Reflections - TWD

104. Ain't fair.

"Hang on," Isabella scoffed, almost laughing because the situation was so ridiculous. "You're telling me that she trusted you to tell you about her crazy mom, said crazy mom shows up...and you let her take Lydia?!"

"It was either she takes her or she takes the Hilltop," Daryl sighed, rubbing the bridge of his noise with his thumb and pointer finger.

He felt so bad. What if that was Isabella? Could he send her back to John? He couldn't. He'd die before he did that. Or Freddie? Even if he was an asshole, Daryl would never send him back to Pete. So Isabella couldn't understand why Lydia had to go back to Alpha.

"It's not fair. She's gonna hurt her, Daryl," Isabella kept on protesting. She wanted to help Lydia. She wanted to help kids that were like her.

Daryl sighed. "Some things in life ain't fair."

Isabella's mouth dropped open. "Some things just ain't fair?! Are you stupid?! She's being abused!"

"The hell ya shoutin' at me for? Listen, it was either we give Lydia back, or the Hilltop gets attacked. If I had to choose between her or you, I'm choosin' you, Bells," Daryl said. It was sweet, but Isabella didn't want there to be a choice. She'd fight for Lydia's freedom, and that was it.

Isabella shook her head. "I know. But it doesn't have to be a choice."

They both knew that in a world like this, the only outcome was some, or a lot of people, getting hurt.

•

It was a stupid idea, and it was clearly going to go wrong because the three teenagers hadn't thought of any of the consequences of what they were doing, but they kept on going.

"Stop stomping, Freddie. You sound like a damn elephant," Isabella whispered. They were supposed to be staying quiet as they hiked through the woods, but, naturally, Freddie was in a bad mood.

Daryl would be mortified when he found out, but by that time, they'd either be dead or have done what they wanted to do. So it was sort of a win-win, in some weird way.

"Jeez, sorry. You think you're the queen of the forest or something? It wouldn't surprise me, considering you lived out here for six years."

"Get over it."

"You get over it."

"Both of you get over it," Henry hushed, his voice clearly frustrated with the ongoing conflict.

They kept on walking until morning. Isabella and Freddie had stopped arguing with each other for the time being, it would only cause more problems for them. They could save that until they got back at Hilltop or the Kingdom, and was sitting in a room with Daryl and Carol lecturing them again.

They stopped in a small pit, peeping over the edge. There was probably around thirty of these people, all wearing skin masks. It made all three of them feel sick. Lydia wasn't wearing one, she was sat on the floor picking at it.

"Put it down, boy," someone whispered, coming up behind them and making Henry raise his stick. He knocked them to the floor, fairly quietly but the person still grunted and gasped.

While the three of them caught their breath, looking at the man and wondering what to do next, a huge shadow appeared above them. Henry tried to lunge at whatever it was with his stick, but the person easily stopped him with little effort.