Chapter 12 - Rescue

Maria woke up to complete darkness along with a splitting headache. She groaned softly while struggling to sit up as her hands were tied blind her back, she could feel dried blood on the side of her face from when her kidnappers had forced her into the backseat of their car.

The only light source in the room was coming from the crack under the door where she could see shadows moving, she went to scream something at them but found that she couldn't as her mouth had been taped.

Maria felt tears of frustration come to her eyes, she felt weak and defenceless and she hated it. The feelings weren't knew to her she had felt them many a time in the past, a past that she was still trying to get over and move on from. But that was easier said than done.

Maria sat silently in the room deliberating what the best corse of action would be, she had a feeling her brother would stop at nothing to find her which provided her with some comfort. She had thought about trying to escape but she didn't know where she was or how many people were beyond that door.

After sitting in the room for what felt like hours Maria's head shot up as she heard the sounds of voices from outside her door before it burst open. Maria flinched as a tall beefy man stomped through the door straight towards her. Maria's instincts kicked in as she shuffled her way into the nearest corner of the room and when the man got close enough she lashed out with her foot hitting his knee causing him to faulted in pain. Two more men quickly rushed into the room and grabbed her arms before she had chance to do anymore damage they roughly lifted her off the floor. The man who she had kicked scowled at her before roughly putting a bag over her head.

The two men dragged her down a hallways and up a flight of stairs causing her to trip multiple times due to not being able to see where she was going. A door was opened and she could feel a faint breeze caress her skin, Maria assumed that she was probably on the roof. She could hear faint voices down below but couldn't make out what they were saying.

Maria felt a glimmer of relief pass through her as she could've sworn she's just heard Daryl's voice. Suddenly she was pulled forward and the bag was ripped from her head, she gazed down below and saw her group. Rick had a look of determination in his eyes, Daryl looked livid but Maria could see the hint of fear in his eyes and Glenn her best friend looked at her with a mixture of guilt and worry although surprisingly she could see anger in his eyes too.

Maria met all of there eyes with her pleading ones, she was silently pleading that they wouldn't do anything stupid just to get her back. Maria didn't want them to risk there's lives for her, to her she wasn't worth that.

She was cut off from seeing the others when she was dragged back from the edge of the roof and back down the stairs. This time however she wasn't placed in a dark room but instead a small office type area. The two men kept a hold of her until a man (she assumed he was there leader) walked into the room.

"Untie her" The men immediately did what he said as Maria looked on in confusion at what was happening "I am truly sorry for this I really am, my name is Guillermo I'm the leader here"

Finally being able to speak again Maria only managed to reply "what the fuck?"

"I am truly sorry chica I never wanted this but we need those guns to protect are people. Their old and unable to protect themselves" he explained "I never wanted it to go this far but we're desperate"

"Are you stupid?" Maria spat "You kidnapped me! Do you just expect them to do the trade? What if they don't go for it huh?"

"All I do is apologise but please believe me when I say I'm truly sorry and that no harm will come to you here" Guillermo sighed "We'll try to convince them to do the trade, honestly I never thought of them saying no they really seem to care about you"

"Whatever" Maria mumbled "how do I even know you're telling the truth?"

"Let me show you something" Guillermo smiled slightly as he walked out the room gesturing for her to follow. As the walked down hallways Maria's eyes were darting from left to right trying to find an exit just in case things went south. She honestly wasn't sure if she believed him or not he seemed sincere but then again he could just be a really good actor.

Guillermo lead her through a set of double door into a nicer part of the building, they passed doorways and upon seeing the elderly sick people Maria felt her heart clench slightly. They walked into a large room filled with people playing chess and chatting, Maria turned to Guillermo who has stopped walking. "You believe me now? I just want to keep them safe"

"I get it but you're still stupid for doing what you did" Maria crossed her arms over her chest as she glared softly at the man. She understood why he did it, these people were defenceless hell most of them probably didn't know what was going on outside.

"Guillermo? Who is this girl?" An elderly woman walking towards them asked.

"She's a friend Mary, her names Maria" the older woman stared at Maria intently causing her to shift uncomfortably.

"Are you hurt dear?". Maria had been so distracted that she'd forgotten about the cut on the side of her head "come dear lets get you cleaned up" the older woman grabbed Maria's hand leading her over to a table.

Once did her wound had been cleaned and a butterfly bandage was place onto it she found herself relaxing slightly. She had felt uncomfortable being amount so many people but after talking to some of them she felt more confident.

Barking interrupted the slightly awkward conversation that she was having with the older woman. Maria looked down and an instant smile adorned her featured upon seeing the small dog staring at her. Maria couldn't help herself as she picked up the small dog and cuddled it into her chest. Dogs were Maria's favourite they were loyal and so full of love, she'd always preferred them to people they couldn't hurt her like people could.

Her attention was drawn away from the puppy by a large group of people surrounding an elderly man who was struggling to breathe. Maria got up out of her chair still holding the dog. She made her way to just outside of the circle she knew there was nothing she could do so standing back was her only option. They were stood there for a couple of minutes before someone came rushing in to help.

"Maria!" Her head snapped round only to be met with the sight of a chest as an arm wrapped around her shoulders tightly. Maria tensed for a few seconds before realising that it was Daryl hugging her, she slipped her free arm around her brother patting him on the back awkwardly. "Did they hurt you? I'll kill them if they-"

"Daryl!" Maria pulled away from her brother giving him a stern look "just let it go okay they had their reasons, even if they were stupid about it"

"Mia are you sure you're okay? They told us they were going to feed you to dogs" Glenn looked at her with a worried look but Maria could see the relief in his eyes.

Maria let out a soft chuckle at Glenn's comment before holding up the small dog for her group to see "you mean these adorable things?", the group looked in shock at the little dog who let out a bark at them. Maria saw Rick leave with Guillermo probably to have a serious word with him.

"You're not keeping it" Daryl grumbled as he watched Maria petting the dog "don't need anymore bitches in camp" He grumbled before following Rick well aware that Maria was glaring at his retreating form.

Maria set the dog down letting it go back to his bed as Glenn walked over to her. "I'm glad you're okay Mia, I was uh worried about you"

"No need to worry about me I can take care of myself" Maria stated flashing Glen a quick grin.

"I know but that's not going to stop me from worrying about you" Glen. Looked at Maria with such sincerity that it shocked her. She wasn't used to people caring for her or worrying about her it was all knew to her. She just stared at him unable to say anything.

The staring was just started to become awkward when Daryl stomped into the room throwing Maria's bow at her which she expertly caught. "We're leaving lets go" before turning round and heading towards the door. Maria gave Guillermo a nod before following after her brother.


"Man I can't believe you gave away half of our guns and ammo" Daryl grumbled at Rick as they were walking back towards where they'd parked the van. Daryl had been in a mood all day constantly questioning Rick and the choices he was making. Maria understood why as the sheriff had handcuffed their brother to a roof but in Maria's eyes he'd all but made up for that by helping them. "They'll probably be dead soon anyway" that comment caused Maria to finally snap at her older brother.

"Shut up Daryl! You saw what it was like in there they needed those guns so can you just stop!" Maria's outburst caused the others to look at her in shock, it was very rare for her to raise her voice especially at Daryl.

"They kidnapped you Maria so sorry that I don't really care what's best for them" Daryl snapped back at his sister causing Maria to grit her teeth in anger.

However there argument was cut short as the group stopped at where the van was supposed to be "oh god, where's the van?" Glenn asked panicked turning to the rest of the group with wide eyes.

"Merle" Rick hissed through gritted teeth

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp" the group looked at each other in worry at the elder Dixon's comment. They all started walking back to camp making sure to keep a quick pace, all of them praying that everything would be okay.

After what felt like hours of walking the sky had darkened and it was clear that the small group were beginning to get tired. Maria just wanted to rest but she powered on knowing it was important for them to get back to camp as soon as possible. She wanted to see Merle again if he'd made it there that was.

"Hey" Rick said softly from next to her "I didn't get a chance to say that I'm glad we got you back. Also thank you for what you said to Daryl earlier"

"You don't need to thank me, you did the right thing I just hope they make it you know" Maria whispered. Rick put a hand on Maria's shoulder making her tense slightly at the unexpected contact.

"They will" he gave her a reassuring smile but Maria still wasn't sure. This world was unpredictable and death seemed to be around every corner.

The continued walking for another ten minutes before the sounds of screams and gunfire filled the air "oh god" Maria whispered in horror realising that those sounds were coming from camp. She took off in a dead sprint towards camp not stopping to see if the others were following she just assumed they were.

With her feet pounding into the floor she could feel her heart pounding just as hard out of fear. Her previously injured ankle was throbbing slightly but she ignored it. Maria prayed for everyone to be okay but she knew that wouldn't be the case. Her lungs were burning and she could barely catch her breath but that wasn't going to stop her.

Finally she arrived at the outskirts of camp where she saw people huddled around the RV with Shane shooting his gun. Eyes scanning the camp Maria felt fear wash over her as she saw Sophia and Carol being trapped by Walkers, without even a second of hesitation Maria fired arrow after arrow at the walkers hitting her target every time. Moving further into camp Maria kept shooting at any walker that came near the mother and daughter as they made their way to the RV.

"Mia behind you!" Someone shouted, without hesitation Maria grabbed her hunting knife while spinning round of her heels and plunging it into the eye of the rotting walker that she had failed to notice. Looking around Maria noticed that the gunfire had stopped and all the walkers were finally dead.

Maria walked towards the rest of the group and that's when she noticed the body lying next to the RV with a sobbing Andrea. Maria started in shock at the pale Amy who lay lifeless in her sisters arms. Breath catching and tears welling in her eyes Maria felt herself unable to move even as a pair of small arms wrapped around her waist in a tight embrace. Maria couldn't take her eyes off Amy's dead body she hadn't known the girl long but Amy was nice to her and she could've seen them becoming friend in the future. The tears finally started spelling as Maria slowly wrapped her arms around Sophia and hugged her tightly as the girl sobbed into her shirt, she felt Carol place a hand on her shoulder the older woman also crying.

Maria felt some relief that Sophia and Carol were safe but as she looked at Amy's body she couldn't help the dark thoughts that crept their way into her mind. Anyone of them could die next it was just a matter of time, tonight had just proved to Maria that nowhere and no one was safe anymore and that's what scared her more than anything.


Note

Another chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it. Not much Glenn and Maria interaction but don't worry there will be plenty of that next chapter. Also Maria is pretty pissed at Daryl right now for the way he's acting and that will definitely come up again next chapter, I'm so excited to write it!

Springborn - thank you for the review, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thank you to everyone that has followed and favourited this story, over 60 follows now so thank you so much!