Carl left Rowen's side what felt like hours ago to help the others create makeshift weapons to 'defend themselves.' Even if Rowen wanted to help, her head was pounding like her dad's after a five-day bender. Daryl had been explaining to Maggie what happened to Beth just moments ago, and now he was announcing the arrival of four Terminus members.
Rowen stayed tucked away in the dark corner of the dilapidated train car. As the footsteps grew nearer, Everyone who had been forced into the old car just days prior made a human wall in front of the door, Carl subconsciously hanging back to stand in front of the redhead.
"Put your backs to the wall on either side of the car now." a man spoke from outside, but nobody moved.
Rowen heard the steps above them before anyone else and as the hatch at the top of the car opened, dropping a canister of some kind inside, Abraham, as Carl had told her, screamed for everyone to move.
Rowen's head was hit against the wall as Carl fell on top of her in his rush to get as far away from the gas as possible. She thought her head had hurt before, but now the splitting pain in her head had increased tenfold.
Before the girl knew it her consciousness was fading just like before, except this time it held no pain. This time she welcomed the peace of unconsciousness as black began to dominate her vision.
☆
When Rowen gained awareness, the scene was almost identical to the first time she woke in the old wooden car. Rowen was slumped against the same wall as before, the same boy in a cowboy hat sat next to her. Except one key detail had changed, nobody surrounding the two teenagers were rushing about, making weapons. Everyone in the car sat defeated. The group ahead missing three essential members.
"Where's Daryl?" Once again the girl's voice came out hoarse and gravelly, so unlike the usual sound emitted from the girl.
"They took him, and my dad, and Glenn." The boy spoke from beside her, she stopped herself from repeating her initial mistake of turning her head too quickly, opting to turn it slowly in favor of the boy instead.
"Took them?" she asked.
"They dropped gas into the car and then they took them, they're probably already dead." Rowen didn't miss the way that the boy beside her dropped his head, or wiped his eyes.
Not long after the boy spoke, a loud boom could be heard ricocheting off of every wall around them, everyone stood quickly, including the boy who was sitting next to her.
"What the hell is goin' on?" Abraham spoke.
"Someone hit them." Michonne.
"Maybe our people got free?" Sasha.
"Excuse me." Eugene pushed past Sasha and Tara using the discarded gas canister to begin prying at the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita snapped at the man.
"I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door," Eugene explained, as the older members of the group began arguing over Eugene's excessive explanation about a door.
Carl helped the girl up, holding her steady as black spots danced throughout her vision.
"Hey," Carl spoke up "My dad's gonna be back." he nodded while he helped the girl stand. "They all are." he finished.
Maggie agreed with the boy's statement, before continuing to saw off pieces of wood with her father's old pocket watch. As gunshots rained down all around the train car, Carl stayed with Rowen, clutching her small pocket knife in one hand and the girl herself in the other.
At the sound of the door, creaking open Carl gasped, pulling Rowen towards the door as fast as he could with her added weight.
"Come on! Fight to the fence!" Rick gelled as he rained fire down on the hundreds of walkers milling around the train car. Rowen's weight was shifted off of Carl and onto Daryl's back as he carried her through the herd of walkers, fighting as he went.
Between the incessant ringing in her ears, the pounding in her head, and the yells of her group members around her, Rowen couldn't think straight.
Rowen, with the help of Daryl and Abraham, made it over onto the opposite side of the fence. If Rosita hadn't been there to catch the small girl, it would have taken every group member to peel her from the ground, because once she laid down, Rowen wasn't getting back up for at least a week.
Rowen couldn't be bothered to listen to the conversation around her as she sat, slumped against a tree while Rick dug up the bag of supplies that they had previously buried.
Her attention was drawn back to the group in front of her once Daryl ran, he ran, slamming into Carol, a woman Rowen hadn't seen since well before the fall of the prison.
Everyone moved towards the duo that were now hugging, but Rowen stayed rooted to the tree, the only members who stayed behind were the newcomers, the people who had never met Carol.
As Carol separated from Rick, sharing a quick word with him, the entire group was moving now. No matter how much Rowen had protested, Glenn picked the small girl up and drug her along with the rest of the group.
Rowen watched as Tyresse stepped from the small cabin in the woods, holding Judith, Rowen smiled as the father and son rushed to her, picking her up and smothering her in hugs and kisses.
Rowen watched as Sasha and Juno ran towards Tyresse, hugging each other and crying, Rowen's eyes moved to the next person, a person she never thought she'd see again. A person she hadn't seen since long before the fall
Her previous smile dropped.
"Ro-"
"Mom?"
✰ Don't hate me but this isn't proofread or edited and it's only 1000 words AND I wrote it on my phone so I could get another chapter out... anyways I wanna clear a few things up that I didn't IN the chapter Aliyah was with the group at Terminus, but wasn't mentioned because she came with Maggie's group and was also knocked out by the Terminus group but didn't wake up until Carol blew the place up. Juno as you might be able to guess is Tyresse's daughter, she's not a super big part in the story until later in this book/book 2 but she is still there. I'm sorry it's so short but I really wanted to give you all another chapter while I can.
Don't forget to comment, and vote !
[EDITED]
-Sadie⭐️
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