TIGER LILY || NEGAN ✔️

Chapter 20

{there are some triggers in this chapter so if you are sensitive to certain topics please don't read.}

I quickened my pace to catch up with Negan. He was practically jogging to the truck, making me sprint towards him. Damn his long legs.

He opened the door for me and ran around to the other side. I jumped in and he started up the engine. I glanced behind us in the mirror, horrified as the herd was a mere hundred feet away from us.

"Negan! Go go!" I yelled, my eyes glued to the herd. Their decaying bodies stumbled down the road towards us. Their growls grew louder as they neared.

"God fucking dammit!" Negan yelled as he slammed his hands against the steering wheel. He kept turning the key but the truck would sputter and die. We were out of gas, with a herd coming closer by the second. Everyone else had already left, leaving us stranded.

My thoughts began to wander back to when I was stranded with my group. The herd trapped us and we were fucked. Suddenly a phrase popped into my head.

Don't freeze. Run.

I sprung into action, jumping out of the truck and heading over to Negan's side. He was still trying to get the truck working as I opened his door. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the vehicle. "It's not gonna work come on!" I told him while running towards the houses.

I heard his heavy boots thudding behind me, mixing with the thud of my heart beat as I ran down the street. Negan grabbed ahold of my arm and pulled me towards a house. We ran up the steps and flew into the large room. Negan slammed the door shut and locked it. We took a second to breath, until we heard a thump upstairs. There was a walker in here.

Negan held his arm out in front of me, protecting me from the unexpected. With his other arm he pulled Lucille off his waist, as he slowly started moving around the house. We found the stairs and started to ascend them cautiously. We reached the top and listened for any other thumps or growls. It was silent.

My heart rate quickened as we moved down the hallway. Every door was open, meaning it could jump out at us. And I had no weapon to defend myself with.

We walked past a room and I heard a faint growl coming from it. "Negan," I said in a hushed whisper. He turned back and I pointed towards the room. He pushed past me and knocked on the wall just outside of the room. The growling grew louder as clumsy footsteps came closer to the doorway. Negan steadied himself to smash the walker only to have it come out of the door behind him.

My heart stopped as the walker lunged towards him. It felt like slow motion, giving me enough time to react. With all my strength and shoved the walker away from him, my hands getting stuck in its rib cage. Negan now realizing what had happened, he took a swing at the walker, knocked it down to the ground. And with one more direct hit, it was done.

My breathing was rapid as I stumbled backwards in shock. I collided into Negans hard chest, not caring if it hurt him. I was concerned about the walker. It was a kid. Not super young but not old enough to totally fend for himself. Tears prickled at my eyes as I thought about my child. The one that I had lost on the day of the apocalypse.

"Hey, hey it's okay," Negan said as he wrapped me in his arms. My chest heaved as I held in my cries. I leaned my head back against his chest as I calmed myself down. He ran a hand across my back until my breathing was back to normal. He looked down at me with worry in his eyes. He knew it was more than just a kid to me.

"H-He reminds me of my son," I tell him. Negan doesn't show any sign of shock or disgust, just care. He planted a kiss on my forehead, letting me know that I was protected.

Suddenly, multiple thuds came from the door from downstairs. The walkers we trying to break in. And it would take much to break down a door if they were desperate.

Negan grabbed my hand and pulled me into a bedroom. He slowly closed the door, trying to not make a sound. If we made any loud noise, the walkers would never give up on trying to get in. We just had to wait it out now.

I sat down on the large bed and leaned against the headboard. "I should've held onto one of those knives," I joked. Negan smiled and shook his head.

"It's alright, I won't let anything touch you," he says as he sat down on the bed with me. He Laid Lucille in the night stand next to him and sat down on the bed next to me.

"My son," I began in a whisper. I knew I would have to tell him eventually. I couldn't keep it a secret forever. Negan turned his body towards me, his full attention on me. I took in a deep breath and continued.

"I lost him on the day of the apocalypse. My parents were watching him that day. I went out to run some errands for them and the outbreak happened. People we screaming and running erratically in the streets. I rushed home... they were gone. The front door was wide open and the car was gone. They left without me, and I'll never know if they survived." I hung my head low and Negan wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"His name was Ethan and I cared so much about him. He was the most perfect ball of joy. He could always make you laugh when you were having a bad day. I was so glad I decided to keep him."

Negan's eyebrows furrowed as he gave me a confused look. He didn't get it yet. Why I was so young when I had him.

"I-I was raped when I was 13." Negan look devastated. His jaw dropped slightly and he slowly shook his head. He wrapped both arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I rested my head on his chest, trying to hold in the tears.

"I'm so sorry. It's so horrible how some people will take advantage of others. I don't tolerate rape one bit because it's disgusting. No means no. And some people just don't understand that. I've had to kill quite a few shit heads that I wouldn't even call humans because of it." Negan pulled away and looked down, his fingers messing with a loose string on his leather jacket.

There was something on his mind. The mention of rape bothered him.  Or maybe it reminded him of someone he had to kill the he didn't want to.

"It's okay though," I spoke up. Negan glanced up at me with a little more comfort in his eyes. "I came to love my son and not regret a thing. Even if I was very young, it made me grow up faster for things that I needed grow up for." I gave a shrug and Negan gave me a bright smile. A genuine smile that made you feel all warm and fluffy on the inside.

"Well I'm glad your okay with it. It takes a really strong person to do that." He took a hold of my hand and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. My cut up and worn knuckles. We stayed like this for a while, enjoying each other's presence.

I was glad that I finally felt like I had someone to rely on, even if I still don't know much about him. And I'm sure he was glad that he didn't feel the need to be in charge around me. Just genuine.

{Hello fellow people. I tried to make this one a bit longer (1394 words) and added a few more heart felt parts. Since summer is here, updates will probably be scattered because I won't have a wifi connection anymore. But I will still try to update as often as I can.

Thank you for reading and if there's any feed back you have I'll gladly read it. I'm always looking forward to it :) }