(TW!! Mentions of torture!!)
(Adrian Walsh's POV:) We've been dealing with Walkers all goddamn morning. Not to mention Maggie trying to insult Negan every three seconds.
I can't get Alyssa out of my mind. Where the hell is she? Is she safe?
Please tell me she's safe.
I hope Daryl and Gabriel are safe too. But, I can live with their deaths.
"You know, the only way this is gonna work is if we trust each other." Negan says to Maggie, though, he doesn't turn to face her.
"Why would I ever trust you? Adrian might, but I don't. And I never will." She spits back, putting her bloodied knife in her holster.
"I don't know, Maggie. 'Cause you wanna stay alive, same as me. And I'd prefer it if Adrian or Alyssa didn't die on our hands because we were too busy bickering." Negan replies, looking up at the clear blue sky.
"If I stay alive, it'll be in spite of you, not because of you." Maggie says. "And Adrian and Alyssa won't die because of us, especially not on Adrian's terms."
I nod, "You get it."
"If that's how you feel, I don't understand why you haven't gone behind Adrian's back and put me down yet."
I scoff, "Because she knows she'll be the next fatality."
Maggie then throws a knife straight at Negan's head, landing in a Walker's forehead just after Negan ducks.
"I ask myself that question every day." She looks at me. "And you know you can't kill me."
I smirk, "You wanna fuckin' find out? Because I assure you I'd win that fight."
She doesn't respond, she just walks over to the Walker and grabs her knife, continuing on without looking back. Negan looks at me, "Shit, Adrian." I roll my eyes and keep walking without responding.
"Up here.' Maggie says to us, pointing to a green, two-story house. For some reason, I have hope that Alyssa's gonna be in there. Is she? Probably not, but I can't shake the feeling that she might be.
We pick up the pace, our backs bent in a crouching position as if that's gonna make us invisible. I'm the first up the porch and into the house; once I get to the door, I swing it open, my whip in my hand and my hopes unrealistically high.
When Alyssa isn't in the house, my shoulders deflate and that scared, helpless feeling comes back. Maggie stands next to me in the foyer, "She'll be here." She assures me.
I exhale slowly and nod, walking away from Negan and Maggie as Negan says something. I already know she's gonna make it into an argument and currently, I can't be around that.
I make my way into the almost fully empty living room. Dust floats around me as I flop on the couch and rest my elbows on my knees, running my hands through my hair and staring at the wall in front of me. It's as if I'm watching T.V. through the black screen, though, instead it's a mirror, reflecting me. I stare at myself, narrowing my eyes to get a better look. I never realized how much I look like Alyssa. The eyes, the lips, the face shape. Though, because our noses are different, we seem to look just as different as we act.
"We give it 'til sundown." Negan suggests in the other room. He drops his voice so I don't hear, "And if Alyssa doesn't get here, we're gonna have to drag Adrian kicking and screaming home because sooner or later the Reapers will."
I feel my lip start to quiver uncontrollably because now...even Negan doesn't think she's coming. Not that he ever did, anyway.
A few hours go by and Negan stands up and walks over to the crates of supplies. "What are you doing?" Maggie asks, walking over to him. I do the same except, I don't say anything.
"I'm leaving." He says, continuing to shove cans into his backpack. I deflate and clench my jaw, a quick feeling of dread pounding through my skin.
"Not with those supplies, you aren't." Maggie quips.
"I'm taking them back to Alexandria." Negan says.
"This mission isn't finished." Maggie pushes.
"It is for me." Negan responds, straightening up and looking at me. "I'm not saying Alyssa's never coming home. But you have Maggie to wait with." I stare at him through hard, nervous eyes as Maggie throws his bag to the ground. They quickly begin fighting, though, it's just angry shoves from Maggie as Negan tries to get her off of him.
"Jesus, fuck." I mumble under my breath, grabbing Maggie and pulling her away from him. "Don't push me. Not right now. Because all three of us know that that is not gonna end well." The look in her eyes tells me she knows but she doesn't care.
Before she can respond, the front door we came in through opens and Elijah and Gabriel walk through the door. "Oh my god! You made it." Maggie exclaims, hugging them both. I manage a close-mouthed half-smile to Gabriel as a greeting. "Are you okay?" Maggie asks.
"Been better. Been worse." Elijah replies.
Gabriel agrees, "Same."
"We found each other in the woods. Made sure no one followed us back here."
Maggie nods to Elijah, "Good, sit down." He helps Gabriel over to the wall and Gabriel slides down it tiredly from his injured leg taking a toll on him.
"We...didn't know if you'd survived." Gabriel pants.
"But if you did, knew you'd be here." Elijah finishes Gabriel's sentence.
I pick at the skin around my nails, "You didn't...see Alyssa. Did you?"
Gabriel looks at me with a solemn look that immediately makes my heart drop. But his slow head shake makes me feel slightly better, at least she's not dead. Not that we know of. "I'm sorry." He says. I push my lips in a thin line and nod.
I've never been through something like this before. The fear that never seems to leave my body no matter how many things I see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. I'm terrified. Genuinely terrified for what she could be going through right now.
"What about the others?" Gabriel asks Maggie.
"Duncan, Agatha, Cole, they're...they're dead. Alden's hurt. He's holed up in a church somewhere." She looks at me. "Daryl, Frost, and...Alyssa, we don't know."
"So then...we wait." Gabriel decides.
Maggie nods, "We wait."
"What if they don't come?" I ask, crossing my arms.
"What?" Elijah asks.
"I'm not saying they're dead. But what if they're kidnapped? Or hurt. Staying here...it's not gonna help."
"So what do you say we do?" Maggie asks.
"I want to go right now but I know that's not smart. Give it a few more hours and then we go." I glare at Maggie, "It's not a suggestion, by the way."
(Alyssa Grimes' POV:) I can hear Frost screaming and groaning in pain in the room next to me. But what I don't expect to hear is Daryl's voice in the room too.
Daryl hadn't come back the night that long-haired man and another guy took him out of the cell. I honestly thought they'd killed him but I'm glad they didn't.
But soon after, the door to Frosts' room opens and closes, and mine opens. Daryl, Pope, the long-haired man, and the woman who was talking to Daryl all step into my room.
I'd already been beaten again and at this point, I don't think Adrian can save me anymore. Either I'm on my own or I die here.
Daryl stares at me, his face hard but his eyes soft at the sight. One of my fingernails is missing and bleeding, my eyes are almost swollen completely shut, and I can feel blood dripping down my face from all of the times I've been punched by brass knuckles.
"You did good with Frost...now her." Pope says, leaning on the wall beside me.
Daryl glances at him but quickly brings his attention back to me. "We got the group's location already, what the hell do I need from her?" My eyes widen ever so slightly at the mention of the location.
They know? Does that mean Frost just told them where Adrian is? I'm gonna strangle him.
"We need to see if he was telling the truth." Pope tells Daryl, not dragging his eyes away from me. "And she has a little buddy in that group."
"She's not my goddamn buddy." I quip, quickly feeling Daryl's fist connect with my cheek. I groan in pain and narrow my eyes at him, though, I know he's doing it to keep all of us alive.
Daryl leans forward, "Shut up and let the adults talk."
"Go to hell, bitch." Another punch.
"She won't budge." The long-haired man says. "We need to start taking more than just her fingernails."
"Carver, let him work." The girl quickly replies, staring at Daryl.
"She's stronger than Frost. She's more determined. She's...not...budging." Carver says through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, you haven't brought me in here yet." Daryl rasps, grabbing his knife.
I scoff weakly, "You don't scare me." I stick my tongue out and show the tip of it missing, "Nothing hurts worse than this shit." As he stares at my tongue, I can see anger rise throughout his body. His fists clench and his jaw wires shut but he doesn't falter.
"Who are you protecting?" Daryl asks. "What are you protecting?"
"I'm not protecting anyone, dipshit. I told y'all everything I know." Daryl huffs and grabs my finger, holding the knife to slice the skin off.
"You're a terrible liar."
"You're a terrible person." A scream escapes my lips as he slowly slices down my finger, shredding the skin off of it. A string of fire surrounds my finger as the skin slowly peels off. But I can't give in. Not now.
"Damn it, just tell us where they are!"
"You already fucking know! So go there if you're so eager!"
Daryl narrows his eyes and removes the knife, moving it to my other finger, "I'll take this one this time."
I whimper quietly as I feel the knife press into my skin, the cold, sharp blade already drawing blood. "I don't know where they are!" I yell. "Seriously," I stare into Daryl's eyes, then move to Pope's. "I don't know where they are. They never told me. I just followed them because I needed food. I didn't expect to be split up so I don't know!" That's true, except, I know water tower.
Daryl looks to Pope for his approval, and when Pope sees the genuine look in my eyes, he nods. "I believe her." Daryl looks back and stabs the knife in between my fingers on the bloody armrest.
(Adrian Walsh's POV:) "We have to go." Maggie whispers, backing away from one of the boarded-up windows. Without waiting for a reason, Maggie leads us all to a trap door under a red, oval rug.
Gabriel's the first down, then me, then the rest. Maggie tries to cover us up as much as possible from inside the hiding space, but, because she's under the rug, she can't move it very well.
BANG!
"Clear!" A man's voice yells.
They're here.
Several more "clears" and Maggie points at something above us. Through the cracks of the floorboards, I see Daryl coming down the stairs and secretly sliding the rug fully over the entrance. But no Alyssa.
"Nothing." A man says.
"Maybe they went out the back. I can track 'em." Daryl suggests.
"Are you in a hurry to leave?" The man asks.
"What?" Daryl stammers.
"The other building, you wanted to stick around and make sure we didn't miss anything. Now you wanna run right off. Which is it?"
"Look, man, I'm just tryin' to help." Daryl replies.
"Yet, you keep chirping." I put my hand on my knife and fight to resist the urge to slaughter this asshole.
"Fine. You lose 'em, it's on you. It ain't on me." Daryl sasses.
"Stop." A woman's voice orders, though, it's not Alyssa's. "Wash, we need a perimeter check. Possible runners. Half and klick."
"Copy that, Shaw." A man's voice on a radio says.
"Look. I don't have time for this toddler bullshit." Shaw hisses.
"Listen-" The man tries.
"I know. I understand, but I don't need it. Go sift upstairs, make sure we didn't miss anything." Footsteps walk above us then upstairs, leaving Shaw and Daryl above us.
"Don't." Shaw says.
"Don't what?" Daryl asks.
"You're either with us, or you're not." What?
"What do you want me to do?" Daryl's definitely playing them, I can tell. He wouldn't just betray us like that.
What if it's to protect Alyssa? What if something's happening to her and he needs to be on the inside to stop it?
"For one thing, stop pissing off Carver." Shaw finally says after a few seconds. "Usually don't end well." Then, two steps of footsteps walk away.
After a few minutes, Daryl's voice says "They ran. They ain't comin' back here."
"What?" Carver asks, coming down the steps.
"I mean, think about it. You hit 'em hard. Even if they get more people, they won't come back here. Bad move." Daryl states. "You got, what, twenty people in your town? You got weapons, you got walls. You'd see 'em comin' from a mile away. Trust me. They ran."
"Is there a point to any of this?" Carver barks.
"Let's go." Shaw says. "There's nothing here. It's time we move on."
"No, we're missing something." Carver thinks aloud.
"Fine, let's waste another hour. That's smart." Daryl groans.
"Daryl-"
"It's not my fault he's too stupid to pay attention!"
"Yeah, chirp, chirp, chirp." Carver jokes.
"Enough."
"Ah, screw that." He counters to Shaw. "This dirtbag wants to play, I'll teach him the rules."
"I'm right here, man. Make a move."
"This is not the time and it is not your call to make." Shaw says.
"Jesus, Shaw." Carver groans. "We both know who he really is deep down."
"What?" Shaw asks.
"I was there. Remember? I watched you grab that blonde bitch he was trying to protect." My heart stops and I feel Negan put his hand on my forearm.
What the hell does he mean by that? Do they have Alyssa? They have Alyssa. They have Alyssa.
My breath catches in my throat and my breathing quickly picks up speed, especially because I have to breathe quietly and that's hard to do when you're panicking.
Negan immediately senses my shift in demeanor and he holds onto my forearm tightly, gently rubbing his thumb back and forth in a comforting way. I can't seem weak in front of anyone down here and I can't draw these dicks toward us because I'm having a panic attack. My chest rises with a quiet, deep breath and I exhale slowly, calming my breathing but not my shaky hands.
"Did you not see the look on his face at that girl in the chair? Thought he was gonna hurl at the blood on her face, I swear he was gonna kill me for what I did to her." I grip Negan's arm, turning to him with a look of terror on my face. My blood runs cold and everything around me seemingly disappears. All that's running through my mind is Alyssa.
She's hurt. It's confirmed. And they did that to her.
He shakes his head to tell me not to go up there and pulls me in for a hug, to which I don't fight off. I don't even care. I just hide my face in his chest and panic quietly, my breathing picking up speed immediately. Negan rubs comforting circles on my back with his thumb while they continue bickering upstairs.
Carver says, "What, you think this is gonna end any different?"
"So this is what? You looking out for me?" Shaw asks.
Alyssa's being tortured again. Alyssa's being tortured. Alyssa's hurt. Alyssa's hurt. Alyssa's hurt.
"Always." Carver replies.
"Uh-huh. Right. And what about the fire? When Pope locked me in the cabin and lit it up. You must've known. Was that you looking out for me too?"
"Shaw. Wake up. Everything's a test now. If you think this guy is ever gonna give a shit about any of us, you're gonna fail."
"No, he's right. I don't give a shit about any of you. Except you." Daryl's probably talking about Shaw. "I'm here for you. It's no secret. I made mistakes. But I'm here right now. Maybe I'd be better at it this time if you'd let me. And Pope scares the shit outta' me. I don't wanna be face-first in the fire under his boot. But if you say trust 'em, I'll trust 'em."
"We need to go." Maggie whispers almost soundlessly, pointing to the small window behind Negan and me. Negan nods and releases me, moving over to the window so he can silently slide it open.
Once it's open, I'm the first out, then the rest of the group follows. Just as Elijah gets out, the trap door opens though we thankfully made it out in time. We don't stick around for long, instead, we crouch and run off quietly.
I'm gonna get Alyssa, whether I have to sacrifice everyone else while doing it. I don't give a fuck what I have to do. I don't know what they're doing to her and honestly, I don't want to know. But regardless, she needs me. And I will take my own goddamn hand if I have to.