My Damaged Protector

Chapter Fifty-five ~ The Day Will Come When you won't Be

Watching the scene before me had my body frozen. Negan was playing his sick game in order to choose his first victim, possibly his second at the same time. Jasper was stuck to my side as close as he could possibly get, and I was completely ready to take the hit if, god forbid, he was chosen. The ring on my finger was constantly being twirled around my finger, a nervous habit I had picked up over the past few days.

"You are it." Negan's voice drew me from my daze, and I glanced over to see who got selected. My heart dropped when I saw my newest brother at the other end, Merle. Negan didn't even hesitate in bringing the bat down on his head, sending him to the ground in a pool of blood. Jasper instantly let out a loud cry as he dug himself into my side, his screams being covered by my clothes. My eyes snapped to Daryl and I could see the pain in his eyes as he watched his brother be beaten. Tears streamed down my face, listening to Negan slam the bat down over and over and over again. Blood spattered off the bat, sending flecks onto my white shirt and over my jeans, Jasper's clothes as well. "Would you look at that!" Negan went on, talking about his success to killing one of my family before he started his game over again. "Eenie..." He kept going, waving the bat in front of all our faces yet again.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. Fear started taking over my body and I was frantically looking for Daryl to help me, send me a look that would tell me we would be ok, that we could get through this alive, but nothing came to me. Daryl, my strong and brave husband, looked broken down and full of fear.

Everyone around me was crying, but nothing near the sobs from my little brother. I tried to pull him closer, but it was like he didn't want to move away from Merle, even though he was gone, in the most horrible of ways. "It." Negan had selected his next victim. "Anybody moves, cut the boys eye out and feed it to his father, and then we'll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry, hell, you're all gonna be doing that." I couldn't watch another family member die at the hand of that bat. As Negan swung the bat up in preparation to hit Abraham, I turned away, holding my hands over Jasper's head to keep him from looking.

Everyone was crying, yelling for Abraham, Negan even commenting a few times as he took another life. Daryl had dropped his head, hiding slightly behind the bloodied blanket around him. Negan had finally stopped sending hits and looked over at Rosita who had tears falling down her cheeks. "Sweetheart," Negan stepped closer to her. "Lay your eyes on this." He held the bloodied bat inches from her face. "Oh damn, were you...were you together? That sucks. But if you were, you should know there was a reason for all this. Red, he was, is, and hell, will ever be red, he just took one, or six or seven for the team! Mr. No Hand over there too! So, take a damn look." The whole time Negan was speaking, Rosita was staring straight at the rocks and taking deep breaths. "Take a damn look!"

Within seconds, Daryl had dropped his blanket and stood, landing a hard punch on Negan's face before his men could pin him down. "No!" I screamed, knowing not to move with my brother and risk his life. He went to swing again but Negan's men had gotten their arms around him, pinning him to the rocks in the middle of the circle. "Daryl! Stop!" I shouted as Rick yelled too.

"No!" Negan yelled at me, holding his bat up. "Oh, no." I had wide eyes as I stared at the horrible man in front of me. Aaron's hand came out to rest on my arm, gently telling me that I needed to stop so I wouldn't get myself or my brother killed. "That?" Negan pointed to Daryl on the ground. "That, oh my, that is a no-no. The whole thing, not one bit of that shit flies here."

Dwight stepped forward, wielding Daryl's crossbow yet again, the bolt pointed straight at Daryl's head. "Do you want me to do it?" Jasper held tighter to me. My hands shook violently as I stared at the man I loved. My heart pounded in my chest and I grabbed onto Aaron's hand in fear for my new husband. "Right here?"