"Fuck!" Sophia swore coming to a stop, immediately pulling out one of her knives, looking to Gabe as she did. "Run, get back to our hideout. I'll keep them distracted." She took the keys out of the ignition, stuffing them in Gabe's hand.
One of them had to get out of here. She wasn't sure who this was, but chances are that they wouldn't be friendly. Sophia might be underestimated, but Gabe was a strong teenager with the height and muscle to back him up. Gabe most likely wouldn't be so fortunate.
"No way! Yo-" He tried to protest, but Sophia just shoved him harder.
"Get out before they realize there's two of us. Ren needs help, bring them all to my mom." She left no room for an argument, glaring at him. It lasted for another half second before he nodded and ran; making sure he closed the door after him before running to the forest line.
Sophia got out too, their car stopped in the middle of the road. The truck coming at them came to a stop, and one man jumped out, his gun trained on Sophia. He was surprisingly well groomed for a middle-aged man of the apocalypse. A well-kept moustache was the most obvious sign that they had a good set up somewhere. She didn't recognize him, but that didn't mean all that much, it wasn't like she did all that much socializing anyways.
"Who are you kid?" He asked gruffly, a couple more joining him and jumping out the truck. Each were brandishing a gun, a couple had knives in hand, but no one except the main guy was aiming at her.
She had a choice, be confident and hope that they wouldn't kill her because she was interesting, or play dumb, and get their guards down low enough to get away.
"M-my name is Carmen." Sophia answered, letting a small stutter enter her voice. It was pretty simple to fall back into the nervous girl she used to be. Eyes wide with fear, hugging her sides to show nervousness.
"Well, Carmen, where in the world are you coming from? All the way out here by yourself? Driving too?" He asked, dropping his gun slightly. So, they hadn't seen Gabe then. That was a relief at least, hopefully she could get out of their hold soon then.
"I... well, I kinda snuck out, so I was heading back to the settlement. I was trying to get back before dark, but I went too far out." Did kids still sneak out during the apocalypse? She remembered seeing a couple kids her age in a movie a long time ago sneaking out. Were people dumb enough to sneak out from the safety of their settlements for fun?
This earned Sophia a few laughs from the men in the truck, their stances relaxing even further. The idiots saw her as just a dumb kid then, huh? Better for her then. Letting her knife fall back into their sheaths, she looked around mouth quirked to the side.
"Haven't seen you around Hilltop, so... where are you heading back to?" The strange man asked, and by the tone in his voice, this was a test. Did she truly know what she was talking about, or would she be lying out of her ass? She hadn't seen him in the previous meeting they had crashed, most likely he wasn't very familiar with those same people.
"The Kingdom. Now please, sir, I need to get back before King Ezekiel realizes I'm gone." Sophia gestured to the car behind her, to which she didn't have the keys for, but there was close to zero chance these men would let her drive away that easily.
"The Kingdom!" The man exclaimed, before walking towards her with a grin, now just an arm's length away. "So many run-away teens these days. You should come and meet Negan. He seems to like kids."
Shit.
"Oh sir, I-I really don't want to bother him." She may want to know the inner workings of Negan's place, but she didn't want to walk into the lion's den. That was a suicide mission, especially if they realized that she was indeed not from The Kingdom.
"Nonsense!" He laughed, throwing an arm around her shoulders, sending chills up her spine. He smelled of alcohol and sweat, and she had to fight herself not to scrunch her nose in disgust. "We can't have the younger generation getting in car accidents and driving around alone in the dark. How about this, I'll bring you to see Negan, get you some dinner, then we'll bring you back home."
Swallowing her fear, she nodded. Trying to get away wouldn't help, so she would have to go along with this. Hopefully this guy would 'return' her to The Kingdom like he said. Looking over her shoulder at the car, she gestured to it.
"What about the car? Cause... well, it isn't mine, and they'll miss it." Asking, she eyed the men, there were four in all, but she couldn't tell what they were even doing out here now, it was dark, most people didn't go out this late.
"It's not going anywhere! Come on, let's go Carmen." The mustached man led her to their truck, his hand digging into her left shoulder blade. "My name is Simon. Can't wait to show you around." His sneer seemed to be contagious as the other three laughed, moving to their truck, her own car forgotten.
If Gabe had stuck around, hopefully he would take the car, he would get back sooner, plus in order to move the kids, the car would be incredibly helpful. Although, if they did come back in the morning, she wouldn't be able to explain where the car went... that was a problem for later.
One of the men opened the passenger side door for Simon, but he waved him off. "You get in the bed of the truck, me and my new friend are gonna sit in the back." Simon pointed to the man with a crew cut. The man paused but seemed to think better than arguing and hopped into the back. "Come on, in you go."
Shivers ran up Sophia's spine without her permission. Playing a scared kid was becoming less and less pretend. She didn't like the glint she could see in his eyes, a dark withering thing deep in his pupils. He pushed her gently into the back seat, but she assumed that if she fought, he wouldn't be so kind.
Playing along for now, she crossed her arms across her chest, looking down at the floor. The truck stank of cigarettes and alcohol, hopefully the guy driving wasn't drunk. That would just be an added stressor.
"Let's go back." Simon pounded his fist on the back of the seat, he looked too happy for her tastes, like a kid before his birthday. "You're gonna be impressed with our set up Carmen." He said this like a promise.
"O-okay..." Sophia nodded, looking out the windows as the truck hummed to life. The least she could do was figure out the routes they took to their hideout.