TRIGGER WARNING! sexual assault

THIRTY FIVE. patron saint

The taste of battery acid in her mouth was all she could distinguish once a sudden gust of cold water was splashed onto her face. Adeline jerked forward hastily, tight rope restraining her arms and legs against a wooden chair. A sudden pinching pain pounded against her skull, a prolonged ring heard in her ears as she tugged at the ropes. A shaky breath left her lips, blinking away at the droplets of water coating her eyelashes to look for a way out.

Instead of finding one, her blurry eyes came into contact with a smirking Merle Dixon, the word cocky lacing every one of his noticeable features. "Time to wake up, sweet cheeks." He teased, the metal bucket he held in his hands clattering to the concrete floor. The sound resulted in the widow flinching, the pounds of pain in her head only growing worse by the second. "Ah... my bad."

Scoffing underneath her breath, Adeline straightened her back out and looked around the room for any sign of Glenn or Maggie. The only thing she found were stacks of cardboard boxes, dim lights hanging from the ceiling that casted odd shadows on her pale skin. She took note of every nook and cranny, a table in the nearby corner containing her weapons on the surface.

Merle noticed her lingering stare on the weapons, a raspy chuckle leaving his lips at the sight. "You ain't gotta worry about them, now. You got your old pal Merle looking after you." He assured, leaning against the metal table in front of her. The widows observant eyes spotted the blood crusting around his nose, his knuckles bruised.

The worry and fear of Glenn or Maggie being hurt caused the withering anger in her stomach to sprout back up in the blink of an eye. "Where are they?" The question was the only words to leave her lips, eyes settled on the proud face of Merle Dixon. Droplets of water that he had splashed on her dripped down her face, making contact with the bare skin of her arms.

Feeling the water touch her skin, she furrowed her brows in confusion and looked down to her chest. From what she remembered, she was wearing a thin turtle neck that covered every inch of her arms and chest. But when her eyes landed upon the black material of her sports bra, her body shifted uncomfortably in the seat and glancing back up to Merle.

Before she could question the situation, he rose his hands in a defensive situation. "Bosses orders. You had blood all over you, said you needed to be cleaned." Merle informed the widow, crossing his arms back over his chest and leaning into the table. "Not that I'm complaining or anything." He chuckled, the smile fading as soon as it came as he examined the slight emotion of fear in her features. "But, I didn't come here to chit-chat."

"What do you want, Merle?" Adeline was quick to retort, clenching her jaw in attempts to hide the small amount of fear she felt. She wanted nothing more than to cover up her body, to have the comfort of her long sleeved shirt on her arms. Because without the warmth, it made her realize how being alone made her scared.

"You see, sweet cheeks." Merle started, scooting across the surface of the table to move closer to the woman. "I remember who you are." He informed, "The Sheriffs sister. The one who left me up on that roof to die." He reminded her, waving the sharp knife attached to the metal stump on his arm as he spoke.

"He went back for you." Adeline spoke. "Nearly half the camp went with him." She assured, reminding herself of the argument her husband held with Rick when he took all of the manpower back into the city to get Merle. At the end of that day, Shane was proved to be right. Which led her to remembering Jim and Amy, then eventually Jacqui.

The man before her nodded slowly with unamused eyes, "And what about you? You didn't go back for ole Merle?" He questioned, faking a hurt look in his features. Adeline scoffed, jerking against the restraints but the attempt only proved to be futile.

Merle watched, stopping her movements quickly by placing the sharp blade attached to his metal arm against her wrist. Just as she attempted to pull hers back, the blade tore into her skin. A whimper of pain left her lips, watching helplessly as the blood escaped the wound and dripped down onto the concrete floor. "Jesus, fuck."

"I'll tell you what," He started, acting as if he hadn't just sliced into her wrist. Standing from the table, Merle trailed the blade against the metal surface and whistled an eery tune - "If you tell me where my baby brother is, you can get off scot free. Mary and her sheep included." He offered, watching as Adeline tightened her lips in attempts to hold in the whimpers of pain from the burning cut he had given her.

The widow met his face, "It's a lamb." the words left her mouth - blood dripping onto the floor below her as she pulled at the ropes against her wrists and ankles. Her movement resulted in his attention moving down to her hand, eyes landing on the golden wedding rings.

A low whistle left his lips, "My oh my, sweet cheeks! You're hitched?" Merle questioned, moving to curl his fingers around the rings on her ring finger.

Reflexes guided her actions, body scooting the wooden chair farther away from him. "Don't." Adeline spoke, her tone coming out as a plead. "You can have anything else, just please..." The crack that split between her words threatened a downpour, eyes glistening with tears.

Nodding slowly, Merle lifted his hands with a cocky smirk - "Anything?" He peered, causing the woman to roll her eyes and look away from him. The gold chain around her neck caught his attention, eyes trailing down her chest to find the 22 pendant hanging. "Well shit," He mumbled, causing her head to turn up at the sight of him pinching the bridge of his nose in thought.

"That other dick head of an officer..." Merle started, tapping the blade impatiently against the table. "What was his name? He slept with that one chick." He spoke aloud, causing a laugh mixed with a sob to splutter out of the widows lips. Merle looked over to her with furrowed brows, opening his mouth to say something but clamping it shut when he was met with the trail of tears on her face.

Adeline tightened her face and calmly allowed a breath to leave her lips, "Shane. His name was Shane." she spoke with a trembling voice. The facade of acting tough or that she didn't care if she died faded away, the fear slowly becoming evident on her features. She wanted to feel at peace with what had happened, and that killed her. "He didn't... he didn't make it."

What shocked her was the split second of a sympathetic expression on Merle's face. Leaning against the table, the sharp blade attached to the metal arm hung by his side as he nodded slowly - "How'd it happen?" He inquired.

The word Rick lingered on the tip of her tongue, and as soon as she went to say her brothers name, a sudden pull on her mind rewired all of her decisions. "Guilt." Was the answer Adeline gave Merle, the sour truth lingering in her mouth.

Sadistic and sinister features crawled back up onto Merles face, standing from the table with a cocky smile. "I hope the son of a bitch went slow." He drawled, the cold grasp of his words grabbing onto Adeline with its sharp claws. His wish hung loosely in the air, anger bubbling in her veins as she tugged harshly at the ropes against her arms.

Leaving her in an unwelcome silence with her thoughts, the door slammed shut behind Merle as he walked out of the dimly lit room. Adeline hung her head, brown hair falling from the loose ponytail it was once in and framing her face. A cough spluttered from her lips, the concussion she had gained from being knocked out by Merle causing a nonstop pain to throb in her skull.

A sudden feeling of being tired wavered over her, nausea lingering in the pits of her stomach as she clamped her eyes shut. Breathing deeply, she raised her head and opened her eyes. The sight before her caused a taken aback gasp to leave her lips, fear rumbling in her stomach as she scooted the wooden chair back hurriedly.

In the chair on the other end of the table sat the ghostly figure of Shane Walsh. It wasn't real, but everything about him seemed it. Leaned back into the chair, arms crossed over his chest while his legs were spread out. How he always sat, his black hair no longer shaved but how it was before the world ended. Before he lost himself to his own mind. "Miss me?" He questioned, the sound of his voice causing tears to slide down Adelines face.

"You're not- you're not real." Adeline breathed, swallowing the spit in her mouth before attempting to raise her hand and rub her eyes. The rope restricted her from the movement, a string of curse words leaving her lips as she clamped her eyes shut and repeated the phrase over and over. But the only thing she could see was his crooked smile, the laugh lines imbedded in his tan skin. Everything she missed, the one thing that always got her through the rough patches.

"Hey, look at me, alright?" Shane requested, her eyes opening to find his body leaned against the table in front of her chair. "Of course I'm not real. Never that lucky to begin with, yeah?" He joked, the chuckle that left his lips bringing back a wave of memories. "At least that's what you always said. I always felt pretty lucky. I mean, I had you on my arm, didn't I?" He questioned, reaching his hand out to brush it against her cheek softly.

"Kept me trapped in there for so long, had to break out eventually." He informed, patting the top of her head before standing up from the table and pacing around the room. "Alright, first things first. We gotta find a way out. Now, your weapons are over there. Get enough strength to break the chair - get out of it. You can do it." Shane assured with a strong voice, his body suddenly moving over to the table where her weapons resided.

Adeline reluctantly tore her eyes away from him, looking down to the bleeding cut on her wrist before lifting her head towards the table only to find him gone. The drop of her stomach caused fear to pound in her heart, whipping her pain filled head around to find him. "Shane? Please."

"Still here, Little Bird." The voice comforted her, relief whooshing over her as she breathed deeply and slumped against the chair. Turning her head, she found him to be crouched down next to her - looking at the small pool of blood that had dripped from her wound. "Never liked Merle. Always stealing rations, never helping around."

The pressure building against her skull caused a tear to slide down her cheek, "Why?" The question left her lips, tears stinging at her eyes as she looked down to his face. That's all she ever wanted. An answer, anything to give her mind a reason not to hate herself.

Shane shrugged his shoulders, "In his blood is my best guess." He answered in a few short words - causing a sigh to leave his wife's mouth. Looking back up to her, his eyes took notice of her troubled ones. "No... why? Why did you do what you did? I deserve some kind of answer, a reason." She begged, her mind reminding her repeatedly that she was full blown crazy.

"I can only tell you what you want to hear." Shane informed, standing up from his spot and walking back to the table in front of her. "So, what do you want me to say? That it was your fault? That's what you want to hear, isn't it? Or that it was Ricks? Which one? Because it can't be both. I mean, you know that, right?" He continued, causing Adeline to become at a loss for words as she searched her mind for anything to say.

"No, you don't get to-" She stammered, furrowing her brows in concentration as Shane scoffed and threw his head back in aggravation. "You blocked me out for eight months, I think I deserve a second to talk, alright? So, let me speak, huh? You gonna let me?"

With a slow nod coming from the widow, Shane curled his fingers around the surface of the table and met her eyes. The familiar crooked smirk that she longed to see crawled against his lips, breathless chuckle slipping past his mouth as he nodded and stood up from the table.

Adelines face softened, taking in every single detail of her husband while he folded his hands together. "Rick did what he had to do. I know it's hard to hear this, but you've gotta let it go. Let me go. You cannot blame anyone, certainly not yourself. That is solely on me, alright? 'Cause you're still here. You get to fight. If you won't do that for yourself, do that for me, alright? You go, you get out of here... and you make sure my babygirl stays safe. No matter what, you keep the two of you alive. For me, Little Bird. You do it for me, okay? Because I didn't die on that field. I was dead before Rick drove that knife into my stomach. I was dead the moment I thought I lost you."

There it was. Everything she needed to hear to keep going and to keep breathing. The words that she had trapped in her mind over the past eight months, the truth she refused to believe. Intertwined with the cold grasp of guilt for ignoring her brother, acting like he didn't exist. Adeline felt a burning hatred of anger towards herself, knowing that her brother was going through the same thing she did and she refused to be there for him. The ghost of Shane saw this, and as he went to open his lips a sound caused it all to crumble.

The door leading into the room creaked open and his figure vanished right in front of her eyes. Adeline tightened her lips, a choked sob leaving her chapped lips as she hung her head and clamped her eyes shut tiredly. In the blink of an eye, as quick as Shane had appeared- he was gone once again.

The man that walked in wore a grey button up, sleeves cuffed below his elbows. Adeline took note of the gun belt around the loops of his dress pants, his brown hair slicked back neatly while his skin held no hint of ever being dirty. She shifted uncomfortably under the stare he held with her, his eyes flickering to the sports bra on her chest.

She watched carefully as he pulled out a knife from the belt, the blade glistening underneath the dim light as he walked over to her trembling body. "I apologize for Merles actions." He spoke, crouching down and sliding the blade of his knife against the ropes on her ankles. "My names Phillip. People around here like to call me the Governor, but I'm not asking you to unless you'd prefer."

After cutting the ropes around her arms loose, Adeline immediately brought the sore skin to her chest and rubbed them tiredly. She carefully avoided the cut on her arm, untying the red bandana that belonged to Daryl Dixon from around her belt loop. Placing the material over the wound, she tightened it against the bleeding cut and tied it as the man watched.

Tearing his eyes away from the widow, he motioned towards the chair at the other end of the table. "You don't mind, do you?" He questioned, his hands curled around the back of the wooden surface.

Not a single word left her lips, only a cold stare that was trained on him. The busyness of her mind convincing herself that she was crazy, and the fact that she was getting interrogated by a man that called himself The Governor. Part of her couldn't wait to get back to the prison and make fun of the situation with Daryl. But that thought was taken over by the bubbling anger and fear that she might not be able to see the people she cared about ever again and make amends for what she had done.

Raising his hands in defense, he sat down into the chair and crossed his arms over the table before looking at her. "Like I said, I apologize for Merles actions. We'll take you back to your people, explain this was all just a misunderstanding. Just tell me where they are." He pried in attempts to gain information.

Confronted with nothing but silence, he tapped his fingers impatiently against the table and eyed the widow. Casting his eyes down to her hand, he took notice of the wedding rings on her finger. "I'm sure your husband is worried sick. This will go a lot smoother if you just tell me where your people are, no harm will be done to them." He assured, waiting for her to say something.

Slamming the palm of his hands down onto the table, the chair he sat in screeched across the floor as he abruptly stood up. Expecting a flinch, or even the slightest hint of fear - he received nothing. It only caused his anger to grow higher, the flames licking his mind as he slid his knife out of its sheath and neared the woman. "When the farmers daughter failed to comply, I put all my faith in you. The Chinese boy's knocked out, can't get anything out of him unless it's useless mumbles." He informed.

Adeline met his eyes with a clenched jaw, "He's Korean. And you're not getting anything out of me unless I can see my people." She assured, holding in the boiling anger that creeped up her veins.

The Governor chuckled lowly, slowly sliding the knife back into his sheath. "I didn't come in here to go out empty handed. I can promise you, I'm getting something out of this." He spoke, roughly grabbing her arm and jerking her up from the chair.

Pushing her against the wall, her skull made contact with the bricks behind her. Pain pounded in her mind, a loud ringing sound echoing through her mind as she groaned loudly and attempted to push him off of her. Black dots filled her vision, making faces out of uneven shadows from the dim lights. But one she failed to ignore was the lingering face of her husband standing behind the man who held her against the wall, "Fight back."

"Get the hell off of me," Adeline cursed - her head heavy as she weakly pushed her hands against his chest. The lack of sleep and food held onto her tightly, fear pounding in her heart as she slapped her hands against the grey material of his shirt. His left hand groped her breasts, other wrapped around her neck as he pressed unwanted kisses onto her skin. "Get off of me!"

Shanes face flashed behind his figure. "Dig deep. Find the anger. Fight back." He pressured, his voice taunting her mind just as The Governors released his left hand from her breast and cupped the space between her legs.

Everything cracked. All of the grief, the pain, everything she hid and held in her mind. All of it came crashing into her body like an unwelcome wave, the unwanted fingers between her thighs as a choked scream left her lips, "Go away!" Adeline cried out, the face of her husband fading away as adrenaline pushed through her veins.

Clawing at his skin, her long nails dug into his neck. Before she could control what she did, she clamped her teeth around his ear - his loud scream of pain bouncing off of the walls as the flesh tore in between her teeth. Blood decorated her face, painting a picture that would never leave her mind as the sound of the door slinging out and loud clamoring became nothing but a constant ring in her ears. Arms wrapped around her own, crimson coating her mouth as she spat the ear onto the floor.

Falling into the grasp of whoever held her, a sinister smirk laced her lips as a laugh fell from her mouth. Adeline met eyes with The Governor, watching as his men helped him up from the ground only for him to push them off. He held his hand against his bleeding remains of his ear, anger coating his features as he walked over to the smiling woman.

Before he could say a word to her, Adeline gathered what blood remained in her mouth and spat it harshly into his face. "You bet on the wrong horse." She teased just as his fist slammed into the side of her face and sent her doubling over in a fit of pain. The arms holding her tightly held her in place - fists pounding harshly in her stomach as she cried out. With one swift punch to her face, her body crumbled to the ground as they walked out of the room and left her in a dizzy stage.

Once the door slammed shut, her fingers curled around the wooden legs of the chair, slowly pulling herself up. Shaky breaths left her lips, a cracked scream clawing it's way out of her throat as she grabbed the chair and slung it into the brick wall behind her. The wood crumbled, splinters flying in every direction as the scream turned into a wail, choked sobs breaking her chest. Everything fell, her knees giving in underneath her as she tumbled to the ground and curled up. The cries that left her lips were muffled by the thick concrete, blood coating her face as her eyes opened to meet with the remains of the man's ear on the floor in front of her.

TWO HOURS LATER.

Exhaustion overcame the need to escape, the only sound that shook her from the deep state of slumber being an explosion that shook the ground. Shaky breaths left her lips, body shooting up and backing up against the wall as the door leading into her cell slung open. Ignoring the pain in her head, she pulled herself up and sprinted over to her weapons on the table in the corner. Her hands trembled as they curled around one of the throwing knives, turning on her feet just as arms wrapped around her trembling frame.

Immediately, her body started jerking in attempts to get out. Adeline feared to experience something worse than what the Governor had already done to her, tears seeping out of her eyes as her screams cracked out. "No! Get the hell off me! Don't touch- don't..." The words left as a whimpering plead, a shushing sound heard in her ear as the arms carefully brought her down to the ground.

"Shh, shh. It's me, it's me." The voice whispered, carefully brushing her hair away from her blood stained face as her the knife in her hand clattered to the ground and her body curled up defenselessly into the body of whoever held her. Her heart pounded harshly in her chest, raspy sobs leaving her lips.

The moment her eyes opened, a sudden wave of relief pushed into her bones as they landed upon the familiar faces of her family. Daryl stood in front of her, his face mixed with anger and sympathy as his crossbow was pointed towards the ground. A beaten up Glenn stood behind him with Maggie curled into his side, tears staining her cheeks. Oscar stood next to them with a woman that Adeline failed to know, dreads framing her face as they all held sympathetic faces towards the two women that had obviously suffered through a similar situation with the Governor.

Rick kept his arms around Adeline, slowly helping her up to the ground with Daryls assistance. "We have to run. Can you do that? Can you run?" Her brother questioned, meeting her tear filled eyes as she nodded slowly. The redneck grabbed her weapons off of the table, keeping them in his grasp while they rushed out of the room.

The chilly wind whipped against the bare skin of her stomach and arms, a bruise forming around her eye from being punched by the Governor as they snuck out of the building they were being held in. Holding onto her brothers arm, Adeline pushed through the pain that soared through her body. Taking in the area, the realization that they were in a town slowly seeped into her mind. Streetlights were replaced with lanterns hanging off polls, a door to one of the buildings slinging open by the arms of Oscar.

Slipping through the doors, Adelines knees gave in underneath her once again. Falling to the ground, her elbows were pressed against the wooden floorboards as a whimper of pain left her lips. Daryl was quick to rush to her side as Rick and Oscar cleared the building out, his calloused hands gripping her arms and carefully pulling her up to a wooden chair that sat beside a table. "There ain't no way out back there," He called out as he slid his angel winged vest off of his shoulders and unbuttoned the long sleeve shirt he wore under it.

Before he slid it off of his head, Daryl sat the crossbow onto the table next to a shivering Adeline before pulling it off of his arms. Revealing another shirt to be under the button up, he was quick to hand the material to Adeline to which she nodded gratefully before taking it in her hands. Without second thought, she snuck her arms through the holes and forced her eyes to stay open as her head swayed and her fingers trembled once she tried to button it up.

"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie questioned, aiding to Glenn who had fell to the floor in a fit of pain. Daryl noticed the obvious struggle Adeline was having with the buttons, bending down onto one knee to hastily button enough to keep her covered before grabbing his crossbow and motioning towards her small pile of weapons.

Running a hand through her tangled hair, Adeline forced herself to stand up from the chair. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she grabbed the throwing knives off of the table and tightened the holster around her leg alongside her pistol. Rick looked over to her, taking notice of her drowsily numb state before glancing towards Glenn - "How bad are you hurt?" He questioned, leaving his sister out of the equation knowing she would lie to assure them.

"I'll be alright." Glenn winced, holding his hand to his bare side. Maggie wore his shirt, which Adeline put two and two together and was greeted with a wave of guilt and sympathy. Looking around, she found the woman from before to be missing. Before she could muster the strength to question her disappearance, the Greene girl beat her to it. "Where's that woman?"

"She was right behind us." Rick answered, pulling the thick cover back on the window to peek out into the streets. Clamoring was heard from outside as Adeline stumbled, holding tightly onto the table next to her before breathing deeply to calm her nerves. "Maybe she was spotted." Oscar spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Want me to go look for her?" Daryl offered, only for Rick to quickly shake his head. "No. We gotta get them out of here," He informed, motioning towards the silent Adeline and couple on the floor before cocking his gun. "She's on her own."

Adeline let out a shaky breath before turning around to meet Daryls eyes, only to find his already on her. "Daryl, Merle did this." She breathed out, her body becoming weaker by the second. "It was him. What he did to Glenn, he did it." She informed with reluctant eyes.

"You saw him?" Rick questioned, looking back to his sister who nodded her head in confirmation while Glenn did the same. "Face to face." The boy answered.

The statement caused the man to furrow his brows, a sudden anger pursuing through his veins. "He the one that touched you?" He questioned, the widow quickly shaking her heavy head in denial at his assumption. She stayed silent at the reminder, slumping back into the chair with tired eyes. "That wasn't him. That was the Governor."

Maggie helped Glenn slip on a jacket as he continued talking, "He threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us, but they were going to keep Addy. Said they could use her for leverage," He informed.

"Your brother is his lieutenant or something." The Greene girl spoke up, meeting Daryls eyes as Adeline felt a sudden wave of heat waver over her body. The redneck glanced back to the widow before turning to Maggie, "Does he know I'm still with you?" He questioned.

"He does now." Glenn muttered, "Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out." He apologized, all of the voices merged together to become a prolonged ring in Adelines mind.

The nausea in her stomach twisted, cold sweats covering her skin as she held onto the table. "Rick," Adeline called out, her voice trembling throughout the conversation they shared. Turning around in the chair, she tightened her face and held her heavy head up in attempts to stay awake. "Rick." She tried once more, finally gaining his attention as the black dots began to fill her vision. But before she could get another word out, the black dots covered her eyes as they rolled back into her head and her body fell limp.