Chapter 2
It felt as if the walkers were closing in on them; stifling any sort of movement that Rick could make, but they hadn't even reached him yet. The noise of the walkers silenced in his mind as Rick tried to grip clarity and focus on the stranger in front of him. He made extra sure to note every detail in his mind of how this stranger looked. Rick observed that he was a man with a rough, rugged appearance. His arms were riddled with wiry, bulging muscles and big hands that could do damage to anyone who came into contact with them. The man had short, dark brown hair that barely concealed a set of piercing hazel eyes. To Rick, they seemed so cold and distant. It was obvious that those eyes had seen horrible things and will continue to see more horrible events unfold at his own hands. This demeanor unsettled Rick greatly.
Recalling Rick from his thoughts, the stranger began to speak in a low, threatening tone, "You're mine now and you can start by giving me what you've collected," he smirked.
Rick returned his suggestion with an irritated look, "I don't think so. This is my stuff, why don't you go get your own? There's plenty more inside."
The stranger was not pleased with his answer as he began to get furious. "See, that's not how this is gonna work. Either you give it to me peacefully and leave- or I'm gonna have to do something I really don't wanna do." Rick instantly got into a defensive stance and spoke dangerously, "It's not gonna happen, I've dealt with your kind before,"Rick stopped talking once he heard soft footfalls coming from behind him. Just as he was about to confront a possible walker, he was hit hard on the back of the head. Rick slowly lost vision as he fell to the floor, the last thing he remembered hearing was the laughter of the strange man in front of him.
The stranger walked over to where Rick had fallen and sighed happily as if he had just found a treasure. He smiled sadistically, placing a foot on Rick's back, " Oh my, look at you. You've been a very bad boy and now you're mine… you should have listened," the man chortled softly.
The newcomer came closer now and hesitantly spoke, " Victor, what are we gonna do with him?" Victor glanced sharply at the man and spoke in an irritated tone, " We're gonna take him back to our base, Daryl, so grab him and put him in the truck," he smirked darkly, "Oh, and don't hurt him in the process. We need him and if anything more happens to him you'll be in a world of hurt." Victor walked around Rick's unconscious body over to Daryl and whispered closely in the man's ear, " I know you don't want a repeat of what happened before, so be just good."
Daryl shuddered at his words and tried not to remember. After a pause, he spoke quietly, "Yes, I understand. No harm will come to him Victor,"The muscly man smiled creepily, pleased by his answer. "Good." was all he said as he walked back over in the direction of their truck.
By that time, the walkers started getting more persistent behind the rusty chain link fence. More and more kept pouring in. The fences were not going to hold much longer which meant that they needed to get a move on before the situation worsened. He bent down next to where Rick was laid down out cold. He quietly whispered, "I'm sorry whoever you are," Gently, he lifted Rick off of the ground and brought him over to the truck with haste. After laying him down, Daryl ran back over to grab his supplies just as the walkers broke down the fence. The walkers started advancing on Daryl quickly. He was almost caught by one, but he managed to dash away in time to get back to the truck. Victor started the engine just as Daryl climbed in the back and they started speeding out of the lot that was soon to be filled with countless walkers.
Hours had passed since Rick was knocked out. He began to slowly open his eyes groggily. There was a persistent pounding in his head as he tried to focus his eyesight only to see a metal roof above himself. He didn't recognize anything around him, which didn't surprise him considering he was taken against his own will. Rick whispered to himself, "Why am I here... why didn't he just kill me," He tries to rub the back of his throbbing head but realized that wouldn't be possible. His arms and legs were bound by chains that wounded up around his torso down to his ankles. A mixture of anger and dread filled him as he yelled out in frustration, "Let me go! Where are you, you sick psycho?!"
He could hear a door slam shut from behind him and the sound of footsteps getting closer. The room was too poorly lit to see anything or anyone, but he caught a glimpse of a shadow moving beside him. A faint voice began to speak softly, "I'll let that little insult slide since you're new here," The figure stepped forward into a beam of light cast from an opening in the shutters to reveal that it was the same hulking man from earlier, "After all, I did say 'you're mine' earlier, so I won't punish you right away," The stranger jeers at Rick which was returned with a look of in vain to get himself free, Rick thrashed against the ground and jangled the metal chains. It was an impossible task since they were locked together. Stopping once his body started to ache, he hissed, "Let me out. I'm not yours and you're not gonna keep me here." As he said that, the Stranger had began laughing with glee. The man knelt down beside Rick and whispered so sweetly that it made his stomach churn,"Now that's funny, pet… there's no way you're leaving, I won't allow it. You know better than that, Rick."
When Rick heard this mysterious man call him by such a moniker, he couldn't help but shudder.
"How do you know my name and where am I?" The man cleared his throat with a smile, " You can't hide anything from me, I find things out one way or another. But to answer your second question- you're in my basement, there's nothing more to say." Rick noticed that the stranger's smile grew darker. He tried to keep calm but everything about this man irritated every fiber of his being. 'You'd better let me go or else you're gonna be sorry for messing with me." The man scoffed psychotically, "Oh, Rick, it's funny that you think you can threaten me in your position. But I can't just letcha off the hook. Finder's keepers, right?"
"How rude of me though, I haven't introduced myself. The name's Victor." All the while the man is talking, Rick fidgets with his chained up arms and legs. Managing to get a hold on a loose, long piece of chain, he tries to lash the man with it. Victor immediately backed away with a chuckle, "I love that fire inside your eye's Rick, I'll make you hate me even more after I'm done." After a moment of silence, Rick smirked, " You know what, Victor, or whatever your name is? You're pitiful and I'll be getting out of here alive there's no doubt about that…but not before getting licks in at that ugly mug-" Rick was cut off harshly as Victor bent down to punch him square in the jaw.
The cracking sound echoed throughout the room loud enough to make Daryl shudder as he observed from the shadows. He had been there the whole time, watching, waiting, and hoping that this man wouldn't have to endure the same things he had. Several times he'd even considered unlocking the chains just before Rick woke up as to give the man a chance, but any thoughts of helping were pushed out of him once Victor returned.
Victor became more enraged as Rick spat blood up onto his face, splattering his cheek with a dark red. The man recoiled his large hand to punch Rick in eye, causing him to become dizzy and grunt in pain. Glancing up at Victor with his one good eye, he had a dangerous and chilling gaze. Victor just laughed maniacally, clearly not phased one bit by the vulnerable man beneath him. Before Rick could do anything more, Victor violently barraged him with punches with no intent of stopping. But this time it wasn't just on his face, his body was beaten as well. A couple minutes of complete abuse went by and now droplets of blood fell to the floor. His face was a bloodied and bruised pulp along with his body. Victor just kept chortling wickedly as he gazed down at Rick.
It was getting harder for Daryl to watch this scene unfold. Even though he never knew Rick or where he came from, it brought back bad memories from the past. After all, when he was just a child he was abused by his father. The whole time the beatings would occur, his brother Merle would watch and do nothing. Merle was the only real family Daryl ever had, so he forgave him eventually for not interfering. For now though, Daryl was stuck being a servant to this cruel man. This was never his initial intention though, he hated people like Victor. He had no choice because Victor was a much stronger force than he was, but he didn't want to admit it. If he dared face the reality of his own situation it would only bring back more pain. All of the feelings he had for himself in his own wretched situation were diminishing while watching Rick get beat. It made him feel horrible that he hadn't the power to stop the hurt Rick was enduring. He felt just as useless as he did when he was a child, unable to do anything to change the situation.
Daryl instantly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Victor talking about him to Rick -who was just about knocked out by then. He decided to just listen in for now. By then, Victor had stopped hitting Rick and let the man lie there chained up and bloodied. Victor chuckled as he looked down, "Rick, I think you've had enough for now. That might make you think twice before opening your mouth again."
Rick just looked up dazed and spat more blood out towards him, mumbling something incoherent. Victor wasn't listening, " You'll be ok, don't worry. My servant will take care of you so you don't bleed to death. I need you, so we'll keep you alive," Victor motioned over towards Daryl to come over and check on him. The burly man began to walk away from Rick into the darkness again, "See ya for now, Rick," he called over his shoulder before slamming the door shut again.
Once again, all Rick heard were footsteps of someone completely different coming his way. But now his vision was blurry and couldn't see straight as the person came from the dark shadows to the light. Rick couldn't clearly make out any features on this person but knew he was close by. Then he heard the new stranger say something softly to him. The man had a slight southern accent as he spoke,"I'm Daryl … don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm only here to help." Daryl's voice was the last thing Rick heard before he started to slip into unconsciousness once more.