Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Sixty-Eight: A Queen

I looked around the fire at all of the faces laughing and joking. I felt so out of place here, but I was trying to enjoy myself. But I actually just wanted to jump in the fire.
The men were joking about all of the women they had conquered while all of the women were joking about the men they had killed. These people were savages to say the least. And I was very close to finding out just how savage they really were.

I ran my finger across the glass of water in my hand. I was curious about how they even obtained glasses or plates. My group hardly had that luxury. Our hands were our plates. But I guess theft gets you everything you want.

"A toast," a female said as she slowly raised her glass.
"What're we toastin' to?" the man next to her asked with confusion. I knew there was alcohol in his glass just by how he was speaking.

"Our victory," the woman said as if the man was completely stupid. Alcohol will do that to you. I wasn't sure what kind of victory they had, but I knew it wasn't good. I could feel in my bones that something terrible was coming. And I had never been more correct.
"You should eat," Owen said as he motioned to the plate in front of me. He was right. I did need to eat. But after coming in contact with a group of cannibals...you just don't trust food anymore.

"I'm not really hungry," I lied as I looked over at him. I was actually starving, but I didn't trust any of this. I just knew something was coming.

My eyes slowly drifted to the woods. An awful presence was coming from it that only I could feel. Somebody or something was there. I knew that we were being watched. I had hoped it was Daryl, but I knew it wasn't. Whatever this was was nothing but evil. I slowly chewed on my bottom lip as I continued staring into the darkness.

"I'd like to make a toast," Owen purred as he slowly stood up. I quickly looked back to him when he spoke. I wanted to say something about what I was feeling, but interrupting these people seemed like a terrible idea. "To Elizabeth."

The bad feeling continued to grow as he spoke my name. I wasn't sure why they were toasting to me. I really hadn't done anything but use their medical supplies.
"To Elizabeth," the others mumbled with annoyance. Owen looked down at me for a moment before he parted his lips to continue his little speech.

"She's going to make a great leader here. I can feel it," Owen continued as the others began looking at me. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat just as I tried to swallow his words.

"What?" I asked with fear. I didn't want to be a leader here. I wanted to leave and find the others. These people weren't the kind that I wanted to be mixed up with. Owen slowly looked away from the others as his eyes moved down to me.
Just the look he was giving me made me feel sick.

"Every wolf needs his mate," he replied, chilling me to the bone. My heart literally dropped into my stomach with these words. Obviously he was getting the wrong idea. That or he was crazy as fuck. It was probably a little bit of both.
"No," I quickly said as I stood up from where I was sitting. "I'm not going to be anyones mate or anyones leader. It's time for me to go."

They all watched me walk away from the fire in silence before I heard Owen whisper something. The whisper was followed by rapid footsteps approaching me. I should've ran before they even had time to get near me, but I couldn't. My body was still far too sore to take off running. I felt two pairs of arms grab me from behind. I tried to scream, but they covered my mouth. They began dragging me back to where the others were. I wasn't able to shift my body to escape their grasp. If I did, I would rip my stitches. I was powerless regardless of what happened.

"Let's try that again," Owen said in an angry tone as the two men forced me to look at him. I began panting harder and harder as Owen continued looking at me. "You're staying here. You aren't going to leave."

"Fuck you," I tried to scream through the hands covering my mouth. I could tell that Owen was getting very frustrated with how I was speaking. He motioned for the others to hold me down on the table near the fire. They did as they were told. "Put her on her stomach."

I heard everybody suddenly cheer at the sight of this. Violence pleased them all. They all gathered around as the two men forced me on my stomach. I tried to get away. I really did. But my wound was already bleeding from my desperate attempts to escape. Anymore struggling would rip it open.
"Pull her shirt up," Owen mumbled, causing everybody to cheer even louder. Though I tried to stop them, they yanked my shirt up to reveal my bare back along with the other side of my wound. I began panting violently as they did this. I let out a scream, but it was drowned out by the cheers of the wolves.

I heard a pocket knife click open and I felt my heart stop for a few moments.
"I'm going to make sure nobody ever wants you again."

"Please," I begged as I felt the sharp tip of the knife touch my lower back. "Please don't do this."
I heard one of the men holding me down let out a laugh at the sight of my fear. There was nothing funny about this. If Daryl could see me now..

"Relax, Owen scoffed as he brushed my hair a bit. I flinched at his touch but he didn't seem very phased about it. "I'm not going to kill you."

Everybody went completely silent at his words. It was as if they were disappointed with the fact that he wasn't going to kill me. I partially wished he would just do it.

"I'm just gonna hurt you," Owen spoke as the knife pressed harder into my back. "A lot."

The feeling of the knife slicing my skin was too much for me to handle in my condition. The sounds of the cheers slowly faded out along with my vision. I allowed myself to pass out.
I just wish I would've stayed that way.