Chapter Twenty-Seven // {jordan's pov}
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Rick and Michonne were leading our group, talking in hushed voices. Daryl followed them not too far behind and then there was Carl.
I didn't know what happened to Carl last night. From listening in on Michonne's conversation with Daryl. Someone attempted to do what they did to me, to him. Attempted.
I'm so thankful that it didn't happen to him. A child.
I was trailing behind everyone, leaving a fair distance between us.
Rick originally tried to get me to keep up with him, but I never really replied.
Why the hell do we bother surviving in this world, to be honest? What do we get out of waking up each day, hunting for food, trying to find water, killing the undead who are trying to kill you and sleep with one eye open? What's the point?
I looked ahead to see that Carl had stopped and turned around to face me. Everyone else was still going.
I finally made it to where he was and he started walking beside me.
"Dad's unhappy," he commented, looking straight at Rick. I hummed in acknowledgment.
"I mean, every time he glances your way when you're not looking, regret fills his eyes. Why?" he spoke with confidence and determination. He could easily pass as an adult if it weren't for his size. By the way Carl spoke, he wanted to know why desperately. I didn't know how to explain though.
I sighed.
"I don't know," I lied. How was I supposed to tell a 15 year old kid that I was sexually assaulted by some man and his Dad blames himself for it.
"You do," he replied frowning.
"Car-,"
"No! Why the fuck can't I know? Oh wait -- because I'm a 'kid?' It can't be as bad as what you're making it out to be!" he yelled angrily, causing Rick to stop and turn around. Michonne and Daryl glanced to see what Rick was looking at.
A sob passed my lips as the memories resurfaced of the night before.
Rick started striding over to us, "Carl."
"No Dad! She's overreacting about some bullshi-," Rick cut him off. Michonne looked at Carl with widened eyes.
"Carl! Shut it!" Rick yelled at Carl, trying to reach me. I put my hand out to push him away.
He finally reached me and pushed my hand down. He wrapped his arms around me and I let out another sob. Finally allowing the tears to fall. Rick smelt like safety and that's all I really needed right now.
I knew that Carl was mad about what had happened and he happened to take it out on me. I could hear Carl saying something to Michonne.
I pulled away from Rick slightly to turn to Carl. Rick carefully grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
Carl looked at me with regret and realisation.
He was told.
'It's okay,' I mouthed to him. He shook his head sadly, his eyes drifted to the sky.
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"Now we head through the woods. We don't know who they are," Rick stated, veering off of the tracks. My hand was firmly placed in his. Over the past hours we had been walking, I had opened up more and I was definitely more like my old self. Carl was avoiding me like the plague. I, personally, was just trying to keep it all off of my mind. It was easier for me to deal with it that way. We had to focus on the future.
We all approached the fence that separated the people of Terminus from us.
"We all spread out, watch for a while, see what we see, and get ready. We all stay close," Rick commanded before turning to Carl, "want to go with us?"
Carl shook his head, glancing at me for a split second, "I'll go with Michonne."
Michonne raised her eyebrows but nodded. Daryl had already left. Rick had a pained look in his eyes, but it disappeared as soon as it came.
"Alright," he nodded, turning to me. He wore a small smile but it didn't reach his eyes.
"We'll put most of our weapons in this bag, then we'll bury it. Best to be safe than sorry," he explained as he pulled out his Colt Python .357 Magnum Revolver out. It almost appeared as if he didn't want to part with it. I understood what he meant. I took my bronze desert eagle out and handed it to him. He took it and shoved it in the bag along with a red-handled machete and various other weapons.
Daryl strode over to us.
"Looks alrigh'," he said, looking towards Rick and then to the duffle bag in his hands.
"Burying our remaining weapons," he explained while pulling out a Glock 17 and a Beretta 92FS, exactly like Carl's. He held both out as if he was asking me which one I wanted. I decided on the Beretta 92FS, knowing that Rick was brilliant with a Glock 17. I turned the gun over in my hands a few times before slotting it into my holster.
Carl and Michonne appeared from our right, Carl still avoided eye contact with me.
"All good?" Daryl asked the pair. Michonne gave a firm nod and we were on our way.
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"Terminus. Those who arrive survive. Follow the tracks to the point where all lines intersect. There are maps at the crossings to help guide you with your journey. Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive. Terminus, sanctuary for all. Community for al-."
"Hello," Rick cleared his throat, looking at the woman on the microphone. She gasped and looked at us, she was clearly startled.
"Well, I bet Albert is on perimeter watch," a man spoke from the left of us. If we were in a different situation and I knew who Albert was, I probably would've laughed. I kept a face of no emotion on.
"Are you here to rob us?" a confidently man spoke up, walking towards us. Rick shook his head, staring at the guy.
"We wanted to see you before you saw us," Rick added, still giving the man a cold stare. Carl edged closer to me.
I would've smiled.
"Makes sense. Usually we do this where the tracks meet," the man spoke before clearing his throat, "Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth, " he introduced himself with a grin. I furrowed my eyebrows. We could totally shoot down everyone right now and he's smiling at us? I suddenly felt on edge and unsettled.
"Rick. That's Carl, Jordan, Daryl and Michonne," Rick said pointing to us all, introducing us to the strange man.
"You're nervous, I get it. We were all the same way. We came here for sanctuary. That what you're here for, right?" Gareth replied smiling his signature smile.
I swear, even the governor wasn't known to be this weird. The tiny optimistic side of me was basically yelling that he could just be a nice guy.
But I knew better than that.
I sideways glanced at Rick who nodded in reply to Gareth's stupid question. I wanted to narrow my eyes angrily and scream for us to leave while we could.
"Good because you found it!" he exclaimed, "hey, Alex," he greeted another guy who turned up next to him, he looked nervous as fuck, "this isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide, but welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer. Alex will take you, ask you a few questions. First we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you," he ordered in his sickly sweet yet fake ass tone.
We all hesitated before Rick spoke up, "alright."
I took my gun out and a large knife out from my holster and placed them in front of me, on the floor. I did have the knife Rick had given me in my boot.
I stood there and prayed that they wouldn't find it.
A middle-aged man stood in front of me and gave me a flirtatious smile before starting to pat me down without asking. He patted me down in all the wrong places, causing me to me flinch away -- making those same memories resurface. I let out a small whimper. Rick's eyes snapped over to me.
"Don't touch her," Rick growled, "she doesn't have anything else."
The man let go of me, staring right at Rick, but not before touching my boobs one last time.
I felt anger bubble inside me, I didn't want to be here. I wanted to leave. Everything is basically yelling at me to leave.
"Just so you know, we aren't those kind of people, but we aren't stupid either. And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid. As long as everyone's clear on that, we shouldn't have any problems. Just solutions," Gareth announced to us all, still grinning like a madman.
"Okay," Rick replied, staring daggers at the man who patted me down.
"Follow me," the guy next to Gareth said, who I believe was called Alex.
We followed him out into a courtyard where a woman was cooking up something on a barbecue. If I trusted these people, I would eat it. For all I know, they could be cannibals.
I stood extremely close to Rick.
"Hey, Mary, would you fix each of these new folks a plate for me?" Alex asked the woman who I know as Mary. She smiled and gave Alex a firm nod. Her eyes glanced over us all, finishing with Daryl.
Michonne asked Alex a question, but I wasn't listening.
I looked over everyone.
I noticed riot gear that looked very familiar. I knew it wasn't from nearby. I could tell by the logo that had faded over months.
A certain prison's riot gear.
I looked over at another person wearing a poncho. My eyes widened when I saw Glenn's watch.
The watch Hershel had given him.
"Rick," I whispered, looking up at him. He was already frowning.
Rick sprung into action, "where the hell did you get this watch?" he screamed. Everyone followed his actions, aiming our weapons at anyone who even thinks of coming near us.
Rick held Alex in a choke hold, holding a gun to his head.
"You want answers? You get them when you put down the gun!" Alex yelled, trying to calm Rick down. As if that would work.
"I see your man on the roof with a sniper. How good is his aim? Where did you get the watch?" Rick repeated angrily, facing the sniper on the roof.
"Put it down! Put it down!" Alex screamed at the sniper. Eventually be put his rifle down.
"I got it off a dead one! Didn't thi-.. think he would need it," Alex stuttered fearfully, answering Rick's question.
"What about the riot gear? The poncho?" Rick questioned, pushing the gun into Alex's head.
"Got the riot gear off a dead cop. Found the poncho on a clothesline," Gareth said as if he was bored, appeared from behind us. We all turned quickly to face him. I raised my gun a little higher.
I would be more than glad to blow his brains out.
Alex tried saying something Gareth but he told him to shut up. I almost chuckled.
"You talk to me!" Rick demanded.
"What's left to say? You don't trust us anymore," Gareth pointed out with a smug little face.
Alex tried again to say something but Gareth just told him that it was okay. I was quite interested in what he had to say.
"Rick, what do you want?" Gareth questioned, looking at him the a cold stare.
"Where are our people?" Rick answered with a question.
"You didn't answer the question."
After those short words spoken by Gareth. Shit got real.
Gun fire went off, everyone was screaming or shooting or in our case, running and trying to escape this hell.
We all followed Daryl and Rick who appeared to be leading the way. I did take the time to notice that the sniper's were shooting at our feet, not directly at us.
They were leading us somewhere.
We're fucked already.
"Rick!" I tried calling out but he didn't hear and we kept going.
We entered a building and a roller door was closing on the other side. We all made a run for it but it was too late.
"Over there!" Daryl yelled out over the gunfire, pointing to a metal grate. He pushed on it but it didn't budge.
Rick pointed to a door on the other side, luckily, this one opened.
We were outside again and the sniper's were still aiming at our feet. I looked up to see Rick holding a door open for us all.
We ran inside and I was amazed and slightly confused.
Candles littered the floor and names were written beside them. I frowned with curiosity and confusion.
"These people, I don't think they're trying to kill us," Rick commented while staring at the walls.
"No, they were aiming at our feet," I replied with zero emotion. It was over.
Rick ran over to another door but someone slammed it shut before he got to it. He cursed under his breath. There was one other door besides the one we came from.
We pushed it open and ran past shipping containers.
"Help us! Please! Help, someone!" voices screamed from inside the containers.
"The hell?" Daryl yelled over the gunfire. I saw the fence up ahead and thought that this could be our chance.
Oh and boy, I was wrong.
A bunch of Terminus' men popped up, pointing guns at us.
We were surrounded.
I turned back around and looked towards Daryl. He looked at me with sadness, before looking at the ground.
"Drop your weapons, now!" he screamed at us from the roof tops.
I sighed and hesitated. So did everyone else.
"Now!" he repeated his command. We did as he asked and dropped our weapons or if you're Rick, throw them. I could tell he was angry just by how tense he was.
"Ringleader, go to your left. The train car, go. You do what we say, the boy goes with you. Otherwise, he dies and you end up in there anyway," Gareth chuckled at the end. Rick looked towards Carl and then to me with sadness -- like Daryl. Rick made his way to the train cart and stood in front of it, looking towards us all.
"Now the archer," Gareth yelled, referring to Daryl. Daryl huffed before walking to Rick.
"Now the samurai." Michonne sighed and strode over to it slowly.
"The girl," Gareth said, referring to me. I glanced towards Carl with worry. This time, he didn't look away. He gave me a small smile and I walked over to the train cart, to stand in line behind Michonne.
"My son!" Rick growled.
"Go, kid!" Gareth commanded. Carl made his way over to us and Rick opened the train cart, as Gareth had asked.
We all walked in and someone shut it from the outside.
I immediately went to Rick and wrapped my arms around him. He accepted the embrace and pulled me closer to him.
"I love you," he whispered in my ear. I smiled.
"I love you too," I whispered back.
"Rick, you're here?" a familiar voice questioned, stepping out from the other side of the train cart.
Glenn, Maggie, Bob, Sasha and a lot of people I've never seen before. I frowned at them, unsure on how to act around them.
"They're our friends. They helped save us," Maggie explained, looking at me. I smiled.
"Now they're friends of ours," Daryl added from behind me.
"For however long that'll be," the man with red hair and a beard stated. Well, fuck you then.
"No," Rick stated, "they're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out..."
"Find out what?"
"They're fucking with the wrong people."
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A/N: DUN DUN DUHHHHHHHHH!
End Of Season 4!!!!!!!!!! Also, the end of my favourite episode. :c
Love you all!
-Chloe xox