Fighter

“Daryl!” Glenn heard, as he came back into consciousness. He looked up to see that the man, who had been beating Daryl, grabbed Isabell and threw her over his shoulder. The man took her from the alley. Glenn attempted to pull himself up to grab her before they could take her, but they threw her into a car before he could get to her. Looking back to Daryl, Glenn saw that he was walking angrily in his directions. He prepared himself for a beating for letting Iz get taken. Daryl stormed right by Glenn, to close the gate, stopping walkers from getting into the alleyway.

“Come back here, you sumbitches!” Daryl screamed through the gate. He was furious. Glenn felt bad. It was partly his fault that she had been taken. He should never have let her go with him into the street. Isabell wouldn’t have been that close to the men to be taken. They would have only taken Glenn, which would have been okay. He didn’t have anyone. No one would miss him. But now Daryl had Isabell and Glenn took that from him.

Rick and T-Dog finally made an appearance, frantically yelling, asking what happened. Daryl noticed that it was no hope watching the car drive off. He turned back around to the smaller boy that was left behind. He lunged for the kid. Rick jogged to grab him and stop him from hurting the boy. T-Dog held the boy back to stop him from taunting Daryl and putting himself in a worse position.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop it, Daryl!” Rick shouted, struggling against the stronger man.

“I’m gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!” Daryl screamed, threatening the kid. The boy fought against the grip that T-Dog had on him and Glenn got up to help him out.

“Let me go.” the boy said.

T-Dog jumped into the conversation to play peacemaker. “Chill out.”

Daryl growled and shook his head. “They took her! They took Izzy! Little bastard and his little bastard homie friends took Isabell!” Rick looked at the boy, finally noticing that there was a missing person. “I’m gonna stomp your ass!” Daryl warned, still trying to fight off Rick.

T-Dog noticed how the alley was surrounded by walkers. The small group had drawn so much attention to themselves. “We’re cut off.” he said. Rick pointed back to T-Dog and Glenn. He still held onto Daryl.

“Get back to the lab! Go!” Rick ordered. T-Dog and Glenn ran for the building, hoping Daryl and Rick would grab the bag of guns. The two kept watch on the boy. They got to the room with the map that Glenn had drawn on the floor. T-Dog threw the boy in a chair, not knowing what to do with him next. The three sat there for a moment, silent, waiting for Daryl and Rick. The two came in with Daryl yelling at Rick.

“We’re going after her if I have to beat the shit outta the little bitch to get a location.” Daryl threatened. The boy showed a scared look, but quickly covered it up, being taught to never let his guard down. He was only trying to seem brave when he wasn’t. Daryl glared at the boy, trying to hold himself back from killing him. Glenn was scared that Daryl might actually succeed.

Rick went up to the boy. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Daryl was furious. “We ain’t got time for small talk!” Rick held up a hand, telling Daryl to keep back. Daryl scoffed at the gesture.

“Those men you were with,” Rick started, “We need to know where they went.”

The boy wiped the blood from his lip. “I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’.” Rick walked away from the boy. Was he just going to give up?

“Jesus, man.” T-Dog spoke up. “What the hell happened back there?” he asked, confused.

Daryl approached T-Dog. “I told you, this little turned and his douchbag friends came outta nowhere. They jumped me.”

“Man, you’re the one who jumped me, puto.” The boy accused Daryl. “Screaming about tryin’ to find his brother like it’s my damn fault.”

“They took Isabell.” Daryl told his group. “Coulda taken Merle, too. Without a thought.”
The boy laughed. “Merle? What kinda hick name is that? I wouldn’t name my dog Merle.” Daryl pushed through the group to beat at the boy, but Rick held him back. Glenn was actually scared of Daryl and he jumped when the Georgia Native shot forward.

“Damn it, Daryl! Back off!” Rick pushed Daryl into the middle of the room, away from the kid. Daryl glared at Rick, staring him down. His face, then, seemed to change, like he got an idea. Daryl walked over to Glenn’s backpack and started to dig through it. He pulled out the bandana he put Merle’s hand in and started to unwrap it.

“Wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?” Daryl asked. He threw the hand into the kid’s lap. The kid backed away from it, freaked out. He fell out of the chair. Daryl followed the boy and wrapped his hands around his neck. “This time,” Daryl said, “I’ll start with the feet.”

Rick came over pulling Daryl off the kid, standing between the two. “The men you were with took his friend. All we wanna do is talk to them. See if we can work something out.” Rick bent down to the boy’s level as he spoke to him. “Now, are you willin’ to help with that, or am I gonna have to leave you in this room with him?” Rick asked, glancing back to Daryl who had a wicked smirk on his face. The boy sighed, giving in.

!@#$#@!

Isabell wasn’t sure if she had passed out on her own or if they had knocked her out. She looked around to gather her surroundings. She wasn’t in the car anymore. Instead, it was a small dark room. Iz tried pulling her hands apart, but they were tied tightly behind her back. She sat on the floor in the far corner of the room. All the girl was thinking was that she had to find a way out. Isabell’s eyes shot to her leg. It didn’t hurt anymore. It had been cleaned up and bandaged.

What kind of kidnappers would stitch their hostage back to health? Isabell thought.

Iz pushed herself off of the floor, using the wall as support. She almost fell to the ground the second she was up. She stumbled, but used the wall again to catch herself. Walking over to the door, Isabell hoped it was open. Of course, it wasn’t. Her captors weren’t stupid. She turned around looking for another option. There was a small window, but she would never be able to get out of it without her arms. Turning again, Isabell looking for something that she could stand up on, thinking she wouldn’t need her upper body strength at all. She pushed a stray chair over to the window with her leg and climbed onto it. Isabell looked out the window and saw that she was three floors up. She groaned.

I’ll never make that fall.

Her head turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and jingling keys. She jumped from the chair, kicked it away and returned to her spot on the floor. There wasn’t any point in getting beat for trying to escape. The keys turned in the door and three men came in, not saying a word. So, Isabell spoke first.

“You bastards here to let me go or are you gonna kill me?”

The man in front had short brown hair and a goatee. He looked at the tied up woman and smiled, leaning down over her. “We’re expecting some friends of yours, sweetheart. Gotta make you look nice and pretty.” Isabell quickly spit in his face. The man pulled away angrily, wiping away the spit.

Isabell grinned. “Sorry, sweetheart. You had a bit o’ dirt on your face. Thought you’d wanna look your best when you get a bullet in your head.” The man turned around towards the other two, speaking a few words in Spanish. “It’s rude to share secrets in a different language. Why don’t you share with the class?” Isabell suggested. The man turned back to glare at her before leaving the room. The remaining two glowered at the girl. “Well? Are you fuckers gonna tell me what he said, or am I gonna have ta beat it outta ya?”

The men smiled, crudely, and Isabell felt a quiver in the back of her throat. She was afraid. One man pulled duct tape from his pocket, the other had a brown cloth bag. She knew what was coming next. They started to move towards Isabell. She tried kicking them away, but tape guy gave his tape to bag guy so that he could hold down her legs. Bag guy taped her mouth shut. Isabell tried to scream, but it was too late once that instinct kicked in. The tape pulled at the skin around her mouth, making her eyes water. After one guy placed the bag over Isabell’s head, the two picked her up by her arms. They carried her from the room and down a hallway. The three went up just one flight of stairs and out another door. Isabell felt wind blow on her bare legs and figured that they were now outside. Probably on the roof.

“Oye!” was yelled. The voice came from the guy that Isabell had spat on. The men pushed Isabell further. One man ripped the bag from her head. She looked down and saw that her suspicions were correct: they were on the roof. Isabell kept a brave face when she saw Daryl, Glenn, and Rick standing at the ready, guns and all. She wondered briefly where T-Dog was, but that thought left her mind when the men pushed her just a little bit further so the toes of Isabell’s shoes were hanging over the edge. She whimpered. The only thing keeping her from falling was the guy’s hold on her arm. She looked eyes with Daryl, nodding her head, telling him she was fine. Isabell didn’t really see any of these guys as a threat. Now that she was on her feet, she could easily take them and was now awaiting a signal. Daryl knew what his friend was thinking and shook his head. Clearly, he wasn’t taking any risks. “I see two options.” Isabell looked down to the man who spoke. It was definitely the man she had spat on. He was their leader. “You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or...you come back locked and loaded, we’ll see which side spills more blood.” The man looked to his right. Isabell followed his gaze to see T-Dog. He was set up as a sniper. Daryl’s group thought of everything.

!@#$#@!

After returning to an abandoned building that T-Dog found, Daryl’s group decided to come up with a plan. Daryl was not happy going back without Isabell. He kept pacing, thinking, as Rick also tried to come up with a plan. Glenn wanted to apologize to Daryl for letting Isabell get taken, but the boy knew that Daryl wasn’t the sort of person to have those sort of moments. Glenn would just be blown off. It wasn’t worth an attempt.

“We give them half the guns and ammo.” Rick planned. He got up to grab the bag and sort through them.

Daryl shook his head. “Them guns are worth more than gold now.” He said. “Gold won’t protect our family or put food on the table. How could we give that up?” Glenn was confused by Daryl’s statement. Wasn’t Isabell his friend?

“Are you trying to convince me to run away and leave her here?” Rick questioned.

“No!” Daryl defended. “But who’s to say they’ll give her to us? We should just find her and get her out of there.”

“If we knew that we would get Isabell, for sure, I would agree with giving them half the loot.” T-Dog stated. “But you think that Vato across the way is just gonna hand her over?”

“Are you callin’ G a liar?” Miguel, the boy, spoke from the floor.

Daryl walked over and got in Miguel’s face. “Are you part of this?” Daryl asked, then slapped him. “You wanna hold onto your teeth?”

Glenn looked to Rick. “Question is, do you trust that man’s word?” he asked he asked the older man.

“No,” T-Dog intercepted. “Question is, what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than guns. It could be your life. Isabell worth that to you?”

“‘Course she is!” Daryl yelled. “Known her all my life! She’s probably the only family I got left!” Daryl got in T-Dog’s face this time. “We are not leavin’ here until she is back here with me!” Daryl protested. Glenn didn’t understand why T-Dog would question Daryl’s relationship to Isabell. The way the country man reacted when he saw the girl taken was something more than just a friend being taken.

“So we’re just gonna hand those guns over?” T-Dog asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I didn’t say that.” Rick defended. He looked to Glenn and T-Dog. “There’s nothing keeping you two here. You should get out. Head back to camp.”

Glenn shook his head. “No way. What’ll we tell Lori?” Rick looked to Glenn and nodded, accepting him and T-Dog staying.

“C’mon, this is nuts.” Miguel complained. “Just do what G says. No one will get hurt.”

!@#$#@!

The two men carried Isabell all the way downstairs. She wondered why they wouldn’t take her back to that room. Now that she knew, for sure, that Daryl was there for her, Isabell knew that he would look for a way to get her out. Maybe she could have stood by that window until he found her. Daryl would be able to get her down from the window. Instead, the men led Isabell to an auditorium-looking room. All around it, lined hospital beds, old people in wheelchairs, even a few Chihuahua puppies in the corner. Isabell furrowed her brow in confusion. The men moved me over to one of the hospital beds. One man ordered the girl to sit on it. She didn’t argue or come back with some witty response. Isabell was too confused. Why would these people kidnap me? Why would they start a war with Daryl’s group if they had some sort of elderly care in the back? It didn’t make any sense.
The two men who had brought Isabell down walked away and were replaced by another man. He didn’t say anything to her. He just came over and lifted her shorts up a little to take a look at the cut on her leg. Isabell couldn’t stop him if she wanted to. Her hands were still bound and her mouth was taped. He took the bandage off and pat the cut down with an alcohol pad, to clean it up a bit more.

“Does it hurt?” he finally asked. He looked up at Isabell before grabbing more bandage to cover it up with. Isabell shook her head. He dressed the cut before looking at the tape over her mouth. “I don’t think that’s necessary anymore, do you?” Isabell shook her head again. The man slowly removed the tape from her mouth. Isabell sighed and stretched out her lips.

“You don’t think you could take these off, too?” Isabell gestured to her hands tied behind her back. The man smiled and nodded, reaching around to cut the tape. She moved her arms around to her front, stretching them out, and popping her wrists. “Thank you.” the man nodded.

“Just don’t go startin’ any fights with the other patients. I’m pretty sure they’ll kick your ass.”

Isabell laughed. “Noted.” He started to walk away. “Wait.” she called. He stopped and turned back to her for a moment. “What is this place?” she asked. The man looked around to the room to point out the people. She followed his glance.

“I think it’s pretty obvious, don’t you?” he asked. Isabell shrugged her shoulders, but he walked away. She was left to herself sitting on the hospital bed. A lady in a blue night gown and pink sweater came over to Isabell with a tray that had a sandwich and a cup on it. The old woman stood in front of her.

“Hola.” she said. Isabell struggled for an answer here. She had to recall twenty years of high school Spanish.

“Uh, no hablo español.” She said, hoping that she was right. The woman nodded and smiled.

“Good job!” she congratulated, her Spanish accent still very thick. I smiled to her. “You hungry?” she asked. “I bring sandwich. Water.”

Isabell shook her head. “No, I couldn’t.” She turned it down. She couldn’t steal their food. No matter how hungry that she was. The woman still forced the tray on her.

“Please, eat.” she insisted. Isabell smiled and took the tray from her hands. Isabell took a bite from the sandwich. The one pite made her stomach growl happily. She was definitely hungry. Isabell thanked her. She nodded. “Everyone call me Abuela.”

“That means grandma, right?” Isabell ensured. Abuela nodded. “Well, Abuela. I’m Isabell.” Isabell took another bite and a sip of water. “What’s going on here? Where am I?” Isabell asked.

“Assisted living.” she responded. “That’s what my grandson told me. The doctors all left. No one says why.” she shrugged. Isabell’s jaw drapped. These old people had no idea about all the Dead coming back to life. They didn’t know people were being eaten alive. How had they managed to keep that secret from the people? “But mijo stepped up. He cares for us now.”

Isabell smiled. “That’s amazing.” She nodded. An old man in a wheelchair started wheezing and breathing heavily. Isabell hopped down from the hospital bed and replaced her spot with the tray. She joined the circle that was beginning to form around the man. “What’s happened?” Isabell asked.

“Mr. Gilbert has the asthma. He needs his medicine. I go get Felipe.” She told the others before fleeing from the room as quickly as she could. Isabell stood back as a few people who looked like doctors as well as a few more patients gathered around him. She watched as the make-shift doctors push different buttons on his breathing machine. Isabell could tell that it wasn’t working. She had hoped this Felipe guy could help him. She couldn’t stand to watch this man die right in front of her.
Abuela came back with the man who had just changed Isabell’s bandage. She didn’t realize until now, but he was also the man who Daryl shot in the ass with his crossbow. Her eyes turned to the doorway he came from. Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn soon entered, looking around, probably confused as to what this place was, just as Isabell was. Isabell smiled when she saw Daryl, but she didn’t go to him. She was too focused on what Felipe was doing with Mr. Gilbert. Daryl rushed over to her, though. He quickly checked over her body for any new injuries.

“Izzy, you okay?” You hurt?” he asked, urgently.

Isabell shook her head. “They didn’t hurt me, D. I’m fine. In fact, Felipe stitched me up.” Isabell showed him her leg. Rick soo joined the group when she turned her attention back to Mr. Gilbert. Felipe helped him take a puff from his inhaler.

“What the hell is this?” Rick asked.

“An asthma attack.” Isabell informed him. “He lost his breath.”

T-Dog gave Iz a confused look. “We thought you were bein’ fed to the dogs.” He said. Isabell raised an eyebrow and looked to the bed of Chihuahuas.

“You mean those dogs?” she asked, when they followed her gaze. No one answered her question. Iz tried to grab Daryl’s hand for a little bit of reassurance that they were both okay, but he shook it free and kept a good distance. “Figures.” Isabell mumbled. Daryl scoffed and shook his head at her. The leader came over.

“Could we have a word with you?” Rick asked him. The leader nodded, lamely, and led him away from the group. Isabell followed when Daryl grabbed her arm, lightly.

Oh, now he wants to comfort me. Isabell thought.