Chapter 5

Her head hurt worse than it did after she had been shot, but she supposed though that was because she had been shot in the head and would always be sensitive in that regard. She could tell she had been brought to the woods, and that she had been tied upright and standing to a tree. She could smell smoke, so she knew there was a fire burning nearby. And if the breeze told her anything, they were eating her beans. Her stomach growled in protest but she strained herself to learn more about where she was. The ground beneath her was slick with fresh dew, so it was still relatively early morning. She could hear birds chirping and rushing water. And she could hear voices, but Beth couldn't make them out, her head throbbed painfully, blocking the full sound of their words. Her nose hurt fiercely and so did the tender spot on the back of her head. That painful spot was starting to send sharp pains down her neck the more she woke up. She winced as she slowly turned her head from side to side and tested her mobility. She carefully opened her eyes, taking in the large trees around her; Fall was taking over and turning their leaves marvelous shades of yellows, reds, and oranges. Beth knew she could spend hours admiring their beauty but her hearing was starting to adjust and she could finally make out some of what they were saying.

"… wants to make his move soon. Thinks that group is gettin' too big."

"Ain't that the fun of it though?" this voice she recognized as her face to face camp intruder. The first voice must belong to his pet Quarterback Gorilla. "Lettin' the groups get big means a bloodier mess. Always means I have more fun, 'least…"

"'Member that group? The ones that was walking all up the back roads round this area?"

"Ones wit' the baby, an the chick wit' a sword, righ'?" the camp intruder asked.

"Yeah, them."

Beth froze, panic washed over her so thickly she felt like still water. Completely immobile. They meant Judith. And Michone. Maggie and Daryl! They were talking about her family!

"Thinks they could mean trouble fer us now they got to Alexandria. They's headed that way, so he's sure they in there by now." The gorilla finished.

"He wants to pick that group off one by one, doesn't he?"

"I think so. He likes takin' em out like that."

"So what are we doin' with her?"

"You know he likes the Blondes, gonna have ta bring her back to him."

Beth swallowed around the large lump that had formed in her throat, tuning the wolves out as their conversation drifted away from importance. Her breath rose and fell steadily, her eyes like blue saucers. She struggled to push back all of her panic and fear. She needed to focus and concentrate on how to get out of this. If her group was headed towards Alexandria, and there was any kind of established safe zone there, than that is exactly where her family is this second. She could feel the certainty securely in her heart, in her bones, her family was there. But how much longer did they have if these wolf-freaks are out for their blood? She had to get away from them. She needed to get to Alexandria ASAP and warn them. Even if by some chance her family was not there, whatever spark of civilization was there deserved a chance, a heads-up before the shit hit the fan. Well, that's how Maggie would have called it. And it felt pretty damn appropriate for the situation.

"Did you hear that, Bethy? Someone has big plans for dumb little blondes like you. Maybe you will serve a purpose in this world after all…" Dawn tormented her as shivers wracked her body, the memory of Gordon's hand in her pants alone is enough to churn her stomach, how much more could she really take? What would a faceless, ruthless pack leader do to her? "Better question is what wouldn't he do to you, Beth. And you thought I was bad," Dawn scoffed.

If these men were willing to pick off a group caring for a toddler one by one, than they held no regard for sexual assault or rape. She did figure, though, that if the leader liked blondes; any damage inflicted on them was likely to be preferred by his hands only. So these two would be punished if they brought her back vitally injured and already used, because if not then she would be a hell of a lot worse off by now. Conceivably, for the mean time, she is relatively safe then. As safe as being abducted by humans-turned-primal could be…

She had to pretend to be unconscious still, if she alerted them to the fact that she was awake, they would have their guard up. They wouldn't discuss anything more about their leader or their plans for Alexandria or Rick and the others. She needed to gather as much information as possible, so when they came to check on her, she pretended to be out cold, slumped forward and deadweight on the ropes. They discussed their options for a short time standing in front of her before deciding to just continue to carry her and keep moving.

"You're the one gonna carry her." The camp intruder said smartly.

"Why me? I carried her all night!"

"Cuz you decided to knock her out like she was 900 pounds instead of 90 soakin' wet. Shit, this rate, be surprised she don't turn on us halfway there…"

"Jus' add her to the trap if she do…"

She felt them untie her from the tree and braced herself for what she knew was about to happen. Neither cared nor thought to support her, so with the slackened ropes, Beth fell face forward to the ground. She took the fall and clamped down hard on her knee-jerk reactions to simultaneously get up and run, or cry out in pain and roll around on the ground for a bit. Instead she lay there limply and waited patiently to be picked up. The guy that carried her did so over his shoulder, keeping the hand of that arm tightly at the crease behind her knee. Beth hadn't noticed earlier, but her hair had come loose, and now it fell and flowed freely to the ground, swaying with the wolf's large stride. She couldn't tell where the other wolf was in comparison but she did find she could open her eyes without risk of being noticed thanks to her hair. She kept her ears pried to their conversations, soaking up every bit of information she could about this wolf pack and their plans. They walked on through the woods and Beth mildly wondered how they knew where they were going. She wondered if perhaps they had romped around this area for so long that they knew every little speck of it, every molecule of dirt. She thought of her Daddy's farm. She knew that farm like she knew the warmth of the summer sun and the sweet kiss of rich ripe cherries and the long slow rides on Nessie and the gooey goodness of roasted marshmallows. She knew that farm better than she knew herself these days. She bounced along and reminisced dearly on her past, missing her daddy even more dearly.

Stay strong, Bethy. We all got jobs to do, and that's yours.

She caught herself faintly nodding to her father, swallowing the thick emotions that put tears in her eyes. Beth took a slow deep breath so she wouldn't draw attention from the man carrying her and set her jaw firmly. She needed to get away from these guys, she needed to come up with a plan.

They walked longer and without stopping then Beth would have dared, and it only furthered her belief that these men really might not be men anymore. The more they spoke and the things they spoke of? They weren't even wolves. Wolves are part of a pack, they protect each other fiercely and raise their young together. Wolf packs are family units. Her group was and is far more like a wolf pack than these- these monsters could ever be. And that is exactly what they are; Monsters. The way they nonchalantly discussed such disgusting things like murder and rape and enslavement, it made Beth sick to her stomach. It also furthered her resolve to get away from them.

So when they finally stopped moving and sat her down against a tree, her mind instantly started turning over the plan she had made. She felt them tie the rope around her just a few loose times and tie it off near her at that. "In case she turns tonight" and listened to them walk away. She listened for them for what felt like eons before she finally opened her eyes and looked around. They were on the side of a road, and a few yards down from her stood a billboard sign that read "Welcome to Alexandria!" in large pretty letters. Beth almost gasped out loud. These guys had done a lot of damn walking the last night and day, carrying her while they were at it. The first thing Beth did was pull her hair back up into it's ponytail, then she looked around the tree she was tied to this time. Their bags and hers sat in a pile a few feet beside and behind her, her crossbow missing. She looked around reverently and anxiously listened to the telling signs of the trees. She felt pretty sure they had gone hunting, so Beth worked away at the knot on the rope. She pulled it free and shot up from the tree, running to the bags. She scoured through them until she found her knives. One she attached to the back of her belt and tucked in her waist band to keep hidden. The other she pulled from its sheath and kept in her hand. She gulped openly from the remains of her water bottle, panting as she caped the bottle and shoved it back in her bag. She glanced around nervously, the telling signs of twigs cracking beneath heavy feet echoing off the trees. Beth put the dull side of the blade in her mouth and jumped up to grab onto a low hanging branch, climbing the tree she had been tied to. She found a perch over the spot she had been sitting and waited.

The two wolves emerged from the thick trees on the other side of the one Beth perched herself in, they strode to the bags and paid no mind to the lack of a certain blonde. She watched them skin their kill and start a fire despite the attention it could draw from both the living and the dead. She glanced around herself in the darkness, the heavy night crisp and cool, but still they burned a high fire and cooked their dinner.

She was kind of surprised, truth be told. She would have guessed these savages would eat their meat raw and preferably still screaming in agony. Just like a walker. A Walker! That's what their 'w's stand for; Walkers, not wolves!

They finished up their meal and decided someone should check on the 'princess'. Beth repositioned herself and got ready to jump down and make her own attack move. It all fell right into place in her mental plan so much that Beth almost thought they were on to her after all, but regardless, her camp intruder had sent the Gorilla, saying again that it should be him because of the force he had used on her. He grumbled as he stood from the fire and turned to walk to the other side of the tree, where Beth sat above, prepared to strike. He came around to her side and stared mutely at the empty space and limp lying rope. Just as he turned to call out, Beth fell onto his back, driving her blade into the side of his neck, it shocked her how much it felt like draining a big game of its blood in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm it felt like she had done this to herself. His eyes big and round, he stared at Beth and sputtered blood on her face in his shock. He started to fall towards the tree, so Beth kicked her foot out and pushed off of the trunk of it, using the momentum to swing herself around her adversary; slicing his neck clean across and covering her in his blood. She rubbed it from her eyes and stepped away from his falling body just in time to see a fist flying towards her face. Beth luckily ducked in time and easily dodged his heavy blow, tripping his feet and sending her camp intruder into the tree. She backed away and lifted her fists and knife like she had done that night just outside of Richmond.

"You're pretty quick on your feet for someone who'd been knocked out all day." He grumbled through his bloody nose, emphasis draining the accent from his words.

Beth shrugged and continued moving by circling around him, "Wasn't knocked out all day, I was restin'. So I could kill you." The words left such a bad taste on her tongue that Beth genuinely considered just running, and leaving him. She had already killed one, did she really need to kill him too? But she already knew she would have to kill him, because if she didn't, he would kill her. And everyone she loves. So Beth kept up her foot work and kept her eyes focused on her target. She didn't realize when the tables had turned in their little dance, but suddenly, they had. She lunged out with her knife and tried to stab him, but he managed to land that punch on her jaw after all and Beth spun around on her heel. The wolf-man grabbed ahold of her ponytail and yanked, "You think you gon' kill me? I'm a Wolf little girl, and only another wolf can take me out."

Beth bristled at his words as she softly moved between them to get her second knife free, "Yeah? Well just remember you asked for this when you said you want all I got!" Beth twisted her arm back quickly and she sliced her knife up along the inside of her ponytail, cutting her hair away from the restraining hold and releasing his grip on her head. She spun around and sent her knife into his chest and twisting it before shoving into the handle with all her force.

The wolf stumbled back, blinking in shock at the golden locks he held in his hand. He fell back onto the tree and slid down, finally moving his eyes upwards to meet Beth's own frozen blue eyes.

"You are one….ya know. A wolf…." His chest made a sickening suctioning sound around her blade that made Beth grimace and desperately want to puke. But she didn't, she didn't even move. She didn't argue with him either, because in that moment, she wasn't so sure he was wrong. She stood glued to the spot and watched the light fade from him. She didn't even know his name. But she had killed him.

Beth moved forward slowly, dropping down low to his level, she carefully reached out and closed his eyes. Pulling the knife from his chest, she sent the tip of her blade into his cranial cavity, assuring no resurrection could occur. She moved back to the other guy, and did the same curtesy she knew they would not have given her.

But that is what separates us from monsters like these men, Bethy. That is what makes us human.

"It's okay, Daddy. I don't cry anymore." She replied to her his whispered words.