Papá's Girl

Terminus

  ©JRF2016

  We were camping tonight on a lonely stretch of street, seemingly forgotten, inside a suburban that had been left to rot. We would be at Terminus tomorrow. I was stretched out on the back seat of that truck with Carl who was beginning to nod off when we heard noises coming out of the woods. Rick and Shane jumped to their feet and I sat up straight in the seat trying not to disturb Carl. I heard voices before I saw anyone and a bolt of fear washed over me as I recognized that voice. It was the man from that house. I slid to the edge of the seat and looked out the windshield to see him holding a gun to Rick's head as he slowly sat back down. One of the other men was holding Shane at gunpoint. As I stared at our two in that position another tapped on the window and smiled showing his rotting teeth. He opened the door and grabbed Carl pulling him out of my arms. "I claim the boy," he said as he stroked Carl's cheek. I reached for him again when a pair of hands grabbed me and pulled me out the other side of the truck. "I claim the girl!" His hands started roaming my body and I could see the faces of Rick and Shane as they watched these two men fondling us. Their jaws clenched and teeth grinding. The fat man that had Carl pushed him to the ground and climbed on top of him, Carl struggling to get away. I was pushed to the ground now as this man crawled over me and started tugging at my clothes. "Let them go!" I heard Rick scream as the man on top of me looked up and then back at me. He grinned and I saw his dark eyes grow even darker. Shane started pleading with the men to let us go as well but I couldn't listen to that. I was busy trying to fight this creep off of me. "Joe," I heard my uncle's voice and I stopped struggling to look toward the sound, "Let them go. They're good people, they're my people." I smiled up at my uncle before I heard a crack. Everyone was staring at Rick now as he turned to Joe holding his bloody nose and then ripped a chunk out of his neck. Shane then punched the guy to his left and ran over to help me. I started over to the man that was sitting on top of Carl when Rick stopped me. "No. He's mine." Rick pulled his knife out and walked over to the man. He grabbed the big man by the collar yanking him to his feet and slamming him against the truck. He plunged his knife into the guy and proceeded to gut the man, alive. We all stood and watched on in horror as Rick finished gutting the man.

    I walked over after Rick had finished and wrapped Carl in my arms. We climbed back into that truck and tried to get some sleep. The three men stayed outside the truck talking as I sat there with Carl's head in my lap and we quietly listened in.

    Rick had the very smart idea of burying the bag of weapons that we had left in the woods before entering Terminus over the fence in the back. Rick went over first then Shane hoisted Carl and I up and over the fence as Rick helped up down before jumping it himself. Finally, Uncle Daryl jumped over. We walked into a big warehouse. There were a few people standing around painting more signs and an older lady in front of a microphone repeating what that sheet had said, over and over again. Rick looked back at us before turning back to them, "Excuse me." The people all stopped what they were doing and stared at the five of us. "Guess we know who is on perimeter watch," the tall, thin man mumbled as he neared us, "Oh, well. Welcome to Terminus. This isn't how we normally do this, it's much nicer at the front." He smiled and I felt my stomach turn a little. He was a nice looking guy but there was something about him, about this place, that I just didn't trust. They had us lay our weapons in front of us on the floor as they patted us down.

    Gareth walked us around to the front. We were all still in shock and a little leery of this place. When we reached the 'welcome' area we all quickly noticed some items these people had belonged to our people. Rick grabbed one of the men and held a gun to his head. "Where did you get this watch? Where are our people?" The man stammered before Gareth stepped up and explained that he took it off of a dead one. Gunfire erupted before I could really focus on what was happening and Shane grabbed me by the arm as we started running. They herded where they wanted us to go and had us all drop our weapons on the ground. Gareth ordered the three men and Carl into a train car. Shane stood in the door of the train car before entering. "The girl," he shouted up at Gareth. Gareth just stood there and I thought for a minute I saw him smile as he waved Shane inside. I stood there waiting for him to tell me to follow suit but instead he walked down to me and now we stood face to face. He took my hand and ran his thumb across the back of it. I jerked it away and he smiled at me. "I like you." He said simply before putting his arm around me and walking me back toward the big buildings. We finally reached what used to be an office but now was made into someone's bedroom. "This is yours," Gareth told me, "There's some clothes in there. Pick out something nice to wear and I'll be back." I looked at him and furrowed my eyebrows as he walked out the door. I looked around but not at the clothes. I was looking for anything I could use as a weapon for when he came back.