Alexandria

Jessica wasn't sure if the fighting between Merle and Daryl and RickyJo was over, but they had all left to go hunting together, so she figured that was a start. Sasha had taken the might watch in the tower the night before and had not come back for breakfast, so they told Bob they would check around for her while they were out. Disappearing was not exactly strange behavior for her since she lost her brother, so no one was ready to raise the alarm yet. If she wasn't back by lunch, Rick promised Bob they would get some people together and go out looking for her.

All this worked out well for Jessica, since it meant she got to watch her nephew, who had to be the most adorable baby she had ever seen. It had taken a little bribery on her part, but he now came right to her, instead of clinging to his mother with his thumb in his mouth. Beth had come over from next door with the little girl she took care of and they were planning to take the kids outside and let them go swimming in the baby pool. Desiree and Duane had left with Carl and Sammie to go across the street and play video games with Jessie's sons. The boys seemed to be recovering well after the loss of their father, and Jessica wondered how much they had been told about what happened to him. In case their mother had made up some other story, she had warned the kids not to bring up what happened by the bonfire.

RickyJo looked around the tower, but so many people came and went through this area, it was impossible to tell which footprints were Sasha's and when they were left there. She had warned the woman several times not to leave the walls by herself and if she was going to, she needed to at least tell someone where she was going and when she planned to be back. Or at least take a flare with her in case something happened. Sasha had refused to do any of this, so if she was stuck up a tree hiding from walkers, RickyJo figured it was her own fault. And she wasn't going to waste her whole morning looking for the woman either, she wanted to go hunting.

Merle looked at RickyJo, rolling his eyes at her back. She was supposed to be back at the house taking it easy, not out here, hunting boar. But of course she would hear none of that and if he didn't let her come along with him, she would have just found someone else to go with her. At least this way he could keep an eye on her. Daryl was not as concerned. They had been on the road and hunted together through her entire pregnancy with MJ. He knew she was fine. And he had seen her shoving some snacks into her pack, so she was doing part of what Rosita had told her, instead of ignoring the woman completely.

Daryl found a game trail and they followed it into the woods. On the way, RickyJo had bagged a couple of rabbits and tied them to her belt. Daryl didn't try for them, he was only interested in getting the animal he was tracking. And it wasn't long before they came upon a group of sleeping boars. Staying back, Merle motioned for RickyJo and Daryl to circle around in back of the animals. He could shoot them at any time with his rifle, but he wanted to let RickyJo and Daryl get in close enough to use their bows. One pig would be nice, but three fat pigs would hold them for a long time. They could have a pig roast with one of them and keep the other two for themselves. And Jessica knew how to brine and smoke the bellies to make bacon.

RickyJo walked carefully around the pigs, making sure not to step on any crunchy leaves or sitcks. She found a good position and strung and arrow in her bow, waiting for Daryl to get ready. Suddenly she felt herself being grabbed from behind. Her bow was yanked away from her and a hand was over her mouth. Her gun was pulled out of the holster on her leg before she could grab for it. Then a rag was wrapped around her eyes, blindfolding her. She felt a gun in her back.

"Don't make a noise," a voice warned her. Then she was taken by the hand and dragged through the woods. It was hard to get her bearings with the blindfold on, but she felt like they were walking a long way. Several times she tripped on something and was caught and set back on her feet. After the second time, they slowed down and whoever was holding her captive took her by the hand and walked her behind him to make sure she wouldn't fall again. Finally they stopped. Her backpack and rabbits were taken from her and she was pushed down into a sitting position on the ground. Then the blindfold was pulled off.

She blinked a few times, letting her eyes readjust to the light. There were three men and two women sitting around a small camping area. One man was sitting in front of her, crosslegged, looking at her expectantly. He was darkly tanned and his hair was long and straight and very dark. It was pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. While he didn't have any marks on his face, she saw that most of the other members of this group had something carved into their foreheads. They looked like the letter W. And today all of our psycho kidnappings will be brought to you by the letter W. Don't start laughing, she warned herself. Laughing at these people, who clearly were taking themselves very seriously would not be a good thing. The man with the long hair leaned forward and took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of her palm. It creeped her out a little, but she guessed at least she wasn't being gang raped. Not yet anyway.

"Hello RickyJo," the man said to her, "My name is Derek." She couldn't hide the surprised expression on her face and it made him smile. How in the hell did this random weirdo know her name. Then it came to her. The drawers in her bedroom and her things that had been moved around. This guy had been watching her. Maybe for a long time.

"You are the one that left me the flowers?," she asked. This seemed to make the man very happy and he nodded his head and smiled. She knew Daryl and Merle would notice her absence soon. They could follow her trail back here, so she just needed to stall for time. "Thank you," she said to the man, "they were very nice."

"Thank you Derek," he corrected her.

"Thank you Derek," she repeated. "Theres a bottle of water in my bag," she said, "do you think I could have it?" The man got up and grabbed her bag roughly way from a woman with dark hair the same color as his. Like him, this woman did not have a marking on her face. He handed it to RickyJo. She forced herself to smile at him and then dug through the bag to find her water. She twisted off the cap and took a long drink, trying to steady herself.

Seeing that Derek was not going to do anything worth watching to this woman right now, Jared got up and started getting back to what he was doing before Derek showed up with her. And that had been making lunch. Now they had the rabbits, so he thrust them at his woman and told her to cook them up. RickyJo watched the exchange out of the corner of her eye, but kept her focus on the man in front of her. He wasn't saying anything, just staring at her.

"Why did you bring me here?," she asked him. She figured there was no point in being indirect. They both knew he had snatched her up and forced her to come back to his camp with him. Her ponytail was long and it was falling forward over her shoulder. Derek leaned in close to her and picked up a long strand of it, pressing it to his face and smelling it. She smelled like vanilla and oranges.

"I brought you here to fall in love," he told her, "I need a woman to run my pack with me." RickyJo struggled to keep her face neutral and choose her words carefully. This guy had clearly fallen out of a nut tree and hit every branch on the way down. But telling him that was not going to help her.

"Your pack?," she asked. This seemed to please him. He obviously liked to hear himself talk.

"We are the wolves," he told her proudly.

"Is that what the carvings are about?," she asked, gesturing to her forehead. He nodded again, then reached forward and ran his thumb over the scar on her right cheek.

"You won't need a marking," he said, "because you have already been marked as one of us." That's what this is about, she thought. Her ugly ass face scars? Well there's another reason to hate the governor. She had heard of a lot of weird fetishes, but loving facial scars was a new one.

"Derek?," RickyJo said. He seemed to like to hear her say his name.

"Yes?," he answered.

"If you are going to steal my rabbits," she said, "would you mind telling your girl there to stop ruining them?" The girl had clearly never butchered an animal before, strange for a wolf, and was making a real mess out of the rabbits she had been given to prepare. Derek looked over near the fire pit. Then he got to his feet and walked over to the girl, backhanding her so hard across the face it knocked her to the ground. RickyJo gasped. She hadn't meant for that to happen, she had only been trying to distract him so she could make a run for it. Now she wasn't going anywhere without the girl. RickyJo got to her feet and approached the firepit.

"I can show you how to do it the right way," she offered to the girl, "if you want." The girl nodded, looking scared. RickyJo leaned down and helped her back up into a sitting position. Derek walked back and took the place she had been sitting in, leaning against the tree. He figure someone ought to teach that stupid girl to do something besides spread her whore legs. And he liked that RickyJo was taking charge of the girl already. He knew she would be good for his pack. RickyJo picked up the knife and the girl flinched.

"I am not going to hurt you," she told her, "its alright." The girl seemed to relax a little. "I already field dressed them when I caught them," she told the girl, "that means taking the guts out so they don't spoil the meat." The girl didn't nod or respond but she seemed to be listening. RickyJo could tell by the marks on her face that today was not the first time she had been hit. "Next we take the feet off," she said, showing the girl how it was done and then handing her the knife and having her do the other rabbit. The girl caught on quick. "Next we take the head off." RickyJo popped the head off of the rabbit she was holding. She threw it hard at a man that was sitting on the other side of the fire, watching them. "Hot potato," she called to him. This made the men laugh. Good, she thought, relax and drop your guard, then I am getting the fuck out of here. "Then we are going to skin them," she told the girl. "Cut around the middle like this, careful not to slice into the meat, and then grip both sides hard and pull." RickyJo demonstarted for her, the skin and fur pulling away cleanly and leaving her with a dressed and ready to cook rabbit. The girl did the same, smiling down proudly at the rabbit she was holding.

"Good job," Jared told her. RickyJo smiled at her. She also noticed that the men were not watching them as closely now, so she leaned in close to the girl.

"You want to get the hell out of here or what," she whispered quickly. The girl nodded, a scared but determined look in her eyes. For the first time, she felt a little of the hope she had lost start to return. "Follow my lead and be ready to run when I say," RickyJo told her. Then she turned like nothing was going on and started asking the men where the pots and pans were. They didn't have any, so she made a spit for the rabbit out of long sturdy sticks. She grabbed a few green bendy ones and set them with one end in the fire. She also 'accidentally' kicked a few good medium sized rocks away from the fire while she was setting up the spit. Then she waited. She knew it wouldn't take long for Derek to try and get close to her again.

Derek was watching the woman. The way her body moved and her face when she smiled. He also noticed that Dani was sitting against a tree with an ugly scowl on her face. Well she was no longer number one, and she would just have to get used to it. RickyJo had already taught the new girl more in ten minutes than Dani had taught her the whole time she had been with them. He gave his sister a big grin and stood up to approach RickyJo. He touched her lightly on her upper arm with his knuckles. She smiled at him and bent down, pretending to be tending the fire.

"Are you sure about the whole wolf thing?," she asked him as casually as she could, "I mean its not too late to change your mind and be a lizard." Derek was surprised at her comment. She did have that big lizard tattooed on her leg, so maybe they were the animals she identified with, just like he did with wolves.

"Why would I want to be a lizard?," he asked her. This might turn out to be an interesting discussion. Certainly it was better than listening to Jared and Jon talk about their farts or how much pussy they had got, would get and wanted to get.

"Because," RickyJo told him, getting a firm grip on one of the long green wood sticks she had stuck into the fire a few minutes before, "when I am done with you, you are going to wish you could grow back your limbs." With that she yanked the burning branch out of the fire and whipped him hard across the face with it, sending him reeling to the ground, screaming and holding his cheek. She whipped him again and then grabbed the rocks at he feet. The other two men looked bewildered, like they weren't sure exactly what to do. She threw a rock at one of them, hitting him in the head, and then launched the other one at Jared. He had the sense to try and duck, but he wasn't fast enough and the rock hit him in his ear, making him yelp. RickyJo turned to the girl.

"Run!," she screamed. She didn't wait for the girl to move, she grabbed her by the hand and took off. Once she was a few yards away, she started screaming for Daryl and Merle, running as fast as she could back in the direction that she hoped Alexandria was. She was running so fast, she bowled Merle right over. He and Daryl had noticed she was missing and had been following her tracks. She got back to her feet and helped him up.

"What tha fuck is going on?," he demanded.

"Just run," she told him. He and Daryl didn't need to be told twice. RickyJo didn't scare easy and if she was runnning, she had a good reason. They all high tailed it back to the Safe Zone. Once they were inside, RickyJo insisted on running back to the house to check on MJ before she would say what was going on. She was on the border of hysteria about someone being inside their house and watching her. Daryl hated to say it, but he wondered what she had been smoking out there in the woods. They had to search the whole house before she would stop hollering. Spencer had run and got his mother, and Deanna was the one that got RickyJo to sit down and tell them what happened.