Something To Fear | Glenn Rhee

[넷] When It All Falls Down

"You don't need a picture of me. You never will again."

~Maggie Greene

Contrary to popular belief, Dwight was most certainly not "cool" with the events that transpired last night. He sat in the corridor, smoking a cigarette, trying to erase those images from his mind. It didn't make sense; he had seen many men meet that gruesome fate before. Why was he so bothered now?

Because that was precisely the issue: men.

Sure, the lady was already dead, but when the bat met her head all he could see was Sherry on the other end of it.

He closed his eyes when her name crossed his mind. He had not repeated that name in so long... That was another thing he had tried to forget.

But Negan had made sure he would never forget. When they arrived back to their sanctuary this morning, Negan offered Dwight a night with her for his teamwork. Dwight politely refused, but the message of his offer was clear: She belongs to me now and you will always be aware of that.

This didn't help with the fact he had just killed an old partner of his today. Granted, he was a traitor and runaway. Dwight considered it to be a mercy killing for the man; it would have been much worse if Negan were to find him.

He leaned his head back against the wall, his head pounding from all of these thoughts. He started to readjust his vest when his hand froze midway.

This was the vest he had taken from Daryl.

Nausea filled his insides as a new flood of memories poured into his mind.

"We're sorry," Sherry had said when they first encountered Daryl in the woods.

"You're gonna be," Daryl grimly replied.

Before Dwight could continue on torturing himself with his own mind, someone had come up beside him holding out a Polaroid picture.

He opened his eyes and to his surprise, it was Sherry standing there. Her eyes were watery with tears and her face contorted in anger.

"Negan didn't bother sparing me the details. He even had this photo to show off," she spat.

Dwight hesitantly took the polaroid from her and immediately dropped it from his grasp once he was what it was of. At that moment, Dwight wanted nothing more than to strip away his vest and go smash the crossbow. Everything was too much of a reminder of how badly he screwed up.

"When he said we were going to be sorry, I thought he meant something else," Sherry said quietly as she picked up the fallen photo.

Dwight looked down at her, feeling the urge to take her into his arms. But he quickly pushed down these thoughts.

"Maybe we were better off dead- maybe Daryl should have killed us..." Sherry said, staring back at her ex-husband.

"Sherry, don't-" Dwight started to say before she cut him off.

"No, I know what you're going to say. How I should be grateful for all he's done for us. But what should I be grateful for? Losing you? Losing my identity? Getting a man who showed us more mercy than he ever did killed?"

Dwight remained silent as he listened to her. He wanted to tell her she was wrong, so very, very wrong. But he couldn't find the words to argue.

Sherry opened her mouth to say more, but the sound of approaching footsteps was heard. Sherry quickly exited the corridor, glancing one last time at Dwight.

"Now there's my right-hand man!" Negan grinned. "I've been dyin' to talk to you."

Dwight was led to Negan's bedroom for this little one-on-one.

"I know last night was a little rough. But nothing my loyal right-hand man couldn't handle right?" Negan keenly asked.

"No, sir," Dwight answered, keeping his voice neutral.

"Yeah, I know you've experienced muuuch worse. Now excuse my lack of manners, I completely forgot to ask how that burn was healing."

"It's healing all right. As much as it can."

"I didn't expect it to look this good. Ya know, that iron was pretty hot. Just like your wife. Or ex-wife I should say," Negan leered.

Dwight only tightened his mouth in response.

"I was thinking how it might have been a blessing that Daryl was the one honored enough to meet Lucille. He could have been a good right-hand man. He would have been a helluva lot better to look at, ya know without a giant burn across his face," Negan came in closer to Dwight's proximity.

"It almost hurt me to kill him. Looking back on it, I should have taken out that Asian. But Daryl was just too defiant and I didn't want to be racist."

Dwight remained silent, processing all of this.

"But what really hurt was hitting the woman. She reminded me of a lot of Sherry. But that also got me wondering how she would have reacted if Lucille was about to kiss you. Women are insanely jealous. I bet," Negan got inches away from Dwight as he said this. "She would have jumped in front of you and taken the hit. She already sacrificed herself to spare your life before. Too bad she couldn't spare your face," Negan laughed loudly.

Dwight gulped, registering what Negan said as truth. Sherry would have jumped in to save his life. Dwight cursed himself, knowing that he would have been too cowardly to do the same for her. Would the man he had restrained have done the same for his wife? Something told Dwight he would have and more.

"Well, it seems this chat must come to a close. We gotta check back on our friends in good ole Alexandria," Negan crossed over to the door. "Oh, nice vest by the way," Negan smirked sadistically before leaving.

Dwight blinked a few times before exiting, musing over how no matter what items he had collected of Daryl's he would never be a fraction of the man Daryl was. Negan was right again about how Daryl could have easily replaced Dwight. Daryl stood up against Negan in the face of death, something Dwight couldn't do.

Contrary to popular belief, Dwight was most certainly not "cool" with the events that had transpired last night, last month, and the last few minutes. He absolutely hated when Negan was right and he often was. No, Dwight was not cool with this life; he was livid.

~

In Alexandria, a man was sprawled across his bed covered in dirt and dried blood. He dreamt of his wife; that she was lying next to him. He reached his hand out to touch her only to find emptiness. He was confused by this, but he has no time to ponder about it as he is woken up by the sound of truck and vehicles pulling into the city.

He sat up and looked out the window to see what was going on; a sudden rage filled him as he realized who was here.

He glanced down at his clothes and decided against changing them. Let Negan see him like this. Let him wonder why he was still covered in his wife's blood. Let him know just the type of man he could be.

Glenn stood up next to the bedside and reached deep into his pocket, pulling out his watch. He studied it, examining all the features and functions of such a beautiful heirloom. However, the noises outside broke him from his thoughts.

He angrily placed the watch on the counter beside Maggie's ring. A ring he had found for her and one she would never wear again. The time on the watch ticked on for him, but it would never tick for her either. Negan had made sure of that.

As he walked out to 'greet' their visitors, the time on the watch suddenly stopped.