Staying Alive//TWDFanFic

Forty Five

Next thing I knew I was waking up from an after sex nap and rushed out in the middle of the night, now we're walking through a storm and I'm getting irritated because I'm soaking wet. Everyone starts to vocally complain, I notice Daryl's eyes to start to dart around before he announced for everyone to follow him. We went into a building and quickly discovered it was an old subway shaft, we've been following Negan's lead since he's the only person who knows his way through the city, Maggie glances at him and asks him which way we should go, he points down the tunnel with a fearful look on his face. I put my hand on his and squeeze it gently, giving him a slight smile before standing beside Daryl, waiting for him to jump down first. Negan speaks up to Daryl, "Hey, can I talk to you?" Daryl shines his flashlight in Negan's eyes, "Why's that? Think we're buddies or something?" I sigh as he jumps down and puts his arms out to catch me, I jump down beside him and watch as everyone else shoves by Negan before he finally comes down, I give him a sympathetic look before walking beside him through the tunnels.

After what felt like hours, loud creaking noises starting echoing through the tunnels, Negan stops and looks around with a scared look as one of the guys explains, "It's just the storm pushing air through the pipes, we're fine." Negan scoffs, "You know what that sound actually is? It's god telling us to turn around." I roll my eyes as Gabriel immediately stops to look back at him, "I'm pretty sure he would've ran that past me first." I rolled my eyes once again and shook my head as Negan responded, "Yeah, the good lord direct your one good eyeball to this?" He flashes his light to a mark on the wall, "Water line mark, that means this tunnel flood on a regular basis when it rains." Daryl walks toward us and stops in front of Negan, "It's bad down here, it's worse up there." Negan took a step back, "Look, man, all I'm saying is-" Daryl cut him off, "And it ain't working. You trying to run shit?" I stepped in front of Negan, "Come on, D." He looked me over angrily before turning around, "Keep moving." He whistles for Dog before grabbing my arm and pulling me up beside him.

Daryl walks cautiously beside me, with his arm in front of me as we made our way further down the tunnel. I started to see what looked like body bags after the overwhelming death stench. Everyone stopped and watched as Daryl bent down beside one of the bags, pushing it in a bit until it started wiggling and he stuck his knife through it, which stopped the wiggling. Someone from behind us asks, "Why didn't it make a sound?" Daryl ripped the bag open and the walkers throat was slashed so deep it's head was almost severed which threw me for a loop and I took a step back, bumping into Negan. He put his hands on my arms and held me there as he stared in disbelief at the body bag. Maggie caught my eye as she bent down along the tracks and picked up a stuffed bunny, my body tensed up as I stared at the bunny, it looked just like Beth's. I was stunned for a moment as I remembered her first time playing with hers, she was only 2 years old when Daryl brought it home after a supply run, she was so excited. Daryl stepped in front of me and waved his hand before slapping Negan's hand off of me, "Did you hear her?" I finally came back and shook my head, "No, what?" He pointed at the bags, "We're going to check all of them to make sure they were killed before the fall." I nodded before taking out my knife and walking toward the bags.

They all looked dead for years, for the most part. I noticed a shuffling sound from behind me so I turned around quickly to see Negan getting attacked by a huge walker as everyone else just stood by and watched as he struggled to keep it against the wall. I rushed toward him until Daryl stopped me by grabbing me as I tried to run by, Negan kills it just in time and then Maggie says, "Pay attention everyone." I scoffed as I pulled Daryl's arms off of me and looked at Maggie. Negan's a bit breathless as he says, "That's your plan? Pay attention? Anything in particular we should be paying attention to?" Alden steps up from behind him, "I'm this close to gagging you." Negan smirks, "Why don't you get up on your tippy toes and try?" Daryl speaks up as he stood in front of me, "Cut it out, both of you." Negan looks at Daryl as he points at Gage, "This kid almost died." Daryl scoffs, "You don't give a shit about this kid." Negan shook his head and pointed at Maggie, "No, she doesn't give a shit. She has been playing dictator since we left, not listening to me, not listening to him. Hell, not even listening to you. We don't know if this tunnel even has a way out. Whoever or whatever killed those rot bags, could still be down here. Has that thought crossed anyones mind?" I looked at the ground and waited for someone to say something but no one did so Negan continued, "That's right, it has. So, this is a death march and you are the god damn pied piper." He points at Maggie as she glares at him, he continues, "Now if y'all wanna roll with that, it's fine, knock yourselves out but not me, not today. I'm out." Gage speaks up from behind him, "Me too." Everyone gives him a look of disbelief before he puts his hands up, "He's a dick but he makes sense." Daryl shook his head, "We ain't splitting up." Negan scoffs, "It ain't up to you, buddy." Maggie shook her head and stepped up, "No, we need him. He's the only one who knows his way around the city." Negan seems even more irritated now, "Can nobody read a damn map? She didn't bring me here because I know DC, she brought me here to die. If we get through this, I'm not coming back. She'll find a way, she'll find a reason, she'll do it herself." I shook my head and stepped in, "No. She won't. I won't allow you to die." Negan and Maggie both go to say something but I put my finger up for them to shut the fuck up and let me talk, "No, god damn it." I turned around and looked at everyone else, "He did some foul shit to everyone here but that was years ago and she trusted him enough to guide us so no one's fucking killing him. I won't allow it, I'm done with this 'Negan is the devil' shit. We've all done shit we're not proud of and I'm sick of him being the only one crucified for it. He's with me and if any of you have a problem with it, you'll have to kill us both." I eye Daryl before looking back at Maggie, who is obviously angry at my words but she says nothing. Negan steps toward me and goes to apologize but I shook my head, "Don't." I grab him arm and walk him up in front of everyone as they just quietly watch us walk by.