Carol had no way of knowing how long she lay there until the lights above were turned on again. The little girl quickly moved back to the corner of the room and then the door was opened. Carol was briefly relived to see that it wasn't Charles. It was the larger man who had reprimanded Charles before.

He made is way down the ladder and stood beside the two chained women. He fiddled with a set of keys on his belt loop. After some contemplation he kneeled beside Carol and started to remove her constraints. She briefly thought about trying to fight her way out, but didn't want to risk the other two lives and she didn't have any way of knowing where the other man was. She decided to just see what happened.

After the shackles were off he grabbed her roughly by the shirt and pulled her to her feet. It took her a second to find her balance after laying down for so long. She was startled when he roughly grabbed her chin and made her face him.

"Don't even think of tryin' somethin'. It would be real stupid." And with that he pushed her toward the ladder.

She stumbled but caught herself before falling. At the top of the ladder she found a room, or more so a closet. The light was coming from a bare bulb in the ceiling and Carol briefly wondered how they had power. Before she could think anything else she was roughly pushed out the open door. Behind her the man turned off the light and closed the door. She was glad she wasn't in the dark for now.

As Carol took in her surrounding she could tell she was in a cabin of some sort. It was large and open. Surprisingly bright from the natural light coming in the windows. There was no artificial light that she could see. She was standing in the living room. There were three comfortable looking chairs around a fireplace against the biggest wall. As she was shoved further she saw a dining room with a small table and three chairs. There was a small kitchen area with an old wood burning stove and counters covered with what looked to be drying meat. Carols mouth watered at the sight.

She was shoved past all this out the door. Outside she was confronted with a large brick wall. There was probably about 7 feet of dirt before the wall. Again she was pushed in a different direction. When they turned around the corner of the house she saw a cage and panic started to set in. Before she had time for any kind of reaction she was shoved roughly into the cage and the door was shut. She turned to face the man.

She got a good look at him for the first time. She knew he was much larger than Charles but he was also much younger. He couldn't be any older than 20. "Take off your clothes." he demanded harshly. She didn't immediately react. "You take them off or I come in there and rip em' off." He reached for the gate but Carol quickly started to undress. After she was completely exposed she held her arms trying to cover herself. This caused the big man to chuckle. When he opened the gate door Carol shrunk back as far as she could into the corner. Again this got another laugh. He simply grabber her clothes and closed the door before walking off.

Even though she was nude and in a cage she started to relax a little. From her vantage point she could she could only see the brick wall and the wooden wall of the cabin. She figured the cabin would have been beautiful once upon a time.

She was brought out of musings buy the sound of voices. She saw Charles and the younger man coming around the corner, but they weren't alone. An older man with white hair and a long beard was walking between them. They all stood in front of the cage staring at her with interest. She regarded the new man with the same interest. He reminded her of Hershel without the kindness you could always see in Hershel. The man's eyes were cold. He looked at her like Ed used to before he would punish her.

She gave the man a once over and stopped when she saw her knife on his hip. "That's my knife." she stated dumbly. She was surprised when the man laughed loudly. She could tell the other two men were just as shocked as she was. "I think it's mine now. Don't you?" He asked, his voice raspy. She had expected it to be stronger. She shrugged one shoulder "For now."

"Well aren't you awfully cocky for a naked bitch, in a cage." Charles snarled from beside the older man. She didn't even acknowledge him. Never taking her eyes off the older man. She heard Charles growl a little. The old man just shook his head with a smirk.

"I guess you're wondering why you're here aren't you." The old man said. "You're here because you belong to us now. We saved you from them dead bastards and now you owe us."

Carol sighed wondering how she always ended up dealing with crazy people.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. She was so tired of it all.

"Whatever we want you to do. You'll do all the lady stuff around here cleanin' and cooking and whatnot. If you don't do what we say we can make you Charles's little toy." he finished his voice turning hard.

Carol could see Charles smiling out of the corner of her eye. He actually licked his lips. She knew she would do anything to keep that from happening.

"What about the other woman and her kid?" she asked.

"The woman is nothing to us anymore. She's only alive cause her kid won't sing to us if we kill her." The old man answered her.

Carol nodded her head like it all made perfect sense. "So why am I in this cage and naked. I can't do my cleaning or cooking from in here."

The old man chuckled again. "Well you're in the cage so you don't get the idea in your head to run. You're naked, because… why not." He ended with a shrug and a smirk. She saw two matching smirks on the younger men. She had to fight the urge not to roll her eyes. The whole ordeal seemed so ridiculous.

She was subjected to several more minutes of uncomfortable staring before finally the door was opened and she was handed back her clothes. She got dressed quicker than she ever had before and stood waiting to see what happened next.

Several hours later, she had no way of knowing how many for sure but the natural light from the window was now replaced with darkness. There was a single light bulb glowing in a floor lamp against the wall close to the fireplace. The men were eating the meal of random jarred foods they had in a room off the kitchen. The room was full of enough food to last the men years. They also had barrels of rain water against the house and buckets full of fresh water they get from a creek near the house.

From listening to the men talk she knew the biggest ones name was Jacob, the older man was only referred to as papa.

She had been working non-stop since they let her out of the cage. As she worked she was also learning her surroundings. Trying to figure out if there was a way to get away. She had a few ideas, but didn't know how to go about executing them quite yet.

When the men were finished eating Carol started cleaning the dishes. Papa sent Jacob down to get the little girl for the evening's entertainment.

When the little girl came in she was shaking. When she looked at Carol she gave her a reassuring smile. The little girl seemed to calm slightly. The girl was probably 9 or 10 her hair was too dirty and matted to tell the color. Her eyes were the same blue as her mothers. The men stood her in front of the fireplace and made her sing songs for a while before finally deciding they were done with her.

Papa gave Carol three bowls of the leftovers from supper and sent her down in the hole to feed the other two along with herself. She escorted to the trap door and told to make it quick. She lowered herself down the ladder and passed a bowl to the little girl. The girl immediately started to shovel the food down. She moved to the shackled woman. It took a minute to work out how to feed her, but she ended up bracing the woman up with knees under her shoulders and feeding her herself. When the woman was finished Carol ate from her own bowl. Finishing half and then giving the little girl the rest. The little girl gave her back the empty bowl with a whispered "Thank you."

Back at the top of the stairs she was confronted by an irritated looking Jacob. He showed her his frustration by pushing her out the door. She tripped but kept her feet under her.

After finishing the last three dishes and getting the men's beds ready for them to sleep in she was surprised when papa told her she would be sleeping on the floor in his room.

She was relieved to not have to be shackled again, but couldn't figure out why. She decided not to think about it too hard. She lay on the rough wooden floor at the foot of papa's bed with no form of bedding, but she was so exhausted she was asleep almost immediately.


It had been a month since Carol was captured. She had been the model prisoner for the men. Doing exactly as they said when they said, making sure they never had to ask twice. She knew they were starting to get too comfortable with her, they were getting sloppy in there watchfulness. There would be several minutes where she was completely left to her own devices.

She started to take these times to snoop and plan. She was snooping around in the bathroom one day and stumbled upon some sleeping pills. She put them in her pocket, and was back to where they left before they realized she was alone again.

A couple of nights later while she was cooking she decided to add an extra ingredient. She emptied the bottle of pills into the stew. She knew it wouldn't kill the men, but she hoped it was enough to put them down while she executed her plan.

Later that night the three men were slumped in their chairs all in a deep sleep. Carol quickly grabbed the keys of Jacob and her knife off of Papa. She moved quickly into the closet threw open the door. She heard a startled yelp from the little girl. "It's me." she said quietly before descending the ladder.

She made her way quickly to the shackled woman and made quick work of the constraints. "You have to hurry." She told the woman who was moving stiffly into a sitting position. Carol pulled the woman into a standing position knowing she was in pain from laying on the ground chained for so long. "I know it hurts but you have to move." She pushed the woman toward the ladder going up first and then helping the woman and little girl up.

She quickly checked out the door to see if the men were still asleep and they were. Carol moved the woman and the little girl to the room off the kitchen. She noticed both of them glance at the door to the outside longingly. She would have laughed if she was so panicked. She moved some stuff around until she found the backpack she was looking for. She had loaded it with things the two would need on the road. It would last them at least for a little bit.

"There's food, water and some other things you'll need." She said as the woman looked at the back questioningly. Carol ushered them out to the gate in the wall. "You've killed those things before right?" she asked gesturing to beyond the wall. The woman nodded. "Good take this." She said giving the woman her knife.

The woman shook her head "Aren't you coming?"

Carol smiled and shook her head. "I'm going to make sure you have enough time to get far away."

The woman hesitated only a second before grabbing the knife "Thank you." she said before turning to leave.

Carol was almost knocked down by the fierce hug the little girl gave her before following her mom.

Carol watched them go with a smile.


2 weeks later

Daryl sat in the makeshift lookout tower, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. The tower was built out of scavenged wood and bricks. It had a wide base and a covered platform at the top. It was protected against the elements and against anyone who may decide to shoot at it. You got up to the platform by a rickety ladder. It was built to hold one person but you could squeeze in another if needed.

Daryl spent most of his time in the tower. He was still afraid to get too comfortable even though they were the safest they had been since the world went to hell. They were stocked with more food than they had ever had thanks to weekly runs. They were well protected from walkers and only occasionally had to go out and deal with the buildup of bodies against the wall.

During their time there had been two random groups of people to find the compound. They had been given the option of staying if they wanted or going when they were ready and unsurprisingly so far they had decided to stay. So they now had seven new people. They all seemed to be decent people from the little amount of time Daryl had dealt with them. It was nice to have the extra help.

Everything was calm out until he noticed figures making their way up the hill to the gate, they were moving too quick to be walkers. He gave a shrill whistle to Michonne and Rick who were walking the wall. They looked up and he gestured to the gate. They both took off in that direction, as Daryl climbed down from his post.

Pointing a gun through the gate Rick demanded "On your knees." when the strangers reached the gate. They all immediately dropped. There was four of them. Three adults and a small child.

Rick, Daryl and Michonne made their way out of the gate with guns still aimed at the group. They could only see the face of two of the adults. The thirds face was shielded by a hood, the child held tightly to their hand.

"We aren't going to hurt you." Rick assured as Daryl approached the first of the adults.

It was a woman probably in her 30's. She looked at Daryl unflinchingly. "You got any weapons on you." Daryl asked brusquely.

The woman moved her jacket aside showing a knife at her waist. "I have another in my boot." she answered honestly. After handing the knives off to Michonne, Daryl moved on to the other unhooded adult. It was another woman who also had a knife on her waist.

When Daryl moved to the hooded figure he noticed a black and silver knife on their hip. He yanked the hood of the persons head causing the woman to jerk in fear. "Where did you get that knife?" He demanded.

Rick noticed the outburst. "Daryl." He said sharply. "What's wrong?"

"She has Carols knife." Daryl explained, knowing the knife anywhere. He grabbed the knife, asking again "Where did you get it?"

The woman looked fearful. "A woman gave it to me. She helped me and my daughter escape some men who were holding us hostage." She answered.

Daryl looked at the woman trying to tell if she was being truthful. Her face was covered in cuts and that he knew came from a knife. He knew she wasn't lying.

"When did this happen?" Daryl asked not as harshly as before.

The woman seemed to be thinking. "I don't know a couple of week's maybe."

"Where?" Daryl asked

"I don't know when she got us out we just ran until we couldn't. I know it was north from here. I don't miles or anything." She answered nervously.

Daryl gave a nod and left the group standing at the hate as he rushed to grab his stuff. He was going to look for Carol.

As he was throwing his things into the back of one of the extra cars they kept for emergencies Rick walked up and leaned against the side.

"You know I have to do this." Daryl said before Rick even opened his mouth.

Rick gave a nod. "I know, I'm not stopping you. I was going to tell you to make sure you come back."

Rick held out a bag. Daryl took it peeking inside. It was full of extra food and a gun and some ammo. Daryl gave a thankful nod and got in the car. He pulled out of the gates without a backward glance.


Carol sat in the outdoor cage holding her jacket tight around her. Since the men had realized what she had done to them they had turned violent. She was covered in bruises and blood from their punishments. They had started making her stay in the cage when she wasn't being useful. Papa had also taken to letting Charles have her a couple hours a day. Thankfully he wasn't one for raping a woman, he did like to use a knife though.

He would sit her in a chair and talk to her while he made fresh cuts. Most were superficial but some she was sure some should have been sutured. She sported a nice long gash from her ear to the corner of her mouth from their first time alone together. He had laughed as he finally got a reaction out of her.

This was her punishment for not killing the bastards in their sleep when she had the chance. She had convinced herself then that she didn't want to kill any other living souls. She had spilled too much blood.

Now she knew it didn't matter. It was either them or her. She wasn't going to let it be her.