the claimed child-the walking dead

chapter four//escape from said sanctuary

it was dark-too dark. bodies shuffled inside the train car, and strangers came into the dim strips of light where the space didn't quite meet between the door hinges. "we made it. and these are our friends." an asian man, a woman called maggie, a muscled orange haired man-so many new people. tilly shrank against daryl's side. "well then they're friends of ours." daryl grunted. and so, curt introductions were made and more people were added to the group. all the while tilly's head spun with all the chaos and newness of this situation. she wanted out of this traincar-that's all she knew.

//

it had been hours. so many hours and tilly didn't know how many-but she was thirsty and tired, leaning against a wall with her knees drawn to her chest. goosebumps covered her skin, and she missed the sleeping roll joe carried around with him. but she certainly didn't miss joe. her eyes fluttered shut as she pushed away thoughts of unwanted touches in the dark, lit only by the dim fire. 'he's gone', she reminded herself. 'the scary man in the coat killed him. nobody can survive getting their throat bit like that', she rationalized to herself. she was forcibly torn from her thoughts when the train car opened, and the many people who had been stuffed inside with her paused their readying to fight. they had been attempting to make weapons and gather themselves for anything that might happen-but it was no use, because as soon as the big doors were opened and a few of the men jumped forward to attack those who had put them in this dreadful train car, a smoke grenade was tossed in, rattling around on the ground. it hissed, a warning of what was to come, perhaps, like a wild snake in the forest daring you to come across it's venom. tilly cowered, low as she could, covering her mouth as the others around her did the same. it was no use-tilly had lost sight of daryl as her vision blurred, and the last thing she saw was rick, daryl, bob, glenn being dragged out-and then she lost consciousness. 

//

"wake up-hey, you. c'mon-there was an explosion. they've gotta be coming to get us soon." it was the blue eyed boy, with scraggly brown hair, shaking tilly awake. he was blurry, in fact, it looked like there were two of him. tilly had no clue how long she had been out for-her head hurt something awful-she had hit it hard when she landed on the wall of the train car. the boy-carl or something like that, was sitting her up, speaking to her urgently. "my dad will save us-i know he will. so you've gotta be ready to run." he explained. tilly was too tired to listen to this right now. she closed her eyes again. "hey-no-wake up. come on." he shook her again, and tilly groaned, opening one eyelid, jerking her arm out of his grip. she didn't even have enough energy to scratch or bite him for touching her. "hey-i think she hit her head pretty hard-she won't get up." carl was saying, his voice muffled to tilly. she heard boots thud over to her, and throughout her hazy vision she could see the orange haired man in her eyeline, bending over to take a look at her. she lifted her leg, using all her might to get in a good kick his way. he jumped back. "well she ain't dead, that's for sure." he motioned to a woman with pigtails, who was introducing herself as rosita, who stepped over to her. tilly glared her best mean glare she could manage in her state, and rosita raised her hands and backed off. suddenly there was gunfire, and screaming, and the train car door was thrown open. rick emerged, a large gun in hand and a wild look on his face. people spilled out of the train car, running as fast as they could. "dad!" carl screamed, pointing to the one person still inside. rick glanced at tilly, and ran forward, slipping his hands under her and picking her up despite her cries of protest. "you're safe. it's okay. i've got you. c'mon." he ran, tilly bumping up and down in his arms, her head spinning. gunfire rained down, and smoke filled the air along with ashes. tilly felt herself being handed to someone with a familiar gruff voice, and then she passed out again. 

//

there was a breeze. water was being splashed on her forehead, and she felt the cool grass poking her back beneath her. they were in the woods again. all these survivors. tilly gasped, fully coming to consciousness, sitting up and regretting it as her head spun. "easy there." it was maggie, sprinkling water on tilly's forehead. "i didn't touch you, see? i used a cloth. just to keep you cool. you have a fever." she explained. tilly chewed her bottom lip as she took in her surroundings. she found rick, still clutching his gun and speaking to some of the group a few feet away. she was still angry he had picked her up. she knew deep down he had to-he had saved her. but it still made her skin crawl. she turned, head whipping frantically for daryl. "you've been in and out for a day or two. we found a church, a preacher." maggie said softly. tilly wanted to cry. too many new people, too many dangerous possibilities. "daryl and carol went on a run. i guess you may not have met carol-she's a nice woman. she helped save us." tilly blinked at this information, and she turned around in the grass when she heard a baby crying. carl sat on the steps of a small white church, holding a baby girl. "that's rick's baby, her name is judith. would you like to see her? we've been taking you outside where it's cool, to keep your fever down, but we can go inside if you want." maggie reached to touch her in a comforting gesture, before pulling her hand back, remembering what rick and daryl told her about being touched, and how she had seen tilly act back at terminus when anyone touched her or approached her. even now, tilly was eyeing her with suspicion and distrust. this was all too much. tilly stood, feeling ready to run into the woods and climb a tree for safety, but her ankles were wobbly, and she leaned forward and vomited. 

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