Two

Updating twice in one day isn't going to be a regular thing, but whatever. This story isn't really going to be set in Terminus so much, and will be going more towards the gang getting to Washington. Enjoy and review!

Just as the end of the day began to draw closer, the group felt a sense of hope and determination overcome them. They'd evenly distributed the crackers amongst themselves, along with the bucket of water. Although it wasn't much, it was enough to give the group the energy they needed to start coming up with some sort of plan. Darkness fell quickly and they found themselves falling into a sleepless night filled with angst.

The sun slowly rose, shining through the cracks in the car. They were greeted with the sound of two pairs of boots this time. They all expected this, as Gareth would never allow June's mistakes to be made by anybody else in Terminus. It was like clockwork. The door opened and the car shook slightly, just as before. Fresh sunlight poured into the box and the group looked away quickly. Daryl recognized one of the men from before. The other was a stranger and seemed less tough than the other, as he was the one carrying a plate of crackers and bucket of water, no gun in hand. The men looked around at the group. Carl and Michonne had been playing a card game as Daryl looked on, messing with his belt that was now in his hands.

"Wake up! It's breakfast." The man growled. He threw down the tray and dropped the bucket onto the floor. The group looked at him, and then the bucket of water. Glenn went for the water, chugging a bit down, and Bob went for the crackers. Suddenly, Sasha began to choke and gasp for air. Everyone had panicked looks upon their faces, especially the man who'd been carrying the tray and bucket.

He turned Rick. "W-what's wrong with her?"

Shaking his head, Rick said quickly, "I don't know! I think she's having an asthma attack."

The man turned back to the second man with the gun. "What do we do?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" He pointed towards Sasha with the tip of his gun. "Get in there and see what's wrong with her!"

The man did as he was told, jumping up into the car. He seemed reluctant to go in any further. The second man pushed him in a bit more, causing him to quickly go over to Sasha. As he examined her, the gunman stepped up into the car, lowering his weapon slightly and looking over the group's shoulders. That was Daryl's cue. He tightened the belt in both of his hands and jumped up, wrapping it around the gunman's neck. The man struggled for a while, but eventually dropped the gun in his hands to try and fight Daryl. The man who had been looking over Sasha looked over his shoulder. Just as he realized what was happening, Rosita grabbed the gun from the floor and shot him.

With two men dead and left on the floor of the box car, Rick poked his head out into the daylight. He looked around, and then towards Terminus. No one seemed to be out and on duty quite yet, so this was their chance. Everybody quietly began to follow him towards the giant factory that was the center of Terminus. Daryl had the knife that he'd stolen off the gunman at the ready. He looked up, smoke rising over the factory catching his eye. He ignored it for the moment. The gang began to sneak towards the closest metal door.

"Hopefully this is where that girl was taken." Michonne whispered to Daryl in front of her.

Daryl bit the inside of his lip, the grip on the knife tightening. A part of him didn't give a shit about whether this girl named June was still alive or not. After all, she was living in a place with the people that had captured his group. How "good" could she really be? But, another part of him, a very small part of him, was praying that this girl was still alive. He admired her courage to go against Gareth's heavy, harsh hand and help them. She had obviously done something like this before, because she knew what kind of "lesson" he was going to be teaching her, and it hadn't sounded very good. Her screams were enough to tell him that.

As they reached the first metal door, Rick put a finger to his lips, silently reminding the group to keep as quiet as they could. The metal door creaked open, and one-by-one, the group poured inside. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the darker room. Then, Daryl's lips parted in shock.

The room was much darker than the outside world, but was full of what seemed like hundreds of candles. They lined the floors, which were covered in what also seemed like hundreds of names. Bolded phrases were also written on the walls, such as "Never Again." "Never Trust." "We first, always." A shutter went through Daryl as he read the names and phrases.

Slowly, his eyes explored the room once again. He squinted, finally seeing what was at the very center: a short-haired girl, bound to a chair and half-naked. Michonne, Rick, and Daryl ran to her as the rest of the group went to guard the doors in the room.

"Oh god…" Michonne mumbled as she began to try and untie the ropes. Daryl motioned for her to stop and started cutting them up instead. The woman was covered in her own blood and unconscious. There were cuts, burns, and what looked like whip marks all over her body. Daryl could hardly look at them without getting a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Rick grabbed the woman's face and began to try to wake her up. "June… JUNE! Wake up, hm? We're here to help you."

When she didn't open her eyes, Michonne pushed him aside and got in front of the girl. She held her breath as she brought a hand up high, bringing it hard down onto the girl's face. Immediately, she woke up screaming.

"Hey, hey!" Daryl grabbed the girl's hand as she began to try and wiggle free of the ropes. She stopped, and he heard her roughly breathing start to soften as his grip on her small fingers tightened. "We're gonna get you outta here, girl. You just gotta stay still and quiet. Ya understand?"

The woman looked over her shoulder at Daryl and nodded slowly. He released her hand slowly and began to go back to work, cutting away at the ropes. Suddenly, one of the doors was being pounded on, with someone screaming on the other side.

"LET ME IN HERE! I'll kill her and all of y'all in there. You won't get away with this!" The man yelled through the door as he began to ram into it. Carl, Abraham, and Tara leaned against it, trying to keep the man out.

"Can you guys possibly work a little bit faster? We got some company." Tara muttered, turning around to push her back against the door.

Daryl pulled the ropes off of June's arms and legs. He pulled her up, and she immediately fell onto the floor, screaming in pain. Daryl fell to his knees.

He grabbed her hand and shook his head. "W-what's wrong? You gotta tell me, girl, so I can help ya."

Tears began to roll down the girl's cheeks as she shook from the pain. Slowly, she mustered the strength to point towards her feet. Daryl's gaze wandered to the souls of her feet and was instantly horrified. He looked away and grabbed her arm, bringing it around his shoulder to pick her up.

"What's wrong with her?" Michonne whispered.

Daryl shook his head. "They slice up her feet. There's no skin let on the bottom of 'em."

Michonne bit the bottom of her lip and closed her eyes. This woman hadn't been "taught a lesson". She'd just been straight up tortured. With June now in Daryl's arms and the group having grabbed more weapons from the mysterious candle room, Rick bolted for the second metal door. He kicked it open and urged the others to follow him. Daryl, June, and Michonne were the last to run out the door. As individuals began to run over to try and stop the group, gun shots began going off. No one in their group had fallen yet, so Daryl was confident in their ability to make it out without another injury. Suddenly, June's eyes opened and she grabbed onto the front of Daryl's shirt.

"We have to get out." She whispered into his ear.

Daryl nodded as they continued to follow the others. "That's what we're tryin' to do here."

She shook her head quickly as her eyes widened. "You don't understand. They won't just kill us. They'll torture us, break every bone in our bodies, burn our skin off, cut into our skin… They'll make us beg for death. And then, they'll make us watch as all the people we love are killed."

Daryl looked down at her, seeing the fear in her eyes. She was obviously not lying. As the tears ran down her cheeks, she mumbled, "And then… they'll eat us."