Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

Sale Complete - 067

"Yea, we were gonna go in through the window. Grab the blonde one while she slept, but Brooks just came wandering out. Made our job easier." A woman's voice came, laughing.

"The girl's name is Brooks?" A man asked.

Gareth hummed. "Yea, real firecracker this one. But, she'll do?"

"She's a little younger than we usually go for." The man continued.

"We know." Gareth acknowledged. "But, she's mature for her age. Trust us, she'll be an excellent ward."

Her ankles were bound together, along with her wrists behind her back. The bag tied over her head didn't help, because the lack of oxygen was really getting to her. She was on the ground, groaning a little, trying to force herself awake. The black bag made it so she couldn't tell if she was opening her eyes or not, she was too disorientated. 

"She's smaller than the last few you've given us, Gareth. I think that means you get less meat from our dead." The strange man spoke.

Gareth scoffed. "She'll work, trust me. She lost a lot of blood when she was with us. No doubt her wound'll get infected. You can patch her up and she'll owe you, like the rest."

The man grunted. "I suppose so. I just hope that Dawn doesn't mind."

"Listen, we need to talk about something else." Gareth continued. "Terminus fell, we got nowhere to stay. What would you say about us coming back with you? We'll do our part, help out."

The strange man laughed. "And wake up to find you eating our people?" He laughed again. "No thanks. The body's in the back, take it. And, if we're gonna do another deal again, you better hope Dawn isn't mad that you've given us a little one." He said, picking up Brooks bridal style before carrying her over to the trunk. He waited for Gareth and his people to pull out the dead body, before he shoved Brooks in the back. She was too weak to start fighting, and besides, she hit her head again.

/----------\

The first thing Brooks noted was the blinding white light. The white light that hurt her head like hell. She groaned, and screwed her eyes shut again. "Ain't no way I made it to Heaven." She murmured, grabbing onto her throbbing head, as she felt a needle moving in her arm. She also realised her glasses were now gone from her face. Brooks cringed at the needle in her arm, before she was distracted by comfort. A soft bed was beneath her, and for a moment, she believed she was back at the prison.

"Brooks?" The soft, recognisable voice asked. Brooks had known that voice for three years.

Dropping her arm, she forced her eyes open and turned to the left. Beth, sat beside her, smiling widely with a large, thick cut going across her left cheek. "Beth?" Brooks breathed out, shock going through her veins.

"Oh, thank God!" Beth let out, quickly making it onto the bed to hug the smaller girl. Brooks let a smile grow on her face as she hugged her friend back, who she assumed to be dead, despite what the others had said. "What happened?" Beth asked, pulling back and cupping Brooks' cheeks.

Brooks didn't answer straight away, the first thing she noticed was a blood bag hooked up to her arm, and it was nearly empty. Beside that bag, was one filled with a clear solution, both of which were pouring into her veins drop by drop. "Uh- uh- I don't... Oh, I saw them. The cannibals, they had Bob... But, they were goin' back to the church."

"Church? Bob?" Beth repeated, scanning Brooks' eyes.

"Uh huh." Brooks nodded, looking to the blonde girl. "Wait, you don't seem surprised by the cannibals?"

Beth shook her head. "Dawn told me 'bout them. We sell them our dead in exchange for live bodies. People to work here as the wards. We just lost Noah, so I guess they needed somebody else. They had communication set up with a place called Term... Term... Uh."