"How many walkers have you killed?"
"Must be a couple hundred at this point"
"How many people have you killed?"
"Just...two"
"Why?"
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These are the three questions Salem, a 15 year old girl surviving on her own in the a...
I love this pic it fits so well with this chapter ✋ ______________________________
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Salem slept in her own cell that night for the first time in days, if you could call it sleeping, it was mostly just her fluttering in and out of sleep for 6 hours staring at her wall. Carl felt cold without her warmth beneath him, he didn't sleep much either.
That day was spent preparing everyone for that nights "mission," "ambush," or whatever you could call it. "Massacre," is probably the more appropriate definition.
The plan was set, once the sun set the whole group would pull up far away from the factory as to not be seen, Salem and Daryl would be posted up in the trees, sniping from above while the rest stormed on foot. Everyone knew the plan, some people in the prison disagreed with killing folk in their own homes, but anyone who had a shrewd of information on the Rattlers knew they didn't deserve mercy.
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As night approaches, Salem sits on her bed, legs hanging off the side. She's fidgeting with her knife in one hand while the other rests on her knee. She's lost in thought staring at the wall when her trance is interrupted by Carl walking in.
"Salem?" He asks cautiously.
"Hmm?" She breaks her gaze from the wall to look at him.
"Rick says we're leaving soon, you ready?" Carl asks from the doorway, hostile to enter.
"Oh, uh..yeah lemme just grab a few things," Salem nods as she stands up from her bed.
"Alright," Carl nods a bit, almost whispering.
Salem slides her knife in its holster and pulls her army jacket over her gray sweatshirt while Carl watches as he picks at his fingers. Slinging her backpack over her shoulders she notices Carl still standing at her cells entrance.
"Everything okay?" She questions in a confused rather than concerned tone.
"What are you planning to do tonight?" Carls eyes meet hers as he stands up straight.
"What do you mean?" Salem narrows her eyes.
"To Axel. I know we all want him dead, but I'm worried about you possibly pushing yourself too far. I've seen it before, in my dad. I saw him differently after that."
Salem keeps her brows furrowed and crosses her arms. "I can handle myself. What I'm going to do to Axel is no one else's business. I don't need a babysitter, this is the apocalypse, shitty things happen. Shitty things out of our control, grow up," Salem rolls her eyes and storms out of her cell.
Carl sighs and looks at the floor before leaving the cell and following in Salems direction. ______________________________
"We all know the plan to a T, we ready to roll out?" Rick addresses the group. A murmur of agreements are heard. "Alright, let's go," Rick waves his hand to signal everyone to get into their cars/and or motorcycle.
Carl offers Salem a seat next to him but she offers to ride with Daryl instead. Carl frowns as he watches her ride off.
"Why ain't you riding with your boyfriend?" Daryl questions, both hands firmly on the handles of the motorcycle.
"I dunno, I guess I just need to be alone with my thoughts, prepare myself, and you talk less," Salem nudges his side, making him smile.
Salem turns her head and observes the two other large cars lugging behind her, thinking about how she snubbed Carl. She knew she had been acting coldly towards him, she was doing it on purpose. Remember that bit in the beginning about Salem always feeling grief just behind her? Yeah well lately it's been feeling much closer.
Salems a mess, she's destructive. She knows this, which is why she wants to push Carl away before he finds out how deep this pool goes, before she causes him more pain in his already fucked up life. "A liability," Salems thoughts rang out constantly.
She grimaces at her own mind before turning back to face forward, leaning her heavy head on Daryl's back a bit.
Maybe if she does what she needs to do to Axel, it'll all be better? She'll be better? How can she fix this? What's broken? Can she fix what's been broken if she doesn't know what it is? Maybe there's no fixing this.
Salem feels her heartbeat pumping in her skull as her head lays on Daryl's leather bound back. Is this really what she wants for herself? No time to answer that, she doesn't want to be a liability anymore. This much she's sure of, which is how she knows what she needs to do.
The small army pulls up to the familiar dirt path and park far enough away from the factory as to not be seen or heard.
"You ready kid?" Daryl questions as he switches off the ignition and flips the brake.
"Fuck yeah." ______________________________
I'm SO SORRY it's been so long! Ik I said this chapter would be Armageddon but I knew it would take even longer if I made this all into one chapter so I'm giving you the beginning of Armageddon (only like 900 words) as Liability and Armageddon will now be next chapter. Sorry if you don't like this one lol. school sucks, brain is cloudy, this is what I wrote 😂 I LOVE YOU SEEYA BABE 💋❤️
