my tears ricochet

Chapter Ninety Six

Ivy was slumped across the backseat of the car with her wrists bound together to her front with plastic zip ties. They dug deeper into her skin as she struggled miserably against them. "Don't. There's no point in fighting it." Rick warned her, keeping his gaze cool as he watched her through the mirror. "You're only hurting yourself."

Premature loss coloured his skin grey and Ivy hated him for it. She hated everyone left living in the world, hated herself for ending up powerless once again. All that she had left for herself was anger and hatred and they were the only two things keeping her alive.

Plastic cut into her left wrist harder as she stubbornly pulled against the restraint and she started to bleed from the force of it. Everything hurt. A simple cut didn't compare to the bullet that had grazed to side of her head and it had nothing on the impact and force of the river she had nearly drowned in. Oceanside had mended her together the best that they could have but Ivy was doomed to break regardless. Her soul fractured religiously and it was easier to look down and see the visible hurt instead of the invisible scars she was collecting.

Blood stained her jeans. Ivy pulled a little harder, ignoring Rick when he snapped at her from the front seat. The Sanctuary was burning itself into the morning sky and it made her feel small as they slowly crawled their way up to the gate. Rick made her final car ride slow like that was some kind of mercy, showing her everything that was going to be beyond her touch in a matter of hours.

Light flooded the world. It threatened to make her go blind from the brightness of it.

The open car windows mocked her with the illusion of freedom. She wanted more, she wanted so much more it hurt because Ivy was only fated to have nothing in the end.

A truck from the Hilltop was parked inside the fence and Ivy saw people unloading crates with a series of paranoid checks. The fence itself practically moved from the forces of bodies chained to it. Walkers twisted and snarled at them from their posts and they only grew more frantic when Rick held down on the car horn. It screamed the way Ivy wanted to scream; loud, angry. Unyielding.

People dropped bins of produce and looked at them. Rick parked the car at the mouth of the gate, his finger catching a button on the door panel. The Saviours weren't moving. "He won't forgive you," she bit out, savage. "Daryl will hate you. And I won't forget this."

"Daryl's not one of us anymore. This is how it is now."

Ivy futilely aimed a kick at the back of Rick's seat and tried to push herself more upright. He held down on the horn a second time before he opened the door and got out with his hands held upright. "I want to see Negan!"

She had no more power. Everything she had survived had turned into this sharp lash of betrayal.

Doors split open and the devil sauntered out. He called something but Ivy couldn't hear it properly over the sound of her heartbeat racing. "—tomorrow for our little check in."

Someone pulled back the gate. He came closer. And she was back in the clearing, kneeling at the very bottom of a grave, waiting and watching for death to swing.

"I came to make a deal. Right here. Right now." Rick said sharply.

"Oh?"

"You want Ivy Dixon? I'll give her to you."

Interest lit Negan's face up and dread burned itself into Ivy's bones.

Rick opened the back door and Ivy got one good kick before he grabbed her ankle when she tried a second time, yanking ruthlessly to force her out of the car. "Get off of me! No!" Ivy struggled wildly. She had almost made it. She should have seen the end and not the devil grinning at her as he rocked back on his heels. "I trusted you! Don't you dare do this to me."