Katherine struggled on the ground with one of them on her. She could barely move, as if her arms were tied to her sides. She tried to yell, but nothing would come out. "Get off," she mouthed. It's exposed mandible inched towards her in slow motion, making her nerves explode. She knew her fate.
"Get off!" she finally got out in full scream. Her eyes shot open and she pushed away whoever was touching her.
"Hey, hey, hey, relax! It's me!" Jen stood with her hands up. She had a wet cloth in her hand.
"Jen. Jen, I-I was bit," Katherine began feeling her neck and shoulder frantically. She pulled her shirt over her head and moved her bra strap. She had an IV attached to her arm, making her shirt get stuck. She started to unravel the thick bandages from herself, making a mess around her.
"You weren't bit, you just had a bad dream," she explained, but Katherine wouldn't listen. She got to her shoulder, where she looked at it with disgust. There were gooey stitches surrounded by red, inflamed and bruising skin.
"Where is it?" she felt up and down her neck. "I felt it! Before I was brought here..." she stopped to look at Jen, "who brought me here?"
"Negan, bu-"
"He knows. He killed it. It was right on top of me." She tried to wrap herself up again, growing frustrated by how it hurt.
"He didn't mention anything to me, and if one of them got in, we would surely know. We have people on watch at the entrance, though it's more for the living than the undead. They don't bother with our parts. Guessing the ones we've got chained and hung as decoration keep them away," Jen explained, placing the cloth down on a table.
"Are you implying that I dreamt the whole thing?" Katherine's eyes squinted and her upper lip raised. "Th-that I'm just making this all up?"
"You were experiencing hypovolemia from the loss of blood," she pointed to her gun wound. "It's possible that you were delusional. You were in bad shape when he brought you here."
"Then why are you cleaning my face?" she looked at the cloth.
Jen looked concerned for her, "I was trying to cool you off. You were burning up."
Katherine looked defeated and confused. She sighed, putting her hand to her sweaty forehead.
"Let me help you," Jen offered. She walked over, picking up the unravelled bandage and wrapped it around Katherine's wound again. She sat there with a blank expression, allowing Jen to help.
"Everything's going to be fine. I've got fluids going to you, to aid in the replacement of blood lost," she helped put her shirt back over her head. "I'm surprised you were even able to get out of bed to run away in your condition."
"There's no way I'm running away this time," Katherine said. "But I can't stay here. Not with Negan and his shitty rules."
Jen sighed, "If you need somewhere to stay to get on your feet here, you're welcome to my place."
Katherine's mouth opened in surprise. "I couldn't impose."
"Nonsense! Just stop landing yourself back in here and we'll be fine. Listen to the doctor's orders," Jen smiled.
Katherine's lip curled up, "yes, ma'am." She laid back, getting comfortable. Or at least she tried.
"Am I going to keep, you know, seeing things?" she asked, scared of having to relive that. It felt too real to be fake, yet it was. It was all a hallucination.
"If you do, let me know."
Katherine nodded, looking down at the blanket over her legs. "Hey, Jen?"
"Yeah?" she was doing something at one of the tables.
"How is that Dwight guy? Is he alright?"
Jen stopped and looked at her, thinking of what to say. "He will be. Eventually."
"How come he isn't here?" she questioned.
"He didn't want to leave his room. With Negan walking around, he didn't want to run into him in his condition." She turned back to the table, filing through papers. "Listen, I'm going to get something to eat, you must be starving. Being the doctor has it's perks around here, so I'll bring you back something good."
"You really don't have to do all this. You don't even know me and you're being so nice," Katherine bit the skin of her lip.
"Listen, you just have that energy about you," she shrugged and shook her head. "You're likeable. Negan must've seen that, too, or," she shook her head again, "you wouldn't be here."
"I don't know about all that," Katherine remembered the mean words he spoke to her.
"He sees something in you, trust me. The guy's never been this agitated the entire time I've known him. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is. Now, are you a picky eater?"
Katherine thought about what she said. If only she could see from Jen's perspective, maybe she wouldn't question it. "Hello?"
"Oh, uh, no. I like pretty much anything that's put in front of me," she laughed, feeling her stomach grumble.
Jen smiled, "now stay put, got it?" she grabbed a jacket and left the room.
It felt so real, Katherine thought. She put her hand on her neck again, feeling to make sure there really wasn't a bite. She was questioning her sanity at this point. If being attacked was merely a delusion, then how could she be so sure that this was real?
"Did you and Court have sex without us last night?" Debra asked, standing with a hand on her hip, tapping a heel against the hard floor.
"Yup," Negan answered, looking at a map.
"Since when do you do one-on-one?"
"Give it a fucking rest, Deb. It happened. You don't have to be jealous about it." He set the map down, getting up and taking Lucille from her spot. "I'll be back later."
He walked outside and was surprised to see Katherine awake. He intentionally walked in her direction, hoping to get her attention. She walked right by him without saying a word which made him annoyed.
"Hey," he called to her.
She stopped and turned to him, "oh, hi, Negan."
He fully expected an attitude or a bitchy remark, but she was acting like nothing happened.
"You're.." he swirled Lucille towards her, "looking better than yesterday."
She tilted her head, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah," she shook her head. "I'm getting there. Probably shouldn't be up but Jen said a shower was ok."
"You think it's a good idea to go alone?" a devilish smirk appeared on his face. She let out a nasal laugh, shaking her head at him. "Please don't start."
"I'm just fucking with you. Lighten the fuck up," he almost forgot how uptight she could be about this stuff.
Katherine noticed someone walking funny, almost disoriented or drunk far behind Negan. She began biting her bottom lip as she glanced from Negan to them.
"I'm getting tired of having to imagine what's under there," he looked in the area of the zipper on her jeans and smiled. She was barely paying attention, which made him wonder. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Her heart raced as the person behind him got closer. They looked very much dead and hungry. Their legs looked crippled with bone sticking out. She swallowed hard and rubbed her eyes hard. "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real," she whispered to herself. She looked again, but it was still there, coming closer.
"What the fuck are you-"he looked behind him, "oh shit!"
"You see it too?" she asked him, almost relieved.
"You fuckin' kidding me?" he let it stumble at him, straightening Lucille and with one clean swoop he knocked it back. Blood and meat coated Lucilles fresh wrapping of barbed wire, making Negan sigh in frustration.
"I just fucking cleaned her, you piece of shit!" he stomped on it's head. The sound of it's skull crushing mixed with her mental boiling made her woozy.
Negan wiped his boot on the grass and looked at her, "are you out of your motherfucking mind?"
She looked down at the flesh-eating corpse and nodded, "I-I might be."
"Why the fuck didn't you say something?" he scolded her, unaware of what was going on inside her head.
"I'm sorry, I-" she shook her head and walked past him.
He turned and grabbed her arm, "what's wrong with you?" she pulled her arm back and winced in pain.
"No, what's wrong with you?" she kept walking, feeling emotionally drained.
"I'm fucking sorry," he called to her. She ignored it and continued to the showers.
Negan let out a growl and followed her.
"I said I'm fucking sorry," he repeated. She gripped her fists tight. He really knew how to get under her skin.
"You're sorry? What the fuck do you want me to say, everything's all good? It's not. Nothing is good. I feel like I'm going mad. I was shot in the arm and should be dead. I wish I were."
"Don't say that," he said accidentally.
She looked at him like he had ten heads, "since when do you give a damn?" she walked away, this time he didn't follow. He grew angry with her, with himself.
He went back to the corpse and looked at it.
"Shit," he said. It was the man who shot her accidentally. Negan beat him badly, but he didn't think it'd kill him. He must've been in a coma, hemorrhaging slowly for it to take a couple of days. By the looks of it, the damn thing fell from the post.
Negan cleaned the mess up before anyone could see it, having the decency of not wanting the children to see it.
Special thanks to WolfMoony97! Much, much, much love to you! I hope you continue to enjoy this :') I was so flattered and shocked (in a good way) by what you said. Thank you!
To answer enchantmentanjel's question, yes I'm thinking of adding some of our beloved Walking Dead crew to the story eventually. I already have some ideas, just not sure when exactly they will come into play. And to Stinker126, I appreciate the suggestion! I will certainly try harder to do that.
