I Could Just Eat You Up {A "The Crafting Dead" Fanfiction}

Chapter One; My Advantage

**If you haven't watched/caught up with The Crafting Dead OR The Walking Dead, this won't make sense and will reveal spoilers. Read at your own risk! (I combined the two series for inspiration) But not everything is to exact likeness. I wanted to be somewhat original and not spoil too much for people who read anyway**

It had been 2 weeks since Red, the scarlet, hooded, villan, and his men had captured me. I wasn't being tortured or starved, but I missed the comfort of my home and my friends like any would... maybe 10× more considering our new circunstances. I was locked away in a cell among their other prisoners. I didn't know how many there were, but from my auditory resources I could hear at least 3 unfamiliar voices. but, everday, one left, and another came to take their place, and I feared for my turn.
I didn't know what happened to these people. Whether they were set free, tortured, or killed, and I wasn't ready to become one of them and find out. I did as I was told; ate, kept my mouth shut, tidied up, and slept. From what I knew, we were all the same, us prisoners; people just trying to survive, and making supply runs at the wrong time.
When I was snatched, I was looting a line of cars that must've been abandoned during the napalm bombing of the downtown area. I found good supplies, and couldn't wait to return back to my group with what I had found; a box of bandages, over-the-counter pain killers, and clothing. I was surprised I had found so much for us at such a late date in our new reality. We had almost twenty of us running around together, in two big RV's we had looted from a parking garage just outside of town. It was nice to be able to drive through with those things. We all stayed protected, for the most part.
I didn't know anyone when I first joined the group. I lived in Seaport by myself; I had moved for college. My family stayed back in Georgia, and when this plague started, I cursed myself for ever moving away. Who knows where they were now. I thought about them everyday, I assumed they were still alive and out surviving, because I didn't want to tell myself that they were gone and I didn't properly say goodbye.
Myself, another girl named Beth, with somehow-still perfect blonde hair, and two guys with the names Shark, a tall, skinny, pale fellow, and my brother, Nick, were the ones who made most of the runs. We were young, strong, and quick on our feet. We were always successful with getting back with a load of supplies, and had we not been stopped we would've brought back the biggest and most relieving load back yet. We'd been together for about 6 months now and everything was hard to scavenge. Again, I felt so lucky to find what we did, and now I curse myself for not thinking it was too good to be true.
We all make mistakes, and my biggest one was was made during our run. I trailed off from the group when I spotted a whole line of cars, which looked stuffed even from a distance. I approached them and noticed all the usefulness we could get out of them; I found tons of things we could use, and got so excited. I had called out to Beth, Nick, and Shark, but they were too far away from me to hear. I started back into the woods where I had left them, but was ordered to stop before I met the tree line.

"Take one more step and you're dead," The voice ordered.

I soon overheard his name was Red, and his men confiscated my belongings and threw me in this cold cell, and haven't left since. All I was used to seeing these long two weeks were my cot and a makeshift toilet. I hadn't seen any sunlight or moonlight since I got here, and only heard screams of pain and shouts of demands.
The food was awful, not that I expected it to be anything special. We were given junk food everyday, and all it did was upset my stomach. If I had imagined being a hostage, I wouldn't expect piles of junk food three times a day. After a few days, I stopped eating for the most part. I'd take a couple bites and toss the rest into the toilet hole. I felt weird everytime I ate, and always feared I was being poisoned or something along those lines. When you're trapped and kept as a hostage, what else are you to think?

"It's a good thing you're not eating," A voice said.

I sat up and looked into the cell beside me. The bars in the window hole kept us from being able to see each other clearly.

"Why's that?" I asked. "I'd be stronger if I ate this junk rather than not eat at all," I said.

"If you ate that, you'd end up dead," The guy said.

"What do you mean? Is it poisoned?" I asked, glancing over at the tray, beginning to think my suspicions were correct.

"No, no. But see how it's all junk food? They give you that as your only food option to fatten you up," He said.

"What's the use in that? Throw us to the walkers? To be torn apart?" I questioned, my own words sending shivers through my body.

"To eat you, themselves," He said, causing me to gasp.

"What? How do you know that?" I asked.

"I've been captured before. I did the same as you, didn't eat because I just didnt feel like it. But my friend, Randall, he was so excited to see food again. He fell for it," He said, his voice cracking. "They killed him and cooked him up. Tried to feed him to me," He said, turning his head away.

"I'm sorry," I said, watching him through the bars.

"He was stupid anyway,"

"I-I'm Hayden," I said.

"Nice to meet you, Hayden. I'm Corl,"

"When'd you get here, Corl?"

"Last night. My buddy, Sub and I were out scavenging when they caught us. He's somewhere in here," He said.

"Sub? Are you in here?" I called out in a harsh whisper.

"That's no use, He's mute. When we got here, he wouldn't stop arguing with Red, so he just cut his tongue out," Corl told me.

"Oh," I said, slouching back onto my bed.

We jumped when we heard the doors opening. Four men escorted Red inside, standing guard at the door as he walked up and down the cells. He pointed in to one, two of the guards removing the man and taking him out. Corl and I glanced at each other, partly wondering if it was Sub, and getting upset as we knew where he was being taken.
Red's footsteps made goosebumps cover my arms. I sunk back against the wall of my cell and tucked my legs into my chest as the thumps grew louder. His boots stopped in front of my cell, but I was too afraid to look up at him.

"You shouldn't let that food go to waste, darling," He said in a deep, sinister voice.

"I-I'm not very hu-"

"Look at me when you speak to me!" He yelled.

I took a deep breath before slowly raising my eyes to meet his. I was shocked to see his face. He didn't look like the crazy type; no batshit look in his eyes, no scars, not even a single piece of tosseled hair. It must've all gotten to his head when the world turned, for he looked so young, like he used to be sweet and fragile not too long ago.

"I'm not very hungry," I said, choking back a stutter, but gaining a bit of confidence as I assessed his look.

"You will be soon enough. Luckily, I have the time to wait," He smirked, before turning around and being escorted back out.

I stayed still as I watched him exit. He didn't look as intimidating in the face as he did as a silhouette. But, I wasn't going to let that blur my hatred for him. As soon as he left, Corl's words flooded my head, and I knew i couldn't let myself end up like that.. I had too many people back at my camp counting on me. I had to make it out.

"I think he's grown a liking for you," Corl teased, but kept a straight face.

"I don't mind that," I said.

"Why not? You could be snatched any second and thrown into a pot," He scoffed.

"Or, I could use it to my advantage," I smirked.

**Okay YAY. I'm so excited for the next chapter of this book. I'm obsessed with both the Crafting Dead and the Walking Dead, so this'll be really fun for me to write. I decided to make this into its own fanfic, so I changed it from Red×Reader and the main characters name is Hayden. I might change the name. Let me know if I should keep it or change it!**