Are you still with me guys? Remember, I warned you that this was going dark right? It's going to have some triggers. It's also very MATURE subject matter!
That being said...I promise Caryl happiness at some point. :)
I don't own the walking dead, the characters or ideas stories...etc. This is just recreational writing.
Chapter 3: The Warriors
Carol POV
Carol stood in the bedroom looking at her weapon choices. She decided on strap on the small knives and hide them on different places on her body. She used duct tape to strap some on the inner part of her thighs. Carol shoved two small knives into each of her boots. She put a gun in the back part of her pants. When she felt she couldn't add anymore without being obvious...she then left the bedroom. The girls had just finished dinner and Judith had been put down for the night. Ty and her had decided to keep everything normal until the last-minute.
Carol looked at Tyreese. "It's time." she whispered. Ty sighed and looked at her with such a sadness. Then he moved to collect the bags she had helped him pack earlier. Dusk had fallen. Carol called the girls over to her.
"Listen...I need you to go with Tyreese tonight." Carol told them. In this world, children rarely questioned the reasons why they were told to do something. They just accepted it as part of how they survived. Children were more concerned with being separated from the ones they loved and took care of them.
"Your coming though right?" Mica asked. Lizzie looked at Carol blankly.
"Not right away. I'm going to meet up with you later." Carol told them both, and gently squeezed their shoulders. They began to whine, but Carol cut them off.
Carol helped them with their backpacks, and helped Ty put Judith on his back.
Luckily, Judith slept well through the night, and even being moved around wouldn't wake her. The baby had adapted to this horrible world. Thank god!
"You sure about this?" Tyreese asked her. Still silently begging her to change her mind. They had discussed her going with them, but Carol just couldn't risk all of them for herself. She told him that if the men didn't come tonight...then she would leave before first light in the morning towards Terminus.
Carol just smiled at Ty. Putting on a strong face, she turned to the girls and reminded them about how to hold their knives. She told them how they had to listen to Tyreese, and help him make it to Terminus. Lizzie had grabbed Mica's hand and told her she would do what she had to do to get them there. The little girl had such a cold look it made her shiver inwardly. Carol had warned Tyreese to keep an eye on Lizzie and never to leave her alone with Judith.
She hugged Lizzie and Mica. Looking at Ty she hugged him hard, his embrace was tight. The kind of hug you gave someone if you didn't think you would ever see them again.
"Go, before we run out of time." Carol told him. Her eyes watering. She moved around Ty and kissed Judith on head gently. Looking at all of them, she felt her resolve harden.
Ty took Judith and guided the girls out the back way of his house. Carol grabbed Ty at the last-minute.
"If you see Daryl...tell him...tell him..." Carol told him quietly..."that I...I loved him. That I should have told him a long time ago." Carol hesitated at her next words. "If you find Rick...tell him that I forgave him." Carol added. Her eyes looking into Ty's. Something told her that even though she forgave Rick, Tyreese was going to find it harder.
"I will." Tyreese told her. He noticed how she had used past tense words. As if she was already gone.
Tyreese half-heartedly smiled, and Carol could see the sadness in his eyes. Carol forced herself to focus. The plan had to work, and her breaking down now would only cause the loss of the ones she loved.
"Stick to the plan and follow the back way. I'll distract them." Carol told him. Taking a deep breath...she turned and left them. Carol headed out the front door of the house.
Daryl POV
It was almost dusk, and Joe was prepping the group. He wanted to be ready to move on the house in a few hours.
"Tonight you get rewarded for all the work you've done for us." Joe told Daryl while putting his arm around him, and pulling him into a side hug. Joe's words came back to Daryl from when they had first met...'Why hurt yourself when you can hurt others?'...Daryl inwardly flinched. Seeing the group in action, he knew fully what those words had meant.
Joe smiled at Daryl. For some reason, Joe really liked Daryl. It pissed the others off, but Daryl had a feeling that Joe saw him as family. That horrified Daryl, because of how evil this man was, and that somehow Joe had seen something in Daryl he identified with.
Carol's words floated back to him, the words he often reflected on when he was feeling low. "You're just as good as them...just as good." Then she had kissed him on the forehead. He was an idiot for not telling her how he had felt about her when he had the chance. He was a bigger idiot for denying it for so long.
"Go ahead and check the house again. Make sure it's all quiet." Joe told Daryl.
Following Scout, Daryl did as he was told and went to check out the house. When they got there, he could see the house was dark. It looked like no one was there. He silently prayed that was true.
They had watched the house till after dusk. The moon was bright in the sky, and they were able to see the house perfectly.
"I don't think they're there.' Daryl told Scout hoping beyond hope that it was true.
"Nah, that many kids...they hit the sack early." Scout told him. Just then Daryl saw Carol exit the front of the house. His heart stopped. She hadn't seen his warnings. He felt panic. Carol stood on the front porch, and walked around the side of the house. Daryl noticed she was lazy about it. Something she never was on watch. She stretched into the air almost like a cat. Something was off...he felt it in every fiber of his being.
"Well...look at that...fuckin' tease." Scout told Daryl. Scout then signaled for the group to move on the house.
Watching Carol he heard the men move behind him. What was he going to do? What could he do? He mentally checked all the places he had knives hidden, the gun on his side. The bow was slung across his back with a full set of arrows.
Daryl was willing to die protecting Carol if that was what it took.
Carol POV
She heard them before she saw them. Seven of them in total. She knew she had no chance of winning against them. Carol focused on the thoughts of Tyreese, Mica, Lizzie and Judith escaping. It gave her strength, it gave her courage. She would do anything for the one's she loved.
The men approached her but she did not run. She would not cower. She had done enough of it while she had been with Ed.
"Well...looky what we got here boys." she heard a man with grey hair tell the group of men. Carol stood her ground. If she was going to die, then she would be taking a few of those bastards with her. She just had to stay calm.
She could only see the men in the front. They were all social rejects. They looked like felons. There were two men that she couldn't see hovering in the back.
The man with the grey hair approached her while the others stopped.
"Why you all alone out here kitten? Bad things happen to women alone ya know." he told her. Carol looked him in the eye. She was scared to death, but refused to give in to the fear. Was he the leader?
He took his hand and put it on her shoulder. Carol shivered in disgust.
"Been watching you guys for a while. Thinkin' my boys might need a little recreational activity..." he told Carol. She started to pull away from him, but he grabbed her and instantly had a knife to her throat.
"Don't worry sweetheart. You're mine. The girls...well...my boys deserve a little reward." Carol struggled against him. He laughed at her efforts, and she felt his hard dick pressing against her back. The pervert was getting off on this...thank god she made Ty take the girls and go. It gave her a peace that most in this position would never know.
"Boys...you go on ahead. Bring me the big black fucker...restrain him too. Gonna need an audience for this show." he told the guys. He had forced her head to the side, and she could no longer see the men who had invaded their oasis. The men loudly busted into the house. Her heart rejoiced knowing the girls and Ty were safe.
A few minutes passed and the men exited the house.
"They're gone." one man told him.
'What do you mean they're gone?" the guy holding her asked in a pissed off voice.
"They're fucking gone Joe." the man told him. So, Joe was his name. Carol hated Joe. She planned on gutting Joe if she had the chance. She still couldn't see anyone from the angle he had her head.
Joe told another man to hold her while he was gone checking the house. While Joe was gone, the man took advantage and ran his hand over her breasts and body.
"Oh the things I'm gonna do to you. You'll be begging for more afterwards." he told her. His breath reeked of booze. Carol started to shut off part of her mind. She hadn't done it for a long time, but it was a skill she had acquired because of Ed. Carol used it when Ed had sex with her, forced oral sex or groped her...Carol always retreated into a safe place within herself.
Joe busted out of the house. "Where the fuck are they?" he asked her. When she didn't respond he hit her across the face. For a second, Carol saw stars.
"Gone." she told him. Silently, she rejoiced at her family's escape from these men.
"Gone? Where the hell did they go?" Joe asked her. He was seething.
Carol didn't say anything and was rewarded with a backhand across her face. She felt blood trickle out of her mouth.
Joe told three of the guys to go after them. Even though they weren't sure which direction they had gone...the men took off like their lives depended on it. .
"Find them. And bring them back to me. GO!" Joe told them as they ran from the house in pursuit of the girls and Ty.
The man who had held Carol let go and Joe held her now.
"The others will be gone for a little while. Let's settle in for the night." With that he pulled her towards the front door.
"Dixon! Get over here! Take her and put her in a room for me. Don't fuck her. She's mine, but feel free to sample the goods." She felt Joe's tongue slide against her cheek licking her. She struggled to look towards who he had addressed as Dixon.
When Carol was able to manuever out of Joe's grasp...she found her eyes locked into Daryl's. Part of her was thrilled at seeing him alive, but the other part cringed realizing the group he was with and what Joe had told him to do...what was going on?
Carol stared into his eyes, but never showed that she knew him. Daryl's eyes were empty, cold... and for the first time...even though he had screamed and yelled cruel things at her in the past...Carol found herself afraid of Daryl...afraid of what he had become. Maybe she didn't know him after all?
Daryl stepped forward and grabbed Carol's hair in his fist. Then he roughly put her hands behind her back and put pair of handcuffs on her. Carol felt tears in her eyes, but she pushed them down. She was in shock, and felt as if she was in an alternate world.
"Take her to a room. Remember, I don't do sloppy seconds." Joe told Daryl. The remaining men watched as Daryl pushed her harshly into the house. When they got to the master bedroom, he shoved her so hard she fell to her knees and hit the floor.
With that, Daryl walked in and shut the door behind him.