You crept stealthily towards Beta, knife poised and ready to strike, but before you could reach the beast that towered above you, you felt cold steel being pushed against your throat, the sharp edge splitting your skin. You grimaced as the pressure increased, causing your already swollen windpipe to close off even more, your breath struggling to leave your lungs. You'd been stupid again. Two skin freaks had hidden around the corner, ready to intervene if anything came to stand in their new Alpha's way. The one bearing the knife pressed a rancid masked face to your cheek, pulling you into his body with his free arm so you couldn't escape.
"Don't try anything, otherwise the floor will be painted with your blood."
You turned your head slightly to the left to face him the sharpened edge of the knife carving a red line along your neck, and managed a smirk.
"Like your dead friend?"
Your voice scraped painfully against your throat and it was barely audible, but it was enough for the second whisperer to bury his fist into your tender stomach, making you fall to the floor in agony.
"Little bitch."
Before he could land another blow, Beta had got a hold of Negan and dragged him across the floor until he was directly in front of you.
"Kneel."
"Come on fellas, can't we come out of this with some sort of deal-"
You didn't see how, but Beta must have signalled to the two behind you because suddenly you were on your back laying down on the floor, being pinned firmly down by Skin Freak 1, the same knife now pressing dangerously into your shoulder. Negan's whole cocksure act was immediately dropped as he realised they weren't fucking around.
"Hey, look, she hasn't done anything, so why don't you let her go and-"
"Kneel!"
You could only watch as the tip of the knife sunk down into your flesh, and you let out a shriek of pain as you felt hot blood spilling out over your shoulder and soaking your shirt.
"OK, OK, DAMMIT I'LL KNEEL, JUST STOP IT, STOP IT!"
A wave of relief washed over you as you could feel the blade retreat backwards. You tried to move your arms and legs but they were cemented firmly to the floor by strong hands and bony knees that dug into your skin. The one thing you could move was your head, and you could see Negan in the kneeling position looking relieved, but also incredibly angry. Beta was resting a large hand across Negan's shoulder, holding him in place. He started to laugh, it building up gradually in his throat, low and gruff, until it crescendoed into a loud and taunting sneer. Crouching down so he was level with Negan's ear, you were able to catch what he whispered to him,
"You have brought much pain and suffering to the horde. You killed our Alpha. And for that you must pay."
Negan scowled as Beta adjusted his grip on him, and then pointed his machete directly at your head.
"You care for this one."
You shifted your weight in a hope of getting your blood flowing in your legs again, and as you did so you felt the sharp point of your knife dig in to your thigh. That fucking knife. If you got out of this alive you were going to invest in a a new weapon- one that wasn't so easily misplaced. You tried to move your hand so you could reach it but bony fingers held your arm firmly in place.
"She's a stubborn little bitch isn't she?"
You responded through gritted teeth.
"Fuck you."
"It's a shame you have to watch her die."
"NO!"
Negan suddenly and violently shrugged off Beta's iron grip and turned around ready to attack, but was abruptly pushed down onto the floor, his face now facing yours.
"You son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill you. YOU HEAR ME? I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Another nod from Beta and the knife was back into your shoulder, this time it teasing and prodding the open wound. You let out a muffled scream, tears streaming down your face from the pain.
"STOP YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"
Negan was desperately writhing about on the floor in his efforts to get to you but he was held fast by Beta's knee that was pressed dangerously into his spine.
You struggled under the weight of the body suffocating you, the pain from your shoulder excruciating, but it was no use- there was no way you would be able to get him off you. You just had to lie there and take it. Negan was still cursing out all three of the skin freaks, trying to break free from the floor in rapid movements but you blocked it out, concentrating only on the blood trailing down your chest and your arm, the rest spilling over your collar bone and down your neck. Finally, for the second time the knife was taken away, and you groaned from the exertion, Beta looking down at you, unimpressed. He then gestured to the whisperer who was unoccupied, and told him to rally the others in the horde to finish the rest of you off. A pang of worry and anger struck your heart, as you swore you would kill this son of a bitch even if it killed you.
Beta moved to rile up Negan again, the end of the machete still pointed right at you. He seemed amused that he had got a hold of you both; enjoying watching you squirm.
"I want to make this as slow, and as painful as possible. Remember you have brought this upon her- only you."
Twisting your neck you managed to smile and nod at Negan, your way of letting him know you were ok, and this was in fact, not his fault. He didn't buy it, instead mouthing 'I'm so sorry doll' whilst his brow furrowed in his frustration. Anger then engulfed his features yet again, and he cocked his head slightly to address Beta, whilst still maintaining eye contact with you.
"I was the one who killed your Alpha. ME. So please, please, let her live and you can do whatever you want to me. Just let, her, go."
"She was your Alpha too."
Without warning, the Whisperer on top of you ripped open your shirt with his knife, exposing your flesh that was slick with blood and dirt from the strenuous battle. He began to carve lines onto your stomach, splitting the top layers of your skin and making even more blood trickle down your body. You gave no reaction, instead keeping a dead pan face whilst staring Beta down. You weren't going to give him the pleasure of watching you suffer. A look of annoyance flicked over his face, and you smirked.
"No."
He stopped his bitch for a moment, burning holes into your forehead. You could hear Negan breathing heavily out of his fury and you hoped he wouldn't do any thing stupid.
"She needs to be properly punished. HURT HER."
The dead weight on top of you shifted his weight so he could properly do his master's bidding, and you took that moment to swiftly grab your knife from under your leg, and struck it deeply into the neck of your captor. He choked on his own blood, gurgling and spluttering as his lungs were filled with crimson liquid. Pushing him off of you, you struck him again at the base of his neck, ending his life and preventing him from coming back to get his revenge. You stood up and pointed your knife at Beta, mirroring his own action.
"You."
Your shoulder burned, and your throat was in agony, but you were able to croak out the words that infuriated him even more.
"You're an asshole."
You charged at him, adrenaline spurring you on, and at the last minute you threw yourself at him with all the force you could muster, sending him hurtling backwards. He dropped to the floor with an enraged yell, giving Negan a chance to get up and grab his crowbar. You spun around instantly and jumped onto the Beast's back, doing all you could to keep him on the floor. Before you could get your knife anywhere near him however, he had grabbed you with a thick arm and thrown you violently onto the floor. Negan then stepped in and struck him with the crow bar, sparking no reaction. He only exhaled loudly, a half chuckle half grunt and started to slowly pick himself up from the floor.
"You ok darlin'? I'm so sorry this is all my fault-"
Negan began to make his way over to you but you shook your head, gesturing wildly to the thing that was keeping you both at bay. 'Stay there, keep an eye on him.'
You noticed Beta's machete had not left the determined grip of his hand, and you nodded your head towards it, warning Negan. He winked in response, then swung at Beta as soon as he was back on his feet, to be met with steel against steel, the noise from the impact echoing down the corridors.
"YOU WILL BOTH WALK WITH THE HORDE."
Twisting his weapon around the crow bar to release the tension from both sides, metal grated against metal causing you to cringe at the noise. Negan was kicked backwards and he only just managed to catch himself. You looked at eachother as you realised there was a chance one of you might not make it out alive. He was a formidable opponent who had nothing to lose- there was nothing more dangerous.
You both had to work together, but it was difficult as you couldn't speak and Negan was barely able to walk at this point. Both of you were exhausted, beaten and bruised, but if one of you didn't kill him neither of you would walk out of there alive. You were also very conscious of the fact that the others had most likely made it to the roof, and were waiting on you and Negan to appear. Eventually they would have to make the call to blow the building to pieces- with or without you.
You stepped forward, ready for another attempt at bringing him down, but Negan put out an arm, stopping you.
"Look darlin'."
You were both watching Beta with wary eyes, but he was catching his breath and listening in on what was to be said. Was it an act? You couldn't tell, but you wanted to know why the hell Negan had stopped you from trying to kill this huge motherfucker.
"This is my fight. It's between us. You have absolutely shit all to do with this, and you've been hurt enough. I appreciate the help but now it's time for you to go."
You nearly laughed out loud. He must be joking, surely?
"I mean it. Get the fuck out of here. Get to the others and tell them to blow this place to hell."
Your face dropped. He was being fucking serious. Shaking your head, you went to step forward, but he got to you first, grabbing your face and pulling it to his.
"Get out. I have made many fucking mistakes in my life and this is my day of reckoning. Go. Run up those damn stairs, and leave."
You felt sick. You were shaking your head furiously at this point, tears threatening to fall as all your emotions came rushing to you at once. How could you leave him? You couldn't. You wouldn't. If you were going to go down you would go down together.
He smiled at you, brushing a stray tear away with his thumb.
"Hey, come on now it's not all bad. You never know I might make it out alive. It is kind of a shame though seeing as I-"
That was the third time you'd been stupid in the last hour. You should have just fucking ran. Because in the time it took for Negan to try and persuade you, Beta had apparently got bored of the conversation, and had grabbed Negan by the back of his neck with his free hand and had pulled him away from you, lifting him carelessly off of the ground. Your heart dropped and you suddenly felt like you couldn't breathe as you watched Negan's legs thrashed wildly as he tried to free himself, but he stayed locked in that iron grip, slowly choking to death.
"Run! R-run!"
Beta laughed madly as he watched Negan struggle in his grasp, and in that moment you didn't care whether you lived or died. In one final moment of madness, you lunged forward catching Beta off guard, and twisted his machete out of his hands. His face dropped in realisation and he tried swatting you away, but you had become wiser to his tricks and managed to dodge the blows. You then raised the blade above your head, and brought it heavily down in one chance swing. You felt the steel meet flesh and bone, the sickening sound of sharp steel carving through flesh making you clench your teeth and suddenly Negan was released and dropped to the floor. You ran to him immediately, instantly forgetting the machete in your hands and discarding it as if it were rubbish. You had no idea what you had just done, but as you reached him on the floor the hand still grasped firmly around Negan's neck explained it all- you had hacked off that motherfucker's arm from the elbow down.
Negan was gasping on the floor, clutching at thick fingers that were digging into his neck, and you were able to pry off the offending limb with shaking hands. You managed to get Negan to stand, and holding eachother up, you made your way towards the stairs. Turning your head you could see Beta, clutching his ruined arm in utter shock and kneeling on the floor from the force of the blow. Blood coated the floor in a magnificent display, ruby red seeping into abandoned gauze on the floor, some spattered up the wall. He was howling, a sound so disturbing it sent chills up your spine. He was so fixated on the pain and his loss of the fight that he had momentarily forgot about the two beaten souls making their way quickly up the stairs. After that, you didn't look back.
Both of you were now running, arms still locked firmly around eachother for more support, as your knees threatened to buckle from underneath you. You were almost at the top, but you were so tired, you wanted to just lie down and never get back up.
"Hey, hey, hey none of that. We're gonna make it. We're almost there we're- gonna make it."
You nodded but your tears began falling freely, and Negan stopped so he could talk with you.
"Hey, look at me. Look at me."
He cupped your chin with his hand, and smiled that dashing smile of his.
"You're a badass. You just chopped that fuckers arm off with a machete. That, was the coolest fuckin' thing anyone has done for me."
You started to giggle.
"No I mean it. Like God DAMN. But look. We gotta keep moving. We're almost there, then we can rest, ok? We can rest."
Both of your heads shot up at the sound of the walkers on the roof turning around to greet you both, the loud shuffling of bent and broken feet on the tarmac travelling through the doorway, but you didn't care. You then leant up to kiss him and as your lips locked and he hugged you to him, you felt some of your strength return back to you. You smiled at him, and you turned to carry on, ready to kill a few more of the dead in return for your freedom, but the sound of the dynamite exploding beneath you stopped you both in your tracks.
Your eyes widened as you realised what was happening, and Negan's face twisted into sheer panic as he grabbed you and started running towards the door. Barging through the wall of walkers, you were trying desperately to keep up with him, pushing off the hands and fingers that were grabbing dangerously at you. Negan was shouting and screaming at you to stay with him, but you couldn't meet his demands as the force from the explosion finally caught up with you and ripped you both so cruelly apart, sending you both hurtling into the sky in separate directions.
You screamed as your arms and legs flailed helplessly in the open air, and then the ground came speeding towards you. The last thing you remembered was rubble raining down on you as you crashed into a tree, and dropped to the ground out cold.