Daughter of the Fallen

The Day Will Come When You Won't Be

"It."

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to look up.

My vision tunneled.

I saw Negan pointing Lucille at my dad.

I couldn't breathe. Tears blurred my vision. This wasn't real. I wanted to scream but the sounds of my growing sobs were the only sounds I could make.

"Anybody moves," Negan announced, his voice booming in my head. "Anybody says anything, cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father and then we'll start."

My eyes remained on my dad. Images from my childhood seemed to cut through my brain. The two of us going to a father and daughter dance. My dad teaching me how to shoot a bb gun. Watching baseball with him on Sundays.

And then I saw it.

My dad's hand raised slightly and formed a peace sign as he kept his eyes on Negan. It was meant for me and my mom.

It was him saying goodbye.

A gigantic sob racked my whole body. My stomach started to hurt.

"You can breathe," Negan said. "You can blink. You can cry. H*ll, you're all gonna be doing that."

I watched in utter horror as he raised Lucille and swung it down on my dad's head, sending him to the ground.

A scream sounded and it was a few moments before I realized it came from me.

My dad slowly started to rise up again.

"Look at that!" Negan yelled in amusement. "Taking it like a champ!"

My dad said something that I couldn't make out and Negan brought the bat down again.

"No!!!" I screamed.

I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack.

I lowered my head to the ground, feeling like I was the one being hit by the bat every single time I heard it make contact with my dad.

I slowly rose my head as I heard the beating stop.

The first thing I saw was Negan's blood covered bat. That was my dad's blood.

The next thing I saw made me wanna throw up.

My dad's head. My dad's bloody, bashed in head.

"Oh, my god," I whispered as a fresh batch of sobs escaped my throat.

"Oh, my goodness!" Negan yelled. "Look at this!" He swung his bat and some blood flew off, landing on my face, causing my breathing to become short and shallow. Megan laughed. "You guys! Look at my dirty girl!"

He saw me and slowly walked over. He put Lucille right in front of my face. "Sweetheart. Lay your eyes on this." He saw my horrified expression as my eyes didn't leave my dad. "Oh, d*mn." He gestured to my dad's body. "Was that your dad? That sucks. But if he was, you should know there was a reason for all of this. Red...and h*ll, he was, is, and will ever be red! He just took one or six or seven for the team!"

I started to cry again and he squatted in front of me. "Sorry, sweetie," he mumbled. "Karma is just a b*tch, ain't it?"

Suddenly, that statement caused my breathing to slow and my tears to stop as anger slowly swelled within my chest. I looked up at him.

He looked impressed and stood back up. "What was that? Were you about to say something? Were you about to get up? Honey, don't make me kill your little boyfriend over here. Please don't. I doubt you'd want to lose anyone else, right?"

I heard a loud grunt as Daryl stood up and ran over to Negan, punching him.

Men immediately came over and shoved Daryl to the ground.

Negan recovered quickly and pointed Lucille at him. "No! Oh, no." He waited a moment before chuckling. "That? That is a no-no. The whole thing! Not one bit of that sh*t flies here!"

Dwight came over with Daryl's crossbow and pointed it at Daryl.

"You want me to do it?" he asked Negan. "Right here."

Negan squatted down and grabbed Daryl's hair. "No. You don't kill that. Not until you try a little."

They dragged Daryl back to his spot and Negan stood up. "Anyway, that's not how it works. Now I already told you people. First one's free, then what did I say? I said I will shut that sh*t down!" He smiled. "No exceptions."

I felt a new rush of fear enter my system.

He was gonna kill someone else.

"Now, I don't know what kind of lying *ssholes you've been dealing with, but I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important."

Please, no. Please, no. Please, no.

"I need you to know me. So...back to it."

Before I knew what was happening, he swung Lucille hitting Glenn.

"Glenn!!!" I screamed.

I heard Maggie screaming as well, which ripped my heart apart.

Glenn slowly rose back up. The sight was horrifying. Blood covered his face. One of his eyes was popping out. The sight made my blood curl and made me avert my eyes as I sobbed.

"Buddy, you still there?" Negan asked, bending down in front of him. "I just don't know, it looks like you're trying to speak, but you just took a h*ll of a hit! I just popped your skull so hard, your eyeball just popped out! And it is gross as sh*t!"

"Maggie," I heard Glenn sputter. "I-I'll find you."

I hugged my stomach as I lowered my forehead to the pavement, tears streaming down my face.

"Oh," Negan said softly. "Oh, h*ll. I can see this is hard on you guys. I am sorry. I truly am. But I did say it. No exceptions!" He turned and continued to beat Glenn.

I watched with blurry eyes. I felt something warm touch my hand and I was confused before I realized it was Carl's hand.

I quickly grabbed onto his hand, squeezing it tightly as I sobbed.

"You bunch of p*ssies," Negan grunted. "I'm just getting started.

I squeezed Carl's hand tighter, feeling Lucille's every hit as it destroyed Glenn.

Once the beating finally stopped, all you could hear were the sounds of sobbing.

Negan kneeled in front of Rick and they had a quiet conversation.

Suddenly, Negan grabbed Rick and dragged him into the RV before driving off.

I wanted to get up. To say something. But I didn't have the energy to do either.

As I stared at the broken bodies of my dad and Glenn, the only thing I could do was keep squeezing Carl's hand, fearing that if I let go, I would disappear with them.

———
AN: writing that was not fun