Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

9- Graveyard sererinty

The cost of staying alive, to keep your heart beating, was getting higher and higher. It had almost proven to be too much for Alden. He had betrayed everything he once stood for. He wouldn't, couldn't, call himself a decent human being anymore. He was a shell of who he was before. Now he was just some loser that had failed his brother and now his friends. It was his fault that they were killed. The only thing Alden was sure of, was that he didn't deserve to be alive.

Survive today to live later

The only thing that kept him going was his belief in a better future. He had to believe that everything would get better. That future wasn't here at Sanctuary, that much he knew. There was only more blood and pain leading to a violent end here. He was only alive because of Negan's mercy, and only because Negan still needed him. Alden would be used as a pawn against the people that showed him there was a life to live after the world had ended. That was why Negan hadn't executed him or burned his face off. He needed to stay recognizable for his friends, and Negan had made sure he knew that.

Alden had felt stuck for days now. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do but what Negan demanded of him. He'd learned that lesson well enough now. There was no going against Negan.

He stared at the grimey ceiling above him. It was mid afternoon, but he simply didn't want to get up. He'd used the excuse that he was still healing from his very possible concussion. His wrist was getting better, but it was still swollen and sore to move.

Despite leaving his room as little as he could, he knew about the things that happened around Sanctuary. He knew what Negan had Dwight do. He knew Daryl had been brought back as a hostage here because Negan saw potential in him and that it was Dwight's task to break him. The twisted thing was that Dwight had run into Daryl when he ran away. Dwight's fate was what Alden feared; to be used to torture someone he cared about.

At least Rose was still unaware of what had happened. He hadn't told her about people dying, and for as far as he knew no one else had told her either. Nor did she know that people she had mourned for were close by. Not knowing about them, about Daryl, was for the best. She was already more grown up than she should be for her age.

She'd been sitting in the windowsill wrapped up in a quilt made from colorful granny squares, listening to music on a walkman. Negan had gifted it to her after that night. It was a kindness to keep her mind off Alden being hurt again. Their window oversaw the small courtyard at the side of the factory, the one where the bikes were parked. It was a better sight than the courtyard out front, the one where the dead were chained to the fence. She breathed against the window and drew a smiley face in the condensation. Then all of a sudden she gasped.

Alden shot straight up, immediately worried she'd seen something she shouldn't. He looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"I-I-I..." she stammered, her eyes were big with shock as she shook her head. She pointed out the window and down to the courtyard. "I think that's Daryl." She could barely believe her own words.

He jumped up and pulled her away from the window, which led to her nearly losing her balance. She was right, it was Daryl. His shaggy hair and stance gave his identity away. He wore the same old torn up clothes the other lowest workers out front wore. His set was spray painted with an orange A on the chest and back.

"You're right," he said. He tried to fake surprise as best as he could.

"I thought he was dead; you said he was. But maybe if he's still alive some of the others are too," she said hopefully. "Maybe Lizzie and Mika, they weren't on the bus either."

He tilted his head. "You never told me that."

"You said they didn't make it," she shrugged and stepped right back to the window. She looked down at Daryl again. They both watched as a group of Negan's men stormed outside.