Fire With Fire // D. Dixon [Book One]

chapter forty-eight

Fuck. They'd been found.

"This shit isn't funny anymore..." Negan spat, punching Rick to the floor, "Don't make me do this now, Rick. I got plans for you. Cut you up in little bitty pieces, feed you to the dead, and make you watch-"

"Negan, stop!" Chloe was crying now, seeing Negan beating her father. The sight reminded her eerily of the way he had been beaten by the Governor all those months ago. Negan simply ignored the crying girl.

Negan laughed in between his punches and his grunting, "Then, when you're some sort of screwed-up, creepy stump with a head...that's when I'm gonna kill you. In front of everybody."

"You ever shut the hell up?" Rick spat back, after spitting out some blood. Chloe watched in horror, trying to think of something to do. She had to save her Dad.

"Nope!" Negan slammed Lucille down at the table, narrowly missing Rick, "You know your kid volunteered to die? What kind of boy you raise, Rick? I'm gonna fix him, cause I like him. In a few years, he'll be one of my top guys-"

With that, Rick gained the upper hand. He had knocked Negan back, causing him to stumble into a table rather roughly. However, Negan had managed to slam Rick into the floor again.

"When I'm done with you, nobody will ever try to do what you did, not ever again!" Negan spat angrily, "Not your friends, not your son or daughters...hell not even your grandchild-"

Rick stood up again, more livid this time, knocking Negan to the ground. He'd gone too far, as usual. Rick was lit up with a fearsome rage. He'd gotten a few hits in before Negan had gotten back in control.

Not being able to stand by and watch any longer, Chloe grabbed Negan's back in a desperate attempt to pull him off of her father. But Negan had roughly pushed her back, sending her to the floor, just before hitting the table with a loud thud.

Chloe Grimes' vision quickly faded to black.

-X-

When Chloe awoke, she found herself back at the Sanctuary.

Her heart sank at the familiar sight of the infirmary, just as she had when Doctor Carson had come in. Then she realized that she was in the infirmary, and then her heart had stopped.

She had fallen, she remembered that much, her head was aching something horrific. That had told her enough. A terrifying thought crossed her mind, was the baby okay? Has something happened?

"Is the baby...?" Chloe's voice was panicked, she sat up, a little too quickly. Doctor Carson put her back down, worried she'd get worse if she moved too fast. She'd taken one hell of a tumble.

"Your baby is doing great, especially since you're 30 weeks by the end of this week. You're head, however, is a different story. You have a concussion. You had a nasty fall, hit your head pretty bad. I'm gonna give you some light meds to take down the swelling and help with the pain. How're you feeling right now?" Doctor Carson spoke softly, scared to make her headache any worse than he knew it probably was.

Chloe ignored the last half of what he said, wanting to get to the point, "Where's Negan?"

"Right here," Negan said, from the other side of her bed, "I have some serious apologizing to do."

Chloe was silent for a moment, as her eyes met his. She could see that he looked guilty, and very concerned. But he knew she was pissed. He had pushed her back so roughly, gotten her hurt and put her baby at risk. It was something he felt terrible about, he'd feel guilty about that for a very long time. It was safe to say that she probably hated him now.