Detached [TWD Fanfiction]

Chapter 16

Mild claustrophobia/being locked in a room included in the italics

~

The three of them could see the watchtowers in the distance, large and looming. The fences became visible as they got closer and Lucy couldn't believe how secure the place looked. She wished she'd found this place eight months ago, even if she'd spent it in one of the towers; nothing would reach her there. By the time they reached the edge of the trees they could hear shooting, and lots of it. They all ducked, Lucy checking to see if Daryl and Merle had heard it too. There was nothing for any of them to hide behind, but it was obvious that the shooting wasn't aimed towards them at all. Heart pounding, she crept closer to the fence against Daryl's hiss to stop. The grass was plenty long enough to keep them hidden given that they weren't even being looked for, and as she wrapped her fingers through the chained fence she began to piece together what was going on. People were in the field, but she couldn't tell who, only that there were walkers surrounding them. Rick was outside the fence, ducking from the heavy fire and shooting his own gun at walkers, defending himself as best as he could. Shots were coming from closer to the prison too, most likely return fire from the rest of the group.

'How do we get in?' She asked Daryl, turning to face him. Merle was still watching the chaos, his face barely readable as to whether or not he intended to help.

'There's a gate,' he answered. 'No way to get to it without getting hit though.' She sighed, scanning the area again. Once again she felt useless. She wanted to do something other than sitting and watching and although she held her bow and had Daryl and Merle with her, none of them could do much without getting themselves killed. Instead she looked on as a car circled the field, picking up whoever it was that was trapped in there. At least they're safe, she thought.
The gunfire seemed to slow down - perhaps the attackers were running out of ammo. As it slowed they were able to creep closer to the gate, seeing clearly that it was the Governor and his men attacking the group. It was only to be expected. They'd started something in Woodbury. She could see his face from their spot in the trees, grinning at the chaos he was causing. Several of his men had ducked back into their vehicles, guns emptied, and waited for their boss to do the same. He lingered, barely remembering to shoot and instead just watching as people struggled. He was satisfied with his destruction. As one last effort to show power (and perhaps madness) he fired straight into the air, aiming the last of his clip at the clouds. He took one final look around, and for almost a second Lucy could have sworn he looked straight at her. They were still tucked into the trees, he shouldn't have known she was there, yet somehow he seemed to dig into her soul and tell her I know you're there. It lasted less than a second and he promptly got back into the truck he was leant on and the attackers began leaving, driving away one by one. She wasn't sure how to feel. Was this just because of what the group had done at Woodbury or had he wanted to find her there, wanted to scare her?

'Come on,' Daryl called to her, suddenly a few paces ahead with Merle next to him. She cleared her thoughts and stood, regretting it after the first two steps. Her head was reeling, the ground felt miles away and she couldn't tell which direction anyone was in. A distant echo beckoned her, but she was focussed on looking at her hands as the skin swirled in patterns. Her face felt hot and yet her body was freezing, and she wanted desperately to crouch back down and curl into a ball, to hug her knees to her chest and wrap her shirt over her knees like she did as a child. Perhaps if she closed her eyes and squeezed tight enough everything would disappear.

'Hey!' Merle barked, watching her and the field while Daryl had tried to get her attention. Her head snapped up and she seemed to be responsive again, but looked like a deer in headlights.

'You good?' Daryl asked her, his voice dripping with concern. Lucy nodded, looking confused, like she didn't understand what had just happened. Her eyes drifted past his, and as if the past two minutes had never happened she pushed past them both and began jogging.