I stared at the pavement and tried to focus on my breathing. I had never been so scared in my entire life. We had been trying to help Maggie because something was wrong with the baby. Now we were all on our knees, lined up on the road, and there was a man standing before us, smiling like this was some kind of game. But it wasn't just any man.
It was Negan.
We had heard that name so many times before, but we really hadn't understood how big his group was—how many of these Saviors Negan had, until we were surrounded by too many to count. They had come out of nowhere, surrounded us, and forced us onto the ground.
Then Negan stepped out of the truck, and my heart sank.
I was still staring at the ground when two black boots stopped right in front of me, and I held my breath. He crouched down and I could see part of his leg, but I didn't dare look up.
"What's your name?" A gravely voice asked, and I couldn't move. I felt frozen in time and just wanted it all to disappear.
"I asked you a question." He started to sound angry, his demeanor switching from false friendliness to irritated in a second, and I slowly raised my head and met his gaze. His face was so close to mine, I could smell the cologne on his skin.
"Angela," I answered him. It came out in almost a whisper.
Negan smiled wide at me and nodded a bit.
"Angela. Such a sweet name. Like an angel." He licked his lips while still staring at me.
"Were you at the compound when my men were killed?" he asked me and narrowed his eyes. I shook my head.
"No. I wasn't." My voice was so quiet. I hadn't gone with when my brother Rick had led the late night siege against the Savoir compound. I had stayed back at Alexandria and took care of Judith.
"Of course not. Angels don't do horrible fucking shit like that." He looked amused that I was feeling so terrified, and as an attempt to comfort myself, I looked over to where Daryl was kneeling in the line up. He looked like he was ready to get up and beat the holy hell out of Negan.
"The fuck you looking over at him for?!" Negan barked, and I turned back to look up at him with wide eyes. I just wanted to look at Daryl. Negan was clearly mad that he didn't have my full attention.
"Unless…" Negan turned to look over at Daryl, who was glaring him down. "You two are together." He didn't even need us to tell him. I had been with Daryl for months now, and Negan had figured that out from a single glance.
Negan pursed his lips, nodded, and then in one fast motion, he grabbed my arm and pulled me up and onto my feet. I stumbled and tried to get my balance as Negan held me upright. His grip was loose, almost gentle.
"No!" Daryl shouted, and he went to get up, but Negan's men aimed their guns at him. He looked so scared. I had never seen Daryl so frightened. I felt myself shake even more as I stood next to Negan, who was gazing down at me with a hard expression.
"I had a lot of good fucking men at that compound." He narrowed his eyes at me and I felt myself start to cry.
"We're sorry," I pleaded, my lip quivering.
"Sorry doesn't fix shit. And this needs fixing." He continued to look down at me so serious, and then turned to look over at Daryl, who was seething.
"Simon! What's this one's name again?" Negan said, looking up at his right-hand man and motioning over to Daryl with his bat.
"Daryl," Simon informed him.
"Right. Daryl. How the fuck did you end up with someone so innocent?" Negan reached up and placed a glove hand on my cheek. I turned my face away and looked over to Daryl who was furious.
"Don't touch her!" Rick shouted, balling his hands into fists. My brother had looked so helpless, but he sounded so defensive of me in the moment.
"I think I might take her back home with me. Could have my very own Angel." Negan caressed my face softly.
"Daryl…" I whimpered, feeling tears start to roll down my face.
"Let her go!" Daryl yelled. He looked like a rabid dog, ready to attack at any second.
Negan chuckled and then looked back down at me.
"Back on your knees, Angel," he ordered, and I did as he said. I moved back into my previous place and looked back over to Daryl, who was looking over at me with wide eyes.
I looked back at the ground and tried to focus on my breathing. Negan started to speak, but I could barely hear him, I was so scared. He said something about doing eeny-meeny-miny-moe. I heard him start to walk up and down the line up and point the bat at our heads. The tears were falling nonstop and I wished I could wake up from this nightmare.
And seconds later, I heard a loud WHACK and the others started to sob. I looked up to see Negan had taken his barbed-wire baseball bat and hit Abraham in the head. I watched in horror as he hit him again and again, cracking jokes as he swung. He continued on until there was almost nothing left above the shoulders. Blood covered the road, and Abraham's body laid there motionless. I couldn't look away.
Just like that, my friend was dead.
Blood dripped down from the bat, and I looked over to where Sasha and Rosita were, sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone looked so defeated. He said he was only going to kill one of us, and I knew right then and there that we all wished we were dead.
I turned to look over at Daryl, and watched in horror as he got up off the ground and punched Negan right in the face. The hit was so hard, Negan's head snapped to the side, and the Saviors scrambled to grab Daryl and force him to the ground.
"NO!" I sobbed, reaching forward to where Daryl was being shoved onto the pavement.
Negan regained his balance and shook his head, looking even more angry than ever. He turned to where Daryl was at and I looked away. I couldn't watch him kill the man I loved.
"Oh Angel!" Negan called in a sing-song voice and I lifted my head slowly and looked back to where Negan was holding the bat by Daryl's head. "You better watch carefully. I'm gonna teach your boyfriend a lesson he's never going to fucking forget."
I watched with tears streaming down my face as Negan lifted the bat, and swung it around into Glenn.
I couldn't look any longer. I hung my head and listened to the sounds of the wood hitting Glenn's skull over and over. Maggie cried out. Everyone was sobbing. I wanted to throw up.
I never felt so helpless.
Long after he was dead, Negan continued to bash in the bloody mess that had been Glenn's head and I reached up and covered my ears, not wanting to hear it anymore. Glenn had been such a good friend to all of us. He didn't deserve to die like this.
I wished it had been me.
Finally it stopped, and I looked over—not at the bloody messes where Abraham and Glenn had been, but over at Daryl. He was still shoved onto the ground, his face so distressed, so defeated. My brother was in shock, his face had blood sprayed across it. I looked up to where Negan was. He wiped his brow, and then marched over to Rick and grabbed him by the arm, and started dragging him towards the RV.
I had wanted so badly to say something, to try and stop him, but I couldn't move from my spot on the pavement. I looked back down at the ground as Negan left with Rick, and we were left in the lineup, our dead friends between us, and the Saviors still aiming their weapons at us.
I cried until I couldn't anymore. My throat burned, and my stomach was in a tight knot. I had lost two friends, and now my brother was going to die too.
I looked next to me where my nephew Carl was still sitting up on his knees and glaring off in the distance where Negan had taken Rick. He had tears running down his face, but he held his head up. He was probably stronger than all of us.
I reached my hand over and took his into mine, and squeezed. He looked over at me with a forlorn expression. We still couldn't move, and I glanced over to where Daryl was still being held down. He was looking right at me. I wanted to go comfort him, to tell him it wasn't his fault, but I knew that if we moved, we would be shot.
We remained like that for hours, and the sun started to rise into the sky by the time the RV pulled back up. I expected Negan to get out without my brother, but felt a small sense of relief when Negan shoved Rick—who was very much alive—out of the side door.
I don't know what came over me, but I got up onto my feet and sprinted towards my brother. Negan stepped in my way before I reached him, and put a hand out, blocking me from going to comfort Rick.
"Wow, Angel! Are you fucking both of these guys?" he asked, gesturing at Rick and Daryl. I looked around him, trying to see if Rick was okay.
Negan seemed to be studying my face and then raised his eyebrows.
"Ohhhh. I see. You're his sister, aren't you?" he realized, looking back over at Rick. I didn't look at him. I just wanted to check to make sure my brother was unharmed.
"Look at me, Angel." Negan ordered.
I did as he said, and looked up at him as the tears that I had thought were done coming, started to fall once again.
"Such innocence," he whispered, reaching up to wipe away the tears on my face. "I'm sorry I had to take that away from you today."
He smiled and I looked into his eyes.
This man was pure evil.
Negan continued to look at me.
"Take Daryl," he commanded, and his men lifted Daryl off of the ground and pulled him towards the RV.
"No, please!" I sobbed, falling onto my knees before him. "We'll be good! We'll do what you say!" My voice cracked as I wailed.
"Oh, I know you will, Angel. I know you will." Negan turned away from me and got inside the RV. I watched as Daryl was forcefully pushed inside as well, and it took off down the road. I watched it until it disappeared, crying harder than I had in my entire life.
I continued to sob until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Rick was looking down at me.
He never looked so weak.
I looked back down at the pavement in front of me. I couldn't look back at Glenn and Abraham's bodies. I couldn't even look up at my brother again.
Nothing was ever going to be okay.
