After a very long time I've returned to this story. I've re-watched season 7 over the past week and was inspired all over again. I've no idea if anyone's still interested but if you are...thanks for reading and please let me know what you think. Not much happens as I'm still trying to figure it all out again.
Walk a straight line through the bend
Essie had no idea where she was or where she was heading. The car only had a quarter of a tank left. She'd floored it until she could no longer see the smoke and then kept going until she was certain no one could catch up.
Pulling up on the verge, she leant her head on the steering wheel fully aware that the adrenaline was wearing off. Essie took stock of what she had: a machine gun with less than half a clip, an empty revolver, a knife. She got out of the car, opened the back and smiled.
Everywhere you looked were saviours working desperately to put out the remnants of the fire as the clear up began. Negan stood over the body of Fat Joey, staring into the middle distance, oblivious to the managed chaos surrounding him. Numerous saviours were dead, a car and bike had been taken, a fire had nearly taken out the entire southern wing but all of that paled into insignificance next to the fact Essie had escaped and Daryl was gone. Negan wasn't used to losing, it was not sitting well with him at all. He knew Daryl would probably slink back to Alexandria, a problem easily solved. But Essie…goddamn it. He wondered if they'd escaped together but dismissed that idea, there was no link, just a coincidence.
"How'd she get out?" he asked Dwight.
"Looks like she broke the lock and made her way through to the south exit." Dwight thought it best to keep the explanation short and waited for Negan to respond.
"Call a session and bring me the guard who was meant to be on duty…stoke up the fire," and he walked away.
There were 3 guns, ammunition, bottles of water and food, at least enough for a couple of days, more if she was careful. She could disappear and think about her next move, she just needed time to plan.
The relief at seeing Daryl at Hilltop was something Rick'd never felt before. The strength they all had when they were together fanned the flames of hope Michonne had given him. They could do this.
They sat down to eat, all together for the first time since Glen and Abraham's death; it was different, sadder, quieter, but they were there and they were breathing. Rick filled them in on the most recent events in Alexandria including the death of Spencer and kidnapping of Eugene.
"Where's Essie?" asked Maggie, "did she stay in Alexandria?" Rick shook his head.
"We haven't seen her since all this began, she never came back from her scouting trip." Michonne said quietly, nobody looked at Daryl.
"Who's that?" asked Jesus suddenly.
"Another of our group…she said she'd be gone 10 days at most but no-one's seen her for a while." Tara said when none of the others seemed about to speak.
"What she look like?" Jesus asked and the others looked up from wherever their minds were.
"About my height, red hair." said Maggie.
"British? Kicks like a mule? Dangerous?" he asked and was surprised when everyone else started shouting questions at him.
"I met a woman called Essie when I was in the compound. She said she was escaping. Took out a couple of saviours without breaking a sweat." he answered.
"How long'd she been there?" asked Rick.
"I don't know, I was only with her for 5 minutes. She looked…thin…but it was dark. She had no problem taking me down." he looked at the faces round the table and couldn't understand what was happening. Daryl held his head so low it was impossible to tell what he was feeling.
"Did she make it out of there?" Michonne asked.
"I don't know. Like I said I was only with her for a few minutes."
Everyone looked startled when Daryl violently pushed his chair back and left.
"Who is she?" Jesus asked.
"Someone we need." Rosita said.
She'd been there, she'd been right there and he'd not even known. Again, he'd not been able to help her, save her. Daryl paced up and down by the portakabins. He'd thought about her when he was in that cell, when the memory of Abraham and Glen had become too much, when the guilt had threatened to overwhelm him. He'd imagined her out in the woods, free and safe; he'd thought about her sitting on her sofa, smoking a cigarette, arguing with Rick, glistening in the night. And all the time she'd been in that fucking place. Daryl knew, just like him, she wouldn't have knelt, she wouldn't have given in, but he also knew they were different. He'd retreated into himself, years of learned behaviour forced back into service but he knew Essie could never retreat; she'd have fought back with everything she had…But…but she'd made it out, Jesus said he'd seen her escaping. Where the fuck was she?
"Where the fuck is she?" raged Negan. Dwight kept his head down; they'd been out all day, driving the roads trying to find any sign of the woman who'd killed so many of their own, set fire to the compound and defied Negan at every turn. Even now Dwight wasn't sure if Negan would kill her when they got her back.
"Get the fuck back out there and bring her to me. Where the fuck is the bullet maker?" and he stalked off leaving Dwight to breathe a short-lived sigh of relief.
Essie drove as far as the car could take her and then rolled it into a small pond. Walking into the woods, she felt at home. When the sky began to darken, she made camp in a small clearing, feeling safe enough to light a fire. Her pack was heavy with the supplies from the car and her shoulder was hurting; she ached for a cigarette. The woods were quiet but not so quiet as to be a concern, it was as if she was the only one left in the whole world.
You always said you wanted to be alone.
I'm not sure that's true anymore. I feel…lonely.
What are you going to do?
I don't know. I just…don't know. I can't go home; Christ I don't even know if home's still there. I don't even know where I am or what direction to go.
What do you want?
I want to find some allies.
Good choice sister.
Thanks Lawrence.
Before first light, Essie headed west and deeper into the woods. The trees closed behind her as if she'd never been there. She had no idea how far she travelled in those first two days, carefully marking her way to ensure she wasn't going in circles. Walkers became few and far between the further in she went, animals and birds seemed even more startled than usual when she disturbed them. She felt the world was reverting back to a time before humans had arrived. She tried not to think about any of the others, she'd either see them again or she wouldn't; her only task right now was to find people to help get her what she needed. Nothing else mattered.
On the third day, she smelt wood smoke and walked a couple of miles to higher ground to see what she could see. However, the woods were too dense and so she headed downhill.
When Daryl found Carol, he couldn't bring himself to tell her about Glen or Abraham or anything else, he needed someone who didn't know, who still looked at him the same as before. There was little comfort in it but a little comfort was all he needed. He didn't know if he'd see her again and it didn't really matter; he was ready to fight and die with the others even if they were on their own. He walked through the gate and headed back to Hilltop the next morning.
Essie shaded her eyes against the sun but all she could see were the trees. She made her silent way, listening carefully for anything out of the ordinary. She'd stopped by a stream to refill her water bottle when she heard people approaching. Quickly disappearing between the trees, she watched as they approached. A woman and a younger man, both carrying weapons and wearing what looked like sports equipment as armour, stopped by the same stream, making enough noise to attract the attention of anything nearby. Essie waited for them to move on; surely, they'd heard the walkers approaching? When it was clear they hadn't, she dropped her pack and stepped in.
The man was filling a bottle in the stream, chatting with the woman about the bumper crop of pumpkins ripening. Neither heard the three walkers until it was too late; two went for the woman who fell but managed to get her arm up in time to keep them from biting; the man fell head first into the stream with another walker on his back, drowning him. Essie didn't think but quickly despatched that one and then hauled one of the two still trying to take a chunk out of the woman and stabbed up through the throat and threw it to one side, with this help the woman was able to take out the other walker. Essie held out her hand and helped the woman to her feet, the man scrabbled out of the stream choking and spluttering
"Thank you! Oh geez, thank you." the man said, grabbing her hand and shaking it.
"Are you ok?" asked Essie, pulling her hand back before she got repetitive strain injury. The woman seemed a bit more reserved and Essie was pleased to see her hand resting on the gun at her hip.
"Yeah I'm fine…thanks to you. I thought I was gonna drown. Thank you." he said, grinning.
"Who are you?" the woman eyed her suspiciously.
"Essie"
"Where'd you come from?" the woman demanded.
"I've been travelling through the woods since I got separated from my group a couple of weeks ago," lied Essie, easily. She'd decided she wanted to see what these people had to offer, if they had a big enough camp she might be able to persuade them to help, if they were useless or dangerous she could deal with them and move on, "I ran out of water and was just filling my bottle when I heard you approach. I'm running pretty low on food too."
"Is it just you?" asked the woman and Essie nodded.
"You got anything else on you?"
"Just my knife and a semi-automatic with about half a magazine left," Essie replied and hoped they didn't do a cursory search of the surrounding area and find her pack with the guns and ammunition from the car, they didn't.
"You'd better come back with us," the woman said, "thanks for the help," she added and Essie nodded.
She followed the two innocents about half a mile downhill until they came to a corrugated iron wall. Essie could hear the sound of a large settlement; people talking, laughing, even children. The man knocked on the gate and waited, turning to Essie and giving her a grin. Inwardly she shook her head at their naivety, even if the woman still had her hand on her gun they'd lead a complete stranger to the backdoor of their home, they'd not hidden the route or blindfolded her or even patted her down to see if she was telling the truth.
The gate opened and she walked through into a town with buildings, crops, men, women, children; there was an archery range where a girl with a prosthetic leg practiced with a bow, a large group of adults ran passed in a training formation, there even looked to be a school in the wooden gazebo.
"We're taking you to see the king," said the man and beckoned Essie to follow him. Essie, on high alert, registered the word 'king' but didn't ask. She'd just escaped from a group led by a man who'd named his baseball bat, calling yourself 'king' seemed almost normal. Her finely tuned senses were in overdrive, she memorised the route from the door but she wasn't getting the tingling feeling in her fingers that suggested something was off about this place…yet.
"Wait here," the woman said and went into a large building that looked for all the world like a theatre, the man stayed with her.
"Oh my, I didn't introduce myself," he said suddenly, "I'm Connor," and he gave a small bow. Essie worked hard to keep her face impassive.
"So…Connor…is there anything I should know about the king before I meet him?" she asked, carefully watching his reaction for anything guarded.
"No, but it might be good to know he's got a…" but before Connor could finish the woman returned.
"The king will receive you now," she said and ushered Essie into the darkened doorway.
She followed the woman into a theatre and was mildly gratified at her correct guess. What she saw next was something quite different.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the different lighting. She first saw the stage with the painted flats depicting a fairytale castle, then she saw a huge guy standing to one side with what looked like a double-headed axe and wearing a stage version of a medieval doublet. Then her eyes were drawn centre stage where, on a slightly raised platform and sitting on a large wooden throne, was a man with silver dreads holding a wooden staff in one hand and a chain in the other. At the end of the chain was a fully-grown tiger.
