Lilly Watkins has always been the strong one compared to her twin. That doesn't change when the dead start walking. Taking care of her family during the apocalypse, she never relied on anyone else. When she meets Daryl Dixon, a more temperamental pe...
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"Taking it like a champ!"
I refuse to look over as the sounds are enough to turn my stomach over. The rest of the group is sobbing. I don't make a peep.
"Suck...my...nuts." My eyes open, turning towards the redhead I had come to enjoy bantering with. Abraham's words anger Negan. The hits become harsher with more malice. Finally, he steps back, admiring the blood on the bat.
"Now, let's get down to business. Y'all think I'm an idiot, don't ya? Pretending Rick here is your leader." He paces in front of us. "I thought we were feminists here. You're really gonna hold out on a female leader?"
My heart drops to my stomach, and I can taste bile coming up. My eyes connect with Negan's, and I know he means me.
He saunters over to me, squatting down to my level. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Lilly."
"Like the flower with the beauty to match." He chuckles to himself. "You know, I have a use for you beyond giving me all your shit. A life of luxury in this new world order."
I just glare at him. He continues. "How about I make you my wife? Well, one of my wives."
I spit in his face, my patience waning, and the anger buried beneath the surface rising.
He wipes it away. "Save that for the bedroom, wife."
There's movement from the left corner. Daryl jumps onto Negan, quickly being tackled by the other men. One with a scarred face points Daryl's crossbow at him.
"Want me to kill him?" the man asks Negan.
Negan looks between Daryl and me. "Not yet. I have a use for him." They drag Daryl away. It's starting to look like our children will be orphans. The thought of not returning to Cash and Tiff well up tears in my eyes, but I have to push it down. I will not show weakness to this man.
"Now, I told you to cut that shit out. I told you the first one is free, the second is gonna cost you." His bat makes contact with another skull. My eyes widen, the breath leaving my body. Maggie screams the loudest of us all as she watches her husband be bludgeoned to death right in front of her. The last of her family.
There's nothing we can do. This is a direct result of us stepping out of line. Any retaliation would just result in more deaths. I don't think he'd have any issues killing every last one of us.
"I'm going to kill you," Rick growls out once Negan is finished. He grabs Rick, dragging him into the RV and taking off. We remain seated on our knees, waiting for their return. I glance over at Daryl. He won't take his eyes off me. We are about to lose everything we've fought for: our home, our kids, us. This could very well be the last time I see him...alive. I want to sob, break something, and drown my sorrows in alcohol. Right now, I'm powerless.
It's daylight out by the time the RV returns. Rick is brought back to his old spot.
"Get guns to the back of their heads," Negan orders his men. I feel a pistol touch the back of mine. Gee, my choices are die now or become a sex slave. I don't like either path currently.
"Kid," Negan says, setting his sights on Carl. His finger calls Carl forward. Carl hesitates, looking over at me. I nod. Negan rolls up his sleeve, wrapping a belt tight on his upper arm before asking Simon–the man from the first blockade–for a marker. He creates a line on Carl's forearm.
"Please don't," Rick mutters in a quiet sob. He's connected the dots about what Negan is preparing.
"Oh, I ain't gonna do shit. No, you are." He places an ax on the ground in front of Rick.
"Please, we understand," Michonne pleads, tears tracking down her cheeks.
"I'm sure you all understand. I just need Rick to understand." He instructs Rick to cut off Carl's arm. Rick hesitates, his eyes moving around like a caged animal.
He grabs Rick's face by his chin, pulling him close to his face. "This is it." He stands up, starting to count down. Rick is full-on sobbing at this point.
"Dad, just do it," Carl begs. Rick picks up the ax, preparing to swing it down. Negan stops him, reveling in the messy state that Rick is in.
"You belong to me, right?" Rick nods. Negan grabs him by the chin again. "Speak when you're spoken to!" he screams into his face. He stands back up, addressing all of us. "Today was a damn productive day. I just pray that you all get it now. That you understand how things work. Whatever you had going for you is over."
He turns to Simon. "Load him up." Simon and a few other men grab Daryl, dragging him into a van. Daryl's gaze doesn't leave me until the doors shut. Negan grabs my shoulder, pulling me up beside him. "I'm leaving you all a truck. Consider it a gift to haul all the shit you're going to find me. Let's go."
"Aaron!" I call out as I'm being dragged away. "Take care of them." He nods, knowing exactly who I meant. I couldn't give Negan more leverage against me. The only problem is that Milly is my identical twin. He'll know her connection to me if he ever lays eyes on her, maybe even make her a wife, too.
A bag is placed over my head so I can't find my way home. I try desperately to memorize the turns, but I know it's futile. A hand rests on my thigh. I swallow the sickness wanting to rise from my throat. In the last couple of years, the only man I've been with is Daryl. The one thing I've never done to survive is sell myself, though I don't judge those who had to.
"Not much further, darling." I bite until I taste blood from the sound of his voice. Hatred gnaws at my soul. I will get revenge, even if it kills me. It'll have to happen after I get Daryl away from whatever hellhole we are driving towards.
