LEIGH PERKINS' POV
I COULD FEEL MY SOFTENED BODY BEGINNING TO AWAKEN AGAIN. Although, the ground beneath me felt rough, as if I was falling down in slow motion but the ground didn't want to swallow me just yet. There was a tugging at my legs, however I couldn't see what was going on due to the big white spots that covered my entire field of vision.
What happened? What was I doing? Where am I?
"Leave him alone." I heard someone firmly say. I was surprised I could actually hear what they said. They sounded so far and high. Maybe if the ringing in my ears would stop then I'd be able to figure out what was going on.
The ringing stopped.
"Why? Afraid I'll hurt him first?" The other voice spoke, walking away from me - I knew that as the floorboards stopped making slight movement beneath me. "Because by the time I'm done...everyone you love will be dead."
I tried to move, but my legs were tied together at the knees with a thick piece of rope. The white spots started to fade, but my vision wasn't fully restored. I managed to view two figures. Maggie was tied to a chair, but I couldn't see her face. Leah sat opposite her with a gun in her hand.
My right hand moved forward, only for a second, as it got stuck in place due to the rope around it keeping me in place. Same with the other.
At this point Leah had clearly noticed I was awake, as a smirk had risen on her face. I did my best to sit up, ignoring the painful feeling in my lower abdomen. It was only until I looked down at my stomach when I realised that Leah had most likely cut me during our trip here, although I could hardly remember a thing.
"I wouldn't move that much if I were you, Leigh." Leah finally spoke, after watching me for a while. Slowly, my head turned towards her and I attempted to hide the shock on my face at the fact she was really here. "Don't want the bleeding to get worse, don't you?"
Maggie did her best to look at me even though it was difficult considering that I was behind her. A worried look was spread across her face. I tried to shake my head and tell her I was okay, but she didn't buy it.
"Then...I guess that makes us even." Maggie's shaky voice became still. I secretly noticed her hands moving the rope behind her secretly. "I took your family, you take mine."
Leah chuckled, looking out the dirty window for a moment, "Nature has a way of taking care of these things.
"It's not nature. Or fate." I interrupted with a scoff, also catching onto what Maggie was doing. Stalling. The ropes around my hands weren't as good as Leah probably expected. After all, there were two of us and only one of her.
"It's us. I killed your people because it was what I wanted." Maggie grimaced, leaning towards Leah, who had angrily raised her gun. "If this is what you want, Leah... Go ahead. You want it, so do it. Go on."
Leah's eyes snapped to me, but she didn't drop her gun. "And this is what you want too? Leigh?" I saw tears in her eyes, but her stubbornness refused to let them fall. "We helped you and Ryan. Gave you a home and a purpose. But, this was how you repaid us."
I shot forward, clenching my hands together behind me in fists. My face began to feel hot whilst my knuckles turned white at her mention of my brother. My brother who she lets get eaten by those monsters. My brother who she killed. "You don't deserve to talk about him."
"Or what?" She spat back, not breaking eye contact. Then she stood up, lowering her arm for a second, as if she was contemplating whether to do what she was about to do, before raising it again. The cold metal of the gun was almost pressed against my forehead. "You gonna kill me...like you killed your brother?"
"They deserved to die." My breath started to hitch repeatedly in my throat as I bit the inside of my bottom lip to stop it from trembling. "It wasn't- It...It wasn't my fault."
"Is that what you tell yourself? Is that what you told that girl?" Her head tilted as she spoke maliciously. "What was her name again...Lilia wasn't it? Is that the made up story you tell her instead of admitting what really happen-"
The ropes around Maggie's hands finally fell, giving her the chance to lunge at Leah. The two women began to fight brutally, Maggie with no weapons and Leah with a gun and knives before Maggie took one of her blades. I untied the rope from my legs, throwing it on the ground in front of me before lifting myself up.
I held myself up on the table, holding my hand over my wound. My hand was instantly covered in blood, but there were more pressing matters at hand. I harshly wiped my face, specifically the tear that had rolled down my cheek, before balling my fists up.
Leah had thrown Maggie onto the ground after stabbing the back of her knee to stop her from running, her back facing me, and she was punching her in the face. I rushed over to the older woman, throwing her off and onto the ground. I clambered onto her before punching her in the face again..and again..and again.
I couldn't hear anything all of a sudden - just Leah's groans every time I threw a hit her way. Each time, my fist got bloodier, but it wasn't as red as my vision. Her face was a bloody mess, her lip looked burst and her eyes looked full of pain and regret as all she could witness was the anger she had unleashed.
"You fucking liar!" I spat at her, briefly looking to the side and I saw a few rocks in the corner. My body moved itself, my mind on standby mode at this point. I picked up one of the heavy rocks, ignoring the sharp points that were digging into my red hands.
I noticed Maggie on the floor, sending me a worried look as if she wanted me to stop. But I didn't care. I wiped the blood off my face and stood over Leah, who weakly looked up at me. My scarred face glared at her, like a bad dream.
"I remember you doing this to me like it was fucking yesterday." I whispered to her, watching her struggle as she tried to hold herself up, but still failed. I crashed the rock down onto her knee, hearing her compress her scream with her lips closed together tightly. I bent down to her eye-level, tilting my head. "It was for 'killing another member', wasn't it?"
Leah coughed for a minute, spitting blood at me. I couldn't help but smirk at her struggling. "You- You know what- what really ha-happened Leigh. You just can't handle the truth." She mumbled as she leaned herself against the wooden wall. "You deserved to be punished."
"You think I wasn't punished?" I questioned her, anger lacing my tone once again. "I'm always in that forest. I'm always watching it happen as you drag me away, leaving him to die. I'll always be there."
I didn't notice how Leah's hand was carefully moving over to a knife on the floor. She grunted, "Accept it, Leigh. Accept the fact that you killed him already." Suddenly, her arm lunged up, the pointy blade aiming for my head.
But before she could even get close to me she instantly fell back, her head crashing against the wall. A bullet hole was in her head.
My eyes widened immediately. More blood splattered on my face before I stood up. She was dead. She was dead. She was dead. I wanted to feel better. I still felt the same. There was no feeling of justice. There was still that pit of revenge and bloodlust, which I wanted to get rid of.
A hand clasped my shoulder softly. Once I realised it was Maggie I made myself breathe normally. She reached for the rock in my hand. I gave it to her and she threw it on the floor.
"C'mon, we need to go."
I don't remember who said that. All I heard was a ringing in my ear, followed by shouts from soldiers who were outside the house. Whatever it was, we ran away in the opposite direction, through the woods and back to Maggie's group so we could regroup with the others. Thankfully my wound wasn't as bad as I thought it was thankfully. Despite the lack of materials, we managed to stop the bleeding.
The only thing left to do now was avoid Hornsby, or maybe even kill him.
•
LILIA DIXON'S POV
IT HAD BEEN A GOOD FEW DAYS SINCE I SAW LEIGH AND MY DAD. I had started to get worried about them, but thankfully I had Connie and Kelly's plans to distract me. After word of Sebastian, Pamela's son, sacrificing the lives of many Commonwealth citizens just for some money, multiple protests happened. Connie was proud about getting the story out. Even Magna helped the cause too.
Connie and I stood in the middle of the protest outside Pamela's office, admiring the work of the great journalist. At first I wasn't going to join in since I had been feeling a little strange lately, but I shrugged it off and assumed it was my period coming along or something.
"WE WANT JUSTICE. DELIVER SEBASTIAN NOW." Yelled everyone around us.
I looked at Connie, who was smiling, before seeing Kelly approach us. She looked uncomfortable to even be in the middle of the protest itself. I have to admit, things did escalate pretty quickly, maybe too quick for Kelly's liking.
Kelly nudged Connie to get her attention before signing, "Is this what we wanted?"
"This is what change looks like." Connie responded with a smile. Magna came over to us with her arms folded, I gave her a smile when she saw me and she returned it.
I did my best to sign, "So we keep going, right?" I was proud of how much I had improved with signing. I remember when I first tried to learn it and I was super rusty, but now I've definitely gotten better.
Connie nodded, "People are still missing. They're somewhere. You saw the scene yourself, didn't you?" I nodded in response. I still remember how scared that woman was back at the house. She seemed horrified.
Ezekiel came over to us after chanting with other people. He too was definitely invested in this whole situation once we told him about it. "This could get ugly. We need to be ready to help these people if it goes sideways."
Rosita came over to stand with us as Magna replied, "It's only a matter of time until this gets worse. We... We need options."
I agreed with her. I know from Leigh how the soldiers can be at times. Kelly looked at her, signing as she said, "What, you mean, leave?"
"No, I don't want to leave." Magna shook her head sternly, "These... These people need our help."
"Nothing gets decided until everyone's back, okay?" Rosita interrupted. It was only fair that we make a decision that everyone is on board with, even the ones who aren't here.
We all agreed and eventually went our separate ways. I decided to go over to Carol's since she was with the kids and I had nothing else better to do. Thank god I didn't have to work..baking was boring.
I repeatedly knocked on the door jokingly as I entered, smelling burning pancakes. "Something smells...nice?"
I walked into the kitchen and saw Carol holding a pan full of nearly burnt blueberry pancakes, she smiled warmly when she saw me. "I was just telling the kids how delicious burnt pancakes are."
I chuckled to myself, "Of course. They're amazin'." I sarcastically added, sending a wink to Judith who walked up to the counter. RJ, CJ and Gracie were sat at the table with a bunch of colouring pens and notebooks. "Hey kiddos, Aunt Carol hasn't burnt the place down yet I see?"
"Hi mom!" CJ smiled at me as he coloured. I went over to him and planted a kiss on his head whilst ruffling RJ's hair.
"You seen the protest outside?" I asked Carol, who hummed and nodded. "Didn't expect word to travel so fast."
Judith was looking through the photos that Kelly had previously taken, "Why did Kelly take pictures of this stuff?" The young girl wondered, flicking through them.
"So we can keep an eye on this place," Carol told her after washing her hands, "Make sure everything is alright."
I sat on the stool next to her and she looked up at me, "When are the others coming back? Uncle Aaron, Daryl and Leigh?" I shrugged, putting my hand on her arm, "I dunno Judy. Why? You like their cooking better than Carol's?"
Judith and Carol snickered at the same time, "No way! Uncle Daryl has no idea what he's doing unless there's a campfire involved."
"Well that is true." I laughed, before nudging her. "When I was your age he used to make me eat squirrels and snakes over the fire." I poked her continuously, making her laugh.
"Ewwww!" CJ echoed with a grossed face. Carol suited her cheesy grin at the sound before walking over to the window.
I stood up from my seat, walking over to my son. "More like yummyyyy!" He begun to laugh as I started tickling him.
"Mom!" He squealed, dropping his pencils onto the table.
"What is it?" I heard Judith ask Carol. I slowly stopped messing around once I noticed Carol's mood change, but she kept her composure in front of the kids. She gave me a look.
"Maybe nothing, but pack up your things kids." Carol told everyone, nodding at me as everyone moved.
"Mom, what's going on?" CJ asked me.
I clasped my hands together and bent down, "You guys remember when we used to play the 'quiet game'?" I asked, him and Gracie nodded. "Well, we're going to play that, alright?"
The kids understood and nodded. We told them to hide in the cupboards in the kitchen and keep quiet. Thankfully they did as they were told. I sneakily took out a knife from the draw, handing one to Carol and keeping one for myself. Then there was a knock at the door, we both looked at each other before quickly hiding outside on the balcony.
Two people entered. I didn't dare to try and take a peak.
"It's empty. Are you sure he didn't say anything else?" A female voice spoke.
"Dixon and Perkins were the only names that came through." A man spoke. My heart nearly thudded at the mentions of their names. Were they okay? Why are they looking for them?
"Let's check the other woman's house, Perkins lives there...What was her name?" The woman asked.
"Lilia. Let's go, after we can check the school." The man replied before they left the building entirely."
Once it was clear, we both went back into the house and the kids came out of the cupboards. Carol and I looked at each other again. It wasn't safe here, so we packed a few things in the kid's backpacks and strapped them onto the securely.
"Why do we have to wear these?" CJ asked me, holding the strap of his bag.
"We're just gonna have a little adventure today, okay?" I replied, holding the side of his face in my hand with a reassuring smile until we heard footsteps.
"I need you guys to go back to the bedroom and wait. And don't come out until I call." Carol told the kids, pointing the end bedroom at the bottom of the hallway. "Go."
There was a knock at the door, followed by Jerry's voice, "Carol, it's clear."
Carol opened the door and greeted Jerry, I smile at the man as well. But then a familiar face came around the corner. Negan.
My brows were raised in surprise. The man chuckled, looking at Carol, "Turns out you might've been right... I probably should've stayed in the goddamn cabin." It wasn't surprising to see him after thinking about it for a few seconds. Negan will do anything to get himself into drama. The man then saw me and smiled, "Little Dixon, didn't expect to see you here. You look great."
I folded my arms, adjusting my weight onto the other foot and tilted my head, "I could say the same thing about you. Dunno about the second part though." I then gestured my head to the side, letting them both come in and we all sat at the table.
Negan sat down and explained everything that had happened in the past few days with Hornsby, "Hornsby tried to scare Maggie by interrogating Hershel. So the thought is that he is somehow gonna try to use the kids to draw our people out."
I nodded slowly, "That's why they came for my dad and Leigh."
"Uh-huh. But if Hornsby sent those two, he's trying to keep it under the radar." Carol pointed out, looking down at the table as she figured it out in her head. I admired how quickly Carol could piece things together. It was like a magic trick of hers that nobody else could really do without support. "Which means we might be able to get ahead of them... and him." I smiled at Carol, who proceeded to look at Jerry, "Jerry, do you still have access to that attic space?"
"Yes, ma'am." Jerry nodded, standing up. "Stocked with supplies, like you asked."
"Keep the kids there, and get word to the others. Tell them to be ready to move on your signal. I'll start the chain." Carol told him, before looking to me.
"I'll stay with the kids." I stated.
"Ready for what? I mean, this doesn't seem like the kind of place that you can just stroll out the front gate, hand in hand." Negan asked.
"That's why me and you are gonna go try to get some insurance."
•
Jerry and I quickly made our way through the crowd of the protest, but we couldn't help but notice the two people from earlier following us. I held CJ and RJ's hands firmly, making sure they didn't lag behind since they were the youngest. Jerry nodded at a few of the protesters to hold us, and they thankfully did. I saw them making a small barrier so we could have more time.
We went the quickest route to the attic where we would spend the next day and a half to ensure the kid's safety and give Leigh and my dad more time to get back with the others.
Jerry pulled down the ladder and we helped the kids climb up it before me and him went up too. After Jerry climbed up, I pulled back up the ladder as quickly as possible. In the distance was the man from before, following us. Luckily, once he made it to the buildings we were at he had lost his trail on us.
After he left our view I let out a huge sigh of relief, holding my son close to me.
"Come on, up this way." Jerry told us, climbing up another ladder and up some stairs to the attic.
"How long are we going to be here mom?" CJ asked me after tugging my hand.
I looked at him and rubbed his shoulder, "Not long bud, I promise. We'll be safe here while Carol and Negan buy us some time..."