Tortured Yet Strong Chapter 21, a walking dead fanfic

I do not own Anne Marshall. She belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.

Luke heard a groan which was followed by a yawn next to him. He looked over to see Nate stretching. "Man, last night was awesome. Haven't gotten that hammered in a long time." Nate said as he continued to stretch.

Luke shook his head. He couldn't believe that such a sweet and wonderful little girl like Danielle was even related to Nate, let alone being his own daughter. He looked around and saw that most of the group was still asleep. It was just him and Nate.

"So, what do you think you're doing with my girl?" Nate asked.

Luke looked back to Nate and said, "She had a nightmare. I'd say it was probably one of the worst she ever had. It took me a while to get her back to sleep."

Nate scoffed and said, "You know, she really acts like a baby sometimes."

"She's scared. She's been through the worst of this world." Luke said in defense of the girl.

The cold air blew by the two as they both remained silent for a couple of seconds. However, Luke was rather warm with little Danielle on his lap. "Well…" Nate said. "Been killer hanging out with you has-beens."

"You're leaving?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, you guys are boring." Nate said. Luke looked down sadly as he realized that if Nate was leaving. He was probably going to take Danielle with him. However, Luke was surprised when saw Nate kneel down to his height with a smirk aimed at the ten year old. He placed his hand on Danielle's head and said, "It was nice to see the little rug rat again. Haven't seen her since she was a little baby."

He then got up with Luke still staring at him in surprise. "I-I don't get it. You found her… are you just going to leave her?"

"Yeah, pretty much… if she comes with me, she won't be happy, and I won't be happy." Nate replied. "Besides, I can take heart in the fact that she has a couple of good people taking care of her." His tone had become very serious which was a first. In fact, it almost sounded remorseful. "That's part of the reason why I left in the first place. I knew she'd be happier with just her mother looking after her. Don't make the same mistakes I made. Take care of her." Nate looked to Luke with pleading eyes as Luke looked on with astonished ones. He never knew that Nate could act so mature and selfless.

Luke nodded and said, "I will."

"Good." Nate said. He then walked over to grab his backpack. He looked back to his daughter one last time before he headed for the front gate of the power station. Luke heard the snow crunch underneath Nate's feet as the man left the group. Eventually, He couldn't hear Nate anymore.

Luke huffed as he took in Nate's last words. He would do everything he could to protect Danielle. She would never have to relive her nightmare of being raped ever again… not with him protecting her. He tightened his hug around the sleeping girl and said, "I'm your daddy again, baby girl." Luke knew that the girl couldn't hear him, but he took his words to heart.

Eventually, the morning sun rose above the trees which made everyone around Luke wake up including the little girl in his arms. "Mornin baby girl, did you sleep any better?" Luke asked.

Danielle nodded her head and said, "Thank you." She got up from Luke's lap which allowed the young man to stand upright.

"Well, we might as well eat." Kenny said as he placed the remaining wood on the burnt out fire. After he placed a few sticks and twigs in the burnt out fire, he got out a box of matches and struck a match to light it. He placed the match on some of the wood to burn before he discarded the match into the wood pile. The fire started out with mostly smoke, but eventually, it became a small fire.

"So where'd Nate run off to?" Zeke asked as he looked around for the man.

"He-He left." Luke said.

"He did?" Danielle asked. Everyone looked to Luke with intrigued stares. They were all curious if Luke was telling the truth.

"He left earlier this morning. He said that he wanted me and Bonnie to look after you, baby girl. He said that you would be happier with us." Luke said as he looked to the young girl with a smile. However, she looked down with a frown. Part of her was happy to be back with Luke and Bonnie, but another part of her was sad for her biological father.

"That was… big of him." Anne said. Like Luke, she was surprised by the man's actions.

Bonnie approached the child and squatted down to her height. "Is everything alright, baby girl? You don't seem very happy." Bonnie said.

"I… I guess I'm really sad for my dad." Danielle admitted as she looked up to Bonnie.

"Oh, don't worry honey." Bonnie said. "I know your dad. If anything, he's already moved on. He's probably trying to find something to drink right about now." Danielle smiled and took heart in the fact that Nate would be alright. Danielle looked to Bonnie with a thankful stare and smile.

"Please don't tell me that he's one of those infuriating people who don't get hangovers." Zeke said with annoyance in his voice.

"Unfortunately, he is." Bonnie said as she tried to stifle a chuckle. "I think his body's used to it by now."

Kenny chuckled as he and Ed heated up the last of the canned food that the group had. "Alright y'all. We'll get something to eat and then we'll head up to this supposed house."

"Let's hope he's telling us the truth." Ed said. "This is the last of our food supply."

"Yeah, no kidding." Kenny said as he removed the can of soup from its spot near the fire. He handed the can of soup to Diana who helped Clementine and Danielle enjoy its contents.

"How much further until we reach this house?" Rebecca asked as she fed her infant.

"I'm not sure. That boy doesn't speak much English. He told me yesterday that we were still a 'long walk' from this house." Kenny said as he removed yet another can from the fire. The group enjoyed their breakfast while the atmosphere remained rather quiet. The last few days had been erratic for them so the silence was enjoyed by all. Eventually, the group finished their breakfast. Kenny and Anne went to check on Rebecca as the rest of the group stood by and patiently waited for the woman's response.

"I'm fine. You two need to stop worrying about me so much." Rebecca said as her infant slept peacefully in her arms.

"Well, alright then. You let us know when you need to take a break." Kenny said. He turned to the group and said, "Y'all better get ready. We're leaving in a few minutes." He left the group and went to retrieve his own backpack with Anne joining him.

"Dani, can I talk to you for a moment?" Bonnie asked the girl.

Danielle looked up to Bonnie and said, "Sure."

The two walked over away from the group and near the fence of the power station. Bonnie squatted down in front of the child and said, "Well, I have to admit that this is kind of weird for me. To think, when we first met, you trusted me so much, and then I betrayed that trust." Bonnie looked down with a frown. She was still ashamed by her actions

"It's fine." Danielle said. "You helped us escape from Carver. That more than makes up for what happened."

"Thanks, I'm glad you think of me in that way." Bonnie said with a smile forming on her features. "What I wanted to talk to you about is that… Luke and I have feelings for each other, and I know that he adopted you…" Bonnie trailed off as she thought of how to explain the situation to the child. She looked to Danielle and said, "I might as well just say it. Dani, Luke and I are dating, and I was wondering if you were alright with that."

Danielle smiled and said, "So you're going to get married?"

"Well, I don't know yet, honey." Bonnie said with a chuckle. "We just confessed our love for each other yesterday, but there's a pretty high chance of us marryin sometime in the future."

"You'll adopt me, when you marry Luke, right?" Danielle asked with a big smile on her face.

"Well, yeah of course, if that's what you want." Bonnie said.

"Definitely." Danielle said as she quickly hugged the woman. Bonnie was surprised at first, but she smiled and wrapped her arms around the child. As much as Danielle missed her biological mother, she did want to find a new family and she really wanted a new mother to look after her.

"Come on, you two." Luke chuckled as he approached Bonnie and Danielle with their backpacks in hand. He was happy to see that they were close. It meant that he and Bonnie dating would be easier. "Kenny's ready to go."

The two released each other from their hug, and Luke gave them their backpacks. He then extended his hand out for the younger girl. Danielle placed her smaller hand in his and the two headed over to where the group had congregated with Bonnie following behind them.

Hours Later

It was mid-afternoon as the group continued to walk. Snow crunched under everyone's feet as they continued to follow Arvo. Luke smiled as he looked down to Danielle. She had been in a good mood since she and Bonnie had talked to one another this morning.

Bonnie joined alongside the two and looked to Luke. She looked down when she felt Danielle's small hand grab her slightly bigger one. It was the girl's way of accepting Bonnie as Luke's girlfriend and possibly her future adoptive mother. Bonnie smiled to the girl and gripped her hand. Almost nothing could ruin their day at this rate.

Up ahead, Arvo led the way with Zeke keeping an angry scowl directed at the older boy.

From behind Zeke was Rebecca who was holding her infant. "Thanks for looking after AJ last night." Rebecca said to Kenny.

"No problem darlin. You needed some sleep." Kenny said.

"I won't lie there. I've been dragging over the past couple of days." Rebecca said as she looked back down to her sleeping infant. She turned her attention to Anne and said, "So, I heard from a little birdie that Kenny's your new dad."

"Yep." Anne said with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad. I think you two are great for each other." Rebecca said.

"Thanks." Anne said.

"How much further?" Zeke asked the Russian teenager.

"Close, very close." Arvo said.

"You've been saying that every time I ask." Zeke said with a tang of frustration in his voice. There was no way that he was going to let Arvo off easy for nearly getting the group killed yesterday.

"Come on, man. Stop being so hard on him." Mike said. However, Zeke ignored the lean man as the three passed by a pair of large rocks.

"Please, come." Arvo said.

"Stop." Zeke said suddenly. He quickly turned around and saw a walker trying to get up. He pulled an arrow back on his bow and released the arrow which hit the walker in the center of its skull. The walker fell back and landed on the ground with a thud as the group looked on surprised by the teenager's quick reaction. He walked up to the walker and pulled the arrow out of its skull. He then looked up to the group and said, "Well, that's one less we have to deal with."

"You okay?" Anne asked.

"I'm fine, but we better keep moving. I don't know how many more are out here." Zeke said.

"Sounds like a plan." Kenny said as he passed the two teenagers and took over in watching Arvo.

"It is very close. Come." Arvo said as he turned to the group. He turned back to the path and led the group further to the forest's edge. The group followed the Russian teenager as he led them out of the forest and to the shore of a lake. "There." Arvo said as he gestured to a house that must have been under construction before the outbreak.

"That piece of shit? It's half built." Kenny said. He sighed out of frustration. He was hoping that the house would be completely built, so that the group could spend the night in some form of shelter, but that wouldn't be the case for the building across the lake.

"Well, we are here for the supplies." Diana said. "The house is not as important."

"Yeah, but it's a big setback." Ed said. "I was hoping that we could spend the rest of the day in a warm house."

"You and I both." Kenny said with a tang of disappointment in his voice.

"It's warm. Fireplace. Very warm." Arvo explained.

Clementine and Danielle were staring down at the frozen lake with concern in their eyes. They were less worried about the condition of the house and more worried about the medium that the group would have to use to get to it. "Is there another way to get there? Do we have to cross the lake?" Clementine asked.

"I don't want to cross that lake." Danielle said.

"We should've stuck to the treeline." Rebecca said.

"The fastest way between two… things is a straight line." Kenny said. "It's a straight shot from here."

"We don't know what else is out there." Zeke said as he gestured to the forest from which the group had just went through. "Who knows how many walkers there are out in that forest. If we cross the lake, it'll save a lot of time and effort."

"Yeah, but crossing that lake puts all of our lives at risk." Anne said.

Luke huffed and said, "Stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"It's not far, just be on the lookout." Bonnie said to encourage the group to pass over the frozen lake. The group approached the frozen lake to examine it more closely; they also looked for an alternate route, but there was nothing within the area that they could use.

"There's no other way to cross the lake." Danielle said.

Arvo began to speak in his native language which made Kenny grumble. "Say it in American, asshole." Kenny said.

"It's okay. Walk. Ice." Arvo said to encourage the group to pass the frozen lake by walking across it.

"Wait, you're saying that it's safe enough to cross, right?" Luke asked.

The Russian teenager nodded in response and said, "I go first. I can be front."

"If we can go slowly and not clump together, maybe we can get across safely." Clementine suggested.

"She's right." Diana said agreeing to her daughter's logic. She looked down to Clementine and asked, "How did you get to be so smart?"

"Because you're my mommy." Clementine said with a smile aimed at her mother. Diana smiled back at the girl and placed her arm around her.

"We definitely need to spread out." Ed said. "The less weight, the better."

"Alright, since this is your plan, you go first." Kenny said to Arvo.

"It's okay." Arvo said as he led the way out on top of the frozen lake with the group close behind. There was much hesitation among all of the group members; however, the group did a good job of staying dispersed. Each member of the group looked down at their feet every few seconds as they crossed the frozen lake. None of them wanted to fall through the ice and into the cold water underneath.

Clementine felt uneasy since she was constantly with her parents since she found them. She looked over to the two adults with worry in her eyes. The last thing that she wanted to happen was to lose them again. She couldn't handle another death in her family. It would be too much for her.

Danielle was also worried. She had become very close to Luke and Bonnie and she didn't want to lose them either. She was also worried about where she stepped. She could end up falling through the ice if she wasn't careful.

Danielle stopped upon hearing a cracking sound. She looked down and saw that the ice was cracking under her feat. She became stiff and unmoving until she heard Luke. "We're okay. Don't worry." Luke said who was coming up from behind her. "You got to keep moving, baby girl."

The group continued to cross the frozen lake, and surprisingly, it seemed like they were getting closer to the house. "Hey, slow down." Kenny said to Arvo who was starting to increase his speed. "You have to stay with us." Kenny said. However, Arvo ignored the older man and continued to increase his speed toward the shore. Arvo continued to run from the group until he fell through the ice. "Shit." Kenny said and he ran over to get the boy.

"Kenny…!" Mike exclaimed as he chased after the older man.

Arvo managed to grab onto some of the remaining ice that hadn't broken off to prevent himself from drowning but his grasp was slipping. However, Kenny came up from behind and helped him back onto the frozen lake. "You need to listen to me, boy." Kenny said as he helped him to shore.

"Let go of me!" Arvo exclaimed as he thrashed in the man's grip.

"Fine then." Kenny said as he released his grip on Arvo and allowed the Russian teenager to fall on the ground. Arvo shot a glare at Kenny as the older man looked back out to the group as they slowly made their way across the ice.

"Well they made it." Zeke said as he continued to get closer to shore.

Suddenly, Danielle could hear the sound of ice cracking from behind her and looked to Luke. He looked down at his feet which were spaced out to steady himself. Bonnie approached Luke to which the young man said, "Don't come over here." Bonnie stopped and looked over to Danielle. The woman didn't know what to do. She looked back over to Luke as he continued, "Okay, I can make it. It's fine."

"You sure?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah." Luke replied. However, even he was stumped on how he was going to figure out a way across the lake.

"Luke, let me help you." Bonnie said as she approached him.

"It's too thin for both of us." Luke said. "I just… I just gotta be careful." Luke took a step forward which broke through the ice. He yelped upon falling through but he held onto the remaining ice that stayed in tack.

"Luke, no!" Bonnie exclaimed. She and Danielle rushed forward to help the young man.

"Stop, stop!" Luke exclaimed which stopped Danielle and Bonnie in their tracks. "I'm fine. I'm fine." Luke said as he used his upper body strength to pull himself back on top of the ice.

"No, you're not." Bonnie said.

"Daddy, you need help." Danielle said in a pleading tone. She wanted him to believe her so that she or Bonnie could help him.

"The ice is too thin. I got it." Luke explained as he took a couple more steps. "Bonnie, I need you to get Dani off this damn ice. Don't worry. I think I got this figured out." However, Luke fell in again, but this time he went under. The remaining ice to where he fell through started to crack away.

Danielle watched on with horror in her eyes as the cracking ice made its way to her. The ice around her was starting to crack as well. She looked up to Bonnie and said, "M-Mommy." Bonnie's eyes widened in horror as Danielle fell through the ice.

Danielle tried to swim through the cold water as she tried to orient herself with her surroundings. She was searching for the hole that was created when she and Luke fell through the ice. She finally saw it and tried to swim towards it, but there was a problem… She couldn't swim. She kept descending into the deep dark abyss below her as she flailed around in an attempt to swim, but it wasn't working. Her eyes began to get heavy and her flailing started to slow down until she felt an arm around her. She didn't know who was holding her, but she was glad that someone was with her. She looked up and saw that she was getting closer to the surface. However, Danielle lost consciousness before she and her rescuer could reach the top.

Luke coughed as he reached the surface with his unconscious daughter in his arms. "Luke! Dani!" Bonnie exclaimed as she ran for the two.

"Grab her." Luke coughed. He started to shiver as the cold winter wind hit his wet clothes. Bonnie obliged and got Danielle out of the water first. Luke quickly pulled himself out of the water and the two made a mad dash for the half-built house. Luke was noticeably blue which indicated that he was starting to freeze to death, but he was still worried about his daughter surviving. Bonnie carried the girl in her arms as the two reached the shore and ran for the house.

"What the f*** happen?" Kenny exclaimed as the two passed by him.

Bonnie carried Danielle into an open door and was relieved to see a strong fire in the fireplace. Ed and Clementine stood by with both looking to Luke worriedly. "Luke get to the fireplace." Diana said to the young man as she gave him a blanket.

"Dani…?" Luke asked as Bonnie laid the girl down. Her chest wasn't moving up and down and she appeared to be limp.

Bonnie was horrified upon seeing that Danielle wasn't breathing. "She… She's not breathing!" Bonnie exclaimed.

Diana quickly went to the child and started to perform CPR. Luke and Bonnie huffed as tears started to form in their eyes. She couldn't be dead… not after everything that they went through.

Finally, as Diana used her hands to perform more chest compression for the child, Danielle shot up and coughed out a large amount of water. She coughed more as Bonnie and Luke sighed in relief. Danielle huffed as she continued to try and cough out more water, but it was evident that her body wasn't getting the oxygen it needed.

Bonnie got down in front of the child picked her up like a toddler. Since Danielle was about as big as an eight year old, Bonnie would have to sit down with her. She sat down in front of the fire to hold her and started to pat the child's back as Danielle continued to cough out excess water. Bonnie continued in her attempt to help the child to breathe and get rid of the excess water as Diana placed a blanket on top of Danielle.

"Will she be alright?" Kenny asked as he entered the room with the remaining group members.

"She should be." Diana said. She turned to Luke and said, "You and her need to sleep. You're bodies should return to their natural temperature, but you should rest." Luke nodded and he laid down close to the fire. He allowed himself to shut his eyes as the warmth of the fire heated his cold and exhausted body.

Danielle soon joined him but not before she caught a glimpse of Arvo wearing a satisfied smirk. He was happy to see that she came so close to dying in the lake. Despite that the evil teenager was in the room, Danielle felt safe in Bonnie's grip and easily found peaceful sleep, like Luke.

"Dammit. That was way too close." Ed said.

"It would have been safer, if we went around." Rebecca said as she prepared a bottle for AJ who was starting to get fussy due to being hungry.

Kenny grumbled as he looked around. "I can't believe this. This place is nothing but a bunch of toothpicks."

"Well, at least, this room is complete." Clementine said. "It's not a complete let-down."

"Yeah, but it's pretty darn close." Kenny said with a grumble.

Zeke entered the room that the group was in with two duffel bags. He tossed the duffel bags in front of the group and said, "Looks like the little f****** wasn't lying. There's some formula in one of the bags."

The group looked over to Arvo who looked to the group with a glare. "You Amerikos can burn in hell." Arvo said with an angry tone in his voice. "You kill my people and force me to take you to my house so you can take everything we had. You have no honor."

"You brought this upon yourself when you attacked us." Zeke said as he glared at the teenager. "All things considered, you're lucky to be alive."

"F*** you." Arvo spat but he immediately regretted it when Zeke responded with a quick punch to the Russian teenager's face. Arvo yelped as he fell to the ground.

"Stop!" Mike exclaimed as he placed a firm grip on Zeke's arm. Diana immediately turned Clementine around and hugged her so she wouldn't have to witness any more violence. The young girl didn't fight her mother's coddling and instead she accepted the hug. It had been a long day for her.

Arvo looked to Zeke with hatred as Zeke stared down at the Russian teenager. "I'm going to go do stock of our new supplies." He wrestled away from Mike's grip and grabbed the two duffel bags. He then left the room with Anne close behind him.

"I'm tying him up." Kenny said as he approached Arvo.

"That's not necessary." Mike said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes, it is. I don't want him having any ideas." Kenny said as he dragged Arvo to one of the posts and started to tie him up. After finishing, Kenny got up and said, "I'm going to go and see if there are any vehicles up front. The faster we get out of here, the better."

"Sounds like a plan." Ed said. "I'll join you." Kenny nodded to the man with a smile and the two left the room. Mike checked on Arvo as Diana and Clementine walked over to join Rebecca.

"How are you holding up?" Diana asked.

"I'm fine." Rebecca said. It was evident that she was troubled by the current events. "We almost lost Dani back there."

"But she's okay now, right?" Clementine asked.

Diana placed a comforting arm around Clementine and said, "We're not sure yet, baby. We were barely able to get her to breathe again. Now we have to make sure that she and Luke won't freeze to death." In response, Clementine looked to the two with a concerned look. Rebecca continued to feed her infant as Mike looked over Arvo's injuries.

Mike pondered as he looked over the teenager's injuries and said, "Shit. What the f*** is wrong with him?" Clementine turned to the dancing flames in the fireplace and allowed the warmth of the room and her mother's comforting embrace to allow sleep to take over.

Hours Later

Danielle's eyes fluttered open as she groaned. A yawn escaped her lips as she felt the comforting embrace of someone holding her. "Had a nice nap, sleepy head?" Bonnie asked with a chuckle.

"Yup." Danielle said as she snuggled closer into Bonnie. Bonnie chuckled but accepted the young girl's cuddling.

"You okay?" Danielle heard from her father. She looked up to see that he was perfectly fine.

"I'm okay." Danielle said.

"Good, now let's get some food in your system." Luke said as he extended a can of opened chili to the girl.

Danielle sighed as she knew that she would have to get up from Bonnie's hug. She got up and stretched her body which produced plenty of cracks and creaks. She looked to Luke and accepted the can of chili. "I don't think I can eat all of this." Danielle said.

"That's alright. I'll finish what you don't eat." Luke said as he found his seat on the bench that was next to the window. Danielle joined him and started to eat some of the chili with the use of her hand. She watched Luke with attentive eyes as he stared out into the frozen lake. "I almost lost you today." Luke said.

Danielle looked down with a frown and said, "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you that I can't swim."

"It's alright, baby girl. We made it and that's all that counts." Luke said. "So from now on, I'll have to make sure to keep you away from lakes and streams."

"Deal." Danielle said as she ate another handful of the chili and gave it to Luke. "I'm full. You finish it."

"Well, alright then." Luke said as he accepted the can of chili. Danielle licked her fingers to where her hand was somewhat clean and wiped off the saliva with her pants leg. Luke looked to the girl and said, "Clem, Anne, and Zeke are in the next room. Why don't you go play with them for a little while?"

"Okay." Danielle said as she got up from the bench and headed for the door. She opened it to see the three playing what appeared to be a game of rummy. "Hey, won't mind if I join in?" Danielle asked.

The three looked up and were glad to see that the younger girl was okay. "Dani!" Anne exclaimed as she got up and hugged the girl. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"We all are, especially when Arvo nearly killed you." Zeke said with a tang of anger in his voice. Anne released Danielle from her hug and the two looked to Zeke. "You have to admit, he was the one who said that it was safe enough to cross that lake." Zeke explained.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Anne said.

"I…I saw him smile before I went to sleep." Danielle said. "I think he was happy that I nearly died back there." Danielle shuttered upon remembering the boy's evil smirk. It was enough to give her a new set of nightmares.

"He what?" Anne asked with anger lacing her voice.

"Why would he do that?" Clementine asked.

"It's simple. He blames us for what happened to his sister and his group." Zeke said.

"I don't like this. Maybe we should just leave him here tomorrow." Anne said.

"Mike won't like it." Clementine said. "He cares about Arvo."

"Well by tomorrow, he's going to have to figure out whose side he's on, because there's no way we can trust Arvo. Bringing him along would be too dangerous." Zeke said.

Suddenly, they heard a vehicle outside come to life, and they looked out the window to see a minivan with Ed and Kenny nearby. The two seemed to be celebrating with a quick handshake as Mike ran up to the working vehicle. "They got it working." Clementine said with enthusiasm in her voice. She left the room to investigate the working vehicle as Danielle looked to Anne with a confused stare.

"What's going on?" Danielle asked.

"Ed and dad have been working on that van since you and Luke passed out." Anne explained.

"Come on. Let's go check it out." Zeke said as he started to leave the room. Anne and Danielle obliged and followed the teenager outside.

…To be continued.

A/N: Well we're coming down the wire. The next chapter is the last. This Fic kind of caught me off guard. I didn't realized how close I was to the end.