Never Had Wings | Walking Dead Fanfic | Sequel to AWAS

Day 313: This is War

Day 313: This is War


[ Lily Caul | Third Person | Past ]

     A trail of blood dripped down from a wound on her forehead, the spot the bat had come into contact with Lily's head causing her to have entered a state of unconsciousness that she had exited just a few minutes before…surprisingly calm in the situation.

     She had assessed her situation with a level head beforehand. She was bound to a chair with rope in an interrogation room that had one door that was to her right. Behind her, there was another chair, with another woman bound to it with rope in the same interrogation room with the door to her left.

     And judging by the moan, the other woman was just surfacing from unconsciousness. She was struggling to open her eyes. She was focusing on the wall in front of her. Just like Lily had done minutes before.

     Lily could feel her attempt to move beforehand hearing her wince in pain, presumably discovering that she was bound securely to the chair, unable to move.

     The other woman’s breathing got heavy, panicked as she attempted to break the bonds by pushing her body forward which caused her to groan in excruciating pain. She gave up, giving a grunt and threw her head back so her head grazed Lily's.

     "Hey." Lily whispered, turning her head to her right.

     With a painful turning of the other woman's head, she felt another cheek on hers. The other woman's cheek was hot, Lily noted. She could feel her greasy curled hair on her cheek too. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it wasn't. It belonged to the pale woman, sitting on the other chair who she couldn't help but realize was attractive.

     "Where are we?" The pale woman questioned hoarsely looking around, her vision seemed to be shifting a lot.

     "I don't know, some sort of interrogation room or something, I guess." the young woman replied as the pale woman turned her heads forwards again.

     "I was, I was in the forest, I was running and then next thing I know I'm being hit around the head and everything goes black..." The pale woman explained eyes squinting as her head throbbed.

     "And from what were you running from?"

     "Them."

     "Me too, why do you think we're here?"

     "I don't know, and I don't think I want to know to be honest," The pale woman frowned. "Two young women snatched whilst running in the woods at night, it doesn't take much to figure out."

     "I'm Emily," Lily introduced herself with a false name, she didn't trust anyone.

     "Alice but I prefer Alice." The pale woman said in response. "I would usually say nice to meet you Emily but in current circumstances...." Alice trailed off. "Is that the only door?" Alice asked, indicating to her left (Lily's right) with a nod.

     "Probably, but it's not like we can get to it. In case you haven't realised. We're a little tied up," Lily stated with no humour in her voice. "So, Alice. You have a group?"

     "No, safety in numbers is bullshit." Alice mumbled not really paying any attention to the brunette. She was wondering why 'Emily' was asking these questions. It wasn't exactly a suitable place to start conversation.

     "What age are you about 28?"

     "Last time I checked." Alice replied dismissively getting a bit angry. Who was this girl and why did she insist on asking useless questions which wouldn't help them escape?

     "Where are you holding up?" Lily asked.

     "Can you just shut up?" Alice asked. "No offence Emily, but I don't think this is exactly the time for a game of twenty questions." she stated with malice in her voice.

     "I tried." Lily shrugged, all of a sudden she ripped the ropes from around her and stood up removing the dust from her clothes. Carlie gave her an incredulous look of shock, as she waltzed towards the door. "Fellas!" she called. "Let me out!" she ordered.

     Suddenly the door flung open filling the cave with light, Alice went to protect her eyes but was stopped by the ropes. She caught a glimpse of a light haired man as Lily waltzed out.

     "Hey! Let me out!" Alice shouted at him, she expected him to slam the door shut again but he didn't. "Let me go!"

     Slowly, the man moved forward but he was still in the darkness. He laughed, sticking his hands in his pocket. He stepped out of the light revealing his clean cut features, slightly tilted wicked eyes, stubble, Viking Blond shaggy hair and chestnut eyes.

     “Nice try.”

     Her vision yet again became blurred and the darkness dragged her under, she welcomed it gladly.

     With a roll of her dark, mysterious eyes, Lily stepped back into the interrogation room to drag Mark Hartman back into the corridor where they stood with The Governor.

          "You're hurt." The Governor pointed out, reaching out to wipe the stream off of blood from Lily's face as she uncomfortably and awkwardly avoided him, leaving his fingers to trace her forehead before he brought them back down to his side.

     "It's nothing." Lily told him dismissively, her eyes shifting around the room awkwardly. "I've had a lot worse." she stated. "I got Merle to hit me with something to make it look authentic." she explained, failing to mention that he wished he hadn't hit her as hard.

     "You get anything?" Mark demanded, pacing impatiently back and forth.

     "She said her name was Alison, preferably Alice, said she was twenty eight. She said she was running from biters and she didn't have a group." Lily informed him, concisely.

     "All of which is complete and utter bullshit." Mark snapped.

     “Keep her contained.” The Governor said sternly to Mark. “She’s not alone, she has a group.” He pointed out causing Lily to squint at her. “No one can survive alone these days.” He said in explanation to her. “Mark, you have today to find out where they are.” 

     Lily’s eyes shifted towards Mark who nodded at The Governor before entering the cell again and slamming the door shit after him. Lily went to look back to The Governor but he wasn’t there, he was now moving away from the interrogation room.

     “Hey!” Lily called after him. Immediately, he stopped walking and waited for her to catch up to him before he turned around to her with a hidden smile on his face. “So if Mark’s doing that then…uh….what am I supposed to be doing?” she questioned him nervously.

     “Nothing, Miss Caul.”

     “Excuse me?”

     “Mark and Merle can take it from here.” The Governor told her as he looked her directly in the eyes. “You won’t speak of this anyone, this is just between Merle, Mark, you and I.” he stated causing Lily to open her mouth to argue. “Go back to bed and get some sleep, Lily.” He said softly before moving closer to her. “Miss Bail must be missing you.”

     The Governor’s lips grazed her forehead as he said the words, softly he pressed his lips to her forehead causing her to close her eyes. His lips lingered there before he withdrew and stood away from her. He gave her one last look before he turned away and started walking away.

     “Yes, Sir.”


[ Daryl Dixon | Third Person | Present ]


     Daryl was on the side-line, watching over the scene playing out in front of her. There was an African American woman laying on the floor with a gunshot wound to the leg. Rick had crouched down, in front of her, looking her dead in her brown eyes.

     "We can tend to that wound, give you a little food and water." Rick offered. "Then send you on your way." he made clear the situation, no false impressions. "But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula." he told her.

     Hesitantly, she glanced around before taking in a shallow breath of air. “The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl.” Michonne informed them causing both Rick and Daryl to exchange worried glances before turning back to her.

     “What happened?” Rick questioned her instantly, his tone was demanding but desperate as was he. “Were they attacked?” he enquired rapidly after the first question, disallowing her to answer his previous question. Sweat was dripping from his forehead.

     "They were taken."

     "Taken by who?"

     "The same son of a bitch that shot me."

     Silence followed her vague statement and Michonne didn’t make any inclination to speak again. Rick looked at her to go on but she didn’t. Within sixty seconds, Daryl went from completely calm to completely enraged in under a few seconds. Before he could even realise it, he clicked an arrow into his crossbow.    

     "Hey!” Daryl snarled at her, approaching her quickly. “These are our people." He crouched down, abandoning the crossbow down just by his feet. "You tell us what happened now!" he snarled, grabbing her arm roughly before she pushed him away from her.

     "Don't you ever touch me again."

      "You'd better start talkin'." Daryl growled, retreating and picking up his loaded crossbow in the process. "You're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound!" he threatened, holding his crossbow up with her forehead pictured in the crosshairs.

     "Find 'em yourself."

     "Hey." Rick got to his feet, turning to an enraged Daryl who was currently try to speak. "Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh." he hushed him placing a hand on his crossbow. "Put it down." he ordered causing Daryl to reluctantly do just that, having reminded both himself and Rick of pre-nonasshole Daryl. He turned back to Michonne. "You came here for a reason." he stated.

     "There's a town." Michonne began to speak slowly and calmly, her eyes glued to Daryl who now possessed a distant look. "Woodbury." She said the name with clear disgust, glancing back down at Rick. "About Seventy-five survivors." she gave an estimated. "I think they were taken by them." she explained.

     "A whole town."

     "It's run by this guy who calls himself 'The Governor'." Michonne informed them, ignoring Rick’s doubtful exclamation. "Pretty boy." she remarked with a snarl. "Charming....Jim Jones type." she described him bitterly.

     "He got muscle?"

     "Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall."

     "You know a way in?"

     "The place is secure from walkers." Michonne informed them, looking Rick dead in the eyes as Hershel hobbled in. She was waiting for Rick to back down or sigh or make some inclination of giving up but he didn’t. "But we could slip our way through."

     "This is Hershel." Rick introduced the old man to Michonne, without even turning his head to look at him having heard him hopping in with his crutches. "The father of the girl who was taken." he added. "He'll take care of that." he nodded to the gunshot wound.

     "Thank you."


[ Rick Grimes | Third Person | Present ]


     By now, Rick had gathered everyone in the group of survivors, minus Hershel who was still tending to Michonne’s leg, safely in Cell Block C. Presently, everyone had been informed of the situation with Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Woodbuty and The Governor.

     “How do you know we can trust her?” Daryl questioned, clearly already distrusting the mysterious woman who called herself ‘Michonne’. His eyes fell on Rick for the answer. For all they all knew, this ‘Michonne’ could be like Tomás, Andrew or Electra’s father- Dangerous.

     “This is Maggie and Glenn!” Beth, who wasn’t usually vocal in situations like this, stressed to Daryl who in her eyes had forgotten. All the time she spent trying to make conversation with Electra had changed her. “Why are we even debating?” she questioned incredulously.

     “We aint.” Daryl barked at her. Her outburst hadn’t reminded him that it was Glenn and Maggie they were talking about, he was painfully already knew that. Her outburst had reminded him that it was Beth’s sister he was talking about. “I’ll go after them.” He told her.

     “Well,” Rick stepped in, stopping Daryl from moving like he initially planned to do. “This….Woodbury….” Rick started, the words settling strangely in his mouth. “This Woodbury sounds pretty secure.” He commented, remembering Michonne’s words. “You can’t go alone.” He enforced.

     “Well, I’m going.” Daryl said dismissively, intending to save Beth’s sister and the man who had fought so hard for Electra.

     “Me, too.” Rick said rapidly afterwards, intending to save the woman who rode on horseback to get his wife when Carl was shot and the man who had rescued him in that tank all those days ago.

     “I’m in.” Oscar said strongly, intending to prove himself to these group of people.


[ Lily Caul | Third Person | Present ]


     Thea’s whole small frame was shaking tremendously, her dark eyes continuing to brew with tears and her sobs silent as she clung on to Lily who was shushing her nervously as she awkwardly patted the younger woman’s back, her eyes searching for help in any way she could get it.

     The Governor and Merle were standing out at the front of the people of Woodbury, who were silent as they continued selling their bullshit story of the ‘supplies run gone wrong’ and paying their respects to Tim, Crowley and Gargulio who made Woodbury seventy-five.

     The people of Woodbury where buying their shit as usual.

     It was almost laughable to her.

     But in reality she was no different to them, she knew everything and had done everything that they had done- killed, mamed, stolen. Sure, she refused to do it anymore but that didn’t mean that she was better than a single one of them. The Governor, Mark, Merle, Martinez, Shumpert.

     She remembered when she had first met Phillip Blake who was then still Phillip Blake. She remembered sitting in his office with her pleading eyes. She remembered that she was the one who had joked how he was like the President. She remembered when he suggested at most he’d be The Governor.

     She barely realised that The Governor had stopped talking.

     Her eyes settled on Andrea who very quickly noticed her awkwardness and uncomfort, smiling weakly at her. It didn’t take her long to intercept the two and take hold of Thea herself, setting Lily free of her awkward encounter. With a short mouthing of a ‘Thank you, Andrea’ and a ‘You’re welcome, Lily’ Lily walked away.

     Merle was currently conversing with a tearful Rowan, Courtney, Betty and Hayley. He, himself, was sporting a convincing smile that was just as fake as his Calvin Klein underwear as he attempted to comfort the four ladies, pretty obviously grabbing Betty’s ass.
    
     Exhaling, she marched over to Mark.

     “I know it’s hard now….”

     Lily bet it was.

     “Oh, hey Lily.” Merle greeted her casually as he turned to her, wrapping an arm around Betty’s waist. Lily ignored his greeting, grabbing him by the arm before she dragged him away from the laddies. Merle sent a smug look to Martinez before Lily stopped abruptly in the corner and let go of him.

     “I thought you were a lesbi-.”

     “Yes.” Lily stated, cutting him off in mid-sentence. “And you thought right, Merle.” Lily said abruptly, her eyes shifting around. They momentarily fell on a group of guys who were staring at them. She fake smiled at before turning back to Merle. “How’s Betty’s ass?”

     “Not as good as Sugar Tit’s.”

     “I’m not going to even pretend like I know who that is.” Lily informed him, fake smiling at the guys again before she turned to Merle with a glare. “Where is Hartman and The Governor?” she demanded fiercely, her nails digging in to his skin.

     “By Andrea and Thea.”

     “What are you doing to Alice?” Lily questioned him. “And please do not insult me by pretending that you’re just interrogating her. That would also be pretending that you aren’t a perverted son of a bitch, Mark is a patient bastard and that The Governor isn’t a total sociopath.” She told him.

     “Pretty bold words for one so weak, don’t you think?”

     “I am not weak, Merle.” Lily barked at him. “Just because I don’t like to kill people who believe in freedom and don’t believe in our community does not mean I am weak.” She snapped at him. “I mean, I have to be pretty strong to not have tried to kill you by now.” She said.

     “Heh.” Merle laughed shortly, looking at her in slight disbelief. “You are weak, Lily. You are the weakest person I know, Caul. You wanna know why?” he questioned her but she was still staring at him. “Cause you know what needs to be done, you have done what needs to be done, you can do what needs to be done but you don’t.” he explained.

     Lily stood frozen, not blinking, not moving, not breathing, not making eye contact at all with Merle, not reacting to Merle’s current invasion of space. She clenched her jaw that was now locked into place. She was looking anywhere but Merle.

     “That’s what makes you weak.”

     Her eyes landed on the group of girls who he was talking to beforehand, her eyes settling on Courtney with her platinum blonde hair and her intense grey eyes. Just as she was about to walk away from him, he locked his hand around her wrist stopping her in her tracks.

     “And Courtney won’t be around for much longer because of that.”

     “And neither will I.” Lily said out of the blue causing Merle to squint at her whilst she slowly turned her head to him. “I want out of Woodbury.” She admitted. “I want to get as far away as I can. I want to get as far away from you as I can.” She growled at him. “I want to get as far from you, Mark, Martinez, Milton, Shumpert and The Governor as I can get.”

     She marched away.


[ Rick Grimes | Third Person | Present ]
    

     Everyone was busy at the prison, the busiest they all had ever been….at least for a few days. Now preparing for Rick, Oscar, Daryl and Michonne’s journey that they had ahead of them.

     “I got the flash bangs.” Oscar stated, filling the car boot up with a box he had used to carry supplies in. “And I got the tear gas.” He noted to himself as Daryl came up beside him and placed another box in the car. Daryl gave him the same side-long look he had given him about the slippers. “You never know what you’re gonna need.” He shrugged casually in his defence.

     “Hey.” Daryl called to Carl who was currently carrying a box in their direction, ignoring Oscar’s rambles. Carl stopped in order for Daryl to stand in front of him. “Hey, don’t you worry about your old man.” He told him quietly. “I’m gonna keep my eyes on him.” He vowed.

     “Wasn’t this place overrun?” Michonne questioned, glancing around at the prison as everyone was busy preparing for the journey Rick, Daryl and Oscar had ahead of them. People were weaving around her quickly, boxes were being passed and Beth walked towards her.

     “It was.” Beth informed her dully, passing her by rather than stopping by her to talk to her. Michonne’s eyes stayed fixed on her as she opened the locked gate and began to slide it to her right to allow the car through whenever they took off of Woodbury.

     “And you cleared it out all by yourselves?” Michonne questioned doubtfully, a disbelieving expression fixed on her face. Beth chose not to answer and therefor making the answer very clear. “Just the few of you?” Michonne continued to pry, counting seven of them minus the two prisoners.

     “There were others.”

     Beth said this expressionlessly, facing away from Michonne. Realising the meaning behind these words, Michonne back-peddled in her own way by shutting up and glancing down at the ground deep in thought. They weren’t the only ones with others.

     “Carl!” Rick called, catching up to Carl who was amongst Hershel, Axel and Carol. Slowly, he turned to his father as did everyone else. Rick gestured for him to go away from the others and he did so, guided by Rick. “What you did for Mom-” Rick began.

     “I had to.” Carl told him bluntly, cutting him off in mid-sentence. He hadn’t had a conversation about his mom with anyone other than Daryl and he intended to keep in that way. He didn’t want to talk about it and didn’t realise why everyone wanted to talk about it.

     “Yeah, I-” Rick was startled by Carl’s quick interruption. “I-I know.” He told Carl who thought he was going to scold him for it. “I know and I’m sorry.” He apologized, the words genuinely coming from his heart- he was sorry he wasn’t there. “No one should have to go through that.”

     His words drove both Rick himself and Carl into silence. Carl’s breathing rate had raised slightly and was pretty heavy, Rick’s was not. Slowly, Carl’s breathing got lighter and slower sending them into complete silence again. He glanced down at his shoes.

     “How long will you be gone?”

     Rick didn’t know and unintentionally shook his head lightly to show this before doing so intentionally. He had other stuff on his mind. He had other things he wanted to discuss with his son but he didn’t know how. He was choosing how to approach him with them in his mind.

     “Look, if something happens while we’re gone-”

     “We’ll be alright.”

     Rick was slightly taken aback by his son’s words, he directly into what looked like his own icy eyes. He didn’t know whether to be scared by his son’ reaction to the possibility of his death or non return or be proud of how strong he was being.

     “If anything happens…..” Rick started again, chopping the air with his hand as he crouched down so that he was more or less his son’s height. “You get everyone, you get everyone locked in the cells.” He instructed him calmly. “You keep them all safe.” He said.

     “I will.”

     “I know.” Rick nodded, finding it hard not to look at his son in admiration as Carl nodded himself. “I know you will.” He assured him, it was clear to him that Carl thought his father doubted his ability- Rick didn’t….he was overwhelmed with it. “Take care of your sister, all right?” Rick placed his hand on Carl’s shoulder. Rick knew he’d do that too. He straightened up before walking away.

     “Daryl’s been calling her Ass-Kicker.”

     Carl informed Rick, his words causing Rick to stop in his path and turn around to face his son again. “Ass-Kicker?” Rick asked out of disbelief, making sure he had heard correctly. Carl nodded to which Rick responded with a light laugh. “Has he now?” he questioned.

     Carl blinked a few times, trying to act casual as he lent his arm against one of the only wooden fences in the prison. “I’ve been thinking.” Carl informed his watching father. “What should we really call her?” he queried, looking up to meet his father’s eyes again.

     “What do you think?”

     “Phoebe……” Carl stated as Rick came closer with a blank look on his face, a look that Carl didn’t expect nor want to see in reaction to the name he had thought of. “It means light.” He said in explanation causing Rick’s eyes to grow distant and slightly clouded.

     “Like Electra.”

     Silence.

     “Do you think it’s a good name?”

     “I think that’s- that’s a fine name.”

     “Really?”

     “Phoebe it is.”


[ Merle Dixon | Third Person | Present ]


     The Governor exited the cell where he had just reunited Maggie and Glenn and more importantly found out where the ten Atlanta Survivors in their group were held up. Merle followed him out of the cell before slamming the door shut on the lovebirds.

     "Ten people."

     "That's deep in the red zone." Merle pointed out the position of the prison Maggie and Glenn claimed to be hiding out at to The Governor. "There's no way only ten-" Merle began to protest, using his logic to determine whether Maggie was telling the truth or a lie.