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Twisting the cap off her half empty bottle, Maya stopped her journey at a tree positioned in the middle of the forest. She had walked for what seemed like miles. Not far enough though, from the hell hole she once called home.
The sanctuary was practically a big prison, not just it's cold, entrapping looks, but the fact Maya was stuck there, whether she liked it or not. Not anymore though, she had finally worked up the courage to run. She ran away from the Sanctuary, her dad, her past, and all the trauma that came with it.
Putting the bottle back in her bag, she urged the continue walking. She was high on alert, after all anything could be hiding in the woods, waiting to pounce on her. Biters, of course, but worse, people.
People were the most dangerous thing in this new world now. There was no law, no rules, people could do whatever they wanted to you and get away with it.
No biters in sight, Maya relaxed and took a breath of composure. Or did she speak to soon?
She heard chattering from far away. Shit. Had her dad sent saviours after her? She span in every direction, searching for the source, when she couldn't quite see it, she climbed up the tree she had been leaning against.
Maya was quite lean, flexible, she was still young of course, so it was no struggle to hoist herself far up the tree and cling to a large sturdy branch she sat on. She hoped she was high up enough for whoever was down there to not realise her presence.
"I mean, she can't have gotten far, apparently she's young." A man with curly hair and a beard said to the woman next to him. She had dark dreadlocks laid over her shoulders, and a what looked like a katana swung over her back. They had to be talking about her. This was sure as hell not ideal.
"Rick if we find this girl, we don't know what will happen to her." The woman said reluctantly.
"They have Daryl." The man who spokes name was Rick. Maya kept that information in her head for later. "He will die if we don't get her."
Maya was beyond confused, her dad had always been rather unfair to those who worked for him, abusing his power to force them to do his bidding. It was part of the reason she left. But these guys weren't saviours, she'd never seen them before.
As the two people below Maya looked around, she held her breath, reluctant to make any noise. They must be trackers, surely. How else could they have found her, she was minimal with her steps, she made sure nobody was following her every now and then.
The beating in her chest came to a halt when the woman looked up to Maya. She looked back down at her, unable to move, or explain herself. She panicked. Maya grabbed the gun out of the back of her waist band, fumbling it in her hands. Her shakiness caused her to drop it on the ground. Of course. Her last chance of hope plummeted down from her spot on the tree branch.
