CHAPTER 16 | MONSTROUS

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  Lauren was truly paralyzed in shock.

Her mind was racing with thoughts of what would happen running through her mind. Was Joe going to kill her? Would they hurt them?

"How the hell..." he trailed off, finally recognizing Lauren.

"Well if it isn't my old friend Lauren!" He shouted, chuckling loudly. Rick and Michonne both glanced at Lauren in shock. The young girl kept her gaze on the ground, not wanting to look into those eyes.

This can't be happening, not again, she thought.

Another one of Joe's men put his gun on Rick as Joe made his way in front of Lauren, bending down with a smile.

"Show some respect and look at me!" He hissed while taking ahold of her jaw and pulling her head upwards. Tears glazed over her eyes as her breaths came out staggered. Out of the corner of her eye one of his men taunted Carl in the car, staring at him through the window.

Joe hummed in content. "I had a bad feeling you would escape somehow. And now look at you! All grown up!" He continued while ripping his hand away from her face. If this was any other man, she would have spat in his face by now.

But Joe was the only man to ever scare her the most.

"You know what, I had this elaborate plan to let you die in there, so for getting out, this is what you get," he exclaimed while colliding his palm harshly against her cheek, Lauren falling to the ground in pain. The hot tears began pooling out by then.

Dark room. Loud scream. Impact.

The pain radiating in her cheek made her remember how awful it hurt when his disgusting hands touched her.

"Stop it!" Rick yelled, which made Joe mad as he took out his gun and went back into his first position, the barrel of his gun against Rick's head. Lauren glanced up from the ground to see Carl in the car staring at her in fear.

And all she could do was sit there in her tears, powerless.

"This'll be exciting, just like new years!" He continued as Lauren pushed herself off the ground, back to kneeling on the cold cement.

The man laughed again. "Now who's gonna count down the ball dropper with me, huh?"

Nobody responded.

"10 Mississippi, 9 Mississippi, 8 Mississippi-"

"Joe!" A new voice shouted, all of them looking to the car to see Daryl walking up. Lauren figured Daryl was with them, not knowing how bad Joe really was. "Hold up."

"You're stopping me on eight Daryl," Joe replied.

"Just hold up," Daryl persisted.

"This is the guy that killed Lou so we got nothing to talk about," a random man stated. Lauren glanced at Rick, knowing that it was her that did it. She wanted to speak up, but Rick shook his head lightly.

"The thing about nowadays is that we got nothing but time, say your piece Daryl," Joe insisted. She hated how nice he was acting, like he was some angel. He had a twisted mind, thinking that his group was better than theirs.

"These people, you're gonna let 'em go. These are good people."

"Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll of course have to speak for him and all, 'cause your friend here, killed him." Lauren glanced down, regretting killing the man. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if she avoided the bathroom.

Joe caught on to Lauren though. "Oh, isn't this a plot twist, it was you Lauren, wasn't it?" He questioned. She kept her gaze to the ground. "I should've known it was you, since you have a thing for killing people and all."

Don't bring Josephine into this, she thought to herself, wondering is she should've told him that. But she knew better than to speak up in front of him.

"You want blood, I get it," Daryl continued while dropping his weapon on the ground, "take it from me man, come on."

"This girl killed our friend, you say she's good people? See now that right there is a lie. I know Lauren better than any of you. And if she's good at one thing, it's being a monster."

At that point, Lauren was choking on her own tears. Everything was falling apart. She was reliving everything she went through, and maybe worse would happen. She knew she was a monster, but it coming from his mouth made it worse.

Before she would react any longer, two of Joe's men attacked Daryl. Lauren shook her head as she felt the blame for all of this happening. She just wanted it to stop.

Suddenly the man outside of the car opened the door, struggling to pull Carl out of it.

"You leave him be!" Rick shouted while trying to stand up, but Joe pushed him back down. Sobs erupted from Lauren's throat at the sight of Carl in pain.

"Stop it!" She screamed while attempting to crawl over, but the man behind her pulled her back and slammed her onto the cold ground.

"You'll get yours, you just wait your turn," he whispered, Lauren's breath hitching in her throat. She knew exactly what he meant. Joe's ways must have changed, but for the worse.

"We can talk about this, okay? Just leave them out of it," Rick pleaded, but Joe didn't do deals.

"Sure, let's settle this like reasonable men," Joe replied. The man trying to assault Carl pushed him to the ground, as tears continued to fall below Lauren. Carl glanced at her for a second, a small cry escaping him. She felt so sick she could throw up, but she bit her lip and stopped the tears.

The minute he pushed Carl to the ground was the minute she was done playing. Rage boiled inside of her like an erupting volcano.

"First we're gonna beat Daryl to death, then we're gonna have the girl. Then the boy. Then I'll have a little chat with Lauren," Joe explained. Lauren growled under the man's weight, her cheek pressed harshly against the cement. "Then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square.

"Let him go!" Lauren screamed while struggling under the weight. Joe simply ignored the girl.

"Let him go," Rick mimicked, but before Joe could even think to reply a gunshot was heard. Lauren couldn't tell what was happening, but she saw no sign of Rick's dead body hitting the ground; he was still alive.

Joe began kicking and punching Rick, this gave Lauren her cue. Lauren rapidly twisted her body under the man's weight of his hand pushing her down, so she was now on her back. Like before, she slammed her forehead into his, the man being taken back a bit. Dizziness took over, and she felt very weak, but she struggled to attempt to punch him. He grabbed her arm, but before he could push it down she bit his hand, a scream bellowing out of hit throat. She could taste the metallic tang of blood. The man ripped his hand away, a top layer of skin coming off with it.

He seemed to say something about her being a little bitch but she wasn't listening well enough. Lauren swung her knee up and hit him in the gut. He hunched over in pain as she rolled out from under him. Her dagger was the closest thing she had, so she ripped it out of her holster and sliced whatever was in her reach. It ended up being his arm. The man screamed in pain again, but now she had time to end it. As he reached for his gun that was on the ground, Lauren slammed her dagger into his head.

Lauren wasted no time in standing up. The first thing she could see was Rick taking a bite out of Joe's neck, and that made Lauren sigh in relief.

But she wasn't relieved yet.

Lauren found it ironic that the man trying to sexually assault Carl was one of the men that used to hurt her too. Vengeance and anger swam through her blood, a feeling of darkness pooling inside of her.

The man that was once atop of Carl stood up in shock, petrified of Rick's move. But what was to come would be more terrifying for him.

Michonne and Daryl had handled their men, but the man suddenly grabbed Carl and placed his knife against his throat.

Suddenly Lauren turned to see Joe laying on the ground on his last breath, looking up to Lauren with pleading eyes.

"Goodbye," Lauren concluded, as she grabbed Joe's pistol, using it to pull the trigger and end his life. Goodbye to everything, goodbye to her past, goodbye to the memory of him.

"I-I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" The man holding Carl suddenly spoke, but it was all lies.

"Don't fucking touch him," Lauren growled, her knuckles turning white as they clenched around her dagger. The man turned to Lauren, suddenly realizing who she was.

"Remember me you bastard?" She mumbled, stepping towards him. Rick seemed to understand that this was her battle to face, so he stepped back to let Lauren go towards him. Carl got out of his grasp, running towards Michonne and Rick.

"Stay back!" He stuttered out, but Lauren didn't hesitate to plunge her dagger into the man's stomach. Blood seeped through the wound, as he cried out in pain like the other man. She took her knife out, kicking him to the ground.

"This is for everything you did to me!" She shouted while shoving the dagger back into him once again. Lauren seemed to drown out the sounds around her, focused on the nefarious feeling in her veins.

"How does it feel?" She questioned, blood covering her hands and face as she plunged the knife once more into his throat, until he finally died of blood loss.

Everybody stood in silence for what felt like eternity, as she still knelt over his dead body in pride. But after awhile, that pride turned into realization of what she had done.

Joe was right, she was a monster.

Lauren blinked in shock, staring at the crimson liquid staining her hands. What had she done? Everyone now knew of the thing she really was, even if it felt so good to see the man who once hurt her so much, dead on the ground.

But it was another person's blood on her hands, the numbers just kept adding up.

With shaking hands, Lauren took her knife out of him, and placed it back into her holster. She stood up, slightly dizzy. A queasy feeling filled her stomach as she held out her blood covered hands. The group's lingering stares were on her, she was scared to death of what was to come, and what they thought of her.

Making her way slowly around the car--needing to lean against the vehicle as she struggled to stay upright--Lauren came to the door of the backseat and opened it.

I gotta wash it off, she repeated numerous times in her head. Lauren sat down in the car while searching for a water bottle. One came into view, so she took ahold of it and attempted to open it, but her hands were shaking too much, and her vision was too blurry to accomplish it.

A pair of hands were suddenly placed around hers, the shaking becoming minimal as she glanced to her left to see Carl helping her out. He took the bottle from her hands, opened it up, and began pouring the water over her hands.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking at his emotionless face. Guilt built up inside of her ever since Joe's men came, she couldn't help but feel responsible for it all.

"Don't be," he whispered back, the bottle being completely emptied of it's liquid. Her hands were now mostly clean, but she didn't feel clean mentally.

She had a lot of explaining to do to the group.

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[1994 WORDS]

a/n: that was a crazy chapter ogmckjs a lot happened. btw no backstory cause the present story itself was pretty heavy so i'll continue her backstory in the next chapter.