Sorry for not updating in a very long time. I had been traveling around. But that gave me some more ideas :) Well at least one good thing ... Thanks for still staying with Ella and her story!
Have fun reading. R&R :o)
I starred at the buildings in front of us. There was no sign of anything. I looked over to Daryl who starred at the buildings too. The silence was awful and I wished I had gone with Michonne or Carl, but the two had went the other direction, checking the surroundings, while Rick had begun to dick a whole. He didn't trust any stranger anymore and neither did I. We all had our crosses to bear. I remembered Rick's past, how he had lost his wife, even it had broken him it had made him somehow stronger. Michonne had lost her dear friend Andrea and had been in Phillips pocket too, just like I had been. Carl had lost his mother and his sister and a day ago he had almost been raped. We all had our scars.
And then there was Daryl … he had been imprisoned by Phillip, had lost his brother and had lost Beth. It hurt … he didn't want to talk about it, but the way he had spoken about her to Rick hurt. I watched the back of his head, trying to read his thoughts. Should I ask him about her? Maybe you are just imagining things. Maybe he my brother was right. "I still think we should have gone back. We should have looked for Merle." Where would Merle go? Deep in my heart I knew he wasn't here.
"Let's check this place out. If he is not here, we will look for him somewhere else." He told me still watching the building.
"I don't think he is here … no one seems to be here - no human beings or walkers. This place seems odd."
"Yeah … so many signs … A lot of people should have walked here …" I followed his glance back to the buildings. Maybe the signs were old and sanctuary was already gone, like hope.
"Let's get back to the others. I don't want to stay any longer than necessary." I sighed taking a last glance at Terminus. "It gives me the creeps how awfully quite this place is."
I followed Daryl the way back. "We shouldn't go in there … this doesn't look safe."
He slowed down and looked at me. "It's worth a try."
I nodded slowly. "If he is not there, he is alive somewhere." He seemed to be hiding something behind his eyes. "Daryl …" He looked at me somehow bewildered. "What?"
I was caught off guard when he gently grabbed my head and pulled me closer, kissing me passionately. I looked at him – at his closed eyes. I didn't dare to close my eyes, I was too afraid someone might approach or he would just be gone. I kissed him back, pulling him even closer. When he slowly let go off me, I still stared at him. "What was that?"
Yeah, what was that?
He blushed … I had never thought to see him ever blush like that. Daryl turned to walk on and I followed again a step behind. "The sooner we go in there the sooner we might find my brother."
I wanted to say something, but I still felt his lips on mine and didn't want to ruin the feeling. It had been another of these moments I wished would never fade away. Looking up again, he was so close, I could grab him, kiss him, just do anything to delay our walk into this wannabe-sanctuary. But I thought too much and didn't realize we were almost standing in front of Rick.
Daryl was the first to stand next to Rick. He told him we didn't think this place was a real sanctuary. When Michonne and Carl joined us again, Rick took almost all the guns we had into the black bag and buried it. I had wanted to be armed to the teeth, but Rick hadn't want us to create the impression of an invader. So we jumped over the fence, everyone just having one weapon. Daryl had his crossbow, Michonne her Cantana, Rick and Carl a gun and I had my knife at my thigh. We sneaked over to a large house and entered through the fire exit. I carefully sneaked through dark corridors behind Daryl until a distinct female voice was heard. She was telling the same text over and over again. Was it a real voice? It sounded kind of tinny. We walked closer to the voice and finally entered a huge hall. A woman with light grey hair was sitting at a microphone, reading a text. Taking a closer look around the hall, more people were making signs in the back.
"Hello!" Rick said carefully. No one moved. Some of them smiled, others looked scared and kind of unprepared.
A guy in the back sighed. "Well I guess Albert is on perimeter watch." He stepped closer to us. "Are you here to rob us?" His mood seemed kind of annoyed.
"No!" Rick told him and put away his gun. "We wanted to see you before you saw us." He approached the man slowly too until they stopped a few feet away from each other.
"Makes sense." The guy replied with a smile, yet something was odd about him. Like this whole fucking place.
I stepped closer to Daryl. "I don't like it." I whispered.
Just a few people. More signs … this doesn't make any sense.
The guy acted all nicely. "Welcome to Terminus. I am Gareth." He opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Looks like you have been on the road for a good bit." He looked at me.
"We did." With his husky voice Rick introduced every one of us. Still no one of Gareth's people moved. They seemed to observe us. I felt tensed, the situation didn't show any warm welcome.
"We are all nervous." Gareth told us. "Did you come here for sanctuary?"
"Yes." Rick answered determined.
"We are looking for a friend. Did a guy named Merle pass by?" I asked Gareth and he smiled nicely.
"Never heard such a name before." He turned to the back. "Alex." A guy who looked a bit frightened stepped closer. The others in the back had stopped working and stared at us. Why did they all stare at us? "Had anyone arrived lately named Merle?" Alex shook his head. "Okay." Gareth turned to us again. "The welcome wagon in the front is much nicer. My friend Alex will take you there and ask you a few questions. But first we need to see everyone's weapons."
Don't give them your weapon. This whole place stinks. They all look like they have something to hide.
I looked over to Daryl shaking my head. "You seem afraid." Gareth took a step my direction and I immediately took out my knife. "But I am sure you understand."
I wanted to say something, but Rick was faster. "Yes we do." I watched him putting down his gun. Carl did the same thing. Slowly Michonne and Daryl put their weapons in front of them. Somehow I couldn't let go off my knife.
"I understand … outside these walls are scary zombies walking around." He came closer to stand in front of me. Daryl stepped closer to me, his posture poised to attack. "And scary people too." His eyes wandered from Daryl back to me. "That's why we want you to leave your weapon here"
My eyes became small. "How can I know that you are not one of them?" I retorted all tensed.
"We are making notes, signs, and radio messages. We want people to come here. The living human race needs to stay together against the walking dead." I caught Alex who began to body search Rick observing me from the corner of his eye. I looked over to Daryl again who nodded. So I let the knife slip out of my hands falling loudly onto the floor never letting Gareth out of sight.
Alex walked up to Daryl. "I'd hate to see the other guy." He said looking at Daryl's black eye with a smile. He still looked beaten up.
"Yeah you would." I retorted. Daryl didn't look happy to be inspected by this guy.
"Sassy." Gareth told me, leaning closer. Daryl again stepped closer to me, as if to avoid Garth to touch me. "Someone got a watchdog." He looked from me to Daryl.
"He doesn't bite." I said with a smile. "But I do." Gareth smile dropped. He didn't seem to want to check me or Michonne.
"We are not those kind of people." He told us but looked at me. "But we aren't stupid either." His eyes scanned my body for a hidden weapon. "And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid."
"If you don't give me a reason, I will not act stupid." I emphasized.
"I like you." Gareth smiled. "You look pretty tough." He looked at every one of us. "So we are clear on that and shouldn't have any problems, just solutions. Okay." He clapped into his hands and Alex suddenly took Michonne's katana and handed it back to her. Daryl took his crossbow himself.
Garth was about to take my knife when I kneeled down too. My bandana was loose and fell to the ground. I quickly reached for the rag and straightened my back. Gareth looked at my neck. "Ella was it, right?" For a short second he looked caring. I put the bandana around my neck with a secure knot and took my knife out of his hand, simply nodding to his question.
This guy reeks of shitty lies. Be careful, don't let them take your knife. I nodded to his words grabbing my knife tight. I wouldn't put it back in its sheath.
"Follow me." Alex told us and we walked slowly after him. This wasn't real. We hadn't met nice people since we were on the road. Why should these guys be any good?
Remember Alex, Doc and the others who helped you. Remember Hershel and his farm. What about the innocent people from Woodbury. There are still good people in this hell of a world. But not these people! Be ready, something is really fishy. This Gareth guy seemed to have dropped his pretense for a sec.
We followed Alex out of the building. Daryl was close next to me. "How long is this place been here?" Michonne asked Alex.
"Since almost the start" Alex walked right. "When all the camps got overrun, people started finding this place. I think it was instinct, you know?"
A woman followed us. There was a gun at her right hip and a knife at her left. The other people from before had guns too. Why were they all armed? I looked around for other people to follow us, but there weren't. This place reminded me of Woodbury and I grabbed my knife more tightly. Around the next corner a woman stood at a grill. Seemed like they were having a BBQ. The smell of food watered my mouth.
"Hi." She greeted us. "Heard you came in the back door." She smiled. "You will fit in here just fine."
"Mary, will you fix them a plate for me?" Alex asked her.
Daryl's eyes were everywhere. He was as tensed as me. "Why are ya so nice? Why do ya let people in?"
"The more people become part of this, the stronger we get." Alex handed us the plates Mary had fixed for us. I didn't take the plate, so he handed it to Carl who started eating. My eyes strolled around, scanning faces of people I didn't know sitting at the tables around us. "Daryl …" Something in the back of my head screamed for me to wake up. "Isn't this yours?" I whispered. He followed my glance. There was a woman sitting in his poncho. The poncho which had warmed me in past days. Suddenly I saw the faces of Dale and Andrea sitting at the table too. No, that wasn't possible. "What is going?" I stepped back bewildered almost letting go of my knife.
Don't lose your mind sis.
Suddenly Rick knocked the plate out of Alex hand and held his gun at his head. Daryl pointed his crossbow at the people standing up. I saw Hershel among them, smiling sadly at me. No … that wasn't possible.
Breathe! Calm down. He tried to calm me, but my heart was hammering against my chest.
"You freak!" Alex cried. "What the fuck …"
I turned around to Rick who still held Alex. "Where the hell did you get this watch?" Rick asked him, holding a watch. This was Glenn's watch … the one Hershel had given to him. I wished I had a gun with me. All the people around us were suddenly pointing guns at us. What could I do with just a damn knife? Daryl, Michonne and Carl were standing with their back to Rick, trusting him to handle the situation. A shadow made me look up. There was a man on the roof with a gun. On the other roof was another shooter.
"You want answers? You will get anything when you put your guns down!" Alex cried out behind me.
"They are up the roofs too." I told my friends. Daryl and Michonne looked up.
Rick asked Alex again. "Where did you get that watch?"
"Don't do anything, I have this." Alex screamed loudly. "Just put it down." And the people on the roof did as he said. "You want to listen to me. There's a lot of us." Alex told Rick.
"Where did you get the watch?" There was this glance again. The psycho eyes, which told me something was about to happen.
Don't let your guard down. There are only five of you and a hell lot of others with guns. And you have just two guns. He was damn right.
"We took it from a dead one." Gareth stood suddenly almost next to me. I turned to him, my knife just inches away from him, but he just smiled.
"Gareth … we can wait." Alex said with a fearful voice.
"Shu up Alex."
"You talk to me." Rick pressed through his teeth.
"What's there left to say? You don't trust us anymore." Gareth was all calm. While Alex pleaded, Gareth didn't even look at his friend. "Rick, what do you want?"
"Where are our people?"
"You didn't answer the question." Gareth smiled. Suddenly a shot was fired and Alex went down bleeding.
"Carl get down!" Rick shot, Michonne screamed. I looked at Gareth who still smiled. He turned slowly and then ran away mentioning for me to follow. Bewildered I looked for to Daryl who was suddenly close, taking me by the shoulder and leading me behind Rick who ran left. The men on the roofs started to fire at us. Rick ran left and we followed him. While we ran between the buildings the shots from the roofs always missed us. This was insane, why didn't they kill us?
They are shooting at your feet but never at your bodies. They are not trying to kill you.
"Help!" Someone called for help. There were several containers stacked atop of each other. "Let us out!" A female cried. The voices were distant. Where they in these containers? My run slowed down, but Daryl pulled me along. "Did you hear that?" I asked.
Michonne ran past us. "Keep going."
We entered a huge building. The next room was full of candles. "Never again." Carl read the words on the wall aloud.
"What the hell is this place?" We all turned around looking everywhere. Small islands of lit candles where all over the floor and on the boards. Someone had written on the walls and on the ground. "What happened here?"
Daryl came closer to me. "Did they harm ya?" I shook my head and looked at his arm which was bleeding slightly. A door was opened and they fired at us again. What kind of game was this?
Rick looked to me. "They are not trying to kill us." He walked to the open door at the end of the room. "There." When he wanted to walk through, someone shut the door.
"Over here!" Daryl called, walking through the next door. We followed, running through darkness. Daryl opened the door and we stepped in the open again. In front of us was the fence, where men stood with guns. The clicking of guns behind us made us turn. Gareth stood on the roof of one of the houses. There were too many people with guns on the roofs. We had no chance.
"Drop your weapons now." Gareth voice called over.
With my back to Gareth I looked to Daryl and the men behind him. They were ready to shoot us. What now? Carl was shaking next to me. I stepped closer to him, ready to throw myself over him when they would shoot. We all let our weapons drop.
That wouldn't help, there is no escape. The sad timber of my brother's voice stroke me.
"Ringleader, go to your left. The train car, go there now." Gareth's smile was gone. "You do what we say and the boy goes with you. Anything else, he dies, and you end up there anyway." Rick slowly went to the train car, looking back at his son who was breathing heavily next to me. "Now the archer." Daryl looked from Gareth to me not moving at all. "Now!" Gareth screamed loudly.
I nodded to Daryl. He reluctantly walked after Rick. "Now the samurai." Michonne followed the men. "You guys will enter this door in this order."
I looked at my friends. I put my arm around Carl. We didn't dare to move fast or at all.
Don't do something stupid.
"What about my son?" Rick screamed.
"Go kid." Gareth told Carl and I took my arm of his shoulder.
"Don't be afraid Carl. Your father will keep you save." He looked up to me, hesitated but then walked to his father. Daryl and I looked at each other while Carl slowly walked over to them.
I turned to Gareth. "What about me?" I scream up to him, but he just smiled.
"You look like you had been through hell. I allow you to stay with us." He looked from me to my friends. "Go in there!" But Rick didn't move. "Don't make us kill the woman." Rick opened the door and entered. Daryl didn't follow, his eyes were glued at me.
"Archer, you better keep moving or she'll die right in front of your eyes." Still he didn't move. A shot was fired and I went down on one knee. I quickly held up my hand, mentioning I was okay. I saw Daryl wanting to run to me, but Michonne held him back.
I stood up again. "I'm okay." Looking down on my leg, I was bleeding a bit. The shot had only grazed me. It burned, but wasn't too bad. And I knew what would be bad.
"Go on archer, the next shot will kill her." Gareth warned Daryl and he slowly moved and entered after Rick looking at me the whole time. "You can stay with us or go in there too." Gareth told me. Without thinking I spat to the ground, looked up to him with hateful eyes and walked to the car. "It's a shame!"
When I entered after Carl, the door was shut and Daryl immediately took me in his arms. Next to me Rick held his son. It was dark, but I could see them close. Daryl went down on his knee, checking my leg. "Just grazed." I told him.
"Rick?" Figures approached us from the back of the train car. At first I saw Glenn, then Maggie. Almost all of my friends were in here. I jumped at Glenn, taking him into my arms. He hugged me back. When I opened my eyes, there were people I didn't know behind him. Behind Sasha stood a tall man. I was tensed, letting go of Glenn and ready to fight.
"They are our friends." Maggie told us. "They helped us, saved us."
"Then they are friends of ours too." Daryl said behind me.
"For how long that'll gonna be." The tall man said and stepped back again.
"No!" Rick said determined. Like I had told Carl, Rick wouldn't let his son die here. "They're gonna feel stupid when they find out." He looked through the crack between the walls of our newly prison.
The tall men came back from shadows. "Find out what?" They all looked at Rick. They hadn't seen what we had. They didn't know Rick anymore.
Daryl pressed me to his side and kissed the top of my head. "We'll survive!" He whispered.
"They are screwing with the wrong people." Rick answered the tall man in a frightening voice. I should be afraid, but I wasn't. I had been put into a dark prison before, this wasn't scaring me, because Rick wasn't giving up. He was determined to survive, to live. And so was I.
That is the right attitude. Never give up. You have been through too many shit. The darkness is a known foe and you know how to fight it. Finally he said the things I felt too. You gonna survive.
Behind me they talked about their way out of the prison, how they met Abraham and his group. Daryl told Maggie about Beth, that she was alive somewhere. They talked about how the prison had went down. About their ways that had lead them here.
"Did you see Merle?" I asked looking at them. "Have you seen him?" I asked Maggie.
"You still care for that bastard?" Glenn still hated him.
"That bastard saved my life." I retorted dryly.
Glenn kept on starting at me, his eyes seeing every scar in my face. "He did a good job." The tall one called Abraham spat as if to take Glenn's side.
Maggie came closer. "You look even more messed up than last time." She smiled sadly taking me into her arms. I laughed into her shoulder.
"And you always end up with that same douchebag." I said half-earnest looking over to Glenn. It hurt he couldn't stop hating Merle, that he couldn't even forgive or forget.
"You too." She laughed and I knew she meant Daryl. I hugged her tight, feeling like I found long lost sister.
Rick stepped closer, almost between us. "We can use weapons. We just have to make them out of a belt, a zipper, everything." He stepped towards me. "Take off the jacket, use the zipper to carve out some wood. We can use that to defend ourselves." I nodded.
Everyone began to work at something. I took off my jacket and tried to rip the zipper off it. Daryl sat down next to me, taking an arrow out of his boot. "When they'll open that door, go for the eyes."
"You already taught me." I laughed lowly looking up to him. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." I said honestly. Looking at him in the almost darkness his eyes shone brightly at me. Memories came back, how we first met, how we hunted together, our first kiss and how he had touched me the first time. What happened to my angry distant cold ass bitch sister? Hope she is gone for sure. I ignored his comment, not knowing myself who I was. I couldn't rip off the zipper and sighed frustrated.
Daryl took the jacket and with a quick motion he ripped it off. "Nah, ya'r a survivor." He handed me the jacket and zipper back.
He just didn't get it, I smiled. "Just accept the compliment." And it was the truth too, he had taught me how to survive. Standing up I used the zipper band to carve a piece of wood out of the wall and sharpened it on the ground.
Daryl handed me his arrow. "Put that in your boot. Just in case." Without waiting for my answer he put it in my boot. "Just accept it." He went to stand at a gap in the wall watching for the enemy to come and I concentrated on the carving. A few moments later he shushed us. "Four of them pricks are coming our way." My heart stopped beating. I stood up to stand close to Daryl. My body was shaking.
Breath. "Breath." My brother and Daryl said at the same time. I took a deep breath, it gave me strength.
"You all know what to do." Rick told us and everybody stood up, ready to fight. "Go for the eyes first, than the throats." He really knew how to kill. They all gathered at the door we had entered. I looked to my friends behind me. When something struck me. In the very back was another door. But before I could say something, someone opened the top and threw in a bomb. Daryl threw himself over me, knocking me to the ground. I lost my weapon when we crashed to the ground. Smoke filled the train car and we all started coughing.
See you next week. And: Happy Halloween :o)