Chapter 3

She sat down in front of the elders of the group.

Carol. Rick. And Carl. Believe it or not, the elder status grows for how long you have been part of the group. Not age. The ones that have seen people of the group fight and die.

She looked extremely uncomfortable.

She spoke

"You can expect, that with a world without law and order, criminals flourished. The worst of the worst. Murders. Rapists and paedophiles. They made a unit in the west. We, my family and I, managed to survive on our own. One day, a heard separated my mother and I from the group. We were in a pickle, then they found us. I was too young to understand what was going on. The children, up to 18, were put in rooms with numbers. I was 8, but I lied so they put me in twelve. Slowly, girls would leave, and new ones take their place. Then they took me for my marking. Twelve. Then, I was put in a different room. Still number 12 but the girls were sad. Most would cry themselves to sleep. Four days in, I was taken to a room with a man and…" She sniffed.

"It's okay dear." Carol said softly, as she covered my already shaking hands with hers. Willow paused for a shaky breath then continued.

"After the first time…

I was thrown back in the room like a piece of meat being discarded after use. I now understood the pain of the girls in that room. They finally welcomed me as their own. The ones that didn't cry, came to comfort me. I saw how the wheel of torture went. You were Taken in a certain year of your life. If you became pregnant, you had a choice. Leave the child and go somewhere else. Free from torture. Or, they could take it for the rest of their life. And save the child. As most of the children were born out of rape and not love, it was hardly ever the latter. That only happened once. That girl became the leader. She looked after the girls and if any man so much as laid a finger on her? They were gutted. The one thing that you could always count on them for, was their word. They never broke it.

The girls who were newly taken, were consoled by the ones who were taken before. And so on.

My father found us though. One of the girls in twelve was pregnant. She hadn't told but she started to give birth that night. In solitary. With me. I had been their one year. She gave birth and promptly died.

"I had only one chance to leave. I pretended the child was my own and bartered for my release. And my Mothers. I asked them, as I had never ever gone against their will like the others, would they spare my mother? She was in her 40's. Not as attractive as the young ones. She hadn't been chosen in a whole month for preference of a younger model. They let us go on the account that we could get far enough away in a day, that when they gave a day's chase, they did not find us. We met up with our father and left. They did find us…"

The room was silent for a while. No one knew what to say to this.

"I killed so many, to save my family. I have fashioned a bow from tree and arrows from bark to make them lighter and faster. I killed 19 men with the bow, and one with my own bare hands… I had to protect my family. And I did… That is why I killed so many."

Rick stood. He had a truly sad look upon his face. And he asked "Where?"

She led them to a courthouse. It had twenty jail cells for multiple prisoners at a time at the back, where they kept the girls, and boys for 'use. There were also about 20 gourds. This was a big group. They had no chance of being able to free them… without…

"Infiltration. From both sides." Said Carl.

"The prey, and predator. We need someone to go in as a slave and someone, a man, as their kin. I know how it works. They can take me. But someone has to go in as the one of the men."

Carl instantly put his hand up but they all looked to Daryl. Carl moved into their line of sight.

"No. I will not let her go in without me." The offer was brave, but what he didn't know, was that young boys were also used. Willow pulled his hand down and gave him a stern look.

So it was decided that Willow and Daryl would go in and try to save the innocents left to rot with the refuse of man.

KL2000: Very sorry for the delay. All the chapters of today are gonna be about 200 words short so I can get a chappy out for all stories. Thanks for baring with,

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