This is just an idea I have had rolling around for a while and thought I would get it out. Enjoy :)
It was on the way back from a supply run that Negan and his men came across an overturned vehicle in a ditch. Sprawled out in the middle of the road was the likely cause of the crash, a rather mangled body of a large deer. Pulling up the men got out to check for survivors, dispatching a few walkers that had started to emerge from the woods at the sound of their trucks. The car was in very bad shape and lay on its roof on the side of the road, as Negan peered in through the broken windshield he saw the sole occupant of the vehicle strewn across the front two seats of the car as though she had been tossed around in the crash.
"Christ… we live in a world full of dead fuckers, you'd think people would use a little common sense and buckle the fuck up" Negan growled. Reaching in he checked the pulse and found the young woman was still alive, although she looked to be in pretty bad shape. "Simon! Give me a hand here" he called out as he reached in and carefully grabbed the woman under her arms and Simon grabbed her legs. Together they pulled her from the wreckage, careful not to drag her body across the broken glass of the windshield and cause her any more injuries.
"Think she's gonna make it? Simon questioned, thinking by the look of her it might just be a waste of time and medical resources.
Negan thought for a moment. It seemed stupid to waste medical supplies on someone who looked half dead, he would be better of putting a knife through her skull. But something about this girl reminded him of Lucille… maybe it was her short dark hair, her full lips or her petite frame. Whatever it was he couldn't bring himself to end her life. He had to give her a chance.
"We'll find out" Negan said as he motioned for him to help carry the woman to the back of the truck where he climbed in with her and they started to head back to the Sanctuary. "Hang in there Darlin'" he whispered as he looked her over. She must have been in her late twenties, and there wasn't much to her. He wondered what a woman like her was doing out there alone, and how long she had been by herself. Once she was awake he would get his answers soon enough.
Back at the Sanctuary, the doctor did his best to patch up the new comer. Without the proper equipment it was hard to tell the full extent of her injuries, but she was definitely not in good shape and she would have a long recovery ahead of her.
"What's the verdict doc?" Negan asked as he strolled on in to the infirmary a few hours after bringing her in. "Sleeping Beauty awake yet?"
"I'm afraid not" the doctor replied. "She may just be unconscious from the nasty blow to the back of her head, or she may be in a coma, it's hard to tell for sure. Her left arm is broken, from what I can tell without an x-ray its in two places and I've done my best with a makeshift splint. She also has a few broken ribs and possibly more fractured ones. Multiple lacerations to her body which I have stitched up, the worst being to her head. I think it's best to keep her under watch around the clock. With a head injury like that there might be swelling of the brain, or bleeding. She could die and turn" the doctor informed him.
"I fucking hope not, otherwise all of this would have been a waste of everybody's time" Negan grumbled. "Keep me up to date" he ordered before he left the room.
Five days later the woman still hadn't woken from her coma. Negan had visited every day, sometimes staying for a while to sit with her, dismissing whoever was keeping watch. He would occasionally talk to her, although he felt like an idiot for doing it. It was kind of nice to talk to someone who wasn't really listening or wouldn't remember a word he said, it just felt good to get things of his chest.
The doctor had informed him that he was no longer overly concerned about her head wound, her brain didn't appear to have any swelling and the rest of her injuries were healing nicely. The breaks and fractures would take a while, but he was positive about her progress so far. He was however concerned that she wasn't awake. He had made sure to keep her fluids up with IV's but he wasn't sure how long he should keep doing it. He didn't want to use up what precious supply they had.
"Give her a couple more fucking days Doc" Negan ordered. "If she hasn't woken by then… well we'll deal with that when the time comes" Negan said, not sounding too hopeful that the woman was going to pull through.
On day seven Negan sat with her in the evening, something that had become somewhat of a routine for him. Perched in the arm chair next to her bed he read his book aloud to her. He had always liked to read, and he thought maybe it might help her pull through. Negan still wondered why he cared so much about a woman he didn't even know, but there was just something about her, she had some kind of hold over him. Probably because she reminded him so much of his dead wife. Her death had been the worst moment of his life, and although he was a right asshole to Lucille sometimes, he truly loved her. Her passing was something he had never recovered from, it was probably the reason he was an even bigger asshole now that the world had ended.
As his hazel eyes roamed over the pages and the words spilled from his lips, he swore that he saw her hand twitch out of the corner of his eye. He stopped reading for a moment and stared at her only to see nothing, so he resumed reading aloud. Until he saw it again. Placing the book down he grabbed his knife in his hand and stood next to her bed. If she was going to turn, he wanted to be the one to end her suffering.
The woman began to groan and the sound weighed heavy on his heart, he hoped that it wouldn't come to this. He knew what he had to do. Raising his knife ready to plunge it through her skull he placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her still. He was thrown off when her eyes shot open, he expected to see them clouded and lifeless, but the only thing he saw was fear and panic staring back at him.
Realising she wasn't gone he stashed his knife back in its holster and yelled out for the doctor. "Take it easy Darlin'… you're safe" Negan reassured her as she desperately tried to scramble away from him, only stopping when she realised it hurt way too much to move. Negan called out to the doctor in the next room. He felt like an asshole for scaring her like that, but with the way the world was now, you could never be too sure.
The doctor came rushing in and checked her over, asking her to perform simple tasks for him so that he could assess the damage her head wound had caused. She still had complete motor function and that was a good sign, she could understand him and answer questions, settling the doctors fears that she may have had lasting brain damage.
"You must be hungry" Negan spoke. "Doc… have someone bring her some food" he ordered, and he complied without hesitation leaving Negan alone with her once more. "Do you remember what happened?" Negan asked her.
The woman looked at him, her face littered with confusion and she shook her head in response.
"We found you out on the road, your car had flipped and you were in a bad fucking way" he told her as he gestured to her injuries, and watched as she looked down, taking in the sight of all the stitches and the makeshift cast on her arm. Reaching back she clutched at the bandage around her head. "You hit your head pretty fucking bad… you should wear a seatbelt you know" Negan smiled charmingly. "Are you in pain?"
The woman nodded in response, still not trusting her mouth to speak.
"I'll have the doc get you something for that" Negan smiled.
"Wh- where am I?" she choked out, her voice raspy.
Negan handed her a bottle of water before answering "You're at the Sanctuary" he said simply.
"Sanctuary?"
"It's a safe place" he assured her.
"Who a-are you?" she asked after taking another gulp of water.
"How fucking rude of me" he grinned. "I'm Negan" he said with a charming smile as he held out his hand for her which she stared at carefully for a moment before taking it and giving it a small shake. "I run this place" he told her.
"And… who… who am I?" she asked, looking at him with a rather confused expression.
"You don't know?" he asked her a little shocked. "I was hoping you could tell me Darlin'… I can't exactly keep calling you sleeping beauty" he chuckled.
"I- I don't remember" she said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
"It's ok Darlin', take it easy. It will just be the head wound. You had quite a fucking knock. It's not surprising it scrambled your fucking brains a little. I'm sure it will come back to you in time, but I will get the doc to check you again" he said.
And as if on cue the doctor came back in with a tray of food. "Doc… she doesn't remember who she is. And she needs some pain relief" Negan informed him, looking slightly concerned.
"Amnesia is not uncommon with head injuries" he replied as he placed the tray down and helped the woman to sit up so that she could eat. "What is the last thing you remember?" he questioned as he administered a small dose of morphine.
The woman wracked her brain before a deep sadness washed over her face. "Nothing… I… I don't remember anything" she told them a tear slipping down her face.
"Don't worry about it for the moment" the doctor told her. "You have only just woken up, you've been in a coma for a week. Things will improve. It will come back to you" he reassured her. "Have something to eat, you need your strength for recovery" he told her before turning to Negan. "Can we have a word sir?" he asked, nodding towards the door as if to say he didn't want to speak in front of the woman.
"Be right back Darlin'" Negan smiled before following the doctor out of the room.
"I think it would be wise to keep her in the infirmary for a few more days, just to keep an eye on her injuries and see if she remembers anything. It might be best not to expose her to the way the world is… she won't currently remember the outbreak and we don't want to overwhelm her" he suggested. "That could do a lot more harm than good".
"Whatever you think is best doc" Negan smiled as he clapped the man on the back and headed back into the room.
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