Chapter 14: World Comes Crashing Down

Riley gnawed on her lip as she chipped away at the wooden corner of the train car. After Rick's little speech, they all started to furiously craft their own weapons. Belt buckles, zippers, buttons - anything they could find - were used to sharpen objects or as a weapon by themselves. None of them were going to go down without a fight. No one wanted to die and be eaten by a bunch of sadistic cannibals.

Carl sat across the car, filing away at his own corner. She glanced at him every now and then, catching his eye once in a while and assuring him with a nod that she was okay and that they were going to be okay. Even if she didn't believe it. They had to try. She knew everyone in here would rather die fighting than give up.

Focusing her attention back on the wood in front of her, she shifted in her spot, tucking her legs underneath her. A hard object pressed against the side of her foot and she flinched, looking down at her boot. With all haste, she unlaced her shoe to get whatever rock was in it out before she had to be ready to defend herself, but what she found was even better than a rock.

Her eyes widened and she hastily scooped up the small pocket knife that stuck snugly to her sock. She remembered slipping it in her boot weeks back, but she'd forgotten about it since then. But there it was in all it's glory. She'd forgotten it was there and the Termites didn't even check there for weapons. It wasn't a gun, but it was a lot better than a long, sharpened piece of wood.

Quickly, she tied her boot back to her foot and shuffled over to Carl, latching onto his shoulder to catch his attention.

"I found this in my shoe," she murmured, not bothering to hide the excitement in her voice when she showed him the small weapon.

He took it in his hands, looking over it before glancing back at the others as they worked on getting their weapons crafted. Giving it back to her, he closed her fingers shut around it.

"Don't let the others see it," he said, looking up at her.

Her eyebrows furrowed and she glanced over at Rick as he ripped the zipper off his jacket. "Why?"

"Because they'll take it from you. I'd feel safer if you had it," he explained quietly, retracting his hand from hers and catching her gaze.

Her breath hitched in her throat and for a moment she didn't even know what to say. Before she could come up with something to fill the silence, footsteps and moving outside caught everyone's attention. She flipped open the knife, holding it tightly in her hand so only the blade poked out of her fist as she slowly neared the door with the others. Everyone stood, poised to attack as soon as the door swung open. Carl's fingers curled around the fabric of her shirt and he stuck close, just as ready to fight with his carved piece of wood as she was with the only real weapon in the train car.

The noises suddenly stopped and she strained to listen, keeping her eyes locked on the door. Nothing happened. Did they know that everyone inside was waiting for them to open the door and have their guards down?

Sunlight suddenly poured into the metal cage, blinding her momentarily as smoke filled her lungs. She squinted, backing up into the wall next to the door as everyone choked on the clouds of grey swirling in the air. A second later, the door flung open and a hand shot out, grabbing onto Rick and pulling him roughly from the opening. Her instincts were delayed because of the smoke, but they finally decided to kick in when the Korean man next to her was nabbed.

With all her strength, she lashed the knife out on the guy's arm, eliciting a scream from his lips. Carl still held onto her, but as she slid the blade down across his arm, she was ripped from his grip and toppled out of the train car on top of the guy. Her head jostled about, blurring her vision as she scrambled to get up. All she could make out was Carl screaming her name and his dad's name and the tight grip on her arm.

Suddenly, she was lifted and her vision cleared. She was able to catch glimpses of Daryl, Rick, the Korean man, and someone else before all she saw was the sweat-dripping back of her captor.

"Let me go!" she screamed, pounding her fists hard on his back and squirming with every bit of fight she had left in her. "You can't do this!"

He replied with a pained grunt as they descended into the darkness of the building. That was when she realized that she was being led somewhere different than the others. Maybe somewhere where she would be restrained until they slaughtered everyone else and it was her turn. She had to get out. She had to get back to the others and not die. There was no way she was going to die.

She let out another scream, kicking her legs and digging her nails into her captor's back. He tightened his grip on her and continued, trying not to pay her much attention. Her screams and shouts of profanities continued until her throat throbbed painfully. None of it was doing her any good. Switching strategies, she frantically looked around for anything she could grab onto, but the halls were bare and the room they passed through only had hanging human carcasses. Bile crept up her throat and she gritted her teeth to keep herself from vomiting.

He turned into another room and roughly slapped her down in a chair. Her first instinct was to scramble, but he was already restraining her, tying her wrists to the arms.

"You know how to put up a fight," he growled, taking a step back and examining the deep gash on his arm. "Look what you did, you little bitch."

Riley clenched her jaw, feeling no remorse for the injuries she caused him or any of these people. They were trying to eat them for goodness sake!

"Damn, I think it'll need stitches," he hissed, pressing his fingers against the gash. Blood oozed between his fingers and she couldn't help but feel a little satisfied.

She struggled a little against her restraints as he tried to stop his wound from bleeding, but he'd tied her pretty tight.

"Why am I here and not with the others?" she spat, eyes narrowing as she glared at him.

"You're causing too much trouble. You nearly let the rest of the cattle out."

Cattle? Was that what they were calling them? It must've made them feel better about the fact that they were eating people.

"Where did they take the others?"

"I think you've figure that out by now..."

He gave her a dark look and she squeezed her eyes shut. How were they going to get out of this? Was this the end?

"And why didn't you just take me to be slaughtered with the others?"

Leaning against the wall, he looked down at the ground. "You see, the kids are too lean. Not enough meat. Gotta fatten em up and let em grow before they're any good."

"You're sick."

"Say what you like, princess, but at least we aren't starving."

"I'd rather die before I ate another human being," she hissed.

"I don't think you have ever been really starving," his voice dropped lower and he pushed off the wall to move toward her. "You've never been so hungry that it hurts to breathe. You've never felt like you were being stabbed in the stomach every second of the day. You've never wanted death to get rid of the agony that you feel because of your hunger! You don't know what it's like!"

Her eyes widened and she pressed herself to the back of the chair as he shouted in her face. He was desperate and desperate people were dangerous. Her body started to shake and she swallowed thickly, not breaking eye contact as he glared at her with such fury and emotion that she felt like she was going to spontaneously combust.

After a long moment of suffocating tension, he pulled away and turned his back to her. "You and your boyfriend might not be worth the waiting with all that trouble you caused. I think we should kill you now."

Boyfriend?

"What?" she muttered.

He turned, narrowing his eyes. "Your boyfriend. Kid with the hat."

What trouble did Carl even cause? Did they take him too? Her mind spun so hard with questions that she became light headed.

"What are you talking about?" she ground out, rolling her neck.

"Both of you tried stabbing everyone you could. Calling for you. Almost killed a guy. I'm guessing you missed that." He gave her a wicked grin.

She wriggled in her restraints.

"What did you do to him?!" she snarled.

This only caused his grin to widen.

"You let him go!"

Blood started to trickle down her wrists from the rope rubbing against her skin as she fought.

"You're not really in the position to be making demands, missy," he chuckled darkly.

And then, the whole world suddenly shook. Dust and small pieces of the ceiling fell from above, but luckily her chair didn't fall over. Her captor, however, wasn't so lucky. He toppled to the ground hard and it only took a minute for the cogs in her brain to realize that she needed to use this to her advantage. If the building was suddenly exploding and he was the only thing standing in her way to get out, she needed to take him out. And find Carl and the others.

Riley stood, lifting the chair with her, and ran straight for the guy as he stood. She spun, ramming the chair into him and pushing him to the ground. The chair rolled over and she grunted, squirming and getting back to her feet. With all haste, she rammed the chair into the wall causing it to crack. Not enough. Another ram, another crack. On her third ram, the chair splintered. He was finally on his feet and headed toward her, causing her to fall on her back. She kicked out with her feet, keeping him at bay just long enough to free her wrists from the rope and broken arms of the chair. His hands jumped to her throat and she suddenly had no air.

"Gareth will be glad I killed you," he growled, tightening his grip.

Her lungs throbbed painfully as she squirmed to try and get free. With all her strength, she tried to pry his hands from her throat, but he was too strong. Reaching to the side, she grabbed a piece of the chair and swung it to his head as hard as she could in hopes of getting free. And it worked.

He reeled backwards, grabbing his head and letting go of her throat. She coughed violently, pushing herself out from underneath him and getting to her feet. Before he had a chance to get up, she blindly swung in his direction, knowing she hit some part of him because of his pained grunt. She swung again, breathing unevenly and blinking to restore her vision.

Her body shook with rage and fear as she swung again and again, hard whacks turning into loud squishes until she couldn't swing anymore. The piece of chair slipped from her fingertips and she stared in horror and disgust at what was left of her captor. The hard floor tinted red with blood and brain matter and a face so unrecognizable that she felt like she was going to be sick.

She backed against the wall, sliding down to the floor and bringing her knees to her chest. She had killed a man. A person, not a walker. Not someone who was bit. A living, breathing person. But he was going to hurt her. She had no other choice...right? The furthest she had gone was maiming...

It had always been walkers. Or people bitten to kill out of mercy. Never a person.

Shaking, Riley buried her face in her knees, taking in painful, uneven breaths as she tried to wrap her mind around what just happened. She didn't shed a tear - not for someone like that - but she was definitely feeling the shock and discomfort of her own skin. She knew that killing would come eventually, but not like this. Not when she was already feeling vulnerable from the night before and from being trapped.

Some loud shouts awoke her from her trance and she glanced toward the door. Carl. He was still out there with the rest of them.

With a shaky breath, she shifted her focus to him. Finding him. Finding the others. Getting out of here. Slowly, she crawled over to the corpse of the man, fishing in his pockets for the one gun he had on him. Loaded.

Not looking at his face - or lack thereof - she headed to the door, legs feeling extremely weak and unsteady. Opening the door, she pushed herself forward, keeping herself aware of her surroundings as best as she could. Screams mixed with growls. Walkers were getting in. Her feet picked up the pace and she turned the corner, coming face to face with one of the terminus members.

Her finger jumped to the trigger without a thought.

She winced as the body dropped to the ground, but kept going until she ran into the largest herd of walkers she had ever seen. What seemed like hundreds were pouring into the room and their sights were set on her.

Immediately, she skidded to a stop and turned right around, heart slapping against her ribs as she sprinted back the way she came. Once she was in the hallway, she started down a different way, trying to remember the way she was brought so that she could try and find Carl and the others. Eventually, she came upon a room that had something too familiar in it.

Right in the corner behind a toppled chair and table sat a sheriff's hat. Carl's hat.

Riley picked it up, clenching it tightly in her hands. He had to be nearby. He had to be with his dad...

No way was she losing anyone else.

Dammit, Riley. You weren't supposed to get close. Not with anyone ever again... Mentally cursing herself, she tucked the hat under her arm and headed out again. At the end of the hall was an ominous door slightly ajar. She moved toward it with caution. Stopping to take a listen, she noted that it was silent. Could either be good or bad. She placed a shaky hand on the door and pressed it open.

An awful smell hit her nose and she reeled back, spluttering as her eyes watered up. She recovered and ventured forward, noting a few human corpses dangling from the ceiling with most of the meat stripped away and whatever was left rotting and dripping bacteria. Holding back a gag, she weaved in between the bodies, coming to a larger part of the room where some sort of tank sat with two bodies keeled over the edge.

Blood pooled in the bottom of the tank and she quickly lifted up each body to see if it was someone she knew. One was a blonde man and the other was a man with darker hair. Neither of them she recognized and each of them had horrible slits in their throats. She grimaced and moved away, glancing around and noticing that there were cut bindings littered on the floor. They must've made it out. Or someone had.

Turning away from the gory scene, she noticed a door on the other side of the room. With quiet footsteps, she padded over, pressing lightly against the door. Sunlight poured into the crack and she blinked away the blinding light. The sound of crackling fire reached her ears and a glance to her left revealed that the building was ablaze - and so were the walkers. A few noticed her and she ran to cover, ducking down and trying to think of a plan. Her heartbeat almost grew louder than the outside noises, which muddled her thoughts.

The only thing she could think to do was run. Run as far away from this place as she could. The fire would consume the building soon and there was no way of knowing if the others were still inside. They had to have gotten away. If they broke free, there was no way they were still inside. They were smarter than that. They knew how to survive.

It was all she could do. Hope that they had somehow gotten out and that she could find them in the woods somehow. When the fire stretched into her vision, she knew it was time to go.

Getting to her feet, she shot a fiery walker in her path before darting toward the fence. The first thing she did was toss Carl's hat over and then she climbed. She was able to get over before anything grabbed her and she landed on her back in the dirt with a grunt. Grabbing the hat, she scurried forward, putting as much distance between her and the place as possible. After a few minutes of running, she stopped to lean against a tree and catch her breath. She pressed the hat close to her chest and let her forehead rest against the bark.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she brought in a shuddering breath. It was her fault. If she hadn't gotten close...she wouldn't be feeling this hurt. The hurt of not knowing what happened to them. The hurt of thinking they could be dead. The hurt of not being able to see them again.

All she wanted to do was rest - collapse to the ground and let all of her emotions out. She was alone. She could do that without anyone seeing her.

But then she heard it. A voice.

Straining her ears, she listened.

"We can't leave! She's back there, we have to find her!"

His voice. It was his voice.

"We can't go back. The whole place is gone, Carl..."

And Rick's voice.

"I'm not leaving her!"

Riley's lips split into a small smile. They were alive.

Without waiting, she took off running as fast as she could in the direction of the voices. Her heart swelled when she saw the group huddled together, Carl and Rick arguing with each other. She stopped, looking between the father and son.

"Carl," she murmured, barely loud enough to be heard. But he heard it.

His head whipped in her direction and he stared at her for a moment, seemingly in disbelief. And then he was running toward her. She dropped the hat, preparing for his weight as he barreled her into a hug. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her face into his shoulder and taking in a shaky breath, laughing softly. He was warm and comforting and she allowed herself to relax for just a brief moment.

"I thought you were gone," he muttered, still not letting go of her.

"I thought you were too," she hummed.