Chapter Text
Joel knows these aren’t good people, and to be perfectly honest, he knows he’s not exactly a good person either, but when that girl’s wide, scared eyes meet his, it feels like a lightning bolt hit him in the chest. She scrambles backwards in the cage, once used as storage for the old building, but now apparently holds a prisoner. A captive? A hostage? Shit, he doesn’t know what the hell this is. His stunned silence seems to make his business associate uneasy. “Well, what do ya think?” He looks at Joel like he’s the last one to get a bad joke. Still unsure of the current situations he’s found himself in, Joel puts on a face that tells this senseless idiot he’s not one to fuck around with “About what, exactly”.
“Her!” his arms flail out towards the cage like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “We took down a group traveling nearby and brought this one back with us. Thought she might come in handy”. He explains this like he just got caught filling top shelf bottles with bottom shelf booze. No big deal. Joel just stares at him, still with that disappointed principal look on his face. “Well, you want her? Pills for pussy?” He’s entertained by himself and just about elbows at Joel before thinking better of it.
“Are you telling me you don’t got my fucking battery?” The guy takes a step back, thinking distance and safety are the same thing. “Yeah, I got it! I just thought I’d give ya first go for a little extra something, no need to get hostile” He pronounces it like crocodile. Fitting, his mouth is full of about a hundred too many teeth, all brown at the edges from decades of chewing tobacco. “Tell ya what, brother. I’ll fetch ya the battery, you look her over a bit and if you change your mind, you change your mind” He backs out of the room with his hands held up in surrender, grinning at Joel the whole way out.
“Jesus Christ’ he runs his hand over his face, disappointed in himself for still managing to be surprised by people. The girl is hugging her knees to her chest, looking straight up into Joel’s face. He’s taken back, feels vulnerable somehow, dirty even, like he’s an accomplice in this grotesque deal. He has no intention of taking anything from this girl but the way she looks at him, accusing, makes him feel like scum. “I’m not gonna fuck you, don’t worry” he hears the defensiveness in his own voice, like he’s angry with her.
“Lucky me” her voice startles him; he almost jumps when she speaks to him. He wasn’t expecting the sarcasm, but what was he expecting from her? Gratitude? “You got yourself in a bit of a predicament to be spouting off like that don’t ya think, Sweetheart?” Anger again, why is he feeling so heated towards this absolute stranger? “I’m thinking a shitty attitude is about the least of my problems right now, don’t you think?” Heat rises into his face, he’s about two seconds from telling this girl where she can go before he stops himself. It really not hard to be the bigger person when the other person is in a literal fucking cage.
He huffs out a breath, turning his back to her and staring at the rusted old door, willing his battery into existence. He needs to get out of here. “Hey” it’s a softer voice this time, and closer to him now. When he doesn’t respond another “Hey” a little more desperate. “Hey!”. That one gets his attention, loud and close behind. “Christ! What?” He’s a bit surprised to see her standing at the door with her fingers curled through and around the chain link. “Help me”, she’s really staring at him again, making him uneasy. His blank expression is all the answer she needs. “Please. Please help me get out of here” He notices she’s a bit older than he thought at first, not really a girl at all. A soft wrinkle deepens between her frowning brow. She’s mid thirties he guesses, old enough to remember a time before this earth became a living hell scape.
A tattoo runs from her right forearm up to her elbow, flowers, leaves and mushrooms. Mushrooms, that’s ironic, probably got it before the outbreak he guesses. Bruising runs up her arms too, hand marks and fingerprints from being grabbed, pulled and pushed around. She’s in nothing but a dirty blue ribbed tank top and underwear despite the cold October moon rising outside. Her legs are all scraped knees and goosebumps. A black eye creeps along her right side before giving way to broken skin across the bridge of her nose. Joel doesn’t want to say no to her, or yes to her either, he doesn’t want to talk to her at all. Pretending she’s not a person is going to be the easiest way out of this basement and on the road, nothing but finding Tommy weighing on his mind.
“They hittin’ you?”, he hears it like a disembodied voice, why is he talking to her? She just nods, tears filling her eyes. “They doin’ worse?”, he asks. “Not yet” her lower lip trembles as she pulls in a hitching breath. “You’re better than this, I can tell you’re not like them” He opens his mouth to tell her she’s wrong, he’s no better than they are but she cuts him off. “Please, I’ll repay you, I’m a nurse, I’m trained and everything, I can help with all sorts of things, you got men who get hurt? Get sick? I can care for them” He’s shaking his head, looking down at his steel toe boots trying to avoid looking into her face again. “Please!” she’s begging now; tears start to slip over her cheeks.
“I’ll fuck you. If that’s what you want. Please, anything you want, please. Just don’t leave me here with them.” She’s pulling at the door, dirty broken nails turning white with the force of her hands trying to pry the door free. A rifle butt darts from behind Joel, causing a whooshing sensation on his week old beard before it smashes into her fingers, causing her to fall backwards onto the concrete floor with a bellow of pain and surprise. Without thinking he throws an elbow backwards and feels bone crunch under the force of his blow.
Two moves and he’s got the man on the floor, knee to his neck. The man is desperately tapping at his legs, making a strangled sound that might be “It’s me” or “get off”. “Don’t fuckin’ come up behind me like that!” the realization he didn’t hear the man approach turns into rage, he’s about to pull back his arm and slam a fist into his face before he sees the car battery laying on its side, thrown halfway across the room. The man sits up, clutching his throat. “For fuck’s sake, Joel” His voice is raspy and strained. “You gotta fuckin’ chill out, man!” With one hand gripping the battery, he shoves the other into the front of his jeans pocket and pulls out a bag full of pills. He throws them at the man, still rubbing at his neck, sitting on the ground. “We’re done here”.
He’s already to the door when he hears that soft voice again. “Joel?” he pauses with his shoulder pressed to the door, opening it a few inches. Despite his brain screaming at him to just keep moving, his head instinctively turns to the sound of his own name. “I’m Daisy.” He’s already halfway up the stairs before the door bangs shut, her name ringing in his ears.