Janie's Got A Gun (A 'The Walking Dead' Fanfiction)

Chapter Eleven: Beat

Janie took a deep breath as she looked up at the door, her heart beating so fast in her chest that, when she looked down, she could almost see it pumping like in a cartoon. This was her biggest fear. Asking for help. She knocked on the door and waited a few seconds before sighing and turning back around, she started to walk down the steps when she heard the door open behind her.
"Shit." She whispered to herself.
"Are you okay?" A voice asked her and she spun around to see Jessie, a young woman with blonde hair.
"Um... Ron said you were a stylist."
"Come in." She smiled.

Janie sat down on a wooden chair in the kitchen and Jessie got started on brushing her hair.
"You've been out there the whole time?" Jessie asked her.
"Yeah- Ouch!"
"Sorry. That must have been rough."
Janie shrugged.
"It wasn't much different to my life before."

An hour later, Janie was stood in the bathroom looking at the waves of golden hair that cascaded down her shoulders.
"You like it?" Jessie asked and she nodded enthusiastically. "I'll leave you to shower."

Janie stepped into the shower and leant her head back letting the scolding water cover her face. It filled every scratch and wound on her body making everything sting as she lathered shampoo into her hair. When she was done, steam wafted off of her body and a thin layer of dirt coated the bottom of the shower.
She looked down at the bin that sat next to her pile of dirty clothes to see the piece of string she wore around her neck, the bottle caps now lost in the depths of the bin.
She wrapped a towel around herself and entered Jessie's bedroom to see what clothes she had picked out for her.
Jessie smiled when she saw her but slowly the smile turned into a frown when she noticed Janie's injuries.
"Did that all happen out there?" She asked and Janie looked down at them for a moment.
"Yeah." Her eyes fell from Jessie's eyes to her own arm where a large green bruise sat, Jessie quickly pulled her sleeve down over it.

4 years earlier
"Where's my damn gun?"
That was the first thing Janie heard when she stepped into the house.
"I know you took it."
"Why would I take your gun?" Janie looked up at her father and his face turned to the shade of a beetroot.
"I don't care why." He yelled. "My gun's missin' and you know where it is."
"I don't." She replied quietly.
"Not only are you a thief but you're a liar too." He yelled. "I didn't raise you this way."
"You barely fuckin' raised me." She yelled back to him and suddenly she could practically see steam coming from his ears.
"You're gonna get it now girl." He chuckled as he grabbed her arm and pulled a half smoked cigarette from the ashtray beside him. He lit it before pressing it hard into Janie's arm.
"Stop!" She screamed but he only pressed it harder. "I'm sorry!"
He pulled the cigarette off and the front door opened to reveal Daryl. Janie pulled her arm away from Merle and ran into her uncle's arms and sobbed into his chest.

"You look amazing." Jessie said as Janie stepped out in a pair of black skinny jeans, a pristine white button up shirt and a pair of black and white converse. "Can I plait your hair?" She asked. "That way you won't have to brush it all the time."

- Princexiero xx