A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S6Pt19 - The Kill Floor

They threw us in the back of a car and drove us away. I'm not sure where we were but it was a short drive, though I didn't know the roads. They pulled us out of the backseat and started walking us forwards.
A metal door squeaked open and I stepped inside. The leader then clicked off her radio after she was done talking to her people here, and they moved us down a hallway.
"I hate this damn place." The smoker lady complained. "Ain't nothing safe about it."
"It's gonna save our asses." The leader snapped back.
Another door creaked open, and then I heard the moaning of a walker. I refused to move forwards any more, and the smoker took the bag off my head. I looked for the noise and saw the leader stab a walker that was just centimeters from Maggie's face. I saw Carol sitting alone in the corner with a gag now in her mouth, and they then gagged me and Maggie.
One by one, they taped our hands. Well, the girl taped my wrist to my prosthetic, and even though it was tight I knew that later I could get out of this.
The leader then walked over to Carol and bent down in front of her, and Carol looked panicked.
"You're wondering if there's a way out of this." She said. "There isn't. Not unless I say so."
She then backed away and the girl came in to remove the walker's body. She left a trail of blood at Carol's feet and the door closed behind her. A few seconds later we heard gunshots.
"Paula! I need backup!" A voice called out.
She looked at the door, then us.
"I want to kill you all right now. It's taking all I have not to. So go ahead and do something." She threatened and pointed her gun at us. "I dare you."
She then left the room, and all we heard was more gunshots and moans from the dead.
I looked at Maggie and we were thinking the same thing, and we started trying to break free. Carol pulled a rosary out of her pocket and just remained still.
Maggie rubbed the duck tape around her wrist on the wall, trying to escape them. I began twisting my wrist against my cast, and I felt the tape separating from the metal. I was close to getting loose when Carol started hyperventilating.
We stopped what we were doing. I started at her in shock, and Maggie tilted her head in confusion.
"Shit, Carol." I thought.
I used my fingers to remove the gag out of my mouth and took a deep breath.
"Carol." I said, but she just kept going.
The door then opened and our kidnappers returned.
"When's the last time anyone's checked this place?" The leader asked, pulling in the wounded man behind her.
"Bout a month ago." The girl said.
"The guns gone bye bye. The foods gone bye bye. Now we got growlers roaming up and down the halls."
"Carol." Maggie called out with a muffled voice.
She was still hyperventilating, and soon she'd suffocate herself with that gag in her mouth.
"Shut up." The leader told Maggie.
"Hey!" I called her. "You need to take that gag out. She can't breathe."
The leader just stared at me in confusion.
"Rick will not make a deal with you if one of us is dead. He'll kill all of you." I threatened.
She just looked at Carol and grunted in annoyance. She yanked the gag out of Carol's mouth, and she slowly began to breathe normally.
"Bitch, how'd you make it this far?" She asked and pointed a gun at Carol, who was just holding her rosary. "What are you so afraid of? Are you actually afraid to die? All this and you're scared of getting your ticket punched."
"It doesn't matter what happens to me." Carol said softly. "Just don't hurt Kelley. Or Maggie. Don't hurt the baby."
The leader then looked at us and scoffed. The smoker took the gag out of Maggie's mouth and pointed at her.
"You?" She said. "Got a bun in the oven and you don't even look it."
"I'm two months. I think." Maggie said.
"And you?" The leader asked me.
"I have a son." I hesitantly said.
"It seems kinda stupid, getting knocked up at a time like this." She said.
"It's not stupid to make a life for ourselves." I said.
"But this is your life." The leader laughed. "The world of the dead rising and killing everything, and you try to survive."
"No." I said. "That's only part of it."
The lady shrugged and the smoker pulled out a cig and a lighter.
"Well, it's cute. Babies are the point right?" She said sarcastically. "Kids are the future. Or you just make a bite sized snack for the dead."
"At least I chose something." Maggie snapped back at her.
The smoker just scoffed and walked over to the corner to smoke.
"The babies." Carol said.
"Honey." She scoffed. "You have bigger problems than a little secondhand smoke."
"Molls." The leader said, with a serious tone.
They just stared at each other and then the smoker put her lighter away and flicked her cigarette onto the floor. The smoker then started coughing and covered her mouth with a rag.
"Those things will kill you." Carol said.
"They already have." She said once she caught her breath, and showed us the rag she coughed into which had fresh blood on it. "I'm a dead woman walking." She said and coughed again. "Which puts us in exactly the same boat."