Tasty Meat

"You look like shit" She doesn't need to open her eyes to know who is talking as she would recognize that ominous voice anywhere. He was her torturer, the man who made her life a living hell during an eternity

"You are a hallucination" she answered weakly, after all he wasn't the first one, so this time she didn't wonder about her sanity, in fact she wasn't confused because she knew what was happening, that is she was dying.

"You are dying" he said with that horrible smile of yellow teeth and bad breath… But no, she wouldn't think about his breath, because then she would think about those times when his breath was in her mouth, and she could only feel disgust, shame and pain. Those are the kind of things that people should delete from their mind the last day of their lives, don't you think? That couldn't be her last thoughts

"You aren't real" she repeated and repeated with her hopeless hope of believing her own words

"Which proves my fucking point, you are fucking dying" was his cruel answer

"Go away" she begged

"Go away, go away…" he mocked her for a while until the silence fell upon the room again, which made her think he went away as all the hallucinations before him did. So she opened her eyes for the first time since the bite, praying there was nothing there, but not such luck, because there he was, wearing his neat white t-shirt, jeans and military boats. His smile was wide as ever, his eyes threatening and terrifying "we are only starting sweetheart"

She had never felt hottest in her life, the heat is unbearable, but the pain is starting to go numb, which would have made her feel better if it wasn't a sure sign of everything going to hell soon, and of course the hallucination had to add his 20 cents

"That is not a good sign" he sing-sang while he swifted Lucille in the air "if you can't feel the pain then it's too late" he kept singsonging with that annoying tone of voice that she hated so much "you can't even chop your feet off" he starts to laugh, as if it were the funniest thing he had ever heard, and realHe would have probably found it extremely amusing.

And suddenly he wasn't there.

It was a relief as she didn't want him to be her last memory. Because the thing is that she knew she was dying, although she had choices, she could have saved herself by cutting her foot, or she could have ended with the agony by blowing her brains out. But she didn't do any of that because, you see, she was a coward. That is why she ran away from the Sanctuary without killing Negan, and she could have done it, after all he always lowered the guard around her wives. On the other hand, she could have waited in the house for Dwight, or she could have run away with Daryl, he would have kept her safe. So, you see? She had choices. But she was too much of a coward, running away by herself in the middle of the night was one of the bravest things she had ever done in her life. That, and helping Daryl to escape.

Afterwards she only ran, ran and ran... that was the only thing she did for hours. Well, okay, she had some water and a little bit of bread, but nothing to go on for days. So yeah, she ran and only stopped to eat, and that was everything she did for days until she meet a guy; that is how she ended in a room, with a dead walker rooting in the ground and a bite in her left foot

"You shouldn't have done that" a new voice pointed out. It was a voice she didn't recognize, so she opened her eyes, which required a big effort in her part, and was faced with him. The Walker had the eyes open, a very human like eyes that were looking at her with a weird expression, more curiosity that rage or sadness as she would have expected from someone she had killed a couple of hours before

"I was trying to help you... Why did you have to kill me?".

At that point in her story, it was extremely painful for her to talk as her mouth was dry and her lips chapped, but she thought he deserved an explanation, after all she killed him. It didn't work quite well, she slurred her words and her voice was barely audible, but she guessed that a figment of her imagination could understand what she was trying to say

"You were going to call him"

"Who? Negan?"

"Yeah, the radios, those radios are like theirs"

"That is your big proof? A radio? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"You were trying to call him"

"So let's me get this straight, I died and you are gonna die... Because I had a radio?"

"The Saviors have radios"

"And how do you know that the Saviors are the only ones in the entire world who have radios?"

"You were trying to call him" she petulantly repeats

"But you don't know that! And don't you know that you have to make sure that people don't wake up as walkers... You know, a knife in the head would have sufficed... Not wonder you are gonna die. You are stupid"

"Shut up! I killed you, so you are more stupid than me" The Walker snorted and said

"You are weak Sherry"

"I know"

"I know that you know, I'm a creation of your mind, remember?, I'm telling you all those things that you have been dying to tell yourself"

She didn't answer, what would have been the point? She only wanted to die, that was her only wish. Actually, I guess you should know that when she escaped from the Saviors she didn't count on living too long, she really thought she would be eaten by a herd. But she needed to try, rather, she wanted to try. So that is what she did, and she failed, but not really because she survived in her own for a while, and she was proud of herself, in a weird and pathetic way

"You are gonna die" this was another voice, a voice she recognized instantly; t was herself, and suddenly that was the most terrifying thing she had ever faced in her entire life, because when she heard herself talking she knew it would be the last voice she would ever hear. Suddenly she didn't want to die, though she thought it was probably too late, and she was right

"You are gonna die!" The hallucination yells "and this... This is what you're gonna become"

Sherry opened her eyes just to be faced with a version of herself transformed into a walker. It was horrible, putrid and rotten, her usually shining spotless red hair was a mess of dirt and knots, her eyes were white and lifeless, her skin was seemingly melting and falling in pieces, her mouth was a black hole and her once beautiful body was now transformed into bones, flesh and decay .

In a perfect story that would have been the end of it, Sherry would have passed out, and she would have never woke up again, at least not as a human being with a conscience. But this isn't a perfect narrative, this is life, and life is usually messy, chaotic and senseless, and that is probably why Sherry didn't black out, she stayed there, eyes wide open, skin burning, and mouth closed

"Can you imagine it Sherry?, maybe the human meat is tasty" the monster said with a laugh. She could smell the decay, although she knew it came from the rotten body at her feet, she also knew that it was too soon, that a body doesn't reek a few hours after its death. But, between you and me, she didn't know how long she had been there, the true is she was almost at the end of her journey, and it had been a long arduous journey aggravated by the pain, the heat and the hallucination

"Leave me alone" she murmured painfully

"Nah, that wouldn't be fun... You used to love having fun, remember?... What have happened to you?... Ah, yes... Him, and the Apocalypse and everything, hard to have fun with that beast on you. Do you think you'll remember your past life when you become a monster?"

"I wish, I want to eat him" Sherry said with a smile directed at Negan.

And that was it, she closed her eyes one last time and said:

"I want to eat you"