Note: I don't own the Walking Dead, any of the regular characters, or anything pertaining to the show (except the Daryl figures, the Daryl bobbleheads, etc. and the DVDs)...there is swearing throughout so just be aware...Enjoy!
"Jesus Fucking Christ!" I yelled, as the trap snapped around my ankle.
I could feel the blood trickling down and the pain was excruciating but I knew I wasn't going out because of a stupid fucking bear trap. I removed my backpack and shifted so I could get a better grip on the trap. I tried grabbing each side and pulling it open but all it did was let out a small grinding sound. Using my machete, I got it in beside my ankle and tried to pry it open that way but nothing.
"I'm not dying because of this," I mumbled as I grabbed each jaw of the trap and tried pulling it open again.
I heard a sound coming from the forest around me. I let go of the jaws and grabbed my machete. If it was a dead person, I wanted to be prepared to kill it so it couldn't use me as a snack. Instead, two guys walked out of the trees.
One was done up in jeans and a plaid shirt with a jean jacket over top. He looked too neat for this apocalypse. The other was…wow…yummy. His leather vest showed off his toned arms and his jeans were just right in the tightness aspect. He was carrying a crossbow in his hands while the other had a machete.
"Told ya I heard something," the yummy guy grunted.
The neat guy approached but I kept my machete up. I didn't know if these guys were decent, even though one looked like he belonged at a PTA meeting.
"It's alright. We can help you out of that trap."
"And what do you expect in return cuz I ain't fucking you. Well, maybe him but that's because of the leather," I said, pointing down at my own bag, a leather sleeve poking out of the main pocket.
"Good because you are not my type. We just want to help. We have a small community not too far from here where you could heal up."
"And again my question is what do you expect in return?"
"You're bleeding and that's all you can focus on right now?" he said.
"Nothing is ever free, especially in times like this. I know because I wasn't able to pay the last time someone helped me and ended up in a worse condition than before. I won't let that happen again."
"We pitch in around the community. Deanna will talk with you and if you stay, she'll find a job for you to do."
"As long as we're clear that I'm not fucking anyone as payment."
"No sex," he agreed.
The yummy guy slung his crossbow across his back and came over to help with prying the jaws apart. As soon as it was wide enough, I pulled my ankle out and they let it snap shut. I pulled out a shirt from my backpack and tied it around my ankle. I let out a little moan when I pulled the shirt tight to help stem the bleeding.
"Can you walk?"
"We'll see once I get up. I can still kinda feel my toes so I don't think the bone is broken," I said, as I positioned myself to get up.
The yummy guy offered his hand and he helped me up. Pain flooded my body at the movement but I bit my lip. I tried a step and nearly collapsed.
"Daryl, can you cover us while I help her back to the car?"
"Sure," he grunted as his blue eyes scanned the forest around us.
The other guy introduced himself as Aaron while he picked up my bag and strapped it to his back. I laid my arm across his shoulders and leaned on him while we walked.
"I'm Tanis."
"Are you out here on your own?" Aaron asked.
"Yeah. When my last group began turning on each other, I got the fuck out of there. Now is a time where people should be helping each other out, not pushing people in front of you for the undead to get."
"How many walkers have you killed?" Daryl asked.
"Seems like too many to count. It's me or them and I rather like myself alive, thank you very much."
"How many people have you killed?"
"Three," I replied.
"Why?" Aaron asked.
"Two attacked me, trying to use me as a distraction so they could get away. Didn't realize that just because I'm a girl, I don't know how to handle myself. The last raped me in payment for his help and was going to go after the young girl who I was traveling with at the time. I can take it but a 12year old shouldn't have to know what rape is. I cut the fucker's cock off before taking his head."
We stepped out of the forest and I saw a motorcycle and an old car sitting on the side of the road.
"Awesome bike but I take it that I'm not riding back to wherever on it."
Aaron helped me over to the car and into the backseat where I could stretch out my leg and elevate it using my backpack. I saw Daryl kick a leg over the bike and straddled the machine. I didn't realize I let out a small moan until Aaron asked if I was alright.
"Oh, just my ankle. I shifted it slightly."
They turned the vehicles around and we headed back to their community. The jostling of the car on the road was enough to cause more pain to radiate up from my ankle. I clenched the seat to keep from yelling out. Aaron tried talking to me but realized that I wasn't in the mood when my words were coming out from between clenched teeth.
We pulled up to a large metal gate and after a second, it rolled open. Daryl went first and Aaron followed. I got a look at the community behind it and had to hold in a laugh. They created their own gated community from the undead, rather than regular poor people. Aaron pulled the car over and came to help me out.
"I'll take you to our clinic and our doctor will work his magic on your leg."
"Thanks."
We hobbled over to the clinic and inside. The doctor came out and helped us the rest of the way to a bed. He introduced himself as Pete. His face was a mix of swelling and bruising.
"What happened?" both Pete and Aaron asked when they saw each other.
"A bear trap. Aaron and Daryl were nice enough to help me out of it," I replied.
The doctor removed the shirt and we got a real good look at the puncture wounds. Aaron gagged and backed up. I stared closer at it. You could see right down to the bone.
"I'm going to need to clean it and then stitch them up. I'll freeze the area first so you don't feel it."
"I don't care if you have to knock me out to do it, Doc. Just please give me something. The ride back nearly killed me."
Aaron said his farewells while Pete collected his supplies.
"Any allergies to medication?"
"Penicillin. My throat starts closing up so unless you have spare Epi-Pens lying around, I'd suggest not giving me the stuff."
"Noted. No penicillin."
Several needle sticks with a freezing agent numbed my leg enough that I couldn't feel the pain anymore. I could feel his fingers touching my ankle but it was more because I expected to feel him as I watched him clean and stitch up the wounds.
"It's good that you weren't wearing pants or I might have had to dig out any fabric from the wounds. Your shoes barely missed where the jaws entered your ankle."
"Gotta love Chucks," I said, glancing down at the blood soaked shoe.
Once the doctor was finished, he wrapped it with a bandage and allowed me to rest. But I couldn't rest. I was somewhere I didn't know a single soul and I had no weapon. Scanning the room, I caught sight of a tray of medical tools. I limped my way over and found a scalpel. Why in hell did he have something like this just laying around? I didn't know but was glad. I slid the scalpel into the pocket of my shorts and hurried back to the bed.
A little while later, the door opened and I assumed it was the doctor checking up on me. Instead I was greeted by a woman's voice. A voice I instantly recognized.
"Hello. I'm Deanna. I look after the community."
Lifting my head from the pillow, I smiled at the older woman.
"Hey, Deanna."
"Tanis? Oh my God."
She came over and tried to fuss over me. Part of it felt right but the other part felt wrong.
"It's been a couple of years since I saw you last."
"Yeah, a couple of months before the shit hit the fan. How's Spencer?"
"Good. He's here if you would like to see him," she tried.
"That's not necessary. He made it clear that we wouldn't see each other again."
"He never told me why the two of you broke up. After nearly 3years together, I thought marriage would be the next step but then he said it's over."
So he never told you why. That he cheated on me while I was pregnant and when I found out, the stress caused me to miscarry, I thought.
"It's for him to explain. So tell me about this place."
Deanna spent the next half hour telling me about Alexandria and the people who lived there. She briefly touched on the latest group who settled into the community before the doctor came back. I could hear something within her voice that didn't sit right, like she was plotting and I have heard that before since she was a politician.
"I have a course of antibiotics for you to take to keep it from getting infected. You can stay in the clinic while you're healing."
"No, she can stay with me."
"Deanna, I really don't want to stay anywhere Spencer is going to be. That's just a catastrophe waiting to happen. I don't think you want a screaming match to happen in your house. I'll just stay here while I recuperate."
She tried again to get me to agree to stay with her. She even told me that Aiden was recently killed and to have someone to look after would help distract her. I couldn't really say no to that so Pete offered to help me over to Deanna's place. I thought I felt his hand graze my ass but he was helping me off the bed so I could have been mistaken.
People watched as the three of us walked out of the clinic. A small blonde woman stood on a porch nearby and watched us. There was a group of people, including Daryl, a couple houses down from her and they stared at us. I couldn't really make out anyone else but Daryl is the type of guy you can't miss.
"The Georgia group I was telling you about," Deanna whispered, tilting her head in their direction.
"Ah."
Getting up the stairs at Deanna's place was horrible until Pete literally scooped me up and carried me inside. Deanna's husband, Reg, was there and a small smile graced his lips.
"Tanis. It's good to see you. Put her on the couch for now, Pete. Spencer and I can help her upstairs later."
"You may want to warn Spencer that I'm here. I'm not dealing with his shit if he has a problem with me being here."
Pete set me down and I know for a fact his hand brushed my ass that time. I glared up at him.
"If someone hadn't gotten to you first, I would knock you on your ass for touching mine. I agreed with Aaron that I wasn't fucking anyone to stay here."
"It wasn't anything, Tanis," he tried.
"Bullshit. You touched my ass back at the clinic and now you did it again. Leave before I find a way to finish whatever someone else started."
He was quick to leave and Deanna tried to apologize.
"While I'm grateful that Daryl and Aaron stopped to help me and to you for patching me up, I will not deal with assholes. I'd rather be limping around out there with the undead than be someone's plaything."
"It's fine. I'll talk to Pete and the others. No one will force themselves on you while you are here."
"Thank you."
Deanna brought me some water to take my antibiotics with and left me alone after I promised to sit down with her and tell her about my time outside of the gates. Looking around the room and knowing that she hadn't truly spent any time outside of the community, I knew she would be totally unprepared if a group of the undead got inside.
I was able to get a few hours of sleep before the front door banged open and I heard his voice calling out. I slid further down on the couch, hoping he wouldn't see me.
"Hey, who are you? What are you doing here?"
"I was invited here, Spencer."
"Holy shit. Tanis."
He stood over me and looked down. He always had a habit of scrutinizing what I was wearing and now I felt the tank top and shorts were too revealing under his gaze. I struggled to sit up against the arm of the couch. Spencer took a seat on the coffee table and I got a good look at him. My ex-boyfriend looked exactly the same as he did when we broke up. He hadn't seen the horrors of this apocalypse. Hell, I had scars on my arms and one on my leg from the last 2years of living in this world.
"Still a prick?"
"Still a bitch?"
"You made me one. I couldn't trust anyone after you fucked me over so I got hard and jaded. Then the world went to hell. I see you've really had it rough living behind these walls. Did you know at first I was with a group of our friends and slowly watched as each of them was picked off and turned? Did you know I watched my best friend being torn apart because I wasn't fast enough to save her? Did you know that the one time that I let my guard down and some fucker raped me because of it?"
"Oh, Tanis," Deanna sighed from the doorway.
"You may pretend that this is the real world now but you have no clue what it's like outside. I've been here less than a day and I feel on edge. Like something is going to happen and I'm going to watch as people are slaughtered because they can't protect themselves. I'm sorry but that's how I see it.
"You think the walls are enough protection but those undead are persistent and will find a way to the fresh meat inside this community."
Two days later and that's exactly what happened. Surprisingly it was the Georgia group with a handful of the Alexandrians who survived. Staring down at Deanna's corpse, I could only shake my head.
"I tried to warn you."