CHAPTER FOUR
iv. THESE ANGELS

RUTH

IT HAD BEEN HOURS. Rick and the others locked the barn shut, looking for Randall. The girl saw the sun slowly set between the slits in the doors. She could feel the cold from the autumn night seeping into the wooden structure like a mysterious monster. The chilly air was like its tendrils, and the wind forced its way through her thin flannel. Shivers ran up and down her spine, and she clenched her restrained arms against her torso in an attempt to stay warm.

The night was quiet, from what she could tell. She didn't know what the night would entail, but she knew she wouldn't sleep well. Something was wrong, and she could feel it. Why did Shane take Randall? Why did Rick not respond when she said he was the miscreant? Did he not believe her?

Her thoughts were interrupted with a gunshot. Ruth jumped, and her breathing quickened. It was only one shot. Did they find Randall? Hopefully he's dead, she thought. She heard shouts in the distance, mostly a male's that she couldn't really recognize. She kept quiet, listening to the shouts mostly die down. Her breathing settled back to normal, and she closed her eyes to control herself.

Sadly, that didn't prepare her for the second gunshot. She yelped at the release of a bullet from a gun. Something was wrong. She heard shouts from outside, and not just the man's this time. She heard the rest of the group arguing, and panic resonated in their tones.

Ruth rattled the handcuffs. "Hey what's going on!" She shouted. "Hello?" She took a glance through the slit in the wooden paneling. The sound of loud groans made her stop rattling her cuffs, and she froze. She spotted movement of a large mass of bodies outside, which could only be biters. There had to be hundreds of them.

"Shit." She had to get out of here. She leaned her back against the wooden post, using it as a support to pull herself up. Ruth didn't have time to think about the consequences, and pain erupted from her thigh like somebody had set fire to it. Her mouth spit out a hiss, and she dropped back down onto the floor.

Suddenly the door opened, and Rick ran in with a boy that she didn't recognize. They barricaded the door just in time for tons of biters to slam their hands against it. She quietly gasped, tears leaking from her eyes. She didn't want to think about dying tonight, but it somehow forced its way into her mind. The doors creaked as the corpses moved them back and forth. They wouldn't hold, and Rick seemed to know that as well.

Rick turned, noticing that Ruth was in the same place he left her. Her dark eyes stared at him in fear, most likely from both him and the monsters that lurked outside. He didn't want to trust her, but he had to in this moment if he wanted Carl and himself to survive. He glanced around the room, devising a plan quite swiftly.

"Carl, grab that can of gas." He urged his son. The boy sprinted to the red container and handed it back to his father. He split it into two buckets, handing one to his son. "I need you to dump this all over the floor, quick as you can." The boy nodded, and set himself to work.

Rick's eyes trailed back over to the girl who sat frozen at the sight of the rattling doors. She looked like an animal in a trap, waiting for a hunter to come and finish her off. She was waiting for death that she knew would come, and she wasn't ready. The man strode towards her shaking figure, hesitating before reaching for the keys in his back pocket. "Can I trust you?" He murmured so only she could hear.

"What?"

"Can I trust you? To not kill us while we have our backs turned? To not kill my boy? To help us get out of here?" He said. "If not, I'm leaving you here to rot." Her eyes trailed up to his looming figure, and quickly nodded.

"After this is over, you don't have to trust me again. Just tonight. Please. I want to live, and I know you do as well." She said, her eyes meeting his in a pleading manner. He nodded and unlocked the cuffs. He stuck the cuffs in his pocket and helped her up slowly.

"Carl c'mere." He called to the boy. The child rushed over, and helped the girl by wrapping his arm around her waist gently. "Help me get her up on the loft. After that, you stay up there with her."

"But-"

"Do what I say." Rick demanded. He handed the boy a small lighter, and Ruth finally caught on to the plan. "Drop the lighter when I tell you. We'll stop some of them from reaching the house and distract the others, so at least we'll have a chance. Hey, hey hey, look at me. You can do this." He said looking directly at his son. His gaze shifted to Ruth's panicked stare, and he nodded to her. "I love you, Carl. Now go, get her up there."

The boy let her go up the ladder first, her leg burning in pain as she stepped onto each rung. She moved as fast as she could though, so Carl could quickly reach the loft and slump down beside her. She watched as Rick unlocked the door and shouted to attract the walkers. She could faintly hear him shout "Carl, now!" and the boy dropped the lighter into the pit.

The bodies erupted into a bonfire of death, and the heat singed at Ruth's face. Rick helped the girl up to her feet, and she cried out as blood seeped through the bandage.

Rick mumbled. "Shit."

Ruth shook her head frantically. "No no it's fine. We need to go, now. You two first out the door. I'll cover you."

Rick handed her a small dagger. Her dagger. "Why us?"

She sighed. "You have people you need to live for. I'm collateral damage." The man stared at her in disbelief, but she urged them both forwards. "Go!"

Rick called out towards an RV that sped towards the back of the barn. A teenage boy sat in the driver's set. "Come on!" The RV stopped right in front of a small wooden ledge, and Carl quickly raced across to the roof of the vehicle.

Rick jumped across and extended his arm to Ruth, who gladly took it. He pulled her across onto the roof, and she almost knocked them both off of the side. Luckily the man stayed balanced, and she only fell into him before he wrapped his arms around her to secure her from falling off. Screams sounded from inside the RV, obviously belonging to the poor boy inside. Rick scaled down the ladder on the RV's side and shot a few biters that lingered.

"Always the damn ladders." Ruth mumbled as Carl extended a hand to her from below. She pulled herself down and landed to the ground with a loud thump. Her leg still ached, but she focused on the crisis at hand before even attempting to assess her injuries. She saw Carl and Rick run along in front of her, and she ran at a fast limp.

Tears ran down her cheeks because she knew she was too slow, but she wasn't giving up yet. A walker followed closely behind Carl, its jaws snapping at the boy. Neither the man nor the child saw the biter, so they didn't see as it reached out to grab onto the boy's shoulder.

"Carl, watch out!" She shouted, and plunged her knife into the dead thing's skull. The biter collapsed beside her, and the father and son stared at her in shock.

"Go. Hurry!" She said loud enough to hear over the groans of the dead. Her arms pushed them forwards frantically. The trio forced their way back towards the small white house, where Hershel stood firing into the horde. Rick and the older man continuously argued about leaving, and Ruth stood there frozen as the creatures still approached.

"It's my farm!" The older man shouted.

"Not anymore." Rick yelled. He grabbed Hershel tightly by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards a red and white truck. Carl helped Ruth along as much as he could, but the woman pushed him forwards.

"Get in the car. Go." She yelled. "You need to get out. I'm the last person in." The boy froze, staring up at the woman in disbelief. She lowered her voice, her eyes meeting his. "I said go."

Carl quickly got into the truck, the girl throwing herself into the seat beside him. Rick slammed shut the driver's side door and sped down the driveway. The girl leaned her head against the back of the passenger seat, trying to calm herself down. The feeling that had been hidden previously by adrenaline rushed back into her system. Pain ached all through her leg, and she felt it going numb. She gazed down at her leg and saw dark liquid staining her jeans. Blood. For the first time all night, she expressed her fear. Ruth had been hiding it all night just so she could live. Survive. Her hands shook violently, and sobs sounded from her mouth quietly.

They weren't quiet in the dead silent car though, and the boy beside her glanced her way before grabbing her hand. She tensed before tilting her head slightly to see the boy. He nodded towards her. Fear from her eyes reflected in his own, but his face remained impassive. Rick looked into the rearview mirror to see the two's silent conversation, but he didn't include himself in it. He felt he could trust the girl after tonight, but he didn't know how the others felt about her. Ruth was strong in her own ways, and yet she still had much to learn from a world as dangerous as this. Rick saw that she needed someone to depend on. Because like him at the start of this nightmare, she was alone and scared. She needed to learn how to survive, and fast.

••

The sun had risen by the time the truck reached the highway. Rick, Carl, and Hershel exited the truck and talked amongst themselves. Ruth stayed in the backseat of the truck, her eyes staring off into the distance. She didn't blink. She didn't cry. She didn't speak. She didn't do anything. She just sat there, staring out into the trees. The blood had dried into her jeans, but Ruth didn't dare check the bandage. She knew it was going to be bad, and the girl wasn't prepared to look.

Ruth's eyes closed before fluttering back open to hear the low hum of a motorcycle. She lifted her head slightly, and glanced out the window. She saw three different vehicles pull up beside the truck, and a small smile reached her face. Daryl and an older woman got off the bike. Glenn and the brunette piled out of a small car, while a dark-skinned man, the woman from before, and a young blonde girl stepped out of a blue truck. Rick and Carl ran and hugged the long haired brunette, embracing in what Ruth could only assume was a family reunion. The sight made her smile and she stepped out of the vehicle to see the group up close.

Most of them stared at her in disbelief, but Rick smiled slightly as he gestured towards her. "Guys, meet Ruth."

Ruth felt uncomfortable under their stares, knowing most of them were sizing her up. After all, she was the prisoner in the barn. She shouldn't have expected to be treated differently. The woman could feel their distrust almost immediately, and she looked down at her feet. She looked up to see Glenn and the short haired brunette from before looking at her differently, though.

They were smiling.

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One more chapter until season 3 !!!