A/N Thank you so much to all who are following this story, you are doing my ego the world of good.

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sillygabby - sorry to keep you hanging, hope you like the updates.

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Chapter 10

He awoke to pain, his head and neck hurt as did his arms and his shoulders were screaming in agony. As he came to he realised his wrists were bound together, above his head, a chain was wrapped around the rope and then fastened to a post cemented into the ground. While he was unconscious he'd been hanging by his arms, his legs buckled and unable to take his weight. Still dazed he tried to get his feet under him to get some of the strain off his shoulders.

"Hey" a small voice whispered and he realised Eleanor was there too. She was bound in the same way he was. It was then that he saw she had twisted herself against the post and tucked herself against his chest, trying to support some of his weight with her body. He managed to stand for himself and she sighed with relief as she straightened up.

"'Bout time you woke up" she muttered "Gonna get you on a diet when we get back"

"The hell's goin on?" His voice was raspy and his throat burning "where are we?"

"It seems we wandered into this gang of assholes territory. I wounded one and you killed the leaders' son. That don't make us very popular round here. They keep goin' on about punishment. They got a couple of kids trussed up over there as well" She was keeping her voice low, trying not to draw attention to the fact he was awake.

Daryl looked around him, squinting in the sun as his head pounded. A short distance away there was another pole with two young men tied to it. They were sitting back to back on the ground, hands bound behind them. They were looking at him and Eleanor with tired, scared eyes. The youngest didn't look much older than Carl and the other only looked about 20. Beyond them he could see several people milling around a large open pit in the ground. There seemed to be smoke drifting from the pit. Just to the side of it was a strange metal frame lined with a metal mesh. He saw chains attached to the frame and some kind of pulley system. Looking the other way he saw a farmhouse. A group of people were heading in their direction from the house.

"They're well-armed and there's some guy thinks he's Indiana Jones, got a damn great bull whip" Eleanor explained.

"Must of used that to snatch my crossbow" Daryl watched the people get closer. The man with the whip was with them.

The group stopped near them and studied the captives. Finally one of the men spoke to Eleanor

"You injured one of my men, for that you will be punished. Then you will be kept until we need you" he turned and faced Daryl, reaching out and taking the hand of the only woman in the group.

"You killed our son. For that you will die….eventually"

"Your people attacked us for no reason. We were just defending ourselves" Eleanor tried to reason with them. The woman stepped forward and stuck her hard across the face.

"Shut up. You were in our territory, that made you ours. Now you will pay" She looked Eleanor up and down.

"Need to fatten this bitch up, she's all skin and bones. No meat on her" Daryl and Eleanor exchanged horrified looks. Suddenly the fire pit and the metal frame made sense.

"What kind of sick, twisted bastards are you?" Daryl spat out, trying to twist free.

The man gave a tight smile.

"The type that owns you and can do what the hell he wants with you." He turned to the man with the bull whip. "Let's get this started"

The man with the whip gave a cruel smile and walked several paces behind Eleanor before turning back. She looked at Daryl with frightened eyes.

"What's he doin', I can't see…" she gave a cry of pain as there was a crack and the end of the whip bit into her back. Daryl screamed at them and tried to get free as they laughed. The whip tore into Eleanor three more times and each time she cried out, tears filling her eyes.

"Ellie, look at me!" Daryl called trying to get her attention. She forced her pain filled face up and looked at him. "You're gonna get through this" He reassured her "You'll get through 'cos you're strong. " He flinched as she was struck again "then we'll be able to kick their asses for hurtin' you"

"Fine words, but pointless" The man faced him "soon you'll be dead and she'll be our prisoner. We'll be able to do what we want with her and you won't be able to do a thing about it." He turned to the man with the whip "Three more lashes should be enough"

The man smiled again and the whip lashed out. This time Eleanor screamed and her legs buckled as she tried not to pass out. As she stumbled, she twisted and Daryl caught a glimpse of her back. It was torn and bloody and he renewed his struggles even though he knew it was pointless. She did pass out after the next hit and was unconscious for the last strike. When he had finished the whip man came over and studied his work. He seemed satisfied with what he had done.

He looked across at Daryl, a pleased expression on his face

"Looks like you let your woman down big time. Didn't protect her" he smirked. Daryl stared at him coldly

"You're gonna die tonight" he told him. He said it so certainly the man paled and took a step back, before controlling himself

"Yeah right, but not before you" he retorted.

"Enough talking, we need to get on" The woman spoke up. She walked over to Eleanor and grabbed her hair, pulling her head up.

"Not so mouthy now, bitch" she commented. Eleanor's eyes opened and her leg kicked out, catching the woman in the stomach, causing her to land on the ground. Furious she jumped up and lunged at the bound woman.

Her husband caught her around the waist and pulled her away.

"You can have her later. We need to do this" he calmed her. She nodded and gave Eleanor a twisted smile "Later bitch"

Eleanor smiled back at her "Lookin' forward to it. I can still take you, even trussed up like this"

Daryl couldn't help a small smile at her attitude. He was aware of movement behind him. The man whose son he had killed was there. He had Daryl's knife in his hand.

"Nice knife" he gripped the handle, testing the weight, feeling the balance. "Good and sharp too"

He used the blade to cut through the fabric of Daryl's shirt, exposing his back.

The woman leaned in close "our son was 19 years old when you killed him, we're gonna cut you one time for every year he lived" She stepped back and her husband slashed down with the knife, cutting into Daryl's back. He hissed in pain.

"Stop, you crazy motherless bastards!" he heard Eleanor scream out as the knife cut him again and again. He gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out. He heard Eleanor crying his name and focused on her face. She was openly crying, tears rolling down her cheeks. She struggled with her bonds and managed to get her fingers close to his. She gripped his hands as best she could and he returned the grip. On the tenth cut he did cry out and he felt her grip on his hand tighten. On the fifteen cut he blacked out and she felt his fingers slip from her hands. She renewed her struggles, blood from her bound wrists running down her arms as she fought to free herself, screaming in anger at them the whole time.