A teenage girl by the name of Ayla Meadows is held against her will and experimented on by a crazed scientist. Although she manages to escape the horrors with the help of a sheriff and his group, she is forever haunted by the memories of her torture...
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"You survived; I survived. We're together again. I once begged the gods to let me see you - if only for a moment. To see you and know you'd made it. Just once; that was all I ever hoped for." - Sarah J. Mass
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"Carl."
Ayla's entire body trembles as she stares at the boy in front of her, his face mirroring her own look of shock. The situation she's in becomes a blur to her as her entire focus becomes solely on the boy, and the boy alone. With delicate care she scans his body, committing all of his features to memory as if expecting him to slip away again.
As her eyes sweep across him, it becomes very clear to her that he is no longer the scrawny boy she used to know. Over the near fourteen months they'd been apart, his physique had changed drastically. His hair had grown out, his face had lost its childishness, and his newly acquired muscles strain against the fabric of his shirt. It was clear that puberty had hit him, and hit him hard at that.
There is an older man keeping his arms behind his back in what looks to be a very painful way and a flare of rage flits through her as she watches Carl struggle against him. The boy's eyes are crazed as he takes Ayla in, sweeping over every inch of her body in disbelief.
She can understand why.
Carl had watched her die. He had been there when she was bit, watched as the walkers swarmed her, and experienced her absence throughout the past year. In his reality, she had been dead for a very long time. He had probably grieved and mourned her before moving on eventually. At least, that's what Ayla thought he would do. In all of the fantasies she'd undergone of their reunion, Carl had always been happy to see her, but never in her wildest dreams had she pictured he'd be like this.
"Ayla?" He breathes out her name in pure disbelief, bewilderment clear in his voice and his breathing erratic. His eyes never leave her face the entire time. "You're...here... how are you..." His words are slow and unsure, as if expecting it to all be some sort of trick.
Ayla's eyes well with tears as she takes Carl in and every single sentence she yearns to say remains lodged in her throat. All she can do is whisper, "I found you." as her racing mind tries to catch up with the situation at hand.
At the sound of her voice again, something clicks inside of Carl. He begins to violently thrash against the man restraining him in an attempt to get towards her. The man fights back but it doesn't deter Carl as he tries to get closer to her as if it is the thing he needs most in the entire world. Her own fingers itch towards him in a need to feel his touch but she manages to hold back before the situation escalates any further. Her eyes meet Carl's desperate ones once more and she gives him a small shake of her head.
