Struggling to Connect: The 6th Book

Chapter 17: Out and Dead

I decide to stay behind and finish the fair and head off with Tara in the morning. I keep myself busy at the health booth but before the movie starts a blonde women passes out. I assure Siddiq and Enid I'll take care of it and head off to help. When I arrive, she's passed out and I quickly start to try and assess what happened. When I go to check a pulse her hand grabs my wrist and a knife is at my throat, "let's goooo." She drags out her words in a whisper as she sits up to gain more control. I do as she says, and after we leave the kingdom, her people take me to a run down barn two miles or so away. When I get there, Henry and Tammy are there and tied up. It takes a few more hours but alpha continues to bring more and more people from the kingdom. At the end, the last three people she brings are Tara, Enid and Siddiq. As I look around, I know the ending of this battle. The 8 of us aren't making it out of here. We wait for what feels like hours before the few fake dead heads start to close in. But before they get to finish us, Ozzie from the highwaymen group the kingdom has been working with and DJ and Alek find us. They attacked and the rest of us take this opportunity to move. We all stand up and attack. We kicked, we yelled, and we fought. One of the men comes at me and I use my head to hit his. As I'm thrown back from the adrenaline and hit, a woman grabs me from behind and tries to choke me out. As I struggle, I see DJ get taken out and I know I need to do something. I take whatever strength I have and move my head forward and bite a chunk of her arm. I squeeze it in my mouth, the warm blood gushing down my throat but I finish biting and spit out the flesh as she screams and let's go of her grip. The battle is a blur, but it's not much longer lasting when Alpha walks in without her blonde wig. Her and her people quickly take control and we are on our knees. I'm expecting her to give a big speech but she doesn't, she simply comes over to Siddiq first and raises her arms up. As she swings it down I expect to see and hear the pain of his death but she leans into his ear, says something and someone behind us knocks him out. Next, it's my turn. She repeats the process of raising her hand to stab me and I keep eye contact, ready to accept my fate. She brings her arm down to my side and whispers, "watch her" and I'm knocked out cold right after.

When I wake up later I am tied to a tree outside somewhere. It takes a moment for me to regain full vision but as I do, I see the people who attacked us moving up a hill with something in their arms. It takes a moment for me to realize what it is and I scream out, "Nooooo!" And start to weep, cry and yell.

They are finished whatever they were doing soon after I woke up and leave, no one speaking to me or even looking in my direction. I can feel Saddiq's hand tied to the same tree with me and he's starting to wake up. As he does, he mutters, "what happened? Where are we?"

"They're all gone. They— they—" I try to say but can't get the words out.

We stay tied to that tree for awhile longer until Daryl, Carol, Michonne and Yumiko come out of the woods. When they spot us they run towards us to set us free. Daryl gets to me first, untying the knot, "what happened?" I look up the hill as he helps me up, "are you hurt?" He asks me, wrapping an arm around me.

"They're gone" I say, pointing up. We climb the few feet up the small hill and when I see what Alpha did I drop down to my knees. Daryl let's me drop and after I'm gently placed on my knees he moves forward. The heads of our friends and family plastered in a row like a picket fence on sticks. They have turned into the living dead and are grumbling out as we come to their view.

The moments tick by slowly and I hear Daryl yell out, "No! No!" He runs over to Carol, I know he just saw Henry up ahead, "look at me. Just look at me."

She starts to sob, as does Michonne and Yumiko comes over and wraps and arm around me. I don't know how long we stay there in silence, the wind taking the whispers of our dead friends into our ears but Yumiko suggests, "let's get them back to the kingdom. Why don't I take care of things here?" She suggests.

Michonne declines, "no, these are our people. We will take care of it. Why don't you get them back? Carol, what do you want to do?"

"I want to bring my boy home." She replies, still turned away from the sight with Daryl.

Yumiko nods, "I can handle it."

Carol speaks, "Daryl, go with her."

"Naw, ima stay here" he argues with her.

She pushes herself away from him, "go. Sadie-Mae and Siddiq will need more than Yumiko's help to get back. Michonne and I can handle things here."

He eyes her with a squint, "you sure?"

"Yes" she replies and he moves to come over to me, telling Yumiko to go help Siddiq.

Michonne wraps an arm around Carol and they slowly ascend up the hill as Daryl wraps an arm around me again to assist me down into the woods and back to the kingdom.