A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.
I've hit a bit of a wall trying to follow the show season by season and, after this chapter, will be going a bit more into my AU. I will, of course, continue to use the show and even the comics as source material and will EVENTUALLY bring in Neegan (maybe even the Whisperers) but I want to explore some of my own world. I hope you'll still enjoy it!
Trigger warning for mention of rape, harm against children and cannibalism
Chapter 53-Bad Meat
"Get inside!" Daryl struggled to be heard over the rain and wind of the storm as he and Rick held open the door to the church. Dani and Andrea ran inside with the children and everyone quickly followed behind them. Dani ripped the soaked sheet that was covering Jesse and checked him over. He was ok, not crying but his skin was cold. Daryl pulled a blanket out of the backpack they'd taken from Terminus and covered both Dani and Jesse in it. Rick took Judith from Andrea and held her tight, so relieved his baby girl was ok. The rest of the group huddled together, trying to stay warm. The storm had come out of nowhere not long after they'd fled Terminus and in the dimly lit church, they could finally take stock at what they lost. Tyreese, Glenn and Taylor began securing the church, making sure they were truly alone. There was a locked door and Taylor could here movement in the room behind it.
"Could be walkers," he said and Tyreese nodded.
"Leave it be for now. Looks secure enough if they haven't broken down the door yet. I don't think we'll be staying here for long anyway. Some of those bastards might've made it out and we're not far enough away for this to be a long-term place." He turned to survey the group and the big man tried to keep his face from betraying the grief and loss. They'd lost another one, another friend, another family member. Because of that evil place that had claimed to be a sanctuary.
When they had arrived at Terminus, they had been greeted by people who seemed friendly enough and had even offered them food, meat that was cooking on a grill in a courtyard. The woman at the grill seemed friendly enough, until Rick hesitated and asked what they were cooking. Tyreese saw Daryl staring hard at a few of the Terminus residents and realized that one was wearing the armor that Glen had worn the day the prison fell while another was wearing the familiar poncho of Taylor's. Immediately, the mood changed and the woman's smile fell.
"We give everyone a choice here. Stay and be fed or stay and be food." The group had quickly drawn their weapons but more Terminus residents appeared in sniper positions on the roof. The snipers quickly fired down, not at the group but just at their feet. The group turned to run but they all quickly realized as more shots came from a different direction that they were being herded. They were stopped outside of a collection of old train boxcars by five men. One stepped forward and put his hand on the door to the nearest boxcar.
"Drop your weapons and get inside. If you don't, we kill the boy and we'll kill the people you left in the cabin up the road." Rick lowered his gun and the others did the same, allowing themselves to be loaded into the boxcar. Inside were Alice, Maggie, Glenn and Taylor. Maggie filled in the group as to their situation: Terminus was a sanctuary for those who agreed to participate in cannibalism. Gareth, the man who had put them in the boxcar, and his mother, the woman at the grill, had been with a group of survivors that were raided by another group of men that had trapped everyone in the boxcars. They took the children away the first night and the next day, the raiders were eating meat when they came back to the boxcars. They called the women "food breeders" and over several days violently raped them while taking the men away to be "harvested". Gareth and others had somehow overpowered the raiders, trapped them in the boxcars and then began to harvest pieces of them in retaliation.
Dylan's crying for Abraham shook Tyreese back to the present. Andrea was trying to soothe the little boy but she was swallowing her own tears. When she and Dani had heard the gunfire, she'd left Dani with the kids in the cabin, armed herself and made her way down to Terminus. From the fence she could see the gunmen on the roof and the armed people in the courtyard. Suddenly across the courtyard she saw Rick, Daryl, Abraham, Tyreese, Glenn and Taylor being led into another building with their hands on their heads. She lined up her gun with a man on the corner of the roof and fired. The man fell back onto the roof. Andrea waited and, seeing no reaction, began looking for another target. She saw the propane tank and lined up her scope with the cap. All that time at the farm with Shane riding her about her shooting ability, accidentally shooting Daryl in the head, the practicing at Woodbury, the target practice at the prison with Abraham with his arms gently around her as he talked softly in her ear….it all flooded her brain as she pulled the trigger. It was a direct hit and she knew the gas was hissing because the nearby Terminus people started towards it. She waited a brief moment, letting those people with guns get a little closer, and then fired again. The explosion and fireball surprised her and she lost her footing. The screams from the burning people in the yard filled her ears. The explosion had brought down the fence and the walkers on the other side flooded the yard.
"Andrea," she looked up at Rick. "Are you ok?" She didn't trust herself to speak and she nodded. She would cry when Dylan finally went to sleep.
Daryl finally sat down next to Dani and took Jesse. The baby boy showed no sign of fear or wonder and his little face was serious. In not even three months of his life, he'd been taken from the safe home he'd been born in, gone on the run and then watched as his mother had killed people who wanted to…Daryl couldn't think about that. He had been close to that himself. Gareth had led the men into a large room that smelled like the slaughterhouse Daryl had worked in when he was sixteen. He surveyed the room quickly and saw a large trough in the center of the room. Blood stained the floor and a man in a clear apron used a hose to wash the fresh blood down the drain. The sound of a saw snapped his head to a corner and he saw another man in a clear apron cutting the leg off of a human body lying on the table. The sight startled Daryl enough that he had slowed down, earning a shove from one of the guards.
"Get moving cow." Daryl narrowed his eyes and was partially glad he was gagged so he couldn't say what he wanted and possibly make this worse. He and the rest of his brothers were pushed to their knees in front of the trough. He looked down the line. He was between Glenn and Abraham. Rick was on the end next to Taylor with Tyreese between Taylor and Abraham. Daryl had flexed his wrists and forearms when he was bound so his bonds weren't as tight but he couldn't make a move to loosen them further with the guards directly behind him. Another door opened and another group of six bound and gagged men were herded in the room. Daryl's heart sank when he recognized two survivors from the prison, a man his age named Chuck and a younger kid named Neil. Nerdy kid with glasses, the glasses now broken and barely on his face. He was pale, skinny and had loved to sit in the prison library and read. His parents had died right before Taylor and Glenn had found him hiding in the basement of their house. The kid was smart, had said he was first in his senior class before the walkers and Janet, a former teacher herself, had assigned him the younger kids in the school she had organized in Cellblock D. Chuck and his partner had come from Woodbury. He'd worked on Bill and Bobby's fence crew while his partner Warren worked the fence. Warren had most likely been one of those that had been killed when the Governor attacked. A couple other men in the group wore biker gear, had wild eyes and were struggling and screaming against their bonds and gags. Daryl didn't get a good look at the others but his eyes met Neil's. The kid's tearstained face went from fear, to hope when he saw Daryl. When Daryl looked away, he could hear the kid's choked sobs. He looked back down and saw that Chuck was trying to silently comfort the kid. He looked at Daryl and nodded in recognition before holding his head up and staring at the Terminus guards. Gareth held a heavy metal bat and began to walk back and forth in front of the trough.
"Well, well, well. Twelve little piggies all in a row," He pointed his bat at each man kneeling in front of the trough. "We've got quite a selection here. What do you think Albert?" He nudged the man standing next to him. "We've got white meat," he pointed the bat at Chuck. "We've got dark meat," he swung his bat around and pointed it at Taylor who Daryl heard very distinctly yell "Fuck you" at Gareth. "We've got taco meat," he pointed at an older Hispanic man on the other side of Glenn. "We've even got some sweet and sour pork." He stopped walking and stood right in front of Glenn, his smile widening. Glenn looked at him in defiance. Gareth chuckled in amusement before turning to the man next to him.
"So? What do you think Albert?" Albert nodded at one of the other guards who moved behind Neil at the end. The boy closed his eyes and was visibly shaking. Daryl heard muffled yelling from the line behind him as Abraham began trying to yell around his gag. He heard additional muffled voices from Taylor, Tyreese and even Rick as they struggled. Daryl locked eyes with Neil. The boy was sobbing, terrified. Next to him, Chuck squeezed his eyes shut but it didn't stop the tears running down his cheeks. The guard behind Neil turned the kid's head to face down into the trough.
"Why don't we start with appetizers before the main course?" Gareth laughed.
"An excellent idea!" He nodded at the guard who immediately brought his bat down into Neil's head. Neil's glasses clattered in the trough before another guard yanked his head back and slit his neck. Neil's blood sprayed across the trough and the guard dropped his now limp body down, letting the blood flow. Daryl could only focus on the kid's bloodstained glasses that sat in the middle of the river of blood that got larger as the guards moved down the line to Chuck.
"Daryl?" Dani's voice brought him back to the present. He was cold and he cradled his son's warm body against his chest. Jesse pulled his head away and reached up his hand to Daryl's mouth. Daryl kissed him and smiled at the boy.
Dani watched the two interact and thought of the cabin after Andrea left. She hadn't been gone long when a car pulled up out front. Dani had put Dylan, Judith and Jesse in the corner behind the couch. Dylan carefully held Jesse in one arm and tried to keep a happy and babbling Judith from pulling herself up to follow Dani with the other. Dani armed herself with the heavy iron fireplace poker from the cabin's fireplace. She didn't want to use the gun if she didn't have to. She heard the distinct squawk of a walkie talkie.
"Will, you copy?" The responding voice was clear and just outside the door of the cabin.
"Yeah, I'm here." The walkie beeped and then the voice came back.
"We've got 'em. Get the others."
"10-4 Gareth." Dani stood ready as the man knocked politely on the door. "You might as well come out. I know you're in there." Dani didn't respond and she saw the doorknob slowly turning. She turned her body to hide the poker behind her as the door slowly pushed inward and a tall man with a shaggy goatee walked in. He smiled when he saw her.
"They left you here by yourself?" She didn't answer. "C'mon, you might as well tell me where the little ones are. We watched all of you come in here." He looked around the room and nodded towards the couch. "They're back there aren't they? I already looked in the back window and the bedroom is empty. You wouldn't hide them where you couldn't get to them would you?" He started to walk towards the couch and Dani stepped in front of him, raising the poker with both hands. He sighed.
"Dammit. I told that idiot to take that with us when we set this place up. Ah well. Guess that makes this a little fairer." He pulled a bowie knife from the sheath on his belt. "You know, you shouldn't have little ones out here. They're just bait waiting to die." At that moment, Judith walked around the couch. Still cradling Jesse, Dylan reached for her and whispered for her to wait. Distracted, the man started towards the kids and Dani swung the poker, catching him with the sharp end square in the temple. He dropped the knife and turned to Dani as she wrenched the weapon free from his skull. She rotated the poker and shoved the weapon through his jaw straight up into his brain. He gurgled as blood filled his throat, his face going blank as he dropped to his knees, the pressure forcing the weapon further into his head. Dani hurried to close the door and ran to Dylan. The little boy was numb to all the things he'd seen. She remembered when she'd first met him, his twin brother and his parents on the road to Macon. The boys were five then and Abigail had made it her responsibility to watch them. Now, Dani, Dylan and Taylor were the only ones left of that original group. She hoped Taylor was still alive. She couldn't bring herself to think of Daryl.
"Dylan, can you carry Jesse?" Dylan nodded and stood, cradling the baby against his shoulder. Dani scooped up Judith and ran out the front door. The car door was open and the keys in the ignition. Dani put the kids in the backseat, Dylan holding tight to Jesse. Judith climbed off the seat and sat on the floor in front of him, still babbling like nothing had happened. Dani checked on Jesse who was still alert but quiet, his face as serious as Daryl's. He was ok and was holding on to Dylan like a baby chimpanzee. She shut the back door and started to get in the front seat when she heard the explosion. She saw the black smoke rising through the trees and quickly got in the car to drive towards Terminus.
Rick finally sat down on one of the pews, his mind refusing to slow down. He was aware the Carl was next to him and he could hear Judith somewhere in the room. She was babbling and walking around, completely oblivious to the change in her surroundings. He vaguely remembered that she was now a year old. He'd thought about her and Carl when he was kneeling in front of that trough. As the guards made their way down the line, executing the men starting with Neil and then Chuck, Rick struggled against his bonds. He could feel his hands getting loose. Taylor was next to him and he was obviously working his way free. He couldn't see Daryl or Glenn and both Tyreese and Abraham were struggling. The guards had taken their eyes off of them as they worked down the line, bashing the heads of the men before slitting their throats and dropping their bodies into the trough to bleed out. They finally got to Glenn. The guard paused for a second and looked at Gareth.
"Did you hear that?" Gareth started to respond when an explosion shook the building and blew out the windows. Daryl took that moment to get to his feet and tackle the guard, his hands free of his bonds. Abraham joined him and the two men subdued the three guards. Abraham grabbed a knife and began to free the others while Daryl picked up a gun and began to fire after Gareth, Albert and the other fleeing Termites. The screams from the yard outside got louder. Rick could hear the walker moans intermixed and knew the fence was down. More gunshots rang out and Rick knew that either Andrea or Dani was outside. The group armed themselves with the guns hanging on the wall and headed out into the courtyard, back to Michonne, Carl, Alice and Maggie.
Maggie lay her head on Glenn's shoulder. She was so tired but she was afraid to sleep. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept. Her eyes were heavy now and she struggled to keep them open but couldn't. She heard it again: the explosion, the gunshots, the yelling and screams from the Terminus residents. She and Michonne had been struggling to open the boxcar door since they'd taken the men. One of the crates in the boxcar held a few tools and they were using the crowbar to try to pry open the latch. Alice helped Carl stack the remaining crates. He climbed to the top of the stack and was using the claw end of a hammer to open the hatch in the roof. When they heard the explosions, they worked even faster. They had to get to the group and get out. They heard footsteps approaching outside and backed away from the door, their tools readied as weapons. The door rolled open and Maggie jumped into Glenn's arms.
"C'mon!" he said and they joined the rest of the group. They ran through the courtyard, saw walkers approaching and went through an open door. They closed the door behind them and found themselves in a room lit by candles. Names were written on the walls and ceiling, backpacks, clothing, shoes and other personal items were spread across the floor. Alice picked up a backpack and began shoving things inside.
"This is the time to stock up! Hurry!" Maggie, Carl, Glenn and Taylor also grabbed bags and began shoving clothing, shoes, blankets, food, and anything else that appeared to be useful. Daryl handed Maggie a blanket and baby clothes. She squeezed his hand as she took them and shoved them in her own backpack knowing he was thinking of Jesse and Judith back at the cabin and hoped they were ok. The bags full, they strapped on their backpacks and ran out of the room towards sunlight.
Taylor sat down in front of the altar of the church and looked up at the crucifix. Where was Jesus now, he wondered to himself. Where was God? Definitely not with them when they were running through the back yard of Terminus, dodging walkers and the bullets of the Termites behind them. He was next to Abraham, running as hard as he could, his lungs burning from the smoke of the fire. Abraham yelled, "Andrea!". Taylor looked and saw Andrea in the woods, waving them over. She began yelling and Taylor saw the walker heading towards them. Abraham stepped in front of Taylor to take it out but missed the walker laying on the ground. He fell and screamed as the walker sank it's teeth into his side. Taylor killed both walkers and helped Abraham to his feet and they caught up with the rest of the group. They followed Andrea through the woods to the road and heard a car just around the bend. They froze and dropped down before seeing Dani behind the wheel. She stopped and got out of the car, telling Dylan to stay put. She met Alice and Taylor first.
"You made it!" She hugged Taylor and then Alice.
"Are you alright? Is everyone.." Taylor trailed off. She nodded.
"Dylan, Judith and Jesse are in the car." Taylor sighed in relief and then remembered Abraham. The man was sitting on the ground gritting his teeth against the pain as Andrea inspected his wound. The walker had bit deep into his side and Taylor could see the red and purple swelling from it as it spread. Abraham was already sweating. He looked down and laughed.
"Well darlin, I guess this is how my story ends." Andrea struggled to control her emotions and looked up at Rick. Rick kneeled down by Abraham and inspected the wound. He looked at Abraham.
"I'm sorry." Abraham smiled.
"Don't worry. It is what it is." He looked past Andrea at the car. "Let me say goodbye to Dylan." Daryl went to the car, opened the door and took Jesse from Dylan. The little boy ran quickly to Abraham and embraced him.
"Abraham! Can we go home now please?" Taylor saw Abraham's face crumble as he held tight to the boy.
"Sorry son. I can't go with you." Dylan pulled away.
"Why not?" Abraham smiled sadly.
"I just can't. You go with Andrea and you keep her safe ok? Like you did at the house." Dylan nodded.
"Did they bite you?" Abraham nodded.
"Yeah they did son." Dylan gave him another hug and then backed away to Andrea. Taylor thought about how unfair it was that Dylan was losing another parent. The goodbyes were interrupted when they heard voices behind them.
"They had to go this way!" Abraham pulled himself to his feet and picked up his gun.
"Y'all get out of here! I'll distract them!" The group left the car and took off down the road, leaving Abraham behind in the setting sun.
Abraham woke from dreams of snarling walkers. He knew his fever was rising but he hadn't turned yet. His eyes adjusted slowly to realize he was inside a building and the snarling of the walkers was real. He looked around and saw them at the broken windows.
"Look at who's awake," Abraham turned and saw Gareth, squatting by a fire. After the group fled, Abraham fired shots in the direction of the voices of the Termites in the woods and then ran in the opposite direction of his group, making as much noise as possible. He knew they were closing in behind him. He didn't know how far he made it before he was hit over the head.
Now, he looked at Gareth and the others. Gareth picked up a piece of meat and proudly tore off a chunk.
"Thanks for dinner." Abraham saw that they had a makeshift grill in the center of the room with a leg on the grill cooking over the fire. He looked down and saw one of his legs had been severed and bandaged. The panic quickly turned to glee as he saw group eagerly eating pieces of his cooked leg. He began to laugh, a low chuckle quickly becoming near hysterical laughter. His body shook and he doubled over tears streaming down his cheeks. Gareth and the others exchanged looks.
"What's so funny?" Abraham composed himself and looked at Gareth.
"Bad meat," he began to giggle with glee and pulled up his shirt, revealing the angry bite in his side. Gareth and the others started to choke and gag which made Abraham howl with laughter.
"Bad meat! I'm baaaad meat!" He continued to laugh scream "Baaaaad meat!" until Gareth finally shot him in the head.