53. lies and truths

QUINN

     'GOTTA BE KIDDING ME,' A VOICE BROKE THROUGH her drifting thoughts. 'Shit.'

Quinn frowned, opened her eyes and turned on her other side, pulling herself out of her dreamless sleep. After her talk with Daryl last night she went back inside, and apparently she had fallen asleep. The fear of these men was clearly not bigger than her need for a good night rest.

Daryl was laying on his back next to her, maintaining a respectful distance, but still close enough to jump up and protect her if it was necessary. His arms were folded under his head as he stared up at the ceiling, not worried about Len's apparent troubles. She couldn't help herself but take in the sight of him for a second. Of course she had noticed that beneath all the dirt that he was always covered in, very handsome features were hiding. But looking at him now, even this dirty, she could clearly see his sharp features and piercing blue eyes that would attract a lot more people had they not been drawn in an angry scowl all the time. Strangely enough, that scowl had stopped bothering her a long time ago and now only added to the strange attraction she felt whenever her eyes found him. 

When that thought crossed her mind she turned away, taking a shaky breath and hoping he hadn't noticed her staring. The apocalypse really wasn't a good time to start swooning over a handsome redneck. Luckily, or not, she was ripped out her thoughts when Len walked up to them, making Daryl sit up straight, his back taking Len out of Quinn's sight. She couldn't tell if he did that on purpose, but knowing the man barely did anything without reason, she guessed that some instinct within him would always act protective to whoever needed it.

'Give it here,' the man snapped.

Wiping the sleep out of her eyes she sat up too, stretching out her numb limbs, taking the time to show him how little she cared, before finally turning her gaze to him.

'Step back,' Daryl growled at him.

'My half was in the bag, now it's gone. Now ain't nobody 'round here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you,' Len shouted. 'Ain't that right?'

Daryl pushed himself off the ground, staring at the man with eyes that could've made walkers drop dead. Quinn slowly stood up as well, watching as Joe came walking towards the two.

'You're the only one still thinkin' 'bout that crap!' Daryl yelled at him.

'Empty your bag,' Len said.

'I said step back!' Daryl snapped, taking his bag in his hands.

But Joe stepped forwards and took the bag from him. 'Did you take his rabbit, Daryl?' He questioned. 'Just tell me the truth.'

'I didn't take nothing,' Daryl mumbled, his gaze dark as he stared at Len.

'What do we got here?' Joe asked, started to empty the bag and among the stuff was the other half of the rabbit.

'Well, look at that,' Joe sighed.

Quinn narrowed at Len. There was no way Daryl took it since he was with her all night, the pathetic idiot must've put it there himself and Daryl seemed to be thinking the exact same thing.

'You put that there, didn't you?' Daryl shouted at the man. 'When Quinn and I were outside!'

'You lied,' Len shouted back at him.

'Didn't you?' Daryl repeated, pushing the man against the chest.

'You lied. You stole. We gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?' Len yelled.

Her heart started beating faster in her chest as her gaze turned to Joe and she cursed the promise she made to Daryl last night. They should've just left last night.

'Whoa, whoa,' Joe said, stepping in between Len and Daryl. 'Now, Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit. So we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offense, or,' he chuckled as he looked at Len, 'you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it'd be disappointing.'

'It would,' Len agreed, then added firmly: 'I didn't.'

'Good,' Joe said, making Quinn's hand go to her dagger. 'Well,' he added and then suddenly turned around, punching Len in the face, making him fall to the ground. 'Teach him a lesson, gents. He's a lyin' sack of shit. I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way.'

Quinn watched with wide eyes as the men mercilessly started to beat the living daylight out of Len without question. And while she by no means felt sorry for the man, it didn't make her feel comfortable watching either.

Joe turned towards Daryl and Quinn, walking up to them. 'I saw him do it,' he sighed.

'So, why didn't you stop him?' Quinn asked.

Joe shrugged. 'He wanted to play that out. I let him.' Then he pointed at Daryl. 'You told the truth. He lied. You understand the rules. He doesn't.' Then he bend down, picked up Len's half of the rabbit and threw it at Daryl. 'Looks like you get the head too.'

Quinn bit her tongue and turned to look away as Len's pained shouts echoed through the garage. She sat down against the wall, where she'd been sleeping only minutes before. Leaning her head in her hands she tried to drown out the noises of fists landing on flesh but it turned out to be impossible to do so.

Suddenly one of the men took Len by the leg and started dragging him towards the door. His shouts pained her ears and she kept her gaze focused on the ground. The screams became more muffled once he was outside and then suddenly stopped altogether.

She didn't want to know what had happened but her mind pictured the situation anyway and so she quickly shook her head, trying to suppress the images.

'Let's pack it up gents!' Joe called out.

The men started to gather their stuff and Quinn quickly did the same, more than ready to get the hell away from this place. While she stuffed the blanket she'd been lying on back in her bag she noticed Daryl's gaze resting on her, silently asking her if she was okay. She simply shook her head at him before heading outside after the others.

She stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes fell on Len's body laying in the grass, one of his arrows sticking out of his eye.

Daryl came standing next to her, watching the man's body for a while before suddenly reaching for an old blanket that lay crumbled up in the corner. He was about to cover Len's body in it but seemed to change his mind at the very last second, throwing the blanket aside.

'Let's just go,' Quinn whispered and he nodded at her as they headed after the others.

Walking along the tracks they headed towards what she guessed to be north but she wasn't completely sure. She walked next to Daryl in silence while the others joked around as if they hadn't just killed someone. It made a shiver crawl down her spine and she turned to look away from them.

For once she didn't mind the silence. For now she was okay with just walking next to Daryl, letting her thoughts drift off but she wasn't that lucky.

Joe came walking towards the two of them, he reached into his pocket and took out a small bottle. He took a swig from it before offering it to Daryl. 'White lightning,' he said, 'easiest thing to make with the least amount of supplies. I'd start slow if I was you, your stomach is probably emptier than you think.'

Quinn frowned as Daryl took a swig but she didn't say a word. 'I ain't been lit at dawn since before everything fell apart,' he said, offering the bottle to Quinn who gave her small shake of her head. So he gave it back to Joe, who took another gulp.

'Fell apart?' The man questioned. 'I never looked at it like that.'

'No?' Quinn asked, slightly surprised. 'The dead rising to haunt the living, that's not falling apart to you?'

Joe gave a shrug. 'Seems to me like things are finally starting to fall together. At least for people like us. Living like this, surviving. We've been doing this from the start, right?'

Quinn opened her mouth but found herself at loss for words and closed it again. She never looked at it like that, but in a way, it was true. She had been surviving long before the world ended, everyday, over and over. It just turned into a different kind of surviving once corpses started walking.

'Getting closer,' one of the men called out, pointing to a sign that stood next to the tracks.

Frowning Quinn walked up to it, followed closely by Daryl. Once she reached it she could see that there was a map drawn on it, one that connected different tracks to each other and all led to the same place. Some place called Terminus. There was even a little poem of sorts written above the map.

"Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive, survive."

The words somehow seemed familiar to her but she couldn't figure out why. She had certainly never seen this sign before so where could she have heard the words?

'You seen this before?' Daryl asked Joe.

'Oh yeah,' the man replied, 'I'll tell you what it is. It's a lie. Ain't no sanctuary for all. Ain't gonna welcome guys like you and me with open arms. Your girl, maybe, depends on what she's hiding behind that pretty face.'

Quinn sighed deeply, tired of having him talk about her as if she wasn't even here. Taking a step closer to the map she inspected it even further. All those tracks, all led to the same place, they all led to Terminus and suddenly a thought struck her. So sudden that it left her feel unbalanced and she had to blink a couple of times to get her thoughts straight again.

If her brother was out there, still alive, there might be a chance he'd seen this sign too. The train tracks were all over the area. And knowing her brother he wouldn't hesitate to go to a place like this. He would have faith, he would want to believe such a place could be real. He always believed the best in people, one thing that hadn't ended when the world did.

'Is this where you guys are headed?' Quinn asked, turning to look at Joe, her heart hammering in her chest. She noticed the small frown on Daryl's face as he probably noticed the sudden eager expression on her face but she made no effort to hide it.

Joe sighed as he started walking again, gesturing for the rest of the group to do so as well. 'We were in a house,' he started explaining, 'minding our own business and this walking piece of fecal matter was hiding in the home. Strangled our colleague Lou and left him to turn. Lou came at all of us. He lit out. We tracked him to these tracks, one of those signs and thus we've got a destination in mind.'

'You see his face?' Daryl asked.

'Only Tony, that's enough for a reckoning,' Joe said.

Suddenly one of the man walking before them, stopped, staring at something in the grass besides the tracks. Before he could reach out to it though Daryl had already shouted the word Quinn hoped would never come out of his mouth.

'Claimed!'

She bit her tongue as she watched him walk forwards, picking up what turned out to be some strawberries growing in the grass. He turned back to her, offering her one. She narrowed at him before turning away and starting walking along the tracks in a fast pace.

She was forced to deal with these guys until they reached this so called Terminus place. She didn't know if it was real, or if it could be trusted but she did know that this place could be the only shot to finding her brother. And that alone was enough reason to at least try to get there. Until that moment, she would just have to swallow her discomfort and keep going. No matter how much she hated these guys, the chance of finding her brother was worth all of this.

It wasn't like her at all to hope for something to happen, she never believed much in hope. But a small voice in the back of her mind was telling her to go, to do it and just hope. The voice of a certain stubborn, blonde teenager and Quinn couldn't help it but to smile upon realising the girl had changed her. 

She was going to Terminus, for Beth.