30 April 2014

A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement Pt 1



The cries of a woman while she was being raped were the most horrible sounds Beth Greene had ever imagined. The sound, which came from the tent beside hers, followed Beth into her sleep. She’d wanted to get up and help the woman, but Andrea had staunchly refused to allow her out of the tent. It was her third day in the camp, and she knew she didn’t have long before she was the one crying in the night as some man she didn’t know or want grunted and sweated atop her as he violated her in the worst possible way.

“I thought you liked Jacqui,” Beth said the following morning. She had her canteen, toothbrush, and a tube of stale paste. Andrea made work of brushing her teeth without immediately responding.

“I like Jacqui a lot. She’s a good woman, but there was nothing either of us could have done to help her. Beth, the sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be. Come on. We have to get laundry done with the other women.”

Beth took Andrea’s arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound critical.”

Andrea smiled, albeit sadly, and nodded. “It’s okay.”

“Andrea.”

“Shit,” Andrea whispered. She plastered on a serene expression when she turned to their leader, Brian Blake, who preferred to be called the Governor. “Yes, Governor?”

“How is the newest member of the family doing?”

He looked right past Beth and at Andrea. She could have been the leader’s woman, but Andrea had balked at the idea from the moment Beth mentioned it on her first day in camp. The Governor’s women had a way of disappearing, and nobody would dare question where they went. She also found it rich that he called their group a family, when brothers were allowed to rape and terrorize their 'sisters' at will.

“She’s doing very well, Sir.”

“Aw, now, you don’t have to ‘Sir’ me, Andrea. Call me Brian.”

Andrea only smiled and looked to the ground as the Governor intentionally crowded her space. “You seem upset,” he said.

“Jacqui was raped last night,” Andrea said.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“It wouldn’t happen…Brian…if you would institute rules against it,” she said, Beth thought, rather bravely.

The Governor’s eyes, always a little empty except when he was gazing at a woman with lust, became a little darker.

“I’ve told you before, Andrea, I don’t make it my business to tell another man what he can do with an unclaimed woman. I know that infuriates you, what with your background as a Liberal and a civil rights lawyer before the Turn. Still, modern ideals of male/female relations no longer apply in our circumstances.”

“It’s wrong, Governor. It’s just wrong. We don't have to degenerate into--”

“If Jacqui had killed her attacker she wouldn’t have been in a bit of trouble. Is that wrong?”

“So she either has to be a rape victim or become a murderer?” Andrea questioned.

“I really don’t care for your tone,” the Governor shot back. “I provide people safety from the biters, and I make sure we're all fed and sheltered. It isn’t down to me to handhold the hand of every single woman in the camp. Understood?”

“Understood,” she said, disgust evident in her voice. “If you’ll excuse us, Sir, we have to go with the other women to the quarry to wash clothes.”

“Well, we all appreciate the work you women put in for us in that regard, cooking, cleaning, washing. I’m sure a pair of lovely women such as yourselves shouldn’t have problems finding a man to take you in and offer you protection. Ladies,” he said, bowing his head as he walked on.

Andrea stared daggers into his back and insisted Beth follow her on with the line of women who were taking loads of dirty clothes toward the path that led down to the water. One of them was Jacqui. Her shoulders were stooped, her head down. Beth and Andrea caught up with her as she struggled with a basket of clothes.

“Jacqui,” Andrea said.

“Morning,” she replied, seemingly operating on autopilot.

“I’m so sorry for--”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Andrea conceded, looking almost relieved.

“Well, I do. There’s got to be something we can do. How many people are in this camp?” Beth asked.

“Beth--”

“This is important, Andrea.”

Andrea shook her head. Beth was so much like Amy it was sometimes difficult for her to remember they were two different girls. They didn’t just both have blond hair and big eyes. They’d both been stubborn, headstrong girls who didn’t take shit from anybody.

“We’ve got over fifty people.”

“I’ve counted about seven unclaimed women,” said Beth. “We should bunk together at night. If someone tries to come in and start something we attack.”

“There isn’t a tent big enough for that,” said Jacqui.

“We’ll just have to make one, won’t we?” Beth replied. “And we don’t go off alone anywhere, either. We stick together, always armed, and we don’t hesitate to shoot. We have to let them know it’s not safe to fuck with us anymore.”

Jacqui wiped at the tears spilling from her eyes. “That’s a good idea.”

“Who did it?” asked Andrea.

“Lee Magwood.”

“Magwood?” asked Andrea.

Jacqui nodded and Andrea shook her head.

“He calls black people nigger, talks about how good whites shouldn’t mix with blacks, and then he rapes a black woman? What the fuck?”

“He had the nerve to tell me there he didn’t like dark meat but he hadn’t had any ass in three months and he was desperate.”

“You should kill that motherfucker,” Andrea said.

“I just want to get the laundry done,” said Jacqui. “I just…”

Andrea nodded and took one half of the basket to help Jacqui carry it to the water.


***** 




“You hear, little brother? Mark Rowley put Jessica out. Word has it he wants that new blond chick that came in a few days ago. Now, how long you think a sweet little piece of ass like that is gonna last in this camp before somebody goes at her? I mean, she’s young, pretty. She’s a brown-haired, black-eyed little angel with a big rack and a round ass.”

Beth was about to open a can of green beans when she heard Merle Dixon’s voice passing outside the tent she and Andrea shared, later that evening. She halted and listened, waiting for Andrea and Jacqui to get back with the other unclaimed women.

“Did you offer Jessica your protection?” his younger brother, Daryl, asked.

Merle laughed the suggestion off. “She ain’t gonna agree to be my woman, little brother. And that new girl? She ain't got but another day or two before somebody gets summa that, what with that blond hair and them pretty blue eyes...”

Their voices faded as they moved off. Andrea entered a few minutes later with Jacqui. Both women looked angry.

“The Governor heard what we were proposing and he refused it. He’s not just complacent with rape, he’s actively making it more difficult for us to ban together for protection.”

“Maybe we should just leave,” Beth suggested.

Andrea looked at Beth as though she’d said something monumentally stupid. “How long do you think we’d last out there on our own?”

“We could do it,” Beth insisted. “We could take the weapons we have, our supplies and tents, and just get out.”

“The Governor would let us leave, but he wouldn’t let us take so much as a butter knife with us,” said Jacqui. “You both know he wouldn’t. The rules say that no man can touch a claimed woman that isn’t his. He can face beating or even banishment if he does it more than once, but he’s welcome to rape unclaimed women and we’re not supposed to do anything to stop it. He’s a sick man. Do you really think he’d let us leave with supplies?”

Jacqui slept in Andrea and Beth’s tent that night. Thankfully neither Lee Magwood nor any other man bothered them. Merle’s words haunted Beth, however, because she knew it made sense. A young, blond haired blue eyed girl without protection in a camp full of redneck cutthroats didn’t stand a chance of escaping without being raped. She had to do something. She had to get a man before the worst happened to her.   

Next morning Beth got up early and went to relieve her bladder before everyone in the camp was up and at it. She found a secluded spot within shouting distance should a walker approach. She’d just finished and zipped up when something came out of the blue and hit her in the face.

Beth stumbled back and threw her hand up in defense, barely blocking another blow. They continued to rain down on her with vicious rapidity. She fell back and rolled away, trying to see who the hell was attacking her like a wild animal, and saw a young woman with brown hair and black eyes rushing toward her, screaming madly, her eyes bright with hatred.

“You fucking bitch! It’s all your fault!”

Beth brought one of her feet up, directly into the girls stomach, and was rewarded with the sound of a painful grunt and air rushing from her. She fell back but she was so angry she didn’t seem to notice she’d been kicked. She crawled at Beth, spittle flying from her mouth, grunting and breathing like a beast lost in bloodlust.

“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you.”

“All right, that’s enough.”

Jessica was hauled backward. She struggled and slapped at the man who had pulled her away from Beth. It was Daryl Dixon. Beth’s eyes stung with tears, her feelings hurt, but also beneath that was a lot of anger.

“She sucker punched me!”

“You couldn't handle me, bitch, even if you'd seen it comin' a mile away,” Jessica shouted. She spat at Beth.

“Stop!” Daryl ordered, and shoved Jessica away.

“She’s taking my man! Do you know what that means?”

“I don’t want your man. I don’t even know him.”

Beth accepted Daryl’s proffered hand and stood up. Her eye stung and she could feel it swelling already. It was going to bruise, and it would be bad.

“It doesn’t matter what you want, you stupid whore,” Jessica raged. “He threw me out, said he was taking you instead. God knows how many men are gonna pass me around now.”

“Nobody’s gonna pass you around,” said Daryl. “You’re a beautiful girl. You’ve got your pick of men who’ll take you as theirs.”

“Like who? Merle?” Jessica scoffed.

“You talking shit about my brother, bitch?” Daryl said, crowding her. Jessica backed off, unwilling to risk pissing off a man.

“No.”

“Get back to camp. Keep your hands off this girl, Jessica. Beating up on her ain’t gonna do shit to help your situation.”

Jessica gave Beth a withering glare that said, plainly, that she’d take a shot at her again first chance she got, and then stomped off toward camp.

“Thank you,” Beth said, wiping at the tears that spilled from her eyes.

Daryl nodded, hefted his crossbow over his shoulder, and gestured toward camp. “Come on. It’s a bad idea for an unclaimed woman to go walking around alone. That could just as easily have been a man, or two, waiting to gang rape you out here.”

Beth knew that, and cursed herself for not waiting for Andrea to wake and come with her, but her bladder had been full to bursting. She considered this lesson learned as she looked at Daryl’s profile. He had short, sandy hair and walked with a straight, proud back. He wasn’t bad looking at all. In fact, he was kind of hot, if not a little older than what she’d normally consider boyfriend material. Plus, he’d saved her.

“Do you have a woman?”

Daryl shook his head. “No.”

“Maybe you and I could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement? I can cook, keep your tent clean, wash your clothes, keep you comfortable, and you could give me one of those tokens. Then I'd be safe from the men in camp.”

He stopped and looked down at Beth. She was so damned young and innocent, not even considering that sex was usually a part of one of those 'mutually beneficial' arrangements. She’d cried when Jessica hit her and Daryl had seen it wasn’t just the pain of a black eye that brought tears to her eyes, but the fact that someone could be so cruel to her for no reason. He didn’t think she would last long in the shit soup this world had become. He’d watched her from the moment she’d entered camp and she crept up in his mind in the quiet moments before sleep, or when he first woke up. He didn’t believe in claiming women as property. He also hated the rapes that went on, but knew he was powerless to change it. Even with all of that, he didn’t need or want a burden or a mouth to feed.

She was now looking past him. Daryl turned and saw that Jim had returned from a supply run with Shane Walsh and some other members of the group. He was now at Andrea’s tent talking to Jacqui, who stood crying and telling him something--probably about Lee Magwood raping her--and his face was red with rage. He had a sawed off slung over his shoulder and Daryl had a pretty good idea what was coming next.

“Who is that? Are he and Jacqui a couple?”

“That’s Jim. They’re friends,” Daryl said. “I don’t know if they’re more than that. I don’t know if he likes her or not. It’s pretty much known that Jacqui’s off limits, even if she doesn’t have one of those damn tokens.”

Daryl watched Jim storm off into camp.

“Trouble’s coming,” Daryl said, and followed Jim. Beth found herself moving along with Andrea and Jacqui behind them.

Daryl did nothing to stop Jim from opening Lee Magwood’s tent and dragging him out. By now the camp was waking up, fires were spilling columns of smoke into the air. The smell of eggs cooking and coffee brewing was light in the cool morning air. Everyone watched as Jim began punching Lee in the face.

“You put your hands on Jacqui. You’re fucking dead!”

“What’s your problem?” Lee said, shoving Jim away. “You’re not fucking her. You said yourself you’re just friends.”

“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, you punk!” Jim shouted.

“Now look, Jim, you back off. Jacqui’s unclaimed--whoa!”

Jim leveled his shotgun at Lee.

“That’s enough.”

The only thing that stopped Jim from pulling the trigger was the arrival of Shane Walsh.

“Shane, he raped Jacqui.”

“Well, that’s not against the rules, now is it, Jim? You want her safe when you’re not around you need to put your mark on her.”

“But--”

“Jim, we’ve talked about this. Rules are rules. You’re not killing one of our brothers for something that’s not against the rules, no matter how disgusting it was, or how much he needs killing. The only one who could have done that was Jacqui, when it first happened.”

Lee had been grinning at Jim, rubbing his face in the shit, until Shane spoke those last few words. He bit his lip and looked down, not daring to sass.

“Go to Mary. She’ll make you a token to give to Jacqui.”

“I want one for Andrea, too,” he said.

“One woman per man unless you’re a ranking officer, and you’re not. You gotta pick, Jim. Jacqui or Andrea? Either way, they gotta move into your tent to make it legal. What do I want to hear from you men?”

“Yes sir,” they said in unison.

“Good. The matter’s settled. Let’s break it up.”

Shane nodded once at Daryl as the men dispersed. Jim headed further into camp, to Mary’s to have a token made, while the others went back to business as usual.

“Daryl, tell Merle we’re having a council meeting with the Governor at nine.”

“Sure,” Daryl said.

Andrea, who'd watched the entire exchange in silence, moved off after Shane. Hey, Shane. Got a minute?

Daryl looked back at Beth. “Go back to Andrea's tent and keep out of sight. It ain’t safe out here.”

“Will you at least think about it?” Beth asked.

“Yeah,” he said, and moved off with his crossbow over his shoulder.

That evening, as Beth was cooking a pot of beans with Andrea, Daryl stopped by their tent and held out a chain with a wooden token toward Beth. Burned into the wood were two letters. D.D.

“You still want it?”

He watched the relief that came over Beth's face as she reached for the token. He knew she didn’t have much of an idea of what kind of an agreement she was entering into as she slipped the token over her head.

“Andrea, talk to her. Make sure she knows what’s expected of her. If you don’t mind, help her move her shit into my tent.”

“Sure thing, Daryl. Thanks,” Andrea said.

Beth looked to Andrea. “Wait, you’ll be all alone.”

Andrea shrugged. “I’ve got a few prospects. Don’t worry about me, kid. I can take care of myself. Now let’s get inside and pack up your things.”

Beth started into the tent but turned to watch Daryl move off into the camp. She had a man to keep her safe from rapists and walkers now, and that was a relief, but a new thought at the back of her mind made her anxious. She didn't know anything about Daryl Dixon. He could be cruel. He could be anything, and now she'd accepted his mark and made herself his. As she went into Andrea's tent to pack, she had only one thing on her mind: She hoped Daryl was a good man.




29 April 2014

Winter Pt 7

Carl Grimes tapped his pencil on the table and stared blankly at the textbook in front of him. He’d loved school before the world went to shit. Now he couldn’t imagine why in the hell he had to still attend it. So what if he could accurately identify the subject in a sentence or properly use participles? So what if he knew facts about the Civil War. Would knowledge of fractions, or memorization of the periodic table save his ass if he was surrounded by a pack of flesh eating zombies?
All around him kids of varying ages worked on their lessons without question. Even Beth sat scribbling notes as Mrs. Jennings lectured on history. Did none of them see how pointless it all was? Marva Jennings looked over at Carl and paused in her lecture. Their eyes met and Carl didn’t bother to hide his annoyance. He had nothing against her personally but he objected to having to waste time on school when they could be doing something useful…like saving his father.
“That’s it for the Renaissance,” Mrs. Jennings said. “I want you to write a two page, single space report on chapters six through ten. It’s due on Monday morning. Before you get out your math books for Mr. Barry’s class, I have a little something I want to talk to you about.”
The students paused in their shuffling of books and waited for Mrs. Jennings to speak just as Mr. Barry took a seat behind her.
“By show of hands, how many of you here feel that school is pretty much a dumb idea in the end of the world?”
Carl was the first to raise his hand. He was also put off that he was that easy to read. After a few moments of waiting, a lot of the other kids raised their hands too, except Beth, and that really annoyed Carl.
“I don’t blame you for thinking that way,” said Mrs. Jennings. There was no anger in her voice when she spoke, but there was a touch of sadness. “Look how hard life has become. Life expectancy is short. Let’s be honest here: we could die at any time. So why bother with remembering our past? Why bother learning about science and grammar and math? What good does it do us? Can anyone give me an answer to any of those questions?”
Beth raised her hand and Carl’s annoyance cooled just a bit. He liked Beth. Hell, he even thought he could love her. He certainly respected her and he always liked to hear what she had to say.
“Beth, tell us what you think.”
“We need math to help us learn to measure and count so we can build things. We can use science to try to understand the world around us, especially the virus that makes us into walkers when we die. We need history to remember who we used to be.”
Mrs. Jennings nodded with a look of pride on her face. “Those are all true statements, Beth. We need to keep education alive so that we don’t go backwards. We need to move forward and we can’t do that if our children can’t read or write. We can’t have architects without math,” Mrs. Jennings added, looking back at Mr. Barry with a smile that he returned. “We can’t understand our world without science. Most importantly, we need to remember history so we remember, as a people, who we were and where we can go. So for those of you who think school is a waste of time remember these things. You guys are the future of humanity. We can’t hope to survive in any meaningful fashion without education. That was true before the apocalypse and it’s even truer now. I have one more assignment for extra credit. I want you all to submit ideas on how we can fortify our home to make it safer against the walkers who pile up at the fences. Come up with emergency plans, including drawings of the prison, to deal with something like fires, flooding, and invasions by the walkers. That’s it for my class. Now get your math books out and be ready for Mr. Barry’s class.”
Beth looked over her shoulder at Carl. She smiled and his face warmed, partly from embarrassment, partly from affection.
Mr. Barry came to the front of the room and picked up the chalk to write some problems on the board. “All right, class, today we’re continuing our studies of fractions…”


*****


The first shot almost took Maggie’s head off. She dropped behind a tree as another bullet passed close enough to ruffle her hair. She wanted to keep moving but she was too scared. She knew that literally, at any second, she could take a shot that brought her life to an end.
Her father, sister, and Glenn were first in her mind. They would be devastated if she died.
“Maggie!”
“Glenn!”
She caught sight of him. He was in the base of a rotted tree. Bullets were blowing it to pieces and she feared one would come through and hit Glenn directly. Thankfully the shots came to an end.
Please, God, don’t make me watch him die.
Where the hell was Daryl? Had he been shot?
Maggie searched the woods for any sign of him but he was gone. She felt a felt a mix of worry and betrayal. Surely Daryl wouldn’t cut and run. Not Daryl of all people. He’d been too steady in too many tight spots to doubt him, but his sudden absence worried her.
The shots stopped. Maggie looked around, feeling snow slip into the waistband of her pants, turning her warm skin cold.
“Do you see anything?”
Glenn shook his head. He had a pained look on his face that concerned Maggie.
“Are you okay?”
“My arm. I’ve been grazed. I’m okay, though.”
“Wait.”
He thrust a hand up, urging her to stay put. “Don’t! Stay where you are.”
Maggie waved her hand outside the safety of the tree, expecting a shot to ring out, but there was nothing. She didn’t trust that her would-be killer wouldn’t take a shot at her if she moved to Glenn’s side.
“Please, Maggie, don’t. I’m okay.”
“I can’t let you bleed out. I need to look at your arm.”
“You’ll expose yourself. Stay--”
Maggie sprang from the relative safety of her hiding place. Three shots followed her, tearing up the frozen ground right behind her feet, as she ran, coming damn close to hitting her. She slipped in beside Glenn and smothered an angry admonishment with a kiss.
“If I’m gonna die I want to do it beside you.”
Glenn sagged against the rotted tree, all the fight going out of him. He stayed quiet while Maggie looked over his wound.
“It’s okay. Not so bad,” she reported.
Glenn smiled wanly. “Told ya.”
Maggie continued to press her hand to the long, jagged cut on Glenn’s arm until the bleeding stopped, keeping her eyes on the forest all the while.
“I can’t see Daryl,” Maggie said. “Where the hell is he?”
“He may have circled around to get the truck,” Glenn speculated. “Or he’s sneaking further in. I know one thing--we’re pinned down.”
Maggie agreed with a nod. She looked deeply into Glenn’s eyes. “I love you.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t say goodbye.”
“Do you love me?”
“You know I love you. Just don’t get in that mindset. We’ll get through this. We’re unstoppable.”
Maggie’s lips tugged up in a grin. “Yeah, I thought so too. Until now. Listen, if it comes down to it I want you to leave me--”
“Shhh!”
Maggie assumed Glenn didn’t want to have a talk about leaving her behind, but before she could press the issue she heard what he’d heard. There was the familiar moaning, grunting sound of walkers. They were close.
Carefully, Maggie peered around the tree.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered. Her belly filled with cold dread at the sight of a small herd of walkers. They were heading in their direction, and Maggie feared that they would smell the blood from Glenn’s wound, even in the cold, which tended to suppress odors. If they saw -- or smelled -- them, they would have to make a run for it. If they made a run for it, they would surely be shot. Probably not fatally. Their enemies would undoubtedly wound them and leave them to be eaten by the walkers.
Maggie didn’t want to go out like that. She looked at Glenn fearfully.
“What do we do? What if they already got Daryl?”
Glenn nodded to his left. “Head into the trees. I’ll distract them.”
“No.”
“Maggie, we don’t have time to argue this. You can circle back to the truck and come back for me.”
“I can’t just--”
This time Glenn smothered her objections with a kiss. “Get back to Hershel and Beth. Let them know what’s happened out here. They need to know not to send anybody else after us. Please, Maggie. Do this for me.”
“Damn it!” she whispered.
Maggie got up to a crouch and was just about to start for the trees when two walkers lurched into her path. She used her knife to take them out, but more of them arrived.
“Maggie!”
Glenn didn’t bother being quiet now. He jumped to his feet, expecting a shot to ring out, but nothing did. He stood beside Maggie, backing up into the trees, striking out at one walker after another. It didn’t take long before they were overwhelmed.
So this is it. This is how I’ll meet my end, he thought.
“Hey!”
They both recognized Daryl’s voice. They risked a glance around and saw he’d returned. He wasn’t alone. He had a tall, burly, bearded man in his grip who was bleeding from a wound in his shoulder. The walkers were momentarily distracted by Daryl’s arrival.
Without hesitation he shoved the man right at the herd. The strangers' screams were visceral and ugly as the herd descended upon him, Maggie, Glenn and Daryl were quickly forgotten in the face of easier prey.
“Come on. The coast is clear…for now.”
Maggie spared one last look at the now dead man on the ground. Walkers were now a writhing pile atop his corpse as they pushed and shoved in an effort to join in the feeding frenzy. 



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