The Walking Dead: What Rests Ahead

Chapter 9

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a faded gray, tiled ceiling with a single crack snaking around to the corner and down the wall. My eyes were blurried and fuzzy around the edges. It made the room look more comfortable, smoothing out the jagged features of the harsh room.

The very next thing I noticed was the fact that my head was full of hot, rushing blood that swam near my ears. Light-headed and afraid, I pried my eyes open more. Where was I? Where were the Terminus people? Where were- my friends? My fellow non-cannibals? My...group? What were Rick and the others to me?

Then, I realized why my head hurt: I was hanging upside down. Grrrr, I groaned silently. No one else hung with me as far as I could tell, so maybe they got to safety. At least someone should have. If it's not me, then I secretly hoped it would be that boy, Carl. No. This isn't a romantic comedy. This is a horror movie, if any movie at all. I hoped that it would just be me. I'm better alone anyways. And that'll never happen until I escape this death trap.

That's when I remembered Maggie, the first to fall.

I sighed. I didn't know here at all, hardly knew her name. Yet, somewhere inside me a great sadness stirred as if it were trying to sleep and was flipping it's pillow over to get to the cold side. My stomach did a tiny flop. Part of me was still getting over the fact that she was dead. Stop, I told myself. You have to focus on getting out of here.

In an attempt to move my arms, I discovered, quite unfortunately, that my arms were chained together. My hopes sank. With a hard tug, the crains that contained me rattled. Another tug. And another. And another. And another. I exclaimed slightly as I felt a sting on my arms and when I looked down I saw a bead of blood trickle down. It hit the floor with the faintest drip! sound.

No, I wasn't stuck here. With all the strength I had, I yanked the chains, ignoring the spikes of pain shooting up my body. The chains were tighter than they were supposed to. I guess an "employee" had too much fun stringing me up here like Christmas lights.

After what felt like hours, I gave in to exhaustion and stopped, my limp hands barely tracing the floor. There was simply no way I could escape by force. I may be strong for my age, but I was no super hero. I hated my limits. I hated hanging upside down. I hated Terminus. I hated all of this.

If I had a sharp object, I'd stab the first person who dared walk in this room. However, I had none and there wasn't any just laying around convenientally, so I had to improvise. There was the tiniest chance that I could strangle someone with these chains if they came close enough. I searched my brain for another option. Coming up with nothing, I sighed and dangled from the stupid cracked ceiling. Dizziness swarming me, I closed my eyes for half a second.

And that is when the room door opened.