Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 82 (I'd Rather Be Stupid)

The surface she was rested on was soft and comfortable, a complete contrast to the coldness of the van floor. Being in Daryl's arms was the last thing she remembered. Her eyes were shut tight, and she could barely hear the quiet electrical whirring coming from somewhere above her.

As she started to wake up, she could see a faint white light hitting her closed eyelids, the sudden change from total darkness making her nervous. As she opened her eyes, she had to blink a few times as she adjusted to the brightness.

Scanning her surrounding, she found herself lying on a bed. Her clothes had been changed from her bloody tank and jeans to a tight-fitting grey t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants the same colour. The shirt was rolled up, exposing a white bandage wrapped around her aching middle.

She was alone in the unfamiliar room and started to panic, having no idea where she was. As she went to sit up, she felt resistance pulling on her wrists, and looked down to see that she was cuffed to each side of the bed, preventing her from sitting up. She breathed heavily as she pulled and pulled to try and get free, but it was no use.

She heard the lock of a door click and creak as it was opened, and she froze when she saw Josh coming into the room with a tray of food. When he saw that she was awake, he paused for a second, looking her over before coming into the room and leaving the door slightly open.

"You're awake," he said as he came closer to CJ and put the tray down on the table at the foot of the bed. "Figured you'd be hungry. You lost a lot of blood there. You've been out for hours. We weren't sure if you were gonna... you know."

CJ stared at him with a look a look that could kill. She didn't speak, she barely moved. Her hands were clenched into fists by her sides as she watched him take a seat in the chair beside the bed on her right. He looked at her like he was waiting for her to talk, and sighed, looking down at the ground when she remained silent.

"Negan's gonna come and talk to you, but he asked me to come check on you first."

"Where's Daryl?" she asked, her voice raspy and broken.

"I can't tell you that," Josh replied.

"Then you might as well go," she said. "Because I have zero interest in anything else."

"Come on, CJ. It's been years since all that," he sighed. "Are we at least gonna talk about it?"

"I couldn't give a rat's ass what you have to say," she whispered. "All of our shit, it doesn't matter anymore."

"Look, what I did to you at the clearing... It wasn't personal," he began. "When I first saw it was you in that RV with that other guy, I... I couldn't believe it was you. Seeing you stand up to Simon like that, it was crazy. You've changed a lot since I last saw you."

"You haven't," she mumbled. "The smirk you had on your face when you stabbed me... You used to have that same look every time. What, you gonna break down and apologise like you used to back in the day? 'Cause that won't work."

"I'm not gonna apologise," Josh replied bitterly. "Your group slaughtered a whole bunch of men I considered friends. Then you alone killed five more when we caught you. Can't blame me for enjoying watching you and your buddies get punished."

"Just shut up," she muttered.

"You know, I was surprised not to see Tony there," Josh went on. "He back home with your friends at that little community you got? Alexandria?"

CJ's jaw clenched at the mention of her brother. She didn't respond, which served as enough of an answer to Josh's question.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I lost my family too. You remember my mom, right? She died a couple months after the fall. We were-"