Carl and Michonne walked along the track, balancing on the edge of the rails as Rio walked between them, trying to get one of them to fall off.
"Why aren't either of you falling?" He complained, only watching to see which one would win the bet.
"Because I'm better than Michonne." Carl replied, a smile upon his face.
"No you're not." The woman scoffed. "You don't believe that do you?"
"I'll believe it if he wins."
"When I win." The other boy corrected, Rio laughing at him.
"What are you doing?" Rick asked finally, turning around to face the three.
"Winning a bet." Carl answered.
"In your dreams."
"I'm still on." The boy wobbled, losing his balance and grabbed Rio's shoulder.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Michonne called out.
"Alright I'll let go." He replied, holding his hands in the air. Carl started wobbling again and Michonne laughed.
"You spoke too soon, wise guy."
"This might go on a while." Rick smiled over, walking towards them. "Maybe we can speed this up?"
"Yeah, you're right." Michonne replied. "Shouldn't be fooling around. We should probably... Carl!" She yelled, reaching a hand out at the boy to try and throw him off.
Rio burst out laughing as Michonne fell, losing her own game.
"I win." Carl smiled, walking over and holding out his hand. "Pay up."
"Pay up?" Rick asked as Michonne grabbed something out of her bag.
The woman held out two bars to Carl and he looked down at them for a second. "Is that really the last Big Cat?"
"Oh, come on."
"Hey, but you said winner's choice."
"Go ahead, take it, it's yours." Michonne grumbled as the boy tore open the wrapper. "You won it fair and square."
"You're such a sore loser." Rio laughed at her, taking a bite of the big cat bar after Carl offered it to him. He handed it back to the boy who took another mouthful.
"Oh, was this a plan you little cheats?"
"I have no idea what you're on about." Carl answered, mouth full. He then snapped the bar in half, holding it out to Michonne.
"Come on." He said. "We always share."
"Keep it." She smiled back.
"We should probably start to think about stopping." Rick mentioned. "We have about a day's worth of water left, we need to look for some more, and have some food."
Michonne nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm starving."
"We offered you the bar." Carl shrugged, a smug grin growing on his face. "But your pride couldn't take it."
***
Rick tended to the fire as Rio pulled on a jacket Carl had handed him and leaned back against his shoulder. Carl held out a tin over the flames, the stick keeping it up.
"How hungry are you, scale of one to ten?" The man asked them all.
"Maybe an eleven." Rio murmured.
"Fifteen." Carl replied, looking over at the other boy with a smile.
"Alright, twenty." Rio replied.
"Twenty-eight." Michonne said over them. Rick let out a chuckle and agreed with her.
"Well, it's been a while. I'm gonna go check the snares." Rick got up out of his seat.
The stick Carl was holding caught fire and he brought it closer, Rio leaning over to blow it out.
"Can I come with you?" Carl asked and Rick gave him a smile.
"Well how else are you gonna learn?"
"Hey, you too." The man said to Rio and Michonne, kicking dirt over the fire. Carl got up and copied him, the fire going out.
They all followed Rick away from the small camp they'd set up, walking through the forest and taking in the peacefulness of it all. There were no walkers.
"We'll stay another day or two. Get some more rest." Rick decided as they came to a clearing.
"Finish healing up?" Michonne asked the man.
"I'm almost there." He smiled back at her.
"We're close now, right?" Carl asked.
"To terminus?" Rio specified.
The boy nodded.
"We are." Rick answered.
"When we get there are we gonna tell them?"
"Tell them what?" Michonne asked.
"Everything that's happened to us." The boy replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he walked. "All of the stuff we've done."
"I don't think they need to know all of that." Rio murmured.
"So we're not gonna tell them the truth?"
"We're gonna tell them who we are."
"But how do you say that? I mean..." Carl stopped for a moment, thinking over his words. "Who even are we?"
The rustling of leaves and snarl of a nearby Walker cut the boy short of an answer. The creature stumbled forward in its dirty and ragged clothes as Michonne grabbed ahold of her sword. She unsheathed it and led them all forward, killing the Walker with a single slice to the head.
"Thanks." Rick said as the body slumped across the floor.
"You're welcome." Michonne said, flashing a smile back before Rick walked away, heading over to the closest snare.
"There you go!" He exclaimed, rushing forward and kneeling down beside it. "It's a small one but it'll do."
The man untied the rabbit from the trap as the two boys knelt next to him. He shoved it into his bag and began to explain what to do.
"So, this is just a simple slipknot. Tie one on both ends then you tighten one side to a branch." He did a demonstration as he spoke, carefully tying up the wire and wrapping it around a branch. "Now you see how the ground here is sort of like a funnel shape?"
"It's a trail?" Carl guessed.
Rick's face broke into a smile. "That's right. That's where you want to set the noose. So, you hide it with leaves. Then you put sticks all around it so any animals going by have to run this way..." He pushed all the sticks and leaves into position before imitating a little rabbit with his hand. "Right into the trap."
He tugged on the string just as a screech was let out through the woods. "Help!" The voice cried. "Somebody help!"
Carl got out of his seat and started running.
"Carl!" Rick shouted. He attempted to grab the boy before he was too far away. "Carl— Carl stop!"
The boy didn't listen and kept sprinting over to the scene, Rick closely behind him. Rio got up, following them both with Michonne by the side of him.
As they approached a clearing, the sound of walkers' snarls grew louder and louder. They broke through the bushes and caught sight of a man surrounded by at least twenty walkers. He had nothing but a jagged strip of wood to fight them off with
The man called for help again as Carl aimed his gun, hands shaking as he tried to pick which Walker to shoot. Soon enough, two arms wrapped around his middle, pulling him away from the scene. The boy tried to fight against Rick as he just repeated. "We can't help him. We can't help him."
He was right. There were too many. The hands of the closest wrapped themselves around the man's neck, pulling him in and biting down on his face. It tore off his eye as he screamed in agony. The rest latched onto him then. Rio wanted to turn around, but he couldn't. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the gruesome sight, no matter how nauseous it made him feel.
"We've got to go." Michonne whispered, taking off from behind. A single Walker had noticed them and had begun staggering over, the others breaking off and following suit.
They ran back through the forest and onto the train tracks, trying to put a safe distance between them and the walkers. As they reached the crossing, the row of white houses to the right of them, Rio's eyes fell on more walkers.
There were about five or six crouched over the tracks, feasting on some body that was laying out on the floor. Rick ran over first, using the butt of his gun to bash the walker's head with. He did it again knocking down the other with a 'thump'. Michonne sliced the third and fourth with her sword, using one single blow.
"Let's go." Rick hurried them away, running around the body and further up the tracks. The man ushered them all into the trees when the herd of walkers was nowhere to be seen.
Michonne pointed out a path that seemed to go somewhere. The winding dirt trail led all the way through the forest and finished somewhere they couldn't even see.
"I thought maybe there'd be some houses down this way." The woman admitted as they made their way down the path. "Maybe even a store. There's gotta be some food around here somewhere."
"Hey, look." Carl pointed. Up ahead was a blue car, the bumper was falling off and the window was shot and shattered. Still, it could have something in there.
Rick headed over to the car with Carl and Rio as Michonne went to finish off the gargling walker that lay squished on the ground. Its head was the only part that hadn't been flattened by truck tires.
"I think we should stay here for tonight." Rick decided. "We'll start a fire, cook that rabbit then we can hold up in that car for now."
Rio peered inside the car boot, hoping to find anything but he didn't. The owners of the car must've taken everything they had. He slammed the door shut and walked back around to Rick, Carl and Michonne.
With the sky growing dark, Rick wasted no time in starting a fire. Crouching down beside the car and lighting the branches they'd gathered from the tree line beside them.
Carl climbed onto the hood of the car beside Rio bumping the boy's shoulder.
'How are you?'
'I'm good'
'Good'
Rio turned to the fire, watching as Rick shooed away a small snake that slithered closer to the embers. He let out a small laugh as the creature threatened to crawl over his boot. The man just kicked his foot.
"We're gonna cook the rabbit now," Rick announced. "It'll be..." he paused, trying to guess a time.
"Give us twenty." Michonne added at the end. Rio gave her a small nod before he and Carl slipped back into another conversation.
***
The fire had died down outside, where Rick and Michonne sat. The soft light that it once gave off no longer reflected upon the boys through the window. They'd been sent to sleep in the car, ready for the long walk ahead of them tomorrow. That's what Rick had called it anyway.
Carl lay across the back seats, Rio looking over him. The boy leant against the door, his legs tangled with carls as he was taking up most of the space. Rio didn't complain, he didn't really care, as long as Carl was sleeping okay.
Rio smiled to himself as the boy tried to pull him down, pulling on his shirt sleeve.
"There's not enough space." Rio replied.
"There's plenty." Carl insisted and Rio gave in, resting his head by Carl's shoulder. The boy's hand ran through his hair almost as soon as his head hit the car seat.
Rio sat up suddenly, turning to face Carl. 'Do you think everyone is okay?' He said as he signed.
'I want to think that' He replied honestly.
"But you don't?" The boy pried, leaning forward slightly.
'I don't know' Carl let out a sigh. "The chances of everyone being okay is slim."
Rio just nodded in response, biting down on his lip nervously. He was right, he knew Carl was right.
The boy tapped his shoulder, getting his attention. 'I don't think we're the only ones left. We can't be'
"I'm glad I found you."
"Yeah?"
Rio nodded, a small smile creeping up his face.
"I think we should go to sleep."
'Me too' Rio sighed, slouching back down in the chair.
***
Carl shook Rio awake as a man banged his hand against the car window. He had a round and bruised face and wild blue eyes. He pressed his knife against the glass, showing off his weapon as the two shuffled away.
"What's going on?" Rio asked, not caring that he wouldn't be able to hear the answer. The boy turned around as Carl spoke, about to unlock the door and let them out but his eyes fell upon another man. He was skinnier with a crooked nose and smirked down at them creepily.
Rio peered behind the man and swore he caught sight of Daryl's vest. The wings upon the back unmistakable. But he couldn't be here. Why would he be with these people? He must've been mistaken, he was just tired. He was dreaming Daryl was there. That was right.
Rio climbed over to the front seat, holding Carl's hand tightly and his eyes followed who he thought was Daryl. The skinny man followed him too, now pressing his face against the passenger seat window. He felt like an animal. He felt like he was in a zoo, getting looked down upon whilst trapped in a small cage. The man didn't seem to look at him as if he were human either.
Rio averted his eyes, trying to ignore the man's burning gaze. As he continued to watch the scene he realized that he couldn't deny it anymore. That was Daryl who stood before the group. The boy looked at what was happening, looked at who Daryl seemed to be pleading with.
A man stood behind Rick, the barrel of his gun pressed against the man's hand. Another man stood by Michonne, doing the exact same. There had to have been about ten other men at the scene, creating a circle around them.
Three men slowly crept up on Daryl and then one struck him, falling to the ground. Rio froze up as they continued to beat him as he lay on the floor, trying to fight them off. What if they killed him?
"What are we gonna—." Rio began, turning back to face Carl.
The man swung open the back door and pulled Carl out of the car, grabbing him by the arm and shoving him to the floor. The second man reached in to grab Rio but he scrambled away, desperately pulling on the other door handle. It flung open and Rio let out a yell as another man grabbed him, restraining both of his arms behind his back.
"You don't let me have any fun." The first man groaned, a frown upon his face as he spoke to the man who now held Rio.
"He fell straight into my arms. Didn't you kid?" He placed a hand upon Rio's cheek and the boy went to bite down on his fingers. The man caught on, grabbing a fistful of his hair and stopping him. "Try and bite me again kid, I dare you."
He let out a small cry, wincing as the man pulled on his hair again. He let it go, using both of his hands to restrain the boy.
The man pulled him around to the front of the car where everyone else was being held. Rio tried to move or relieve the pain from the man's hold but he just clenched tighter, laughing as he leant down to whisper in his ear, shushing him as he let out more cries.
"You leave them be!" Rick yelled, trying to get up from his spot.
Rio squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shut out everything that was happening, everything he was saying. The man wrapped his arm around Rio's middle and his eyes shot back open. He kicked for the man to let go of him but he didn't. He just laughed. He fucking laughed.
"Listen, it was me. It was just me."
"Liar!" The man yelled, pushing his gun further into Rick's head. "There was a kid with you, which one?"
"They weren't there." He cried. "They'd all left before it happened, it was just me. It was just me."
He looked to Rick for help or to Michonne but his eyes fell on Daryl. Daryl was with these men but they were beating him. Why were they beating him? He kicked and tried to wiggle out of the man's uncomfortable grip not thinking about anything else.
"We can settle this. We're reasonable men!" The man who was holding Rick exclaimed. "First we're gonna beat Daryl to death."
"No!" Rio shouted impulsively.
"Shut up." The man said, immediately grabbing his hair again.
"Let go, you dick." Rio hissed.
"You're in for it now, kiddo."
"Don't call me kiddo." The boy protested, letting out a sigh of relief as the man let go of his hair. His head was still sore.
"Then we'll have the girl. Then the boys. Then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square." He laughed.
The other man pushed Carl to the floor and Rio shouted to the man holding him still. "Get off of him! Tell him to get off."
"Shut up or it's your turn."
"Get off, get off!" He shouted, for both him and Carl. He expected him to maybe punch the other boy, or to try and attack him but he didn't. They just held him still, or at least tried to.
Rio froze up when he felt the man reach for the button on his own jeans. He tried to wriggle away, throwing himself back and forth but he held on tight. There was a rip. Rio cried trying to get the man off of him but soon he slipped his hand under the waistband of his jeans. He got it now. He got it.
"Stop. Squirming." He grunted.
"Get off!" He cried, pushing himself free. He ducked under the man's arm as he tried to grab him again and began to run. The man leapt forward, tackling him to the ground with a crack. A jolt of pain shot in his wrist as he yelled, trying to stick the landing. His head banged against the ground and his ears began ringing. Everything felt so far away. The boy screamed, kicking his legs out and trying to get away from him.
"Can't move now, can you?" The man crawled forward and his voice echoed in the boy's head. Rio used his feet to push himself away, clawing at the dirt as he crawled and throwing it back in the man's face. His hand grazed something else, the thing that had caught his eye earlier.
The man tried to advance on him again and Rio grabbed the snake, not even thinking twice. He wrapped his arm around the man's neck and pulled his head down. He poured the snake down the back of his shirt and spun around, making another attempt to crawl away.
There was a loud scream, cut off by choked gargles. Rio looked to his left and caught sight of Rick tearing out a man's throat with his teeth. He couldn't keep looking for long. He watched long enough to know that they were winning this fight.
The man writhed around, hands reaching for the snake down his back. He was frantic, pulling off his coat and trying to scratch through his shirt. Rio got up from the floor, tripping him up and unsheathing his knife, ready.
He didn't have to.
The man fell stomach first into a broken log, the sharp shard of wood puncturing him through the front. He tried to push the body off the wood with trembling hands, to check if he was really gone.
"Fuck you." He yelled at the body. "Fuck—."
He stared down at his hands, the left was red and swelling and the feeling was now coming back to it, with that came the pain. His chest suddenly felt full and he had to remind himself to breathe. The snake slithered out from the man's shirt, now doused in red. It slithered over Rio's arm again, leaving a bloody trail behind it.
Suddenly someone wrapped their arms around the boy, he dropped his knife and snake to the floor and just screamed, punching whoever was holding him with his aching arm.
He got out, taking a few steps before throwing up.
He dropped to the floor beside the mess, lying down in the grass as tears filled his eyes. He was exhausted, wailing about being in pain, about his arm. He couldn't talk about what just happened, what could've happened. He couldn't even think about that. All he knew was that his arm was throbbing and that he couldn't ignore it any longer.
He could ignore the torn off jean button.
"Rio? Rio?" Someone called. They sounded distant but he knew well enough that they were close. Rio squeezed his eyes shut, pulling on the sleeves of his shirt, his breaths were ragged and started to hurt. He sat up and brought his hand to his face, hiding as he sobbed into it.
Someone pulled his hand away, holding it. He opened his eyes to find Daryl crouched besides him, face beaten and bloody. Rick was next to him, face even bloodier. It was fresh, still trickling down his neck from his mouth.
"Are you okay?" Daryl reached out to place a hand on his shoulder but the boy jerked back.
"You were with them!" He screamed, pulling his hands away. Daryl flinched at the boy's outburst, freezing up as he continued. "You were with them."
"Rio, can you stand up?"
"Why were you with them?" He cut in, voice breaking. He pointed a finger at Daryl accusingly and Rick placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He pleased with the boy frantically, Rio looked into his eyes, as bruised and beaten as they were, "I didn't know that they... I didn't know what they were."
Rio mumbled incoherently, he couldn't think straight.
"I'm sorry." He repeated, grabbing the boy's face in his hands.
He choked on his words, not being able to form a full sentence. This time he didn't try to push Daryl's hand away, he just let his head fall lazily into the man's grip.
"Really, really sorry."
Rio tried to hold it in but soon he was sobbing again.
"Where've you hurt?" Daryl asked, pulling him into a hug. He just sobbed into the man's shoulder, clutching his jacket with shaking hands. Daryl pulled back, grabbing the boy's face and Rio saw that he was crying too. Small tears but he was still crying. Rio didn't think he'd ever seen Daryl cry before now.
"It's my arm."
"Do you think it's broken?"
"No!" Rio hadn't even thought about that, it couldn't be broken. It couldn't be. "I mean, I don't know. It can't be."
"It's okay." Daryl assured him, he rolled up Rio's shirt sleeve just above his elbow, taking a look at the injury. It was red and swollen and swelling more by the second. There was no bleeding. Just a violet red, with a matching trail of dried blood that wasn't his own to match. Rio winced as Daryl ran a hand over it. "You'll be okay. How did it happen?"
"He just— he jumped at me and I fell— I— don't know." He hurried over his words. "Daryl it hurts. It really hurts."
"You're— you're gonna be fine. You're gonna be okay."
"Are you okay?" The boy asked as he reached up for Daryl's face.
"I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle." He replied.
Rio sniffled and nodded back at the man. He looked around, the dying fire kicked about and dead bodies circled around it. Only dead bodies. "Carl." Rio said nervously.
"What?"
"Where's Carl?" He asked.
"He's in the car."
"Is he okay? What about Michonne?"
"They're both there. They're— they're okay."
"I got the worst of it?" Rio asked somewhat hopefully. If it was him, that meant it wouldn't be anyone else.
"I think they did." Daryl replied, gesturing to the bodies littered on the ground.
"Good."
"I'm gonna help you up."
"I've got it."
"You want me to let go?"
Rio thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Daryl walked him to the car, stopping just before the passenger seat, setting him down to open the door. Rick was covering the windows with coats and shirts, not going inside.
Rio sat down in the seat and Carl jumped forward, grabbing his right arm. He turned around and threw his arm around the other boy. Carl cried into his shoulder, not saying anything before he pulled back. Rio noticed the bloody cuts across his face.
Daryl walked off for a second, heading out of Rio's sight.
"Where are you goin? Da—."
The man came back quickly, holding something in his hand. He passed it to Rio. It was a black belt.
"It's my belt. I thought you might need it. Your jeans..."
Rio nodded along. His eyes then trailed down to the torn denim of his jeans. The button had been ripped clean off, a fraying gap left in its place.
Daryl squeezed the boy's shoulder one last time before promising to come back, closing the car door behind him.
Rio just sat down and stifled back a sob, clutching the belt in his hand.
***
im going to be completely honest, there's probably some errors in this chapter because rereading it made me pretty uncomfortable and i was skipping over the chapters asap. apparently that just means im a good writer so ill take the good from the bad.
anyway when i first wrote this it was just after i broke my arm and i think i was salty so i broke rios arm too. as of publishing ive been out of the cast for like three weeks so that just shows how long it takes me to publish these things