Author's Corner
Thank you all so so much for the wonderful feedback you guys never fail to give, I love reading every single word/sentence/paragraph/scream you leave me, and I hope you'll continue to keep doing that. The last few chapters have been pretty intense, and it doesn't stop here. I hope you enjoy where we're going and hopefully don't want to kill me with a fork for any suspense you're left in (I'm sorry that keeps happening with the cliffhangers they're unintentional I swear).
So here's the newest chapter!
Disclaimer: Still not mine, obviously.
RUNNING BLIND
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Watching the RV speed down the dirt road from which they came, its battered back patterned with bullet holes gradually disappearing beyond the dusty horizon, Beth subtly breathed a sigh of relief and let her eyes slide shut.
"Well," Jake remarked with a cruel laugh, "Would you get a load of that! They just dumped your sorry asses and left ya! How's that feel?"
Opening her eyes, Beth turned back to face him and hardened her demeanour.
"They're too smart to let themselves get captured by you," she said.
"But not smart enough to get you out of it as well. Come on, Negan's waiting for us to deliver. Something's better than nothin' at least."
"Drop your weapons," one of the Saviors ordered, and Mark and Matty clung to their knives.
Abraham and Aaron exchanged a glance and Lilly kept her eyes fixed on Beth, silently willing her to do what was asked.
Beth saw Lilly's silent plea.
"Do what they say," she said to Mark and Matty, who looked at her strangely for a moment before reluctantly handing their knives over to the Savior that came to take them.
Jake walked closer to Beth then and held out his hand for the pickaxe. Biting down on her tongue, Beth reached behind her and pulled out Molly's beloved Hilda, placing it in his hands and then reaching to unstrap the gun holster at her waist. Once he'd got them, he turned to put them in the back of one of their trucks, but he'd failed to become aware of the bolt that still resided, tucked inside Beth's boot. He came back then with three strips of tough cloth, and tugged Beth's hands up in front of her and wound one of the cloths around her wrists, securing it with a tight double knot. They did the same to Mark and Matty, also stuffing gags in their mouths like Lilly, Aaron, and Abraham, but when they went to do the same to Beth, Jake stopped them.
"That won't be necessary with her," he said, his tone eerie and quiet, "I wanna hear what she says. Plus . . . She's smarter than we think. She knows not to try anything that'd result in anyone here getting hurt . . . It's not like there's another RV she can make them drive away in."
Her brows quirked slightly.
He knew she'd wanted them to drive away.
How? How had he known that?
She stared at him with careful eyes and he gestured for him to follow him. He led her past Lilly, Aaron, and Abraham, and she passed Lilly a quick nod as she walked by, then climbed into the front passenger seat of car Jake wanted her to get in. When she was sat in with her bound hands laid on her lap, Jake got in the driver's seat and put his foot down on the ignition, prompting the other vehicles to follow behind.
They drove along up the road in the opposite direction that the RV had taken, and Beth found her gaze wandering back and mentally worrying if they'd gotten away without running into more trouble.
"So," he spoke up, "How is it that a little girl like you came to be in charge of a big group like that? With men that look to be way stronger than you in it too?"
She frowned in slight bewilderment.
"What gives you the impression that I'm in charge?" she asked, a wind blowing in through the smashed open window and catching the flyaway hairs and the knotty chunk of fringe beside her cheeks.
He smirked knowingly, "You can try to deny it, but it won't work. One of your friends told me you were the leader. I just wanna know how that came to happen."
Beth scrunched up her lips.
Lilly must have invented that tale for some reason. But why? What was she thinking by saying that? What did she think could come possibly out of it . . . ? Then she suppressed a smile.
"That's right," she said eventually, "I am in charge."
She figured it would be easier to keep up the rouse and keep him curious, seeing as he might not want to kill her as much if he was so interested in how a girl like her had won the loyalty and respect of so many. If he wanted to know just why they called her leader.
I'd follow you.
"That's better, no more lying. Honesty is always the best, especially when trying to earn the trust of a stranger. Ya have to rely on that in this world now—the honesty of strangers."
"So the same has to apply to you. Don't lie to me either."
He snorted.
"Your tone's got an air of authority about it, girl. Guess that's part of how you came to be in charge."
Don't do anythin' stupid, Daryl's voice whispered.
Be clever.
She grinned inwardly.
Oh, I can be clever.
"Why do you want Daryl and Rosita?" she asked, "You already had Abraham and Aaron, Lilly too, but you were still willing to trade them all for just two people. Even without me in the equation, you still would've traded three for just two. Why?"
He passed her a quick glance.
". . . We got a history with these people," he said, "They killed a lot of our guys. Daryl especially. He blew up Bud's gang on the road with a fuckin' bazooka. Then the lot of 'em snuck into one of our compounds and slit everyone's throats in their sleep. Yet we're the bad guys for retaliating to that?"
Beth's eyebrows rose.
"They did that? Killed them in their sleep?"
"They sure did. Killed Paula and her guys before she could do a hostage exchange too. Slit their throats. Stabbed their heads. Burned them alive. That's what Rick Grimes and his people can do. Would you have let 'em seek safe passage in your RV if ya knew that about them?"
He doesn't know your history with them.
You can use that.
Use anything you can use.
"That's horrible," she said, staring out at the road ahead through the windscreen, "I'm sorry."
"What're you sorry for? You didn't murder them in their sleep."
"No . . . But I'm sorry you lost them. It's awful that you had to lose the people you care about just because other people were thirsty for blood and carnage."
Jake passed her another look, the perverse sinister quality from before seemingly melting away ever so slightly to be replaced with a touched surprise.
The Daryl in Beth's mind grinned at his gullible reaction to her acting.
"Negan won't hurt you, ya know." he said then, hands gripping the steering wheel tight, "As long as you don't piss him off or threaten him . . . He won't."
"I'll try and appeal to his good side," Beth replied, flashing a knowing smile, and Jake's brows rose again in surprise.
Dwight was right, the snappy part of her spoke up.
You do call the shots; fuck shit up in a discrete way. You've got the act down to perfection. You act like you don't know what you're doing, but you do. You can't keep pretending you're blind to what you do. You've been doing it from the start. Sitting there quietly, just listening, noting everything down, filing it away . . . Then you use it to your advantage when the right time comes.
Sometimes you improvise too, like with getting Dawn into a distraction.
When you ran into her in that hallway, you just had to drop in that: "Joan was looking for you." Then she headed straight to Gorman's office, where the two of them were waiting with snapping jaws, all because of your innocent little suggestion.
She could pretend all she liked, but she'd somehow managed to capture the art of careful manipulation and use her sweet blonde demeanour as a means of misleading. Then when they thought they knew her game, she switched it around last minute and left them naked and sobbing in the dirt. That's what made it all the more ruthless.
You're the one that wanted to learn.
"I think you will be able to do that," Jake nodded, "If you're lucky, he might even like you. Then you've basically got everything in the palms of your hands."
"What happens if he likes me?"
Another innocent question, in that same sickly sweet tone, but the implication was somewhat sinister.
"If he likes you . . ." Jake started, "He'll make it adamantly clear that he does. Then you'll be offered a place in his line of bitches."
"You mean like a harem of wives?" she asked, remembering Dwight's words.
"Exactly like that. It's a positive and a negative really. Ya get a hell of a protection, food, safety from the other men in the camp . . . But."
Beth waited for him to continue.
"But . . . You'd have to suffer lettin' him have his fill of you on a regular basis."
How about it, Bethy?
We gonna work something out?
"What happens if you refuse?"
"He respects your choice, but any chance of protection or having an influence on any kind of decision he makes is out the window. Dwight, a man I used to know—he disappeared a while ago, probably dead now—his wife chose to become one of the whores, and now she calls the shots behind his brain sometimes."
Beth tried to mask her recognition of Dwight's name and at the mention of Sherry. "Is she still alive?"
"Oh yeah. Negan takes good care of his 'wives'. Don't let anyone lay so much as a finger on 'em. Sherry's perfectly well and protected."
She smiled mentally. So Sherry was alive? Alive and well it seemed, still ensnared by the shackles of Negan, but alive nonetheless. If only she could pinpoint Dwight and tell him the news, but he'd quite literally disappeared from the scene. Along with Morgan, Shepherd, and Tanaka.
Wherever they were, as long as they didn't show up where they could run the risk of being shot on sight—say, Negan's camp—then they should be fine.
". . . What's gonna happen to my friends?"
"The ones followin' behind that're being held hostage? Or the ones that got away in the RV?"
"Both."
He tapped his fingers against the wheel and chewed on the inside of his cheek, and Beth felt bubbles of irritation stirring in her stomach, so she bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from pressing for an answer.
Remember what kind of game you're playing on right now.
"The woman from your group should be fine," he answered finally, "Negan's funny about that kind of thing, but the two guys from Rick's group might have a harder time getting a pass. But I'm guessin' ya aren't as concerned with those two, seeing as you've heard what those people can do now."
"Will he kill them? Negan?"
"Depends if he thinks he can use 'em. He might find something he can make them do, but if not . . . Yeah. They're as good as dead 'cause of what they've done."
Beth twirled her wrists against the harsh cloth binding them and scrunched up her nose.
"What about my people in the RV?" she asked, "Will you go after them?"
"Well they ain't exactly done anything that would piss Negan off, so we won't go chasing after them unless they give us a reason to. If they stay away, so will we."
Breathing a sigh of relief inwardly, Beth stopped shifting her wrists and leaned back against the chair, silently willing Edwards and the rest to keep as far away as possible.
"But Daryl is in there," he continued, and Beth's pulse quickened, "And we can't let him go free, so if your people don't come back anytime soon . . . We'll have no choice but to go looking for them, and I can't guarantee who lives and who dies if they put up any resistance in handing him over."
Beth swallowed her panic.
If that wasn't a problem enough, there was also the problem of the missing Dwight and the others, and she hoped to god that they'd stay away too. If she could just get out of this with Lilly, Aaron, and Abraham . . . Then what would they do? Regroup with the RV? Round up Dwight and the others?
Find Rick?
Thanks for the help.
If she wanted to do this, and really do it, there was only one way to do it, and she couldn't afford to drag Rick into it without proper reason. Not unless it came to that. So swallowing her anxiety, she produced a grim frown and turned to face Jake.
You said you could take care of yourself.
I can.
"Will I be able to talk to Negan? Alone?"
Jake gave her a look.
"And say what?"
"Negotiate. Try convince him to let us go. Let Rick's people go back to him, and let me and Lilly go back to ours. Easy. Nobody else dies."
"It's not that simple, darlin',"
"But it could be."
"You're in way out of your depth, girl." he said, tilting his head to face her, "You may think you're hot stuff just 'cause you're in charge of those people, but in Negan's turf . . . You're just a little girl. Ya can't talk your way into saving people, no matter how convincing ya might think you are, and you can't fight your battles with just words."
She craned her head to rest against her shoulder and produced a veiled, stoic expression which he didn't understand, and she didn't intend him to.
I can always try something else, if talking doesn't work.
Don't, Daryl murmured. Remember how it went with Dawn. Stop getting ahead of yourself with your strength; stop throwin' yourself into the fire without a heat-proof vest on. You're tough, but you're not that person. You're not Rick.
What's stopping me from being that?
You're not. Please, Beth, you're not . . . Don't do this.
There would always come a time one should stop listening to the voice in one's head and stop letting man's influence reflect the decision that needed to be made, and Beth had stopped listening to that voice for a while now, only this time was the first time she found the strength to be defiant and say . . . No.
You made me into this.
"Let me talk to him," she said, traces of a perhaps over-confident smile tugging at her lips, "I just wanna talk. Surely the great Negan can handle talking to a little girl?"
The voice was silent.
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"Hey,"
Aaron and Abraham's heads tilted up at the sound of Lilly's quiet hiss.
The captured trio was huddled in close proximity at the back of one of the Savior vans, and Lilly's gag had gradually fallen out to rest on her collar, enabling speech once more. Her hands and ankles were still bound, but at least with the new addition of speech, she could now communicate with the two men beside her.
"I don't know how much you know about Negan and these people," she whispered, "But from what I've gathered, you've got a history with them, and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on Daryl. That right so far?"
Aaron nodded.
"Now as for Beth. You heard what I said to them back there, I told them she was our leader, and whatever you know—or think you know—about her apart from that, I want you to forget it."
Abraham crinkled his brow at that, and Lilly explained.
"You're with Rick. You know her as the girl who died from a shot to the head; who you left behind and never saw again. These people. The Saviors. They can't know that. If they do, they've got leverage over us. Over her. And I might not know them as well as you, but do I know that they'll use that knowledge to make sure they win. They'll use it to take us all down."
The man's scarlet brow smoothed and he nodded in understanding.
Lilly continued.
"We can't let them know that. We have to trust her. I told them she was in charge because I trust her, and yeah I didn't plan on her getting captured along with us, but I do believe she can get us out of this. I don't know how well the two of you know her, or if you even know her at all apart from what you've heard from your group . . . But I know her, and I know she can do this. She's never let us down before."
Beth saved people.
Good people, bad people, in the end, they were all the same to her. There were no good or bad people anymore. Things weren't that black and white now. You had to read between the lines to truly understand. Search in the grey. Beth might not think that much of her own ability to do that, but Lilly and the others recognised that within her instantly, because that's who she was.
Not long ago, Steven had told her to believe in Beth. Believe in her strength and what she could do. And Lilly hadn't understood that at first, not really, but there was something she'd seen when the girl had broken out of her captivity and come after her and Gregg with a shard of glass.
There was something sharp in her, like glass, that glimmered away behind the veil of soft blonde. Something fierce, and capable, but subtle and tucked away deep. She knew where to poke people with a knife, and how hard to do it.
Any further dialogue Lilly could speak was cut off by the truck slamming into something hard and throwing the three of them into the side, and the vehicle spun onto its side and collapsed in a huge, painful crumple.
She groaned and lifted her head from where it had fallen against the wall of the truck and coughed, wriggling in her restrains and feeling the binds loosening. With a few more rough wriggles, the binds were off and her hands were free, and she made quick work of the ones at her ankles then crawled over to where Aaron and Abraham were sprawled on the other end of the vehicle. They too groaned and bit hard against the gags in their mouths, and Lilly reached over and tugged the thick cloths away so they could speak, before then moving to untie their bindings.
"Thank fuckin' finally," Abraham wheezed at the eventual removal of his gag and coughed, "What the bitch just happened?"
He lifted his now-free-hands and rubbed his sore wrists, shaking his head fiercely to kick some life back into himself.
Aaron's vocabulary was far less crude when she removed his gag, him simply taking a deep breath and whispering a genuine thank you. She smiled and nodded, and once they were all freed from their confines, Lilly steadied her wobbly legs and pulled herself up, hands on the wall for support. The two men followed her suit and followed her staggering to the now-sideways truck hatch, and helped her gradually push it open.
Light poured into the van when it was open enough for them to fit through, and Lilly crawled through the gap and collapsed onto her back in the dirt outside.
The van had crashed into a tree on the side of the road and was smoking with smoke and flames. The driver's compartment was completely crushed and anyone sitting there was one hundred percent likely dead. There were no other Savior vehicles around from what she could see, theirs at the rear of the formation, and she sat up sluggishly to try to get a better view of her surroundings.
"Lilly?"
Lilly craned her head in the direction of the voice to see a man beyond the white spots in her vision, standing beside a cluster of others by the front of the crash.
Blinking away the haziness of her vision and dizzy feeling in her head, she choked out a gasp when she realised that she knew who the man was.
". . . Dwight?"
Aaron and Abraham exchanged bewildered glances whilst Lilly crawled pathetically and Dwight darted to meet her.
He got down on his knees and put a hand on her shoulder, his one working eye wide with surprise and relief. She coughed, spitting a shot of blood onto the ground by her hands and looked up at him with glazed eyes.
"You . . ." she panted, "You made the truck crash . . ."
"What the fuck were you doin' in there?" he asked, helping her up and pulling her arm around his neck, casting tense glances across at Aaron and Abraham, "And who're these two?"
The people he was with—who Lilly now saw were Morgan, Shepherd, and Tanaka—raised their guns at the men, but Lilly rose a hand and shook rapidly her bleeding head.
"No!" she yelled, "They're with Rick! They're not Saviors . . . They're with . . ."
She felt her body sagging against Dwight and her eyes slid closed, and he wound his arms around her waist to keep her upright.
"They're with Rick . . ."
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Author's Corner
Feels like Beth's getting a tiny bit too confident again if you ask me... Quite similar to Rick before he met Negan, don't you think? (uh oh)
Also just thought I should add that this fic takes place before the Lucille line-up in the season six finale, meaning everyone who was in the line-up is currently still alive at the moment. Don't forget to let me know what you thought of the chapter! Especially since everyone is now accounted for, with Dwight and the others being MIA for a little while. See why I have the three POV's (Beth, Edwards, Lilly) now? We get to see three locations now, through three different people.