Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

Get Away - 035

"Daddy?" The word left her lips as easily as acid slides from a beaker. Daddy. It hurt her mouth to say. Her father was stood about fifteen feet in front of her, staring at her with that sly, sly grin. He burned her eyes just to look at, he made her heart ache in all the worst ways. He frightened her. The five other men surrounding him went unnoticed to the young child; the fear of that one man outweighed her fear of the masses. Especially the fact he was missing one hand, replaced with a metal stump and a sword.

Will Dixon laughed, an evil sadistic chuckle that echoed around. A walker had heard it and decided it too gross to come and investigate, instead chose to chomp down on an innocent bunny. "Baby, is that you I'm lookin' at?"

Slowly, she nodded. Her feet were frozen to the ground as if there was super glue between her and the ground that was muddy from the night before. "I- I thought you... You..." She trailed off, unable to say the words that would sting her tongue.

"Thought me dead?" Will asked, he hummed and nodded. "Yea, well, I ain't. Clearly."

"Right." Brooks let out in a whisper. "I- uh... I..."

"Where's your brothers?" Will asked, looking around. 

Brooks hesitated. She couldn't tell him the truth. Just because her people hated her, doesn't mean they weren't still her people. Those people were still her family. It was still her job to protect them. If Will and those men found them? Brooks couldn't know what they'd do. She had to protect them. "Dead. All of 'em, the whole group. We were at this farm for little while, it got overrun. I was the only one who made it."

Will scoffed. "No way you livin' all by yourself, baby. You ain't strong. You're weak."

"Nah, you were makin' me strong, remember? I lived 'cause of you, dad. Honest, I did." Brooks responded, doing her best to disguise the shake in her tone.

The man who thought he had the right to call himself her father shook his head, laughing. "You surprise me, baby. I assumed you either would've killed yourself or been eaten by a walker." Brooks started taking steps back away from him as he and the other men approached. "Come here now, Brooks."

"No." Brooks answered, before biting down on her bottom lip in regret.

Will furrowed his eyebrows. "Did you just say no to me?" There was genuine surprise on his face. Brooks didn't have it in her to respond, so, she abandoned her squirrel. Dropping her sling shot, she turned on her heel and started running as quickly as she could to the house. Luckily, she hadn't made it very far from the house so her leg wouldn't give out on her. "Brooks!" Her name haunted her through the woods as it came from her father.

Tears stung her eyes, she instantly felt weak. All logic left her brain. She'd trap herself in that house, and she wouldn't escape. However, she couldn't think in that moment. Not wouldn't, couldn't. She couldn't. Her brain fogged, it went to her natural instinct to get away. Get away. GET AWAY. She had to get away. Her father brought out a different type of fear in her, it wasn't something that she'd ever be able to fight back too.

She shoved open the front door and slammed it behind her. Once again, she dragged over the kitchen table to barricade it as she also scrambled to find a key to lock the door. She shut every curtain, but not before she saw her father and his crew catching up.

"Brooks? What's goin' on?" The fourteen year old boy asked, leaving the basement after starting the laundry.

Brooks whizzed around, breathing deeply. "Lock the back door and any windows. There are some men here, one of whom is very, very bad."

Seb didn't need any more information as he instantly got to work. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he saw the look in her eye. The look of pure terror, the type so pure, he'd only seen it one other time. When his father heard the scream of his eleven year old daughter outside, only to see a walker biting on her neck.

"Come on, Brooks!" Will shouted, from outside. "Look, we ain't animals, alrigh'? We ain't gonna break in, but you're my daughter! I expect you to do as I tell you! So, open the door!"

"Daughter?" Seb asked, running over from locking the back door. He found Brooks in the kitchen, peering through a tiny gap in the curtains. Brooks nodded once, fearful. She ran her hand down her face, but her glasses got in the way so she put them on the oven.

"You know I'm not a patient man, baby!" Will continued.

A small whimper left Brook's mouth. "Brooks, tell me what's goin' on." Seb demanded.

Brooks turned to him, her lip had started bleeding because she was biting down on it so hard. "My father, he... He's not... He's..."

Seb nodded. "Okay." He interrupted, instantly getting the message. "How many of them are there?" He asked, peering out the window himself.

"Six." Brooks answered.

Slowly, Seb turned to her. "I only see four."

Brooks' heart dropped as she let out a fearful breath. They had them surrounded. "Alrigh' then, you won't let us in? We'll just make you come out!" Will shouted.

Brooks and Seb exchanged looks. "What's that mean?"

"I'm not sure." She whispered.

Not even a second later, there was a roaring fire on the porch. Seb and Brooks backed away as the fire quickly caught to the wall. The men had poured their beers all over the porch, before Will dumped his own lighter. The house was entirely made of wood.

A scared yell left Seb as the roof was next to be burning in front of his eyes. Brooks just stared in shock, her eyes wide as everything seemed to happen so fast. Seb made a quick dive for the oven before he turned the gas all the way up. "What're you doin'?" Brooks asked, fearfully.

"If they're gonna kill us, we're takin' them down too." He grabbed Brooks' hand. "We have to go!" Both kids ran to the back of the house, Seb unlocked the door and they ran out. Only to be faced with two men, both armed with guns, both aimed at them.

"Boss, we got them!" The man pointing a gun at Brooks yelled.

Brooks' father, as well as the three other men came around shortly later. They all had to take steps away from the burning structure. "See, now, was that so hard?" Will grinned.

"Please, dad." Brooks begged. Begged for her life, her sanity, her humanity, her morals. All of which she feared for if she were to go with him.

Will slowly strolled over to her and cupped her cheeks in his hand. "Oh, my darlin'." Just like that, Will clocked her to the side of the head so hard that she fell to the ground unconsious. The man was a monster, but he wasn't stupid. In that area, at least. He knew where to hit to inflict pain, and where to hit to knock somebody out. He picked up the lifeless girl and threw her over his shoulder. A happy whistle left his lips as he stared at the ginger boy. "Do we kill you or bring you with us?"

Seb shrugged, looking Will Dixon up and down. "I'm not gonna beg for my life from some damn redneck. Do what you're gonna do."

Will pointed his gun at Seb. "You walk. Now."

/----------\

The terrifying group were a mere five minutes away when the house exploded. The sound of the explosion carried, but they couldn't see it. They'd walked too far to be able to view the house. But, when they turned, they could see the smoke travelling into the air for miles on end.

They got into their cars once they got onto the main road and drove back to Woodbury. Will couldn't wait to show the Governor what he had found.