All Nightmare Long

Chapter 536

Author's Note: I was trying to get done with Oceanside and then get to Carl/Summer then Jicks and Aaron out hunting. But that just didn't happen. Only a few more episodes until the gang is ready to fight. YES. Please review.

Oceanside:

Billie crossed her arms, standing outside the door of the building where they were holding the two women.

"We're just going to need to hear what they have to say," the leader told the three women who were gathered.

"No, the longer we wait, the more our community is at risk," Beatrice told them.

"They are both handcuffed, they are no danger to us," Billie said.

"What if people are looking for them?" Beatrice asked.

"We agreed to discuss this as a group, if someone ever got in. We made that decision a long time ago," the leader answered.

"They could have killed you, Beatrice, but you said that the shorter one spared your life, and that doesn't sound like they mean any harm," Billie answered.

"Enough arguing, we're going to go talk with them," the leader told them before she opened the door walking in, both of them being chained to either side of the radiator. "Do you, uh, need to use the bathroom before we get started?"

Tara glanced at Quinn. "Wow, uh…no, um thank you, but maybe," she said as she jiggled the handcuffs.

"You?" the same woman asked Quinn.

"No, I'm good," Quinn answered.

The leader looked at them both before sitting down. "I'm Natania, this is Kathy, Billie, and Beatrice who you've already met."

"Am I the only one hearing bells?" Tara asked.

"I hear them too," Quinn assured the other woman.

"They're ours, we have six of them, some nearby, some a couple miles away," Natania told them.

"Airhornes too?" Quinn asked.

"We could only find so many bells," Natania answered. "They're to redirect any of the dead that might have been drawn by it," she told them.

"Not bad," Tara said as she sighed.

"It helps sometimes, but a branch in the wind, leaves rustling. We're lucky this is a relatively clear area, the evacuations, the barges, if they were even real," Natania said.

"Evacuations were real, at first anyway. Not sure how far they extended," Quinn answered.

"So where are the two of you from?" Natania asked.

Quinn and Tara looked at each other before Tara spoke. "I'm from Atlanta, a long time ago. I stayed on the move. My friend and I, a different friend than her, we've been traveling around on our own for a couple years now. We used to work on a fishing boat, until we ran into Quinn and her family. Quinn joins us now and then, to hunt for supplies for her family," Tara said.

"There's someone with you?" Kathy asked.

"There was, we got separated," Tara answered.

"He got cut off by walkers, they were attacking Tara, and he distracted them so I could jump in the water after her. I wasn't expecting the current to be so strong," Quinn said.

"What kind of fishing boat did you work on? Trawler, seiner, larder?" Beatrice asked.

"Oh, last one. You got it," Tara said as she glanced at Quinn.

"What about you? You're not from Atlanta?" Billie asked.

"No, I'm originally from Ohio. My husband was a soldier, he was killed, and I was visiting a friend of ours in Walter Reed when this all broke out. My daughter and I wouldn't have made it out alive if it wasn't for him. We met up with other people, we gained another daughter when her only living relative died, met up with Tara and Heath, and like she said, I sometimes join them on scavenging hunts," Quinn said staying with the story Tara had done.

"What were you doing here?" Natania asked. "You must understand we get nervous when people just find their way into our home."

"We're overly cautious," Billie said.

"Yeah, I saw that," Tara answered. "Like Quinn was saying, we were out scavenging, we got attacked by walkers…the dead, we were trying to get away from them, and I got knocked off a bridge. I guess Quinn jumped after me, and I fought the current, wound up in the inlet," she said. "The estuary? The bay? Look, I'm not good with geography. I just thought I was dead out there, and I got to the shore, and I just passed out."

"I didn't even make it to the shore, I was struggling, I'm not even sure how I got to shore," Quinn admitted.

"I went in and pulled you to the shore," Billie admitted.

"It's the bridge on Windsor," Beatrice responded.

"If you saved me, then you how to get there," Quinn said as she looked at Billie.

"We know how to get there," Natania said cutting off any more chatter.

"She didn't answer the question," Kathy said.

"I didn't? Didn't I?" Tara asked looking at Quinn. "What was the question?"

"What were you doing here?" Natania asked harshly.

"When that girl Cindy brought us food, I just pretended like I was out," Tara said.

"I saw her and Billie approach, and I faked being unconscious," Quinn added.

"We followed her back, it seemed like she had a camp, and I wanted to see if we could get help," Tara said.

"Then why were you sneaking around?" Kathy asked.

Quinn gave a laugh. "You do know what kind of world we're living in, don't you? I mean you have us chained up like animals and that girl, Rachel, well she seemed like she was going to kill us even after Tara put down her gun. So, yeah, we were being cautious."

"We wanted to see if it was safe, still not sure," Tara said as she lifted her hand with the handcuffs on. "Look we're sorry we freaked you out, really, but if you point us to the right direction, we'll be gone."

"We need to find our friend," Quinn told them. "I need to get home to my family."

"If we let you go, you have us at a disadvantage," Natania told them. "You know a great deal about us now."

"If?" both Tara and Quinn asked.

"Yes, you see, normally we would've killed you already. We shoot strangers on sight if they come into our camp. But Beatrice said you spared her life, and my granddaughter almost lost hers trying to save you, "that girl" Cyndie. So did Billie. And Billie would have left her daughter orphaned. So it leaves us with the question still what to do with you instead."

"Yeah, that's a pickle alright," Tara answered.

"Hey, you're going to leave my daughters' without a mother if you kill me. My parents were just killed and my brother got ate by a walker. And that's another person in my adopted daughters' life that dies on her. That's two girls about the age of her daughter and Rachel that you're going to leave without a mother," Quinn reminded them.

Natania sighed. "Why don't you rest up? We'll talk more later, maybe one of us will have a brainstorm."

"Cool," Tara said as they left.

"They're going to kill us," Quinn told her.

"Hey, we get a chance, you run," Tara told her.

"Hey, not without you. I already left Heath," Quinn said.

"I don't like the idea much more then you do, but if one of us has a chance to get back, it's going to be you, alright?" Tara answered.

"Yeah, alright," Quinn said. "But we'll try to go together."

TBC