Innocence Lost (Negan x OC)

new meetings, harsh endings

The sweat was trailing down my face, finding my dry lips and invading my mouth. I kept pushing, the weight of the sick woman on the bed challenging my already sore muscles. The thick woods were closing in around the group while we ran. Or, tried to run.

"It's OK, Maggie. We will get you to the Hilltop. Don't give up on us now." Rick demanded as he turned his head to look at her. I looked too. Her petite but muscular body was twisted on the mattress. The way the moonlight shone on her face gave her an even more ghostly complexion than the one already plastered on her skin. My mind swam and I wondered where Glenn was, and if he knew what was happening. My heart lurched forward as Maggie cried out.

"She's suffering! We need to move!" I yelled, the fear evident in my voice.

Our pace picked up and the hair on my neck rose like a thousand saluting soldiers. The whistling halted all the groups movement. I looked to Rick, and then to Carl. Rick's eyes glazed over with pure fear and the way his sweat clung his hair to his forehead and ran down his face made him look like he had been crying. He probably had been.

My grip on the mattress tightened as Rick shouted, "Move!".

The group turned left, running over rocks and fallen trees. The ground turned to gravel and I heard the whistling growing. My mind wandered and sped up at the thought of where Eugene was and if his plan had worked. The various road blocks had made the journey for the group challenging.

Of course it was, with the Saviors came challenge. And with challenge came fighting and ultimately, death. My heart was pounding so hard, I swore I could hear it over the whistling Saviors and the crunch of the groups fast feet. Bright lights bore into my eyes, evading every inch of the people in our small group. The sound of shoes and boots sliding against the gravel in a halt was somewhat horrifying.

The thoughts of bullets ripping through my loved ones and friends had my heart in my throat. I glanced to Abraham, then to Rick, and then to Aaron. Maggie's eyes fluttered open at our grinding halt and they looked dead. The once green, fiery eyes I knew from the farm so long ago were replaced with dull, almost lifeless orbs of a dying fire.

Everyone's expressions were filled with pure horror as I looked around and noticed the cars surrounding us. I felt bile tickle my throat but I pushed it down. Men clad in dark clothing, guns raised, and faces narrowed surrounded our now fading group. We all knew this wasn't going to end well for any of us. It felt like my last day on earth. Rick looked around with his vacant eyes that I had come to know over the years with pure defeat.

'No, please, anything but that look.' I thought in my swimming head. That look was one that I knew all too well. It was when our fearless leader, Rick Grimes, was filled with complete and utter defeat. It was that look you saw when the news of Lori passing was muttered from a distressed and heart broken Maggie. There was no way around that look. If there had been, he would have found it by now.

Rick looked to us and motioned for us to set Maggie on the ground. Tears had started to brew in my eyes as I sat the mattress down gently. A soft groan escaped Maggie's lips and my heart literally felt like it was broken in two. The next 10 minutes was a complete and utter blur. It felt as if the ground had swallowed me up and spit me back out 10 minutes later. I don't remember being forced to the ground, onto my knees. I don't remember facing the RV that we hauled Maggie in not too long before this moment. I don't remember Daryl, Glenn, Michonne, or Rosita being thrown into the mix.

My eyes widened at Daryl's gruesome appearance. Blood trickled from his shoulder, down to his clothing, soaking them. Had they all gotten caught? How? What was happening?

Unanswered questions made my head dizzy with fear. I glanced to my left and saw Sasha, Aaron, Carl, and Eugene all quaking with fear. My heart lurched when Carl gazed at me, the washing of fear and dread taking his one beautiful, powerful eye and making it seem weak. I glanced to my right to find Rick staring back at me. To his right was a sickly looking Maggie, Abraham, Michonne, Daryl, Rosita, and Glenn.