"The more you care, the more you have to lose."
***
Carol pulls her gun from its holster and looks nervously behind Maggie. I follow her gaze and hastily hold my gun up as well. It's a man. He pulls out his gun and aims for Maggie. I'm about to pull the trigger, but Carol does it first. The man falls and groans. He's not dead.
"Damn it, guys, let's go!" Carol insisted.
I silently agreed with Carol. Maggie walked up to the injured man with her gun.
"Not until it's done."
"Stop!" A woman's voice growls as I feel a gun pressed to my temple.
"Or she's dead."
I'm too afraid to look at the woman, but I can see the fear in Maggie's eyes as another woman holds a gun to her head.
"Guns, knives on the ground right now."
I look out of the corner of my eye to see a redhead; she's the one with a gun to my head.
"Nice jacket," a gruff voice said.
It's another older looking woman with a gun to Maggie.
"For a murderous bitch," the brunette says.
"Well, we'll take it off her before we shoot her," the redhead says.
I slowly take my gun out of its holster and my knife of its sheath, dropping them to the ground. How are we going to get out of this?
***
We've stood here for hours. Morning came, and the redhead had binoculars on, looking at Rick.
"It's Primo," she says as I see Rick jump on the man.
"Damn it; they've got him. Give me the walkie," she demands.
I stand between Carol and Maggie. Usually, they would reassure me when something happened, but they couldn't bring themselves to give me false hope.
"Lower your gun, prick."
Our group looks around frantically. I want to run to them, scream to them, tell them we're here. But I can't unless I want to eat a bullet. Which I don't.
"You, with the colt python. All of you lower your weapons right now," she demands through the walkie talkie.
Rick picks up the walkie and says, "Come on out. Let's talk."
"We can take 'em," the man says. My heart drops.
"We're not coming out, but we will talk," the redhead says to Rick.
"Names," she demands and looks over to us. None of us speak.
"Names!" She raises her voice.
"I'm Maggie, that's Skylar, that's Carol," Maggie speaks for us.
I take both of their hands and squeeze them to calm my nerves as well as theirs.
"We've got a Carol, a Skylar, and a Maggie. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about," The redhead says.
***
"You can see we have one of yours. We'll make a trade," Rick said.
"I'm listening," said the redhead, obviously intrigued.
"First, I want to talk to Maggie, Carol, and Skylar. Make sure they're alright," Rick ordered.
I wish I could tell them exactly where we are, then these people can die, and we can go home. I can see Carl.
"I'm gonna put you on. You say you're fine," the redhead ordered, shoving the walkie towards Carol.
"Rick, it's Carol; I'm fine."
"Rick, it's Maggie. We're all okay."
"Rick--it's Skylar. I'm okay."
"You have your proof. Let's talk," the redhead demanded. This woman is a total bitch.
"This is the deal right here. Let 'em go; you can have your guy back and live," Rick offered.
"Three for one, that's not much of a trade," the redhead said.
"You don't have another choice, or you would've done something about it already. Do we have a deal?"
"I'll get back to you."
Then my jacket was thrown over my head, and I lost sight.
"Move," the woman yelled, harshly shoving me forward.
I could only look down at my feet, focusing on not tripping. I often looked to my left, at Carol and to my right, at Maggie.
"Wait."
I was shoved into a car, and my wrists were tightly tied together. The redhead, which I learned was named Paula, kept speaking in code over the walkie. We finally arrived in a building, I think. I shuffled along the floor and heard walkers growling.
My jacket was taken off of my head to meet face to face with a walker. I jumped back, startled, and a knife went through its head, just close enough to cut me. I had a gag in my mouth, and my hands were tied.
"Get on the ground."
"You, there," she ordered and shoved me to my assigned spot.
I slumped down against the wall and watched as she tied my ankles together.
"Paula! I need backup!" Someone screamed from the hallway, followed by walkers and guns firing.
"I want to kill you all right now, and it's taking me all I have not to. So try something, I dare you. See what happens," Paula threatened before leaving and slamming the door behind her.
I looked around for anything I could use to get out of this. Nothing. Maggie tried to use the wall to cut the duct tape until we heard footsteps, and Carol started to hyperventilate.
"Carol! Carol! Calm down!" I yelled, but the disgusting gag in my mouth muffled my words.
Everyone walked back in, and they were arguing about something. No one noticed Carol, except Maggie and I. Maggie nervously looked to me for an explanation, but I didn't have one.
"Hey!" Maggie yelled.
They finally noticed her, and Paula walked up to Maggie, pulling the gag out of her mouth.
"She's hyperventilating. Someone needs to take her gag off," she instructed.
The older woman walked over to Carol.
"She's a nervous little bird, ain't she."
The gag was removed, and Carol pulled a rosary out of her pocket, immediately starting to calm down. Carol had never been religious, at least from what I've seen. I looked at Maggie, and she had the same confused expression. I shrugged my shoulders, and she looked back at Carol. By now, the man was dying, and the brunette had a gun to Carol.
"Are you actually afraid to die?" Paula asked Carol curious about the situation.
"It doesn't matter what happens to me. Just don't hurt them. Don't hurt the baby."
"You're some kind of stupid, getting knocked up at a time like this," Paula said to Maggie, the gun now pointed to her.
"When was it ever smart to get knocked up?" Maggie retorted.
Paula left, and the older woman pulled out a cigarette and started smoking.
"Hey! The baby!" I yelled through my gag, the only one left with it on.
The brunette pulled it out.
"The baby," I said, referring to the second-hand smoke.
The older woman started laughing and coughing.
"In case you haven't noticed, you have bigger problems than a little second-hand smoke," she retorted.
She put out her cigarette after being told by the brunette.
"Those things will kill you," Carol pointed out.
"They already have," she said back, showing us a bloodied cloth that she'd coughed into.
"I'm a dead woman walking. Which puts us in exactly the same boat."
***
"Shut up!" Paula screamed at the dying man for the 50th time.
Then, he hit her right in the face.
Seven Years Ago
"Daddy! Please, I'm sorry. Don't hurt me!" My 8-year-old self screamed in fear.
"No. You need to learn!" He said, hitting me right across the face.
"Please. I'm sorry."
Now
Maggie snapped me out of my thoughts by tripping the man. Paula was a bitch but didn't deserve that. He fell to the ground and quickly stood up, pulling Maggie up with him.
"Leave her!" I screamed, hitting him any way possible.
He let go of Maggie and kicked me.
One.
Two.
Three times in the stomach and ribs. That's gonna leave a mark. Carol knocked him over; then he kicked her three times. Then he was knocked out by Paula.
"You really are some kind of stupid. Take her out, see if she knows anything," Paula ordered, and the brunette took Maggie out.
Carol lay on the floor, and I knew if I made a move, I would've been hit again, just like my father had done to me.
Carol and I sat in the room. I just want to be with Carl. Carol fiddled with the rosary in her hands.
"Do you really believe in that crap?" Paula muttered.
"Faith got me through the death of my daughter," she said back.
I looked up, confused. Carol had a daughter?
***
"Asshole. You there?" Paula said through the walkie.
"I'm here," that familiar Grimes boy said gruffly.
Oh, how I miss him. How I miss Daryl. How I miss Carl.
"We've thought about it. We want to make the trade," Paula announced.
A weight was lifted off of my shoulders, and I tried to hold in a smile.
"That's good."
"There's a large field with a sign that says 'God is dead' about two miles down I-66. Good visibility in all directions," she said to him.
"We'll meet you there. 10 minutes?" He asked.
"10 minutes," she confirmed.
Then she started to get nervous.
"That was too easy. They're probably waiting outside the door. Ready to kill us," she said while pacing.
My heart dropped. Maybe we're not getting out of this.
"Rick is a man of his word. He wouldn't put me, Maggie, and Skylar at risk to attack," said Carol. She's right, right?
"We're leaving—travel light. Leave them. If they're at the door, pick them off," she said and finally left, leaving Carol and me.
***
Carol cut through the duct tape with the sharpened rosary, then helped me out. We rushed down the hall, looking around for Maggie. Then we found her. We helped her out, and we held her tightly.
"We have to finish this."
We went back to the room we were first in, and Maggie took the rope off Donnie's arm.
Then, Maggie tied a rope and tied the other end to the turned man, and we left. Then Maggie killed the smoking woman.
"Let's go."
***
We walked quickly through the hall and came across a walker trap.
"They're using them to keep us in," I suggested.
Gunshots went off, and we all ducked. Paula's gun emptied, and Carol pointed her gun at Paula.
"Just do it. You've killed Donnie, you've killed Molly, you've destroyed my home," Paula said shakily.
"Carol. Shoot her," I insisted.
"Just go," Carol said, trying to give Paula a way out.
A walker got loose, and I quickly stabbed it with the knife I got off of Molly.
"Paula?" The brunette asked.
I shuffled against the wall, and Maggie went in front of me, knocking the gun from Chelle's (the brunette's) hand. Then, she sliced at Maggie's stomach. I ran up to her and stabbed her. I stabbed her until her face wasn't recognizable.
"Leave her alone!" I screamed, blood spraying me.
Carol and Maggie pulled me off of her. I breathed heavily, and Paula stood up as Carol, and she talked. Talked until Paula attacked Carol and Paula was impaled...impaled as a walker ate her face off. Her agonizing screams filled the air; then, she went silent.
"Do you copy?" The man asked on the walkie.
Carol imitated Paula's voice.
"Meet us on the kill floor."
***
"I think I might've killed 18 people," Carol said, almost in a whisper.
"20," she corrected herself.
"We're almost done."
We pressed our backs against the wall and heard footsteps. Our plan followed through. Carol lit her cigarette, and the three of us slammed the door shut. Carol dropped the cigarette. They screamed. We walked by the woman I killed. We walked by Paula. We opened the door, and I collapsed into Daryl's arms.
"You okay?" He asked me.
I shook my head as my tears fell onto his jacket.
"No. I'm not."