Chapter Nineteen:

Marked

"We can't just sit here," Daryl growled, his voice rough with anger, smouldering like hot coals. Carol shook her head, watching the disheartening scene unfolding before her.

"We can't just jump in, either," she reasoned.

They had been on their way back to the prison when she had spotted movement on the road ahead and called the car to an abrupt halt. There was a girl in the road with a man standing over her, waving a gun. Moments later another man had joined the pair. When Daryl and the group had realised who the girl was, he had been ready to drive in and and put an end swiftly.

"There's only two of them," Daryl barked, "we can take them easy-"

"You'll be doing Laurel no favours by storming in there," Carol scalded him, not taking her eyes off the trio. "The Governor thinks we're playing by his rules- we kill his men and pull Laurel out of there now and he'll see it as defiance. He'll kill Merle."

"Carol's right," Maggie said. "At least we know she's alive."

"And what if they're not his men? What if she's got out somehow and was coming home, and these are just two assholes who've grabbed her-?"

"They're leaving, Daryl. Get down."

Daryl saw that it was true; one of the men had Laurel up on her feet, and was leading her towards a truck. He sank down low in his seat and watched carefully as the three of them got into the truck, and kept out of sight as the truck took a high turn and passed by them on the other side of the highway. When the truck was at a decent distance, Daryl turned to the others.

"Y'all can walk from here, right?"

Carol knew this was coming, and knew there was little she could do to stop him.

"I'm goin' after them," Daryl said, his mind long made up. "It'll be dark soon, I'll stay out of sight. Won't do nothing that's gonna get me in trouble."

"I wish I could believe that," Carol frowned. "I'm coming with you."

"You should get home-"

"You're the one with concussion. If we're going we need to go fast, or we'll loose track of them."

Glenn and Maggie were uncertain about leaving the pair, but did so all the same, knowing there wasn't a second going spare.

"Good luck," Maggie wished them as the two took off, reaching out and taking Glenn's hand in her own.

Daryl's eyes stayed fixed on the truck ahead, a pinhead in the distance to keep them from detection.

"No interfering," Carol said, resolute. "Not unless it's absolutely necessary. Understood?"

Daryl made a sound that seemed almost in agreement.

~oOo~

Laurel had long given up on fighting with the ties around her wrists; they were zip-tied so tight that they rubbed, but as she'd struggled they'd just begun to hurt even worse. She sat still in the back of the truck, arched awkwardly to accommodate her tied-back hands, staring at the back of Greeley's headboard.

"My old lady used to hate these things," Martinez said from the driver's seat, flicking ash from his cigarette. It was cold with the window down now that the darkness was coming in. He offered the packet to Greeley, who shook his head at the offer but said nothing.

Laurel shifted, clearing her throat before speaking up.

"Is Merle okay?"

"You'll see soon enough," Martinez said.

"Just tell me-!"

"You're in no position to be making demands, little lady."

Laurel felt an uncomfortable shiver on her skin. "Don't call me that."

Caesar laughed a little. "Hear that, Dewey? She doesn't like that."

Dewey's face remained blank. He stared down at the dashboard.

"Best keep an eye on that gas mark."

Martinez grunted. "The hell's wrong with you today?"

Greeley wouldn't look at him. After a moment more of silence he glanced into the back seat. Laurel felt his eyes on her for half a second before he turned back to Greeley with a scornful glare.

"Grow a pair."

Dewey muttered something under his breath.

"I didn't mean to kill your friend," Laurel said. Martinez' hands tensed on the steering wheel.

"You shot him in the throat, you dumb bitch."

Laurel looked down. "That's not what I... I didn't want to kill him. I'd never want to kill anyone."

Silence from Martinez. After a moment he stopped the truck, unclenched his fists from the steering wheel. He opened the door sharply and jumped out.

Greeley became alert. "What are you-"

Martinez opened the door to Laurel's side. She scooted back on the leathers instantly, not knowing what he would do, and booting Ceasar firmly in the chest with both feet when he made a lunge for her. He pulled her forwards by both feet so that she was half way out of the truck, crushing her body to the vehicle with his own. He took her by the back of the head and forced a wad of fabric past her lips and into her mouth; she made to bite at his fingers but he was too quick, drawing his hand away and securing the gag with another strip of fabric, tying the bond securely at the back of her head in a double knot. Laurel relaxed a little once she realised what he was doing, but still fought all the same. Martinez shoved her back onto the seats and slammed the door, taking his place at the wheel once again.

"There," he said aloud, breathing strangely from the unanticipated blow to the chest. "Much better. Finally some peace and quiet."

Greeley looked back at Laurel in the passenger's side mirror, watched as she struggled to upright herself. For a moment their eyes locked, and he looked quickly away and back towards the road.

~oOo~

They had been on the road for some time, and the darkness had settled in well. It was a little disorientating, moving about in such conditions, and a wrong twist on the road had made their journey back to Woodbury longer than it should have been. The trio found themselves on a skinny sideroad, trudging through a patch of mud in the blackness. When they found their way back onto the main road, trouble was waiting.

"We're on the blink," Martinez rumbled, watching the monitor on the dashboard. "Should have filled back up before we took off. I thought we'd have enough to make it, but..."

He stopped the car, and sent Greeley out to the back to grab the spare gas canister. He was out there a long minute. Martinez filled the silence by tapping at the dashboard in irritation.

Greeley's expression was tense when he returned.

"It's empty," he said, shaking the empty cannister in his hand. Caesar immediatley bolted upright.

"You've got to be fucking... are you serious?!"

Greeley shook it again. Martinez swore loudly, banging a hand on the pane of glass beside his head.

"We just had to bring a fucking diesel, didn't we," he spat, rubbing at his temples. He took a few minutes to collect himself, blotting out Greeley's suggestions.

"Last car we passed was half a mile back. I'll have to get out there and find some."

"But it's dark-"

"I can see that it's dark, dip-shit. You wanna walk all the way home instead?"

Greeley said nothing.

"Thought not," Martinez muttered, opening up the dashboard. He pulled out a wind-up torch, shouldered his gun and jumped from the car.

"You can do the babysitting. I'll try and hotwire something, come by and pick you up. If not I'll just have to find a diesel." He cursed again, then pulled his baseball bat from beneath his seat. "If I'm not back in half an hour... oh, hell if I know. Don't go anywhere."

Greeley said nothing as the man slammed the car door to. He sat in painful silence, acutely aware of how much the lack of words was saying between the pair of them. The idea of sitting in this silence with her was unbearable to Dewey, but the thought of what she might say to him if she could speak was even worse. Laurel began to make some incomprehensible mumblings, her first attempts at sound since Martinez had gagged her, and he quickly decided that they were worse than either of the scenarios he'd envisioned.

He shook his head, then reached into the backseat with his arm out towards her. Laurel flinched, as though she thought she was about to be hit. A deep frown set into Greeley's face, his brow furrowing.

"Turn around, then. Fuck."

Laurel did so, remaining motionless as Greeley untied the tight knots at the back of her head. As they loosened she wiggled the fabric free, spitting out the wad which had been secured behind her lips and raking in mouthfuls of air. The only sound was her breathing for a moment, before she turned back to adress the boy.

"Dewey, you've got to listen to me-"

"Don't," he said quickly, raising a hand beside his ear as though to block her words from reaching him. He was staring out of the front window again, his eyes far from her own. "Please, just... don't."

"Dewey, please-"

"Just shut it, alright?!" He barked, malice broiling beneath his tongue, "unless you want me to gag you back up again."

He felt himself cool, pushed the anger aside to simmer. He knew that she was not the source of it, not really, so there was little point in making her feel it's burn.

"I thought he'd just let me go," Laurel said, and her voice was softer than before, lacking something it had held only moments ago. "He never wanted me, not really. He didn't even see me as a real person, just as a tool to use against Merle. ...I shouldn't have killed that guy."

Greeley couldn't help but scoff a little. "It's not about Shumpert. He's a tactician, he's not emotionally driven. At the moment he's still on reasonable terms with your people, still got them thinking there's a chance they'll get you two home in one piece. If you'd managed to reach the prison and tell them about the shit he's been doing to you and that old bastard, that would add way more fuel to the fire. Who knows what they'd do then? He doesn't like things to be unpredictable."

Laurel was silent, eyes downcast. Greeley continued without provocation.

"You know who he is. He enjoys it."

Laurel understood. "So there was never a chance," she said sorrowfully.

"You've got it," Greeley affirmed. "Zip."

Laurel thought of Merle, of what they might have done to him why she'd been gone; of what they would do to her when she was brought in. It didn't bare thinking about. And what of Michonne? Neither man had mentioned the woman to Laurel since she had been recaptured; could she still be in Woodbury now, hiding out, waiting for her moment to strike?

"I don't hate you, you know," Laurel said to Greeley after a moment, her voice still thick. "I don't. Maybe I should."

She sighed with a weariness that gripped Greeley to his core.

"I just don't have the energy for that anymore."

The young man frowned.

"...I don't hate you, either."

There was a long silence.

"Kill me, then," Laurel said.

Greeley's head snapped around. "What?"

"Think about it for a second," Laurel exclaimed, her voice was thick. "You know the people you live with. You know your Governor. Imagine what he'll do to me when you drag me back through Woodbury's gates. What he'll have done to me. All those angry men, whose friend I've just killed. You say you don't hate me. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." She swallowed hard, and there was fear aglow in her eyes. "You imagine it, then tell me if you'd rather someone ended it now."

"I'm not going to shoot you," Greeley said, and turned back around. He let the silence brew, allowing himself to become lost deep in thought. Threw it all he heard Laurel crying, her tears silent but her breathing staggered.

Dewey brought a hand up to his head. After a long while, he spoke.

"They beat the shit out of me last night," he told her, almost as a confession. "Blamed me for you getting out. For Shumpert as a second to that. Six of them. Six of my friends. They gave me a kicking so rough I didn't know if I'd ever get back up again."

Laurel watched him in the darkness, the way his shoulders rose as he inhaled each steady breath, the dull moonlight from the sunroof flexing over the leather of his jacket with each tiny movement.

"I wasn't like this before," Greeley said. "...Well, maybe I was a little bit, but I had good people, people who kept me grounded."

Laurel understood. She felt calmer now, somehow; his honesty was refreshing, like a tonic.

"Your sisters?"

He nodded. "And a girlfriend. Maz. She had hair like yours. Used to wear it all up on top of her head."

He smiled to himself, waving his hand about his own. He let out a small laugh.

"She looked like a fucking pineapple."

Laurel gave a short breath, almost a laugh of her own. He let out a deep sigh and reached suddenly back for the passenger door, twisting up the lock and pulling at the handle until the door opened. Laurel stared at him, startled.

"You better run, and you better run real fucking quick, before I come to my senses."

Laurel was stunned, but she didn't need telling twice. when Greeley reached back with a knife to cut at her bonds, she was already shuffling towards the door.

"Like you said, you've got a better chance out there than back with the Governor. I'll sleep easier knowing you had a chance to take it."

"What will you tell Martinez?" she asked as he sawed at the zip-tie.

"Fuck if I know, blondie. Now go on, get out of here." He gave her the knife, put it firmly in her hand. "Go."

She squeezed at the handle. "Thank you."

"Go!"

Laurel nodded, slipping quickly from the vehicle before darting off into the night.

The area was blessedly clear of Walkers. Laurel moved stealthily but smoothly, keeping to the edge of the path as not to be overly exposed should any of the dead catch sight of her. She caught strains of a sharp almost acidic smell on the air that she wasn't accustomed to, a firm grip on the knife. It was a sturdy dagger-like weapon with a groove down the blade, built for draining blood, it seemed. Laurel wondered what on earth it's intended purpose could be.

As she reached the mouth of the little dirt road, Laurel heard a rustling off to her left. Her heart racing, Laurel darted into the nearest patch of woodland to the right, standing silently beside a huge redwood tree with the knife pulled up tight at her side and ready to serve. The rustling had not stopped, and she could feel that it was getting somewhat closer; there were no moaning sounds or heavy footfalls, so experience told her it was not one of the dead. An animal, perhaps? Or maybe it could be a-

Swoosh! Laurel turned sharply, swinging the blade as she did so, having sensed something suddenly upon her; the figure dived downwards and swooped suddenly around her side, avoiding yet another swing of the blade and slapping a hand firmly down over her nose and mouth. Martinez, Laurel thought, and slashed again at the air behind her before feeling a second hand slam into her own and pull the blade free in one swift motion. She felt a flash of warm blood spray against her skin, but her attacker didn't even cry out; Laurel fought harder, kicking out her legs at the tree she had stood beside and sending leaves showering down from above, cascading down in a quick, noisy rain; through the rain she heard the voice of her attacker at last, and as she began to recognise him, her struggle soon faded. As her perpetrator felt the fight leave her, he released her and she turned to face him.

"Daryl!"

Laurel threw her arms around his neck without a thought and squeezed him so tightly that both of them were uncomfortable, but she had little care for that. Laurel held on tight, relief dancing through her veins, and felt she could never let go of this scruffy, awkward man who she had barely said more than a handful of sentences to.

"How can you be here?" she breathed, and her tone was a mess of emotions, tears and joy and surprise and anguish all scrambled into one, all being poured out at Daryl at once.

"We saw you out on the road and followed you," Daryl whispered, pulling her arms from around him and stopping to pick up the dagger. He took a firm hold of her hand and began leading her deeper into the brush.

"We?"

"Yeah, we. Now come on, we gotta move, fast."

Laurel laughed though nothing was funny, astounded as she was.

Daryl cleared his throat.

"My brother still alive?"

Laurel's mirth dropped.

"...I don't know." Laurel felt his grip on her loosen for half a second. "I'm sorry, Daryl."

She wanted to explain further, but Daryl wouldn't let her.

"Don't matter right now," he said unconvincingly, his grip tightening back up twice as hard. "C'mon. Let's get you out of here."

AN: Phew! Hope you liked the chapter guys, stay tuned for the next one soon- thank you so much for reading & reviewing etc., and I'll see you next time~!