Lottie

The Rescue

"Please, let me go!" Lottie screamed

"Not with that attitude" A man with a large scar across his face chuckled.

Surrounding Lottie were six tall men, all armed with assault-rifles. They had tied Lottie, standing, to a tree with a thick rope that pressed against her chest and stomach, her hands were bound in front of her and her ankles were roped together too.

"You know the rules Lottie, you stay, no one can leave knowing where we are" Said the tallest man.

"Then just kill me, get it over with" Lottie pleaded with them, losing energy she relied on the ropes around her to keep her standing.

All the men laughed. She knew they wouldn't kill her, they needed every person they could get back at their base. While a couple men took out some walkers behind them, the tallest man, who was clearly the one in charge, walked toward Lottie with his gun raised.

"You thought that you could run out here, there's nothing out here girl you wouldn't have lasted any longer if we hadn't found you. You should thank us." He demanded

Lottie felt relieved, they hadn't found that house that the little boy had pointed to. She just stared at the man in front of her with her tear stained face. As she didn't reply to the man in charge, another man stepped forward and struck her hard across the face. Lottie let out a small scream in pain, she looked at the floor as tears poured from her eyes.

It was then, as Lottie slowly raised her head, she noticed shadows behind the group of men. She heard no walker moans and was certain walkers couldn't carry weapons. She tried to convince herself she was seeing things but then, a deep voiced man with a revolver stepped out of the shadows, followed by another man with shoulder-length hair and a cross bow who was followed by a group of even more people armed with an assortment of weapons all raised at her captors.

"How about," The man with the revolver said slowly "you leave her alone."

The smallest of the captors backed off from this man "I thought we were alone out here boss," he said talking to the tallest captor "you said there weren't nothing out here Max"

"Shut it Greg!" Max, the tallest captor, snapped back. He walked towards the man with the revolver, gun raised back. "This ain't your business, go back to wherever you came from"

"Nice to meet you Max, the names Rick" He said as he held his revolver towards Max's head. "She's with us now, so either you let her go or we kill all of you"

The scar-faced captor chuckled and walked towards Rick with his gun aimed, the man with the crossbow rounded on him in a split second touching the bow against his head.

"You make any kind of move, you die" He said

With the night in almost darkness, the six captors desperately wanted to get back to their base. Lottie knew how far they were. She looked desperately at the new strangers who had come to her rescue.

"Cut her down Daryl" Rick instructed to the man with the crossbow.

Daryl walked forward and pulled a knife from inside his black jeans. He gave Lottie a sympathetic smile, as he did one of the captors ran to stand in front of him.

"She's ours, get your own" The man said "Oh it looks like you do," He nodded towards the three women stood behind Rick. "Don't be greedy now"

"I wouldn't stop him," Rick said calmly "We outnumber you, that girl is coming with us and you will all die" He seemed to grow angry after looking at Lottie. He looked at Daryl and nodded towards the blood in between Lotties legs.

Darly snapped. Daryl headbutted the man in front of him and he fell to the floor, Rick pushed the barrel of his gun against Max's head and everyone behind him pointed their weapons at the captors.

"Daryl, I said cut her down!" Rick demanded.

Daryl stepped over the now crying man "Pathetic" he whispered to him.

"Maggie, Lori, Carol, come help her now!" Daryl shouted to the three women. They rushed towards Lottie, holding her up as Daryl cut the ropes and she fell into their arms. Lottie was silent, sobbing, in complete disbelief. They walked her behind Rick, and Daryl stood next to him, crossbow aimed.

"We'll kill you for this!" Max shouted and reached back for his gun.

Bang.

Rick pulled his trigger. Daryl shot his arrow and all the others shot at the captors and all of them fell to the floor, silent.

Lottie couldn't believe that her captors were now dead and couldn't hurt her anymore. She was overwhelmed still with fear but now happiness. She clung onto Maggie and Lori's arms having gone dizzy. Her legs buckled under her, her vision went blank and the sound became muted.

Maggie lay her on the floor, checked her pulse and breathing.

"She fainted," Maggie said "We have to get her back to dad!"

Daryl angrily pointed towards the blood inside of her legs, "They did that to her? They hurt her like that, they...they?"

Maggie nodded, "Daryl, they used her body, they abused her like that, that's why they spoke to us like they did, like we were slaves that's how they saw her. I can't imagine the abuse this poor girl has gone through, not only did they do that to her but all these other injuries, they're terrible."

"She's safe now" Daryl walked forwards and picked Lottie up, "Run ahead, get your dad and get ready"

Maggie and the other women ran ahead, the men including Daryl and Lottie walked behind.