Torn Apart • TWD

Chapter 12 - fight or flight

Once the woman can no longer hear the child's feet bouncing on the dirt, she frees her eyes from the darkness and searches her surroundings. She waits in silence to be sure the girl is truly gone before calling out, "Rick?"

Boots begin stomping on the ground, revealing Rick and Daryl to the woman, they were far enough to hear any loud noises, but since the child and woman were conversing in a normal tone they didn't catch what was being said, and Maggie was thankful of that.

Rick doesn't need to know the details of his wife's death that the girl was sharing.

"She gone?" Daryl asks while observing the trees, the man has a sceptical feeling run up his spine.

"Told me to wait here," the woman points over her shoulder in the direction she heard the child walk in.

"I ain't taking any chances with this kid," the hunter grunts, taking the rifle off his back that had to substitute as his weapon considering his crossbow was in the hands of who he had dubbed a little shit.

The trio with Rick, who is barely holding himself back from running after the girl and to his baby, is leading the way while Maggie looks around for a clue to where the child has been living, and Daryl, who is searching for something a little more nefarious.

"Hold up, there were warning signs up about a mile back," the man motions with his head.

"Could be a trick to scare people off," Rick dismisses, not in the right state of mind to thoroughly think of it.

"Could be," the hunter murmurs, his eyes not staying on one place for too long. There had to be a reason the girl had made Maggie stay in this spot for a reason, especially since she had to of known she wouldn't stay.

"Wait," thinking of how the girl had first introduced herself to him, he outstretches an arm to make his companions halt.

"What is it?" Maggie asks while looking curiously at the man.

"The girl had caught me by surprise with a trap, 's how she got my crossbow."

"You think there are more?" Rick begins to backtrack, inspecting the tall trees looming over them.

"Only reason I think she would leave her alone," Daryl gestures to Maggie while he begins taking cautious steps, occasionally throwing a rock at the ground before stepping on it, "Could have a trap kill Maggie and say it was her own fault since she said not to move."

"You really think a little girl could do that?" Daryl deadpans at Rick while pointing to his arm that the 'little girl' had shot an arrow into.

As Rick is distracted by his thoughts, his legs get caught on a large branch sitting on the floor, but before he can tumble to the ground Daryl grasps the back of his shirt with one hand, and points towards the sharp metal spikes that would have impaled Rick's neck with the other.

"Yeah, I think a little girl could do that," he huffs and lets Rick go once he is stable, Maggie puts a hand over her mouth when she sees the spikes, shocked at what the world had turned this child into.

Everyone has frozen in their spot, not wanting to take a wrong step and end up with a spear going through their heads.

"Stand where I stand," Daryl orders and the two line up behind him without complaint.

Tessa had left Maggie right before the most deadly of her traps, all of them capable of killing a person in seconds. Daryl's theory was right in that she had hoped Maggie would venture in and die, leaving the child relatively blameless.

The hunter had spotted three more traps, each as lethal as the last, he had pointed the individual traps out and left his companions with a nauseous feeling. What has this child gone through that she took this many precautions against people?