The Wolf You Feed

Chapter 18

** Thanks to anyone that took the time to leave a review. I am getting ready to wrap up this section of the story and will start adding some cannon events back in after that, some from the show and some from the comics. I promise the storyline and characters from this first part of the story will end up being important later on. As always read, enjoy and review. I own nothing from TWD only Rowan and my other OCs. **

Katie was gritting her teeth while Amanda laid into her. Amanda was pissed that Katie had not been able to bring those people back that had gotten away from them the day before. She was calling her useless, stupid, fat and lazy, among other things. Katie had returned to their campsite last night. After it was dark. But they had all already been long gone. She told Amanda those people were not stupid enough to stay there. They were probably long gone from this entire area by now. That's where Katie would be if she was them.

Katie hoped Amanda would let this go. There was no point in continuing to harp on it. It was just making her look crazy and obsessed. The vein in the middle of her forehead looked ready to pop. And her ranting was giving Katie a massive headache. She got bad migraines in what used to be the temple area on the bad side of her face.

Suddenly Amanda stopped her ranting and raving. Her eyes flew open. First wide with shock. And then they narrowed back down. Her tounge flicked out to wet her lips. One of the other women, one of the long hairs, was walking out of Amanda's lodge with a basket of laundry. She stopped on the top step and dropped the basket. It tumbled down the steps, spilling clothes and blankets everywhere. Katie turned around to see what they were both looking at.

A few people had managed to escape. But none had ever come back. Not willingly anyway. But there they were. Not all of them. Just the woman with the long black hair and the man with the arms. They were holding what looked like food for the party and chatting away with Robin like they didn't have a care in the world. Where in the hell did they even come from? Like the day before when that woman had surprised her, Katie had the feeling she had just materialized out of thin air. Maybe she was some kind of witch.

Rowan noticed Katie and Amanda were staring at her with shocked looks on their faces. She fought back a smile. Then she changed her mind and gave them both her biggest and prettiest smile. She headed straight in their direction. Daryl shoved the food he was holding at Robin and followed Rowan, his hand fingering the gun on his hip. Rowan walked over and handed the big bowl of soup she was holding to Katie.

The woman fumbled a little, but managed to hold onto the bowl without spilling it. Katie didn't know what was in the bowl. There was a towel over the top. But it smelled like heaven. It made her think about her grandma's good home cooking. Her mouth started to water. It had so long since she had eaten anything that was well cooked and properly seasoned. Next Rowan swung her bag down off her back and pulled out a large mesh bag full of strawberries. She set those on the bottom step near Katie's feet.

"For the party," Rowan told the women. The party it looked like they had not been planning on even having. Rowan was enjoying seeing these women caught off guard. Katie looked almost embarrassed. But Amanda was eyeing Daryl. She did not like that. Not at all.

"Who's the other bowl for?," Amanda asked. The one that the man had placed in Robin's hands looked like it was full of more soup.

"For the men in the holding," Rowan told her. The look on the woman's face was priceless. She stuttered and stammered a little. Rowan could tell Amanda did not want to give this food to those men. But she was having a hard time coming up with a reason why. Also by this time there were a lot of women crowding around staring at her. Curious to see what was going to happen.

"I thought you were the leader of this entire camp...," Rowan said. "Or is there someone else I need to speak to about giving those men this food?" Daryl bit his lip. He wanted to laugh. But then he saw the crazed gleam in Amanda's eyes. Rowan had just made a terrible mistake making her feel stupid.

Amanda got control of herself. She shrugged like she could care less what this strange woman fed those men. With a dismissive wave of her hand, she told Katie to go open the gate to the pen. Katie shoved the soup at the woman that had dropped the laundry. For a moment she thought about dumping it on Amanda. But there was no sense in wasting good food like that.

Katie stomped over and opened up the gate.

"They will be needing some bowls and spoons," Rowan told her, taking the bowl of soup from Robin's hands. Before Katie could object, one of the girls spoke up and dashed off to go get some. Katie slid the lock on the gate back and swung it open. She expected the dark haired woman to set the bowl down inside the entrance. Or hand it off to someone. But instead she walked right into the pen.

Daryl felt himself gasp. There was nothing on earth that would make him go back inside that gate. And he was terrified for a moment that the door would be slammed shut with Rowan inside. That didn't happen though. Rowan walked in, looking for someone to hand the food off to. She didn't want to just set it on the ground like she was feeding her dogs. But none of the men stepped forward to take the food. They just stood still, staring at their feet like she wasn't even standing there.

Finally an older man came forward. He was dark skinned with long white hair and he was walking with a crutch. But she could see the strength in his eyes. He held out his hands and took the bowl. It was heavier than he expected. Rowan saw the man's face change. He gave her a knowing look.

"Thank you," he told her. She gave him a nod.

Rowan looked around this place, not even trying to hide her shock or disgust. She had grown up around people that did not wear deodorant. So she was more used to normal human body smells than the average person. But the smell inside this wooden prison was something else. It was the smell of sickness and neglect. Of human waste left to fester. And of people that were slowly dying. The auras around the heads of all these men were pale and grey. Like there was barely any life left in them at all.

Rowan spotted the littlest prisoner in the place. Daryl had told her there were kids in locked up in this place, but she had expected them to bo Carl's age at least. This poor baby could not be more than 8 or 9 at the oldest. And he was so skinny. Instead of the white light that should surround a child that age, a dark cloud hovered around his head. So dark gray it was close to black. He was dying. Leaning there against the fence like it was the only thing holding him up. His big empty eyes following the bowl of soup the older man had in his hands.

Taking care of where she was stepping, Rowan headed for the boy. He looked afraid, but made no move to try and get away from her. When she got closer she could see why. There was something wrong with his legs. She held a wrist to his clammy forehead first, feeling to make sure he didn't have a fever. Then she picked him up, balancing him on her hip that she didn't have her knife and slingshot fastened to. Carrying him like he was a toddler. He weighed no more than her baby brother. The boy stiffened up at first, but then Rowan felt his skinny little arms go around her neck.

Rowan could feel her anger. Fueling her on like train. Gone was the carefully considered plan she and Daryl had made. She could not stand for this one moment longer. Katie saw the woman coming, Troy hanging off her hip like a baby. Katie tried not to look at the young ones most of the time. But now she was faced with the horror she had done. The woman with the black hair was heading straight for her.

"Where is this child's mother?," Rowan asked. She got right up in Katie's face, staring her down. When Katie didn't answer, Rowan looked around at the other women. There were quite a few of her people crowded around. And it was one of them that spoke up. An older black women. Lauren's mother.

"Dead because she didn't want to go along with Amanda's ideas of how the men should be treated," she said. A murmur of quiet voices rumbled through the crowd. Rowan nodded her thanks to the woman. She was brave to speak out like that. Rowan pushed through the small crowd, heading for the woman. The woman seemed to sense what she wanted and she held her hands out for the boy.

"I'll take him to my place," the woman said, "get him cleaned up a little. The rest she left unsaid. I can watch him until this is over. Because one way or another, it would be over before the day was done.