(TW!! Mentions of abuse!!)
After they take Maggie out of the room, Molly practically drags me out too, but to another room.
She cut the duct tape off of my ankles so I could walk easier because it was so hard for her to "walk" me to this room.
She slams me into a metal chair, I grunt in frustration as she pulls another chair up, it squeals in protest.
Plopping down on the chair, she leans forward, "Your hair's clean,"
"Thanks." I huff. My eyes scan the room for any potential dangers. There's not much, a water heater in the left corner, metal walls, one door out and one window. There are two more cans of gasoline, it's possible she could pour it down my throat.
I'd die incredibly painfully. But they want us alive.
There are no torture devices or things that could be used for things like that other than her knife.
She rolls her eyes, "You don't ever shut the fuck up, do ya'? You're flabbin' like a horse at a hotdog stand."
I scoff, "It's one of my specialties."
She leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. I mirror her to show her I'm not scared, even though my hands are still bound.
"It's gonna get 'chu killed."
I frown, "When did I say it wouldn't?"
She grits her teeth, "Where's your camp."
"Funny."
"We'll find it eventually, sport."
"No, it's funny that you think I have one."
She looks me up and down, "Your hair and clothes are clean. Your clothes are nice and your shoes aren't terrible." She leans back, eyeing me, "You're a pretty lil' liar, I'll tell ya' that much."
I roll my eyes, "Well, sport, we wash our clothes in a nearby, fast-flowing creek. 'Fast-flowing' meaning that the water moves quickly which doesn't give bacteria enough time to attach to our clothes. That's how we get water too."
Molly raises an eyebrow, I continue with a hidden smirk. "My hair is clean because we still have supplies. We live and sleep or whatever in tents, we don't have walls. We have barbed wire surrounding us with cans that rattle if there are Walkers."
"We wash in the pond that's a little over two, maybe three miles out."
"Your foot." Molly mentions.
I clench my jaw, "I lost my...foot," The word "foot" comes out quieter than I would have liked it to. "At our first camp. We were at a prison. Got bit, amputated it, now I look like a cyborg."
She scoffs, "No doubt about that."
Bitch.
"What were you doing at the compound?"
I sigh, leaning back in the chair, "We needed more ammo. We're running low. We got raided a few months ago, maybe three? The tents and everything else held up well but, those...Wolves took almost all our ammo."
"So you used the last bit of it to blow us to smithereens, eh?" Her eyes narrow.
"Yeah," I raise an eyebrow and smirk. "We'll use the shit we got from your compound to blow y'all into smithereens."
Molly scoffs, obviously not believing me. I don't even know if I believe myself but my voice makes me sound confident- thank God.
"You're cute if you think you're gettin' outta' this."
"You underestimate us. That's pretty fuckin' funny."
She huffs, not saying anything, just glaring at me. Trying to read me.
Nick used to read me like a book. Any time he read me and could tell I was angry or scared, he'd beat me to the ground. So, thanks to him, I put up walls. I'm not readable, unless by Alyssa of course.
Alyssa.
Thank god she's not here.
"Why'd you do it?" She finally asks, disregarding what I had said a little over a minute ago.
"Do what?" I ask.
"Get mad at Donnie, for hittin' Paula. You acted like you cared."
I chuckle, "Cause' I did. I do."
Molly looks at me, genuinely confused, "Why?"
"My ex-boyfriend, Nick. Used to beat me. I don't give a fuck who you are, what you're doin', I'll always back another woman up if a man touches her. Girls for girls I guess."
Molly nods, "Explains a lot."
I snort, "Hell yeah it does."
She hesitates for a moment before speaking again, "So where the hell is your camp? Never told me."
I think for a moment.
Okay, tellin' them where a fake camp is, they go there, and I'm still here. That could get me killed, or worse.
Tellin' them where Alexandria actually is, that's a fuckin' no go.
Not sayin' anythin' at all is always a choice. But a risky one.
"Takin' your sweet ass time." Molly groans.
"What'll you do if I tell you?"
"You'll find out." She smirks, her eyes twinkling.
I groan quietly, my heart pounding harder as I decide what to say.
"The woods in front of the compound, where y'all found us. We're about twenty miles in front."
She narrows her eyes, "There's no pond near us."
I scoff, "Never said there was. I just said it was a few miles away from us."
She thinks for a moment, "You got anyone else in your group?"
I shake my head, "We wouldn' be able to jus' live in tents if we had more."
She nods, accepting my answer.
"My turn," I straighten up.
She raises an eyebrow and straightens up as well.
"Who's Negan?"
She smiles, "Oh sweetie...we are all Negan."
Babe, what?
"No. You're not. Someone's runnin' the show. His name's Negan. What's his last name?"
Molly leans forward, her voice dropping a tone. "We are all Negan." She repeats.
"I don't give a fuck about your little control fantasy. Who's the man in charge?" I ask, my voice louder. I lean in as well, our faces a few inches apart.
She smells like straight cigarettes, a somewhat comforting smell.
"I could beat it outta' ya'." I suggest.
She laughs, immediately stopping to cough and hack into a handkerchief.
"You can try. But you'll never get outta' that chair, I assure you that." She smiles.
I clench my jaw, irritated at the lack of information. "Negan."
"All of us."
I press my lips into a thin line and inhale sharply, Molly laughs at my irritation.
"You have a short temper, honey."
I smirk but don't respond, deciding to shut down. If she asks me questions, and I don't respond, it'll piss her off. She'll answer mine eventually, she has to.
"You know you're not the good guys...right?" She asks, a twinkle in her eye.
I don't respond, I just lean back in my chair and rest my arm on the back.
She narrows her eyes, "You said you were going to get ammo. Why us? We never did anythin' to y'all."
Fuck, good point.
Shit, I shouldn't have said that, damn it.
I keep my expression hard and unreadable, her eyes scanning each of my icey features.
Suddenly, Paula comes in the room. "Molly, let's go. Leave her. Her group is comin'. Ours is almost here. We need to fight. C'mon."
Molly looks at me before nodding and standing up, "Don't go anywhere, sugar." She taunts, winking and chuckling away.
As soon as the door clicks shut I stand up, searching the room for anything sharp to cut the duct tape on.
After a long second of spinning, I see a metal bar attached to the corner wall. It's sharp enough, but barely.
"Fuck yeah," I whisper, running over to it.
I put my hands against it and begin rubbing the duct tape back and forth on it, as fast as I can but as quietly as possible.
I grunt in determination as I feel the duct tape slowly give way, making it easier to move quicker.
Finally, the duct tape splits in half and I can rip the other parts off the tops of my hands.
Once the duct tape is off, I run to the door, cracking it open and looking both ways before running out.
My hands tremble with anticipation and anxiety, not knowing the layout of this place or where they are makes it that much scarier.
I gotta find Maggie.
I close my eyes and remember how I got to this room, Maggie went down this hallway but turned to the left at the end. I guess there's another hallway.
I quickly, but silently, run down the hallway, stopping at each corner to peak over.
I turn left and see an open door, my heart immedeatley drops as I think of the worst possible reasons.
She's dead.
She's injured.
The baby's injured.
She was tortured.
She was moved.
I quickly speed up the pace and turn into the room, Maggie and Carol are standing there, talking in a hushed whisper.
"Oh fuck, thank god." I whisper, letting out a sigh of relief.
Maggie looks over and quickly jogs to me, hugging me tightly, "Are you okay?"
I nod, "I always am. Are you?"
She nods and looks at both Carol and I. "We need a plan."
"Well, first off, what the fuck is happening?"
"Rick said he'd do the deal but there was no static on the walkie." Carol recalls.
"Meaning he's close." I think aloud.
She nods, "Yeah. So is their group. We're about to be butting heads if we don't get out of here. They've spread out, but I think we can make it past them. We have to try. " Carol's voice is breathless and nervous, not something I'm used to hearing.
"We can't leave them alive." Maggie states the obvious.
I nod, "I agree."
"No we should just go." Carol whispers.
"Carol, we have to finish this. We have to." Maggie grunts.
"They could find us. I gave them a fake camp but the Terminus group found us...nothing is impossible when the dead are walkin'." I say, urgently.
Carol hesitates for a moment before nodding and leaving the room, Maggie and I follow quickly after.
Silently, we make our way down the hall and back into the room we were originally in.
There, Donnie is still lying on the ground, unconscious, rasping quietly.
Maggie quickly runs over and unwraps the rope wrapped around his arm, handing it to Carol.
She stops for a moment and listens, "He was already dead." She says. "He's turning."
"We should go." Carol says.
"We gotta kill 'im." I say.
"We need a gun." Maggie says, looking around. "Give me that." Carol hands her the rope and she ties it around Donnie's belt.
"Help me." She whispers to me.
I nod and grab his legs, she grabs his arms and we drag him over near the main door. She ties the rope to a pipe, long enough for him to bite whoever comes in the door but short enough for him to not go far.
A few minutes later, we're hiding behind a nearby wall, Molly walks into the room. A blood curdling scream of agony echos through the halls, alerting us that the trap worked.
"Go." I whisper, Maggie nods and walks silently to the room.
"Eat shit and die, Donnie!" Molly yells as Donnie's dead body falls to the ground. "Where are ya' Magnolia? I wanna bloody up that nice-"
Maggie leaps on her from behind, wrapping her arm around her throat, grabbing her gun, and hitting her in the back of the head with it.
Molly falls to the ground with a grunt. Maggie stands over her and beats her face in with the gun, blood splattering everywhere as Maggie screams in frustration.
Maggie straightens up and turns to Carol and I, "Let's go." Carol whispers.
I nod and back out of the room, Maggie closes the door behind us once she's out.
As we walk through the dark, must halls, it feels like our time is slowly ticking away- it is.
My senses are on high alert for any noises around us that could alert us if anyone is close.
At the end of the hall, there's a group of Walkers. Some without legs, some stuck on pipes. But all of them alive.
"They're using them to keep us in, keep the others out." Carol notes.
"Hm, smart." I whisper.
"Come on. We have to find 'em." Maggie says, killing an approaching Walker.
I turn to walk back down the hall but yell, "DUCK!" As I see Paula stomping down the hallway, her gun raised.
Just as we all duck, Paula fires multiple shots, missing us. Her gun clicks and she grunts in irritation, holstering it and setting her backpack down.
"Just run." Carol says, standing up and aiming a pistol at Paula's head.
"Shoot her." Maggie orders.
"Go on, do it." Paula taunts. "You've killed Donnie, you've killed Molly." Her mouth is uncontrollably pushing into a frown, showing her vulnerability. "Your people have destroyed my home."
"Get outta here." Carol whispers.
"Carol." Maggie warns.
Could I tackle her? I think I could tackle her.
"You have no idea. The things I've done, what I've given up, what I had to do." Paula continues approaching us slowly.
"Just run." Carol whispers agan.
"Carol, shoot her." Maggie demands.
"Go ahead. I've already lost everything." Just then, a Walker breaks free from a pole and grabs Carol. Carol shoots but Paula dodges, getting shot in the arm.
"Finally." I mutter, running and jumping on her.
I pin her to the ground as she screams, trying to get me off of her. "Get off of me you bitch!" She screams.
She manages to reach up and grab the side of my face, pulling me down. I hit the ground with a thud and she climbs on top of me, slamming my head down onto the ground twice.
I groan in pain as it feels like fire shoots up my head. She grabs the butt of her gun and hits me in the nose and mouth with it. I feel myself bite my tongue as she hits my mouth.
My mouth fills with a warm liquid and I can feel my tongue swell painfully.
She punches me twice in the eye before I manage to wrap my legs around her waist and turn her over.
I straddle her hips and punch her with both hands. My knuckles are swelling and scraping but not nearly as bad as her face.
I scream as I grab her by the hair and slam the back of her head into the concrete. I pause when I hear, "Paula? Paula?" From Michelle.
I nod to Maggie and Maggie walks along the wall, waiting for Michelle.
Paula groans quietly under me, her mouth, nose, and ears bleeding.
I lean down, "Shoulda' seen this comin', bitch." With one final thrust, I slam her head into the concrete one more time, splitting the back of her head open and killing her.
"Fuck you!" I whisper-yell, spitting out blood on her face.
I straighten up, groaning in pain as Carol follows Maggie as she pounces on Michelle.
I hold the back of my head and fall to the ground, my world shaking around me.
Suddenly, I wretch, throwing up whatever the hell it was that I had to eat.
Fuck, concussion.
I groan again and fall fully onto the ground, my head feeling like it's on the verge of exploding.
My brain feels like there's a fist wrapped around it, squeezing it, flicking it, shaking it. It seems like the lights get brighter, too bright, I have to squint to be able to keep my head from feeling like it's gonna eat itself.
"Fuck." I groan quietly, my breathing comes out in small, ragged breaths.
"Adrian!" Maggie quickly runs to me, noting the throw-up on the ground.
I groan again, rolling in pain on the ground, my hand still on my head. I spit out blood again, "Maggie," I gasp.
I look at her with squinted eyes, the world shakes and spins around her.
"Paula, we're approaching the perimeter. Are we a go?" A man's voice asks on her walkie-talkie.
Carol grabs her walkie off of her body as the man says, "Do you copy?"
Carol presses the button on the walkie-talkie, hesitating for a moment before imitating Paula. "Meet us on the kill floor."
Carol's voice sounds like it's coming through a tunnel, no matter where I look or if I close my eyes, it still feels like the world is spinning around me.
I lean to the right and throw up again, dry gagging after throwing almost everything up.
"Shit, I think she has a concussion." Maggie panics, crouching down next to me. "Help me get her up."
Why...my...
It's difficult for me to think, I can't get my thoughts in order.
Carol and Maggie heave me up as my head hangs limply in between them. Any movement causes my head to throb agonizingly.
My body feels heavy like I have weights attached to my head and limbs. It feels difficult for me to breathe like my brain is forgetting how to every few seconds.
While walking through the halls, Maggie grabs a can of gasoline and Carol grabs the lighter and cigarettes off of Molly's body.
We make our way to a small closet, Maggie hands me off to Carol and she leaves, pouring gasoline on the "kill floor".
When she comes back, she wraps my arm around her neck, helping Carol hold me up as we...what are we doing?
"I think I might've killed eighteen people." Carol whispers. "Twenty. I should've killed Donnie too, in the woods. I had a clear shot. I didn't miss. None of this would've happened if I had just killed him."
Who?
"Huh?" I whisper. Groaning after the pain speaking gives me.
Maggie looks at Carol, "Short-term loss. She'll be fine. She needs antibiotics." She pauses for a moment before saying, "Don't think about it."
"I can't stop." Carol admits, beginning to cry. "Adrian would be able to hold her head up if I had just-"
"Don't." Maggie interrupts her. "We're almost done."
Sudden footsteps approach and Maggie quickly closes the door, leaving it open a crack.
"Careful, the floor's slick." A man's voice says.
Somebody else says something, and then the man says something but I can't pay attention, no matter how hard I try.
Carol lights a cigarette, I groan at the smell and get ready to throw up again. "Be quiet." Maggie warns me, leaning me over to a metal can.
As I throw up painfully, Carol runs out of the room and throws her cigarette in the kill room, locking the door behind her.
She comes back, shaken, and helps Maggie carry me out.
Smoke begins filling the halls, making it extra hard for me to breathe.
Maggie kills the Walkers at the end of the hallway as Carol helps me walk.
We finally make it to a metal sliding door. Once Maggie slides it open, holding her gun ready, we see Glenn with his gun ready.
"Adrian!" Daryl yells, noticing me not being able to hold my own weight.
Carol groans as she hands me off to him and he catches me in his arms. "What the hell happened?!" He asks Carol.
I groan as his loud voice rings painfully in my ears.
"Concussion. Bad one." Carol informs him.
Maggie speaks to Glenn but I can't focus on it.
I scream in agony as I hear a gunshot, making my brain feel like it's hitting my skull all over again. The world spins from the pain and Daryl hugs me tighter, covering my ears.
I grunt as my legs give out and my full body weight falls into Daryl, he stumbles to catch me but manages.
"We have to go." Daryl says, quickly. His voice sounds the same as everyone else's- like it's coming through a tunnel.
"Daryl," I groan breathlessly, squeezing my eyes shut as the sunlight burns them. I turn over his arm and spit out the remaining blood from my gums and swollen tongue.
My nose has dried blood around it and my eye is swollen almost fully shut.
"I know, I know." He says, gently. He lifts me up and carries me out, bridal style.