"You guys! Take a look at my dirty girl! Sweetheart, lay your eyes on this!" Negan's voice boomed as he dangled the barbed wire wrapped bat he called Lucille, dripping with Abraham's blood, in front of Rosita. "He just took one or six or seven for the team! So take a damn look!" Rosita, who had been with Abraham until their relationship came to an abrupt end just a few short days prior, could not bring herself to look up. But Negan would not be deterred. "Take a damn look!"

Before I even realized what was happening, Daryl rose to his feet beside me and nailed Negan with a right hook to the face. Three other Saviors had him pinned to the ground in a matter of seconds. My heart shattered as I saw his body twist in pain. "Daryl!" I cried. "Please! Stop! Please don't hurt him!"

My body automatically began to lurch forward toward him, but Glenn's arms wrapped firmly around me before I could even make it off the ground. I heard his shaky whisper in my ear. "Belle, don't."

"Daryl!" Rick gasped, his entire body trembling with fear. I knew that his fear was my fear. After what Negan had just done to our Abraham, we were deathly afraid we would lose Daryl too.

"Oh my! That is a no-no! The whole thing! Not one bit of that shit flies here!" Negan barked, hoisting the bat in front of him emphatically.

"You want me to do it?" snarled Dwight, one of the saviors with the dirty blonde hair and a burn scar on the side of his face. He had Daryl's crossbow pointed at him. "Right here?"

"No, you don't kill that. Not until you try a little." Negan pulled hard on Daryl's hair and he growled in agony. I could barely contain my sobs seeing him in so much pain. He had already lost so much blood due to the gunshot wound to his left shoulder inflicted earlier by Dwight. I had never seen him look so beaten down with despair and I was terrified.

"And anyway….that's not how it works." Negan nodded back towards the line up of our group and the saviors returned Daryl on his knees to his spot beside me. I wanted to reach out to him but I was frozen with fear. He looked at me shaken, our eyes searching each other's through our tears.

"Now, I already told you people— first one's free, then what'd I say? I said, I would shut that shit down! No exceptions. Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you've been dealing with, but I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important. I need you to know me! So back to it!" Suddenly Negan brought his bat down with a loud crack to Glenn's skull just to my right. I shrieked, unable to process what was happening in front of me. I felt something warm and wet splatter across my face as Negan brought the bat down a second time. Glenn's blood. I could hear his wife Maggie's feral cry as I watched the horrific scene play out next to me. The blunt force of his injuries had caused his left eye to protrude from its socket.

"Maggie…..I…..will find you." Glenn stammered out. All of the sounds around me began to run together, muffled, as if I were trapped under water. He was suffering. Right here in front of all of us. And Maggie…Sweet Maggie. I recalled how happy she had been when she shared the news of her pregnancy just days before. We had made this journey to see the doctor at the neighboring Hilltop community after she had become very ill. Maggie began having sharp pains that we had become terribly concerned were contractions. She might be losing her baby and now, she would become a widow. Negan spoke again but I couldn't make out any words. Suddenly, I felt another splatter of blood across my face as the bat collided with Glenn's head again. Our family would never be the same.


"We did it! All of us, together. Even the dead guys on the ground! Hell, they get the spirit award for sure." Negan sighed, satisfied with himself. "Today was a productive damn day. Now, I hope for all your sake that you get it now; that you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you….that is over now." He chuckled to himself and I wondered how a living soul could ever be so cruel.

"Dwight, load him up." Negan motioned casually in Daryl's direction as his henchmen obeyed, snatching him off the ground. Daryl looked at me frantically as they shoved him into the back of a black cargo van. My hand instinctively reached for him.

"No!" I cried softly. "Please stop!"

"He's got guts— not a little bitch like someone I know." Negan glanced knowingly in Rick's direction. "I like him. He's mine now. But you still want to try something? 'Not today, not tomorrow.' 'Not today, not tomorrow.' I will cut pieces off of…..hell's his name?"

"Daryl," recalled Simon, the savior that appeared to be Negan's righthand guy.

"Wow. That actually sounds right." Negan chortled. "I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep. Or better yet, I will bring him to you and have you do it for me." He got in Rick's face, challenging him with his eyes. "Welcome to a brand-new beginning, you sorry shits! I'm gonna leave you a truck. Keep it. Use it to cart all the crap you're gonna find me. We'll be back for our first offering in one week. Until then….ta-ta!"

"Wait!" I shrieked, the sound of my own voice startling me.

Suddenly, Negan spun on his heel and looked at me as if noticing I was there for the first time. He slowly sauntered over and stood directly above me. "Well, well, well. What the fuck do we have here?"

"Please don't take him. Take me instead." I pleaded, meeting his inquiring gaze.

Negan leaned back on his heels and laughed heartily. "Sweetheart, now why in the fuckitty fuck would I do that?" He kneeled down in front of me, thoughtfully rubbing his salt and pepper beard between his fingers. "You are a beauty; I'll give you that. But why should I take you when Daryl is clearly more fucking capable of working for me?"

"Because he's injured." My voice shook as I spoke. "He's not much good to you with a gunshot wound. I can work for you instead. Just let him go."

Negan cocked his head to one side, looking me up and down. "Fucking Beauty here is willing to sacrifice herself for ole Dippity Daryl! Do ya hear that, boys?" He looked around to Dwight, Simon, and the other Saviors that still loomed around.

"Well, boss," Simon said. "That's certainly something to consider." I looked up in time to see a curious look flash across Simon's face. Was that hope I saw? And if so, why?

"Darlin', why the fuck on earth would you be willing to stick your pretty neck out for that piece of shit?" Negan's eyes gleamed with interest. "Are you two fuck buddies?"

"No," I answered. "He's my family. My best friend."

"Well, sweetheart, I'm awfully sorry about that. But I'm not sure I'm in the fucking mood to be bargained with."

"Everything Daryl can do, I can do. He taught me to hunt, fight, track…..He taught me everything." I choked back a sob. "He's injured and I'm not. If you want someone that can work for you, take me." Suddenly I became acutely aware of the distraught, worried faces around me.

"Please, don't do this." I heard Rick's frightened whisper.

"Damn! She's hot AND she can bring home the fucking bacon AND fry it in a pan!" Negan rubbed his hands together mischievously. "You gotta name, Beauty?"

"B….Belle," I stuttered in response as his intimidating gaze leaned in closer.

He bit his lip thoughtfully, appearing to consider my offer. "Well, Belle. You've got yourself a deal." He extended his arm and grabbed my small hand in his in a forced handshake before yanking me to my feet. He braced my body to his chest, my back pressed against him, with one arm across my shoulders. He kept Lucille propped prominently on his left shoulder. "Dwight, let Daryl out." I heard the muffled cries of Rick, Carl, Michonne, Maggie and the rest of our group.

Dwight eyed me curiously for a moment before opening the back door to the cargo van. He snatched Daryl out by his vest and pulled him to the ground. Daryl looked confused as he tried to gain his footing while his hands were held handcuffed behind his back. I'm sorry, I mouthed to him.

"Daryl, in a fascinating turn of fucking events, the Governor called and granted you a stay of execution!" Negan taunted jovially. "Belle here pled your case. And seeing how you are injured, you really aren't worth a shit fuck to me. Your proxy here volunteered to take your place."

"No!" Daryl protested sorrowfully, his breathing becoming shallow. "Belle, don't!"

"Fuck! It's already been decided, douche bag." Negan grinned. "We shook on it. A deal's a fucking deal. And as I've already shown you sorry fucks, I'm a man of my word!"

Daryl sobbed, his body shaking with emotion. "Belle…."

"Please let me say goodbye." I begged, tears streaming down my face.

I heard Negan sigh in my ear. "Only because I fucking like you, Beauty! You have 10 seconds." He released me with a light shove in Daryl's direction. I attempted to quickly take in the faces of my friends that were my family, though I could hardly make them out through my tears. Their chorus of cries and sobs were my mourning song.

I threw my arms around Daryl, pressing my cheek to his as he wept into my hair. Dwight released his hands and his ams instantly wrapped around me. I pulled back to look into his eyes and suddenly I was being lifted off the ground.

"Times up, sweetheart!" Negan said, tossing me over his shoulder as Dwight recaptured Daryl's hands.

"No!" Daryl pleaded, his weak body trying to break free of Dwight's grasp as he looked at me, grief-stricken. "Belle!"

My eyes connected with his and I said the words I had never said before. Words I never said because I stupidly thought there was more time. I thought we were invincible, but I was dead wrong. "I love you!" I said through my tears, my hands uselessly reaching out for him one last time. Negan effortlessly transferred me to the back of the cargo van and slammed the door. I placed my hands on the small back window willing them to reach past the glass.

The last thing I saw was Daryl's heartbroken face as he collapsed to his knees in the dirt.