Here is your next chapter! Hopefully I'm updating as regularly as you guys like, but if I could make any improvements please let me know.
Don't forget to review!
Chapter Thirteen
Her clothes were torn from her skin, her flesh was burning against the hot cement against her back. His hands flung her onto her front and she did her best to crawl away, the gravel ripping at her stomach. She knew that the tears falling from her eyes were pointless and weak, but she just couldn't bear to keep them in anymore.
His knife broke the skin of her back and she let out a blood curdling scream, she almost wanted a walker or two to find them – just so that the suffering would end. The blade sliced into her flesh and she fought to get away with no success, she was trapped – the sticky trickles of blood rolling down her sides and the feeling of shame and failure penetrating her stomach. She couldn't breathe…this was it?
"See this gents, this the sign of a gal with no self control!" The voice of the man filled her head and all she wanted to do was pound her fists into her skull to make it stop.
"So ready and willing, wonder if anyone will miss her?" The voice continued, and Lila's thoughts immediately moved back to Erik and her family, her little sisters, her brothers.
"Lila," A voice called her, but all she could do was hit against the solid statue that held in place, she could barely take note of the fact that the voice wasn't the same she'd heard in her mind, this one was real. "Lila! You're okay, pull yourself together," The real voice continued, but her back was on fire and her thoughts no longer made any sense.
"Let me go! Please!" She screamed, her fists pounding against whoever was holding her.
"Hey! Let go of 'er! She's scared shitless, you gunna hold her like she can't get away, what's wrong with you?" Another voice called out and suddenly the strong, threatening arms let go of her and she was released against the cool damp of grass. Her hands entwined with the blades of dewy greenery as she cried.
"Come on LB, lets get you up," The familiar voice murmured close to her ear, but she clung to the grass for dear life.
"Please," She begged, tears fell freely in frightened gasps as she buried her face in the grass.
"No one's gunna hurt you, I got you," The voice soothed as best it could. Lila turned to find Daryl's eyes met with hers and she realised that as much as he tried to hide his emotions – at this moment, the panic and sympathy was so clear in his expression it made her ache.
"I don't want to leave, please," Lila begged, and Daryl's arms soon wrapped around her, covering her from everyone else.
"Get me a blanket will ya?" He asked one of the other people surrounding them before turning back to Lila, "We won't move till you're ready, I promise."
As Daryl picked Lila up and carried her into the farmhouse, he tried to ignore as everyone watched on, wondering exactly what had changed to make him care about someone. He chose not to think about it.
"Hershel!" He yelled as he opened the farmhouse door, walking inside and leaving the eager eyes and ears of the others outside.
Daryl's hand traced the deep scar running along her spine as she slept. It had been early morning when he'd heard her screaming. He'd run from his tent to hers only to find her bed was empty and cold.
That was when he ran towards the farmhouse, he'd found Shane holding her as a panicked Glenn and Maggie looked on. Only a few of the others had heard her at first, but with Shane holding onto her, her screams had only grown louder. It was evident within a few moments that she was still deep within a nightmare.
Now she lay peacefully in a bed within the farmhouse, her hands clenched around the sheets, just a small, torn vest top and pair of shorts concealing her modesty…it was that lack of clothing that had allowed Daryl to witness exactly how much damage had been inflicted upon her when she'd been kept by Randall's group. One large, reddened scar ran down her spine, but others patterned her back in random, angry bursts of red and pink.
"Surprised you stood a chance, LB," Daryl muttered, knowing that she couldn't hear him.
Hershel had needed to give her a sedative to calm her; he'd told him she'd be unconscious for at least five or six hours. There was a light knock at the door and Daryl quickly removed his hand from the skin of her back and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders to conceal her scars.
"I brought you something to eat and a jug of water, she'll be thirsty when she wakes up," Carol stated, setting the plate and jug down on the table in the corner. Daryl said nothing, but nodded in polite recognition of Carol's efforts.
"She been awake yet?" Carol asked.
"She'll be under a few hours yet," Daryl replied reluctantly.
"You care about her," Carol said suddenly, her expression still kind.
"What?" Daryl questioned sternly.
"It's okay, it's good. It's good that you have someone to care about…someone to be with." Carol continued, but the more she spoke, the angrier Daryl became.
"This girls been through hell and you're thinkin' like a matchmaker? She don't mean shit to me, just another girl with no one to look out for her," Daryl shouted, standing up from his seat by Lila's bedside, "Plenty'a those goin' around," He finalised bitterly, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind him.
Lila's head ached with regret – the fact she'd had no control over anything she'd done didn't matter to her, she'd embarrassed herself…but more than anything, she'd proved to everyone that she was a liability.
Her hand clasped to her head and she groaned, whatever she'd been given had left her with one hell of a hangover. She gripped the jug of water by her bedside and gulped down a few mouthfuls before realising the warm liquid was making her feel even more nauseous. Her feet hit on the wooden floorboards clumsily as she walked over to the window, it was well into the evening, darkness was already settling in the sky, but she was paying more attention to Daryl, who stood away from the camp in deep conversation with Carol. His face was reddened and angry, Carol's as always was calm and sympathetic.
Lila couldn't explain it, but she could sense something between them that brought a lump to her throat.
"Busy?" A voice startled her as the door creaked shut, she turned to see Shane walking over to the window, he stood beside her, looking over to Daryl and Carol as they argued. Lila's eyes dropped to the ground as she realised she'd been caught spying.
"I wouldn't worry bout that," Shane stated.
"Worry about what?" Lila asked as nonchalantly as possible.
"You know what," Shane laughed, "It ain't what you think."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Shane sighed, shaking his head, "You know exactly what I'm talkin' about." There was an awkward silence filled the room before Shane spoke again.
"Get dressed, I got something to show you," He stated and for a second Lila just stared at him.
"Come on, I'll wait outside, bring your batons."
Lila was confused, but nonetheless met Shane outside, dressed and ready with her batons at her sides. He threw a flashlight towards her and she caught it reluctantly.
"Come scale the grounds, you wanna be useful round here, best learn the ropes," Shane said, Lila followed somewhat reluctantly. Her eyes caught with Daryl's momentarily as her and Shane climbed over the first lot of fencing. He was arguing heatedly with Carol and it drove her crazy knowing that they clearly had a history with one another – so Lila ignored his gaze and instead, wrapped her hand around one of her batons as she continued to walk with Shane.
"We check every night, usually two people go in case anything happens. You see or find anything suspicious that ain't an immediate threat, we keep a watchman for the night and search further out the next day. You find any walkers, depending on how many, you fight or fly. Pretty obvious stuff," Shane said casually, stopping half way through the field as he turned to look at Lila.
"We're goin' to kill the boy tomorrow," Shane began, "That's the way it's lookin' anyway."
Lila stared at him, stunned for a second or two, before she turned from him, her hands buried in her hair…she was about to speak when she heard something…something far off to her right.
"Lila?"
"Sshh!" She hissed, grabbing her second baton she moved slowly in the right direction, she lowered herself below the crop, searching for the feet shuffling nearby.
She had the walker in her sight, quickly she ran towards it at full speed, her batons raised. She swung them towards each side of the walkers head. One came into immediate contact with its temple whilst the other came down on the top of its skull. Instantly, it was knocked to the ground. Just as Daryl had showed her that day, she pulled the small knife from her short pockets and pushed it into the back of its head, cutting off all brain activity.
She breathed heavily, listening for any other noise, she heard nothing but still found herself incredibly on edge.
"I'll keep watch. I don't trust that there aren't more of them." With that Lila stood and walked back to camp, she wanted to turn and thank Shane for telling her about Randall's soon to be execution…but she just couldn't do it. Instead, she just wiped the back of her arm along her face – blood stained her skin and she spat with disgust.
Whether she killed Randall or not, his blood was definitely on her hands and she hated herself for feeling guilty about that.