Alexandria

Chapter 8

Alpha leads them towards the clearing, towards the other Whisperers.

Rachel looks around at them. They look different, most of them now without their walker skins. It had been hard to see them as human with their walker suits, but as she glances around the open field, they almost seem normal. Some are gathered around a small fire, cooking what looks like a boar skewered to a branch, others sharpening their knives. What she does notice is there aren't any children, and her stomach rolls a little at the thought of why that might be. From what she's seen, they seem to lack sentiment, and an image of an animal leaving it's injured cub to die runs through her mind. Rachel shakes her head, pushing the thought away.

"Carl!" Rick shouts as he sees him talking with Lydia. Carl looks up at him a little sheepishly, lowering his head till his hat covers his face. Rick stumbles towards him, wrapping his arms around Carl. "Jesus, Carl, you scared the shit outta me."

"I know, i'm sorry," Carl says.

Rick stares at his son, holding him at arms length. "You're not wearing your glasses."

Carl shakes his head. "I don't need them anymore."

"They haven't hurt you, have they?"

"No, they're weird, but they haven't done anything to me," Carl assures him.

Rachel stands a few feet away, watching two Whisperers with a grimace as they cut the skin off a walker. "Jesus Christ," she whispers, her skin breaking out in gooseflesh.

"You are the Rick Grimes i've heard so much about? I'm not impressed," Alpha says as she stands in front of him.

"I'd like to take my son and leave, now," Rick says, clenching his jaw.

"And you will, after we've spoken, come walk with me, Rick."

"I'm not going anywhere without my son," Rick frowns.

Alpha holds out her hand to one of her men as he hands her a shotgun. She aims it at Rick.

Rachel takes the gun from her hip, but Rick holds out a hand. "It's fine, i've got this. You stay with Carl, don't let him outta your sight, you hear me?"

Rachel nods, placing her gun back in it's holster as she watches him walk off with Alpha. She looks around their makeshift camp, quite a few eyes on her, but none as menacing as Beta's cold stare. He watches her as he sharpens a large knife, his eyes not leaving her. "The bloody hell are you looking at?" She frowns.

"Rachel."

She looks over at Carl, stepping towards him.

"They don't like talking," Carl says.

"Look like they don't like soap either. Why did you come here, Carl?"

He looks at the girl beside him, his cheeks going red. "I couldn't leave her with these people. She's not safe with them."

Rachel tilts her head with a smile. "I see. But Alpha's her mother, she belongs with her."

Carl shakes his head. "They hurt her."

Rachel stares at him, stepping closer. "Who hurts her?"

"The men."

Rachel's eyes widen, her stomach suddenly rolling. She kneels down in front of Lydia. "They hurt you?"

Lydia nods. "That's just the way it is. Things aren't how they were."

"No, that's bullshit!" Rachel spits. She looks at Carl as she rises to her feet. "These men are.." the words won't leave her mouth.