tw - attempted rape, there's a chapter summary in the end notes if u wanna skip this one
oOo
Diana woke up to the first rays of sunshine on her eyelids, peaceful birdsong, and someone heftily kicking her shin.
She sat up hastily, thrashing in confusion, heart rate shooting through the roof, looking around in alert.
Were they being attacked? Her hand felt around for the bow until her vision cleared and focused and the sleep was mostly gone from her eyes.
The coast was clear, there were no zombies in sight and Alice had obviously been the one to kick her leg.
She winced, rubbed her throbbing shin and glared up at the girl, the beginning of a yawn rising up her chest. "Why d'you do that?"
The girl shrugged and offered a hand. "I called a thousand times and you didn't move. Drastic measures, bruh." To Diana's surprise, she didn't drop her on the way up, but she was sure she was lying, Diana was a light sleeper, any sound usually woke her up.
Up and on wobbly legs, she yawned and stretched thoroughly, her joints popping and her muscles elongating pleasantly, which almost made her yell out in contentment. Good thing she had been so used to sleeping on the ground that it didn't bother her, and she'd had her pack to rest her head on, so it hadn't been at all that bad.
But she was still a little chilled, her face felt greasy, her hair was disheveled, and her breath could probably kill small animals. Two of those minor problems were solved quickly by rubbing her face on the sleeves of her hoodie and redoing her ponytail.
Diana took a deep breath. Now back to suppressing all the negative shit, nice and deep into her psyche, piled up next to her shitty self-esteem, mild anxiety, and other unresolved issues that she chose to ignore were there. Ahh, life was a many splendored thing.
Today was a new day and she would be stronger. She was gonna do it, she was gonna exude so much positivity that it hurt, she was gonna be so aggressively upbeat that people would be forced to go along or think that she had some sort of mental damage or was having a breakdown.
She'd been pretending to be many things for years, this would just be another one of them. She didn't want her parents to worry about her, she wanted them to know that she could handle what was going on, that she could deal with it and was ready to be a productive member of the new society, however its state.
It was such a ridiculously 'Diana' thing to do that it might actually work.
She grabbed her bow, hauled her backpack and messenger bag with her and joined her family by the back of the truck, where they were putting away their belongings, greeting them with a voice deep with sleep, "G'morning."
"Those are for the morning." Sam's response felt so normal, that it almost felt like everything had been a dream.
She put her things away. "It's barely after dawn, I think I'm right this time." Diana punched his arm weakly with a challenging raise of her brow.
Sam started bouncing around, dropping into a boxing stance, poking at Diana's sides, throwing feints, making her squeal as she tried to defend herself and retaliate.
"You're so mean! Mami, pai's being mean to me."
"Ay, igual que niños tontos, que Dios me ayude." Irene rolled her eyes and fished inside Diana's bag for her husband's meds and then hers for food.
"She just ignores me, is this supposed to be the love of a mother?"
Sam grinned and pulled her to him to plant a purposefully slobbery kiss on her forehead, the stubble scratching her skin, making her cringe and shove him away to clean off the wet spot. He laughed like it was nothing and took the pill Irene held to his lips, swallowing it down with water from the flask she pressed to his hand.
Alice's sneer of disgust dropped while she accepted a hair tie from Felix and finished tying her afro into a puff, and she looked around, rubbing her tired biceps. "Merle and what's-his-name still gone, huh?"
Felix shrugged, zipping up his hoodie and pulling the drawstring into a bow. "Keine Ahnung, Kolleg', they left at the crack of dawn's ass, but left everything, sooo...probably not far from here."
"Figures," Irene whispered and started dividing nutty protein bars in half and distributing them.
Maybe she thought they wouldn't notice, but Alice pointed it out, "You barely got anything for yourself."
"I'm not hungry, mija. You eat it." Irene broke off another piece of her half and fed it to her husband, who tried to refuse with a distinct look of disapproval on his face. "You too, amor, your blood sugar. You know I don't eat a lot in the morning. Just wish I had some coffee."
Felix's stomach rumbled, but he didn't hesitate to take a single bite off his bar and forcefully shove the rest in his mom's mouth, holding it close by the jaw against her protests and forcing her to chew.
She slapped his hands away and tended to her jaw after swallowing, frowning. "Ay, you shouldn't've done that, you'll get hungry."
Felix raised an eyebrow. "And you won't? What's that logic, mãe? You think being a mom makes you immune to starvation?"
"Might as well, you know I'd take from my own mouth to feed you. You won't starve as long as I live if God allows it."
"Shut up," Alice said without conviction and ate her portion appreciatively, knowing her mother meant those words.
oOo
The two brothers returned from the forest by the second time someone mentioned their absence as if summoned.
They were fully armed and from Daryl's hands hung three rabbits and a squirrel, and Diana's stomach protested the measly bar.
She eyed the critters as the brothers strutted past without a single word of greeting. Merle dropped down the firewood he'd collected and started a fire, while Daryl skillfully skinned and gutted the animals before the Devil could blink.
Alice joined Diana in the staring, leaning heavily against the truck. "Damn, I wish I could eat some o' that, too."
Diana hummed in agreement. She was basically salivating by the time the warm meaty smell of the roasted rabbits reached her nose.
"The fuckers are doing it on purpose," Sam grumbled and his stomach voiced an equal complaint.
Taunting them with the smell and too much meat for just the two of them; it was cheap.
Diana wondered if she could also go hunting, but her lack of skills warned her otherwise. She was jolted out of her thoughts by Alice's elbow on her ribs. After an aggressive 'what?', the girl responded by gesturing with her hand, which Diana followed to Daryl, who apparently had called her.
Sam perked up and stood in front of her, breaking visual contact. Diana sighed at her dad's protectiveness, it's not as if the man could kill her by looking at her.
Daryl looked positively uncomfortable under his glower, tilting his head to ask her to come to him. "C'mere."
Though it would've made no sense, in Diana's confusion, she almost pointed at herself and asked if he meant her. Of course he meant her, dumbass. But why? What did he have to say that couldn't be said to all? It made her feel nervous and anticipant of a sudden.
"Sam, for God's sake, you're exactly two steps behind her, what's he gonna do, kill her?" Irene asked rhetorically.
Diana stepped off to the edge of the camping site with Daryl, leaving Merle and her family to awkwardly stare at each other, probably asking the same questions as her.
"What is it?" she asked in a whisper, brow furrowed in confusion.
The light of dawn filtered through the trees, giving Daryl a fresh look, his short strands of hair appearing golden, and his eyes a cherubic shade of baby blue. He seemed to be searching for words, so she waited patiently while crossing her arms to fight off the chill.
After a few more silent seconds, Daryl finally disclosed, "I caught some more if y'all want it…" Diana widened her eyes, and he was quick to add, "Wasn't countin' on it, just happened to come 'cross another one on the way back. We could keep it for the road but if y'all hungry…"
"Oh my God, fu-, for real?" she knew she sounded too excited over a piece of meat, but she was hungry, and her family would surely have no qualms with accepting the white flag disguised as a meal. "Thank you so much, man. I can give you one our protein bars in exchange if you want?" Diana smiled crookedly at him, hopeful.
He shook his head and brushed past her. "Nah, keep your bar."
Diana almost skipped back and excitedly explained the deal to her family. After the initial suspicion Sam harbored towards anything they had to offer, and after being enticed by the meat all but waved in their faces, the Lobos sat down by the fire and each received a cleaved portion of the forest critters.
The silence was understandable since they were eating, but despite that, the atmosphere was so painfully strained that it hurt to breathe.
Diana chewed and threw an expectant look at Alice and Felix, but both shrugged. Why wouldn't anyone say anything? Even awkward but polite chit-chat would be okay. Why was it always up to her to embarrass herself in order to make things less unpleasant?
She looked at her food and cleared her throat. "There's hare in my food." A rabbit pun, wow, A+ creativity right there, bringing out the gold. "But I have no other hoptions, so I don't carrot all." Why was she born with a mouth?
Diana pursed her lips and closed her eyes in silent acceptance of the groans and 'god nos' from her siblings and felt like crawling under a rock.
"What did you say?" Sam asked and simultaneously a single chortle of muffled laughter reached Diana's ears.
When she looked up, she was sure she must've imagined it, because there was no one laughing. She glanced at Alice with a raised eyebrow, and the girl gestured with her head to Daryl. Diana tilted her head, brow almost to her hairline and Alice nodded emphatically, puff wiggling back and forth on top of her head.
Diana eyed Daryl as he crudely bit into his meal and avoided both her gaze as well as Merle's amused and sardonic one.
oOo
When they were done eating and everyone was licking their fingers, bellies more or less full, Merle brought out a map of the area and had the kindness to ask Diana if she and her parents would like to weigh in on their next destination.
It's not like they knew the area at all, but at least the courtesy was there. Maybe this day would mark the beginning of some semblance of amity between them. I mean, they'd already shared a meal, it could only go forward from there, right?
The seven stood around the bed of the truck, poring over the map while Diana translated back and forth.
When she thought her bladder was about to burst, she excused herself and charged Alice with the translating. She dismissed her mom's warning with a wave of her hand; she wouldn't be long nor far, there was no need to worry.
She went into the trees and only far enough so no one back at the site could hear her and searched around for some leaves before dropping her pants to do her business behind a wide tree. Birdsong made for good background music when one was peeing, but it didn't help with the paranoia.
Pulling her pants back up, the crack of a twig and the rustle of the underbrush had her heart in her throat, her eyes raking her surroundings. Even though she knew she should hurry back, her feet were stuck to the ground and her body was frozen in fear.
More rustling to her right, away from the camp, and a man came bursting from behind a tree, almost barreling into her still form. He was thin and his clothes were ill-fitting, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"Ma'am! Ma'am, please you gotta help me!" his thick southern accent thickened with the urgency in his voice.
Diana blinked herself out of her stupor and held the man upright. "Oh, uh, okay. I just, yeah, I'll help you. My group is right down here; I can go get some-"
"There's no time, he's hurt, he's hurt real bad!" the man pleaded, tears welling in his sunken eyes.
"Who? Who's hurt?"
The man tugged on her arm, dragging her weakly along. "My brother, please, I think 'is leg's broken, you gotta come quickly!"
Diana felt torn, she wanted to help this man, a broken leg was serious business, especially now, but she knew she had to at least alert her group that she'd be gone. The man didn't leave her much of a choice as he kept pulling her towards the place where his hurt brother awaited help.
Leaves crunched under her feet, and ferns coated in morning dew tickled her exposed ankles. After walking and walking and getting nowhere, Diana asked him if there was still long to go. "I don't even have any supplies with me," she added.
"Don't you worry 'bout that. Look at that, we're about there," he drawled, casual tone ringing an alarm inside Diana's brain.
She tugged her arm out of his grasp and stopped in place. "Where's your brother?" she asked, heart racing, voice determined and senses on high alert. "Is there even one, you fucker?"
The man turned to her and smiled, showing off his disgusting yellowed teeth. "Sure there is, darlin', wouldna lied about that."
He looked over her shoulder and gave a curt nod, and before Diana could turn to see she was grabbed around the middle by a meaty arm while a hand was clamped over her mouth, making it impossible for her to cry out for help. She struggled in surprise, her heart rising in her throat in fear, but couldn't raise her arms past elbow height.
"Fucking finally," the skinny man breathed, while the one behind her poked his nose behind her ear, inhaling deeply, making her shiver in disgust. "You know how long I been waitin' to fuck a pretty lil thing like you?" He grabbed her by the hips and rubbed his pelvis onto hers, making her gag against the unseen man's large hand, who tightened his grip until her already damaged jaw hurt even more. "Yeah, all them ugly cows 'til now, screamin' and cryin' and beggin'. No, please don't," he mocked with a thin voice and laughed sordidly, "should count themselves lucky have someone to fuck 'em."
Diana twisted her arm and scratched her captor's arm and tried to jerk her head away from his grasp, but he only tightened his hold, making her breathless. She was already having a hard time breathing only through her nose in such a situation, but with her middle squeezed so tightly, black dots were beginning to dance in her vision.
"Loosen up, she gotta be awake for this. Where's the fun otherwise?" He moaned in anticipated pleasure and started to unbuckle his belt.
"After our lovely time together, my brother'd like the pleasure o' your company, I mean, if tha's alright with ya?" he asked derisively before grabbing his sides in laughter. Loud guffaws from the body behind her rocked her own frame.
Diana felt her eyes sting with unshed tears, panic flooding her mind. Why was shit always happening to her?
Tomorrow would be different, that's what she had told herself the night before. Yesterday she had cried all she had to cry, she had allowed herself to wallow in self-pity and misery. But not today. Today and tomorrow and all the days after that; she would be strong, or she would try her fucking best to be.
She breathed deeply through her nose, nice and slow, fending off a stress induced asthma attack.
She was aware of herself dissociating, giving place to an awareness of her surroundings and situation with sharp clear-mindedness. Everything about this had screamed 'TRAP' in big bold letters… no, she'd have time to chastise herself after she was safe.
There was an opening where her captor's hand rested loosely over her arm after his brother's command. She hoped with enough force she'd be able to squeeze her arm out.
If she could somehow stun the man behind her, him clearly being the stronger of the two, then she could attempt to take the skinny one on, and if that didn't work, she'd simply make a run for it and hoped she was going in the right direction.
Something deep from the back of her brain screamed at her, shoving its way to the front:
SING, fucking SING!
Solar Plexus.
Diana stretched and grabbed her captor's middle finger before pulling back with all her might, hearing a sickening 'pop' as it dislocated. He yelled out in pain, releasing her completely. She twisted herself away from him while bringing her elbow only to snap it back to hit the man in what she could only hope was the approximate center of his paunch. She heard him wheeze for breath.
Instep.
She stomped the heel of her running shoes on the man's foot, putting all her weight on it and he staggered away, yelling and cursing, calling her all sorts of pretty names.
Nose.
Since he was no longer immediately behind her, Diana turned around to face him and slammed the heel of her open palm upwards into the man's crooked nose, feeling it cave in as a rivulet of blood spewed out, dripping on her hand. He brought his hands to his face, faltering in place.
Groin.
Diana grabbed his shoulders for leverage and drove her knee straight into the man's tender bits and he fell to his knees.
Diana called out, bringing his attention up to her, beady eyes hazy on her, and she brought her hardened fist down on his jaw, it dislodged from place and he was knocked out cold.
Ow! Fucking caralho!
She shook her hand in pain, wincing, but remembered it wasn't over yet.
Adrenaline powering her, Diana faced the skinny man with her heart beating a bruise against her chest. His face was pale as his eyes fixated on his felled brother.
He looked downright comical, with his pants bunched at his ankles and mouth agape. Diana would've laughed if she wasn't so out of it with anger.
She thanked her lucky stars for his distracted state. She called out once more. Once his attention was on her, he squatted hurriedly to pull his pants up. Before he could finish his task, Diana brought her leg in and thrust it out, the sole of her shoe meeting the man's chest and knocking him down while she stumbled back, off balance.
He fell on his back, pants down to his knees and hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, lady, I won't do nothing again, I swear!"
Standing over him, his words reminded her of the women he had claimed to have raped; how they must've begged for mercy and met none. Cold sweat dripped down her neck.
Her skin squirmed as she imagined what he and his brother must've put those women through. Her hands thirsted for vengeance for them.
Oh, she fucking despised rapists.
She was on top of him before he could blink, straddling his torso.
"Did they beg you to stop?" her voice was ice.
She grabbed the collar of his ratty shirt and lifted his head off the ground. She raised a hardened fist.
"Did they? Answer me, foda-se!" She swung down on his eye socket, only briefly acknowledging the pain as his head bobbed.
"YES, yes they did," he admitted, his head swaying. Would he beg for himself? Diana wondered. She would make him beg.
"Did you ever stop?" Diana pressed down on his throat with her left hand and brought down her right fist on his cheekbone, the skin tearing upon contact.
"No, I didn't, I didn't, I'm sorry."
"You didn't stop." Another punch, to the temple this time.
"No, I didn't!"
"Beg me, beg me to stop, you disgusting filho da puta!" Another, knocking loose a few of his front teeth, where she cut the skin of her knuckles some more.
"Yes, please, stop, I beg you, stop!"
She did. Diana leaned back, hand still firmly holding his throat, and looked him over. The right side of his face was a downright bloody mess; eye swollen shut, the skin of his cheekbone, lip, and eyebrow torn open, and an assembly of blossoming bruises that made his face look like a painter's palette.
The concern she held for human life as a nurse was thrown out the window as she considered the piece of garbage under her.
She leaned into him, fixed him with her most wrathful glare and whispered to his face, "You don't deserve my mercy."
She served a blow to the side of his chin that managed to knock him out.
Once his head rolled to the side in unconsciousness, Diana slid off the guy, disgusted at their proximity.
She dragged herself away from him and sat next to the shell of a fallen log, legs outstretched and sagged posture. She heaved a shuddered sigh that seemed to contain all the emotions of any possible spectrum and rubbed her face on the sleeves of her hoodie, on the verge of hyperventilating and willing the tears away.
She'd never been so fucking scared! Even with zombies being a reality and a new constant threat, this was the most terrified she'd ever been in her entire life. It went to prove that at times of crisis, human kind could go either way; people could turn to one another and tune in on their sense of humanity, or, just like she'd witnessed, they could become the worst version of themselves.
It made her realize how lucky they'd been with Daryl and Merle, even if Merle was a bit sketchy. It wasn't ideal, but it could've been tragically worse, and she guessed she was thankful for that.
She flinched at the pain in her right hand and examined the damage.
The skin on her knuckles was scuffed, bleeding and bruised. She knew how to throw a punch but she was still lucky she hadn't dislocated anything.
She stretched her fingers, opening and closing her hand, and it hurt like a motherfucker.
"Shhh-esus Christ," she whispered and prodded the tender appendage. She shook it off, causing even more pain, and looked at the two fallen men, one of them twice her size.
She'd fought before, but it had never been for her life and she always felt sorry in the end. All things considered, she hadn't done bad. And right now she couldn't find it in herself to feel sorry for the damage she'd caused.
She thought of her parents and siblings back at camp. What if instead of her, these pigs had gotten to Alice or Irene?
Alice would've probably fought until there was no breath left in her, she would've made their life a living hell, but she was still too small to stand a good chance against them.
Hell, Diana had been lucky herself that her half-baked plan had actually worked! She'd been mostly powered by anger.
And what if they'd gotten Irene, whose strength was more of the mental kind than the physical?
Diana shook her head of those thoughts and redirected her attention to the rapists. When they wake up, they might come back, Diana thought. Her group needed to be gone from that camp before then, and she needed to be gone from here, now.
She dragged herself to her feet using the log, exhausted, drained and wobbly-legged now that the adrenaline high was over and cradling her injured hand to her chest.
She turned around and came face to face with someone familiar, which caused her to gasp and grasp her chest from the fright.
"What the hell?" Daryl exhaled, his eyes taking everything in before finding Diana, the crossbow vacillating in his grip.
She ignored him, too drained to deal with it, and sidestepped him. He grabbed her by the arm, more gentle than she would have expected from him, and when she winced from the contact with the sore flesh and skin, he let go immediately.
He gestured towards the two men with his weapon, expecting an answer. "The hell happened here?"
"Violadores, scum," Diana whispered and avoided his eyes. Her skin crawled where'd they had touched her, the memory of the man's groin against her threatening tears and bile. She spat out, "Beat the shit outta them." There was the semblance of pride in her voice, and she used it to ground herself.
Something akin to a literal growl formed from the back of Daryl's throat, and he turned her to him by her good arm while inspecting her. "Shit, did they-?"
Diana snapped her head towards him, inhaling deeply. "No, not me."
She saw his eyes drop to the hand she cradled. He slung his crossbow on his shoulder and grabbed the appendage carefully, pausing his ministrations whenever she flinched or recoiled.
"Nothing broken, nothing dislocated. Just gonna hurt like hell for coupla days," he told her things she already knew, but she nodded and thanked him nonetheless.
Daryl looked at her for a couple of seconds, accessing her, making her shift in place awkwardly, and then his lip curled in disgust and he turned to the fallen man at their feet, half-undressed, and swung his foot heavily, kicking him in the ribs once, twice, and then the side of his head, until Diana dropped out of her stupor and stopped him with a hesitant hand on his shoulder.
The display might've been a vengeful, violent one, but she felt touched by it.
Somewhat still out of it, Diana let him lead the way back to camp since her orientation was shit and shortly after, he broke the silence between them. "How the hell did ya manage that?"
Diana looked him in the eye and couldn't help a tired smile. "Movies and lots of pent-up aggression."
oOo
Back at the camping site, Sam and Irene were on her quicker than a fly on honey, furious, her mom's rapid mix of Portuguese and Spanish scolding going in one ear and out the other, pulling on said ear until she protested with pain.
Then they turned to Daryl, because somehow, what they had gotten from the scene was that he'd been the one responsible for her disheveled condition.
Sam launched himself at Daryl in his rage, and the younger man meant to protect himself by retaliating, which then got Merle involved, and Diana knew she had to intervene.
Alice had looked somewhat excited at the promise of violence, as had Felix, except the girl had been more exasperated at the childishness of the situation than anything.
Diana had to literally step in between the two men. "Pai! Pai! He didn't do anything! Okay? It wasn't him." She pushed her father by the chest as Irene pulled back him to her side.
She turned to Daryl and softly pushed him back as well, not wanting to push her luck. She knew her dad wouldn't hurt her no matter how rough she needed to be to get him to back off, but she didn't know the same for the other man.
She didn't insist anymore when he slapped her arm away and started pacing from side to side, eyes sharp on Sam.
"What'd he do? What'd he do to you?!" Sam all but shouted, vein pulsating on his neck, knuckles bone-white, clenching and unclenching.
"Porra pá, calma pai!" she asked of him, and to Daryl, "Please, don't provoke him. I'mma fix this," she whispered as she shuffled in his direction with her hands up, trying to make eye contact.
He glared at her. "Provoke him?! He the one who attacked me!" He faced Sam. "I ain't done nothing wrong, hombre!" To Diana, he said, "Tell him that!"
"I did, okay, I did," she said softly, mediating. Looking at Merle, unsettled by his quietness, Diana found him gripping a hunting knife in his hand, eyes trained on Sam. "Hey, you're not gonna need that, 'kay? Put that shit away," she told him, fearing her dad getting seriously hurt.
He smiled humorlessly at her. "We'll see, sweet cheeks."
"Put. That. Fucking. Thing. Away!" The day had barely started and she was already Done. She'd had enough of this misunderstanding.
"Pai, listen, Daryl was the one who helped me, alright? I was out there and there were these guys, they tried to hurt me, but he got there just in time and I got nothing more than this," she fumed and raised her hand for her dad to see. "If it weren't for him, who knows what would've happened. You oughta be grateful, not wanting to pummel his face in!" The lies stung her pride greatly, but it was the best way to have her dad settle his mistrust and show a tip of gratitude to the guy. She wanted things to move forward, not backward.
Her words caused her mom to gasp and swear to God and cradle Diana's hand and inspect her another thousand times, fearing for her daughter, but scolding her at the same time, saying she shouldn't have gone out there alone, and that she was always right, and Diana ought to listen to her more.
Diana nodded those warnings away, her subconscious blaming her for everything, and turned to Daryl and Merle. "And you, put a leash on it, will ya?" She glared pointedly at both men.
Merle found her ire funny and chuckled at her, which caused her glare to grow deeper, but he sheathed his knife all the same.
Daryl was about to indignantly respond, but Diana cut him off, whispering, "Don't. I told him you saved me, or whatever."
"That true?" Sam asked Diana and faced Daryl, "You save her? Where are the fuckers who did this? I'll fucking slit their throats!"
Daryl glanced at Diana, confused at the angry, threatening-sounding Portuguese before nodding once at the question he did understand.
Diana heaved a sigh of relief at his cooperation, and to her dad, she answered, "They're gone, okay? That's all you need to know."
Sam's posture didn't relax at her words, but he strutted past his daughter, toward a wary Daryl, and offered him his hand to shake.
The younger man considered it for a second and shook it, unsurprised but still taken aback at the firm grip.
"Thank you," Sam's voice was accented and resolute. "Tell him that I'm indebted to him," he asked of Diana, who translated. "But I fucking find you alone with him again, I'll make sure not even his own fucking brother can recognize him." She didn't translate that part. Her dad's protectiveness would never help things if his stance didn't budge even in face of her lie in their favor.
"'s okay, was nothing." Daryl was clearly uncomfortable with the sudden shift in attitude in the man. Still, it was better than having them at each other's throats.
An echoing scream from beyond the tree line interrupted the moment.
"Biters musta found 'em," Daryl assumed and looked at Diana, who nodded in agreement.
It was to be expected. They had basically left them a bloody, defenseless buffet in the forest, ripe for the taking. The scent must've drawn them in, which meant they, once again, would have to get the hell out of there.
With everything already packed and loaded, they started boarding the truck.
"While I was gone, did you decide the next stop?"
Daryl lent Diana a hand to help her climb onto the back of the pick-up as he answered her question, "Yeah, there's an abandoned quarry not far from here. Should be isolated enough to be safe for the time bein'."
Diana nodded and got settled next to the partition while Merle took the wheel and Daryl climbed in the passenger seat.
They drove off, leaving the clearing in their dust.
Back on the road, with the morning sun glaring down on them, Felix leaned in close, interrupting Diana's nervous chewing of the inside of her cheek, and asked, "Why'd you lie?"
"Lie?" Diana asked innocently, and Alice fixed her with a stare, listening in on the conversation.
"Yeah, lie, you absolute cactus. Pai doesn't understand English, but Alice and I do. We heard what you said to Daryl."
"Yeah, well, they need to start trusting each other, don'tcha think?" Diana whispered and looked at both teens with a slow, mischievous smile. "But he doesn't need to know that."
Alice rolled her eyes. "Ugh, here we go."
Chapter summary: the dixons and lobos share food, diana makes lame puns, they're deciding where to go next and she goes out to pee, a man tricks her into following her (pretending his brother is hurt), they attempt to rape her, she manages to use her pent up aggression and some shit she learned from miss congeniality to escape and beat them down, she makes her parents believe daryl was the one who saved her to get them to trust each other more. that's basically the gist of it
please leave a comment. tell me your thoughts, i'd really appreciate it
