Ladies and gentlemen, beloved readers and reviewers, we are back! Have you guys been keeping up with the new eps of The Walking Dead? I have, and I shall not spoil, but AAACCKK! I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with the way they're structuring the episodes. THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME! In a good way. I think. Anyway, without further ado, enjoy my offering!
When she woke the first thing she registered was that she wasn't in her room. The smells were different. The feel of the very air against her skin was different.
Luna's eyes snapped open but she didn't jerk herself upright yet. Her whole body ached and as consciousness slowly trickled in, she remembered everything that had happened last night. The ring, the fights, the Walkers, Mal… her head swam with the dizzying rush of it all. She settled her head back against the pillows and inhaled again to steady herself. The sheets didn't smell like her. They smelt like musk with the edge of strong soap and crushed pine.
Mal…she thought dimly. More out of instinct than any true desire to wake up, she opened her eyes again and slowly sat up. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders in loose, messy waves and as she slowly worked through the stiffness of her shoulders she glanced around the room. It was as large as the one she shared with Judith, Leland, and Tau, but there was only one bed. In the corner was a bookcase, all of the shelves stuffed to the brim with books, next to that a dresser of drawers, on top of which was an assortment of various, random objects. She swept her eyes towards the door and found it shut but not locked, and on the floor were her bloody clothes from last night. It was only then she realized she was wearing only a shirt that was too large for her and nothing else.
The handle of the door clicked and for a split second she tensed but when she recognized the frame of the person coming in she relaxed marginally. Mal turned on his heel, carrying several things in his hands as he nudged the door shut with his foot.
"Morning," he said cheerfully, giving her a smile after the door clicked shut. She pulled her knees up to her chest and he gratefully set down the things he was carrying on the foot of the bed.
"How did I get here?" she signed the question but Mal's brow furrowed and so she coughed a few times to clear her throat so she could speak.
"I brought you down here last night," he explained. "You were pretty out of it, I figured I should keep an eye on you." It was then that the wafting smell of food reached her nose and he nudged one of the trays he'd been carrying towards her. "Here, you must be starving."
She nodded and sat up further, crossing her legs and pulling the tray towards her. Mal joined her at the foot of his bed and for a while they ate in silence, at least until Luna had cleared her plate, which took maybe half the time it did Mal.
"Why your room? Judith could have looked after me." She set her tray down onto the floor and looked at him with a cocked head.
He finished his toast before he answered. "The thought had occurred to me. Maybe I've just grown attached."
Her eyes narrowed. "Does Judith know where I am?"
Mal's expression eased into a grin. "Of course."
Luna regarded him with a slightly guarded look before she glanced down at the bag at Mal's end of the bed on the floor.
"Clothes for you. I figured having to walk out of my room had enough shame to it, no need to have them see you wearing my clothes too." He nudged the bag towards her with his foot but she didn't move to take it yet.
"Why would I be ashamed?" she asked.
Mal's head cocked. "You weren't listening to Christine?"
Luna shrugged. "Something about you've broken a lot of girls hearts."
Mal fidgeted as he set his tray down on the floor. "It was never intentional."
Luna chuffed with laughter. "Mal, I couldn't care less," she said, smiling genuinely and the pressure on his chest seemed to melt away. "If girls are stupid enough to let you hurt them, then that's their fault. I'm not like that."
He nodded fervently. "Ain't that the truth."
"I meant what I said last night," she continued softly.
"About what?" he asked. His stomach began to churn with anticipatory nerves muddled together with excitement.
"You fought well." The grin on her face died but she was still pleased, he could see it glowing in the depths of her dark blue eyes.
He smirked a bit at her. "Oh did I? I must not have caught that in the chaos last night."
She rolled her eyes at him. He'd heard her perfectly well, he just wanted to hear her say it again.
"So do you have a measure of respect for me now, Luna?"
She shrugged again and held up two fingers about a centimeter apart. He snickered and ran his fingers through his dark shaggy hair, pushing it away from his face for a split second before it fell back down. "It's ok if you don't," he added quietly.
She looked at him and realized what was happening, and it shocked her so much that she put it into words. "You're sorry. About all of this." She waved her hand, gesturing around the room, but they both knew she really meant about her being snatched away from her family and held hostage.
"Not just that," he breathed. He glanced at her, a heavy weight in his steely grey eyes. She leaned back to give him more room to breathe as he continued. "I'm sorry that I want to keep you here. So I don't have to lose you."
Conflicted feelings roiled up in her and now she slid closer to him. "You know I don't belong here. But maybe you don't either."
He tilted his head as he met her eyes. "You think?"
"You want a reminder?" she asked. His tongue flicked around his lips and she could see the way his pupils dilated as he nodded.
She leaned in and kissed him, much more gently than she had last night. Though the fury was gone, all the fire was still there, and it burned through him like the scorch of the sun at midday. Her tongue was sharp as she slid past his defenses and into his mouth, her teeth hard against his lip as her strong fingers curled and tightened into his hair. Sheer experience couldn't outweigh the depth of her passion and he found himself sighing softly, greedy for her scent in his nose. When she pulled away she left him hanging, aching, desperate for more.
"You don't belong here either," she breathed softly. "They just tricked you into thinking you do."
"How can you tell?"
She chuffed again, her eyes blinking warmly at him when she looked back up. She lifted her arm and tapped the bandage on her wrist. "This," she said simply.
His mouth twitched. "I don't understand. But if its good enough for you, it's good enough for me."
She rolled her eyes. "Did I say it was good enough?"
Confusion crawled across his face as he sat back and bit his lip. "What do you want?" When she looked at him again it became abundantly obvious.
"If you won't help me, I'll do it myself. Somehow. Someway. And I'm not afraid to kill someone if I have to."
Mal knew the certainty of her words. When he'd first met her, he wasn't entirely certain that she was capable of killing someone unless in defense of her own life and her sister. After what he'd seen down in the ring last night, he knew better. "I'd prefer if it didn't come to that."
She nodded and paused for a moment, gathering her words. "If my family is alive, they're on their way here. And there is nothing that will stop them from tearing this place apart to find us."
"Except a city full of geeks," Mal pointed out.
Luna gnawed her lip. "They'll be walking into an ambush if they just show up. There's got to be some way to warn them."
"There's only one road that they can into the city through, all the rest are so blocked with debris that it's a no go. If there's a way to leave them a message on that road then maybe you have a shot."
A rush of excitement bloomed over Luna. She couldn't believe that with all the pain she'd been going through at the thought of her family that she hadn't thought of this sooner. "I know what to do. But I'm going to need Judith's help. Yours too, but Judith's first." She snatched up the clothes that Mal had brought for her and although he turned around while she changed, he figured that even if he hadn't, she wouldn't have noticed in the heat of her excitement.
"Wait, what is it you plan on doing?" he demanded as soon as he felt her move past him towards the door.
"It's possibly suicide, but it's the only for sure way." She turned back towards him and reached her hand out. She gripped his wrist, the bandage on her own brushing where his radial pulse was thumping hard beneath the skin. "You fought well last night." Her voice had dropped to a low growl in the back of her throat. "Don't give it all away now."
He tugged her against him. He expected her to fight back, to get angry at his sudden movements, but instead she allowed him to pull her into his body. She hissed but not with anger, more like with excitement. Her eyes flamed as she stared up at him while his fingers curled sharply over her uninjured wrist, squeezing with just enough strength to remind her of what he was capable of.
"Tell me the truth. If I help you now, there is no going back, is there?"
The wolf shined from behind her eyes, gleaming bright. It was summer; blazing hot, sweat dripping over both their skins despite the ventilation in the room, but in her eyes was the icy chill of winter, and the wolf running all out, legs churning snow, moonlight burning across the powdery drifts, casting pitch dark underneath the barren trees, the stillness of the woods belying the inner wreathing flame of hunger that threatened to consume them all.
"No."
She wouldn't begrudge him if he wanted to look before he leapt. Because she knew if he did, he'd help her. It came as no sacrifice to her, because when their mouths met again, she felt the way he came to life. His tongue was edged, the taste of him sweet and sharp against her teeth. His hands clutched her tight, hauling her hard against him. She growled in response, but it was of encouragement, not to make him stop. Her nails raked his back as her teeth found purchase underneath his jaw. When her incisor nicked in deep enough to bring blood to the surface, her fingers twisted in his hair and pulled his head back so she had better access to lick the wound clean. She shivered with the taste of it. The tamed hand licker was withering inside him, and in it's place, the wild was blooming.
When she let him go, she was smirking, but it was he who spoke. "Your dad is with the group coming to get you and Judith, right?"
She nodded her head, still grinning, because of what she remembered from her conversation with Judith last night.
"I sincerely hope he doesn't split my skull for corrupting you."
That made her laugh out right. "I suggest you stand behind me if the two of you ever meet."
"You want to do what? Are you out of your mind?"
Luna huffed an exasperated breath as she stared at her sister. "It's the only way and you know it!"
"You're out of your mind! There's no way it'll work. The least that would happen is we run ourselves ragged for two weeks and the worst is we'll get eaten!"
Luna rolled her eyes. "We can handle biters. Mal's gonna help us." She tilted her head at the boy who was leaning up against the door of their room, for the most part staying quiet and letting the two sister's talk.
Judith rounded on him. "How can we trust you?" she snarled.
Mal held up his hands in mock surrender. "Easy, killer. I already told Luna I'd help you. I'm probably gonna get myself strung up from piano wire, but how's that any different from what'll eventually happen to all of us down here."
Judith's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
Mal sighed heavily. "Jenner's been working on a cure for almost twenty years. And in all those years, it's never worked. And what's more, no one exposed has ever survived." He paused for a bit, biting the edge of his thumb in a show of nervousness before continuing. "He's gearing up for another trial, I can tell. The chemicals he asked for when we went on the run, the way he's been shut up in his lab so much lately, the data he just got from our fights, it won't be long before he tries again. If you two are really determined to do this, which by the way, I think you're crazy if you do, now is your best chance."
"If we go, we have to go now," Luna urged, taking her sister by the hand.
"You don't even know where to find him, Luna." Judith pleaded.
Luna cocked an eyebrow at her. "You think Dad didn't tell me stories? You think I can't find him?"
"You've got a one in a million shot to find him. And even if you do, there's no guarantee he'll help us! You do remember what happened right? Did your dad tell you that story?" Her tone rose to almost scathing.
"It's been almost twenty years. My dad was the only thing Merle ever had. Any chance to get back into his good books, you think he won't leap at it?" Luna snorted. "You obviously think he can hold a grudge for a lot longer than he's really capable of."
Judith's gaze hardened. "You don't even know the man! Look at what he did to your dad, to your mom! Those scars on her face were his fault!"
Luna bristled and she snagged Judith by the wrist and squeezed hard. "I'm not saying he's an angel. But that wasn't all his fault. He was trying to protect my dad. Phillip would have shot him if he'd intervened; he was trying to keep him alive! It doesn't make it right, but it's just more proof that if he's handed a chance to help his brother, he won't say no." She sucked down a shaky breath, trying to let the tension diffuse, easing the grip on her sister's wrist. "He's our only chance. You know that if our family tries to get into Atlanta they'll be butchered. The city is full of biters and the only way to maneuver the streets are the tunnels that they don't even know exist. Merle could be lying in wait for them to warn them while we deal with things here."
Judith's brow furrowed. "Deal with what things?"
Luna snorted. "Christ, I'm deaf and I heard the man." She jerked her head towards Mal. "You're gonna stand by while they all get killed by some psychopath?"
Judith's lips twitched. "What do you plan on doing? Killing him?"
Luna's knuckles cracked. "If he gets in my way." She exhaled slowly before continuing. "I would rather just bust down the door and let the people who want to leave go. Especially the kids."
Judith tilted her head at her sister and turned to her, pulling her wrist out of her grip and began to sign slowly to make sure she wasn't misunderstanding.
"Not too many days ago you could have killed them all for holding us hostage, now you want to rescue them, what's up?" She very subtly tilted her head towards Mal, "Did he put you up to this?"
Luna's expression softened slightly. "No. He didn't," she signed. "They're not evil, J. Well, not all of them. They don't all deserve to die. They don't even know what's coming."
On the way from his room to hers, Mal had told Luna what would happen when Jenner tested his cure. He'd lock all the test subjects in the cage and diffuse the chemical through the fire extinguisher system, gassing them all, where they'd all probably die and become a horde of shuffling geeks. At first she hadn't believed him, and then he'd revealed what he'd stolen from Jenner's lab last night while she was knocked out in his room.
She handed the notebook to Judith and flipped it to the already dog eared page. As Judith's eyes scanned over the handwritten scrawl her expression morphed from disdainful to horrified; lists of names, the proposed cure, the method of exposure, the sickening results as Jenner meticulously measured how long it took for all of them to die, and to reanimate. He went into gruesome detail to explain how the previous batches of kids died, some of them suffocated, some of them suffered aneurisms, one particularly gruesome batch the 'cure' had caused them to have psychotic fits and to start violently tearing at themselves or each other until they'd all but ripped each other to pieces.
Judith snapped the book shut. She swallowed the bile that threatened to rise in her throat and took a deep breath in. When her eyes opened, Luna signed slowly to her.
"Our parents wouldn't want us to leave these kids like this. They're not all great, but they don't deserve to die like this. We have the chance to do something, especially now that Mal will help us."
As distracted as she was by what she'd just read, Judith noticed that Luna's sign for Mal had changed. No longer did she refer to him as a hand-licker, now she spelled his name. It wasn't something that she would have done lightly.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Judith signed.
Luna nodded. Judith made the motion for 'how' and Luna paused, trying to find a way to communicate the feeling she had. It wasn't easy. She didn't even really know what it was that was happening between her and Mal, much less how to put it into words. What she did know was the way he made her feel when he got close, when they pushed and shoved against each other, the sharp, fierce delight she felt when she saw those sparks in him that told her he wasn't just a pet- the way she felt when she saw the promise in him.
"He's not as different from us as we thought," she signed. "He wants out of here. He'll help us."
Judith paused for a moment and then let out a deep sigh. She pulled her sister into a tight embrace and leaned against her. "God I hope you know what you're doing," she whispered. She knew that Luna couldn't hear her, but she still said it. It dawned on her that this had all been her plan from the beginning, but she hadn't honestly expected it to work. She hadn't expected to be risking everything so soon. But if Mal was right, and she wasn't about to doubt him when it came to his expertise on all things Jenner, then they had to move fast.
"Ok. So, how do we do this?" she asked, posing the question to both Luna and Mal.
"Well not just with the three of us. We'll need a few other people's help," Mal said with a firm nod. "Leland for one. He's the one who knows the tunnels and has been down there the most. He knows them in and out. The tunnels don't go all the way to the edge of the city, but they get us close. Simon has guard over the armory. I'm pretty sure he'll help us, if I asked."
Judith could always be counted upon to have a rebuttal. "You sure? I don't think he'd be in the mood to be help us; Luna messed up his brother pretty bad."
Mal shrugged. "There's no harm in asking. At least, not the way I plan on asking."
"What do you plan on asking? I mean we can't just walk out of here for two weeks without someone noticing." Judith delivered this with a sharply raised eyebrow at Luna who began to slowly pace beside her bunk as she mulled everything over in her mind.
"Jenner's so distracted right now we don't have to worry about him. And Milton's easy enough to fool. I could tell him I'm taking a group on a run. While we're out, you two 'escape'. And since I know Jenner wants you two especially for his little experiments, it's of high importance I get you back. I'll lead a raiding party to come get you, and then no matter how long we're gone, it's left up to their imaginations what happened to us. Milton might risk more men to come fetch us, but none of them can really track, and I highly doubt Martinez would even let him."
"Yeah, exactly how are we going to slip out of here with Martinez noticing? He's the one in charge of security. Jenner gives him the codes for the locks." Judith let her fingers run through her hair tiredly as the wheels in her brain spun again and again.
"Martinez happens to be gearing up for a run right now. Jenner asked for more biters to be brought in. He'll be going out with most of his top fighters, if we're going to bail out without anybody figuring out what's happening until it's too late, we have a window of about twelve hours to move." Mal glanced at Luna briefly, a measure of concern in his eyes. "You two are going to be on your own, at least at first, because in order for this to look good, we'll have to split up. The rest of the running party comes back here to report what happen and to tell them that we're going to recover you. You two will have to wait for the rest of us to catch up."
"Us?" Luna asked. "Who else were you planning on bringing?"
Mal unconsciously rubbed his bottom lip with his forefinger as he answered. "I need Leland with me, and I was thinking about bringing Tau too. She's tough and she knows you two, it makes it look good if we were trying to talk you two to come back in. Maybe Simon as well, if he'll come."
Luna shrugged. "The more you bring, the more lives you're risking. I would rather it just be me and Judith. We can move faster on our own, and we can handle ourselves on the outside."
Mal stood up from where he was leaning against the door and approached her. "No. You're not going alone."
Luna rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be alone, genius." She nodded towards her sister, but Mal just shook his head.
"If you think I'm going to let you go out there on your own, even with your sister, you're out of your mind."
She snorted. "Oh Jesus, do not go all white knight on me. I can take care of myself."
Mal shrugged his shoulders. "I know you can. But it doesn't change anything. I'm still going."
Judith snickered behind him. "Aww, that's cute. Mal's worried."
Mal turned and glanced at her over his shoulder. "You should just watch Leland when I run this suicidal mission by him. I'm quite certain he'll be just as worried for you, Judith."
Luna's eyes narrowed at her sister. "Oh really?"
Mal snickered openly but quick enough the laughter died. He glanced at the clock on the wall and then back at the two girls. "Come on, we got work to do. If we're really going to pull this off, we have to move fast. We need to be out of here by no later than noon."
"Why so early? We can handle ourselves at night," Luna said.
"We collectively can. But any search party that Milton or Martinez might send after us can't. And since Leland knows the tunnels and they don't, we have the advantage of getting as far away from the CDC as possible before dark. But we need a place to meet up, since you two will have a head start on us." He scratched the back of his neck as he eyed them both.
"The quarry," Judith said with a glance at her sister and then back at Mal. "Outside of town, maybe ten or fifteen miles outside of the main entrance to the city. It's at the base of the mountains, it's where our group sheltered when we first came together all those years ago. There's fresh water there and game in the woods. We'll wait for you there."
"We need the map to get there. The only person that has it is Martinez." Mal's voice was tense.
"Then we get it from him," Luna said simply.
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Mal asked with a roll of his eyes.
"He doesn't take it with him when he goes for biters does he?" When he shook his head she smirked. "Then you take it from him when you go to retrieve us."
Mal nodded. "Alright. I still say this is suicide, but we have to do what we have to do. Come on, let's go talk to people."
"There you are, I was looking for you." Judith approached where Leland was standing, reviewing some of the books in the library.
"You were?" he asked with an arch of his eyebrows. His slanted eyes seemed to grow brighter. "What did you need?"
"You haven't heard from Mal or Luna today?" Earlier the three marauders had decided to split up to find the people whose help they intended to elicit, Judith's target having been Leland.
He shook his head. "No, why? What's going on?"
She took a deep breath in and tried best to figure out how to tell him the plan without sounding like a total lunatic. She thought back to how her father talked to her and her brother whenever there was any hint of danger. In that moment she missed her father so much it physically hurt. The wry stiffness of his embrace, that close clutch of a father to his daughter, and her brother's protective shield that she had always taken for granted and from now on never ever would.
"My family's on their way here. We know they are. It's only a matter of time before they come, but we want to warn them before they try to get into Atlanta."
"Because they'll be killed otherwise," Leland guessed. When she nodded she actually felt a few tears swelling at the edges of her eyes.
"So Luna comes up with this fucking crazy idea, her uncle lives somewhere in the sticks outside of Atlanta. She's dead set on trying to go up there and ask him to keep a watch over the road that leads into Atlanta to warn them. She convinced Mal to help her do it, and I'm obviously not about to let her go tearing off into hell by herself. But we need your help."
At first he was quiet and for all of her perception she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Eventually he turned to her and smiled, stepping towards her. She held her ground and not for the first time let him run his fingers through her hair.
"Of course I'll help," he said with a gentle grin. "You'd think I'd pass up any chance to get the hell out of here?"
Judith blinked up at him and smiled with relief. "It's just that…if we do this…there really is no going back. Because Luna wants to break the kids out, before Jenner can use another 'cure' on us."
His eyebrows arched but soon enough his expression relaxed. "So she does have a heart. And here I was worried that she'd rip Mal to pieces."
Judith chuckled a little, causing one of the tears in her eyes to slip free. Leland gently brushed it away with his thumb and Judith looked back up at him. "So, I guess the bet between you and Tau was settled huh? What exactly was it that you told her?"
Judith let her arms rest on top of his shoulders as his hands fell onto her waist. "Girls don't kiss and tell," she whispered, before letting her mouth slant over his, not for the first time.
Luna wasn't the only one with parents that would be coming for blood, that was for damn sure.
DarylDixon'sLover: I love this story xx
Hehe, thanks! I love it when people speak their minds =)
Emberka-2012: Good that Ivy stayed with them. At first I thought it was a new loss for the group. And capture of Daryl also did not bring calm. Only by the end of the chapter was visible a ray of light in the kingdom of darkness.
Indeed. Sometimes it takes people being pushed the to edge of everything for them to realize what's actually worth living for. Ivy certainly needed that.
Brittney: Another great chapter. I liked that Ivy didn't die and that she came back for the group and Fox was badass! Sampson had no chance :)
You know I really considered whacking Ivy, but she got such lovely response from my wonderful reviewers that I decided just to play around with it rather than actually axe her. And hell no, nobody stands a chance when it comes to Fox protecting someone she loves. Never.
lunasky99: Oh god... for a second there you had me believing Ivy actually gave up, but then I was like naw she wouldn't do that... okay that's a lie you totally got me and I thought she was dead and never coming back, but I'm glad she did or Fox would have been in trouble. I love that Daryl has so much faith in the group because in the beginning of wildflower he would have thought himself alone same in the first episodes of the series. I love it when Fox goes all protective mode on everyone's ass's it's just to great because that's when everyone gets a reminder of just how feral, powerful oh and let's not forget inventive she can be I love it! Yeah! you gut that guy right up! I love how the group wasn't even even fazed when they heard the guy's screams from the house, they probably already know what Fox did but don't really want to think about it. I absolutely loved the way they the group took over it was awesome because they took over and the other group was like (what the hell!? I thought they where weak! we should have listened to the "dumb ass") I still can't believe they thought he would be dumb I mean come on! just because someones a redneck does not mean there dumb! we know stuff to! it just might not be the same stuff everyone else learns, (though we know all of that to), and another thing, the quiet ones are always the ones you fear the most because there the ones that have the most morbid thoughts and also they are way more observant then anyone gives credit for, being quiet gives them time to observe you to know just what to do to get you to scream... okay done with my rant and I am in no way implying that I think you think rednecks or hillbilly's are stupid and even if you do I wouldn't really care cause you have every right to think what you want xD. Okay then that wasn't Pessimistic of Ivy to say at all... (note the sarcasm). xD Ill read the next chapter!... well of course I'll read the next chapter but I thought I'd say it because saying (read ya later!) sounds creepy! and saying (see ya later!) wouldn't work because obviously I can't see you so... Yeah... bye! xD
Hehe, I did originally plan to axe Ivy, but I changed my mind (seemingly for the better) at the last second. It certainly does demonstrate just how far he's come, because certainly in stories past he wouldn't have expected anybody to try and rescue him, except for maybe Fox, and even then in the beginning, not so much. Hah, yeah, Fox certainly has a creative touch when it comes to killing, and when she does, it's a message to the world. This is mine, and you do not fuck with what's mine because this is what will happen to you if you do. She certainly has a vicious streak, that's for sure. It is without a doubt the quiet ones you have to watch out for. The loudmouths, well you already know their game, but the quiet ones who you don't pay attention to, their the ones that come up and tear your head off from behind without you ever knowing they were there. Love those quiet crazy ones xD