[saviour ➼ negan]

02.

A LOUD shriek erupted from artemis' lungs as two hands roughly yanked her from the truck. she stumbled behind the man, the same one with the moustache, as he dragged her towards a large compound-like building. her legs were weak, she was severely malnourished, days since the last time she had eaten.

"take her to carson, get her checked out." a commanding voice sounded from the walkie-talkie attached to the mans hip, he responded with a curt 'yes sir'.

➼

artemis' eyes wandered around the room from where she sat. the man, who she had learnt was called simon, had brought her to a medical room. it looked like an actual doctors room, like from before the incident.

the room was covered in posters with diagrams of the human body on them. there were various shelves filled with different forms of medications. the doctor even had a lab coat and a stethoscope. if she hadn't known any better artemis would have thought things had returned to normal.

"there doesn't appear to be much wrong with her other than the fact that she is severely malnourished and dehydrated. she needs food and water as soon as possible." the doctor informed simon, placing the stethoscope back around his neck.

before simon could respond, the door swung open followed by the man from earlier, she recalled being named negan, walking into the room. artemis noticed that he was no longer possessing the scary blood covered bat.

"what's the diagnosis, doc?" he joked, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. his eyes fell upon artemis who lay on the examining bed, almost asleep from exhaustion.

negan took noticed of the dark bags under her eyes and her hollow cheekbones. her skin was deathly pale. her limbs were thin, from the lack of food. negan could instantly tell she had not been the one stealing from him, she looked like she had not eaten in months.

"she's malnourished, i'd say she hadn't eaten in days, if not a week or so. she's also extremely dehydrated." he explained the same thing to negan who nodded as he listened to the doctor.

"come on, kid." negan spoke, alerting artemis who had been quietly watching the three men discuss her health. he grabbed her arm, not so gently pulling her off the bed. she instantly fell to the ground, her legs unable to support her body.

"you've got to be fuckin' kidding me." negan grumbled, a loud sigh fell from his lips before he pulled artemis up into his arms.

he held her like a baby as he made his way through the sanctuary. the saviours kneeled when they saw negan, though they were all confused once they caught sight of the girl in his arms, who to them, looked dead.

negan sat artemis down at a lunch table, grabbing food from the counter. he told the person working at the kitchen not to worry about the points, saying he would pay. he placed the plates down in front of her, her eyes lighting up at the sight of food. she looked to negan for confirmation who nodded in response.

she instantly began to devour the food. negan watched her, slightly disgusted but he also felt bad for her. she had been on her own with no food so he could let the animalistic eating pass for once.

"what's your name, kid?" negan asked. she stopped eating to look up at him.

"artemis." she replied, taking a sip from the water bottle negan had given her.

"cool fuckin' name." negan commented, laughing.

"uh-thanks?" artemis answered. "my parents named me after the greek goddess, i'm not sure why." she explained.

negan nodded in response. artemis returned to her meal whilst he spoke into the walkie-talkie.

"dwight is gonna be here in five minutes to show you to your room." negan informed her. "he'll also explain how everything around here works."

"why can't you do it?" artemis questioned meekly, finishing her food. she felt amazing, it was the most she had eaten in months.

"'cause i got fuckin' shit to do. i'm a busy man." negan answered. "i'll see you when i see you, kid." he spoke before walking out the room, leaving artemis in the large room on her own.