VILLAINESS [TWD]

➴103

By time Negan and I made it to the infirmary, the others were already gone. We circled back around when we heard yelling a few halls down.

"El!" Carver shouts.

I stumble to a stop. My hesitation gave Negan enough time to bash Brandon across the face with a bell.

"Well, ding ding," Negan gloats.

"Shit," I mutter under my breath.

"Ellie?" mom asks, climbing to her feet.

I look to Brandon. He was laid out on the floor, but still conscious. His hand limply reached for me.

I kneel beside him and take his hand. 

"He killed my sister!" a boy around my age, maybe younger, shouts. 

I place my free hand on Brandon's forehead. He lays down, exhausted, and closes his eyes. 

Leah was nothing to me now. She was the enemy along with the other Reapers. But, Brandon.. he was my most trusted friend. He would do anything for me. He was.. my brother. He was who I wanted Carl to be one day.

"Ellie?" mom repeats my name, careful.

I squeeze Brandon's hand. He was my brother. But, I had a real brother waiting with the rest of the group. I had a mother. I had a girlfriend. Family that truly cared.

I slam Brandon and I's enclosed hands against his temple and knock him out cold all the way. I swallow roughly and pull our hands up.

"I'm sorry, brother," I whisper, kissing the back of his hand before setting his limp arm on his chest.

I push myself up to stand. Mom steps forward and tugs me into a big hug, squeezing me so tightly that it was hard to breathe.

"How?" Anna asks once mom and I pull away. "The roof?"

"Jumped over the ledge," I admit. "I lost Leah in the explosion."

"Did you really kill Pope?" Josh asks.

"She did," a voice says, making us all jump in alarm.

Daryl hurries down the hall, knife in each hand. 

"Thought I told you to run," I scoff.

Daryl tugs me into a side hug. "And I did. Glad to see you in one piece."

"What the hell happened?" mom asks.

"Pope, the leader.. I thought I was in his head, but I wasn't. Not all the way. He had me doped up, roofied- something. I don't know what shit he was putting in me," I admit. "He tried to OD me, but Daryl saved me. Then, I killed Pope."

"And Leah is still loose?" Josh asks. "She comes through on the radio. I think she thinks she's in charge now or something."

"She might be. She probably told the other Reapers that Ellie and Josh were traitors," Daryl points out.

"Brandon didn't seem to think so," I urge, maybe it was only hope that he was deep down a good man.

"He's a prick," Daryl brushes it off. "But, he's useful."

"He needs to pay for what he did," the boy on the floor demands.

"I agree. But, if we go down that road, we ain't all gonna make it out alive," Daryl assures.

I look over to Negan to find he was already looking at me.

Daryl continues talking, but I couldn't hear over the noise that was memories in my head.

"Are you doing this for her?" mom asks, her voice cutting through and causing me to look to her instead.

"No. I'm doing this for us.. For her," Daryl denies and points at me.

"She's not gonna go down without a fight," I remind.

"Maybe she ain't gotta go down."

"How else are we gonna make it out of here? Only one of us are making it out. Us or them," I argue.

"Brandon is important to Leah. Let's use him."

"Brandon is important to me!" I hiss.

"You said it yourself, it's us or them," Daryl reminds. "So you better choose before this trade goes down."

"Trade? Who the hell put you in charge and who the hell told you that a trade would be a good idea?"

"It ain't gonna be like before-"

"No. We're not doing a fucking trade-"

"Ellie," Anna cuts me off. "Any other plan is leading to someone's death or more."

"Trades end in death," I pointedly remind Daryl and mom. "No trade. No deal. It's not worth the risk."

"And sniping each other out on low fumes and exhaustion is?" Negan questions.

"You don't get a fucking say-so!" I snap at the older man. "Trades are a no-go. We know this from experience."

"She's right," mom supports. "Besides, who's to say that even if the trade went well that they wouldn't follow us back to Alexandria? Hershel, Judith, Gracie.. all the kids and our friends will be in danger."

"Tanks and all," I add. "We can't do a trade and leave loose ends. That's more dangerous than anything."

"You and I both know Leah. It's different this time," Daryl fights. "She wants nothing more than her family to be safe. This ain't the Governor or those cops and you two needa get your heads outta the past or else we ain't gonna survive today."

"Or maybe we can learn from past mistakes and not go three for three!" I cry out. "Come on, Daryl, this is stupid and you know it! There's too much shit tangled up in this to do something like a trade."

"As long as you keep your shit in your pants-"

"Shut up!" mom and I both scream at Negan when he tries to butt in.

Daryl rips the radio off of Brandond's shoulder. I hurry toward him, but he already spoke.

"Leah.. It's me. We need to talk."