**********READ THIS BLURB FIRST!!**************
This is going to be a triggering chapter. Do not read if you are under 18, do not read if the episode of Rick biting a chunk of Joe's (claimed guys leader) neck is triggering on any level, specifically what happened to Carl. While nothing is described in detail it is overly hinted at and obvious what happens to Lil' at the end of this chapter. Need to know info for story's sake will be summarized at the beginning of the next chapter. ***************************************
<Lils' POV>
Run! Run Faster! I held on tightly to my shoulder as I sprinted as hard as I possibly could in the direction I'd seen Daryl and Beth run in. Faster! I screamed in my head struggling to breath, struggling to see as I dogged trees in the brush. It felt as if my lungs were collapsing and my vision was clouded. Fucking bum ass leg. Fucking blood. I started to slow more and more, still not risking looking over my shoulder to see if they were still on my tail. Not worth it, I argued with myself. But eventually I'll have to stop. I can't keep this up. I huffed for a second, stopping and looking around. I could hear them but couldn't see them. The pounding in my head made it seem like they were coming up from everywhere, from all directions.
I looked up at the sun. Night will be here soon. I swiped some blood from my brow. The tree branches looked sturdy enough to hold. I looked at my leg, fucking mutilated. I shook my head and took a deep breath. I can't run on this leg much longer. I wrapped my legs round the trunk of the tree and shoved my knife through the bark pulling myself up bit by bit with one arm. Tightening my leg round the trunk to keep myself from slipping down. Swinging myself on to the first branch high enough for comfort. If walkers can smell fresh blood they'll be under me in now time.
I didn't hesitate to get myself balanced and start patting down my vest. Pockets on pockets of small supplies. I was thanking whatever higher power there was that I was too lazy and too busy to unpack it. I pulled out the needle and thread. Hadnt had to use it since I took it from the shelter with Merle. I cut open the clothing on my leg and hooked the needle through my skin. Biting my lip and crying the whole way through. Then on to the next. And the next. And the next. While I was pissin' and cryin' over the sewing up the front and back of each hole I was glad they all went through and threw. Glad there'd be nothin' rattlin' round in my body.
I slumped back against the trunk of the tree, looking at the light slipping between the branches and leaves as the sun began to set. The cicadas began to hum, not loud enough to cover the groans of the dead bellow. Just like that. I'm alone again. Tears started falling from my cheek and I shook my head. He promised he wouldn't leave me. My tears quickly turned into sobs. How could i be so stupid, of course, everyone gets left to fend for themselves in a mess like that. "I'm not good at being alone." I whispered, pulling myself tightly into a hug as i fell asleep against a tree.
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Four nights wandering round the woods. I wish Daryl was here. He'd know how to get to the suburbs. Hunting had gotten me by but wasn't much good when I had no other supplies. I needed something to hold water in, some type of tarp to sleep on. Some medicine would be nice too. I poked at the stitching on my shoulder. Thankful it was the only one infected. Swollen and oozing it often woke me up in the middle of the night if anything touched it. I sighed as I stepped over a log,freezing with a foot in the air as I heard the shuffling of grass and leaves. I jumped and crouched down behind some fallen trees. Putting my hand over my mouth as I heard the laugh of men. They weren't familiar. My heart skipped a beat and I was damn near ready to run. But I couldn't, they were close. I started to panic and pulled out my pocket knife. I don't even have a real weapon. My hands shook as I held on tight to the tiny blade.
Once they slowly started coming into view one by one I started to slowly creep back. One seemed older than all the others but they were all the same. Men I'd run into before, men I'd run from even before. The ones that seemed to be stumbling out of bars far after last call, bully the female bartenders. Men who thought it was funny to wave guns round in the air and fire them off while throwing around filthy words and awful slurs. Men like Merle Dixon. Not a Daryl Dixon in sight. I tried to sink into the forest even further. Deserting the idea of the town and anything in their vicinity at that very moment. These were the people Merle had always warned me about, like men on the road.
That thought caught my breath in my throat and left me stumbling. Struggling to rein in the memory I hadn't thought about in so long. But with a snap of a twig I knew it was gonna happen all over again. And there was no Dixon to save me now. I couldn't even save me now.
"It came from over there." I heard a rough voice say, then the crumbling of more leaves, more feet. I clawed my way to my own, scrambling to turn and take off in a flat run.
"We got a running!" alerted another. "Go gett'em Mark." with that another pair of boots started thudding the ground, faster than my own. I had once considered myself pretty quick, but I was beginning to doubt that.
I ducked and weaved through the trees, under low branches, over bushes but he still kept coming. I huffed and huffed through the pain pushing myself harder and harder through the burning. Everything ached before, everything hurts now. But I knew getting caught wasn't an option, not like that, nothing like that again. "I'll die first." I grunted as I slid around another tree.
I thought sharp turns round all the trees would slow him down, or make him lose my trail but I'd only fashion my own end. My injured shoulder collided with a trunk and I was down and withering as he ran up. Trying to drag myself away with one arm and kicking at the dirt.
"Why you runnin pal?" The man grabbed me by my injured shoulder and flipped me onto my back. Panting, i should be panting but instead i held my breath as his joking smile turned into a cruel grin. "Eh!" he shouted. "We got a girl over here, boss."
I couldn't hear the boot or the hollers coming closer over the pounding in my head. Full instincts kicked in as he pinned me down with a knee to my chest. I pushed and I clawed and I twisted till I heard my joints pop. Clawing and flinging dirt. Hitting, kicking. Screaming. Tears making it hard to see as he pinned my arm, as he put his hand over my mouth. "Claimed!"
"You can't just claim a prize like that." the older man loomed over me. "Claims up in 24 hours." he turned and laughed a minute. "Just try not to mess up her face or break anything."
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<Rick's POV>
I woke up to the grumbles of men in heavy boots storming the house. Without hesitating I rolled off the edge of the bed and ducked under, grabbing my watch and water as I went. I sighed remembering that Michone and Carl were out, checking my watch they were due back in an hour, maybe two. Muffled screams made their way in waves up the stairs. Thud, thud thud. The boots dragged up her stairs. "Fuck yeah." The girl he had been dragging was left disregarded on the floor with a heavy thump.
I held my finger over my mouth hoping she wouldn't signal I'm here as she groaned and rolled to her side. My stomach dropped when I recognized the vest, the hair. The young woman who'd put Judith to bed every chance she'd get, rocking and humming her to sleep. I almost said her name out loud, I almost reached for her. If she's here, Daryl didn't make it and if he did, he didn't make it after these guys were through with him. She slowly opened her eyes but realization didn't hit her right away, her eyes, there wasn't a lick of life in them. Her eyes never left mine but it was like she was looking straight through me. Her hands and feet were tied and blood was smeared cross her lips and her eyes looked bloodshot and bruised.
More boots came down the hall and her eyes followed the sound before flicking up to me. "Run" She whispered just as the pair of boots entire the room. "Run." she whispered again as she dried to scoot out of the way of the man pulling another from the bed and tossing him to the floor but he stepped on her hand. She screamed for a split second before he rammed his fist into her face twice before beating the man from the bed to death. "Claimed!"
She shook her head at me already knowing what was going to happen next. She knew. She didn't struggle, she couldn't struggle. She gave up as he stripped her clothes from her and laid her bare on the floor as he cut the ropes from her wrists and ankles. "This is the last stop for you, hun." he pulled her up by her hair and tossed her on the bed. "Joe says you're dead weight, to show you some mercy. Pew."
I listened to the sobs rack her chest as I tried to focus. Tried to think about how I needed to get out of here. She shook her head. She knows you can't get her out of here. She knows you have to keep Carl from walking through that door. So I covered my ears and waited.
I stood up from under the bed, grabbing her jacket and vest as I did. The smallest bit of hope I could get her out of here with me. But he had draped himself over her and she was frozen like a deer in headlights. She stared at me as she slowly started to lift his arm from around her waist but he pulled her back in and she shook, violently. "Go." she whispered.
"You aren't goin' anywhere." he pushed his head into her hair taking a deep breath. We both froze and I took a step towards the door. "That pretty lil' body ain't leavin' this bed for the rest of your life." he chuckled. Tears streamed down her face as she nodded, watching me take another step out the door. "You're gonna die pretty soon." He laughed again as she sobbed. Loud enough to cover the sound of my boots, just then the look in her eyes told me she was awake and well aware of what she was doing. She cried louder, longer. She covered the noise of my escape and I clutched her jacket and vest the entire way. Till I made it to Michone and Carl. Till we heard shots ring out. Till he was asleep and i told Michone exactly what Lilith had done for me.