TW: attempted rape

— ZOE SLEPT. SOMETHING SHE DIDN'T think would happen for a while yet, but when she woke up, she felt more energy than she had since the prison got overrun; when she woke up, she realised that she was snuggled up to her fathers side, the man having moved over to her side when he saw her drifting off. It felt like when she and Carl were much younger, and they used to cuddle from time to time, and Zoe didn't realise that she had Rick's arm around her until she came back to reality, and when she did, she gave her dad a grateful smile, knowing that he was the reason as to why she slept in the first place. The day had gone by pretty smoothly after she woke up, actually being able to cook their food that they managed to catch — Rick had even taught his kids how to set up a trap, and everything was going well, even catching a rabbit to cook later. The four of them had planned to stay at their small and secure campsite for at least another two days to rest for at least another two days, it had been their plan, until Carl had ran off and attracted a group of walkers their way and they had to get out if there as soon as possible.

Walking was now Zoe's least favourite thing to do; it felt like she had been walking for days straight with no rest or any time to relax, since the prison fell, all Zoe had been doing was walking constantly, and she was exhausted because of it, and couldn't wait to get to Terminus. Rick, Carl and Michonne seemed unbothered by the constant walking and hardly any rest, but Zoe definitely wasn't. "Thought maybe there'd be some houses down this way." Michonne told them, sighing as yet, another empty long road came into view, no houses in sight. "Maybe even a store.. There's got to be some food around here somewhere." She added, mostly talking to herself. Zoe could barely even concentrate on what the woman was saying due to how tired she really was.

"Hey, look." Carl spoke up, gaining Zoe's attention again as she looked onwards and saw an abandoned, run-down car, further down the road — it was the first car they had seen for miles, and it was still in one piece, meaning that they could use it to rest and get some more energy back after all of this walking. Whilst the boys looked at the car to ensure that it was empty, Zoe and Michonne headed towards the squashed walker on the ground, only it's head and arms viable; Michonne pushed her sword through its skull as Zoe cringed at the sight, still finding it gross how the disease worked and kept the muscles working for them to move, still. But, when the girl looked around at their surroundings, she sighed in relief when she realised they could finally rest.

Zoe had never been more annoyed with herself when she leaned back against the back car seat comfortably, and couldn't bring herself to sleep, yet again, seeing the two mens faces in her mind, taunting her, knowing that they were haunting her nights. The girl never thought that she would allow any man to haunt her, she had been able to get through The Governor, and these two men weren't going to be any different, although, it would be easier if she was in a secure location, with an actual bed, and Nate, she just needed to feel his touch, to heal.. Zoe hated thinking anything of Nate, since she knew that she wouldn't know a single thing about his whereabouts until they reached Terminus; it was the same with the rest of their group, as Rick was positive the others would all hear there too, when they see the signs all along the railroad — they won't know anything until they get there officially.

With that in mind, Zoe knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep out of anticipation of reaching the sanctuary, so the girl quietly opened up the car door and jumped out, shutting behind her as she gained the attention of Rick and Michonne, Zoe not exactly paying attention to them as she took a seat next to Michonne. "I feel like we should stop taking pit stops every day if we want to get to Terminus." She spoke up, knowing that she couldn't wait to get to the Sanctuary and find out if Nate was there, and if he wasn't, she was going to gather supplies and begin searching to the end of the earth for him, because she knew that she was never going to give up until she found him.

Rick and Michonne both knew that Zoe was eager to get to Terminus and see if their group were there, especially Nate, but they also knew that they couldn't rush things because they didn't have the resources and energy to do so — as much as they all wanted to reunite with everyone again, they knew that rushing was the wrong call to make. "Zo, I know you want to find the others, but we can't make any mistakes. We've gotta be careful with this." Rick explained, sighing. He could see how much it affected his daughter, being away from Nate; it reminded the man of his lost he was without his kids and Lori, and he hated how lost Zoe currently was, how she was here, but not really here.

At his words, Zoe rolled her eyes at how he was still leading, even without the rest of the group following his orders, but the girl also knew that he was right, as much as she didn't want to admit it. "Do we know if these guys will even let us in? What if they.." The girl began to ask Rick and Michonne, only to pause at the sound of branches breaking in the background behind them, in the woods, all three of them turned around to look, as Rick stood up with his hand on his gun holster. Whilst Zoe thought that it was just an animal, she turned back around and glanced at the small fire in front of them, as Rick carried in watching the tree lines, his stomach dripping as he felt that something was wrong. "What if they're not legit? Or they've already been overrun like we had?" Zoe carried on with her question, now her dad had sat back down.

"I guess we won't know until we get there." Machine answered, also feeling something bad about Terminus.

"We'll, it's always the same, isn't it? Don't get to know until we know." Rick agreed, as Zoe sighed, hoping that she was wrong with her scepticism. "Maybe Zo's right, maybe this place isn't even there anymore." He explained, both of the girls listening in closely, until Zoe felt hands grip around her neck, instantly yanking her up until she was begging held against a larger body, a gun pressing into the side of her head as she held her breath. She couldn't even look back at her dad and Michonne due to the death grip of the man behind her, but she knew that they must be in the same predicament since they hadn't gotten up or done anything to stop the man grabbing her from behind.

"Oh, dearie me." A man spoke up, Zoe instantly recognising it as the leader of the horrid group back at the house, her heart completely stopping inside of her chest, "You screwed up, asshole." He told Rick, as another man in front of her kicked away Michonne's sword, holding a gun to her head also. All Zoe could smell was this man's breath from behind her, and just that alone, was making her want to throw up, and she knew for a fact that this wasn't going to go down well, not when she had killed two of their people.. More men came into view when the leader spoke up, "You hear me? You screwed up." He carried on, guns aimed at them from all directions as Zoe felt her heart erratically beating inside of her chest, the man behind her groping areas that made her squirm, the man holding her even tighter when she let out a small sob. "Today is a day of reckoning, sir. Restitution. A balancing of the whole damn universe. Shit, and I was thinking of turning in for the night on New Years Eve." He chuckled, the rest of the men laughing along with him.

Zoe struggled away once more when the man's hand lowered even further down her body, but quickly gasped in pain when he yanked her hair back, the girl feeling tears already falling down her face in fear of what was going to happen. The girl knew that her father was stuck in a position where he couldn't move, or she knew that he would have gotten this man off of her already, the fact that he and Michonne both had guns held to their heads, also, didn't make her feel any better. When the leader started counting down from ten, Zoe thought that this was the end for her dad, and for herself, too, praying that Carl hadn't been spotted in the car, yet, but then she heard a voice she didn't think she would hear tonight. "Joe." Daryl spoke up, slowly walking into view as Zoe's eyes went wide, seeing the love of her life behind his brother, eyes already locked on the man behind her with rage burning in his eyes. Even Rick and Michonne were looking at the two Dixon brothers in complete shock, not knowing how they could be with people like this; the people that had attacked Zoe..

"You're stopping me on eight, Daryl." The leader, now known as Joe, told Daryl, like they were buddies. Nate didn't utter a single word as he kept his eyes on the man behind Zoe, his fingers twitching on his crossbow as he waited for the guns to he dropped, then he would kill Len for touching his girl like that.

"Just hold up." Daryl said, trying to piece together a plan so Rick, Michonne, Zoe and Carl wouldn't get hurt. He needed to come up with one soon, so Nate wouldn't pounce on Len and ruin the whole thing.

"This is the guy that killed Lou, and this is the bitch that killed Paddy." One of the men told Daryl, getting one of the deaths wrong as Zoe had indeed, killed both of those men. "So we got nothing to talk about." He said, not caring what Daryl had to say; since two of their members were dead because of this blonde bitch and the bearded bastard. Zoe wad just glad that Nate hadn't given her a look of disgust that she had killer someone, in fact, Nate's glare didn't even falter from the man behind her as everyone spoke around them, and Zoe didn't take her eyes off of Nate, praying that Daryl can talk them out of this.

"The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time. Say your piece, Daryl." Joe interrupted, motioning for Daryl to carry on and explain why he stopped them all. The look that Len was giving Nate, made the man in question seethe; he knew that the girl meant something to him just by the look on his face, and Nate knew for a fact that if Daryl didn't do something soon, Zoe was going to suffer because of how much Nate and Daryl had screwed over Len since they joined the group.

"These people, you're gonna let 'em go." Daryl eventually said slowly, not moving an inch in case he triggered any of the men, "These are good people." He said, motioning to his people.

Joe almost laughed at Daryl's words, "Now, I think Lou and Paddy would disagree with you on that." He told Daryl, "I'll of course, have to speak for them and all, 'cause your friends here, stabbed them both in the necks." He explained, Zoe closing her eyes as the guilt riddled her once again, hating how he explained how she had taken both of their lives; Nate noticed this, and instantly knew that she had taken both lives, and he was glad she did, as none of these men deserved to live and walk on this earth.

"You want blood, I get it." Daryl said, lowering his crossbow to the floor as Nate held his hand over his own, still glaring at Len, just waiting until he could drive an arrow through his skull and end his miserable life. There was no way the man was going to get away with touching his girl like that and live, and Len watched as Nate glared at him, smiling when he put two and two together; he was with blondie. Len lowered his free hand down to cup one of the girls breasts, as Nate didn't waste any time yanking his crossbow up, but before he could even shoot a shot, he was hit hard on the back of the head with a gun from the other men standing behind him, the man falling to the ground with a grunt as his weapon dropped to the ground next to him, barely even having a chance to pick up back up before the men around him began to kick him over and over again, hearing Zoe and Rick yell in the background for them to stop, as Daryl was receiving the same treatment.

Zoe was struggling out of Len's hold when she heard her little brother struggling from the car, and glancing over quickly, she saw one of the men yank the boy out of the car, "He's just a kid, leave him alone!" Zoe yelled out, not even getting the chance to help Carl as she was shoved to the ground, her wrists held together whilst another was on her throat, squeezing.

"You leave them be!" Rick all but growled, also trying to get up when Joe pulled him back down, pushing the gun up even harsher to his face, Carl's and Zoe's cries being heard in the background as the father felt completely useless, hating how he was stuck in this position. "Listen, it was me. It was just me." He said, taking the blame even though Len had witnessed Zoe kill his brother.

"Now that there, is a damn lie! This bitch killed my brother." Len shouted, Joe raising a hand to calm him down, the man turning back to Zoe with a look of pure vengeance, knowing that he was going to get revenge for what she did to Paddy.

Zoe could hear Nate and Daryl being beaten up behind the car, and she wanted nothing but to help them and her brother, to kill all of these men for what they've put her through, but the hands on her neck were blurring her vision. "First, we're gonna beat Nate and Daryl over there, to death. Then we'll have blondie over there, then samurai girl. Then the boy, then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square." He explained, laughing as Zoe heard Carl fall to the ground across from her.

The girl brought her knee up to Len's groin, the man yelling in pain as the girl shuffled backwards to get the upper hand, but the man didn't waste any time in punching her across the face, Zoe falling back to the ground as blood splurged out of her mouth, the girl trying to crawl away as he yanked her back down again. Zoe felt like she could hear her father in the background, but all she could think about was the hands on her body, pulling her back and roaming areas that weren't for him, and when she made another move to get out from under his hold, Len brought her head up and slammed it down on the ground, blood instantly rushing out of the side of her head as she felt her head spin, everything going so fast. Zoe's face was pushed against the ground, leaves covering her vision as she heard a zipper from behind her, when suddenly, a gun shot echoed out, Rick and Joe now fighting in the middle of the fighting as Zoe felt hands grip the buckles of her jeans.

Until they stopped. With another few gunshots, Len fell on top of her, limp, the Grimes girl not wasting any time in shoving him off, sobbing as she did so, pulling her jeans up as she stood up, wobbling due to the gush on her head and looking down to see a bleeding Len on the ground, eyes lifeless as he looked up at the sky. Whilst Daryl and Nate were killing the rest of the group, Zoe saw the man holding Carl with a knife to the boys neck, claiming that he'll kill him over and over again, and then she saw her father, blood surrounding his beard as he spoke up. "He's mind." He grunted, walking forwards with no fear as the man holding Carl pushed him away, surrendering as the boy didn't waste any time in running to his sister, Zoe falling to the ground at his sudden grip on her, the two siblings landing on the ground as they both watched Rick shove his knife into the man whom held Carl, over and over again, not stopping until the man was on the ground, lifeless — Zoe held Carl's head against her chest, squeezing him tightly as she closed her eyes, knowing that he needed her right now, and Nate wouldn't be going anywhere.

The boy in question stood up, using the car for support as he watched Rick stab the lifeless body, looking over at Zoe to see a lifeless Len besides her, the girl holding her little brother with a death grip as she silently cried. And even with everything that had just gone down, he couldn't stop the words echoing throughout his mind over and over again..

He's found her.