Falling Into Place

Chapter Twelve

I sat on the porch  in a wooden rocking chair. An ash trey sat on the table beside me, filled with ash and cigarette butts, and a stereo beside that. It played Elvis, and I hummed along to "In The Ghetto" as it played.

The door behind me slides open, and footsteps lead to the seat beside mine.

I stared at him, and he stared at me. I look back out at the trees and sing along with the song, and Negan looks away.

"Well this is one sad fuckin' song, isn't it?" He groaned, looking at me.

"Yeah."

"Hey, are you still upset about what happened last week? (Y/n), listen. We don't have to ever do that shit again. Alright? You'll just have to go back to your old-"

"Shut the fuck up, please?" I said, and switched to the next track on the CD.

I sang along, and Negan stopped trying to talk.

He stood up and opened the door, turning back towards me.

"Just fucking come to me when you're ready to fucking talk about it, dammit."

"Let's talk now, actually." I say, switching off the radio and turning towards him.

He leaned over and stared at me.

"You're all about consent, correct?" I asked.

"Of fucking course." He nods.

"Well, I just felt kinda- well- extremely fucking pressured to do what we did." I spoke silently.

"Alright, let's cut it out with the 'what happened, what we did' shit." He placed Lucille down slightly. "You sucked my dick."

I cringe at the words and look back at the radio, compressing the urge to bash it into his face.

"It felt forced." I state once again.

"Well it wasn't." He said, looking out. My glare snaps towards him in offense.

His glare meets mine, and I feel a chill shoot down my spine. That was very odd.

He must have been able to tell, and he stepped forward, rubbing my shoulders.

"I'm just saying. You don't have to do anything you don't fucking want to." He leaned over, whispering in my ear.

I felt my heart sink, and I looked up at him to meet those brown eyes once again. This time, a smirk snuck across his face. He leaned forward and kissed my neck quickly before standing up, and placing a hand on his side.

I groan awkwardly, and look at him with pleading eyes. He raises his eyebrows.

"What's that look for?" He smiles, stepping close once again.

"What look?"

"That one." He picks Lucille up and taps my face with the end of her. I blink a few times, slightly surprised. When I rubbed my face, Negan chuckled. "I'll just be on my way, then."

He was implying that I had something else that I wanted before he left, but I just watched as he did so.

I laid in my bed, face-first in my pillow. I cried into it. I missed life before the apocalypse. My dad, my sister. My mom. But, I surly don't miss high school, I'll tell you that.

I began to run the beginning of this through my head over and over again.

I was on my way back from school on the bus going to my stop, which was quite far away from my home. So, my buddy was to pick me up and we were gonna chill out for a while. But, he wasn't there when I got there. I walked home, and with every block that passed more and more students left the group.

The group was quite small in The first place, anyway. Many kids were absent that day.

I remember it. The warm spring air, the sun beating down on my skin. My canvas shoes skidding against the sidewalk.

And, when I got home, both my father and my sister were out. I don't remember what they were doing. Maybe working? Probably chemo therapy when I think about it now. My mom usually popped food in the microwave for me before I got home, but not today. She was just getting home from a meeting as I got home.

"Hey." She said to me, "How was school?"

"Boring as usual." I toss my school bag onto the couch.

"(Y/n), put that in your room."

"I will, just let me make some food."

She slides her jacket off and wipes a weak hand over her forehead.

"I'm gonna die from this heat." She sighed.

"I told you about the weather before we moved here. It's not my fault Georgia's hot as balls." I laughed under my breath.

"Language!"

"Mom, I'm old enough to say 'as balls'. Plus, you don't know what kind of balls I'm talking about. Bouncy balls? Basket balls? Base balls?-"

"Pipe down." She says, turning up the volume on the silent television that played the news. The man speaking was a thin, clean-cut man.

"Multiple incidents of attacks have been reported along the east coast. They were all similar attacks. People biting others." He spoke.

"Bath salts again? Ugh." I joke, pouring some water into a glass.

"Be quiet, (y/n)."

"The following cities have had these reports. Philadelphia PA, Fairless Hills PA, Pittsburg PA, Trevose PA, Wildwood NJ, Ocean City NJ, Hoboken NJ, Peterson NJ-"

"Mom, don't worry about it. It's all up north." I say, taking a seat beside her, drinking.

"This is still bad. I'm trying to see what's happening." She says, turning towards her.

"Let me google it." I pull out my phone, and see a text from Dan, my friend who was supposed to pick me up.

Sorry, there's really bad traffic.

"Augusta GA, Atlanta GA,-" the reporters voice suddenly alarms me.

My mother and I exchange worried glances.

A woman and a man stood with another reporter.

"I'm here with Stiles and Tori from Philadelphia Pennsylvania. They witnessed an attack that took place here. What did you guys see?"

Stiles, the guy, spoke first.

"There was this huge dude and he just f***ing ran up to this woman and totally bit her face off!!"

"And he looked sick, like he was hella pale and s**t. It was crazy." Tori added.

"Mom, those are fucking zombies, I'm calling it." I stand up. She looks at me and furrows her brow.

"(Y/n), don't you dare scare me like that."

"Can't you see? It's happening. Holy shit..."

"Language for Christ's sake!"

"It doesn't matter now! The world's ending!" I joke.

My mom stands up and looks out the window.

"I don't see any of these 'zombies'." She turns around and pulls her phone out. "I have to call your father."