Scenario #6 (Open to anyone who can make a minimum of 3 posts per day - Levi, Calliope and Lindsey)

"Wake up! Are you OK?"

Levi blinked slowly, the soft voice of the young girl bringing him to his senses. His vision was still blurry but, after blinking a few more times, Calliope's face started to become clearer.

"Fuck... What happened?" he asked her groggily.

Before she could answer, she squealed in fright and stepped backwards as a hand slammed down against the back of Levi's head. He fell hard to his knees on the tarmac and coughed, dizziness taking over his senses. Attempting to crane his head to look back at his attacker, he realised that his hands were tied up.

"Get the fuck up, pussy." spat the raider, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and propping him back onto his feet. "And start walking."

He opened his mouth to object but thought better of it once he felt the cold barrel of a rifle jab into the small of his back. Taking the hint, he began to walk forward swiftly with Calliope, attempting to put some distance between himself and the raider's gun. There was no chance he'd be able to escape with his arms tied but he figured it was prudent to hear Callie's unexpurgated version of events. 

"You OK?" he asked gently. When he wasn't dignified with an answer, he pressed on. "What happened?"

"You were sleeping the entire time we were walking," she informed him. "That man had to carry you, that's why he's being mean."

"You've been awake the entire time?" he asked incredulously, feeling a pang of guilt. "How long have we been walking?"

"I don't know," she replied uncertainly, biting her lip as she entered a deep state of cogitation. "Maybe... three hours?"

Levi sighed in exasperation, knowing that she was probably right. Had he been out for that long? The heavens seemed to agree; the sky was a pale, almost-diluted blue and the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. 

His mind was swirling with a torrent of questions, most of them regarding Evelyn. He had attempted to defend her from the slavers but the effort had been inefficacious at best and pernicious at worst. Judging by the temper on that particular raider and the way he had dealt with Samantha, it was not beyond the realm of possibility that Evelyn was being punished for his actions. 

The compunction was starting to become painful. Emotions were a drawback in this world. Then again, they were also the only things that kept him human. The only difference between him and the walkers or, indeed, him and the scum that was forcing his inexorable march at gunpoint towards a fate worse than death.

It was not too long that he and Evelyn had made a couple of new 'friends'. Regardless of their actual feelings and the veracity of their friendship, the twins had been a capable force. They had made him truly believe that the dream of reaching the Black Mountain unscathed would become a reality. 

Though his first encounter with Calliope and Lily had been far from perfect, he had persuaded himself to not dwell on it too deeply. After all, he had managed to redeem himself through his triumphant elimination of a herd of walkers. The plan was brilliant and had it been executed without a hitch; it made him feel as if he had something to offer to the world. He felt smart, powerful, creative and, most of all, a protector. He did not need to be afraid of caring anymore because he could now have friends and loved ones under his aegis.

And yet, mere hours after this victory, he watched his entire group get split off up and enslaved by predatory thugs. Whatever self-esteem his triumph over the walkers had given him had been swiftly eradicated by this greatest failure.

The most egregious splitting had to have been Lily and Calliope's. He and Evelyn had survived on their own for a long time and Scarlett and Samantha seemed quite capable, but Lily and Calliope were two peas in a pod. It was abundantly clear that Calliope kept Lily sane as much as the other way around. Still, at the end of the day, Lily was not a child. Calliope was...

"How old are you?" he questioned before he could stop himself.

"I'm nine." she replied shortly, eyes fixed on the ground as she trudged alongside Levi.

"I'm..." he paused for a moment, unsure of his own age. Birthdays had lost all importance. "Twenty six."

Calliope nodded glumly, acknowledging his answer but not engaging in any more small talk. Levi could hardly blame her, considering everything she was going through. Of all the people she could have been stuck with, he was probably her least preferred choice. If this was a perfect world, he would have gladly exchanged his knowledge on the medicinal use of Chlorothiazide Sodium for social skills [i]vis-à-vis[/i] nine year old girls.

After a few more minutes of silence and relentless walking along the wide, unkempt road, they finally reached their apparent destination.

He had not expected this.

Their 'camp' was enormous, as they had managed to fortify an entire high school. Even from this distance, he could make out the lofty, red letters attached to the front of the main building: WARRENVILLE WHEATON HIGH SCHOOL.

The gang who had set their residence up here must have been quite large in number since the entire building was surrounded with a crude wall composed of scrap metal. It may have been poorly constructed but there was no doubt that it was getting the job done. The group approached a large set of barbed wire gates which must have been around twelve feet tall, barely concealing the magnificent white buildings that had, in better days, been used to educate the new generation in the hopes that they'd achieve great things. Now, it was being used as the personal fortress of a bunch of thieves, murderers and rapists.

"We're back!" yelled the familiar voice of Thorne.

Within a few seconds, the gate swung open and the group was hurriedly rushed inside so that the gates could be closed again. Their system seemed a lot more organised than what Levi had witnessed so far.

"Take these two to the holding pens." commanded Thorne, gesturing at Levi and Calliope.

A burly group of four raiders grabbed the couple and roughly led them over to what looked like a basketball court. He felt the bile rise in his throat at the thought of an area made for the purpose of sports recreation being used to hold slaves. The door was opened and he and Calliope were shoved into it unceremoniously before the door behind them was padlocked.

Levi straightened himself up and looked around for weaknesses, barely noticing Calliope walking away from him and to the opposite side of the basketball court. 

"Damn it." he whispered under his breath, watching her leave.

The basketball court looked impossible to climb out of because of the evidently reoccurring theme of barbed wire. The hoops at each opposing side were still standing but he wasn't about to shimmy up that thin pole and leap off the top of the board; the fall would probably break his legs and he'd never be able to make the jump anyway. The only way out was the door they had entered through and, besides being padlocked, there was going to be constant surveillance by at least one guard.

It was a long time before he noticed something that threatened to actually give him hope but, knowing how fickle life was now, he tempered his expectations and slowly approached the girl crouched down in the corner, ostensibly trying to grab something outside the basketball court through the thin holes in the fence.

"Madam?"