WARNING: This story contains heavy foul language, detailed death, implied sexual content, and an extreme amount of feels. I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, any of the mentioned characters in this story, or "You" (because apparently it's illegal to kidnap people and keep them in your basement).
Chapter Eleven
The Crazy Woman In The Woods
Your P.O.V.
After listening to Brenda chop off Mark's legs, you weren't really feeling hungry anymore.
That's what she did. She knocked Mark out and drug him into the bathroom after he was out of everyone's site, and then, she cut off his legs. But he'd woken in in the middle of the process and screamed with pain. Brenda had to tape his mouth shut or something, so he wasn't too loud. You'd listened to everything she was doing from the other side of the door.
You were tied up with duct-tape over your mouth in the bedroom, tied to the bed. You hadn't been able to move for the past three and a half hours, and your limbs were getting sore. You wanted more than anything to escape, grab your group, and flee, but you knew you couldn't do anything like that. Not in this situation. You'd thought the St. Johns to be kind, respectable, trusting people... but they were fucked up, hungry cannibals. They'd tried to explain the way they thought to you.
Why they "knew" cannibalism was necessary. But you didn't listen. You wouldn't. They soon left you and went to attend to the rest of the group... leaving you struggling to free yourself. But you couldn't. You told yourself... if you were ever to get out of this... you'd start carrying a knife on you. You'd need it. But for now, all you could do was sit and fear for the lives of the rest of your group... especially Cry and Clementine.
They were your family. Clementine was like a daughter to you. and Cry was like a father to Clementine. Now, you feared that their fates would end up like Mark's. You didn't want that.
Your eyes widened as the door to your room slowly opened. You hoped to God it was Brenda, but... your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach as Andy slipped in. He shut the door behind him and locked it, before slowly making his way over to you.
"Y'know, for a girl who says she was originally up north... a Northern Flower... I actually really find you fascinatin', [Your Name]."
You glared.
"You're so beautiful, and you were so kind when I was pullin' up my act. For a moment, I was worried that you belonged to Cry. The way you clung to him as the two of you made your way inside the dairy... or how you stayed close to him when Danny and I arrived at the motor-inn..."
He stepped closer to you, and you watched, with horror, as he began to draw his belt from his pants.
"But you're not Cry's girlfriend, and he's not your boyfriend. Oh, I can tell he likes you." You flushed. "And I can tell you like him, too. But it shouldn't bother him too much that you and I... participate in some activities together."
He slipped the belt completely off, and held it in his hands, his eyes darkening with lust as he continued to make his way over to you. His footsteps were quiet... even though he was wearing heavy farm boots. The fear inside you began to grow more powerful. You cringed as he knelt on the bed, and began to remove his shirt.
"Not that he'll be alive to care, anyway." Andy continued. "After I'm finished having my way with you, I'm gonna wait for him to arrive with Danny. Then, I'll lock 'im up in the meat-locker. And when we're finished with Mark, and he's nothing more than bones, I'll bring Cry into the slaughterin' room..."
Tears began to prick at your eyes. You were upset... majorly upset. You watched as Andy leaned close and smirked.
"And I'll cut him up... while he's conscious. And as I do that, I'll tell him all about the horrible, unforgivable things I did to you in this very bedroom..."
Your eyes widened as he grabbed his belt and raised it in the air, before smirking down at you.
You screamed with pain.
Cry's P.O.V.
Danny and my footsteps were quiet as we walked through the forest. I held Mark's rifle in my hands (which Doug had given to Lilly, who brought it back with her), my eyes scanning the forest as we walked. We'd been walking for about an hour and hadn't seen anything, but Danny kept insisting that the camp was up ahead. He lagged behind me just a bit, but I made sure I kept my eye on him. Danny creeped me out... I didn't trust him as much as I trusted Andy. I knew that Andy wouldn't do anything stupid. But Danny was questionable.
"See anything?" His soft voice popped up from behind me. I lightly shook my head and continued walking, scanning the area with my eyes again.
"Not yet." I replied in a whisper.
"I know it's around here," Danny mumbled, clutching his gun close to his chest. "It's gotta be close."
Suddenly, my eyes flicked to the ground, toward a dirty object that didn't look like a leaf. I halted in my step, and curiously looked back toward Danny. He looked at the object with interest, as well. I turned back and got onto one knee, before reaching out and poking the object with the end of my gun. It was a soup can... and it looked recently used. I stood, and turned back to Danny, who sent me the same expression that I was probably sending him (not that he could see my expression, anyway).
I walked forward again, but this time, I turned to the right, and followed a little trail I hadn't noticed before. As I got around a large bush that was in the way, my eyes finally lay upon the small camp. There were tables, boxes of stuff, tents, and other things one might find at a camp site.
"Here!" I exclaimed, my voice a whisper. Danny, who had gone the other way, looked over his shoulder curiously, and then joined my side. When he saw the camp, his eyes widened.
"Oh, shit!" His voice was just above a whisper now, but I cold tell he was trying to control it. "You found it?!"
I raised a finger to my lip to hush him, before putting my index and my middle fingers together, and pointing toward the camp. He got the message. We crouched. I made my way to the right side of the trail, him to the left, and we slowly began to approach the camp. There were no voices on the inside, and I couldn't see any people, but that didn't mean that there wasn't anybody there. Danny and I moved forward and made our way behind some trees. I leaned against my tree and aimed my gun toward the camp... but it was deserted.
"You see anybody?" Danny called out, tone quiet.
"No," I mumbled. "But stay on your guard."
Danny nodded, and I watched as he moved in, taking quiet steps as he entered the camp. He looked around and then immediately went over to the tent to check. After a moment, he looked to me and shrugged.
"Ain't no one here, Cry." He confirmed, his voice suddenly growing normal. "But you're right. Don't let your guard down."
I nodded, and moved into the camp, keeping my gun close as we began to explore.
"This camp's too small," Danny pointed out. "It can't be their main base."
"That's what I was thinking." I replied.
"Let's take a look around, anyway." Danny muttered. He turned back to the tent. "There's probably some shit here they stole from us."
I gave a slow nod... and began to examine the tables. There was boxes after boxes of Save Lots stuff. Scattered around the camp were some cans and other things. Some empty shotgun shells, arrows, all that. It wasn't long before I spied a camcorder on the table by the Save Lots boxes and moved over to it. I grabbed it, before trying to open it up and see if there was any footage.
"What'd you find?" Danny asked curiously.
"A video camera." I replied.
"Oh..." There was a pause. Then quick footsteps. "Let me see that."
I curiously looked over my shoulder at Danny, before looking back and attempting to turn it on. Dead.
"Battery's dead, though."
"Oh. Good." Danny mumbled. He looked away. I eyed him again, before slipping the camera into my pocket. He moved to the table beside me and began to look through some stuff, before gasping.
"There's fucking boxes from the dairy here!" He spat. "Those fuckers have crossed the line."
"Damn." I replied. I watched Danny as he went through the boxes... before turning and eyeing the tent. I walked over to it, curiously, and peeked inside. As Danny confirmed, there was no one there. There were two sleeping-bags, one adult-sized, and one kid-sized. I checked each sleeping-bag.. and as I got to the kid one... plucked a purple and white hat from under the pillow.
My eyes widened. It was Clementine's hat!
"Don't you fucking move!"
A voice snapped from behind me. A female voice. I tensed, before spinning around (though she had JUST told me not to move). A woman with messy, curly black hair was in the middle of the camp, watching me with big eyes. In her hands, she held a cross-bow, which was pointed in my direction. She looked confused when she saw me... and I knew it was the mask that threw her off. She processed the thought for a moment, before shaking her head and snarling again.
"Shit!" Danny cursed from the other side of the camp.
"Put your guns down." The woman commanded.
Keeping a tight hold on my gun and Clementine's hat, I moved out into the open, stepping away from the tent. She backed away from me a little, but kept her bow-aim locked on both of us.
"I ain't goin' back!" The woman spat. "You tell 'em Jolene ain't goin' back!"
I noticed Danny raise his gun to her... and I did the same, still keeping a tight hold on the hat. I put my finger over the trigger, but I dare not pull it back. Not yet. Danny said something, but I didn't catch it. The woman scoffed.
"You had a deal with them." The woman growled to him. "I ain't them." She looked to me, then back to Danny, and smirked. "Oh, I know you!" She snapped. "I know who you are. And I know what you do!"
I blinked, then turned to Danny. He glared darkly at her. What the fuck was going on?!
"You don't know me!" He snapped back.
"Shit!" The woman growled. "Ya'll're stealin' everything from me!"
"Who are you?!" I demanded, raising my gun to her again. I frowned, though she couldn't see it.
Her reply was laughter... which sent chills up my spine. You ask her a question. She laughs maniacally. Greaaaaaat.
I shook my head and sighed. "Look, ma'am, it's not safe up here in the woods..." I tried to reason with her, keeping my tone firm, but gentle. "You've gotta come back to the dairy."
"Ohohoho..." The woman laughed. "It's a hell of a lot safer up here than down there, you best believe." She glared. "Now maybe you boys didn't hear me last time... when I asked you sweet. PUT THE DAMN GUNS DOWN!"
When we did nothing, she snarled again.
"You think I won't kill you?" She asked. "I'm gonna take this hear crossbow," She gestured to her crossbow. "And put a nice sharp arrow right through your eyeball... and into your God-damn brain. You're not men. You're monsters. All men are monsters. They take what they wa-"
"Where did you get this hat?!" I cut her off, holding up the hat for a split second, before holding the gun with two hands again.
"The little girl." The woman replied simply.
"You STOLE it from her!" I snarled. She snarled back, her glare darkening.
"So?!" She asked. "You stole her from me!"
I blinked. "What?!"
She was crazy. Obviously. For a minute, I thought she was implying that she was Clementine's mother, but she looked nothing like Clementine. I then realized that she was just stupid and crazy. That was a nice little anxiety attack for me for about ten seconds.
"What the Hell are you talking about?!" I asked.
"You know what?" The woman laughed. "I change my mind. I'm puttin' this arrow right through your balls! Yeah. Right through. And I'll string 'em up on that tree!" She gestured to a tree behind her. I felt myself shiver. ...I didn't like that image in my head.
"ENOUGH!" I snarled. I almost wanted to shoot her... but I held back. She ignored me, and turned to Danny.
"Tell him, boy!" She snapped to him. "Tell him who you really are! Tell him what you have in mind for-"
She was interrupted by the bullet that went through her brain. My eyes widened... and I lowered my gun. The shot didn't come from me. I watched, with a dropped jaw, as Danny approached the now dead crazy woman and lightly kicked her arm.
"God damn it." Danny muttered.
"You straight up MURDERED that woman!" I gasped. He looked to me.
"Hardly." He grumbled. "She had a crossbow pointed at my forehead."
I eyed the woman... and then sighed as I watched blood began to seep out of her wound. She had a look of rage and terror on her face. Her face was beginning to grow pale.
"It was a clean shot, though!" Danny almost snickered, and then kicked the woman again. "Right through the forehead. Now, that's good shootin' right there!" He turned to me and enthusiastically smiled. "Still... what a waste."
A small amount of fear was beginning to rise up inside me. Jesus Christ, what was wrong with this guy? He made his way toward me, and I tensed, but then relaxed as he only brushed past, and began to walk down the trail we came from. I followed after.
"So, that's it?" I asked. "We goin' back?"
"If they ain't here, then I don't know where they are." Danny admitted. I caught up to his side. "And frankly, I think it's a bad idea to go tromping through the forest lookin' for 'em. So yeah, we head back."
He looked over his shoulder, to the corpse, and then back to me.
"Once they see her, they'll get the message."
The sun was setting when we got back. The sky was growing darker and darker, and the air was getting colder. We approached the gate, and as Danny opened it, we both slipped through. He shut the gate behind us. I looked around, my eyes scanning for any familiar faces. I was hoping to see [Your Name], but I was greeted by an excited Clementine instead. ...Not that I minded. However, before I could say anything to her, a sudden, loud voice snarled.
"Then screw it up for everybody, why don't you?!"
My head snapped to the left, and I watched as Lilly jabbed Kenny in the chest with her finger. Both looked extremely angry. I frowned. Could they not fight for two damned seconds?!
"Oh calm down, 'Princess', I'll do it myself!" Kenny growled. He walked away, leaving Lilly standing there, incredibly pissed. Lilly darkly glared at Kenny as he went, pure hate rising inside of her.
Suddenly, a little girl was at my side and pulling at the bottom of my shirt. "Come with me to the barn!" Clementine giggled. I looked back down to her, and smiled as she took my hand. I slowly nodded.
"Okay, just for a little while, though." I mumbled. "Have you seen [Your Name] recently?"
Clementine shook her head. "Not in a while." She replied. "Come on, Cry!"
OoOoOoOoO
I watched Katjaa as she tended to the pregnant cow. Word has it that the animal could be giving birth tonight. That made me a little happy. I liked animals... and I really liked cows. I had given her a soft pet at Clementine's request. Duck looked interested in it, but not as interested as he looked with the hay laying on the ground. I thought Duck was a little silly... but that was just downright strange.
My eyes flicked to Clementine. She seemed so content. I liked the idea of her living at a place like this. If we played our cards right, we could stay here... permanently.
My mind suddenly went to the hat. I pulled it from the inside of my jacket, and handed it to her.
"Clementine, I found your hat, by the way."
Clementine gasped, a wide smile spreading across her lips. She snatched the hat from my hand and put it on.
"My hat!" She cried. "You found it! I knew you'd find it! You said you would! Thank you, Cry! Thank you!"
I smiled... but then lessened it. "Clem... did you give your hat to anyone?"
She stopped smiling, and looked confused. "No," She replied.
I hummed. "Did you see any strangers around the motor-inn who could have taken it?"
"No," She repeated, only looking more confused. "Why?"
"It's probably nothing, kiddo." I reached forward and pat her head, widening my smile again. "Just let me know if you ever see anything like that again. Okay, Clem?"
"Okay, I will." Clementine agreed. Then, she paused, and looked up to me with those adorable golden eye. "Hey Cry? Do you think you'll ever have kids?
I blinked. "I uh... I... wha... uh..." I scratched the back of my neck and huffed. "...Maybe someday?" I replied. "Maybe a little girl, like you."
"That's nice." Clementine smiled. "You'd be a good daddy."
I smiled back. Cuteness! Sooo adorable!
"Well, thanks for finding my hat!" She continued.
"You're welcome, Clem." I replied. She smiled again and nodded, before turning and sitting with the cow again, I watched her for a few moments... before I heard another tone call my name. I turned, and found Kenny toward the back of the barn, staring. I blinked and watched as he gestured for me to come over. I left Clementine's side and made my way to the man.
Kenny gestured to the door behind him, before turning to look at it. I took my place beside him. He gestured to the lock.
"I found this, earlier." Kenny informed, his voice soft. "Cry, they're hiding something. Behind this door. I got a quick look. They've got boxes of stuff, and... something metal and sharp."
"Don't get paranoid." I told him.
"It's my JOB to be paranoid, Cry!" Kenny whispered. "I've got my whole family on this land right now! What about you? How about Clem, or [Your Name]?"
I thought about it for a moment... before sighing. "I'll protect them, no matter what."
"I know you will." Kenny nodded. The two of us turned around, and I watched as he gestured to Andy. "Look. That dude with Katjaa... what's-his-name... He locked it up real tight the second we came in. I'm positive I heard a noise back there, Cry.
"What do you think it was?" I asked.
Kenny shook his head. "My point is, we've gotta know for sure. So go find a hammer or something, and I'll have this thing opened in a second. And then have my back if the farmers come runnin'."
"Hang on, man. Just think this through." I whispered. "You smash the lock. Then what if you're wrong? You just fucked a good meal you're trying to get into those kids you're trying to protect. Use your head, Kenny!"
"Alright, Mr. Masked Man," Kenny almost sneered. "What do you have in mind?"
"Let me have a look at what we're dealin' with first." I told him. I turned to the lock and began to examine it, looking over the screws and bolts and the... thin circle lock thingie that slids through the clip.
"Look, Kenny." I gestured to the lock. "This thing has screws. We can just take it off, have a peek inside, and then put it back together again, no problem! No smashing or anything."
"All right, sounds like you have a plan." Kenny mumbled. "We need to distract Andy. Listen, I'll go outside and fuck with the generator. When he leaves the barn, be as quick as you can. Okay?"
I nodded. "Sure, Kenny."
"Oh, and here. Take this." Kenny reached into his pocket and pulled out a multitool before handing it to me. I eyed the multitool curiously, before nodding.
"Thanks."
Kenny nodded, turned, and head out of the barn. I waited a couple moments, acting like I was looking curiously inside the stalls and stuff... until suddenly, the lights went out. Andy grumbled and left the barn. I acted quickly. Grabbing the multi-tool, I began to screw off each screw. I knew this would get me in trouble, but Kenny wanted to know about what was inside... and honestly, I did too. Boxes of stuff? Metal and sharp? What, was there blood in there, too?
Suddenly, there was a ringing sound. I turned around, and watched Clementine and Duck's faces light up.
"Dinner!" Duck laughed. "It's dinner time! It's dinner time!"
The kids sprinted out of the room, Katjaa following close behind. This left just me. I took my opportunity and worked on the door again. I knew Kenny wasn't coming back, and I knew I could trust him to make an excuse for what happened to me.
Soon, the door was unlocked I opened it, and...
A blood bath. Blood covered everything. There were sharp items everywhere. A bathtub-looking thing sat in the corner with a giant metal saw in the middle. Everything looked absolutely terrible. It was like a horror movie.
"Boy, didn't you hear the bell?"
I tensed as I heard the voice. Slowly, I turned around, shoving the multitool into my pocket. Andy sat there, lightly smiling at me, put looking just a little irritated at the same time. He looked me up and down, before sighing.
"Dinner time."