A/N: This is a new story I've been wanting to start since the beginning of season 7. I hope you all enjoy it and please leave a review! Thanks
"I don't think I'll ever eat pizza again," I sighed, "and the last pizza I ever ate was some frozen crap from the supermarket."
"If you had known at the time that that slice was going to be your last, where would you have gone instead?" Jean asked from next to me.
"There was this pizza place by my old school where me and all my friends used to go-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jean cut me off, "you had friends?"
"Shut up," I laughed, punching his arm, "anyway, this pizza place was absolutely incredible. Everything always tasted so fresh and delicious and ugh," I sighed, leaning back in my seat, "I miss that place."
"Doesn't get much better than a nice slice of pizza with a cold soda," Jean said, nodding his head as he drove.
"Oh man what I wouldn't give for that right now." I replied. I could practically smell the pizza in the car. I could almost hear my friends around me, laughing about the latest gossip and mocking the teachers. It was so long ago that it hardly felt real anymore.
"Yeah," he agreed, "just a big beautiful Hawaiian pizza."
"A what pizza?" I asked, snapping out of my memories and leaning forward.
"Hawaiian," he repeated with a smile, "you know, pizza with pineapple and ham on top?"
"Pineapple?" I repeated incredulously, "Are you kidding me? Pineapple?"
"What? You don't like pineapple?" He asked.
"Pineapple is fine," I answered, "Just not on pizza, are you crazy?"
"It's delicious!" He protested, "The perfect balance of sweet and salty! Hawaiian pizza was a modern masterpiece."
"You're a sick individual you know that?" I told him, falling back into my seat again.
Jean laughed loudly at that. He had a deep throaty laugh that was completely contagious. He had dark skin and eyes, a strong jaw, and a pepper colored beard growing in. Jean was one of the biggest people I had ever met. His large, intimidating stature was a complete contradiction to his soft interior. He was also my complete opposite physically. I was about a foot and a half shorter than him and I had shoulder length straight brown hair. My skin was light as were my hazel eyes. I had a muscular physique from always being on the move but I was still rather thin.
Despite how different we appeared, Jean and I had pretty similar personalities. Any time that the two of us made runs together, we joked the whole time. I was close with everyone in the group but Jean was special; he was a sort of surrogate father to me now. He'd lost his wife and daughter at the beginning and I'd lost my parents and little brother. When we met each other at camp we just filled in the holes in our hearts that our families had left. That's how the world worked now. People lost their loved ones and forged new families, new bonds, new lives.
As we approached an intersection I opened up the map that was folded up on the dashboard and scanned it. "Make a right," I said.
"Yes ma'am," Jean replied, making the turn.
"You think we'll find anything good in town?" I asked.
"I want to start looking at the places everyone overlooks. Most supermarkets and hospitals have been picked clean. People don't think to check places like auto shops, furniture and electronic stores."
"Maybe we could actually find some food there. Check out some food courts, vending machines. I sure would love some candy bars maybe we could-"
"Oh shit," Jean interrupted. I looked up and saw a group of men in the road ahead of us. There was two vans blocking both sides of the road and about a dozen men standing around, each had a gun in hand. I felt my heartbeat pick up at the sight.
"Too many," I thought aloud as I checked the ammo in my handgun, "way too many."
"I have to stop," Jean muttered, "if we try to back out, they'll open fire." He gently began to press down on the brakes. "Stay calm Mel, it'll be fine."
"I'm calm," I lied as our car came to a stop.
"Welcome!" one of the men shouted, "Why don't you come on out and join us?"
"Jean?" I swallowed nervously.
"Let me do the talking," Jean replied, opening his door, "if it goes bad, drive through." He got out and walked to the front of the car.
"You too sweetness," the same man yelled to me. I took a deep breath, got out of the car and stood next to Jean. I stared hard at the man who appeared to be in charge. He was short and chubby with sideburns on either side of his round face.
"We don't have much," Jean explained. His voice and stature was incredibly calm despite the situation.
"Well we'll be taking whatever you have, starting with your weapons," the man said, walking towards us, "see your shit isn't your shit anymore. All your shit now belongs to Negan."
"And I gather you're Negan?" Jean asked.
"We are all Negan," the man replied ominously, "and you don't ask the questions around here. You both do as I say and we can all handle this situation real friendly like. Now, guns." He held out his hands. I looked at Jean and he gave me a small nod before handing over his gun and hunting knife. I removed my gun from its holster and handed it over. I could feel rage boiling in the pit of my stomach, replacing the fear I'd first felt. "Now part two, you," he pointed at Jean, "are gonna hop back in your car and head on back to where it is you guys call home. The girl will ride with us and we'll all go home together. It's real simple."
"We don't have a home," Jean answered stoically, "we stay on the move and stay away from other people, it's safer that way."
"You know it's funny you would say that," the man said, smiling widely, "we find people all the time who say the same exact thing. And yet," he pointed my gun at Jean's head, "as soon as I point a gun at someone and tell them that someone's gonna die real soon if they don't do what I say, they suddenly have a home. So you can either shit a destination out your ass right now, or I blow your head off."
"Stop! Please, stop!" I cried out suddenly, "We do have a place, a camp. Just please, stop." The words fell from lips faster than my mind was processing them. My breathing was sharp and ragged; I just wanted to get out of this situation.
"See?" The man said to Jean as he lowered his gun, "That wasn't so bad." He walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you for telling the truth young lady. The only problem is, that means your friend here was lying. And we don't have time for liars." He pointed the gun at Jean's stomach and fired two rounds. I screamed as Jean collapsed on to the ground, his shirt already soaked in blood.
"Jean!" I cried, falling onto my knees beside him. I pressed my hands over his wounds and watching helplessly as his blood pooled out between my fingertips. "Jean, please don't go, please don't go." I cried like an insane person. I could barely speak as I struggled to pull air into my lungs. I felt like I was suffocating as I clumsily put pressure over the holes in Jean's stomach.
"Mel," Jean choked out, blood trickled from the corner of his lips and his face tightened in pain. He was dying and the pain of speaking was apparent. He grabbed ahold of my blood soaked hands in his massive ones. "Don't tell them anything," he managed to gurgle out, "survive this. Survive." He stopped moving and his head lolled to the side, his eyes still wide open.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to his body, "Jean, I'm sorry."
"Okay sweetness," I heard the leader say behind me, "It's time to go." Another man came up to me and hauled me off the ground roughly.
"Don't touch me!" I screamed like mad, trying to pull out of his grip.
"Hey, hey, hey!" The leader exclaimed, "calm down cowgirl, or you're gonna end up like your friend."
"Go to hell!" I cried. The leader pointed Jean's gun directly at my head, the barrel was maybe an inch from my forehead. I leaned forward so that I was touching it. "I'm not telling you shit, so just kill me now." He stared back at me blankly for a moment before he burst into laughter. My blood boiled inside me as the other men joined in with him.
"We found ourselves a wild one!" He belted out to the other men, "throw her in the trunk, bring us home a little souvenir! Davey, Moe, search their car, take anything good." He walked back to the group and the man restraining me followed. I continued to thrash wildly in his grip. I knew it was pointless but I couldn't bring myself to submit.
"Somebody grab her damn feet," the leader demanded with an eye roll.
Another man stepped forward and grabbed ahold of my legs. I kept on wriggling but now that I was off the ground, it wasn't doing much. They popped open the trunk of one of the cars and tossed me inside carelessly. The trunk closed and I was trapped in darkness.
Alone, I felt hot tears begin to pour down my cheeks. Just like that, my life was over again. How fast everything the happiness I had built was toppled again. How easily it had been taken away from me and how helpless I was to stop it. I was once again alone in the world, no home, no family, no life.