With one last grunt, the burly hunter heaved his sweating mass up and unmounted his conquest. She lay there still as a corpse- well, what use to be still corpses were now roaming the earth. Though the corner of her eyes leaked small amounts of moisture, her tears were nonexistent. Her body was unable to produce any more partially because she was so spent and mostly because her body was void any fluids. The hunter, with a satisfied air to him, buckled his belt and left the tent that was used for "recreational activities."
Her breath shallow and her body aching, the girl attempted to let her body shut down, to quiet itself so that she could get any form of rest. However, her mind had other plans and reminded her of all the agony she'd been through. The torture. The suffering. She wished she was dead. But they wouldn't even allow her that much pity.
There were three of them in total. The three musketeers. Grew up together in the same shitty Alabama town and were braving the end of the world together too. She couldn't remember their names for the life of her; she stopped living the moment they took her. Took her from the group of survivors that were trying to move north from Florida. The moment they took her identity, took her innocence.
Her she was now. Two weeks later. Her hands bound behind her as she lay practically naked on the tent floor, covered by only by a sheer flimsy cotton slip originally a brilliant cream but now dirty and dull, fraying at the bottom. She twisted her body in a fetal position so that she could push her arms underneath her legs allowing her hands to rest in her lap. For the first days that she was captured, her arms ached something terrible as they were held behind her in a harsh bond by the knotted rope. But as she began to lose weight from lack of nutrition, she was able to maneuver herself in such a manner that her arms didn't cramp. As long as she did this in secret when they left her in the tent alone (the only God-send she was allowed, it seemed) after having their way with her, she could rest semi-comfortably. If they knew that her hands were not tied dutifully behind her back as they had left her, she feared they would do away with her arms completely.
Repeating her mantra she adopted, "They're gone," she fell asleep. However the night passed with a blink for just as she closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them it was daylight. But it wasn't the daylight that woke her. It was shouting that jolted her suddenly. Quickly and quietly she looped her arms so that they were fixed behind her back once more and tried to subdue her nerves when she heard wolf calls. But these calls didn't belong to her three capturers. It belonged to somebody else. A glimmer of hope? Or fear. She wouldn't be able to tell yet.
"Oww! Owwww!" another wolf call. "Howdy ladies. Mighty fine morn if I do say so mah self," a scratchy southern accent filled the camp. The girl concentrated on hearing any response from the hunters but heard only terse silence and the movement of metal, no doubt the guns clenched tensely in their hands.
"Whaddya want," one of the hunters demanded.
"Whoa there, darlin'. There's no need ta' git hostile, now," the voice responded. "We're jus' lookin' for some food is all. Jus' huntin' n' tryin'a survive. Where y'all from?" the voice belonged to a rowdy man; she could tell by the confidence in his voice and his almost mocking tone. But as unintelligent as the hunters were, they were feeling at ease with this newcomer.
"Dudn't matter no more anyhow," one of the hunters chuckled darkly. "Tha' whole world's gone ta' shit."
"Amen," the stranger shouted. "Full'a nigger lovin' abominations anyway! Thank lord!"
If this didn't hook the hunters in, then nothing would have.
"Y'all two travelin' by yerselves?" The same hunter asked. The girl strained her ears. There was two of them? She didn't hear the other one speak at all.
"Yep. Jus' me 'n my brother here. What about y'all?"
"We're jus' tryin'a find higher ground. Them dead things ain't very good at climbin',"
"No shit! We's tryin'a find higher ground too!"
"You boys hungry?" the girl could practically hear the welcoming smile in the hunter's voice. The girl closed her eyes and prayed for death. She was barely hanging on to a thread the way she was being treated so far. If there were two more added to this gang of animals, she would find a way to kill herself. She vowed it.
She didn't listen any further to what the men were discussing. Only a way to end herself. So that she could come back and kill those bastards.
One of the bastards, Daryl Dixon, wasn't trying to make friends with the group of hunters. He was trying to kill them. His own camp which he shared with his brother, was full of women and children. Knowing that these three men were setting up camp unknowingly close to theirs posed a threat. His older brother, Merle, generously volunteered them both to scope our their base to see how many of them there were.
"If I like what I see, then we'll leave all their sorry asses behind, ya' hear?" Merle muttered to his sibling as they trekked away from their camp. Daryl only held a tighter grip onto his weapon of choice; his crossbow.
"Ya' boys are lucky ya' found us now. We gots some good huntin'," a hunter offered them squirrel as the brothers sat down on a log near their imposing fire. Daryl managed to fight away a scoff. Squirrels? That was his own camp's pillar for food and to them it was good hunting? Amateurs.
Daryl didn't interact with the intruders like Merle did but kept a wary eye out for any suspicious movements. He did take notice of Merle lying to the three men about moving South (a diversion of where their own camp was).
'Dumbasses camp near the road, bound to get some walkers,' Daryl thought to himself.
One thing, one should know about Daryl Dixon. He's almost always never wrong.
"Shit," Gus, the largest of the trio said. "We got company fellas,"
Daryl was already ahead of everyone though. He aimed and precisely shot one of three walkers cleanly between the eyes. It immediately crumpled to the ground and remained dead. Gus's fellow friend went to attack the other one. Merle produced a gun and started to raise it, when Daryl put his hand on it to stop him.
"Too loud," was all he muttered. Merle rolled his eyes and took out his machete saw and waited for one of the walkers to approach him so that he could stab the decaying business man in the skull. With all the attackers down, the five men looked at each other for the next move.
"I guess we gotta keep movin'," Gus said taking off his cap to air out his sweaty head, the other three men seemed to know the memo for they were already grabbing their supplies and packing up their things. That's when Daryl noticed the single tent. Just one. His suspicions were confirmed when Gus went inside the tent himself holding a rope. For a second Daryl thought they had a dog or maybe a bear at the end of a leash. But what he saw was unexpected.
Tied with her arms behind her, a young women with a rope secured around her neck was dragged out of the tent. Time slowed down for Daryl. His blood went cold and his stomach clenched.
The girl raised her eyes dejected from the ground to look at Merle and him with a nworrisome glare. She was a ugly little thing. Bones protruding from her sickly body, her shoulders like knives threatening to escape her skin. Her hair matted and thin as if it were falling off her skull. Her skin was a sickly grey color, which was unusual for the Southern sun beating on everyone's back. Her cheeks were hollow and eyes half open.
Gus grinned when he saw Daryl staring openly at her.
"Tha' road gets lonely, y'see," Gus smiled a yellow smile. "Wish we got more time fellas. We'da shared with ya' but gotta keep movin',"
Daryl almost threw up. The bitch was alive. They had her strung up like a mutt. Daryl stealthily glanced at his brother beside him to gage his reaction. Didn't seem like he was none to concerned about her.
"That's gotta be the ugliest bitch I'd ever seen," Merle muttered.
"Ain't right Merle," Daryl gritted out lowly.
"I'm right behind you little brother," Merle let out his breath as Gus yanked the girl's leash so hard she fell silently to her bare skeletal knees.