the claimed child-the walking dead

prologue//

a child walks alone, papa is long dead and gone. she misses his scent of vanilla and pine, like christmas. mama was never around. once she popped tilly out she was gone, leaving tilly on the doorstep of papas cabin. tilly grew in isolation on papas farm, but she wouldn't have had it any other way. papa taught her all about the world, through books and stories. when shit hit the fan, as they say, papa and tilly kept on living on their farm-relatively safe from the horrors of reanimated corpses. until they broke down the fence and bit into papa right in front of tilly. that's when tilly broke the tiny barriers of her world, and ran from the only place and person she knew. papa was gone, her farm was nothing but a memory, and tilly hadn't spoken a word since. //

she was bathing in the river when she heard them-voices, the first ones outside of her old abode besides papa or the dead ones walking. two weeks had passed since papa was gone. day one-tears had been shed. day two-tears had been shed. day three-tilly had to keep moving and suck up her tears, licking the salty trails from her lip and continuing on. she was slender, all bones and knobby knees, after all, she was only a child of ten years. the voices came closer, and tilly sunk into the water, unsure. a crowd of men broke through the bushes, kicking up dirt and cussing and bantering amongst themselves. these men were loud, tilly noted. not like papa-quiet and gentle. ''well i'll be goddamn fucked. it's a kid. a lil girl." one of them laughed, stopping in his tracks as his eyes roved over her naked figure. tilly dashed, splashing up water as she ran barefoot over the cobble stones in the shallow creek. "go grab that little shit, one of you's." said another man, with silvery curls of hair and a cigarette in his mouth. his posture was tall, and everyone around him shifted, listening to his every word. tilly knew then and there that he must be the leader of the men, and she instantly held dislike for him. papa said people should work and make decisions together, not listen to one particular person. papa said that people like that get their kicks off controlling other people. tilly panted, scrabbling with her dirty worn nails to climb a low hanging tree. she just managed to reach the first branch, and she lifted her leg out of reach of one of the men, the one who had chased her. he was fat and ugly, and she looked down at him with a frown. "well, shit. she got up a tree, joe." the fat man yelled, his grubby hands now on his hips. tilly bared her teeth at him, gripping the bark of the tree tightly, so as not to fall. the man, presumably joe, the leader one from before, stalked over, the rest of the men following him. "well, well. i guess we're gonna have to wait for you. come on down, sweetheart. we don't bite." joe smiled up at her, holding out a hand. she grimaced. he was stupid if he thought she was actually going to take it. she sat back against a branch, narrowing her eyes. this was her way of letting them no she wasn't budging from her spot. joe let out a loud guffaw. "honey, you sure as hell are stubborn aren't you? well, i like you already." he rubbed his silvery stubbled chin, a dark look in his eyes that didn't make tilly any keener on coming down from the tree. "well, that's alright. boys, i guess we're setting camp up here for the night. after all, we can't leave a child on her own, now can we?" 

//

it had grown dark, and the mens snores filled the air. they had set down sleeping bags at the base of the tree, one of them keeping guard. but-they had chosen the fat, stupid one to keep guard, and he was asleep on the job before long enough. tilly saw her chance, creeping down slowly, like a monkey. she had lots of practice climbing trees, from her days growing up on the farm. she lightly landed on the ground, silent as a mouse, and tiptoed over to one of the men's packs, her stomach growling. she turned to peek around her shoulder, sighing in relief when she saw them all still and sleeping, chests rising slowly in and out with their breaths. she reached into the navy-blue knapsack, ignoring the blood spatters that decorated its lining. her fingers found something plastic, and she pulled the crinkly material out to find wrapped meat. she stood to take off into the woods with her find, ready to leave these harassing greasy men long behind her, when her wrist was suddenly gripped by a large, strong hand. a squeak left her lips, and she struggled as arms gripped her waist, hauling her up. "woah, there, little one. i knew you would try and sneak off at some point." joe's gravelly voice was in her ear, and she kicked a little harder, bucking her weight like a crazed animal. "you're a wild thing, aren't you? that's alright-me and my men here are real good at taming beasts." he chuckled, and his men rose on their forearms and stood, gathering around to study tilly. "what's your name, little girl?" joe asked, loosening his grip on her now that she was surrounded and had nowhere to go. she looked at her toes, thinking back to when papa let her buy purple nail polish from the corner store and paint her toenails. "you don't speak, huh? well, i guess that's alright. my men chat enough to keep my head ringing. suppose we don't need a child yapping all the time. but we'll keep you safe, darling. stick with us." he proposed, although everyone, including tillie, knew this was a sentence he was ordering, and not a kind proposition. she was led into the dirt, men grinning like evil wolves at the undressed girl, while joe sat her against a tree, handing the dress she had set beside the stream back to her, turning away while she dressed herself. it didn't matter that he turned away, though, because he had already seen her naked body, and he would see it again many times, because tillie would soon understand that this new way of life was to be under joe's thumb, ruled by his iron fist. if she wanted to survive, she did what he said. his rules were simple-no stealing, no backtalking him (which would be easy as she didn't every say anything), no running off (that was a hard one for her to follow at first), and if you want something, you say claimed and its yours. tillie never claimed anything, and so she just followed along and ate what they gave her, or what she found and they didn't take. she slept next to joe, always, even though she despised it, because that's what he said. nobody else touched her, though. because on that first night, before she lay down and closed her eyes to the dark of night, surrounded by these confusing and rough new strangers, joe spoke the words she would hate for the rest of her life. "claimed". he had announced this proudly, a hand on her shoulder, that she shook off, earning a look from him. those words would change everything for tillie. it was that night her childly innocence was taken, and she was filled with a quiet rage, and pain inside her chest. her heart beat with the urge to smother joe in his sleep, and she vowed to herself she would one day do so, when she was big and strong and grown. but for now, she would have to wait-and suffer. 

authors note: here is the prologue. it is heavy stuff-i am sorry for all this sweet child is going to go through in this book, but the reality of this, especially in an apocalyptic world where men don't have to follow the conventional rules and prison is not a threat-this type of stuff would happen unfortunately. tillie is going to be a character filled with anger and sadness, and she acts like a wild child, like a savage, due to her young age and all that she has been through. her isolated years with her papa also had kept her childlike innocence young, and so when the apocalypse hits and this awful new reality of being assaulted by this much older man occurs, she transforms into a different person. i will try and write her trauma as best as i can with what i know trauma is like. please vote and comment. much love, 

-fallon