Complicated ✔

Ch. 75 - Finding others

DARYL'S POV

"Stay back a few steps when we get closer to them," I said glancing to Kat as I pulled my crossbow from off my shoulders and held it in one hand, "don't know what's going to happen up here. And I don't wanna see you get hurt after finally getting you back." I watched as she looked up to me and silently nodded. There were times when she wasn't a stubborn red head, and I was glad that this was one of those times. Looking back ahead of us, I made my way closer as the talking got louder. When the group came into sight, I had to hold my arm out to keep Kat from running towards them the second I heard her gasp.

I sped up my walking to get into everyone's sight when I heard Joe counting down with a gun to Rick's head. "Joe," I shout out as I effectively cause him to stop counting, "hold up." I took a few steps closer, Kat staying behind me when I glanced at her. Looking back at the scene before me, I watched Rick's face when he saw his daughter walking behind me. I tried to talk Joe out of attacking my people, my friends from before. I glanced back to see three of the others, Len included, moving around behind Kat and me and it didn't go unnoticed by her. "You want blood," I said looking back to Joe as I sat my crossbow down on the ground, "I get that. Take it from me, and let them go."

KATHRYN'S POV

I watched silently as Daryl tried to talk Joe out of this, but things quickly went to hell when two men jumped Daryl, Michonne started fighting with one, Dad was fighting with Joe, one man had Carl, and then Len decided he was going to go straight for me. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with Len over me as he straddled my waist and attempted to rid me of my jeans. I knew I was screaming, I could feel my throat going raw from it but I couldn't hear anything as I tried to fight Len off of me. My complete focus was on the man on top of me, and time seemed to go both in slow motion and in fast forward. One minute, I knew Len was on top of me, and the next I felt him lifted off of me.

Rolling away from where I had been, my jeans unbottoned and unzipped, I jumped to my feet and found myself leaning against the truck that had been near my Dad and Michonne before the fighting started. I was breathing heavily as I fought off the memories of back at the farm when Shane tried to rape me in the barn. "Kat calm down," I faintly heard Daryl's voice before I felt him wrap his arms tightly around me as he held me, "he ain't here! Shane won't ever be able to hurt you again!" Even not being in my head, Daryl knew exactly what was bothering me with what had just happened.

DARYL'S POV

By the time the sun had rose over us, Kat was in the truck with her brother and Michonne. She was still shooken up but she was doing much better at the moment. Rick was sitting up at the front driver side tire when I walked back up to him with a bottle of water from a creak I'd found in the woods. Pulling out my rag, I poured a little bit of water onto the rag and went to hand it to him when he tried to stop me. "We should save that water," he said looking up at me. He looked like he was tired, and he probably was after what had just happened. "You can't see yourself Rick," I said still holding it out for him, "Kat and Carl can."

He took the rag from me and held it in his hands for a moment before slowly beginning to clean his face of the blood that had belonged to Joe. "How long," Rick asked suddenly, causing me to look over at him. I think he saw the confusion on my face before he decided to clearify. "You and Kathryn," he said looking away and continuing to clean his face, "how long." "Since the farm fell," I said looking away. I knew Kat had to be listening to us from inside the truck. "How'd you end up with those men," he asked after a few minutes, "how'd Kathryn end up with them?"

KATHRYN'S POV

I sat between Michonne and Carl in the truck, Carl's head on my lap with my head on Michonne's shoulder. I could feel Michonne shift slightly at the mention of me and Daryl, but I kept my head turned so that she couldn't see that my eyes were open as I stared where I could heard Dad's and Daryl's voices coming from. Daryl told Dad about me and him, and soon the conversation changed to how the two of us ended up with Joe and the Claimers. I was playing with Carl's hair, so I knew that she could tell I was awake, just wasn't saying anything about what was being discussed outside the car. When the car door opened beside us, Carl and I sat up to look and see Dad standing there. "We're moving on to Terminus," he said before turning and walking off.

Ooh Rick knows! I think poor Daryl nearly had a heart attack when Rick asked, don't you?
- Kenz