ELEANOR . NEGAN

026.

The night was straight out of a spooky halloween film, especially when Daryl and Eleanor ended up in a graveyard with walkers reaching out from behind stones.

When Rosita made it back to Hilltop, Michonne and a new group of people tagged along to help find Eugene. Everyone was stuck in a creepy ass graveyard with fog tantalising their vision. "Shit..." Elle mumbled as she pushed the blade of her knife into the dead's skull. "This isn't the right fucking place to be!"

Michonne swung her katana past her body and watched as a walkers head rolled. "Jesus!" She shouted, "Where are you?"

The fog was so thick that you'd mistake the wallowing trees as a hand, or even a gravestone as a person. It was a headache and a half when you start swinging at a tree branch thinking it's a walker. "We got hit!" Aaron echoed through the fog, his body no where near visible. "We gotta go!"

"Shit!" Elle hissed again while she threw the mini daggers from under her breast into the spot between the eyes of a walker. "Get to the gate, now!"

It wasn't long until you could see two figures expose through the fog, that being Aaron and an injured Jesus in his hold. Fucksake. "Go, go!" Michonne bellowed as the pair rushed towards the gate.

The only ones remaining now was Elle, Michonne and Daryl. The herd of walkers were closing in, it all being tauntingly close. The darkness mixed with the light from the fog created a disgusting illusion and it was solid to actually fight without second-thinking.

"Fall back!" Michonne yellowed again, her hand grasping around Eleanor's upper arm. "Daryl, let's go!" The group slowly sauntered back to the gate, their weapons still up high and armed.

"You are to die..."

Eleanor froze. Was I actually right?

"We will kill you..."

"Fuckin' move, woman!" Daryl yelled, his hand over his mouth to make his words echo. Eleanor snapped out of it and ran closer to the group, finally escaping the graveyard with everyone... alive.

The further they walked, the lighter the sky got. Casting a ray of gold onto the ground below, highlighting the path towards the horses. When they finally reached them, Jesus and Eugene were the first to ride the animal. With Jesus' stab wound, and Eugene's dislocated leg... they would just slow them down.

Their walking never stopped, but ever so often they'd follow Dog's loud barks that led them a smaller herd of walkers who dragged their feet across the floorboards. "Oh, fuck this.." Elle mumbled as she lifted her knife and aimed straight for the gut of one of the "dead." He doubled over in pain but no groans left his body until Daryl aimed for his thigh. That grabbed the attention of the real walkers and they was quick to nibble on the body.

Meanwhile, there was two walkers left standing. One slowly dragging their feet to Michonne, before pulling put a knife and sprinting her way. The woman found it pretty pathetic and was quick to swing her katana to hit its skin before gutting it.

One left.

She held a knife in her dainty hands (that she clearly didn't want to have) and she looked around in fear and confusion. The poor girl didn't know what to do. But Daryl was pissed off and ripped the weapon from her hand.

In an instant, she had her hands up above her head and her breathing became laboured and shaky. Daryl spared a glance before he ripped the walker mask from her head, now exposing the shell of a young woman.

A teenager.

"Oh my, God..." Eleanor mumbled, watching as Daryl passed the mask to Michonne. "How many are there?" Elle asked.

"Please.. I can't-"

"How many?!" Michonne repeated with a booming voice.

The girl clutched her eyes shut and sobbed. "You- you killed them all. It's just me now-"

She might've been a teenager, but they were in no mood for lies. Eugene couldn't walk, and Jesus was bleeding out. They didn't have the time for this shit. But... pressing a blade to a teenager's throat was something Eleanor wasn't quite thrilled about.

"Michonne." Elle hissed. "She's a fucking child."

"Look at what she was wearing, Elle-"

Eleanor shook her head and walked closer. "She's a kid!" Elle fired. "Look, we need to go before that giant fuck-off herd surrounds us again."

"Ya right." Daryl muttered. "We gotta go. Now."

Michonne sent a fiery glare at Daryl and Elle, but nonetheless retracted her blade and watched as Eleanor pulled the teenager up onto her feet. "You listen to us." She started, pointing at the girls face. "You fuck off? We kill you. You try to hurt us? We kill you. Do anything dumb? And we'll probably fucking kill you." The teenager gulped—it wasn't intimidating but the look on Eleanor's face was enough for a grown man to shit himself. "You make a peep, a sound, a fucking yawn—we'll leave you to die. Or we kill you."

"Okay..." The girl sobbed, her voice cracked and broken.

"Now, you be quiet and stick to my side. Or you'll regret ever even putting on that fucking mask. You got it?"

"I got it."

-

When they reached the Hilltop gates, people let them in in worried arms and yells. Jesus was sent to Dr. S as soon as he arrived, and the woman—teenager, was sent straight to a cell.

This is where Elle had to put her tough face on when she stood in front of the crying teenager, ignoring how the ropes around her body was almost suffocating and ignoring how she looked at the woman in complete fear.

"Now..." Elle started slowly. "How many more of you are there?"

"They're all dead-" She cried with broken words. "My family is dead! Please just stop-"

"Love, I haven't even started." Eleanor angrily responded. "You answer these fucking questions and it'll be over very quickly. You got that?" The teenager shook her head hastily as tears soaked her muddy skin. "What's your name?"

"I told you!" She boomed. "I don't have one-"

Eleanor clenched her eyes shut and sighed. "I am so sick of you not listening to me!" Jesus Christ. "The mask, what about the mask? Some Jim Carrey shit or what?"

"We... I wore it to-" She snuggled. "To survive! That's all we wanted to do! To- to live!"

"Give it up, girl." Elle fired back. "What the shit was you doing, huh? Waltzing around with fucking knives, swinging at innocent fucking people-"

"We were just trying to see if they were good people, too!" She sobbed. "But then... you attacked us! And now they're dead! They are all dead! And I don't- I don't have anything..."

Eleanor sighed through her nose and turned around to look at the people waiting outside the cell door. Tara, Daryl, Michonne and even Henry was stood there—curious. "I'm sorry, kid." No, the fuck i'm not. "But how the fuck were we supposed to know whose a fucking walker or a human? You wear the skin of the things we kill to live! That's pretty fucking stupid."

"STOP IT!" She yelled, her voice bouncing from the brick walls. That caught Eleanor's attention and she froze. "I lost- I lost everyone. Please! Please just give me- give me a break."

Fuck. Eleanor swallowed a pit of discomfort and frowned slightly at her tears and frightened words. "Kid..." She started slowly. "The quicker you cooperate, the quicker we'll leave you be. Okay? So just fucking listen to us... and it'll be over. Alright?"

The teenage girl looked up at Eleanor with teary eyes but a tinkle of new found... something.

"A-alright."

"Now, kid, what's your name?" Elle's voice was steady yet firm, trying not to come off as scary or intimidating.

It must've worked because the teenager looked back up at the older woman, ignoring the people hiding behind the door and quietly cleared her throat.

"L-lydia. My name is Lydia."