A/N: Hello, guys! So this is the conclusion to the last chapter, and it's gonna get pretty crazy. Trigger warning for mention of a miscarriage, a fairly hideous execution scene, and a death scene toward the end that's briefly kinda gross. Listing that all out makes it seem like it's gruesome from start to finish but I promise it's not, there's just a few things I don't want you to be unprepared for. Today's chapter song is "The Antidote" by St. Vincent, it's honestly perfect for Alpha. Super huge thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope you enjoy!
11. The Antidote
Late at night, when they thought she was asleep, she sat up and listened to the things they said to Nick and Naomi.
They murmured about Nick's track marks, told him that before he'd been lost, worthless. But here, in the service of the Great Keeper, he could live a life of purpose. He could be pure again.
They whispered about Naomi's potential to contribute to the future of the community, how nature dictated she fulfill specific roles. That as a woman, motherhood was the truest, noblest path she could walk. Gina had no idea if they knew about the baby or not.
And every night, as they whispered, they blinked their flashlights on and off. Steady and deliberate.
On. And off.
They never came to Gina's tent. She figured this was probably because Caan saw no sense in it. No one questioned it either way.
Three days had passed. She couldn't tell if she was getting better or not. Sometimes she had enough energy to wander the camp, cloaked in a sheet to protect from the glaring sun, and sometimes the venom kept her bed-bound. Today, the former had revealed something which put her stomach in a tight knot.
There was a surprising faction of pregnant women within the group. Ten or so, she counted, which was incredible considering there were only about thirty people total that made up the group. They stayed stuck like glue to each other, discussing their pregnancies in placid tones while they patched worn clothes and prepared the next meal.
At first, she thought maybe they sought out these pregnant women specifically. But if so, it was strange that none of them seemed to be past the first trimester. And how would they have found so many, when people in general were at a premium these days?
So she sat with them, wearing that pleasant smile her mother taught her once upon a time.
To get whatever you want, you have to offer a smile like that's the only thing you want in return.
She was never quite so good at keeping it up as her mother, but she gave enough of an effort to make up for it.
The women seemed charmed. They welcomed her to the circle, asking how she was faring and if she had given any thought to what she might provide the community. She answered with some crap she thought Mason might say. That she wanted to protect the group, that that's all she'd ever tried to do for her friends, blah, blah, blah.
"Oh, so you don't want to be a mother," one of them said.
"That's not really my speed. And I'm a lesbian."
"Lesbians have children, too," another woman said, smiling like she thought Gina was being silly.
Gina fought the acid from her tone. "Yeah. Back when artificial insemination was a thing. But these days it's a little different. If I have to fu—if I have to have sex with a man to get pregnant, then it's not an option. Besides…" I hate children. "Raising kids just never felt like the right path for me."
"I didn't think it was the right path for me, either, until our Keeper showed me who I could be." The woman smiled dreamily. "Sometimes it takes an incredible man to return a woman to her potential."
Gina gagged inwardly.
"So…he's the father?" she guessed.
"Of course. There is no question that nature approves the existence of his offspring. Their worthiness is predestined."
"Uh huh… So what about the kids that aren't his offspring?"
The women stared at her like she was missing something incredibly obvious.
She shook her head. "All of you?"
"It's the only way to guarantee the survival of this community. The worthy breed the strong. That's how it is now."
Every woman in the circle murmured their agreement. Except one. Slight and mousy, Gina hadn't paid her much attention until the silence. Her eyes were wide, as though trying to convey something vital.
Unwilling to single her out, Gina smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught all of your names."
The mousy woman went by Cricket. It was the only name Gina bothered to remember.
Sitting in her tent now, listening to whoever visited Nick and Naomi, she wondered about that look on Cricket's face. If it was the same look she herself used to wear at her mother's parties. Begging someone to see, that anyone would see…
See what?
That she was trapped. A hostage in her own home, her own body.
You're not trapped anymore.
But there was always that fear, wasn't there? That maybe she…was still a prisoner. Still a prisoner and didn't even know it…
You are a prisoner. Of this fucking cult. So quit your little pity party and figure out what the hell you're going to do about it.
The visitors went on for about an hour, and then the night was silent. Gina waited a few minutes more before sneaking out of her tent.
Nick's was closest, so she went to his first. She brought no flashlight, but the light of a waxing moon cast the faintest light within the tent. Asleep, but fitful, his body shuddered under venom or nightmares or both. She wasn't sure what she was doing there, so she sat quietly and watched the sweat roll down his pinched face.
An hour or so later, she looked in on Naomi, who seemed to be faring little better than Nick. But her eyes opened as Gina sat next to her, freezing her in place.
"Well, I must be dreaming." Naomi smirked weakly. "Gina Stanton, coming to see me on my deathbed."
Gina bristled at the use of her last name. "You're not on your deathbed, Naomi Sung."
"I'd've thought you'd be happy, since you don't like me all that much."
She shared her sister's skill for cutting through the bullshit. Gina sniffed indifferently. "I don't like anyone. It's nothing personal."
"So I shouldn't take it personally if you leave me behind to save your own ass?"
"I mean, you can if you want. But I've heard forgiveness is divine."
Naomi coughed a laugh. "You don't fucking have a clue what forgiveness is."
"I know the dictionary definition."
There was a brief silence, in which Naomi shook her head and Gina listened carefully for any movement in camp.
"I'm not too acquainted with forgiveness, either."
Gina glanced cautiously at Naomi. She hadn't really come in here for a heart-to-heart, but then again, she didn't know why she was here.
"You know, Charlie and I made a pact to never have children," she continued, smiling wryly.
"Oh. Well, you followed through with flying colors, didn't you?"
Naomi rolled her eyes. "I was fourteen at the time, she was nine. And I didn't tell her when I changed my mind a few years later. She found out when I told her I was pregnant, and that I was keeping it."
"Why'd you wait? Scared your sister would put you in a pot pie?"
"I mean, that was definitely a concern. But no, it was…" Naomi sighed. "There was a lot of resentment between us, growing up. My parents held me to a different standard, because I was the oldest, you know. And because for a while, I did genuinely try to please them. Up until about sixteen, I was a model kid, which Charlie just…hated.
"But I didn't want the things they wanted. I wanted…I just wanted a job I wasn't completely miserable going to, with enough time to make my jewelry. If I could've had that record store, maybe I would've sold a few pieces in there, just for the hell of it, but it always would've been a hobby. Fuck putting that kind of pressure on something I love.
"They never looked at Charlie the same way. Partly it was because she refused to give them a reason, always causing trouble in school and slacking off, and for so long I thought she preferred it that way. But I know now… She wanted them to see her the same way, without having to give them a reason. She wanted them to see the potential in her, without having to show them. They never understood that."
She paused to wipe a hand under her eyes and Gina looked away.
"So that was always the biggest rift between us. We actually didn't talk for two years after I left home. She resented me for our parents' pride. I resented her for not having to deal with that pressure. But I love her. She's a little shit, but I love her. And at a certain point, we made sure to understand each other, all that crap that put us at odds for so long. I didn't tell her I was pregnant because I didn't want her to think I betrayed her, after all that."
Gina grunted. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I know you don't care either way. I couldn't say all this to someone who actually knew me, but I do need to say it. There's things in me…I need to purge."
Gina turned back with a frown.
"You shouldn't listen to the shit they come in here and tell you every night."
Naomi's dark eyes flickered with surprise, but she ducked her head. "I don't really…have much of a choice."
"Yes, you do. You may not be able to physically get up and move, but you can choose not to allow any real estate for their creepy-ass rhetoric."
"But what if they're right?"
"…What?"
"Gina, my baby—" The breath abandoned her for a moment. She swallowed before continuing. "My baby is out there somewhere, and I don't even know if she's alive. She's my responsibility, and I don't know if she's alive."
"So you think you should be relegated to brood bitch for the rest of your life?"
Naomi sighed. "You don't get it."
"Because there's nothing to get. It's bullshit, Naomi. Bullshit."
But the energy drained out of Naomi's expression, eyes going blank before she closed them. Gina curled her lip in disgust.
"Fine. Stay here and make babies for them until you rot. It won't bring your brat back."
Fuming, she returned to her tent.
~m~
Gina recovered first. Coyote, who took over overseeing the healing process after Glory refused, was ecstatic.
"You're going to be the absolute best sister!" she exclaimed when Caan gave Gina the all-clear. "Simply the best! Don't tell the other sisters I said that, though. I don't want them thinkin' I pick favorites."
Right. Because they were all one family now.
An induction ceremony was held, in which Caan talked a load of bullshit and Gina killed the snake that bit her to display unerringly that she belonged in this new world. There was the brief temptation to shove it down Caan's throat, but…no. It wasn't the time.
Cricket stared through the whole thing, standing next to a man with scraggly hair and heavy-lidded eyes.
She intended to seek Cricket out the next day, but Foster caught her before she got the chance.
"Our Keeper said you aren't going to be a mother," he said.
"Uh, no."
"Then you're to join us on patrol. We'll spend a few days getting you acquainted with the way we do things, and by the end of your training we'll know if you're more suited for scavenging or recruiting."
Scraggle Hair was among the men in her group, she was pleased to see, though she wasn't afforded much opportunity to ask him the questions she wanted to.
They scavenged the limited contents of a shack and the fruit from several plum trees before coming to a strange, glittering tree. It tinkled in the light breeze and Gina realized as they drew closer that it was adorned in wind chimes and glass bottles. A pit yawned at its base. The dead shuffled back and forth within, rousing at the sight of fresh meat.
"Full house today," Foster murmured in his unemotional tone. "Mosquito and I will take the left side, Owen and Gina take the right."
"And then…?" Gina said.
"You kill them."
"That's the only reason you gather them?"
"We have to keep them from the camp."
"Yeah, sure, I get that. But…"
They began dispatching the dead without acknowledging her. Her jaw twitched.
"You could use them instead of just wasting them," she growled.
All three looked up, Owen the slowest.
"Use them," Foster repeated.
"Yes. Use them. You know, the way you use the snakes. You could put them up around the camp like a fence, or as a trap—"
"The Keeper has decreed that this is what we will do with the risen," Foster said sharply. "He knows what's best."
Prickling with irritation, she crouched at the edge of the pit and took out her knife. Foster and Mosquito continued with their work, but Owen watched her, blinking slowly like he wasn't fully awake. She stared back in silent challenge.
They left the bodies; Foster claimed he would come back with a truck for them later. Gina realized they must keep whatever vehicles they had hidden from the camp, either to discourage looters or…
Discourage a fast getaway.
They spent a few more hours waiting and wandering about, looking for people. But the road and surrounding hills stayed vacant even of the dead, and Gina returned to camp feeling as though they hadn't really done much of anything.
Foster and Mosquito disappeared, the former to report to Caan, the latter likely to stare dazedly into space, but Owen lingered.
Gina raised an eyebrow. "You have something to say?"
"That…was a good idea." His tone was vacant and halting. "With…the…dead."
"Yeah, I know it was. Would've been nice if you'd said that before."
Owen smiled shyly. "Foster's not…the most open-minded. Maybe…if we go with Coyote…you'll have better luck."
"That's great and all, but it doesn't seem like I have much say around here."
"Coyote has…the Keeper's ear. Ask her."
Then he shuffled away.
~m~
Cricket's skinny silhouette awaited her in her tent that evening.
"What the he—"
Cricket put a finger to her lips to gesture for quiet, her wide, dark eyes flicking back and forth like she expected the others to tear through the walls of the tent.
When she seemed satisfied this wouldn't happen, she whispered, "You don't want to be here."
"Yeah, no shit," Gina hissed back. "That why you keep staring at me like a fucking—"
"You need to help me. You need to help me get out. Please."
Gina coughed incredulously. "What makes you think I can help you get out?"
"I saw you when you first got here. The others may think you've been properly assimilated, but I'm not stupid."
"That explains how you know I'm getting out, not why you think I'd help you."
"Because—" She breathed shortly. "Because if you don't, I'll tell the doctor you attacked me, that you're crazy jealous cuz you can't have babies, and he'll have you sent out to the Reeling Fields so fast you'll get whiplash."
Gina grinned. "Oh, so we're playing hardball? You know what, I like that. Means you'll actually be some use to me getting out of here."
Cricket's lips trembled with relief. "Really?"
"Don't ruin it by crying."
"But are you serious? You'll really help me?"
"Yes. The more people I have on my side, the easier this'll be."
"So you have a plan?"
"No, do you?"
"Not—not really. But it's not just me. It's my brother, too. Owen."
Gina pulled back. "Owen's your brother?"
"Yes. And I need to get him out. He's…he's not himself here." Her eyes narrowed fiercely. "They're brainwashing people. That's how they hunt, they look for someone…desperate. Someone they think will be susceptible."
As if on cue, the whispering started up in the tent next door, and the lights. On. And off.
"How are they doing it?" Gina asked, her voice even lower than the whisperers. "I mean, yeah, they're telling them shit, but…"
Cricket shrugged her bony shoulders. "Sickness, starvation, loneliness… Drugs, and the apocalypse. It all makes a person moldable."
And the more moldable, the more willing they were to accept someone's word as law, someone who seemed charming and charismatic, someone who might protect them.
Gina shook her head irritably. "If you know so much, why the fuck did you let him knock you up in the first place?"
The question seemed to age her. "My brother. He got an infection from a stab wound and he was going to die. So I agreed. I played along. But maybe we should've died. This isn't life. This is service."
She rubbed a hand over her stomach. Gina frowned.
"Are you even pregnant? Because you don't look it."
"I'm just a few weeks along."
"You want kids? Outside of this mess, I mean."
"I never have. And having them now seems cruel. But they're the future." This last, she said with a bitterness Gina recognized deep in her bones.
(you're trapped you're trapped you're trapped)
"Alright, look." She glanced at the tent wall, through which the glow of the flashlight winked in and out of existence. "I'm getting out no matter what. But I'm going to try to get my frie—to get Nick and Naomi out, too. They're the pathetic twits that got me into this mess, but it sorta takes the fun out of kicking their asses for it if they're mindless shells."
"We'll have to wait for them to get better."
"Yeah."
Gina gritted her teeth. It would be so much easier if she just left them, and a good portion of her was sorely tempted. But she thought of Naomi's story, her parents and the pressure and the need to be free, and how it was a story Gina could've told herself.
There's things in me…I need to purge.
"What the hell's stopping you from just…sneaking out after dark?"
"They watch," Cricket answered. "Right outside the camp. The mothers keep tabs, too. There's been two separate escape attempts since I've been here. Both ended in executions."
"Well, that was before me."
"You sound like you're already out."
Gina curled her lip, showing the barest hint of her teeth. "That's because I fucking am."
~m~
Nick and Naomi were cleared the same day Gina saw the Reeling Fields for the first time.
That morning, Caan called a meeting to announce that there was a dissenter in their midst. Gina kept her face smooth and controlled, but her heart sparked with adrenaline, certain Cricket must have betrayed her.
The man Foster and Crow dragged out and forced to his knees was one she recognized only vaguely. He was gagged, tears and snot running down his face, arms and legs bound with rope. Gina relaxed slightly.
His crime, Caan claimed, was questioning the need for snake venom, threatening to put an end to it.
The whole cult let out a savage hiss. The man wailed against his gag.
Foster handed Caan a sledgehammer. Caan smiled serenely and said, "You have scorned the gift Nature has accorded you, and relinquished your divine right to survival. Your penalty is the Reeling."
He swung the sledgehammer. There was a sickening crunch before the scream, and all Gina could think of was this song Mason used to play by a bright band that wrote about dark things. It stuck absurdly in her head as Caan raised the sledgehammer again, and the man shrieked as first one foot and then the other was crushed.
The group's hissing dwindled to silence. Foster and Crow hoisted the man between them and began towing him away, and Caan and the group followed. Gina's legs moved of their own accord, her eyes fixated on the mangled remains of the man's feet.
They journeyed out beyond the dead pit, to a small basin scooped from the hills as though by some giant shovel. That was probably the story Caan told. Nature's divine backhoe.
The handful of trees within the basin were glittering copies of the one by the dead pit. The sound of clinking glass greeted her a second before the smell did, an assault of rot and shit. Though they had to know it was coming, some of the group still choked.
A few corpses wandered back and forth through the basin, attracted by the sound of the trees. Others lay snagged on large, strange teeth poking out of the ground. It took Gina a second to realize that they were bones, snapped into wicked points and stuck deep into the earth.
That was what they did with the bodies. Harvested them for their bones.
There were no words said before the man was cut loose and tossed into the basin. The crowd was hushed as he slammed into the dirt and scrambled to hands and knees, flinching and fumbling in a futile attempt at avoiding the teeth. He crawled drunkenly, weaving and skewing back and forth, scattering blood all the while, and Gina finally realized why they called it the Reeling Fields.
The dead didn't take long to shamble over, drawn by the man's whimpering and the scent of blood.
He was eaten belly-down and screaming.
Only when he was silent did Caan speak, bowing his head.
"Today, we have endured an uncomfortable blow. But as with anything, there is good to balance the bad. Nature has seen our struggle, and rewarded us for our faith. Our two newest initiates were officially cleared this morning as survivors."
The induction ceremony was held that evening before lights-out. Even without the chance to speak with them, Gina could tell Nick and Naomi were not themselves. Blank faces and mechanical movements, like so many of the others here.
A cheer went up when it was over. Gina narrowed her eyes, irritated by their empty acceptance. They didn't know Nick or Naomi. They were celebrating the husks of strangers.
Nick returned to his tent immediately after, but Naomi was invited to a private conference with Caan in his RV. When no one was looking, Gina snuck into Naomi's tent to wait.
She wasn't gone long. Her tired eyes widened as she stepped inside.
"What are you doing here?"
"So he just wanted a quickie tonight? I can't decide if that's good or bad for you."
Naomi sighed. "Shut up, Gina."
"What, you don't want to gossip?" She pitched her voice higher, the way all her mother's rich friends spoke. "Was he a good kisser, or did he even bother?"
"It wasn't like that. We just talked."
"Oh, hammering out the baby-making schedule?"
Naomi shoved her hard enough to knock her off balance. "Stop being a bitch. I'm not going to be a…a mother. Not for them."
Gina took a moment to suppress her surprise. "Oh. Well, that's—"
"He wants me to. I think he's going to keep pushing me about it. But I'm used to fucking over peoples' expectations."
"Okay. So that'll make this a little easier."
"Make what easier?"
Gina lowered her voice, though she was already whispering. "We're escaping. This chick, Cricket, and I are working it out."
Naomi blinked slowly, then ducked her head. "Escape where?"
"Where—what—what do you mean where? Fucking Virginia. The whole point of this fucked up road trip?"
"Yeah, but what do you think is even waiting for us there?"
"Christ, don't start this again."
"I'm serious. Do you really think they made it? Look at all the shit that's happened to us and we're only halfway there."
"Well, we'll never know if we stay here in this backwoods commune."
"I…I don't know."
"You don't…oh. That's great. You don't know. Okay, then, I'll tell you what. You stay here, do a little soul-searching, and when you figure it out, send me a postcard. Maybe something with a little snake on it. That'd be cute, wouldn't it?"
She stalked out, too pissed to care if anyone saw her.
~m~
Owen was right about Coyote having Caan's ear. The next day, she convinced him to let her take Gina out instead of Foster, and in the end Gina couldn't ask for a better group, with Owen and Nick to complete it.
Pretending to listen while Coyote prattled on, it was easy enough to steer the group back toward the dead pit. There were only three corpses today.
"It's a shame we can't use them for anything else," Gina said, interrupting whatever the hell Coyote was saying.
"Huh? Oh, the risen? For what?" Coyote blinked, genuinely curious.
"I don't know. Maybe…we could use them to herd initiates, you know? Or maybe keep intruders away?"
"Oh! Well, I'll be pickled. That's an amazing idea!"
Gina grinned. She couldn't deny she enjoyed the look Coyote gave her, that same gleaming awe with which she regarded Caan. Owen nodded briefly, his eyes warm with approval. Nick just looked vaguely confused, rubbing absently at the wrappings on his left arm.
Coyote insisted on taking this idea back to Caan, who Gina knew would never approve it simply because it hadn't been his. But getting this idea approved wasn't even the point, not really.
The point was planting another.
She wasn't surprised or even disappointed when Caan called her into his RV that afternoon to inform her that the risen's function had already been decided. His tone was polite, but in his pale eyes there was a warning.
So Gina flashed one of her own, smiled and said, "I only want what's best for this group."
She spent the next morning with the mothers, making them laugh as she helped them with breakfast. Casually she mentioned her idea about the dead, how it was a shame the Keeper didn't see things her way. Naturally they defended him, and Gina feigned agreement.
"Oh, no, of course he's right. It's just…" She worked to make her expression innocent and troubled. "He seems so…overworked sometimes, I worry about him. It just seems right to help him where we can, you know? As followers, isn't that our duty?"
And though they were quick to claim they could never make decisions of his magnitude, the doubt flickered in their eyes.
Through it all, Cricket never gave any sign she registered Gina's existence. She was really starting to grow on her.
The rest of the week passed in much the same manner, befriending those she could, leaving threads for them to follow, until the evening came when Caan addressed them directly.
"My beloveds," he said. "I have heard the whisperings. I know that an idea has been proposed, that we use the risen as tools while they can move, while they can bite. I cannot deny that this sounds effective in theory, but the reality is that it is simply too risky."
"Not if we took the right precautions," Owen spoke up, in a voice much clearer and steadier than Gina had ever heard it. Cricket stared in shock.
"And what precautions would those be?" Caan asked. Voice indulgent, eyes dangerous.
"I…don't know exactly. But they're dead. They can't think, we can. I'm sure if we just gave it a little thought—"
"I appreciate your efforts in trying to find a solution to the terrors that surround us. But dearest ones, I must be candid." He paused, frowning at the ground, and Gina felt her lips twitch in a furious smile.
What, asshole? What lie have you got in your arsenal?
"I have been granted a vision, by the grand divinity of the universe," he continued. "A dream. In this dream, I saw a snake coiled around our camp. Keeping out the terrors, the darkness. But within our camp, there lurked a wolf. Unseen by anyone, it whispered its lies in the ears of all who would listen, and spread discord where there might have been unity."
Tension rippled through the crowd as they all looked at one another. Who was the wolf? Was it already here?
Caan smiled serenely. "I promise, my beautiful, wonderful people, I will not allow this wolf to destroy us. To destroy what we have built here. But now I hope you will see why I am hesitant to encourage change when there is nothing wrong with the way we have always done things."
Slowly, deliberately, his eyes landed on Gina, and the crowd followed his gaze. She kept hers pinned on him a second longer before looking around in confusion, as clueless and apprehensive as the rest of them.
Nearly everyone gave her a wide berth as the crowd dispersed. But as she made her way to her tent, Naomi brushed past, close enough to murmur, "You better get your hand off the pan before you get burned."
Gina snorted. "You better get your nose out of my business before it gets broken."
~m~
A pained cry woke her the next morning. Warily she crawled from her tent, and spotted a group huddled over something in the center of camp. As she drew closer, she realized it was one of the mothers, curled in a ball with her arms clasped tight around her stomach. Caan knelt at her side, murmuring something Gina couldn't catch.
"What's going on?" she asked.
They acted as though she hadn't spoken; their strained expressions never even twitched. Gina grimaced but kept silent until Caan finally stood, supporting the limp, tear-stricken mother with one arm.
"What's wrong with her?"
Caan regarded her coldly. "She's had a miscarriage."
A shocked murmur rose from the crowd. Caan brushed past them, leading the mother into his RV without answering anymore questions.
Gina slipped on a mask of dismay, though inside she sparked at the opportunity. Raising her voice just enough to be heard, she said, "Miscarriage? But I thought… The Keeper's children are supposed to survive, aren't they?"
Her words brought on a wave of near-hysteria. Crow and Foster settled things down, but could do nothing about the fear vining deeper behind everyone's eyes.
Coyote led a patrol a few hours later. Her usual bubbly demeanor dulled by the morning's events, it was refreshingly quiet journeying out.
"Gina?"
Of course, it couldn't last.
Extinguishing a sigh, Gina turned. They'd come to a small homestead. Owen and Nick ranged out to search a nearby barn.
Coyote's wide, dark eyes pleaded mournfully. "What do you think it meant, what happened this mornin'?"
Nothing. It meant nothing, she wanted to say. But she recognized the significance of what Coyote was asking, and that she was asking Gina.
So she painted her features with gentleness, channeled Mason's inner poetic crap and said, "Well… Nature, she's changeable. The seasons rotate, the predators eat the prey and then the earth eats them. And whenever there's an imbalance, these cycles work to correct it. Now Nature granted survival to Our Keeper's children because that fit the balance, but…if Nature is taking that back…"
Horror paled Coyote's face. "You—you think Nature no longer approves of his children?"
"I don't know. But if that's the case, I think…I think that would mean she no longer approves of him."
"No! No, she has to. He survived, he drank the blood of divinity…"
"It's difficult for me to believe, too. But we're all survivors."
"No. It's not our place to question his position. It's especially not mine." She sighed brokenly. "I don't know if you know this, Gina, but I…I wanted to be a mother. I wanted to do my part and carry Our Keeper's child. But I can't…have children. And he still kept me, even though I couldn't provide that."
This hit a nerve.
Gina grabbed Coyote's shoulder. "Listen to me," she growled. "Your ability to have kids isn't any indication of your worth. That's not just true now, that's always been true. You're not a test tube for his fucking genes, or anyone else's."
She gasped. "Gina—"
"No, fucking listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. My mother—"
Was an indiscriminate breeder, an evil bitch, a soulless monster.
She swallowed. "My mother wanted me whored out, so I could reel in the most advantageous man. I wasn't anything to her unless I was pretty, and popular, and—"
(trapped trapped trapped)
"—well-behaved. And it was all bullshit." She shuddered with rage, but…
Rein it in. Remember where you are.
"Look, all I'm saying is—"
A shout interrupted her. She looked up to see Owen and Nick backing away from the barn, stalked by a herd of about ten dead ones. She straightened, reaching for her knife, but Coyote stopped her.
"We're close to the pit," she said. "We'll lead 'em there."
They were able to set a quick pace; the corpses were fairly fresh and kept up well. No one spoke on the way back. Gina wondered what was going on behind Coyote's tight expression.
They were almost to the pit when they heard the scream.
"Oh," Coyote breathed. "That sounded like it came from camp."
Gina made the decision in that moment. "We're taking them back," she commanded, glancing at the dead. "Owen, Nick, you go on ahead and do whatever you have to. We'll be right behind you."
They did as she said without question. There was no fear in her as they moved forward, only exhilaration to finally be doing something.
The RV blocked the rest of camp from their view as they approached, which was just as well. They stayed hidden behind its bulk, knives drawn as they crept to its front. Voices carried on from somewhere in camp, though Gina could make out nothing of what they said. Behind them, the dead closed a gap of about five yards.
Gina peeked around the RV. Nine unfamiliar men prowled among the tents, all large and grungy and equipped with a range of weapons—pipes, knives, axes. No guns, as far as she could tell.
One of the men held Cricket close, scraping a hunting knife against her neck. Owen knelt before them, struggling against the thick chain another man had wrapped around his throat. Caan was nowhere to be seen, but there were Nick and Naomi, glaring defiantly at the intruders.
The dead were two yards away now.
A gap in the tents caught Gina's eye.
"Follow my lead," she hissed to Coyote and snuck around the RV.
It felt like it took an eternity, leading the dead to this particular opening without being seen, though she knew it was only seconds. Thankfully the way the tents were set up provided enough cover to do so at all.
By the time she made it, the dead were practically on her heels. Which was exactly what she needed.
No one saw her until it was too late. She swept in with the grace of a hunting cat, low to the ground. Her knife flashed as she severed the heels of the man clutching Cricket.
He buckled with a scream, tossing Cricket to the side. Gina rolled him out of the way, opening a path for the dead.
Coyote leapt in then, pulling one of the mothers out of the way while shoving an intruder to the dead. Some of the others took her lead, including Nick and Naomi. The latter raised her axe now Cricket was no longer a hostage. It made its home in the skull of one man before she kicked him away.
The man with the chain stumbled back, freeing Owen. Gina lunged for him, slashing his spine as he turned to run. It wasn't enough to stop him, but his footsteps stuttered and she was able to barrel into him. As they fell, Gina drove the knife into his side and twisted. He exhaled sharply and bucked, trying to throw her off.
Two corpses shuffled toward them. So Gina let him dislodge her, and watched as the corpses fell on him. His screams harmonized with the din around them.
Electricity coursed through her. She needed blood, she needed someone else to fight. Her sights zeroed in on Nick as one of the intruders flung him like a ragdoll, and her muscles sprung before she consciously told them to do so.
She rammed her knife into the back of his knee, effectively halting his advance. He swung around, snarling, but she flitted out of his reach. Her eyes fell on a nearby corpse, feasting on one of the outsiders. Grabbing it by its shoulders, she forced it to its feet and shoved it into the arms of Nick's attacker.
"Mine," she hissed, slouching into a territorial stance over Nick. But the man was a bit distracted by the corpse tearing into his face, and so didn't respond.
Thrumming with bloodlust, Gina wrenched Nick to his feet.
"Where's Naomi?" she asked.
"I don't know. I lost sight of her."
But at that moment, they spotted her, hacking some dude's leg out from under him before he could drive his pipe through a mother's skull.
Gina grinned. "There she is."
By the time they fought their way to her, it was essentially over. Only the dead remained, which Foster and Coyote went around dispatching.
Naomi raised an eyebrow, wiping blood and sweat from her brow. "Good timing."
"I like making an impressive entrance," Gina replied.
The RV door opened and Caan peeked out. Revulsion twisted Gina's face, but before she could make a move toward him, a keening went up from the center of camp.
Owen knelt over Cricket, holding her face in his hands. Her mouth moved, exhaling a bubble of blood but no sound. Deep red spilled from the gash in her throat.
"No!" he wailed, wild and desolate. "No, please, don't."
She touched his face briefly, speaking in blood and nothing more. Owen pulled her into his lap and pressed his forehead to hers, shaking.
"It's okay," he sobbed. "You're okay. Free, you're free, you're free now."
"Look at what you've done!"
Gina turned, half-expecting whoever it was to be talking to her. But the mother in question pointed an accusing finger at Caan, who looked around warily.
"You brought this on us," she continued, tears and anger distorting her face. "Nature is punishing us for your inaction. You coward! You coward!"
Caan stared her down, frozen for a split second before striding forward.
Gina, Naomi and Nick moved before he could reach her, barring his path. Nick glared unblinkingly, knife in his good hand. Naomi raised her axe, sun glittering on blood and blade. Gina grinned menacingly.
Foster, Crow and Mosquito took up positions at Caan's side, and a hush descended on the camp.
Coyote was the first to break it, stepping between the two groups.
"We have injured to tend to," she scolded. "Now's not the time for this hog-headed crap."
After a moment's hesitation, Nick and Naomi relaxed. But Gina's body wouldn't let her. Every cell felt sharpened, like those bits of bone in the Reeling Fields, eager to draw blood.
"Gina," Coyote pleaded.
In the red wash of lingering wrath, the sound of her name was intolerable.
Nick and Naomi tried to nudge her back. Murmuring her name. Her fucking name, the lie her mother tried to force her into, tried to trap her with…
"My beloveds," Caan said. "You look upon me with blame in your eyes. And yet I warned you, just yesterday, that there was a wolf in our midst. An unbeliever, a poisonous liar. Is it not suspect that these misfortunes descend immediately after taking in this woman?"
The crowd looked about uncertainly, but this didn't deter Gina from replying, "And who was it that decided to take me in? I'm sorry, I'm just blanking on that one."
"An act of mercy," Caan said. "Something I will never succumb to again."
Without warning, he shoved Coyote aside and snatched Gina by the throat. Nick and Naomi shouted in protest, diving forward to fight him off.
Mosquito kicked Nick to the ground. Foster slammed the butt of his machete against Naomi's temple and she collapsed.
Gina raked her knife down Caan's arm and he let her go. Crow, Foster and Mosquito ringed her. She slunk into a fighting crouch, more animal than human in that moment.
Caan quivered as he clutched his bleeding arm. "Look at this feral beast! She is faithless, bloodthirsty!"
"And if you'd listened to her, my sister would still be alive," Owen spoke up, grabbing a discarded rebar and climbing to his feet. Tears still ran down his face, but his eyes were clearer than Gina had ever seen them.
"In his dream," Gina said, addressing everyone else, "he claimed the snake was protecting the camp. Keeping out the darkness. But what if it was really just keeping everyone in? What if the snake is keeping you trapped?"
The whole crowd flinched, mute with unease.
"I brought the risen to you today because I know the lengths we need to go to defend ourselves," she carried on. "I tried to convince your Keeper to go to these lengths and he refused. Tell me who the poisonous one is."
"Do not let the wolf plant these lies in you. You took the venom. You are pure—"
"He forces the venom on you when he never took it himself. You are stronger than he is!"
"She's right," Owen said. "Without us, he is nothing."
Slowly, distress crept into realization, outrage, awakening; Gina saw it in nearly every eye she met. Her spine straightened as a new spark ran through her.
"He is the poison holding you hostage," she declared. "I am the fucking antidote and I can free you!"
In the corner of her eye, movement. Foster, sunlight glinting silver off his machete. Gina twisted, raising her knife, but Coyote beat her there. She grappled briefly with Foster before kneeing him in the stomach, stealing his weapon and driving it through his throat.
Mosquito rushed to stop her, but Nick tackled him to the ground. Crow's angry shout cut short as Owen cracked his head open with the rebar.
And in the middle of the chaos, an opening. Gina lunged for it, ducking Caan's grasping hands, and came up within the circle of his arms.
His pale eyes flashed wide with fear a heartbeat before she sank her teeth in his neck.
Blood spurted into her mouth, nearly choking her, but she didn't let go. She refused, even as his hands ripped at her hair and skin, even as he staggered back. She wrapped herself around him, jaws clamped like a bear trap.
When his struggles began to weaken, she reasserted her grip and shook her head like a dog with a toy. Something inside of her had crawled loose, taken hold of her bones, gripped the base of her skull. Something inside of her had broken free.
She drank his blood deeply, until he was still.
When she finally let go, she was sure she wasn't the same person. It felt fucking amazing. She raised her head, chin dripping blood, and looked around at her audience with new eyes.
They tensed as she stood, but didn't flee. Their trepidation surrounded her, but so did their awe.
"I drank the blood of the snake," she said. "I conquered his illusions with teeth and vengeance alone. He wasn't wrong when he said a wolf would destroy all he built here, but all he built were lies. It's time you were free."
She glanced at Owen, watching her with intense, red-rimmed eyes, and Coyote, whose whole face was lit up with devotion. She glanced at Nick, crouched over Naomi's prone form, and felt a spasm of violence where her spine met this new creature inside her.
"The time of the Wolf is upon us," she raged on. "The world is ours now, it's yours. If you're willing to take it."
A slight hesitation, and then the others drew closer, tightening the circle around her. She took that as a yes.
"I am the Wolf the snake wanted to keep you from. I am the whisperer in the night." And as she spoke, the violence inside her swelled until she couldn't decide if it was pain or pleasure.
She bared her teeth.
"I am Alpha."
Four years after the Fall, by approximation of moon cycles
Alpha looked out over the dead-speckled streets, barely seeing them. Murph had given her a lot to consider, but she couldn't summon up the proper excitement.
Somewhere out there, right now probably, Mason was preparing the Alexandrians for war. More involved than Alpha had thought to expect, after the way her and her Kingdom knelt for Negan. More involved than Alpha had ever wanted her, certainly.
She sighed. It complicated everything. Everyone that came in contact with Mason could not reveal their connection to Alpha. She could not reveal herself to Mason, not until the proper introduction was arranged. It was no longer as simple as claiming Alexandria so they could stop fighting the dead and focus on the Saviors from behind secure walls. It was no longer as simple as eliminating the Saviors so that she could go to the Kingdom and say that she freed them, to see Mason fall on her knees with gratitude and be hers again.
"Fucking Alexandrians," she hissed.
"What'd they do this time?"
Alpha turned. The Wolf that approached wore a dead mask, axes and knives decorating their belt. She hadn't seen this one in a while, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Decided to come back, huh?"
The Wolf scoffed and pulled off the mask, shaking her black hair loose.
"Shut up, Gina," Naomi grunted. "God, I'm the first one you turn to for the dirtiest, trickiest jobs and then you get pissy when it takes me a while."
Alpha grinned darkly. "Do I look pissy?"
"You always look pissy."
She allowed that one. "So how'd this particular dirtiest, trickiest job go?"
"I mean, it…" Naomi slapped her hands against her thighs. "It was a job. Satellite outpost fully poisoned, or I wouldn't be here. It only took a fucking month. You know, if you could just spare a few of your precious Wolves, these things would get done a lot faster."
"Yes, but you want a job done right, you only send the best."
"Oh, you are not even trying to flatter me right now."
Alpha laughed. "But it's so fucking easy…"
"Look, I'm running on very little sleep and, like, two acorns. I just came up to report to you, so…" She mimed a salute. "Now I'm gonna go pass out for three days…"
"Wait," Alpha commanded.
Naomi paused with a sigh. "What?"
"The Alexandrians are stubborn bitches and we're gonna need to come up with something really clever for them, that's what."
Unease crossed Naomi's expression, the ghost of who she'd been in Arkansas.
"You know I don't want to be involved in any of that…" It was why she worked exclusively on Savior missions.
"I'm not just asking you. I'm gathering the Shadow Council later tonight." Naomi, Coyote, Murph, Owen, Nick and Alpha herself made up the Shadow Council. The only people Alpha vaguely trusted.
Naomi groaned. "Tonight? I just said I'm passing out for three days."
Alpha ignored this and pointed in the general direction of Alexandria. "Be thinking about it."
Of course, they couldn't disclose everything with Naomi, or Nick, for that matter. A separate meeting would have to be held beforehand, so that no one slipped up and revealed the Kingdom's involvement.
She shook her head. Sometimes, being Alpha was almost more effort than it was worth.
Almost.
But though she was exhausted, she refused to let it weigh her down. She'd never gotten anywhere by quitting. And hopefully soon, she'd be sleeping within the walls of the Safe Zone, one enemy down.
She grinned and followed Naomi inside.
A/N: So real quick, I just wanted to mention that Owen is Owen from the actual show, the Wolf that kidnaps Denise. And I forgot to mention before that Nick is Nick from FTWD (if you've seen it), because he was basically the only character on there that I truly liked (and Victor. Gotta love a lying little bastard lol) It was fun for me in this chapter to play around with Alpha being possessive and thinking she's being protective. That comparison may or may not be a pretty big subplot later on. But as interesting as it is to get sucked into Alpha's world, I'm excited to get back to Team Family. Next chapter will likely be more lighthearted for the most part, just to give you a breather from all the craziness, but we ARE coming up on a pretty intense chapter fairly soon. So keep an eye out for that. Until then, thanks so much for reading and much love xoxo