Carolina in my mind

Chapter 46

Michonne shifted her body, pushing her feet closer to the dwindling fire. With her ribs still in a constant state of pain, there was no way to really relax. But as she leaned back against Tyreese's broad chest and let him wrap his arms around her, she knew she was as close to comfortable as she was going to get. The captive walkers were leashed to the outside of the abandoned van they were camping in for the night. And Michonne was relieved that their soft shuffling growls seemed to be drowning out the soft coos and cries baby Judith was making inside.

The kids made a small nest out of their extra clothes for the little girl. And Lori arranged Judith on top of it, lying down next to her in the back of the van. Mika and Megan cuddled in behind Lori while Lizzie reclined the passenger seat as far back as it would go and stretched out as much as she could in the small cramped space. Their combined body heat warmed the inside of the van enough that everyone was asleep within the first fifteen minutes. Michonne and Tyreese stayed up, keeping watch and warming themselves by the fire they used to heat water for the hot cocoa the girls found in a discarded backpack in the driver's seat of the van.

Tyreese moved his hand, absentmindedly stroking up and down the length of her muscular bicep. She felt him shift his body slightly. She assumed he was just moving into a more comfortable position. Until he stopped the downward motion of his hand, shifting past her arm to cup her breast. Her bra had been left behind at the house they escaped, still clipped to the clothesline Lori stretched across the living room. The feeling of his hand on her made her small dark nipple pebble up almost immediately. But she caught his hand, pulling it away before he could tweak it into a hard point.

"Don't start something that we've got no place to finish," she scolded, smiling when she felt his body shaking with silent laughter against hers.

Moving his hand away from her breast, he reached for her ample backside instead. His touch was never rough. But he gave her a firmer squeeze than usual as he leaned down to whisper into her ear. "I saw the perfect spot… Over there, behind those bushes," he teased.

Michonne swatted his hand away from her ass. And Tyreese laughed, pressing a soft kiss onto the top of her head. She tilted her chin back, her hand sliding up to cup his face as he kissed her. But as she parted her lips against the press of his tongue, she heard the metallic clink of a gun being cocked.

Michonne grabbed for her sword, but another man was already kicking it out of her reach. Her heart was pounding in her chest. And she felt the panic rising in her chest as she looked up and realized that the man who kicked her sword away was the same one that saw her and Lori hiding under the bed before he was choked out by his companion.

"That's her," he exclaimed. "That's one of the bitches that killed Lou."

As the man jerked her further away from Tyreese, Michonne blinked her eyes a few times. It was dark. And the only thing lighting the area was the slowly dying fire. But she could swear she saw Daryl standing there, on the edge of the group. She didn't really believe it was him until he stepped forward and spoke.
"Hey, hold on," Daryl drawled. His voice was always something close to a growl. But Michonne caught an undertone of fear that she'd never heard before. If even Daryl was afraid, this was about to get really really bad. "I know these people," he said. "They're part of my group."

"Well isn't this old world just getting smaller and smaller." Michonne turned towards the man that spoke. He had a gun pointed at Tyreese's head. "Your people or not, they killed one of ours. And they're gonna have to pay for that." There was a tense moment of silence around the campfire before Daryl spoke again.
"I'll pay," he said. "Whatever they owe, I'll pay it."

The man with the gun on Tyreese seemed amused by this. And when he waved his hand and told his men to teach Daryl a lesson, a few of them sprung into action and began kicking the shit out of him. Seeing the momentary distraction, Michonne lunged forward and tried to grab the gun from the man closest to her. But with her ribs the way they were, she wasn't moving as fast as she usually did. He jerked his gun back before she could grab it and punched her full force in the face, knocking her onto the ground.

Tyreese jerked towards her. But the man with the gun yanked him back, pressing the gun harder into his temple. He was breathing hard and fast. One of the men was ripping Lizzie out of the front seat. Her pet walkers pushed into the man, attracted by the amount of noise he was making. He tossed Lizzie onto the ground and stabbed the walkers that were tethered to that side of the van. When she saw them fall, she started screaming. Another scuffle was going on inside the van. Tyreese saw Lori being drug out of the vehicle by her legs, thrashing and scratching at the man that was assaulting her. Her head slapped against the metal bumped on the van and she flopped to the ground, still trying to stop the man from climbing back inside. Megan and Mika were screaming and Tyreese heard a scuffle inside which he guessed was the girls trying to stop the man from getting close to baby Judith. One of them cried out in pain. And then the man reappeared with Judith cradled in one arm.

"They had a baby hid in there," he announced, sounding like he'd found a strange sort of hidden treasure. Like they were having an easter egg hunt and Judith was the golden prize egg.

"What the fuck are we gonna do with a baby?," another one of the men asked. "Get rid of it you retard!"

At the sound of that, Lori scrambled to her feet and rushed at the man, desperately trying to get her daughter back. As he grappled with her, Mika leaped from the van. There was blood running down from her nose, wetting her shirt. She grabbed Judith, biting down on the man's arm to force him to release his grip on the little girl. He yelped, jerking his arm back. And Mika fell to the ground with Judith in her arms. She rolled half on top of the baby before she was able to right herself and clutch the baby protectively against her small chest. Judith was still crying, which in the chaos Tyreese only registered the noise as a sign that she was still alive and well. Now that the man that was holding Judith had two free arms, he used them to knock Lori to the ground and start ripping at her clothes. Tyreese couldn't see Lizzie. But he could hear her crying out on the other side of the van.

Tyreese felt like he was underwater. Everything was happening so fast but at the same time it almost felt like he was watching it in slow motion. He felt frozen in place. Until the man with the gun started grabbing at Michonne. He threw his head back, smashing it into the face of the man that was holding the gun on him. The hit made him squeeze the trigger. And though it didn't hit anyone, the loud blast sounded only inches away from Tyreese's ear. He stumbled forward, his whole head ringing from the blast. The pulsing pain was radiating out from his ear. And then his gut, where the man kicked him before he forced him back onto his knees in front of the fire.

"Now it's gonna be so much worse," the man hissed. "First we're gonna beat your friend Daryl to death. Then we're gonna fuck your woman in front of you. We'll kill those kids and toss that fucking baby in the fire. And then we're gonna kill you."

Tyreese didn't grab for the man's gun. He grabbed for the wrist of his hand that was holding the gun, twisting it until he heard it snap. He always moved fast for such a large man. That's why he made so much money playing professional football. He was on his feet in a flash. And before the much smaller and older man knew what was happening, Tyreese was lifting him off his feet. He slammed the man's body down as hard as he could over the log he'd been leaning back on as he warmed his feet by the fire. There was an awful cracking noise that could only be the sound of the man's spine breaking. And their leader's sudden violent death startled the rest of his group enough that Michonne was able to make another grab for his companion's gun. She twisted the weapon in his hand, shooting him in the face. Tyreese had the other gun off the ground. And while he wasn't a crack shot, he was able to hit one of the men that were attacking Daryl. The man that was forcing Lizzie down onto the ground leaped up and tried to run. But Michonne shot him. Daryl took out his other attacker, leaving only the man that had punched Mika and pulled Judith from the van. Mika had wedged herself and Judith between their two remaining captive walkers. So he couldn't grab at them. But Megan was peeking out of the back of the van, The man grabbed her, holding his knife to her throat.

"I'll kill her," he warned, taking a few steps back towards the woods. "I swear I'll do it."

"That's far enough," Michonne barked, lowering the tip of her sword down against the crook of his neck. "Let her go. NOW!"

Seeing that he had no other option, the man released his grip on the girl and dropped his knife. Michonne shifted her body, preparing to slice his head off. But Lori stopped her.

"He's mine," she said, pulling her knife from her belt. Not only did this disgusting pervert fully intend to violently rape her. He put his hands on her baby. She approached him, stabbing him in the gut first. When he fell to his knees, Lori kicked him in the face and sent a few of his teeth flying across the clearing. Then she knelt down and finished him, stabbing him through the eye so he wouldn't turn. She dropped her bloody knife, tears springing to her eyes as she ran for her baby and gathered the little girl carefully into her arms.

Daryl staggered around from behind the van with Lizzie clinging to him. He set her down in the bed of the truck so she could wrap her arms around Megan and Mika. Then Daryl shuffled in Michonne's direction. She wrapped her arms around him, not even caring that he was hugging her so tight it hurt her ribs.

"Where's Carolina?," Michonne asked. "She's not with you?" Out of everyone that escaped the prison, Carolina was the one person Michonne was sure she didn't need to worry about. Because she assumed her friend was with Daryl. And Daryl wouldn't let anything happen to her. Even though Daryl showed up with those horrible men, Michonne just assumed that he had Carolina stashed somewhere until it was safe. But the way he reacted to hearing Carolina's name made Michonne's entire body go stiff. "Is she okay? What happened?"

"They took her," Daryl said. "I don't know who. They pulled her into a car and sped off." His bottom lip was quivering as he spoke. And Daryl collapsed onto the ground, burying his face in his hands. "It's all my fault. I promised her I wouldn't let anything happen to her. And now she's gone."

"She's missing, not dead," Tyreese said, kneeling down next to Daryl and patting him gently on the back. Emotional outbursts from Daryl were a rare occurrence. The only other time Michonne ever saw him cry was when he had to shoot his own brother in the head. "We'll find her," Tyreese promised.

Michonne nodded her agreement to this. "First we're going to Terminus to get the rest of our people. And then we're all going to help you search," Michonne said.

Daryl wiped at his face with the backs of his hands. And then he rocked forward onto his knees, hugging Michonne again. "You really think we can find'er?," he asked. Michonne exchanged a glance with Tyreese, who as usual, looked unnecessarily hopeful. She couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Yes," Michonne replied, pulling back . "We're going to find her. Because we're not going to stop looking until we do."