Fucking flashbang, the crafty bastard.

Daphne immediately ducked and rolled onto her back, stretching her arms as far as they could go to work her wrists over her ass. She could hear snapping jaws now, the walkers getting closer, and she grunted as she managed to get her hands up her thighs.

She squeezed one boot down through her arms, then the other, immediately ripping off her blindfold. She glanced around wildly, taking in walkers approaching from all directions, drawn by the bomb that had gone off just a few feet away.

Her ears still ringing, she started working at the rope around her wrists, grabbing the knot in her teeth to try to loosen it. As she tugged, she stood and looked at the tree line, assuming that the forest was where her 'damsels' were hiding.

She considered going for the jeep first, but likely Negan had the keys. It seemed like the kind of thing he would do.

The knot finally gave as she moved towards the forest, and she picked up her pace as she loosened the rope. The walkers were thinnest to her ten o clock, and she took off into a run, dodging and ducking the slow moving corpses.

She wrapped the rope around one fist and held the end taut, clotheslining a walker in her way. She slapped the cord around another walker's neck and pulled tight, the now gooey rope cutting through its throat like butter.

She darted past the last few in her way, sprinting full speed towards the trees. Once under cover, she moved north, keeping the field line to her left. She wanted to sweep the forest as efficiently as possible, before it was overrun with walkers. Hopefully they'd stick around where the flashbang went off.

CRACK!

Fuck. The noise had come from her right, which meant they were drawing the walkers in as well. This initiation was insanity.

Daphne couldn't help but grin as she took off towards the noise, winding through the trees as silently as she could. There was a staccato of gunfire very close and she instinctively flattened herself against a large tree trunk.

Were they going to shoot at her too? She peeked out, scanning the trees, and caught a flash of bleached hair from above. Clever Arat, up on a high branch. Daphne ducked and trotted towards the tree, and had to dive for cover as a bullet narrowly missed her head.

"Jesus, you guys go all out," Daphne muttered.

"Stay the fuck down!" Arat barked, her tone hard.

The blonde stayed behind the tree, and frowned. "I thought I was just supposed to-"

"This isn't part of the initiation." Arat leapt down from her branch and rolled behind an adjacent tree with catlike grace. "We're under attack." She aimed her automatic rifle and shot twice, face a mask of concentration.

"We need to find the others." Daphne's heart pounded, blood running cold. "Give me a gun," she demanded, and the cinnamon skinned warrior tossed her the handgun from her thigh holster.

She caught it and cocked it, peeking out from around the tree.

"I was at the edge of the formation," Arat said while scanning the trees. "Next Simon, then Paula, then Negan on the far end. I think they came from the east so they might not have reached the others yet." She waved two fingers as she darted into the trees, and Daphne fell in behind her, eyes everywhere.

They reached a body, one of Arat's bullets lodged in its forehead. It was a greasy looking man, dressed in tattered leather with matted dirt caked hair. He looked like he could have been a caveman if it weren't for the Nikes on his feet.

"Look familiar?" Daphne asked, thinking maybe it was a settlement with a grudge.

"No," Arat replied, and kept moving.

The blonde raised her gun and popped one off into a figure to their left, getting them in the back of the neck.

They slowed at the sound of a shrill male voice, ducking low. "Drop it, cunt!"

"Just let him go, he needs medical attention." Paula's voice.

Daphne had to restrain herself not to burst forward, knowing that their stealth was an advantage.

"How's about you come over here and we'll leave him?" a male slurred. "We only got use for bitches anyhow."

There was laughing, and Daphne counted at least five separate voices, but it was hard to tell.

"Okay, I'm tossing my gun," Paula said, cool as a cucumber, and there was a light thump. "Push him away and I'll come forward."

There was a grunt and a thud, and then rustling that sounded like scuffling feet.

The girls peered over a low rise covered in bushes, able to glimpse the scene through the thick foliage. There were nine men total, plus a lump that was Simon and a terse looking Paula.

Zzzzzzzzzt! One of the crusty men zip tied Paula's hands behind her, and another fastened a dog collar around her neck. He gave an experimental tug on the leash and she staggered forward, almost tripping over him.

"Maybe we string her up right here. Fuck I love redheads," one of them declared, reaching out to grab a handful of her ample breast.

She kicked out and her handler jerked on the leash, causing her to fall to her side. There was an audible pop and Daphne cringed, assuming the woman's shoulder had come out of its socket.

Simon growled from his seat on the forest floor, clutching his thigh that sopped with blood. Paula gagged as her captor hauled her up by the leash.

"Nah, Tio got dibs on redheads." He poked her shoulder and she seethed. "No screwing around, bitch. You don't got to be in one piece for us to fuck you." He leered.

Daphne clenched her jaw so hard she thought it might break. Arat put a hand on her arm, and made motions with her hands. Daphne nodded, understanding what she was proposing.

"We hook up with the others, they treed a bitch on the north side," the bulkiest man said, and the group turned away from Simon. The mustached man started to pull a knife from his boot.

"Hey assholes!" he cried, and as they paused, the girls opened fire. They managed to fell five men before the group figured out what was going on, and Paula reared back, head crunching the nose of the man behind her.

Simon's knife flew at another, embedding itself in the dirty captor's throat. The one holding Paula's leash dragged her in front of him, and she kicked back with all her might as he fired wildly into the bushes.

Daphne managed to shoot the asshole with the broken face, and Arat caught the other man attempting to leap for Simon.

"You let me leave with my bitch!" the man hiding behind Paula cried, backing them up with a handgun to her chin.

Daphne and Arat stalked out of the bushes, guns aimed, fire in their eyes.

"About fuckin' time," Simon grunted, and Arat kicked his good leg in response. The girls stood in front of him, shielding him from danger.

"She's our bitch," Daphne growled, "and you're not leaving here at all."

Paula met Arat's gaze. The next moment felt like it happened in slow motion, as the redhead snapped her head forward at an impossible angle and Arat's gun snapped a single shot, catching the beast right in the nose.

Paula cried out as his gun fired right next to her ear, grazing the back of her head. She turned and smashed her boot against the side of the corpse's face, grunting angrily.

Daphne rushed to retrieve Simon's knife, and Arat turned to tend to the man himself.

"How did you let yourself get shot, you useless idiot?" she scolded, but her tone was gentle as she cinched her belt around his upper thigh.

Daphne cut Paula's bonds as gently as she could to avoid jostling her arm. The redhead kicked the corpse again as Daphne checked the back of her head. It was bleeding, but wasn't too deep.

"We need to find out where these assholes came from." Paula grunted.

"Later," Daphne said, and uncoiled the rope from her hand to sling it over her shoulders. "Right now we need to find Negan and get you and Simon to a doctor."

"You're going to pop my shoulder back in and go do that," the redhead countered, "then I'm going to find out where these assholes came from."

"I'm not a fucking field medic," Daphne snapped, and they all froze at the sound of gunfire.

Arat stood and crossed to Paula, grasping arm and shoulder in her strong hands. The redhead hissed at the crack of her bones syncing back together.

"You guys know where the jeep is." Daphne said, and checked the magazine of her gun. "Take Simon there, and circle back to the tree line closest to Negan's position. We'll meet you there."

Paula glared daggers, but flinched as she tried to lift her arm.

"We need to regroup," Arat agreed, and turned to the blonde. "We'll circle around and if you're not there I'm coming in for you." Daphne nodded and turned to head in the direction of the gunfire.

"Get a hostage!" Paula barked, and the new Lieutenant threw a smile back over her shoulder.

"I'll leash one of those cunts just for you."