"𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥."
It was a chant Madalyn Taylor told herself every day. Every day since the world ended. She didn't believe it most times, but if she said it enough times it had to come true at some point. Right?
"𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦."
...
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Not long after everything started, Evan, his mom, and Simon found the Sanctuary. Though, it wasn't consistently called the Sanctuary yet. Negan was the one who declared it as the Sanctuary permanently. People had already begun to claim the factory as their home, but the place was huge so they were let in. Weeks passed, and the population in the factory grew exceptionally. Groups upon groups moved in, and that's what caused everything to go downhill.
Simon was basically a conman before everything happened. He had been violent, too. He thrived in a world that was kill or be killed. He thrived in that factory because factions were formed and people were killed. And because he liked to pretend he cared about Evan, he taught Evan how to survive in the new kill-or-be-killed world.
Simon wasn't kind when he taught Evan. Those early days consisted of a lot of yelling. Evan would never say he was grateful for Simon, but without him, he probably wouldn't have made it.
Before Negan took over, the Sanctuary had a different leader nearly every three weeks. Someone would take charge. They'd lead for a few weeks. Then someone would want to be in charge instead, so they'd kill the previous leader and assume their role. Over and over again. Evan and his mom usually kept out of that business, but Simon enjoyed that shit way too much.
While Simon taught Evan how to be a heartless bastard, Evan's mom tried to reverse it. Not to the extent that Evan wouldn't be able to make it in the world, but just enough so he could still be a teenage boy. She wanted him to be good. If she hadn't been there, Evan was sure he would've turned out exactly like Simon.
One day, a large fight broke out. The leader had been killed, and apparently, he had been pretty well-liked. The Sanctuary practically split into two sides. No one knew who had killed the guy, so they just started accusing people. So many people died that day. It was absolute chaos. And eventually, it took Evan's mother.
She had been there one second, and the next... she was gone. That day was still so blurry to Evan. Someone had accused him of being the one that killed the previous leader. That put a bright red target over his head. And because Evan's mother loved her son dearly, she pushed him away from the men moving toward him, hoping to protect him. However, those men were ruthless, and they were determined to kill Evan. No matter who stood in their way.
Evan could only watch as those men beat his mother to death. He had been frozen in place, forced to listen to her screams. He was sure once they were done that he'd be next. But then Simon arrived with a large group of men. This new group was led by a man with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
