A/N Beth was in a dire predicament last chapter, and Negan had found Dawn and her crew. Let's see how that works out!
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Glancing around Negan couldn't help but smile, he'd been beginning to wonder if the trip south was going to provide the saviors with any benefits. Up until now they hadn't found any other settlements or communities. But as they pulled up to the hospital he couldn't help but think they'd hit the jackpot with this place. It was a cherry just ripe for the picking! A fucking hospital no less! This was well-worth the ten-hour trip south they had traveled.
His wheels were already turning, formulating a plan for his newest outpost. He'd definitely need to leave a small group of his men here to keep an eye on the operation. Then of course they'd have to decide what would be the best method of collecting his monthly supply of goods these fine folks now owed him.
The distance was a big consideration but by the looks of the place, and the large bounty of goods he saw they'd collected just that day, it already looked like this outpost was going to be well-worth the fuel, the time and the manpower.
He had a few guys in mind for running his newest conquest. There were some of the younger men he thought were ready for the responsibility. Maybe he'd give a couple of them a shot at proving their worth. He knew for a fact he wouldn't be leaving his two top men, Simon or Dwight. They were too valuable to him at home, plus he liked having Dwight around, he liked messing with him from time to time, just to keep him in line.
"Holy shit! You took a hospital? You must have some balls on you, Lady. This is going to be a very wonderful partnership. This place has got to still be loaded!" Negan smiled excitedly as he exited the truck. His men were already out and waiting for instructions.
"Dwight, you and the rest of the guys get everyone rounded up in a common area, while Dawn here gives me and Simon the grand tour." Negan smirked.
He watched as his men went to work going through each room and getting Dawn's people gathered. He spotted a sign for the cafeteria and instructed Dwight to lead those people there.
All Dawn could do was stand there watching helplessly as Negan and his thugs took over her carefully managed facility. She held onto the one thing there was to be grateful for, at least they didn't seem to be harming anyone. They seemed to just be interested in instilling fear and making it known they were the ones in charge now.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Negan's loud and robust command, "Come on! I said I wanted the grand tour Miss Dawn and by gawd I meant today!" The way he looked at her with that big happy smile and that slightly leaned backed and cocky stance, it somehow made him even more intimidating.
"We know you got plenty of good supplies here. I could tell that just from the haul you were bringing in today. What I really wanna see is your pharmaceuticals. Seems these days you can never have enough meds. Why don't we start there first? And let me just caution you sweetheart, don't try and hide anything from me because I will find it. And if I find out you were trying to keep things from me, if I find out you don't want to play nice and share, well I'm going to have to let Lucille here smash a few heads, just to get it through yours. Remember sweetheart, everything here is mine now. You and your group work for me."
The sight of him and the sound of him, and that frightening looking weapon he called Lucille all left little room for Dawn to argue, she simply nodded. "I'll have to get the extra set of keys. There in Dr. Edward's office," She explained.
"Well by all means ladies first," Negan gestured politely with his bat pointed ahead of him indicating Dawn should take the lead. He followed her down the corridor toward Edward's office. As they approached the door they could hear the sounds of a struggle. Dawn quickly patted at her hip looking for her Glock before remembering she'd been stripped of her weapons.
"I can hear your men attacking one of my people," she yelled toward Negan as she went to the door trying in vain to open it.
"My men? In case you haven't noticed sweetheart all my men were behind us. Watch out!" He yelled back and gestured for her to clear the doorway. Dawn moved and Negan succeeded in breaking open the door with two hard and fast kicks.
The scene that was revealed when the door crashed open immediately made Negan's blood begin to boil. He saw one of Dawn's officers attacking a petite blonde woman. The asshole had her head pressed firmly against the desk, and Negan could see there was blood beginning to pool from what looked to be an injury to her face. The man had his hand on her throat closing off her airway and the blonde appeared to be fighting for air. She was gasping like a fish out of water, while at the same time it was obvious she was struggling to get away.
The asshole's pants were at his ankles, as were the blondes'. He had his dick in his hand and he most definitely appeared to be just about to rape the young woman.
Maybe, just maybe he could be a brutal man, but there was something that Negan simply wouldn't tolerate. No man raped a woman, or even contemplated raping a woman, not and lived to ever try that shit again. Rape was never okay.
Without a second thought Negan took action, ripping the officer off and away from the defenseless woman, before cold-cocking him. The so-called officer lay on the floor unconscious. Negan couldn't resist a quick kick to the asshole's ribs with the toe of his boot.
He turned his attention to Dawn. "This is how you run things sweetheart? Does this shit happen with your seal of approval? Your officers take what they want from the women that live here?" His already forceful voice had taken on a savagely angry tone.
Dawn was so shocked and afraid she couldn't seem to get her voice to work, she couldn't respond. All she could do was stare at Beth, who had now slid to the floor next to Edward's desk, where she lay in the fetal position. "Shit! I'd say you people are damn lucky I showed up here. I can see I've got work to do laying down the law! I will teach you people how it's supposed to be, how it will be. Fasten your seatbelts, things are about to change in a hurry!"
Negan turned his head, spitting on Gorman as he did. The officer was beginning to come to. "Simon! Looks like we've got an example to make and Lucille is excited, she's been gettin' mighty thirsty!" Negan chuckled and delivered another sharp kick to Gorman's ribs.
"Take this low-life asshole out in the hall, make sure the others can all see him. Then find that doctor and get his ass back in here. From the looks of it I'd say this little blonde is going to need some medical attention." With that, Negan dismissed them.
He was now alone with the broken young woman still lying on the floor. He turned to see her seeming to struggle to get up. She was still gulping for air and Negan was sure her lungs must be burning. Her hair covered her face and it moved in little puffs each time she exhaled.
He stooped down in front of her, "Just a couple more minutes with that asshole and you'd a been a goner darlin'. Let me have a look at them cuts." And as he made his statement his large hand brushed the mop of blonde hair from her face.
Negan's breath caught in his throat when he saw the small blonde's battered face, "Luc..." He breathed deep, trying to shake the thought away. His wife had been dead since before the turn but this woman was a dead ringer for his Lucille. Maybe not a quite a doppelganger, this woman was thinner and more dainty looking, and she was also a lot younger. She reminded Negan of when he first met his wife, back when they were in their early twenties.
He realized then, as he'd been soaking it in and trying to process his thoughts, the young woman had begun shaking in fear. "Hey, relax, darlin'. You're safe with me. No one's going to hurt you. Not on my watch." It wasn't his customary tone. His manner with her was kind, almost loving, and instead of being brash and cocky his smile was soft and comforting when he asked, "What's your name?"
She tried to sit up, but her body was weak and she was lightheaded from lack of oxygen and the injuries she'd suffered. Her arm gave way under her weight and she slid back down to the cold hard floor.
"Easy, easy…," He said it gently as he helped her sit up. After giving her a minute to adjust to her upright position, Negan eased her up until she was standing. Without a word he placed her hands on his shoulders to help her maintain her balance. "Hold on now, I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm trying to help you darlin'." He bent and eased her panties up and then the scrubs.
She'd been scared so many times in her young life. This new world they'd all found themselves in was nothing but fear and peril. But there was love too, the love she'd had with Daryl. And she was carrying that love with her now. That had been the scariest part, what if that Gorman man, that disgusting bastard, had harmed her baby? She'd kill him with her bare hands.
She was aware of how close he'd come to raping her, and all during his assault she'd been afraid she was going to die from lack of oxygen. All she'd been able to think was how much she just wanted Daryl. If only Daryl were there none of this would have ever happened.
Then out of nowhere she'd heard the loud crashing sound and suddenly this other man was there. He'd gotten that terrible animal off of her. She was aware this new man had kicked Gorman a few times and she was happy when he did. It sounded like he was going to let everyone know what that jerk had tried to do, and that he had plans to punish Gorman in some way.
She felt so grateful and she wondered who the man was, where had he come from? Maybe it didn't matter. The important thing was, he was her savior, her baby's savior. He was so soft-spoken and he was being so kind and so gentle with her. Thank God he'd shown up when he did, thank God.
Negan guided her to the desk where she could lean on the edge.
He gently examined her lacerations while he took in the curve of her face. He couldn't help but feel like he was seeing a ghost. No, not a ghost, a reincarnation. Who was this girl? He needed to know more. He wanted to know everything about her, while at the same time having an overwhelming feeling he needed to protect her.
He already felt something powerful for this young woman. He was more drawn to this little blonde, that he didn't even know, than he was to any of his wives. Maybe it was her amazing resemblance to his one true love, his deceased wife. Whatever it was he needed her. He needed to have her feel emotion for him too.
He rested a hand gently on the side of her head and spoke in a quiet and kind tone, "You're definitely going to need stitches..." He tried to smile reassuringly as he gazed into her sad and fearful blue eyes. He was still waiting to hear her name.
Returning his gaze she whispered, "Beth, my name is Beth."
"Negan."
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Daryl had made a decision. It was time to break away from Joe and his lowlife pals. He'd come as far as he cared to go with them and he'd definitely had his fill of their brand of survival. He needed to go for another reason, he needed to find Beth. That was all he could think of, finding her and holding her.
Maybe along the way he'd see signs of the others, maybe he'd find some of the family. Beth had been so sure there were other survivors and he hoped like hell she was right. Mostly he hoped she had somehow survived.
That evening, while they were off doing whatever the hell it was they were doing, he grabbed what little stuff he had and slipped away.
Sounds and smells carried on the light breeze. He smelled the fire, smelled the roasted rabbit, and he heard some distant voices. He followed his senses and what he walked into was a powerful mix of good and horrible.
Good because there were Rick and Michonne and Carl, bad because Joe and his group had guns trained on Daryl's family. He could see that fucking pervert Dan was going to rape Carl, and Joe had a gun pointed at Rick's head saying he was going to kill him while another bastard had a gun trained on Michonne.
He heard Joe say to Rick, "Oh, dearie me. You screwed up, asshole. You hear me? You screwed up. Today is a day of reckoning, sir. Restitution. A balancing of the whole damn universe. Shit, and I was thinking of turning in for the night on New Year's Eve. Now who's gonna count down the ball dropper with me, huh? Nine Mississippi - Eight Mississippi."
Daryl had to try and intervene, he couldn't just stand back and let this happen to his family. When he stepped out of the shadows he saw the stunned looks on the faces of Rick and Michonne as he spoke, "Joe! Hold up."
"You're stopping me on eight Daryl."
"Just hold up."
"This is the guy that killed Lou, so we got nothing to talk about. The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time. Say your piece, Daryl."
"These people, you're gonna let 'em go. These are good people." Daryl held his hands out, palms up to show he was no threat, that he was trying to negotiate calmly.
"Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll, of course, have to speak for him and all 'cause your friend here strangled him in a bathroom." It was clear Joe wasn't backing down from some bloodletting.
Daryl made one last effort, "You want blood, I get it. Take it from me, man. Come on."
It was then Joe ordered his men to beat Daryl to death and two of them went to work on him. He fought back but he could only do so much against two.
He heard the gun go off, fearing it was someone he cared about he strained to see. They were all still alive but Joe had hold of Rick and now they were face to face. He couldn't make out the words, not between punching and being punched. But he saw it happen, Rick bit a huge chunk out of Joe's neck right through the jugular and connecting with the carotid artery. Just that fast Joe was bleeding out.
All hell broke loose for a minute as Daryl and Michonne used the confusing moment to advantage, killing all the remaining Claimers, except the one on Carl. Dan stood frightened and surrendered pleading for his life. Rick was having none of it, that asshole had tried to rape Carl. Instead he grabbed Joe's pocket knife and forced it through Dan's abdomen, disemboweling him and continuing until he reached the man's neck. He proceeded to stab Dan repeatedly, mercilessly and brutally killing him.
All Michonne, Daryl and Carl could do was watch in shocked silence as Rick took out his vengeance on the claimer.
Michonne and Carl were in the old suburban where she was trying to calm him and hoping he'd sleep. Rick was sitting on the ground, leaning up against the old rig just staring ahead and not saying a thing. Daryl went in search of water. Rick's face was covered in Joe's and Dan's blood. Daryl poured some water on a shop rag and handed it to the man, "Here, you can't see yourself, he can."
Daryl felt guilt and the need to explain, "I didn't know what they were."
"How'd you wind up with them?"
"I was with Beth. We got out together. I was with her for a while. After, well I found these guys, I knew they were bad but they had a code. I didn't know what they could do."
"It's not on you, Daryl. Hey. It's not on you. You being back with us here, now, that's everything. You're my brother."
Rick looked at him, and seeing sadness on Daryl face he asked, "Is she dead?"
Daryl looked Rick in the eye, "She's just gone. I miss her man, I gotta find her. Shit brother, she's everythin' ta me."
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A/N It seems both bitter and sweet. Beth was saved from Gorman but at what cost? Daryl has found Rick, Michonne and Carl but not Beth. Please leave a comment / review. Follows and favors are always appreciated. Scifigirl22 and I will see you Tuesday morning for more of Interrupted Love. Until then remember, we love ya large! xo gneebee and scifigirl22
