the claimed child-the walking dead

chapter three//sanctuary

tilly's nose was bleeding. it was something that occurred often, due to malnutrition most likely, michonne said. tilly walked along the tracks, letting it drip,drip,drip down over her lip. the blood was warm and metallic, reminding her of the tracks. when michonne had turned to check on the girl, she had handed her a rag, careful not to touch the girl. tilly stared, as if unsure what to do with the raggedy piece of fabric. michonne urged her to take the cloth, and rick, daryl and carl were now staring at her. she reached, fast as lightning, taking hold of the rag, and held it close to her chest. michonne motioned to her nose. "wipe your nose, honey." she said with a soft voice that made tilly sleepy. tilly followed suit, wiping her nose and lips, smearing the red around on her face. it looked to the others as if she had gotten into a jar of tomato sauce. michonne sighed, and carl looked aghast at how little the girl seemed to know about the world, and even how to take care of her own self. the tired group resumed their seemingly endless trek to terminus.

//

they had found it. tilly sounded out the letters, spelling out terminus in her head. rick ushered them back, to the woods to bury his bag filled with valuable weapons. "we observe, then we go in. spread out." he advised. carl brushed past his father to amble along with michonne, and daryl moved out in another direction. tilly paused. she didn't want to stay here with rick. he frightened her. sure, he had taken out the devil of a man she had previously been living with, but she knew nothing of his character. she had known him for all of one day. rick stared at her, looking down into her eyes as if seeing what she made of him, as if waiting to see if she would stay with him or go with daryl. tilly chose the latter. gripping the fabric of her dress, she turned, and pursued silently after the man with the crossbow. daryl cocked his head, noting her presence, chewing on his lip and focusing on the task of observing the sanctuary ahead. tilly grabbed a hold of the chain link metal fence, enjoying the coolness of the metal-so much so that she lay her cheek against it, closing her eyes. she opened them a few moments later, when she felt the fence buckling under the weight of rick grimes, the sound of metal scraping metal in her ear. she glanced up to the man with the crossbow, and he met her eyes, feeling awkward. he wasn't used to having a little girl following him everywhere. but he had told her to come along with them, and he knew deep in his heart he had to protect her. rick and michonne had carl, and this child had nobody. joe, and the rest of the claimers had been bad news for her-he didn't know exactly what the situation was with tilly and the men, but he felt it wasn't good. and now they were dead, and she needed somebody to keep her alive. he gazed into her blue wonderous eyes, silently vowing to himself that he would do whatever he could for her. they began to climb, daryl first and tilly as soon as she saw daryl start to scale the fence-tilly quick and agile from climbing trees. they crept around to the side of the building, entering a door to find a woman broadcasting the central message of terminus-'sanctuary for all, those who arrive survive'. others bent over tables, occupied with writing things down and drawing maps. a tall slim man with a mop of brown straight hair noticed them, and stepped forward. tilly's gut spoke to her, saying 'leader.' she eyed him up and down, and shifted on her feet, suddenly feeling anxious. "we usually do this up front. but this is smart. i'm gareth." the man introduced himself, then some others scattered around the room who looked on with curious eyes. and thus, introductions from them began-rick first, telling who everyone else was. he paused whe he got to tilly. "she just joined us. we don't know her name." he explained. gareth nodded, a sympathetic look washing over his features. he approached tilly slowly. "the world changing the way it has is hard, isn't it sweetheart. what's your name?" he inquired, leaning down and putting his hands on his knees. tilly stared straight ahead, past this man who made her uneasy. "she don't speak." daryl answered for her. gareth nodded, reaching to stroke her arm in an attempt to comfort the frightened looking child. "i wouldn't-" rick called out, but it was too late. tilly squawked when gareth's hand made contact with her elbow, and she brought her teeth down on his hand hard as she could. gareth yelled, grabbing his hand back and cradling it to his chest. an unreadable look flashed in his eyes, before that smile from before was back on his face. "you got yourselves a little guard dog, there. jesus christ, almighty. "alex, i'm going to need a bandage, please." he coughed out, wheezing in an intake of breath before regaining his composure. tilly straightened, cheeks burning as rick, daryl, michonne, carl and all of these new strangers stared at her. it seemed to her that people were always staring. "i'm going to need you all to remove your weapons for me, please. you understand." gareth spoke. "yeah. we do." rick answered, eyes lingering on gareth. they removed their weapons-tilly didn't have any, of course, unless, you counted her nails, teeth and fists. gareth certainly did, tilly bet to herself. he passed by the child, glancing her up and down and moving on to daryl beside her. "guess i'm not going to frisk you, sweetie." he bit out to her. tilly bared her teeth, and gareth flinched. 

//

they had been told to go around to the front to be greeted, gareth assuring that the front was much more magnificent than the back rooms where they had been working. the scent of cooking meat hit tilly's nose, and she tipped it to the sky and shut her eyes, taking in the scent. a woman with reddish tinted hair greeted them, and began to hand out plates. tilly took a tentative step forward, eager to eat, when rick leapt forward, scaring tilly enough to make her jump backwards as rick slapped the paper plate of meat from a mans hands, and put a gun to his head. "where did you get that pocket watch?" he growled into the mans ear. tilly blocked out the conversation, her eyes trained on the dumped plate of food. she was, however, acutely aware of daryl raising his crossbow, and michonne lifting her sword while carl wasted no time bringing up his gun. tilly stood there, feeling small and useless while everyone else was armed and ready to defend themselves. whipping her head around, she found nowhere to go, and gareth appeared, attempting to cool down the situation. but it was to no avail-and shouts and gunfire rang out, the air filling with hazy smoke and gunpowder. tilly screamed, covering her ears, and she felt a hand grip her shoulder and guide her behind a wall before she had time to react. she turned, ready to attack, when her eyes focused through the smoke and saw daryl. he had taken his hands off her as soon as he had put them on her, raising them to show he meant no harm and was only trying to help. tilly's chest heaved with her hard breathing, and she realized she had no other option but to fully put her trust in daryl. just him-she wouldn't dare let her guard down for anyone else, but right now she had no other choices. a tear slipped down her cheek as she realized this, and suddenly she jumpe full force into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. daryl was shocked, but slowly he let his arms hold her close, and he whispered to her amid the bullets and the screaming. "'s alright. i got ya." and then, they ran. tilly bounced in his hold as she screwed her eyes shut, her ears ringing from the noise. and then-a halt. she heard daryl exclaim a curse, and she opened her eyes to see a sniper pointing a rifle directly at her, and she lifted her head to turn to realize they were cornered by gunmen. even through the fences sat men and women with weapons ready to fire at them. tilly's heart sank. "into the traincar, traincar a!" gareth called out. how was he everywhere when things began happening, tilly wondered? he began yelling threats. "you don't go, i'll kill the boy and that litte demon child and you'll still end up in there." gareth continued. and so, rick entered first. "archer, put the little hellion down and go in second. now! or my sniper puts a bullet through her right now, at my command." he said. daryl loosened his hold on the child, and she squeezed him tighter, whimpers coming from her mouth. "hey. 's okay. i gotta put ya down. i'm gonna be right in there, okay?" he set her down gently, and pried her hands from his own, frustrated that as soon as he made the progress of gaining her trust that he was being traumatically ripped away from her. "good. now the samurai." gareth commanded, as daryl entered the traincar, much to tilly's chagrin as she watched him disappear behind the door. "my son!" rick called as a reminder. "kid, go. you too, little devil." gareth nodded at her and carl, waving them forward. tilly set off behind carl, taking her time cautiously and making her way to the open door of the traincar. she looked back at gareth, the sniper, and the gunmen at the fence, taking a deep breath. and then she entered. into the dark, where it was musty and felt confining. she could barely see in front of her face, and she reached out with her hands, collapsing into daryl's side when he stepped forward to grab her hand. 

//

authors note: 

the found family/platonic trope gets me every time. and i'm in tears over daryl and tilly. i know it is a little fast for her to trust him with touch, but she kind of doesn't have a choice in this scary situation, and he is the only one she lets touch him. we will see later that she doesn't accept it from anyone else, and she still doesn't speak to daryl, so she isn't opening up all the way. but he is her new protector, and he actually cares for her, unlike shitty ass joe. so yeah. :) i am not sure if i am going to make tilly speak eventually-i kind of think i might keep her as being mute, because i think it is a part of who she is now, and she struggles with selective mutism and it isn't something easily gotten over. thanks for reading. please comment and vote. :) 

-fallon