"Carl, Rick, Michonne, welcome to Ouija, thank you for coming." Lydia was dressed in an outfit just as raggedy as the other women, and her face was covered with a mask. Her large blue eyes shone prominently from underneath the dead, rotting skin that was covering her face, and they looked wiser and even more hardened than they did when the group had last seen her. Lydia was never a push-over since they'd known her. She had survived underneath Alpha's crushing and brutal rule, and had fought to become and stay leader of this thriving village, and Carl could tell that her time as Queen had matured her even further.
Lydia waved a hand, and Daisy and Sytira stood from their kneeling position. "Thank you for getting them Sytira" Lydia said, and Sytira bowed again and then walked away.
"Please, come inside and have a seat" Lydia said, gesturing towards the inside of her spacious tent. It was shady inside, and a relief from the hot and humid day. The shade was really the extent of the luxuriousness of the tent. It had a dirt floor and a rickety desk in the center. There was no lighting on the inside, so the tent flaps were up to let in sunlight. The desk was surrounded by chairs, that Lydia extended an arm towards. The group entered and sat down on colorful simple metal chairs that had probably been scavenged from a school.
"Daisy, water please!" Lydia called, and the group could hear the older woman leave to go fetch some for the visitors. "I am so grateful that you're well" Lydia said, looking pointedly at Michonne, "and that you've come. I wish it were under better circumstances."
"I told you to come back and find us if you ever needed anything. I just hope we can help" Rick said sincerely.
"I'm sure Sytira told you that we've been attacked multiple times and our people and Walking Ones have been kidnapped."
"Yea. We stopped by one of the sites and found this" Rick said, holding up the canister of chloroform gas. "It's chloroform, knocks people out fast."
Lydia nodded. "We found another one of those canisters in the first attack. We figured it might be some sort of poison. Whoever these people are, they are organized and have resources."
"Tell us about the other attacks" Carl said.
"In the first attack, two children were taken while they tended the larger community herd. They went out in the morning like they usually do, just to count the Walking Ones, and make sure none wandered away in the night. Sometimes we feed the Walking Ones if they're getting weak, or make sure that they're undamaged. If some are needed for a task that day like plowing, or someone is journeying and need them as packers, the children round them up."
"Why the children?" Michonne asked, legitimately worried about why that would be a job for youngsters. Her mind thought back to Judith and how anything could happen when dealing with Walkers.
"Our children are well trained on how to deal with Walking Ones. We teach them to see them as part of the family. Many times the Walking Ones are part of their family, an eventual reality of life. Our masks and clothes mask our humanity from the Walking Ones anyway, they really are no threat if you know what you're doing. We don't have many children here. Only three were born here since I founded Ouija, the rest were brought with groups that joined us. The older children are much harder to train than the younger ones. The two that were kidnapped, Mason and Luke, are very knowledgeable about how to deal with Walking Ones, that is why they were allowed to tend the large herd. They went out in the morning. Their mother came to me in the early afternoon after checking on them and she couldn't find them. A group of us searched the area and found a canister just like the one you're holding, but that was all. Luke and Mason were gone, as were some of the Walking Ones."
"See that's what I don't get" Glenn cut in. "Even if this group wants kids, why would they take Walkers too?"
"I've wondered the same" Lydia admitted. "I don't know what use they'd have with our Walking Ones. It was strange. We set out patrols and search parties, but we didn't find anything. It was like the boys just disappeared. And two days later, it happened again. In the second attack a friend of mine, Yesenia, and her daughter Aya, the first baby born in Ouija, were kidnapped from their home at night. Yesenia is pregnant with her second child. Her boyfriend is desperate. He is one of the archers and was on watch that same night and saw nothing. We have searched every day. Our archers are always watching our borders, and somehow it happened again."
"Were canisters found in the second attack?" Michonne asked.
"Yes, and we also saw several footsteps this time. We followed them to the river that borders our town, but then we lost them to the water. After the second attack we became more vigilant. Many let their Walking Ones loose into the fields at night, or tie them around their homes, to deter anyone from sneaking in."
"And the third attack?" Rick asked.
"Two children, Hope and Sonia, and seven Walking Ones were taken in the third attack. Once again, we found no tracks. Whoever is doing this is skilled in covering up their tracks, and they are obviously watching us. I have ordered that children cannot go out to tend the herds anymore, and everyone is on guard, but I didn't know what else to do. I figured if we had more allies, maybe we could find these people."
"So, they used gas in all the attacks, and in the second attack, they actually went into the house and got Yesenia and Aya."
"It seems that way" Lydia said, just as Daisy returned and distributed mugs of water for the travelers.
"And Yesenia is the only adult that was taken?" Carl asked.
"Yes. They've mostly been focusing on children. I don't know why they'd want a pregnant…" as soon as the words came out of Lydia's mouth, it clicked in everyone's head why they wanted Yesenia.
"They wanted her because she was pregnant. But why are they stealing kids and pregnant women?" Carl asked, his mind immediately going to his very pregnant wife.
"That's what we need to find out" Rick said. "Ok, here's the plan. Glenn and I are gonna take a group back to the house where Yesenia and Aya were kidnapped and look for more clues, and I'll talk to her boyfriend too. Carl and Michonne, you lead a group to the site of the first attack and see if you can find anything. We'll meet back here in an hour. Keep vigilant, we're being watched. Don't let your guard down. I sent for back up from the Hilltop and the Kingdom, and they should be here in a day or two. I don't think we should go searching for whoever attacked you, at least not until then. We don't know how many people we're dealing with, and where exactly they are."
Lydia nodded, agreeing with the plan. "I am sending my guards to go with you when you search the other sites. They know the area, they can tell you if anything is suspicious."
Daisy, hearing Lydia's command, ducked out of the tent to go gather the Ouijian guards. Lydia watched as Rick split the members of the Alexandrian defense team that had accompanied them to Ouija into two groups.
Daisy returned to the tent with 15 Walker People who joined the two groups. The Alexandrians turned up their noses at their smell. The Walker People didn't just look like Walkers, they smelled like them too.
"Thank you again Rick, Carl, and Michonne" Lydia said, "I knew I could count on you."
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He watched the town called Alexandria the rest of the day and into the next. He didn't even bother to follow when he saw the savage woman and some of the people she had met the day before, leave one of the homes and climb on to horses and head away from the town. He wasn't interested in the savage woman anymore, he had found what he was looking for.
He recorded every change of shift for the guards, he mapped out the houses and the number of people he observed entering and leaving each one, he counted the number of children he spotted, and more importantly, how many pregnant women. The pregnant ones were priority. He watched as the pregnant woman, who must've lived with one of the people who set off with the savage woman, and the five children that she seemed to be responsible for, enter a home with another woman with dark hair, and a little boy. His notebook was almost full when the sun started to set on the second day. The pregnant woman didn't leave the house that she had gone to. She must be staying the night. This was perfect. When they attacked, this house would be a high priority. A pregnant woman and six children of various ages, a perfect sample size. And if some of them were related, even better. Dr. Kay always wanted to study the genetics behind the disease.
The dark-haired woman, who must've been the mother of the little boy was not needed, but she could be useful if they took her along for the ride.
As soon as it got too dark to make any more observations, he pulled out his long-range radio and turned it on.
"Lone Ranger to base" he whispered. It was a still night, and he didn't want his conversation to echo and be heard by the guards on the gates.
After a few seconds, he could hear laughter crackle over the radio and someone snickered "Lone Ranger? Out of all the call signs, that's what you pick?"
"Hey shut up. How about a 'how are you?', 'Where have you been for the past 5 days', 'What have you found?', what about that?" he whispered harshly.
"What have you found?" The voice asked mockingly.
"Tell Dr. Kay I found two towns. Both with many people, but the last one is a goldmine. It has kids of various ages, and at least one heavily pregnant woman, a perfect candidate. But, this last town has a lot of people, and lots of guns. It'll be hard to take them."
"What do you suggest, lone ranger?" the voice on the other end taunted.
"Keep it light, two trucks, and children and pregnant ones only. We can't do stealth on this one, they have walls. If the adults fight back, and seeing by the number of weapons that they carry, they will, we gas the town. Knock them all out if we have to, and take what we want. This'll have to be shock and awe. We get in, and get out quick. I just hope when we're successful, you remember who found this little gem."
"Yea, yea. I'll tell Dr. Kay, just give us your location. And watch that town. If there are any changes we need to know about, you tell us."
He radioed Alexandria's location, based on the position of the stars as he'd been taught. Once they knew where he was, he turned off his radio to conserve the battery, and focused on the town again, which was now bathed in darkness and shadow.
If the trucks left in the morning and traveled non-stop, they'd get to this town by tomorrow. He knew if this raid was successful he would be rewarded, so he slept well that night, thinking about what he'd do with his fame.
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The two groups searched for more clues amongst the attack sites. They met back at Lydia's tent to inform her of their findings. Carl and Michonne found nothing new at the first attack site, and Rick and Glenn didn't have good news either.
"Yesenia's boyfriend said he left for his guard shift around sun down. Yesenia and Aya were in the living room when he left, and he didn't notice anything strange on his way to his shift. When he came home they were both gone. He said that the doorknob was knocked off the front door, and some chairs in the dining room were knocked over, he did find a gas canister, but that was it, and nothing was taken… besides the people obviously…" Glenn explained.
"Have your people ever experienced anything like this?" Lydia asked Carl. "Do you know who could be doing this?"
"No. This is never happened to us at the Hilltop. And I know Alexandria has never had people just go missing like this before. Whoever is doing this is new, and we need to set up a secure perimeter to keep them out" Carl said. Rick nodded in agreement, and looked on at his son. He couldn't've said it better.
"You need to have sentries surrounding the town 24/7 in groups of two at least. Every inch of your border needs to be monitored, and you should have a curfew. No one walks around after sundown. I also think it's wise if no one goes to tend your herds for a while. The Walkers will be okay for a few days."
Lydia nodded. "Thank you, Carl and Rick, for your advice. I will follow it. Daisy, see that everything they said is done."
Daisy bowed, "Yes my Queen." She motioned for the rest of the Walker People to follow her out of the tent. Rick also motioned with his head for Alexandria's defense team to exit the tent as well, leaving Lydia alone with Rick, Michonne, Carl, and Glenn.
As soon as the others left, Lydia let her queenly guard down and sighed. "I really am glad to see all of you. This is the first time I've ever dealt with something like this. I'm a little in over my head. The others look to me to know what to do, but I don't know what to do about this. I don't know how to get the children back. If we lived the way we did with Alpha, I know I would be challenged for leadership of the group because of this. Because I failed to protect the children. I'm surprised no one has challenged me already…"
"No one has challenged you because you're a good leader" Carl cut in. "What you've done here is amazing. They know that. We'll get the kids back. I… I mean I hope we will. When our back-up gets here we can search the surrounding woods and all the towns for miles. Whoever has done this has to be nearby."
Lydia nodded and smiled. "Michonne, how is the baby?"
"Oh, Mhare isn't a baby anymore. He's five and he thinks he's a big boy" Michonne said with a chuckle. "He can be a handful sometimes, but he's healthy."
"I'm glad. And Enid? And your baby?" Lydia asked Carl.
"Enid is great, and so is our daughter, Carla. And we're expecting another one in a few months" Carl replied.
"That's great. I'd love to visit, when this is over. And I think we're ready to interact with other settlements now. This has made me realize that the more allies we have, the stronger we are as a people. In order for us to grow, we need more friends, not less."
"Why is your town named Ouija?" Glenn asked, out of the blue.
Lydia chuckled. "My closest advisors and I were looking for a name that emphasized how we worked closely with the dead. Daisy mentioned she used to be fond of Ouija boards when she was younger, and that she'd try to contact dead family members on it. The name stuck." Lydia's eyes suddenly widened. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. You have been here for hours and we haven't offered you food or rest. You and your people can stay here in this tent. We will bring cots and food for you. In the morning, we will map out an area that hasn't been searched yet."
"Thank you, Lydia" Rick said, nodding.
"Because of the circumstances, I must ask that you not leave the tent during the night. Our town is no longer safe."
"We understand" Carl assured her.
"Goodnight to all of you. Rest well. And thank you again."
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In the afternoon of the next day, he turned on his radio to update the soldiers on the goings on inside the town. There were six people on watch, standing on the town's walls. Currently, most of the children were gathered in the town's church. An attack now would've been perfect, but a daylight attack was risky and probably suicidal. Besides, the trucks wouldn't be arriving until sundown at least. The pregnant woman was still in the house with the dark-haired woman, he'd seen the two of them re-enter after dropping the children off in the church which must serve as a school or daycare. He relayed the intel to the others who expected to be there well after nightfall. He spent the day watching, and caught the two women picking the children up from the church. The two youngest, the curly haired boy and girl running ahead, while the two older boys and two girls walked beside the women until they all entered the house.
He wondered what they were doing inside the house. Reading stories to the children? Baking cookies? Talking about their day? All of those things seemed like a dead practice now, but a pang of guilt pricked his soul. He was possibly, actually probably, assigning these children to their deaths.
Better their children than ours he thought, and his soul immediately felt lighter. Yes, these children were going to save many lives, maybe all of humanity. Especially the unborn one. Some may die, but it was worth it. And it was better the children from this community, then the children from his own.
Around 8 PM, long after the sun had set, he heard a crackle over his radio. "We're here."
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"So, you're heading back to Hilltop in the morning?" Maggie asked Enid, who was stirring a steaming pot of tomato soup.
"Yep, I'm sure Amy will throw me a parade when I get back. Every time I leave she has a panic attack. I've trained her to handle almost any kind of medical emergency, but she still doesn't have confidence in herself."
"Well, think of when Dr. Carson was still alive. If he left for a few days you would've probably had a panic attack too" Maggie said with a smirk.
"Yea I guess" Enid said, "I remember when I found out he'd died, and I had to do Michonne's surgery all by myself, on my kitchen table, I had a small breakdown too. But Carl brought me back."
"Yea, he's good like that" Maggie agreed. "Well, I'm certainly gonna miss you. It's always nice to see you and Carl, Tommy, and God, Carla looks more like you every day."
"Really?" Enid asked, turning off the heat on the soup. "To me she looks just like her daddy. She definitely is a Junior. And soon she's gonna have… an aunt or uncle to play with?"
Maggie laughed and patted her abdomen. "This whole family dynamic is just weird. Like, Mhare and Carla are uncle and niece, but they're the same age. And your baby and my baby will be like that too. It's like some weird backwoods family."
"Well, backwoods family is still family" Enid said with a shrug. "We've gotta repopulate the world somehow, huh?"
Maggie laughed and leaped off the stool she was sitting on. "Let me get the kids."
She walked into the living room and the scene in front of her warmed her heart on so many levels. Joy and Carla were sitting on the floor near the couch, and Joy was attempting to do Carla's hair. Half of Carla's head was already full of randomly placed ponytails, held by Scrunchies, that stuck up in all directions on the young girl's head. Carla was using the mirror to watch the process critically, as Joy focused, squinting her blue eyes as she concentrated on tightening one of the ponytails. "Okay I'm almost done" Joy announced as if she were an expert artist, almost finished creating her masterpiece.
Maggie smiled and observed the other side of the living room, where Judy, Tommy, Mhare, and Hershel were making a city out of a hundred Legos that Glenn had snagged from a Toy R Us a few years ago. Mhare was more smashing the Lego pieces together, or sticking them together haphazardly, but the older children were creating elaborate houses, and the others graciously allowed Mhare to attach his chaotic creations to theirs so that he'd feel included.
Hershel found some Lego wheels and even created a mini Lego car that he was rolling around their makeshift city. "What've you got there, Hershey?" Maggie asked her son. He lifted it up to show her.
"This city is amazing" Maggie said, "but unfortunately it's time to eat dinner. So… it's clean up time."
"Awwwww" Mhare said loudly. "Can't we play a little more?"
"Nope. You guys have a long trip tomorrow with Enid and you need to eat and then get to bed"
"Mommmmmm…" Hershel started, but a quick look from Maggie made him stop. He pouted, but shoved his car into the Lego box.
The children cleaned up the living room, Carla and Joy putting away the hair supplies, as the rest of them picked up the Legos. Soon, Judy was the only one left in the living room as the others had shirked off the Lego cleaning duties. She closed the box and returned it to its rightful place in the closet, and then moved to join everyone else in the dining room when she saw a small configuration of Legos sticking out from underneath the couch. Mhare must've inadvertently kicked them under while they were playing. She grabbed up the mountain of Legos, and feeling too lazy to open the closet and return them to their box, she shoved them into her jeans pocket, reasoning she'd put them away later.
She joined the table, sitting next to Tommy who was reaching for some toast that Enid had finished buttering.
"You'll have fun at Hilltop" Carla was telling Joy. "Daddy made us a tree house, and it has a ladder and a place we can hide in. Right Tommy?" Carla asked.
"Yes" Tommy confirmed quietly.
"Can we sleep up there too?" Mhare asked, suddenly excited at the prospect of sleeping in a tree house.
"No you can't sleep there" Enid said, "but you guys are welcome to play up there"
"And Tommy has a new bike too, and sometimes mommy lets us go swimming in the lake" Carla said.
"Sounds like you guys will have a little vacation" Maggie offered, "I wish Hershey and I could come, but definitely next time."
Distant yells and loud pops coming from outside gradually grabbed Maggie's attention. "Shhh" she said, jumping up and looking out her kitchen window. She could only see darkness, but she could hear shouting, and then a loud boom that shook the house.
"Something's happenin'!" Maggie yelled, and Enid jumped up from the table to join her by the window. "Get the guns" Maggie hissed to Enid, and Enid took off towards Maggie and Glenn's bedroom where they hid several guns.
The children, well trained for what to do during emergencies, stopped talking and stared at Maggie waiting for instructions.
"Everyone go upstairs to Hershel's room, turn off the lights and lock the doors" Maggie ordered, as more gunshots pierced the night. Judith and Tommy jumped up from the table, attempting to herd the younger children from the kitchen to do what Maggie had asked, when the sound of several footsteps creaking on the porch by the kitchen drew their attention.
"Get upstairs now!" Maggie screamed at the children, and suddenly the kitchen door imploded, creating an explosion that knocked her to the ground. Before she could get up, she heard clinks as something metallic bounced and skidded across the kitchen floor, and suddenly the kitchen was filling with smoke and gas.
Maggie coughed heavily as she pulled herself to her feet. "Run!" she screamed, but her sharp intake of breath to talk caused her to choke on the thick gas. She felt someone grabbing her arm, and she snatched her arm away, and kicked at whoever it was. Unable to see because her eyes were tearing heavily, she stumbled towards the entrance to the living room, tripping over a child who was laying on the floor. She grabbed whoever it was she tripped on, and attempted to pull them from the kitchen. She tried to scream "Run" again when she collapsed with the child in her arms.
Tommy had dropped to the floor after the explosion, but was engulfed in the smoke that flooded the kitchen, making him dizzy. He struggled to his feet, but for some reason it felt like he was walking through mud. He could tell people had entered the kitchen, and within seconds strong arms were wrapped around his waist. Using all the strength he could muster, he pulled his knife and slashed at the person holding him. They screamed in surprise, and pushed him forward, causing him to topple to the floor and hit his head on one of the dining room chairs, knocking him out.
Enid grabbed the guns from the bedroom and was heading back downstairs when she heard the explosion in the kitchen. She cocked one of the guns and ran towards the kitchen as she spotted Judy and Joy stumbling up the stairs, coughing heavily. She heard Maggie scream "Run!", and thick gas was leaking from the kitchen in an all-encompassing cloud. Enid trained her weapon into the fog, but was afraid to shoot for fear that she'd hit Maggie or one of the kids.
"Maggie!" Enid screamed into the kitchen, but there was no response from her, or the other children.
Enid inched closer to the kitchen, but the smoke was slowly wafting towards her, making her cough and slightly dizzy. She got to the kitchen entrance, aiming her gun into the smoke, when a hand snatched the gun from her, taking her by surprise. Someone pulled her deeper into the kitchen, holding her arms as she flailed, kicking and twisting to get away. She was starting to feel more and more dizzy.
"I got the pregnant one!" she heard someone say. Listening to the direction the voice came from, Enid turned and kicked, connecting with a leg. "Oof. And she's feisty!" the person laughed, not letting go of her. The more Enid struggled, the more the room seemed to spin. "Carla!" Enid managed to scream before coughing uncontrollably.
Gas. It's the gas. She thought, before black spots filled her vision and she passed out.
Judy pulled Joy up the stairs by her elbow. "Where is… where…" Joy tried to speak, but coughing interrupted her sentences. Judy dragged her sister into the upstairs bathroom and locked the door.
"We have to get… Mhare…" Joy gasped.
"We can't" Judy rasped, pressing her back against the door in terror, her brown eyes wide in a panic. She could hear footsteps downstairs, and more gunshots and yells coming from outside.
"We're missing two!" someone shouted. "The two older girls, they're not down here."
"Check upstairs, hurry up, we're already behind schedule" someone else yelled.
"We can't get… out…" Joy said, pointing to the window.
Judy's heart was beating a mile a minute. "Shhh, just get in the bathtub" she whispered.
The two girls climbed into the tub and stayed silent, as the footsteps moved from room to room. Someone tried the door, jiggling the handle.
"They're in here" the person called. "Open the door girls, we know you're here. No one is going to hurt you."
When they were greeted with silence, the person continued. "You have until the count of three, and then we'll have to knock the door down. No one wants you to get hurt, I promise. I know the way we came in here was a little scary, but we didn't want anyone to hurt us either."
Once again, the girls were silent.
"Gas 'em" the man said. Joy's eyes widened when she heard a hiss and gas started leaking underneath the bathroom door. Thinking fast, Judy grabbed two towels and handed one to Joy while she pressed the second against her face.
"Don't breathe it in! It's poison!" Judy said, her voice muffled against the towel. More and more gas filled the room, causing both girls to cough and gasp. A loud bang against the door frightened them even more, as the people tried to open it. Joy was barely hanging on to consciousness, and Judy was losing the fight as well.
"Don't…" Judy began, trying to warn her sister, when she fainted mid-sentence.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Move it! Move it!" someone screamed, their voice muffled through their gas mask, as they hauled the last two unconscious children from the target house and into the back of the truck. Bullets whizzed past the soldiers' heads as they ducked behind the truck for cover.
"Throw more canisters!"
"We only have two left!"
"Well throw them before you're too dead to throw them!"
This town had more firearms than any of the towns or settlements that they'd come across, and the group was completely outnumbered. They had incapacitated the guards at the front gates with gas, but more and more people were pouring out of the houses and firing at them. The remaining gas canisters were launched at the people who were shooting at them, causing them to gasp and fall to their knees.
"We have the ones we came for. Let's go!"
The remaining soldiers hopped back into the trucks, many nursing injuries and bullet wounds.
"Go! Get outta here!" someone screamed, and the trucks took off through the front gates that had been blasted open, tires squealing. They peeled down the pitch-black road with their lights off so they couldn't be followed easily. They turned around and could see the path of destruction they'd caused. People were either gasping on their hands and knees, or unconscious from the fast acting gas. For right now, no one was following them.
"That was an awesome find, Lone Ranger. Maybe you're not quite a loser after all" a woman who was driving one of the trucks said.
He turned around to glance at the sleeping prisoners who were laying haphazardly in the back of the truck, double checking if they hadn't stopped breathing. Sometimes that happened if they got a dose that was too strong.
"Yea, awesome" he repeated, his eyes resting on the children's sleeping faces.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A jostling bump made Judy suddenly aware that she had been sleeping. She could hear a motor revving, and with the constant shaking she was feeling, she knew she was in a vehicle. She could tell she had been sleeping a long time by the way her neck was sore. She snapped her eyes open, immediately realizing that something wasn't right. She looked around and realized her head was resting on Enid's forearm, and Hershel's foot was hiked up onto her leg. In the darkness of the night she could faintly make out Mhare's curly head resting on Maggie's stomach, and Carla, Joy, and Tommy were thrown in a pile in the corner of the bed of the truck, as if they'd all just been dumped in in a hurry. Judy rolled her eyes in the other direction and saw that the people who had kidnapped them were all in the cab of the truck, leaving her and her family to sleep in the truck bed.
What is going on? Judy thought, her head still in a daze. Slowly, the events that happened a few hours before began to replay themselves in her head. The explosion that blasted open the kitchen door, the gas, running and hiding in the bathroom with Joy, and finally, passing out. They must've been taken.
But why am I the only one awake? Judy discreetly reached over and tapped Enid on the neck. She didn't stir. She tried shaking Hershel and Tommy, but no one else moved but her. They weren't just sleeping, they were unconscious.
Ok, what do I do? Judy thought. She knew getting the attention of the people in the front of the truck was a bad idea. They obviously didn't know she was awake and she wanted to keep it that way, and the truck was moving too quickly for her to jump out the back. She reached down and couldn't believe that her knife was still tied to her belt. At least I have a weapon. She was laying on her side and something was digging into her hip. She reached down to feel what it was and realized that she still had the Lego tower she had picked up from the living room floor. In Survival Class, she had learned that if you're ever taken, create as much of a trail as you can so someone can find you. She knew her Uncle Daryl was a great tracker, and if she left a trail he could find it.
She rolled over slightly so that she was facing the back of the truck. The bed of the truck let out a creak, and she froze, slamming her eyes closed, but keeping them open enough that she could see through her long eyelashes. She could see a head turn around quickly to glance at her, and then swiftly face front again. She stayed still for another minute until she was convinced no one was watching her again. Slowly she broke off one of the Legos and threw it over the back of the truck into the road. She counted to sixty and did the same thing again, continuously throwing the multicolored toys until she was down to her last one. She heaved the last one off the back of the truck just before they came to an off ramp on the road they were on. She knew that if they were changing direction, she had to let Uncle Daryl know which way they were going. She didn't have any more Legos.
Panicking, Judy searched the back of the truck for something to throw, her eyes focusing on Carla's hair and the many Scrunchies that made up her crazy hairstyle. As silently as possible, Judy slid towards Carla and pulled at one of her Scrunchies, pulling it out of her hair and releasing the pony tail that it was holding. Judy continued to toss Carla's Scrunchies off the back of the truck until the girl's hair was completely free. When Judy heard movement, she lay back down and closed her eyes again. She did what she could do for the moment. She hoped that someone would be able to find them.
Author's Note: I apologize for the long wait for the update. I was busy, but also this chapter gave me so much grief. I knew where I wanted to go at the end of it, but couldn't find the words to get there, and then I was worried that it was too boring so I just stopped writing for a while and got really unmotivated. I personally like lots of action and dialogue, and this chapter wasn't it for me, but I promise the next few chapters will have lots of action and dialogue and bad-ass-ness. And also, even if I take some time between updates I will always finish my stories. Anyway, please give me a review, or even tell me what you want to see happen. I have a plan for this story, but sometimes the suggestions that you guys give make my stories so much better. I'd love to hear from you!