"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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"But that doesn't make sense," Madalyn exclaimed. "Everyone else who was injured got infected. They all died."
"Tara didn't," Siddiq said calmly. "She hasn't shown any signs of the infection. Neither has Nick."
"I thought you'd be happy that I'm not dying," Nick remarked.
"Please, shut up." Madalyn sent Nick a nasty glare.
It had been over a day since Nick was injured. The infection should have already spread and killed him by now. But it hadn't. He was perfectly fine. She knew she should be happy, but overall, she was just confused. What made Tara and Nick different than everyone else?
"Why do you think Tara wasn't infected?" Madalyn asked.
Siddiq shrugged lightly. "She thinks Dwight's arrow was clean. That he came here not intending to kill anyone."
"Well, that's bullshit," Madalyn remarked.
"It's really not. I don't trust him, but he does want to take Negan down. He does want to help y'all," Nick said.
"Don't defend him."
"I'm not. I'm just sayin' what I've noticed."
"But that still wouldn't explain why you weren't infected. Dwight didn't shoot you." Madalyn crossed her arms. Her headache was rapidly coming back. She saw the wheels turning in Nick's head before his eyes widened a fraction.
"But Evan did," he stated, causing Madalyn to frown. "The kid. Maybe his arrows were clean, too."
"And what makes you think that?" she asked.
"He's never said it outright, but I know he doesn't want to be with the Saviors anymore. He especially wants to be rid of Simon," Nick explained, a small smile touching his lips. "I don't think his arrows were infected. That's why I'm still alive."
Madalyn didn't know if she could believe that. But there really wasn't any other explanation. There wasn't any sort of immunity to the virus that she knew of. If it was true that Evan didn't coat his arrows, then Madalyn was prepared to kill him for no reason. She had barely thought it through. She was just going to kill him without a second thought.
