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chapter two
HER HEART RACED AS SHE FOUND herself in a dimly lit room, the flickering candlelight casting shadows on the walls. The air grew heavy, and a sense of unease settled over her. In the distance, she heard a faint voice calling out her name, growing louder with each passing moment.
Feeling a mix of relief and fear flooding through her veins, knowing it was her father. She followed the sound, drawn to the source of the voice. "Dad?" She called out to the man, who she instantly could recognise, from his light blue eyes, which were her favourite color.
No reply back. His presence starting to be both comforting, and haunting at the same time. She couldn't stop but think of the memories with her father, flooding straight into her mind.
But as Tessa reached closer to him, something changed. Liam Collin's figure began to shift, his once familiar face twisted into a horrifying mask. Her heart sank as she realized what was happening—
The voice that had called out to her now took on a sinister tone, filled with hunger. Tessa's blood ran cold as she witnessed the dead lunge towards her. It's once bright eyes, now grey and lifeless. She stumbled backwards, screams escaping her mouth, desperately trying to escape the clutches of the creature that had once been her father.
Tessa Collin's eyes flusters open, her heart still racing from the nightmare. Waking up to her mother sat next to her on the floor, with a concerned look all over her face, and gently moving the hair away from Tessa's sweaty face. Without any words being exchanged, the girl cries out onto her moms chest. Yet, it wasn't the first time she had dreams like that, and it for sure wouldn't be the last— she could never escape them.
"Tess, it's okay, i'm here baby. It was only a nightmare." Vega whispers to her daughter, wiping the tears away from her face. Tessa lays her head onto her mother's lap, who soothingly runs her fingers through her tangled hair, trying to calm her down.
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Tessa had drifted back to sleep, hopefully getting a more peaceful one this time. Vega had stayed up for about an hour, until she was sure her daughter was asleep again. Giving Tessa a quick kiss on the forehead, Vega got up from the floor, covering both Beth and Tessa with two blankets she had found inside a small closet.
"She alright?" Daryl asks.
Vega's heart nearly skips a beat, at the unexpected voice talking. "She just had a nightmare." She simply explains, sitting onto a tiny couch. "Did we wake you up?" The woman questions.
Explaining that he hasn't even slept, Vega focused on how Daryl's fiddling around with the arrows from his crossbow. Examining each his fingers move with precision, making adjustments and ensuring they're in decent condition.
"If it's because you don't trust me.. i would've killed you and Beth way before, if that's your concern," Vega starts, her voice filled with sincerity, looking up again. "You haven't slept the whole night, so you should get some rest." She looks over to the man.
He still remained silent for a while, seemingly unaffected by Vega's words. Eventually, she shrugged it off with a nonchalant attitude. "Suit yourself." She states, relaxingly leaning back onto the old gray couch, in the peaceful funeral home.
Daryl, lost in his thoughts, suddenly rises from his seat, his eyes drawn to something outside the window in the room. Vega, intrigued by his sudden movement, following the man's gaze. Noticing the faint smudges on the dirty glass. But what she hadn't seen was the massive walker horde, slowly advancing towards their shelter.
Daryl swiftly grabbed his crossbow, not wasting a second, feeling its familiar weight in his hands. The eerie silence now gone, by the occasional moaning from the undead. With a determined look in his eyes, he turns to Vega, urging her to wake up Beth and Tessa, who's still resting in the main room.
Both of the adults took in action quickly.
Vega shaking the two teens awake, and Daryl heading to barricade the front door, to slow down the dead from getting in faster.
Tessa's gaze turning to Beth's who's next to her, and just as confused and panicked like herself.
"Mom, what's going on?" She hurriedly asks, her heart racing in nervousness.
The pair positioned in front of the door, using all their strength to keep it closed, to prevent the walkers from getting inside.
"There's a window in the room to the left, help Beth and leave!" Vega shouts, assisting Daryl to hold the door locked, until the two teens are out.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Tessa hesitates, shaking her head, whilst biting her bottom lip. Beth steadily gets up from the ground, packing most of their stuff, careful not to hurt her ankle more than it already is.
While they push their strength against the door, the strain starts to take a toll on their bodies. "Beth take her and go!" Daryl yells out, gritting his teeth, knowing they wouldn't be able to hold the door for any longer now.
"We'll be right behind you both, i promise! Now just go Tess!" Vega reassures, giving her daughter one last look. Luckily, Tessa didn't decide against it anymore, now supporting Beth to get out of the window, running for a safe distance.
Earning a nod from Daryl, Vega and him quickly let go of the door, revealing the sight of the horde, that not too long ago was after Vega and Tessa, barge into the house. The two running towards an exit, while firing their weapons at any of the dead getting too close.
Luckily, they escaped the old funeral home, now overtaken by the dead. Vega immediately runs her way towards the road ahead of them, that Beth and Tessa were supposed to be at— but there were no sign of them. "Where the hell are they?" Vega questions, her brows furrowed. Starting to panic, only leaving Daryl confused too.
"Tessa!" Vega shouts, in the middle of the night, outside in the wood's darkness. Daryl started to yell out both of the girl's names, just with no answer returning back to them.
Vega scans the surroundings, her and Daryl walking further and further. Her eyes darting from one spot to another, still calling out the two teen's names.
Suddenly, the attention is drawn to a movement nearby. Vega turns her head facing a walker, whose rotting flesh is barely hanging onto its bones, making its way closer to Vega.
In anger and frustration, from not knowing where her daughter is, Vega grips the back of her pistol tightly, swinging it towards the walker's head, the impact being strong enough to kill it.
Daryl a few meters ahead calls out for the woman, motioning towards a car, that's driving away from them. Not enough, right next to Daryl, Tessa's knife and Beth's bag is laid on the ground, between all the many coloured leaves.
Without thinking, she started running towards the driving engine, ignoring the pain in her legs. Vega Collins couldn't let her own daughter wander up with strangers, especially not in a world like this— and it would also mean she had broken their promise.
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Eventually, the night transformed into morning, yet Daryl and Vega hadn't given up of their commitment to find Beth and Tessa. Despite the exhaustion that has settled upon them, they still haven't given up. Well, not until the blue eyed muscular man decided to stop walking, and sit down in the middle of the road they were following.
As Vega noticed Daryl had stopped walking, she turned around facing him with a confused face, asking him why he stopped.
After he finally caught his breath, he looked up to the woman, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter, they're gone." Daryl barely above a whisper told, his shoulders slumping.
Vega let out a shaky laugh, not believing the words that came out of Daryl's mouth. "Are you serious? You'd been an idiot to think i'd give up finding my daughter. " She bursted out in frustration, raising her arms. How bad of a mother could she be by not even being aware of, if Tessa and Beth were safe, or worse — dead.
Not surprising, Daryl stays quiet, no words escaping his mouth. "Fine." The curly haired woman lastly said, getting up from the ground to look after her daughter, only to be met with a group of men, surrounded all around them.
"Not so easy there.." One of the men spoke with a rough voice, aiming his gun at her. Vega quickly turned to face Daryl, only ending up with seeing the man who seemed to be the leader of the group, earning a punch by Daryl, making him stumble back. Resulting his men to raise their weapons at the two, the second he got knocked down. "Damn it, hold up!" Another one from the group yelled.
"I'm claiming the vest," The same guy behind Daryl claimed, pointing his gun at his vest, the smirk on his face growing bigger. "I like them wings."
"You like your tongue too? Better shut the hell up before i cut it off." Vega snapped, aiming her gun to the man's face, causing him to chuckle.
"Hold up," Their leader spoke up, his eyes focused on Vega. Abruptly he crazily cackles, wiping the blood from his nose away. "A bowman, huh, i respect that," He starts, standing up from the ground. "See, a man with a riffle, he could've been some kind of photographer or soccer coach back in the day. But, a bowman's a bowman through and through.. What you got there, 150-pound draw weight?"
Does this man ever stop talking? Vega thought to herself. She quickly got the answer to that, he continued speaking. "I'll be donkey-licked if that don't fire at least 300 feet per second."
I've been looking for a weapon like that, course i'd want one with a bit more ammo and, uh minus the oblongata stains." Vega rolled her eyes, wondering what she did to deserve ending up in this situation.
"You pull that trigger, these boys gonna drop you several times over, that what you want?" He kept on going, pointing at his men, with their guns still pointed at Daryl and Vega. "Come on, fella, suicide is stupid.. Why hurt yourself when you can hurt other people?" The grey haired man chuckled out, a maniacal smile appearing on his face, causing Vega to furrow her brows in disgust, when some of his men started to smile the second he said that.
"Names Joe." He told, causing Daryl to drop his crossbow, which then all the other men did too with their weapons. Vega knew they were no good, but still lowered her gun.
"Daryl." He said in a low tone. Then all their eyes turned to Vega, waiting for her to come out with her name.
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AUTHORS NOTE !!
#theclaimershateclub