Well ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers and reviewers, here we go again! And as a little tidbit, here in this Chapter I'm bringing in a character that was a closet favorite of mine from the show. Enjoy!
FanFicGirl10: See i knew it!. Ugh if i could go into your story and beat some sense into Luna i would! Seriously thay is why one listens to their parents, especially when the parents are Daryl and Fox Dixon! I hope the girls are safe and the others find them soon. I'm expecting to see a familiar redneck with a missing hand soon *wink wink* Cliffhanger, Update Soon!
Aye, you'd think she'd know better, but Luna lacks the benefit of knowing what the outside world is like and how dangerous it is. She grew up with her parents stories and in a way is somewhat…de-sensitized I guess would be the best word. She thinks she knows what the outside world is like, but she has obviously been proven very, very wrong. And as for Merle, well, we will be seeing our favorite one handed redneck again, but in what context is a whole other ball game ;)
arrowsandkittens: I don't have the words to describe how awesome this chapter is! Pure epicness. I'm so worried for J and Luna. And Daryl and Fox! I swear if one of the four dies ... And as to the Daryl/ Fox pairing, I'll go with Dalia. Can you even have an otp with an oc?
This is the Walking Dead after all, nobody's ever really safe xD. Awww, my muse is all twittery with warm fuzzies right now. Of course you can have an OTP with an OC, this is the world of creative writing, you can have anything you want (at least in my book) and the fact you've graced my OC with such a status is awesome =D Oh my word, my pairings have a ship name. That's just even cooler.
WinterIsComing01: Oh, gosh. Wow. Well, I'm glad that Carl will be okay for now. Who took the girls and where?! What in the devil?! So one thing I am curious about, and maybe you can explore this in a future chapter, is how the world has changed within the last 17 years. How are ghost towns still able to provide supplies? Wouldn't everything be super expired since no one is manufacturing anything anymore (I presume)? Even home products, not just food, have shelf lives. Also are there MORE walkers or LESS walkers 20 years into the future? I'm just curious as to how they are able to still find supplies and how many walkers are still on the earth. I would think that in a ghost town with a sign that's been ripped away, so they don't even know where they are, would be completely empty of anything useful anymore. Are there towns that have been able to make things? Are there any communities who started up the factory machines, etc, to make products? Very curious as to what the new world is like, and what happened to the girls...
You bring up a really good point about the supply issue. My reasoning is (and I don't really know the logistics of it, having obviously not lived in a post apocalyptic world) why there would still be supplies left after all this time is because the plague hit so quickly and with such force, there was a lot left once the initial wave of infection was over, and since I think 95% of the population was wiped out, in the grand scheme of things, there's not a lot of people left to take it, plus, small isolated mountain towns like that are a gold mine for abandoned supplies, they're hard to get to, virtually every citizen probably would have caught the plague, and plus the group has had to switch where they raid their supplies from, going further and further from home base as it were as they clear out areas over the years. As for shelf-lives…didn't think about that one too hard, oops, but I have found things can last after the labeling says otherwise, although they may not work as well. And these are the things survivors in a real post apocalyptic world would find out by trial and error (writes down in survival journal for future reference.) As to the Walkers…I would think there is probably the same, because after the initial outbreak isolated places like this probably don't have many people coming through, to either kill Walkers, or to become them, but that's just a guess. As for Luna and J's fate…you shall see soon my friend, very soon.
Brittney: Wow! That was by far the most intense chapter yet! I am curious to what the people in the SUVs want and if they're working with anyone we know of and how Luna will cope with it all away from her family
Mm, they targeted Luna and J specifically and you'll find out eventually the reason, it is all part of my master plot *evil laughter*. As far as Luna's coping…that's an interesting dynamic to play around with, she's never been separated from her family, and so I can imagine it would be quite the rough transition. But she's a Dixon, she won't go down without a fight, that's for damn sure…
CobaltCobain: WOW. I know I'm a new reviewer, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to review on your FANTASTIC story. I've read Wildflower last week and was so caught up by it, it's such an amazing AU story, probably one of the best there is out there EVER. But I don't want to talk about it now, I think Wildflower deserves to have it's very own review and I'll probably do it as soon as I have the time to sit back and relax again, sorry! Anyway. I just have to say this new story is looking pretty amazing. Although I was a bit in shock that you chose to jump 17 years into the future, it's been proven to be a great choice after all. I've always wondered what their lives would be, how they'd grow old, how they'd survive... and I'm pretty sure you'll do an amazing job picturing that for us. I LOVE Daryl, I love how overprotective he is of Luna and the special bond they have with each other. She's clearly daddy's little girl and I can't wait for him to go through heaven and hell looking for her. I'm really curious about Carl, though, having lived all his life with nobody from his own age to be with, given that their group remained the same over the years. I can't wait to see how he enters the 'society' again after so long. I have a feeling he was so lonely over the past years that looking for his sister and Luna would take a toll on him. Besides, what the hell are they going to encounter? I can't waitttt! Update soon enough, you are an amazing writer :)
Awwww, I love it, I have another one from Wildflower jumping onto Wolfsong. Let me extend my thanks for both your reading and possibly eventual review for Wildflower, because even after all this time, it still means the world to me. Wildflower was by far my most involved story and that it means so much to so many other people just makes it that much more special. And Wolfsong…Wolfsong is a whole other ball of wax, because now there is all this crazy expectation, but its a wonderful challenge for me as a writer and I love to tackle it head-on and you guys just make it so worth it, so thank you for writing in =D As to the time-skip, in my head there was never a question of whether that was going to happen or not, I knew it would, the only thing I probably would have changed about Wildflower is that it was SO long sometimes in between the more action-y spells (or at least it felt that way to me) and I wanted more of a steady stream of stuff happening for Wolfsong. I too of course am curious about how the group will survive and change as they rebuild their lives long term after the wake of the ZA, and how I've set them up here is what /I/ would do personally if I'd survived a zombie apocalypse. It just makes the most sense to me. Ohh goodness gracious, Luna has Daryl wrapped around her pretty little finger, and she knows it too. She's her daddy's whole world, and its only natural he's so overprotective of her. After everything in his own childhood, plus the debacle of losing Sophia, there's no way in hell he's going to take her for granted, or allow anything to get in the way of keeping her safe. Playing around with that parental protective instinct has been awesome and I'm looking forward to continue to digging into it as the group heads off to find their kids. As for Carl…Carl is an interesting one too, especially given what's happened in the show lately. I do think that growing up without kids his own age would have affected him, would have made him more volatile and prone to be far less trusting, and socially awkward too, because he doesn't have a lot of the unspoken rules of communication between peers, so throwing him into the mix of what I've got planned for the group is awesome fuel for my muse. I love answering long reviews like this, it really does make my writer's heart sing =)
Emberka-2012: Here the trouble started. Carl for the kidnappers was too old? This is not good news, very much it reminds me of those who tortured Fox. I hope with Luna and Judith everything okay. I imagine what parents will feel when they realize what trouble happened. I bet they will not be able to stop in the search for their children.
Mm, the whole age thing is part of the plot, it'll be revealed slowly as time goes on, just as the show does with us. And no, its definitely not good news, everybody thinks that the ones who took Luna and J are the same ones who took Fox, and they have good reason to suspect so, but they're still some work to do to prove it. No, the group will never stop looking for their kids, just as they wouldn't stop looking for any member of their group who was taken. That's their family, that's one of the only things they have left to fight for. If you're going to risk your life for something, it might as well be your family.
KatlynIreneGlasse: Ah, you're so stupid stop making me freak out and go all, b-b-but, on my computer. My niece is the freaking cutest thing ever by the way. I hate how long it's been taking to review but I've been super busy helping my sister out with the baby. Anyhow you should make an OC for Carl, or Benjy I feel bad that there all alone you know. How old would Daryl and Dahlia be at this point? Cause in my head as soon as the people who kidnapped Luna Judith... Hey you call Judith J just like my brother (spaces out)...Huh what was I typing? ( looks back) Oh yeah as soon as they asked Luna's age I immediately thought of Merle or Jenner I don't know why... Oh well I'm slightly high off of Dr. Pepper, three bottles in a two hour times span is probably not good for you... I have to go and feed my niece while my sister naps so see you next time. Kitty Kat (I'm so retarded ugh)
Haha, it's all good, I understand life and stuff happens and that's important too =) I am bringing in a lot of OCs for this story, but whether any of them will be for Carl, Benjy, or even Rick (he is a single man too ya know) is up for debate. I have a whole bag of crazy characters tucked away just for this story that I can't wait to pull out and present to you guys, I'm looking forward to it =D As to how old Daryl and Dahlia are, Daryl is 47, Dahlia is 36. Again, the sharp gap in age. It feels a little crazy, but like I said back in Wildflower, my own parents were 11 years apart too so I guess that's why it doesn't rattle me. Mmm, Merle and Jenner, both of those wily guys are still alive, and they'll be making an appearance, possibly sooner than you think ;) Good lord girl, slow down on the Dr. Pepper, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack xD
Brittney: Me again, Im dying right now. Can you please write faster? I don't mean to rude but I LOVE Wolfsong :)
I'm working, I'm working! Hear the amused and playful tone in my voice xD. I've got two jobs plus a house to hold together, AND I'm also working out now and since I just started it's kicking my ass in a big way. Its shameful. But anyway, I shall write as fast as I can my friend!
RedneckBunny: What... The... Frack...?! Aaaaaaaaamazeballs.
That's what I love to hear =D
"Carl!" Rick's stressed cry cut through the ice cold silence that had descended on the room as he watched his son crumple to the floor.
Benjamin ran forward along with the rest of the family and immediately rolled Carl to his back, causing the man to groan with discomfort, his eyes still closed, limbs lolling loosely at his sides. His skin was pale and very cold, much colder than it ought to have been.
"Carl! Carl, open your eyes, look at me," Benjamin ordered, lightly smacking the man's cheek. His eyelids fluttered a bit but he couldn't get them open completely.
"Carl, what happened? Were you attacked, how did you get like this? You gotta tell me what happened otherwise I can't help you. Come on Carl, come on." Benjamin encouraged. "Get him up on the table, now! Keep talking to him, keep him conscious," the medic ordered as he left his side and ran out of the cabin back towards the house he shared with Rick and Carl to get his bag. Already his mind was cataloging everything that could have happened and he was dimly aware of the fact that the truck sitting outside in the yard wasn't one of their vehicles. He might have crashed the Jeep, but where were Luna and Judith?
He came racing back with his bag in hand and he found Carl already stretched out on the kitchen table, everything for dinner having been cleared off and set aside. Rick was at his son's side, his hand on his face and in his hair, squeezing his palms, encouraging his eyes to stay open while Daryl and Fox paced frantically. Maggie and Glenn stood by worriedly, eyes darting every which way.
"Carl, what happened?" Benjamin asked again as he used his stethoscope to listen for the man's heartbeat. It was steady but faster than it ought to have been. He yanked the tool free and lightly slapped his cheek again to get his eyes open.
"Come on Carl, you gotta tell us what happened."
"They came for us!" Carl howled miserably, beginning to thrash on the table, his limbs kicking wildly, stronger than any of them had anticipated. Immediately Daryl and Fox hurried into the fray and held him down as gently as they could, trying not to distress him further. "They came and took Judith and Luna!"
"How did you get like this?" Benjamin demanded, already digging in his bag for more tools.
"I…I…" The man trailed off, his head rolling from side to side on his neck, a low pained groan coming from his throat as he struggled to stay lucid.
"He was shot!" Daryl pointed out, huffing for breath as he held down one of Carl's legs and saw the bullet wound in his thigh.
"Up here too," Rick gritted out, now seeing the bullet wound in his son's right shoulder. He stared wildly at Benjamin with frantic eyes, silently begging him to do something.
"Carl, did you hit your head, what happened to get you like this?" Benjamin demanded, turning the man's chin in his hand and forcing their eyes to meet.
"Crashed…crashed the Jeep…couldn't stop them…I…" he trailed off again, his jaw going slack as he struggled for breath.
"He hit his head hard, its all gashed open on the top of his skull," Benjamin said, cataloging the damage as he picked through the shards of glass and crusting blood on top of Carl's head to see the wound.
"Was he bit? Was he scratched?" Rick asked, clear evidence of terror and pain written all over every single word.
Benjamin checked the man over as thoroughly as he could given the immediate set of circumstances. "No bites, these cuts are from broken glass, there's flecks of it everywhere."
"Carl, who took Judith and Luna?" Fox demanded, squeezing the man's knee hard to jolt him back up to speed, her eyes whipping forward to meet with Carl's hazy blue ones.
"I…I don't know…" he wheezed. He began to roll back and forth violently as though he were afraid of being held down but Benjamin nodded sharply and everyone converged to hold Carl down to the table.
"It's gonna be alright Carl, we'll handle everything. Just hold still alright." Benjamin tried to soothe him but he began to struggle even harder. "Carl, if you don't stop moving you're gonna hurt yourself even worse." Benjamin snapped his gaze up. "Glenn, get over here, hold his head still, don't let him move his neck. Maggie, in my bag at the bottom is a blue pouch, crack it open to get the coolant going, if he hit his head as hard as I think he did, I need to keep his brain from swelling."
Everyone hopped to, Glenn coming up behind Carl and using both hands to hold Carl's head still. Carl groaned softly but stopped struggling as hard and Daryl and Fox loosened their grip on his legs. Maggie dug through Benjamin's bag, spilling most of the contents out until she found a three chambered plastic wrapped device that as she massaged in her hands began to cool rapidly. Benjamin took the pack from her and laid it gently against Carl's forehead. "Rick, hold down on that, not too hard, but keep it contact," he urged.
Rick did as the medic asked while Benjamin gathered more supplies to start dealing with the rest of Carl's other wounds. "Someone took Judith and Luna? How many people were there Carl?" Rick asked. Benjamin began working Carl over, taking blood pressure, testing his reflexes and his pupillary responses. Carl tried to look for his father and squeezed his eyes shut and fluttered them open rapidly as he struggled to remember.
"A dozen, maybe more. They had black SUVs…they just showed up out of nowhere…just came and grabbed them…" He wheezed with pain as Benjamin began to rearrange his shoulder and peel away the hastily made bandage to asses the bullet wound.
"Ok, it's gonna be ok, how long were you out at the crash before you came back here?" Benjamin asked softly.
Carl's brow furrowed hard. "Not long…just a few minutes…I think…I…fuck! My head hurts!" he groaned.
"Ok, just relax," Benjamin soothed. "Carl, you hit your head pretty hard, you have a concussion but you're gonna be ok, just try and relax alright? We've got everything under control."
"They drove away with Judith and Luna!" he reiterated, almost thrashing on the table but Benjamin shoved him with more force than most of the group thought he was capable of to hold him down. The only time Benjamin had an assertive bone in his body was if there was a patient on the table, that was true eighteen years ago when the group had first met him, and it was one of the only things that had never changed.
When Carl relaxed under Benjamin's grip the medic eased up. "I know, just trust me, we'll handle it? You need to stay calm, if you start fighting this is going to hurt a lot worse than it has to, ok? Just relax," he ordered. "Now I'm gonna clean and dress your wounds and you think back and tell us what happened, ok? Just start from where you remember and go until you get here."
"Ok," Carl panted. Benjamin set to work on sterilizing an evil looking set of metal tools that he would use to extract the bullets still lodged in his flesh and now Daryl came over to the younger man's head so he could be eye to eye with him. Carl met the hunter's, confusion still blurring his eyes but as he started to speak he became clearer.
"Everything was fine at first, we were in the pharmacy getting supplies, and then we found the body of I guess it was a soldier, dressed in camouflage, had a bullet proof vest on and empty gun holsters. He hadn't been dead long, biters hadn't even come back yet. We left to finish the run, we were getting gas when these black SUVs came up and surrounded the Jeep. We ducked behind some cars but they found us and dragged us out from under. We put up a helluva fight…" He hissed sharply when Benjamin snagged his flesh and muscle as he pulled out the leg slug from his shoulder. When he was able to suck down another breath and continue speaking his tone was more strained.
"They threw Judith and Luna into the SUV and drove off with them. I followed in the Jeep and tried to stop them but they returned fire and I crashed the Jeep. Went through the windshield. They kept going and by the time I got up they were long gone." His eyes screwed up and he grunted hard when Benjamin dug the second slug out of his leg. When he exhaled, sweat was breaking out on his body as his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.
"Did they say anything? Who they were, where they were going, why they took them?" Rick asked.
"Its obvious why!" Daryl snarled, looking up at his friend. "They took the girls and left him! I'm assuming it was men that did this, right?"
Carl nodded but Benjamin slapped his wrist. "Don't move your head," the medic warned.
"I don't think it was like that, Daryl," Carl panted as Benjamin set to work sterilizing the rest of his lacerations. "They said something about a quota…and that I was too old…they asked Luna how old she was. She didn't answer."
Fox's eyes were hard pieces of emerald slate as she looked up from Carl and back to Daryl. The scars on her face gleamed in the lantern lights that Benjamin had brought to the table so he could see what he was doing and when Rick looked across the table and met her gaze, there was a silent but palpable tension there.
"They took them," Fox growled. "They took our kids! The same people that took me! The same ones that killed Sophia and Andrea, the same ones that almost killed me! They took our kids!" Her voice had spiraled to a high pitched shout.
"Fox, we don't have proof we don't know…" Rick started but Fox all but leapt the table and got right up into his face.
"You know its them! You know it is! We have to go back to that God forsaken mountain and get them back! Do you think that they'll just forget what happened almost twenty years ago? Daryl killed that bastard Phillip, but there was still that psycho fucking doctor that just vanished and now it looks like he came back to finish what he started!" She was breathing like she'd just run a mile, her entire body shaking with barely suppressed rage.
"How the hell would they have been able to find us? How the hell would they have known Judith and Luna were our kids?" Rick demanded, his eyes getting just as hard. "There's no way they could have known! It may be the same people, but I seriously doubt its vendetta that caused this. We will go, and we will get them back, I promise! As soon as Carl's fit to travel, which should be when?" He rounded on Benjamin who was still bent over the patient, plucking glass out with his tweezers of the various cuts.
"I should have him bandaged up in an hour or so. He won't be fit to drive, but he can ride with us. He remembers details from before and after the crash, his reflexes are good, blood pressure's steady, his concussion was mild. Carl, how's the pain in your head? Getting worse or better?"
Carl's eyes fluttered open. "It doesn't hurt quite as much now. Although you could stop trying to dig an imaginary piece of glass out of my leg, thank you!" he huffed.
"Well if you'd hold still I wouldn't have to dig around so deep," Benjamin muttered as he extracted another fragment of glass. "I just want to stitch the wound in his head before I let him up."
Fox was barely pacified by this. "Daryl!" she yelled, already jogging out the door, throwing it open so hard that it cracked loudly on the side of the house, almost smacking Daryl in the face as she charged outside. Daryl caught up with her just as she made it inside their cabin, and he took the liberty of shutting the door before she could rip it off its hinges.
She proceeded to melt down in such a way that he'd never seen before. He'd seen her angry, pissed, so viciously enraged she could have killed someone…but he'd never seen her like this. She stormed about wildly, flinging any random object she could get her hands on, shattering it into the walls and doors and Daryl realized if he didn't do something she might rip the house down with her bare hands.
"Dahlia!"
She rounded on him, her bowie knife in her hand, her knuckles clenching so hard they were ice white. Her body was shaking and shivering, trembles of intense rage running through her. Her hair was askew, flung every which way. She looked like a mess, but the fire in her eyes was enough to burn away any sense of trying to humor her into calming down.
"What are you just standing there for? Move!" she screamed, slinging the dish in her second hand at him. He ducked sharply to avoid being cut in the face and it shattered behind him with an ear splitting sound that was a reflection of what was going on in her head.
"Dahlia, enough!" he yelled. He got up to his feet and grabbed her wrists in both his hands, restraining her as she all but kicked and screamed like a banshee, howling with rage and fear. "We're never gonna get them back like this!"
She screamed wordlessly into his chest, her entire body shaking like she was in the midst of a hurricane. Somewhere in her broken cries was their daughter's name and Daryl too felt that terrible sense of drowning. The water, cold and black and unforgiving, was rising around him, flooding in his lungs, making it so hard to breathe, to see, to think of anything else but the fact that his baby girl was trapped somewhere in the hands of men who would only do God knows what to her. The thought was so horrifying it was as if his brain had gone on locked down and he refused to picture it because it would break him as it was breaking Fox.
"She's gone!" Fox howled, tears streaming down her face in hot, fast rivulets. "She's gone, they took her away!"
She tried to shove Daryl away but he held on for everything he was worth. She was strong, almost as strong as him, and if she'd really been trying to escape he wasn't sure he would have been able to hold her down, but that wasn't the case. She just needed to let the rage and fear explode until she was clear enough in the head that she could think, and he let her. His chest was bruised and clawed to bits by the time she was done, but when she was, she shuddered against him, so upset she could barely breathe.
"Dahlia, breathe, it's going to be ok, we're gonna get her back. We rescued you and we're gonna rescue them, I promise." He pulled her tight against him, afraid to let her go because if he did he wasn't sure that either of them would be able to stand up on their own. It wasn't just Fox that was shaking. He could feel it in himself, but while hers was with anger, he acknowledged that he was filled with terrible dread and fear. His stomach was writhing as though his belly were filled with snakes, twisting and curling at the thought of what might be happening to Luna. He knew what men were capable of, he knew the kind of things that they might do to her. It was enough to make his stomach curl in on itself and his blood crystalize with ice and burn with fire all at the same time. His head was spinning even as he held onto Fox for everything he was worth. How could this have happened? Now, why now, when it was just a simple supply run…his brain couldn't make that leap that the one time that he'd let Luna out of his sight something had happened to her, something so bad that her life might be in danger. And not just her, but Judith too. He'd raised that girl just as much as Rick had, and that she had been taken too was just another layer on this situation that was like a barb right in his throat. He struggled to breathe properly and Fox felt him start to shake violently.
It was then she realized that he needed her. That she had to hold it together because there might not be enough of him to go around to worry about her and about Luna too. She had to help him. She had to help see him through this, somehow, even though she felt like the world was wobbling on its axis like a drunk trying to do a field sobriety test. The rage and the fear for Luna that was pounding through her was making it almost impossible to see straight, but the shaking she felt in Daryl's frame helped to bring her back down to some semblance of reality. She knew more than anybody else how much Luna meant to Daryl. His world revolved around her; in her rested the glued together pieces from his broken childhood. In her he'd had the chance to fix everything that was wrong in his life, and find everything he had ever been missing. In her, he had someone who had loved and trusted him unconditionally. It had never been earned, and it could never be taken away from him, and she knew the thought that he might lose her, that he might fail her, could be the one thing that could crack him and send him over that dark edge from which he might not ever return. She couldn't let that happen. She had to hold him together, for as long as she could, for as long as she had to, until they found Luna. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tugged him sharply against her. She'd been in bed with him all day, felt his naked skin against her own, felt the heat of his touch and the power of his muscles against her, but standing here she felt his vulnerability, the threat of him shattering. She squeezed him in a tight embrace, as if she could physically hold him together, and damn if she wouldn't try.
"You're right," Fox murmured against him. "We're gonna get them back. We know where she'll be. We'll find both of them."
Daryl returned her embrace for a long while before letting her slide out of his arms. It took him a second to get his brain in gear but as soon as everything locked into place, it was like stretching a muscle after a long night's sleep. Warm blood rushed through him and a part of himself he hadn't felt in a long time woke and gaped a mouth full of vicious, vengeful teeth and stretched lithe, powerful muscles in preparation for a fight. He hadn't felt like this for years, not since the days of living on the road and on the run, surviving on nothing but Rick's leadership, the group's many eyes to keep watch, and his ability to hunt for dinner. It was a raw, powerful feeling, and although he detested the circumstances under which it had arisen, he was grateful he could still feel like this. That he knew instinctively he was still capable of doing what was necessary in a world that would rip them to pieces if given just the smallest chance.
"Haven't been on the road in a long time," Fox said as they began moving around their cabin, packing up supplies in their travel bags. "It will be kind of nice to be on the bike again."
Daryl's mouth twitched. "Luna's been wanting to go for a ride for a while now. Think you could concede having her ride with me after this is over?" It wasn't what was really on his mind of course, but had he said what he was really thinking about, he wasn't sure either of them could handle it.
Fox didn't answer at first. She moved silently into Luna's room and ran her hands over all the pieces of clothing hanging on their pegs in the corner, pressing it to her face as she struggled to hold back her tears. Daryl came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her together before she could shatter. This close to Luna's clothes he could smell remnants of her scent, something akin to honeysuckles and rain and he felt himself start to shake all over again. Still his brain refused to acknowledge the possibly that he might lose her. He couldn't, because if he did, he wasn't sure the thought wouldn't break him entirely. He felt Fox trembling against him, letting out a soft sob. For Fox, becoming a mother had completely altered her outlook on life. Her priorities, her wants, her needs even had all been different before Luna had come into the picture. Before Luna she had been just shy of spiteful and almost looking to pick a fight, but after her daughter had been born, she'd begun to see the world as an opportunity to learn how to be with it, rather than so closed off from it. Particularly because of Luna's deafness, Fox had been almost forced to see the world in a different way to try an understand her daughter, and in doing so, had become less abrasive and more open to different perspectives.
"We'll get her back," Daryl murmured into her hair as he tugged her away from the room. "We will." He had to say it, because he was right on that edge where if he didn't, he'd surrender to the despair.
When they had their bags packed and Daryl had the keys to the bike in his free hand he beckoned Fox to follow him. They instinctively went to Rick's house and found that everybody else was gathering there too. Fox set their belongings down next to the rest of the group's and then turned to Daryl.
"Go talk to Rick," she urged. "He needs you."
Daryl tipped his head to the side slightly. "You gonna be ok?" he asked.
She took a long, shuddering breath in. "Yeah. I'll be ok," she rubbed her hands over her arms for a second but then nodded towards the back hallway of the cabin. "Go on," she said.
He nodded and left her standing with Maggie and Glenn who were coming up to start organizing what supplies they were bringing with them. Daryl padded softly through the cabin until he found Rick in the room that Judith and Carl shared. The former sheriff turned when he heard Daryl's footsteps and at first his hand fell on the python strapped to his leg, which made Daryl pause at the door.
"Sorry," Rick muttered, taking his hand off the gun.
Daryl shook his head. "It's fine," he said. He wished like hell he knew what to say. After all this time, all these years with the man, with the group, when shit hit the fan, he still fumbled for his words. He still didn't know what to say to pull the man together, but damn if he wasn't going to try.
"Fox thinks it's the same group. I think it is too. They won't get away with this," Daryl promised, coming up to stand next to Rick who was hovering over Judith's unmade bed.
"But why? Why now? After all this time? They couldn't possibly have known they were our kids. Fox didn't say anything about Judith when she was held by them, and she didn't even know she was pregnant until after we rescued her. So how…"
"That's not true," Daryl mumbled. "She knew. That jackass doctor…what's his name…Jenner. Jenner told her. That's how she found out."
Rick's brow furrowed heavily. "Then why…why would she antagonize them the way she did? If she knew…"
Daryl rolled his shoulders. "It's how she is, you know that. But I don't think this has anything to do with now. Even though Jenner knew about Luna, he couldn't have known her or Judith were ours."
Rick nodded. "I wanna go to the scene of the crash first. They might still be in the area. If they're not there, then we'll go for Colorado. Carl said they drove off and he didn't say anything about a helicopter, so there's a good chance that they're nearby. Especially if the girls put up a fight and injured them."
Daryl nodded. "You know they did. This is Luna and Judith we're talking about here."
Rick clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed firmly with a nod, and despite the physical reassurance, Daryl could see the stress and anxiety and the way it was ripping across his face, giving him a haggard look that made him look far older than he really was. Daryl put a hand on his shoulder too forced their eyes to lock.
"We'll get them back." It was all he could say, but it must have been enough, because when Rick pulled back, it was as though he were shrugging into a coat that didn't quite fit anymore, but it would loosen up in time. The coat of being a fearless, maybe even ruthless leader, the one who got things done, made the hard calls, and kept their family safe. He hadn't had to wear it in so long and Daryl could see him struggling, but it would only be a matter of time until he settled in again.
They stepped out into the front room where the rest of the group was gathered, including Carl who was on his feet although he still looked like hell, fresh stitches covered in gauze and medical tape. His eyes snapped up immediately to his father and Daryl could see Rick searching for the words, but when he found them, it was almost as if he'd never lost them.
"This isn't a question of do we get them back, do we chase them until the ends of the earth. Of course we do. We'll go as far and for as long as we have to. These are our family members, our kids, and we won't let this go unanswered. First I want to scope the area around the town where they were taken, they could still be there. If not, we'll go for Colorado, back to the base that we rescued Fox from. We'll keep hunting, we'll keep searching, we will not stop until we find them. We'll have to be careful. Everybody stay on your toes, keep your guns close, nobody goes off alone. We don't know why Judith and Luna were taken, and honestly, it doesn't even matter. Just watch your back, and watch everyone else's. We can do this."
Glenn nodded firmly. "The vehicles are packed up and ready to go."
"How are we doing on food and water and gas?" Rick asked, posing this question to Carl but it was Maggie who answered.
"Everybody's got a full tank except for the truck that Carl brought. We've packed enough food for at least a week, less water, we'll have to keep an eye out for fresh sources on the road the way we used to." Her hand was wound tightly with Glenn's and Rick nodded in acknowledgement.
"I packed up everything I've got as far as medical supplies. It'll weigh us down but there's no telling if we'll need it or not," Benjamin supplied.
"No it's good, I'd rather have it than be stranded without it. If everybody's packed up, let's move out, Daryl you lead with the bike. Let's go."
Everybody fanned out, going for their vehicles which were typically parked by the sides of their house. Rick went for the truck that Carl had hot wired and climbed into the driver's seat and sparked the engine to life again as his son took his seat beside him.
"Dad I'm sorry…" he choked out as they began the almost perilous drive down the mountain back to the highway. It was slow going, especially with Daryl's bike, which was part of the reason why they only went on supply runs once a month. The less risk to the suspensions and tires and people in the vehicles, the better.
"Carl, don't. This was not your fault. You couldn't have done anything to stop it. You were ambushed and outnumbered." Rick's voice was firm and unyielding.
"I was supposed to keep them safe and I failed…" He trailed off miserably, his head hanging down sadly.
"Carl!" Rick barked, forcing his son's eyes to meet his. "This wasn't you're fault. You did everything you could. I'm just glad you came back alive." He let go of the steering wheel and clenched his son's arm, minding where he had been stitched up. Carl looked up at his father and nodded and then turned his face forward, determination and unrelenting drive flaming in his eyes.
There was darkness pressed everywhere. Everywhere was dark. Robbed of her sight and never having her hearing, Luna felt suffocated. As soon as her brain stuttered into consciousness, she thrashed wildly, snarling and growling like a wild animal, determined to escape the confines of her prison. She yowled wordlessly full of angry indignation and rage, bucking against the bonds she felt tied around her wrists. Her weapons were gone but when she rolled she felt her knife's handle dig into her ribs. Good. That was good. She still had something on her. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she struggled to right herself and try to determine where she was and what had happened and if she was still with Judith or if they had been separated. When she could not recover her eyesight panic began to well up in her throat with a bitter taste and she renewed her efforts, thrashing so hard that she did eventually connect one of her limbs with something that gave a response, a grunt of pain and a shaking that Luna felt vibrate up through her arm. Her arms were tied behind her back so Luna shifted and wiggled until she could get her hands out from underneath her weight and then let her fingers close on a limb. She yanked and scrabbled and clawed until she jerked what felt like a sleeve out of her way and exposed bare skin.
"J?" she signed, struggling to write into the person's skin with her hands tied up as they were.
When shaking fingers found her hand and squeezed down, a blaze of relief roared through Luna, so potent it literally felt like sunshine on her face and a massive weight lifted off her shoulders. Judith was still with her. She was not alone. She almost sobbed as she squeezed Judith's arm in her hands as though she were clutching a life raft.
"Are you hurt?" Judith signed into Luna's arm, awkwardly moving her fingers, slipping and shaking as she did so.
Luna took a mental assessment of herself. Her shoulders were sore from her arms being tied behind her and she was voraciously hungry but she didn't feel hurt. She signed this to Judith who agreed. Instead of asking what was happening or where they were, Luna let her fingers curl and twist over Judith's arm, squeezing probably to the point of pain, but she couldn't let go. She was terrified to let go, to let go and to acknowledge what had really happened.
They were no longer in the back of the SUV that was for sure, the bounce and feeling of vibration from the moving vehicle was gone. Wherever they were, it was cold but the air smelt stale and almost frozen, so Luna reasoned they were inside somewhere. Judith suddenly tensed in her grip and Luna realized something was happening she couldn't hear. Her heart hammered in her chest, moving faster than it might have ever in her entire life but then she gasped a breath and smelt a different scent. This one smelt of soap and chemicals, very different from Judith's crushed pine and cotton left to warm in the sun. Luna flinched and growled in her throat, struggling to push herself and Judith away.
"Easy girls, you've been out for quite a while. I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to check you out, make sure you're alright."
Judith grabbed Luna's arm and signed this into her skin, knowing that what the soft-spoken man had said wouldn't have been detected by Luna. When Luna finished translating Judith's message she stilled.
"Ok, easy does it," the man coaxed softly. Luna got a nose-full of that same scent as the man pressed close to her and she stiffened again, wanting to lash out, but it was gone in a moment. He apparently had reached behind her and pulled on the knot at the back of her head that was keeping her blinder on. When it came off, he pulled back and she thrashed away from him, panting sharply.
The room they were in was dim which Luna counted as fortunate because otherwise it would have been painful. She and Judith were tied up on the floor, affixed to twin metal cots that were bolted into the floor. She pressed her arm into Judith's in reassurance before her eyes narrowed in on the man with them.
He wasn't physically intimidating, made of soft flesh and smooth pale skin with well-kept glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, neatly combined brown hair pressed down towards his skull. His clothes smelled of soap and were well taken care of, and a quick glance at his hands showed no scars or callouses, so whatever he did in his day to day life didn't consist of hard labor or hurting people, most likely. The way he moved reminded her of Benjamin a bit, full of hesitation and slight nervousness. He reached forward cautiously untied the piece of cloth over Judith's eyes and then stepped back out of their reach.
"There, that's better isn't it?" he asked softly.
Judith blinked for a moment, readjusting to the light and the surroundings before meeting Luna's eyes. There was a silent, determined communication between them before Judith turned up to the man in front of them.
"Who the hell are you, why are we here?" she demanded. Luna focused on reading Judith's lips until she was done speaking before turning to watch the man answer.
"My name is Milton Mamet, although that probably means nothing to you. As to why you're here…I'm not really at liberty to answer that," he said, shifting his gaze between Judith and Luna. Luna locked eyes with him and realized he was making some snap assumptions about the two of them. He had that look in his eyes, the one that said he was working things out in his mind, information he would use against them later. She gritted her teeth and shifted her feet so they were flat on the floor underneath her.
"Listen, Milton, whoever the hell you are, you need to let us out of here. You really do not want to make the mistake of holding us against our will. It won't end well for you, or anybody else involved. I'd say trust me but that's kind of pointless," Judith affirmed quietly and Luna snickered in agreement.
Milton shrugged his shoulders. "Well unfortunately I can't do that ladies. I have my orders and I'm sorry if it offends you, but I'm a lot more concerned about what my boss says than what you two say. I do have some questions for you though that if you answered would make all our lives a lot easier." Luna saw him pull a small little notebook and a pen and she nudged Judith's ankle to get her attention.
"Do we answer?" she asked, writing the signs into Judith's arm.
"What is she doing?" Milton asked before Judith could respond. Luna caught the movements of the man's lips out of the corner of her eye and realized what he was asking. She met Judith's gaze with a slow nod.
Judith turned back to Milton. "She's deaf. It's sign language. Which incidentally is really hard to do when you're tied up." She panted with aggravation as she tugged on her bonds. "Can you please at least take these off, we won't hurt you. We don't have any weapons on us."
Luna inwardly twitched. She did still have her knife on her, and once her hands were free, she could send this scrap of soft flesh and bone to hell in about ten seconds. Judith however seemed unaware of this fact, and Luna kept herself as passive as she could for the time being. There were distinct advantages to being an ambush predator.
Milton tilted his head, considering it. "Very well," he said. He approached slowly and Luna leaned forward so he'd have access to her wrists. He used a box cutter to slice the plastic open and thus free her arms. Before she could even twitch, Judith had grabbed her wrist. 'Don't' was the clear message in her eyes. Judith knew Luna well enough to know that under stress like this she was much more liable to strike first and ask questions later, but if she incapacitated or even killed Milton, they'd be at square one with a dead body in the room and that would look really bad whenever someone else came to deal with them. Her head was hurting from all of the information she was trying to soak in but if she didn't hold everything together, things were going to go from bad to nuclear meltdown in less than five seconds.
Milton cut Judith free and when they were both loose he stepped back and they stood up and stretched their sore shoulders. When they had loosened a bit Luna eyeballed the door, sizing it up and trying to decide how much effort it would take to break it down if necessary.
"Back to the questions," Milton said, redirecting Luna's attention when she saw him speaking out of the corner of her eye. She turned and faced him and fixed him with an expression like a rattlesnake sizing up a mouse creeping near its hiding place. She was pleased when she saw the micro expression of fear slip over his features.
"What are your names?" he asked.
Judith chewed it over. The possibility that these were the same people her family had encountered when she was an infant and before Luna was born had dawned on her almost immediately after they'd been taken, and so telling them who they were could cause backlash, but it might also help them. Milton didn't seem inherently dangerous, and if they could get on his good side, he might help them, or put them in a better position to help themselves.
"I'm Judith Grimes," she answered finally. "This is…"
"Luna Carol-Cherie Dixon." Luna answered for herself, her voice growling and raspy but nonetheless able to be understood.
"She can speak." The excitement in Milton's voice was soft but still present. "How is that possible?"
Luna wrinkled her brow. "I'm deaf, not stupid," she grated these words between her teeth slowly. Her expression turned wicked and another flicker of fear passed over Milton's face. "And I learn fast," she finished.
Milton turned to Judith for some kind of explanation. "She's deaf but not entirely. Our family taught her how to speak."
"I see," the man murmured, scribbling something in his book. "How old are the two of you?"
Judith remembered the men who had taken them asking the same question. Their age was a factor in this, it was important for some reason.
"I'm eighteen, Luna is…" Judith trailed off when Luna signed for herself.
"Seventeen?" Milton guessed. Luna nodded and clicked her teeth together in an expression of teasing humor. She knew she was freaking Milton out and it was amusing to her. Judith stopped herself from rolling her eyes just in time. Luna liked playing games and running round-a-bouts, it was a trait she'd inherited from her mother much to the rest of the group's aggravation.
"Perfect. And if I may ask, how is it that you survived for this long, being deaf. I'm assuming you can read lips, how else would you understand everything that's just been said." He addressed Luna, fixing her with a glinted gaze from behind his glasses.
"My family watches over me." Luna swallowed and twitched her jaw uncomfortably, not used to speaking this much at any one given time. With her family if she got tired of speaking she could sign and they would understand. "They keep me safe." She tilted her head at Milton and bared her teeth. "And I can read a lot more than lips."
Milton stepped a pace or two away, his gaze flitting between the two girls. "Are you related?" he asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. They were similar in appearance, possibly close enough to be sisters, which if they were would prove to be an even better opportunity for his and the doctor's research.
"We're not blood related, no." Judith answered. "But we grew up together. With the other members of our family."
"You mean your group?" Milton questioned as he scribbled in his little book.
"No. Family," Luna growled. She took a threatening step towards the man who shrank back. "Let us go!" She was starting to reach for him and Judith grabbed her wrist jerked her back, pulling her several paces away from Milton.
"Luna. Calm down. We'll get out of here but we're not gonna do it by scaring the only person we know here. We have to figure out what's going on and where we are before we go running around and pissing people off, alright?" She signed all of this rapidly, but Luna was still shaking with fury, her hands clenched into fists down at her sides.
"I'll tell you how we get out! We haul him out at knife point and lead him through the hall until they show us the door out of here!" Luna's face twisted into a snarled expression even as she signed back to Judith. She shifted just slightly so Judith could see her knife strapped inside her vest and Judith felt both a blaze of comfort, and worry at the same time. The fact that at least one of them armed was a good thing, but Judith didn't trust Luna's judgment right in this moment.
"No! That's not how we do this. We could get killed. They already shot Carl, we have no idea what they're capable of or what they want with us. We have to lay low for now, ok? We'll get out of here, I promise, but not like this." Luna could see the tension almost vibrating through Judith's fingers and wrists, trembling up her arms and rattling against her skin, drawing the muscles of her face tight as her thin chest almost shuddered as she tried to draw her breath. Luna could not remember a moment she had seen her friend so stressed before.
At the mention of her adoptive brother Luna quieted. She remembered Carl's cries of pain as he'd been struck with the bullets, the way he'd tumbled to the ground in a pool of blood. If he was dead…her hands shook at the thought and it was as if everything in her mind ground down to a halt. She couldn't picture anybody in her family being dead, but the thought of the ones she'd been taken from made her heart twist and burn. Her parents would be crazed by this point, she was sure. They hadn't wanted her to go in the first place, what would they do now? Had Carl made it back to tell them what happened or was he still lying there in that street, food for the biters at this point? Would they even know what had happened to them? How would they find them, if they did somehow realize the truth? Or would they assume they'd been eaten on the run, that they'd all gone down in a heap of rotted corpses to become just another nameless, faceless, insatiable biter? She shivered at the thought, her whole body shaking.
"Is she alright?" Milton asked softly from behind Judith's shoulder.
Judith focused on Luna for a moment longer and pulled herself together. Regardless of what happened now, she had to keep it together. If Luna shot themselves in the foot in a fit of anger, Judith wasn't excluding the possibility of the two of them getting killed, and so it was with some uneasiness that she sought Luna's gaze. When her sister's eyes reached hers they were solid and willing to follow along for a little while at least. It was the best she could have hoped for right now, and Judith let out a quiet breath of relief. She turned back to the man. "She's fine. We're fine. But we want to know what's going on here, right now."
Milton shifted with a bit of unease. "What I can tell you is that as long as you cooperate you'll be well treated. We don't want to hurt you. All of this that's going on is to help everyone that's left." He glanced down at the golden watch on his wrist. "I have another appointment, but I'll see to it that you're brought rations and a change of clothes. I'll give you more information as I can." He slipped out of the room and Luna bolted forward, trying to catch her fingers in the gap so that it couldn't close all the way but Judith snagged her arm again and held her back.
"Don't," she warned.
"You believe anything that rat says?" Luna signed, a growl slipping through her throat as she watched the door shut, effectively locking them in.
"Yes," Judith said firmly. "I believe he knows more than he lets on, that much is bleeding obvious, but I don't think he intends to hurt us."
"Can't say the same for his friends," Luna responded, bitterness and anger radiating from her posture. She unsheathed her knife from inside her vest and spun it deftly in her fingers, the harsh artificial lights from above their heads gleaming off the edge of the blade. "I wonder why they didn't find this, it wasn't hidden that well," she observed.
"Well put it away before someone does catch on!" Judith hissed. Luna's lips twisted into another wicked, evil looking expression, something she had learned from her mother, and she huffed a throaty laugh.
"They messed with the wrong kids," she signed to Judith. "I'll paint the walls red before they hurt us anymore."
Judith nodded in agreement and approached Luna slowly. She reached her hand up and took her by the wrist, stroking her thumb over the back of her hand and very lightly caressing the handle of her knife with her fingers. "We both will. We're getting out of here. We just have to be careful how we do it."
Luna looked into Judith's eyes and met her sister measure for measure. Shining from beneath the brown depths was a luster that neither her older brother nor her father had. A gleam just like the edge of the knife glistening above their heads, just as razor sharp, and without question just as lethal.