The Ruins Part 2 (Sequel to The Ruins)

Chapter 51

Negan and Mal were exhausted, hungry, and heartsick. The forest was too vast and too dark for them to mount a search for the Greenman.

Behind them, far below on the field, the fire was burning itself out. They were too far away to see much, though. Now that the fire was fading, the sky was less intensely red. Mal wondered if Tom had seen the blaze. If so, what would he do? Was he already on his way back to the way station, or was he on the far side of the mountain with the massive forest and tall hills acting as a screen? The wind was blowing to the south, so Tom could not have smelled the smoke. He might not even know.

"Tomorrow," said Negan, loosening the belt of the carpet coat to allow cool air to soothe him, "we're going to have to try and go back. Tom will come to the way station to look for us, alive or dead."

Mal didn't answer, just nodding her head. She looks around the trees. "There's a good tree to sleep in." Mal pointed to a crooked cottonwood. It had very strong lower branches and lots if other stout limbs reaching out in all directions. Mal scrambled up first to test it. She learned herself to climb tree and how to pick the right tree. The rule of thumb was that if a branch was as thick as your bicep then it should be able to take your weight. Mal had cautioned against some trees, such as sycamore, because they had a nasty tendency to split; and dead trees were to be avoided at all costs.

Mal shimmied up the trunk, letting her legs do the work and saving her arm muscles until she reached the lowest limb. After she tested the limbs and found a couple of good resting spots, she paused to catch her breath and control the impulse to scream. The burn on her shoulder hurt so bad it felt like she was still on fire. But every time she felt that she could not keep the screams inside, she decided to hold the pain. She dealt with so much more than this.

"Are you even human, Mal?" Negan called from beneath, watching Mal climb the tree with speed and strength. "You're like a spider-monkey."

"Have been climbing trees since I was small."

He chuckled at the thought of her as a child. She must of been a rascal for Tom. Once she had found a measure of self-control, she scrambled down and helped Negan. He was a good climber, but it took a lot for him to climb up, and he totally spent when he finally reached the spot Mal had picked- a nook formed by four limbs growing outward from almost the same point.

Mal crawled down to the lower branch for a last comprehensive observation of the surrounding forest. There were no Infecteds, which was a huge relief; but also no sigh of Tom or the Greenman.

She removed her carpet coat and threaded her machete through one of the sleeves and Negan's through the other. The effect was to create a kind of sling that, while probably not strong enough to serve as a hammock, would at least give them some protection if they started to fall. She and Negan positioned it under them, and they settled back against the trunk of the tree. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was save and Negan wrapping an arm around Mal made her safe, and that was all that she needed to get through the night.

They drank greedily from their canteens. "How's your arm?" His finger grazed lightly on her shoulder.

"Stings. It's okay." Negan didn't believe and with his concern, he pulled the flannel off to see the bare shoulder. The burned mark wasn't too bad, it's only red, however, when he touched her skin, he could feel some heat.

He took a bottle of antiseptics from the way station and a cloth and dabbed at her shoulder as gently as she could. Mal hissed at the first touch, but gradually endured it. Then he soaked a piece of clean bandage in water and placed it on her shoulder.

"It's not too bad." Mal leaned her head on Negan's shoulder and said, "Thank you."

"I know," Negan murmured. Mal found his hand in the dark and laced her fingers through his. "You glad you didn't leave."

She laughed. "I guess. But it doesn't change anything."

"I know. I promised you."

They sat and listened to the woods. There was a constant and comforting trill of crickets.

"The kids are out there with the RK's," Mal said. "They're somewhere safe."

"Abso-fuckin-lutely," said Negan. "All of you trained those kids to be brave and smart. I'm sure they can survive this, maybe even become like you guys."

"Yeah. Tom, too. He'll be in a tree somewhere up the mountains, waiting for dawn."

"Yup." The forest pulsed with the crickets and the soft swish of branches in the breeze.

Mal kept thinking, and immediately drew herself into Negan's embrace, burying her face into the curve of Negan's neck and breathing deeply. He can feel how tense and anxious she is.

"Shh, baby It's alright. I fucking promise you, we're gonna be alright. Charlie may not be alive," he soothed, his arms tight around Mal. He hated how shaky Mal's short breaths were, tight and panicked. Negan layered gentle kisses onto her cheeks and jawline, wishing there was some way to ease the unrest that he saw in Mal's eyes. He stroked her face, thumbing over the bruises there. "And if he is, we'll end him. I won't let a single one of them or him touch you, baby. I fucking promise you that. We're gonna be okay."

Mal leaned her forehead against Negan's, the gesture sweet and trusting and intimate, and Negan felt his heart give an aching squeeze in his chest. "I know," Mal said. "I know we'll be okay. We've fought people before. I know we will. I just...fuck. I'm scared. I hate feeling like this."

Negan drew Mal down to lay beside him on his chest, their lips so close that Negan could feel the warm puff of Mal's breath against him. "What can I do, Mal?"

"Just need to take my mind off of things," Mal murmured, inching closer so that their bodies were flush against each other. Negan knew that wasn't what she was offering, but the thought skittered across his mind anyway: Mal, soft and flushed and laying on him.

He dwelled on it, he leaned in, his lips brushing Mal's. "I can do that."

There was something so beautiful about the way Mal kissed, he thought as their mouths moved together. There was a quiet strength to it, much like Mal herself, that Negan found nearly addicting. And fuck, he thought, if he was going to be addicted to something, make it this girl. He would gladly overdose on him, on the feeling of Mal's warm, wet mouth covering his own. It was all too easy to lose himself in, and Negan had to consciously draw himself back occasionally, not letting his hands wander too far. Mal loved how his touch, his gentle feature covering the strong, brute, and aggressive man he is be so enduring of being caring, it's addictive to Mal.

Eventually Negan pulls away and squeezed her fingers. She squeezed back. Then her hand relaxed, and Negan realized that Mal had drifted off to sleep. Just like that. Even though he could not see her in the dark, he listened to the slow, deep rhythm of her breathing. He settled back and listened to the night and began to deconstruct the day in order to make what will happen tomorrow, but three seconds later he was asleep too. Above and around them the night spin its web of darkness as the world ground on its axis toward dawn.