the lower arm like... well a saw through an arm. Sending skin, bone, blood, muscle, and anything else Manny could think of all over. God there was so much. The bleeding would be under control for a little bit, as least as much as could be in this situation, but once the arm was off Manny would have to act fast.

Cut goes through as smoothly as a circular saw can, but then she goes under. "Shit!" He figured this would happen, he wanted to avoid it if possible but at least she wouldn't move now. But this meant he had less time then he would have wanted to stop the bleeding, and there is no way to know for sure if the infection didn't spread or not. God he hoped not. To go through all of that just to still be infected? That would be... probably too much for anyone. Manny got to work sealing the blood vessels with what little he had available to him. Not much, but soon enough the blood stopped flowing. Finally, some good news. "THANA! Get me something to smooth down the bone with, the blood stopped for now but if we don't do something soon she will get infected." Once Thana got the tools from the garage needed to smooth out the bone Manny got started. It was... a longer process then he would have wished, but it was done. After that Manny pulled whatever loose skin he could and made flaps, sewing those together was probably the easiest part of this whole mess.

The whole process took hours to finish, but eventually he was done. The stump was bandaged and would heal eventually. If healed well a prosthetic could be applied in just a week or two. Maybe sooner if it healed up really well. Used up most of the bandages he had left, and it wasn't clean work. But it was done. She should live, and she doesn't have a real fever, so she's not infected. Most likely. So overall, things were.... great. This was one of his more intense doctoring moments, even more so then with Alexander, but overall, he was scared shit less. "God dammit... why couldn't I specialize in beer or something like that. Being a doctor sucks." He actually liked being a doctor, but the stress wasn't good for him.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, C9
Skills: Fast reflexes, general medical, shotguns

So far no more infected were arriving, thank god for that. Setting the shotgun down against the wall Manny helped Thalia onto the table. Most of it fell to Beatrice as she was a lot more physically able then Manny was,though Manny refused to let it be done alone. "Alexander! Find me something to prop her legs up with! Then get ready to hold her down! I can't have her moving as I get to this!" Manny was... freaked out. Out of all the times he had to do this, he had only gotten it to work once. His general surgery skills were a little aged. Helped when there was a minor lack of infrastructure, but a lack of everything?

Thana said she would be right back with something to cut, thank god. Manny was worried he would have to pull this off with a pocket knife and a hammer. Though he had never done it before he was scared to think about what his options would be. God, what if the screaming brought more walkers? Alexander was one thing, he could move independently, but Thalia? She would need help no matter how well she recovered from this. And between the group they only had 18 bullets, 17 of which were for Manny's shotgun. At least they had walls, a clean enough table, and hopefully the wind would mask the screams as the limb is removed.

He needed more supplies then he had. He had some supplies though, in his bag. Where was his bag? "Beatrice! I need supplies! My bag, find the quick clot Gauss, sharpie, Petrolatum Dressing, compressed bandages, and over night pads! Go!" He needed as much as he could get, there would be a lot of blood. God, there was going to be so much blood. At least Thalia kept up her sense of humor, the damn o'war. Manny didn't care for the canned pastas much. He had watched a video a few years back about those same companies passing a health inspection despite hundreds of cockroaches falling into the pasta. Not something he cared for.

Manny could hear the fear in Thalia's voice as she joked. It scared Manny, but he needed her awake more then he needed her calm. Granted, working on someone asleep is ideal, but with the trauma she is about to receive she may not wake up if she goes under. He wouldn't care too much except he lacked what he needed to make sure that didn't happen. "Thalia? Listen to me. You can have all the bug infested cans of soup you want. Just promise me you'll get a pirate hook alright? Not one of those cheap fuckers either, something strong enough to throw bodies. Something brutal and scary. Got it?" Manny was joking, he didn't care much, but he figured it would make her feel better. And it hopefully gave her something to laugh about. "THANA HURRY THE FUCK UP! WE HAVE SECONDS TO GET STARTED!" Manny was getting loud again. He hated being loud. But he was running out of time, he needed to be started by now.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman

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Location: Quincy, Florida: E9. House, E13
Skills: Fast reflexes, general medical, shotguns

While Manny and Alexander were chatting Alexander had asked if Manny remembered what he had left in his home. Truth be told, he left a lot. Most of his personal documents, targets for his old shotgun, plenty of food, and his own personal supply of medical surplus. Though that was years ago, chances are all that was looted. His office was probably worse off, that would actually be a target for looters, the only thing that might still be there is his car. But the chances were slim it still worked, and he didn't have the keys anymore anyways. Though something did click in his head. "I don't think anything realistically would be left at my office or my home. Nothing of use to us at least. But I was apart of a gun club, so I had somewhere to practice with a shotgun much like the one I have now." He tried to plan it out in his head. "I don't think it would be worth going out of our way for, but if we pass close by I know we could use the guns. The range will lack guns itself for the most part, as it would have been a target for looters too, but the documents that kept addresses and registration forms for the regular members like myself? Those would be untouched most likely. I figure, get a list of people and addresses of people who went shooting a lot, but rarely purchased ammunition, we could probably find at least one person who used to make their own. People rarely loot those supplies." He knew the chances of that working were slim, it would be a lot of trial and error, but speaking in the positive always tended to make things work smoother.

Into their conversation Alexander had brought up his overall dislike for dentists. But how he did like Manny despite that. "Glad to hear that old man, though I have no idea how long we'll be here. If we're lucky we can find an RV or a school bus or something. Anything with a little space and a place to sit comfortably. Somewhere we could also stock up supplies in as we travel in case we actually ever find something." Manny liked that idea, there had been times in the past where his groups would find supplies, and only have the means to bring back part of it. But due to how far out the supplies were they were unable to make another trip out to get them in ways worth the gas. A larger vehicle despite using more fuel would still be worth the trip.

Soon after the conversation had made headway in their conversation Manny had heard the struggle, then the scream. The words he hated to hear. Because it meant bad news no matter the context. Someone had been bit. Best case scenario, they were in shock and scared. But most likely it was he'd have to remove another limb. Worst case scenario... Manny was the only one with a gun that had more then one shot left. He hated that idea, but was there another practical way if it was that bad?

Manny ran over to the scream, it was Thalia with a dead walker at her feet. He could see the wound from where he was at. "Oh my god..." Manny wasn't religious, for a lot of reasons. But if there was one, Manny hoped they listened to his silent prayer, because arm wounds were difficult to tend to someone that was awake. "Blade! Someone get a fucking blade! Biggest one you can get your hands on! Thalia, I am going to need you to breath slowly, and stay calm. Getting too excited will increase your heart rate and drastically increase the odds of you getting infected." Manny setting his shotgun aside started pulling out his medical supplies.

Normally he'd have to give up his belt, but in this case he actually had a tourniquet available to him. Plus, Manny figured no matter how tight he made the belt, it wouldn't stop enough bleeding to actually keep her from bleeding out. Thinking about what he was doing, he had to make sure things were done right, since so much was going to have to be done wrong to save her in time. He took his belt off and tightened it just a little bit past the tourniquet. The belt might not stop bleeding, but it may limit blood flow if his first tie off fails. God he hoped so. "Someone get me something to elevate her legs with dammit!" She was going to lose a ton of blood. She would recover if done right, but elevating her legs may keep her blood pressure up enough to keep her alive.