What We Become

Chapter 16 - The Escape

Dog stayed close to us and we made sure none of the dead got to him.

"This way," I whispered after it had gotten dark.

We moved like the dead and they followed us because Dog was fresh meat. When we were deeper into the woods, there was no one on watch. I found that odd considering they always had someone keeping an eye out for things. I squinted my eyes underneath the mask to see where they could have gone. I quickly saw there was group gathered right in front of us. I looked back to Connie and Daryl and pointed in front of me. They nodded and we moved closer. I pulled out my knife and held my hand out to the back of me to keep the two from moving any further. I walked up behind one of the Whisperers and stabbed them in the leg. As I had predicted, he groaned in agony.

"Guardians!" I heard someone whisper loudly.

More screams came and that's when we moved past the group. My eyes caught Lydia first and then Henry. I nudged Connie on the arm and pointed to them. She then called Daryl's attention. We slowly moved toward them, keeping our heads down the whole time. Dog had remained silent the whole time. Daryl had trained him well.

"Lydia," I whispered.

She jumped and turned towards me.

"It's Nat. Keep your head down."

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? Getting you out of here."

"Come on, Henry. We gotta go," Daryl said.

"Right. Come on, Lydia," Henry said.

"Nah. Just you," Daryl said.

"I'm not leaving without Lydia."

"We really don't have time to argue over this. Alpha will notice soon enough when neither one of them is where she left them. Let's just get the hell out of here now, please," I said.

"Fine. Come on," Daryl said, taking Henry's arm and leading all of us the opposite direction we had come.

I quickly took off the stupid mask and left it on the ground. I never wanted to do that again. After tonight, I really hoped I would never need to. We ran until the chaos heard at the camp couldn't be heard any longer.

"Keep moving," Daryl said after a while.

"Hurry, Lydia," Henry said.

Right after he did, he ended up tripping over a branch.

"Shit. You okay, kid?" I stopped to ask.

The others had stopped to make sure he was.

"I'm fine."

"You good?" Daryl asked.

Henry nodded.

"We gotta keep going," he continued.

"He's right. We can't be out in the open for long," I said, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Daryl did the same.

"Where will we go? Back to Hilltop?" Henry asked.

"Nah. Hilltop made a deal with them. We just broke that deal. We can't go back," Daryl said.

"I came out here. If I go back and tell them that it was just me...that Hilltop had nothing to do with it..."

"If only it was that simple, kid. But that's not how it works. Not with her. What if I took her? We'd just leave and never came back," I suggested.

"You leave, they attack Hilltop," Daryl said.

He was right. I'd never forgive myself if I left Hilltop under Alpha's feet.

"What if I go with them?" Henry asked.

"No. Think of your mom. I promised her that I'd look after you. You're staying with me."

"He's right, Henry. You've got people that care about you back there," Lydia said.

There was some growling coming from a distance.

"We have to go. Now," I said.

Connie then started to wave at us.

"What is it, Connie?" I asked, making sure to look at her.

She pointed to her left. She was telling us the way to go.

"Nah. This way," Daryl said, pointing in the opposite direction.

Connie shook her head vigorously and again pointed in the direction she had earlier. Henry and Lydia were already following her.

"If we're not going our separate ways, then it's best to stick together," I said.

I too followed Connie and the kids. After a few minutes, I turned to make sure that Daryl was following us too. Dog came to my side and right behind him was his dad.

We all walked through the trees in silence until the sun slowly started to rise once again.

"Hey, look at that. It's been awhile since I've stopped to see the sun rise," Henry stopped to say.

"Well, you're not stopping now. Keep going," I said.

We got to a break in the trees and Connie pointed to a building in front of us. She then started to write something down. By that time, all of us were looking at the building.

"Chokepoint," she had written.

Daryl looked toward the highest floor.

"Yeah. That's not a bad idea. Come on," Daryl said.

We followed him to the building.

"Will she come after us?" Daryl turned to ask me.

"No. She'll send some of her people. Her second in command."

"And who would that be?"

"Beta. She'll send Beta," Lydia said.

Daryl turned to look at her.

"He's their best fighter?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Alright. We kill him first."

He and Connie walked into the building while Lydia and I looked at each other.

"You really think he'll be able to kill Beta?" Lydia asked.

"Well not on his own. If he has our help then yeah."

"Henry, can you give us a second?" Lydia asked.

Henry looked between the two of us.

"You're not leaving are you?" he asked.

"Kid, I promise we'll be in, in a few seconds," I said.

Henry nodded and went into the building.

"You want to help them, kill our people?" Lydia asked once he was inside.

"They aren't my people. Not anymore, Lydia. They aren't yours either."

"But...Nat, these people raised me. I can't just turn my back on them."

"They will. You may not be able to see it now but eventually they will turn their back on you. Which is why killing them won't bother me. There is another way to live. Hilltop was enough for me to see that. I want you to have a different life. I don't want you to grow up thinking that how the Whisperers live is the only way. You don't deserve that."

"Why do you care about what happens to me?"

"Someone ought to if your own mother won't do it."

She sighed.

"I don't think I'd be able to. I don't think I'd be able to and then be okay with it," she said softly.

"That's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to. No one is gonna force you to fight. Let's get back in. I'm sure by now Connie and Daryl have come up with a plan."

I opened the door and watched her go in then followed her once she was in.