A/N: Alright… It's time for the big reveal.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights are reserved to their respective owners.
Zeke and Jane waited several minutes before coming out of the brush. They noticed some walkers approaching the bodies of the two people who were killed and left behind by Jed's group. Zeke and Jane went over to the bodies. Zeke took out the approaching walkers with a couple of arrows. Meanwhile, Jane looked over the bodies. "There's nothing on them…" Jane muttered.
Zeke pulled out his two arrows from the walkers before he joined Jane. Several walkers limped toward them, but there was enough distance between them and the undead creatures that they didn't pose an immediate threat. Jane shook her head and she said, "We need to move on."
"Agreed…" Zeke muttered. Jane got up and the two left the area as the walkers gorged on the two bodies.
Zeke huffed as they came into a small clearing. He sat down on a nearby log while Jane washed her face in the nearby river. There were a few seconds of silence aside from Jane splashing her face. It must have been her way to calm herself down. Anyone who had seen what they had just witnessed would be on edge. She finished and dried her hands on her pants. "I haven't seen something like that in a while. Those guys must have had a grudge against each other." Zeke said. "I just… Dammit… I really hope our group didn't run into those guys."
Jane looked to him and she said, "Same here. They're well-armed and they're ruthless. The thing that worries me though is how those guys looked to that kid. Carver ruled with an iron fist and was respected out of fear… That kid from that group… he's respected for a different reason… Those men trust him…"
Zeke nodded. However, there was something on his mind. It was something that bugged him. "Why would they take the bodies of those two guys? I hope… I hope they aren't what I think they are." Zeke said.
"Cannibals…" Jane muttered. She confirmed what he was thinking. It was the only thing that made sense from overhearing their conversations. Now, Zeke was even more nervous. If those men had found their group, they would be in serious trouble. He feared that his group was already at the chopping block. He shook his head to get rid of these thoughts. "I… I ran into a group of cannibals before… They always made sure to aim for the head to prevent the person from turning and… well you know… Those guys were the same way. They almost always aimed for the head instead of the body." Jane said.
Zeke sighed and he said, "What do we do? What if our group is caught up with them?"
Before Jane could respond another voice was heard. It was someone that they didn't know. "Then they're already dead." They turned to see another man who appeared to be in his early forties approaching them. He wore a blue hat, a black leather jacket with a tan hooded sweatshirt underneath, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of grey boots. He was carrying a handgun which was aimed at Jane. "Alright. You know the drill. All weapons on the ground and back away slowly. You make one move I don't like and I'll shoot you."
Jane was surprised that the man had caught them off guard. He was rather stealthy given his age. She dropped the knife in her possession while Zeke dropped his bow and arrows and his knife. The man looked over the weapons before looking to Jane. "Come on girl. I wasn't born yesterday. All weapons." Jane grumbled before she took a pocket knife from her boot and tossed it to the ground. "Good. Now, I don't suppose you have much food, medicine, or supplies, do you?"
"Not much." Zeke said. He was very uncomfortable around the man. This reminded him too much of when he and Decker had been held up by that psycho; however, this guy seemed to be a bit saner compared to the psycho that he dealt with almost two years ago.
"Hand it over." The man said. Having no choice, Zeke obliged and handed his backpack over to the man. The man checked the backpack and shook his head. "Not much in here…"
"It's all we got, asshole." Jane said.
"Oh… feisty. I like it." The man said. "Tell you what. How about you and I have some alone time away from the kid and I'll leave you both alone?"
Jane glared at the man. There was a long and intense pause before Jane said, "…Fine. Do you have some place in mind?"
Zeke was shocked to hear this. Why would she even agree to this request? He gave her a disgusted look before the man took her by the arm. "Come with me, babe." He turned to Zeke and he said, "We'll be back in a few min-" Before he could finish his sentence, Jane kneed the man in the groin.
He groaned in pain as he fell to his knees and started coughing. Jane wrestled the gun out of his grip and aimed it at him. Zeke was surprised by this. She was waiting for an opportunity for the man to lower his guard. "Get your stuff." Jane told Zeke. Zeke nodded and went over to get his bow and arrows and his knife. He also grabbed Jane's knives.
The man wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. "Damn… I didn't… see that one coming…" The man said in between his huffs.
"Now talk." Jane said. "Information for your life. Who were those guys back there that gunned down that other group? Are they cannibals? Where is our group?"
"Don't know… what you're talking about…" The man muttered.
Jane pushed the barrel of the gun against the man's head. "I'm not going to ask again." Jane said. "You said that our group was already dead earlier. That means you know what we saw. You know about that group."
There was a long pause from the man. Jane was getting more frustrated at each passing moment before the man said, "Alright… I hope you're up to snuff."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zeke asked.
The man looked over to him and he said, "I'll answer your questions, but then, you have to do something for me."
"I already told you what the trade is going to be." Jane said. "You answer our questions and we might let you live."
The man turned to Jane and he scoffed. "You'll understand once I've answered your questions. You see, those people you just saw, they're a part of a community called Hayfield. And yes, they're cannibals, but some of them don't know this."
"What are you talking about?" Zeke asked.
The man turned back to him and he said, "You see… there are farms with livestock that surround the community. Some of the residence believe that they're eating livestock. But, most of the time, it's human meat."
Zeke and Jane were disgusted to hear this. "How do you know all this?" Jane asked.
He looked to Jane and he said, "I figured it out. I noticed that they usually had the same amount of livestock even when they had meat on the menu for dinner to feed a whole community of people. It seemed to be the only explanation. As soon as I connected the dots, I swapped out my and my kid's diet for oatmeal and whatever I catch out here."
"You have a kid?" Jane asked
"Yup. Name's Danielle." The man said.
"I find that hard to believe." Jane said.
"I've been straight with you so far…" The man said. "Now, to answer your final question, I would think that your group is within the community. Some of the group from Hayfield that aren't aware that they're eating human meat went out and came back with a whole bunch of new people. There were some families in the mix. Hell, a couple of the new people were from my past. Russell and Wyatt."
Zeke was shocked to hear this. That had to be them! "Was… Was there a girl in the group? A teenager with glasses on. She has shoulder-length black hair."
"Yeah actually…" The man said. "I think she's taken a liking to Jed."
Zeke's eyes widened. He felt angry and a tad bit jealous that she would start dating someone else. "Why would she…" He then realized that the last time he saw Sarah, he was attacked by walkers. "Oh no… She must think I'm dead." Zeke said.
Jane frowned and she said, "I'm sorry… You should have left me to find her."
Zeke shook his head and he said, "Then I would be in that mess, too. Dammit… she's going to kill me."
"I'll explain it to her." Jane said. "It's my fault you're out here to begin with."
"Look Romeo, you have bigger problems on your hands than your Hispanic girlfriend being pissed off at you." The man said. "If you don't do something soon, they're going to kill another one of your friends and serve him or her up on a plate for dinner."
"Another?" Zeke exclaimed.
"Yeah… I noticed that there was this lean black guy that went missing soon after the group arrived. Jonah always aims to kill off someone who isn't well-liked or well-known amongst the group. That black guy was an easy target. He didn't really talk to anyone in your group, and it seemed like he didn't want to be there. I'm sure they're preparing him for dinner as we speak." The man said.
"F***…" Jane muttered. "That must be Mike… Dammit…"
Zeke tightened his grip and gritted his teeth. "Prove it to me! Prove everything you said is true!" Zeke snapped.
The man chuckled and he said, "It seems from what I've overheard, you guys have more proof that they're cannibals as opposed to me."
Jane huffed and she said, "Who is this Jonah guy?"
"The leader of Hayfield." The man said. "Don't let his charisma fool you; he's quite the mastermind. Has everyone wrapped around his little finger… well… mostly everyone. I don't trust anyone except for myself and sometimes my kid."
There was a long pause between them until Zeke said, "Why don't you and your kid leave the community knowing what you know?"
"Hah!" The man said. "You're joking, right? If Dani and I leave, all that will do is put a target on our backs. Jonah will hunt us down. He'll kill me and use my body for dinner… the sick bastard… As for Dani, I'm not too sure. He'll either wait for her to get older and use her in a meal or rape her. Hard to tell. It's safer to stay within the community… for now. I offer my services to Jonah as a scavenger and in return, he doesn't hurt Dani while I'm out. She's left in the care of someone who won't hurt her. That's what the trade has been for eight months."
"So you're trapped?" Jane said.
"Yup…" The man said.
"How good are their defenses?" Zeke asked.
The man laughed and he said, "You really think you can storm that place? You two will die within seconds. The only way you'll get in is if I take you two as prisoners and break you out before they use you as dinner."
"You seriously expect us to trust you?" Jane asked.
"Well if you don't trust me, one-by-one, your group will be turned into food. And I'll be stuck in this shitty arrangement for my kid until Jonah decides that I'm not useful anymore and kill us both." The man said. "No winners except for Jonah… And none of us want that to happen."
There were a few minutes of silence between them again. This time it was much more intense. Zeke huffed and he said, "We don't have anything to lose."
"We have our lives." Jane said.
"As opposed to the lives of the people we care about, and even if worse comes to worst and we die, at least we'll see Jaime and Decker again." Zeke said.
A few more seconds went by before Jane lowered her gun and she sighed. "What do we have to do?"
The man smiled and he said, "Well, first, I need my gun back. Second, I'll have to tie you both up."
"I'm going to regret this…" Jane muttered. She handed the gun to the man who accepted it.
The man proceeded to tie their wrists together. "Seeing how we have a long ways to go before we get to Hayfield, how about we get some introductions out of the way." The man said as he finished tying Jane's wrists together. "My name is Nate."
"Zeke." Zeke said. It was obvious that he didn't like this arrangement. Nate finished tying his restraints and grabbed their supplies and weapons.
"How about you, babe?" Nate asked Jane.
"Go to hell." Jane muttered.
"Hmm… an interesting name." Nate said with a smirk. He started to lead the way with his handgun out. Both Zeke and Jane knew this was going to be a long journey.
Clementine's POV
Clementine's day seemed to have gotten better after the rough start. Having her adoptive parents around her and comforting her had helped. She had played some board games throughout most of the day with Gill and Danielle in her and Sarah's room. The former had been dropped off by Patricia and Randy. The latter was dropped off by Nate soon after. It took a while until she warmed up to Clementine and Gill. They were now playing Legos with Sarita looking after them and Genevieve; Sarita and Genevieve were downstairs. Clementine was trying to build a car, but there didn't seem to be enough Legos to do that. "I think I like it here." Gill said; he was addressing both girls. Clementine looked up to him as he continued, "It feels like before the walkers."
"That's good. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I like it here too… but my dad doesn't." Danielle said.
"Why not?" Clementine asked.
Danielle shrugged and she said, "That's just how he's always been. He doesn't trust many people. The only reason he hasn't left is because it's easier to live here than outside."
"Hmm… That's a good point…" Clementine said.
Gill frowned as he noticed how distant Clementine was. "Are you okay?" Gill asked.
Clementine nodded and she said, "I told my mommy about… what Carver did to me. And this morning… I felt awful… like almost as bad as when I lost Lee."
"Oh…" Gill said.
Danielle seemed shocked. "What… What did this Carver guy do to you, if you don't mind me asking?" Danielle asked.
"He tortured me… He wanted me to hurt Gill…" Clementine said. "He cut my arms repeatedly for not hurting him."
"Oh…" Danielle said. "Don't worry… I was tortured too… except it was different. I try to be as normal as possible, but some days, I just shut down… Doesn't help when I try to be tough for dad… Like me, you're going to have some bad days, but I think in time you'll be okay."
Clementine frowned and she said, "You shouldn't try to hide it. It hurts a lot when you do that."
"I already cried my eyes out over what happened. What's the point? My dad won't care either way." Danielle said.
Both Gill and Clementine were concerned by this. They hadn't known Danielle for a long period of time, but it did seem like she was lonely at times, and now that they thought about it, she seemed to mask this by trying to appear happy and sometimes silly.
"Dani, you don't have to act tough around us. We're your friends." Gill said.
"My real friends wouldn't keep bugging me about it. It's in the past. Besides, you're little kids. You wouldn't even understand what I went through." Danielle said. She seemed rather harsh as she spoke which surprised Gill and Clementine. "Can we just… please go back to playing with Legos. I don't want to talk about this."
Gill nodded and he said, "Okay."
Clementine nodded as well, but she felt bad for the girl. It was obvious that she went through something more traumatic than what she did. She would have to talk to her mother about it. She seemed to always know how to comfort an upset girl.
The three turned to the door when they heard it open. They saw Sarah standing at the door way. She still seemed distant; however, she at least noticed the three children. "Oh… hi you three." Sarah said.
"Hi Sarah. Are you feeling okay?" Clementine asked.
The girl walked past them and got onto the bed. "Yeah… I think I'm just… going to unwind for a little bit."
Clementine frowned and she said, "Do you… want to play with us? We're playing with Legos."
There was a moment of silence from Sarah as she looked up to the ceiling of her room. Clementine turned back to Gill and Danielle. She figured that was Sarah's way of saying no. However, to her and friends' surprise, they heard the teenager say, "Maybe next time, Clem… I promise."
"Okay." Clementine said. As much as she wished that Sarah had said yes, at least she was talking to her again.
Clementine, Gill, and Danielle went back to play with their Legos. "So… what did you guys do today?" Sarah asked which surprised Gill and Clementine. She hadn't had a normal conversation with anyone for over two days.
"Nothing much. We've just been playing some board games." Gill said.
"That's cool." Sarah said. She became quiet again and continued to look up at the ceiling. Clementine could tell that there was still a lot on her mind, but at least, there was some part of her best friend still inside.
…To be continued.