Mistakes I Made | The Walking Dead

Part 32

I spent the long night tossing and turning, unable to fully fall asleep as my mind filled with less than pleasant thoughts, and when I wasn't stuck in my head, I was dreading each move I made as my uncovered wounds rubbed against the loose t-shirt I wore.

I found myself back in front of the mirror, pulling down the neck of the shirt as I stared at what would soon be a scar and another reminder of the mistakes that would haunt me until this life was over. And while Negan isn't apart of the reflection that's staring back at me like last night, it feels as though he is, because now I'll have to carry an unremovable reminder of him wherever I go.. not like I wasn't already. I felt like his touch had branded me in a way that was inescapable— tying me to him.

"Liz?" I heard Dwight's voice call as the door closed behind him, causing me to step out of the bathroom, "Rick and all of 'em— they're coming today."

I froze, my hand gripping the split doorframe beside me as my eyebrows furrowed together, "When?"

"I don't know, but soon." He spoke lowly, placing the tray of food and medication on the end of the bed, "I gave them a list of the Savior's lookouts and outposts, the Sanctuary is gonna be their last stop and they plan on flooding the courtyard with the dead— holding up everyone inside until people start surrendering."

"Ok, but how do we know they will? Who's going to go against Negan now if they haven't before?" I asked honestly, this plan still seeming fresh to me.

"They're going to have to eventually." He shrugged, "Everyone who went out on a supply run ain't coming back— nothing coming in or out of this place and people are going to get hungry."

I nodded, grabbing the pills off the tray before swallowing them down one by one, "So now what? Do we just wait?"

"Negan's in a meeting right now with Simon, Eugene, and a few others talking to that guy from the Hilltop."

I paused mid drink, "What guy?"

"Gregory." He informed, easing my mind, "Doubt it's going to go his way— didn't sound great when I was there."

"Good." I breathed, "He's a sack of shit anyway."

"Just be ready for whatever happens."

***

With nothing to do and exhaustion weighing heavily on my mind and body, I did my best to get comfortable and relax, even while knowing what was soon to come.
If this plan does work, then maybe things can come to some sort of peaceful resolution, but something in me didn't believe that a problem this big would be so easily solved, not when someone like Negan was the ringleader.

My head spun in the direction of the barred window as unified gunfire rang out, causing me to put my spoon down before I pushed away the tray of food and made my way to the small opening in the wall.
Silence followed the moments after, and with no view of the previous commotion, I returned back to the bed, only with far less appetite than I had before.

The unknown scared me more and more as time went on, which I never thought was possible— I never thought anything would be more horrifying than being killed by the dead that had come back to life, but things have changed and walkers are now the least of my worries.
High on my list was making sure that good people won a fight that never should've started in the first place, with the fear of my own past creeping back up being a close second.

My head shot up as the door to the room flung open, Dwight stepping in before glancing back down the hall, "Are you ready?"

"For what?" I asked confused, standing up from the bed, "Was that them? The gunshots?"

"Yeah," Dwight muttered, coming over to me as my wrists were bound once more, "Whatever deal you made with Negan, stick to it and try not to make a scene."

"But what about Rick's plan?" I whispered as we walked into the vacant hall, "Negan wants me to talk Rick into surrendering or something and he's not going to go for it."

"I don't have much to go on either, right now," Dwight began to explain, glancing behind us now and then, "Your people weren't too generous with all the details on their end, and since you didn't want them to know you were here, this'll be a curveball they'll have to deal with themselves."

I took a long, deep breath as we approached an open door in the distance, trying to prepare myself for more of the unknown. In all honesty, I hadn't really thought of what to say to Rick because I didn't think I'd really get the chance to, and even if I did, I knew that there was nothing I could say to convince Rick to give into Negan's demands.. and I wouldn't want him to.

"You're gonna make me count?" I heard Rick's voice faintly ring in the distance, getting clearer as we neared the door, "Okay.. okay, I'm counting."

Right then, Negan glanced back as a grin quickly found its way onto his face, having been expecting us.

"Ten!" Rick began, "Nine-"

"You might want to slow your roll, Prick." Negan taunted, gesturing me over as Dwight pushed my hesitant frame through the doorway, "I've got something that might change your mind."

I squinted barely as my eyes quickly adjusted to the overcast skies, before I took in my surroundings.

"Liz?" Rick called, peeking through the metal barricades that now surrounded the front of the Sanctuary, a large rife hanging over his shoulder, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," I mindlessly replied as I looked back at the Saviors that stood around us, "I'm fine."

"I know you'd like her to stay that way, Rick," Negan continued, his hand gripping my arm as he held me in place, "Hell, I'm sure quite a few of your piss patrol back there would like that too... so you're all gonna listen to what she has to say."

I briefly glanced over at Negan, knowing that if he could read my mind right now, there's no way he wouldn't kill me.

"It's not worth it, Rick. This has to end and it has to end the way we talked about— when we were in the car, I tried to convince you then and I'm doing it again now because this is our best chance." Quickly, something in the way Rick looked at me changed as our eyes stayed locked in a peaceful, silent exchange of understanding— something we had never shared on this particular subject, "And I know Daryl's going to hate more than anyone else... but he's strong-" I continued, trying to hold it together as I could feel my vocal cords start burning at the strain.

"Wrap it up, darling." Negan groaned, cutting me off.

"Believe me, Rick," I let out a final, shaky breath, "Please..." I paused, a small, pained smile finding its way onto my face, "Kill them."

Immediately the area around us fell hush as it overflowed with tension, only to be abruptly ended by a barrage of gunfire in the Sanctuary's direction.

In the blur of bullets, I was pushed, shoved, and pulled until I was back through the large metal door, surrounded by Saviors who were stuck in a daze from just narrowly avoiding death.. but that's not the ending I wanted.

My bound hands swiftly reached for Dwight's gun in the split second haze that everyone was still stuck in, before firing at the first person I could, only to have the pistol knocked out of my grasp.

"God dammit, Dwight!" A voice yelled over the continued hail of bullets, before Dwight had an arm around my neck as I fought against his grip.
I jabbed my elbow into his ribs, gritting my teeth as a new searing pain shot through my arm, only to come face to face with Simon as I stumbled out of Dwight's hold.

And that's when everything went dark.

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Ya'll
I hope you're into this bc this is how I've wanted this scene to go down for awhile