I know I say this alot - but sorry! I didn't forget about this story, I'm just trying to cope with my Supernatural addiction right now. If you like the show and fan fiction, I have an account on AO3 for mt Supernatural stories. Same kin name, so its not that hard too find but the shit over there is gnarly so be careful of triggers.
"I can't believe she would want to stay with them," Lori muttered, leaning back to rinse the shampoo from her hair.
Carol looked over at Lori and shrugged, moving her attention to the top of the cliffs as she scrubbed at her boney arms. The bruises were healing, a few a faint yellow around her bicep, but they were nothing compared to previous damage. She would be. . .just fine now.
"I can: she's a pet. Nothing but a pet and she listens to her masters. That's the way it is for a submissive woman."
Carol knew all too well about what she was talking about. She had been a submissive woman for so long, she could point one out from miles away after her own experiences. She had seen glimpses of it in Marcine, but knew the young woman wasn't going to put up with any flack outside of the Dixon's. She was a time bomb, though, with so many people around, rubbing the two sides of her raw. Would she blow up on one of them next? Would she harm someone who only slipped up at the wrong time? A guessing game of sorts.
Lori grumbled to herself and looked around before she hurried from the water and grabbed the conditioner. She all but dove back into the water beside Carol, making the older woman chuckle and look around again. Bathing in such an open space was so unsettling to Carol. Lori laughed when she came up from the water, shaking her hair. Carol closed her eyes against the droplets, a swelling in her chest at how care free she was able to be.
"Ugh this water feels so good," Lori sighed out, running conditioner through her long hair.
Carol gave a half smile. "I wish I still had all of my hair."
"Where'd it go?"
Carol shrugged. "Ed didn't like it, made me get it all cut off," he had said men would look at her if she had long hair, and then she'd be the one punished.
Lori glared at nothing. "That's one thing I like about Marcine, she didn't put up with his crap."
Carol smiled a little. "Yes, I'm glad it's over. That may have been a horrible thing but I couldn't be happier. I know Sophia is already."
Lori nodded. "The kids love Marcine."
"Kids are excellent judges of character. They love Daryl too, even if he pays them no mind."
Lori chuckled and tossed the now empty bottle of conditioner onto the land. "They're like animals in a way. The less you care, the more they love you."
Carol's head snapped up as she heard her and Lori's name called. "Clothes," she squeaked.
Shs and Lori hurried back to the bank and jerked on their clothes, both of them getting their jeans buttoned just as Shane and Glenn came jogging from the path. Shane came to a stop in front of Lori, looking concerned and angry. Lori looked over at Carol, who was blushing at the near catching and then sighed, returning her attention to Shane.
"What is it," she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.
"We need you guys back up there, need to discuss who goes on a run."
Lori arched an eyebrow. "And why do we need to be up there? Expect one of us to go?"
Shane sighed. "Just need you to clue in who you may need or not need - come on, Lori."
Lori sighed and groaned. "Fine, fine," she jerked her chin at Carol. "Come on. . ."
"I never understood hunting. . ." Marcine muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.
Daryl snorted across the fire, pulling apart the thick piece of meat in his hand. "Seriously?"
Marcine ran a hand through her hair. "I mean, I understand it and everything. Food and survival, all of that delicious shit. But what I don't get is how it's fun to some people."
"Ain't fun ta me," Daryl muttered, looking over the fire at her. "Like ya said, huntin is fer survival," he visibly stopped himself from saying more, which almost made Marcine grin.
Marcine couldn't help but watch the reflection of the fire dance in his eyes, feeling small but special with his words. The way he spoke, so low, meant he was going to give away a piece of himself to her. She was always right in that sense, always knew when those secrets were coming out. She leaned forward a little, mouth quirking in the left corner.
"Well what is it to you?"
He looked down for a moment and took in a deep breath, pulling his left knee under him and propping his elbow up on his right knee. He rubbed his face slightly; Marcine could see him shaking from where she sat. He didn't want to say anything. Emotions weren't his thing.
"Huntin been my escape, from family. Merle and Pa, assholes. Ma was better but she went crazy after awhile. . ."
Marcine swallowed, nodding in understand. "My mother never really paid any attention to me, she was always there for my sister," she waved a hand. "They were the proper ones, the ones that wanted to be high class and all that jazz. I didn't care for it, I mean sure it would have been nice to be high class but really I just didn't want to do the work."
"Why wouldn't ya?"
Marcine shrugged and looked down. "Just lazy I guess. I've never done anything in my life worth doing until after the apocalypse. And now I'm sitting here with a serial killer and enjoying myself. Boy, I would love to see my mothers face if she knew about all of this."
"She dead?"
Marcine shrugged and looked up. He was staring into the fire, chewing slowly on a piece of meat hanging from his mouth. "When everything went down, I was at work in the hospital. I tried to get to the house but the roads were closed off. I had to leave the city, when I managed to get back in there were too many Walkers and I had to head back out."
His eyes flickered across her then he pushed himself up enough to get something from his left front pocket. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and flipped the carton open, pinching the filter of one between his teeth and tugged it out. He offered the pack to Marcine and she crawled on her hands and knees around the fire, taking the pack as she settled beside him. She used his cigarette to light hers and took a thick drag.
"How'd ya get so skinny," he asked, running his finger along the curve of a protruding rib.
She swatted his hand away and took a drag from the cigarette, blowing the smoke out of her nose; it'd been years since she smokes. "I uh. . .I got into a really bad depression before the apocalypse. I starved myself for a long time, punishment I guess."
"For what?"
Marcine looked down at the fire, swallowing hard, and flicked the ashes from the end of her cigarette. "I had a miscarriage. I don't know what it was that caused it and it killed me. I couldn't do anything, I didn't leave my house for a week. Didn't eat, didn't sleep. I just sat in the bathroom and stared at the wall. It's a wonder I didn't die in there. . ."
It wasn't like it was a love child or anything, she hadn't really wanted it in the first place. A one night stand, but it was supposed to be her turn around in life - it was the reason she quit smoking.
He didn't touch her, didn't comfort her. He was silent beside her, and she didn't want that. She wanted him to hold her, say something to ease her guilt but nothing happened. Of course it didn't, what she wanted and what he could give were far apart. He wasn't good with emotions, and that was all she wanted from him. She put out the cigarette in the dirt and pushed herself up from the ground. She started walking out into the dark of the woods but a hand grabbed onto her elbow and whipped her around.
"Th' fuck you think yer goin," he growled.
It was too dark where they were to see his face, it made her uneasy. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp but he wouldn't let go. "Let me go Daryl, now."
He jerked her closer. "You don't tell me what ta do."
"Let me go Daryl!"
He twisted her around, scrunching her hand up behind her back. His breathing was heavy in her ear as his lips brushed against it. "Ya don't tell me what ta do," he growled out again.
She grit her teeth from the pain and her knees wobbled, making her slump down to the ground. He followed behind her, pressing his chest against her back. "I thought you said I was safe with you,"
"Never said you were safe from me," he growled out, pushing her down.
She whimpered, dirt and debris being inhaled through her nose. She pressed her hands flat against the ground but he pressed his own hand against her back, keeping her down. Her heart beat picked up its pace and her eyes flew open, searching around wildly for help. She knew what this was, she knew what he was doing. His other hand was tugging at her shorts, and they came away easily. They landed in the dirt by her head and she whimpered again, trying again to sit up but he pressed against her harder.
"You're just like your brother," she ground out, nose twisting at an odd angle.
And just like that he froze against her back, his fingers tighten in her shirt and she squeezed her eyes shut again. He was like Merle right now, he was an animal. He was trying to make her do something she didn't want to do, she thought he was different. He told her he was different, and he was wrong, she was wrong. Dead fucking wrong.
"Fuck," she heard him spit out.
His hand came off of her back but she stayed where she was, shaking against the ground. She watched his hand come up and grab her shorts, forcing them back onto her roughly. He pulled her up roughly with a grip on her elbow and turned her around to face him. She stared at him with fearful eyes but a placid face, hands curled and shaking against her chest as he dug his fingers into her elbows. His eyes flashed around her face, looking for something but apparently not finding it. He grumbled and rubbed his face, one hand still holding her.
"Daryl it's fine. . ." she whispered, voice scratchy. "You're not like your brother because you stopped."
"Ya wanna stay with us, both of us."
She nodded. "Yes, I just don't want to be the one begging for you to stop. If it's anyone else. . .well, they don't matter."
He stared at her for a moment, brow creased in frustration before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes slowly, waiting for him to close his, and ran her tongue along his bottom lip, wrapping her free arm around the back of his neck to draw him in more. This she could handle, this was simple. It was kissing, it was a simple, hungry kiss that Marcine would rather take further but only with her own pace. If he forced her into it she didn't know what to do. He pulled away from her abruptly, placing a hand over her mouth and forcing her back to the ground. He kicked his boot back, dousing the fire in dirt, putting it out. Marcine struggled for a moment, her heels digging into the dirt but slipping. She had flashes already, of what he could and would do to her. But he just looked over her head, lips pressed against her forehead as he hissed lowly at her. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, calming her body to sit still under his bulk.
She listened carefully, could hear the bushes moving, but it wasn't the stumbling of Walkers, and she didn't hear any moans. She heard some muttering and a lot of steps, like more than one person. The mutters were deep toned so it was a man, maybe a group of men, maybe only two of them.
"Swear I saw something over here," the deep voice picked up.
Marcine heard them stop and another voice spoke up, it sounded like a young man, like a teenager. "Guess your eye sights turnin to shit old man."
"Watch your mouth boy or I'll string you up from one of these trees."
"Whatever, if there's nothing here let's just go."
"I wanna go look over there though, let's go and then we'll leave."
Daryl muttered too low to hear and he jumped up, grabbing a hold of his crossbow and Marcine scrambled to her feet, trailing close behind him through the bushes.
"Hear that," the young voice asked.
Marcine squeaked as she tripped, falling flat on her face. She whimpered and tried to push herself up but it didn't work and she just groaned into the dirt. She looked up, looking for Daryl but she didn't see him and her heart started beating loudly in her ears. She looked over her shoulder, hearing the two men getting closer. She started to drag herself away, towards the thick bramble just out of reach. She could handle thorns digging into her skin, what she couldn't handle was two men she didn't know.
"Hey, look at this."
Marcine jumped and looked over her shoulder, an unwarranted tear slipping down her dusty cheek. There was a man, just like Merle but with a large beer gut grinning down at her. A young man - a teenager obviously - came up behind him and stared down at her through the faint glow of his phone's light. He looked between her and the man beside him with wide, hazy eyes, finally moving back a little.
"Think she needs our help son," the older man murmured, reaching down for her ankle.
Marcine tried jerking her leg away but it was no use, he pulled her towards him with ease. "Let me go fucker," she growled, trying to kick at him but she came just short of his chin.
He laughed and turned around, dragging her back through the bushes. The teenager hesitated but followed at her head while she cursed and kicked, digging her nails into the ground. She felt a nail rip off but she didn't care, she was still trying to get away, somehow keeping her cool and not freaking out; she was angry, pissed beyond belief. But she knew Daryl would be back for her, and that made her fight even harder. She didn't want to depend on him, she didn't want him to think he had to save her all of the time.
"What you waitin for boy? Come help me," the older man grunted, trying to catch her swinging leg but it was no use.
The teenager hesitated at their sides, looking terrified, like he had never seen this man this way. Marcine smirked over at him when she saw the shadow moving behind him and threw her head back, laughing like a maniac. Karma was a motherfucker, that should be Daryl's nickname. Karma.
"The fuck is wrong with this bitch," the older man looked down at her with a creased brow.
Marcine laughed again, feeling blood spray across her face as Daryl dug the knife into the teenager's skull. Daryl pushed the young man's body forward and he landed atop of Marcine, who grunted at the weight and felt her leg drop. The older man stared at Daryl with a slack jaw and wide eyes, not believing what he was seeing. He swallowed thickly and took a step back, looking between Marcine and Daryl frantically. Marcine pushed the young man's body off of her and dusted her hands, holding one out to Daryl so he could jerk her up onto her feet.
"Ya ok," he asked, not looked away from the older man.
Marcine nodded and folded her arms over her chest. "Yeah I'm fine, what do we do about him," she jerked her chin at the man in front of them.
He didn't run, which was stupid, but he seemed frozen - like someone pressed pause on him. Only his eyes moved, flashing between the two of them and then the tree line, which wasn't that far away. He could make a break for it and neither one of them would follow. Well, Marcine knew she wouldn't, but she thought Daryl might. The man swallowed and took a step back, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He was a snake ready to strike, but Marcine was unsure of which way he would go. Flee or attack, considering he was outnumbered with no weapons on him he would probably run.
And that's what he did.
"Damn he's fast," Marcine observed, hearing his rustling growing further by the second.
Daryl nodded. "Come on, we wasted enough time."
