"Aim fer the leg, boy," Merle lowered his voice to Daryl. The brother nodded stiffly and waited for the opportune moment to strike by discreetly lowering his crossbow from his shoulder.
"Mighty fine piece ya got yerself there!" Merle howled as he approached Gus. The man beamed and tugged on the leash as to emphasize his pride causing the woman to stumble forward. She looked at Merle stonily trying to remain defiant somehow. Merle raised his right hand as if to caress her face but took Gus by surprise by pivoting and swinging his left arm to strike the man across the face. Gus went down quickly with a yelp and Daryl swiftly raised his bow and shot the farthest of the group in the thigh, taking him down. When the third man flanked Daryl's side, he used his crossbow to knock him in the side of the head and when he was down, stomped on his ankle making sure to break it.
Merle knelt down and laid his fist across Gus's face as he tried to stand up. "Git boy!" Merle shouted at his brother.
Daryl took two giant steps forward and grasped the woman's hand. She yanked herself back and prepared herself to fight the intruder but when he yanked harder and yelled, "C'mon!" she went with him.
Running. She was running. She almost forgot what it felt like to use her legs. It was like a dream. She was abruptly knocked out of it when she slammed wordlessly into the man with the crossbow's back as he skidded to a stop. With his other hand that wasn't holding her arm, he raised a single finger to his lips to signal her to keep quiet. That wouldn't be a problem for her, though. He placed her back against a tree and turned his back to her to shield her from any attacks in the front while he waited for his enemy to creep from the back. He raised his bow up, anticipating for one of the campers to come close enough to strike him and felt the woman behind him moving closer to him, trembling. Daryl ripped away from her, jumping out from their hiding spot and swinging at whoever was following them. Daryl realized it was the man he shot in the thigh as he ducked and avoided his strike. Two cracks were sounded in a distance, causing the wounded man to jump slightly allowing Daryl to drop his bow and clock the man across the face. The man grabbed him as he went down, causing both to topple to the forest floor. Daryl founded his forehead throbbing as he received a head butt from his opponent. It wasn't until Daryl found himself at the end of the knife, he stopped struggling. The knife wielder smiled a toothless smile and froze. Heaving over, Merle stood behind his brother's opponent holding his rifle butt erect in the air. Daryl accepted his brother's hand up and stared at the unconscious victim.
"Where's the slut?" Merle asked and following his brother's gaze, they watched the girl creep out from behind the tree, looking frightened. Daryl looked to Merle for the next plan of action. He only received a "git," and a stern nod; an agreement.
"C'mon," Daryl said to the girl walking past her, not sparing her a glane, shouldering his crossbow. She followed obligingly, not seeing any choice. He didn't run this time and kept his pace steady but it was a struggle for her to keep up anyways. She couldn't gage the time it took them to reach their destination because her feet stung with every step. She felt the wounds in the bottom of her feet opening up and staining the dead leaves underneath her gait, red. Daryl noticed she wasn't wearing any shoes because he could only hear his own steps and not her's.
"Jesus woman. You're gonna lead them straight to us," he grumbled loudly, stopping. She flinched and said nothing though her eyes were worrisome. "Jus' keep walkin'," he finally muttered and began to walk behind her to kick around the trail she left so that no walker would pick up her scent. He steered her for a while longer, his cross bow always poised and ready, until the trees started to thin out and the outline of a camp started to appear. The girl suddenly froze causing Daryl to knock into her slightly.
"What?" He asked when she didn't move. He look at the camp and then at her fearful expression. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her sternly, "We ain't like that." She met his gaze with a hard look of her own. When he stepped onto the camp ground she didn't hesitate to follow.
The minute the pair stepped out of the covering of the trees, eyes were on them. The girl was appalled at how big the group of survivors was. She'd never come across this many people in so long. The people all trickled out from their tents and their own hidden spots to look at the new comer. Even the man on top of the RV stood up and adjusted his glasses to see. This seemed to piss Daryl off.
"What's it take to get some help aroun' here?" He shouted. A man with high waisted pants and combat boots as well as a very tall and very skinny woman ran over immediately.
"What happened? Where's Merle?" the man asked with the same Southern accent as the brothers. "Who's she?"
"He's takin' care of it. He'll come 'round," Daryl responded pushing the bow over his shoulder dutifully. He lowered his voice, "Found her with 'em. Three men," he said dangerously. The woman's furrowed eyebrows softened and her expression turned into horror as the couple stared at young woman who was bound and wore a rope around her neck, in disbelief.
"What happened to 'em? Where are they?" the man asked fervently.
"Told ya' already. He's taking care of it." Daryl pressed. The man nodded looking slightly disturbed and then turned to the girl.
"What's yer name sweetheart?" The man asked her gently. Daryl looked to her too for an answer. She didn't respond.
"We can ask questions later. I'm gonna get her cleaned up," The woman said sharply at the men, moving around the girl as to untie the knots holding her arms behind her. "Shane can you do something about this? It's knotted together too tight."
When the man with the combat boots stepped forward unsheathing a knife, the girl instinctively stepped back as if to flee.
"Hey, hey now," He said gently putting his hands in the air as to surrender. "I ain't gonna hurt you. Just gonna get those ropes off yer hands, alright?"
The girl started breathing harder and looked wildly at him with fear. She took another step back but only landed into Daryl's shoulder. She looked up at him with a look of desperation that he couldn't decipher. What the hell was he suppose to do, he thought. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her arms with one overpowering hand and snatched Shane's knife with the other, sawing at the ropes. With her hands free, he moved closer to her to get the rope around her neck free.
"Don't move, or else I'll nick ya'," he said gruffly into her ear feeling her stiffen. Though the ropes around her neck were a lot tougher to cut through, he managed to free her, narrowing his eyes when he saw the ring around her neck.
'I hope they suffered,' he thought, touching the sensitive skin. She jerked away realizing she was free but only fell into another captor when the woman led her away from the men. The girl tried to swallow all that was passing around her; the people, the surrounding, the smell, everything was different. The tall woman led her to a quarry filled with water. She stopped them at the bank's edge and sat her down. She grabbed a pan and towel nearby and sat on her knees next to the girl.
"Arms up," the woman said softly. The girl obliged and allowed the woman to remove the slip off her body, leaving her naked. She drew her knees into her chest and lowered her head on her knees.
"I'm Lori," she said softly scooping water into the pan and raising it over her head to let it pour. "What's your name, honey?"
The girl was silent until she turned her head to the right to look at the woman. "Mary Lou," her voice was airy and broken.
'She's lost her voice,' Lori thought, her lip trembling as she heard the poor girl's voice. "Here," Lori reached around her waist to get her canteen and handed it to her. Mary Lou took it gratefully and greedily chugged all the contents empty into her mouth.
"I had a best friend named Mary Lou," Lori tried to smile but only let tears flood from her eyes for the girl. She continued to fill the pan up with water and dump it gently over her head. The water coming off her body was brown and dirty; obvious she hadn't showered for a very long time. Lori smoothed her wet hair back and rinsed it once more, this time gingerly running her fingers through the strands to clean it thoroughly.
"How old are you Mary Lou?" Lori asked softly trying not to let her voice betray her even though tears streamed down her face.
"Twenty three," she whispered. She was nerved by her own voice, having been silent for so long. Lori dropped what she was doing and closed her eyes. Covering her face with both hands, she sobbed openly in front of the drawn girl.
Daryl was standing at the top of the cliff overlooking the quarry where the two women were sitting. Though her back was to him, he see the girl holding her naked form and Lori to her right side crying so unforgiving. The girl's spine was clearly visible as well as her bony hips. Her thighs were the size of his wrist and her calves even smaller. He frowned and left the sight. Pathetic.
Mary Lou sat silently and listened to Lori cry. She would join her if she could. She was just so overwhelmed. She was free. Free.
"I'm so sorry. Look at me," Lori rubbed her face raw trying to dispose of the evidence that she was crying. She resumed her pan and began to wash the girl once more. As she cleaned her, she explained how all the survivors met and decided that this area was safe and how they all shared what they had to get by. Mary Lou noticed the clothing laying on rocks drying in the sun.
"You look about Jacqui's size," Lori said grabbing a dress and sweats as well as own bra that was laying to dry. "My, now look at you," Lori smiled at her, clasping her hands in front of her mouth. "C'mon, we'll get you some food and some shoes! Jesus, those animals," she spat at the memory of her captors. Mary Lou followed self consciously crossing her arms over her stomach.
The smell of a campfire and meat cooking as well as the sounds of people talking and kids yelling started to make Mary Lou slightly relieved. They all sounded like decent people.
Lori steered the girl to a fire pit that had logs and chairs surrounding it. She sat her down in a camping chair and told her to "wait there." Mary Lou felt exposed and frightened being left alone and looked around her for a familiar face.
"I don't mean to pry," a soft male tone said. Mary Lou looked up to see an older gentleman with a fishing hat and tourist-like clothes on approach her carefully. "But are you okay, miss?"
Mary Lou's face's of concern melted into one of shock. The man awaiting her reply didn't expect her next reaction: laughter. Suddenly tears came out of her eyes, leaking like raindrops as she laughed a somewhat silent laugh.
"I am," she whispered, her voice not regaining strength, "I really am."