Author's Note: This chapter was slightly difficult to write as I feel a lot happens in it, and I struggled with it. But I think it turned out okay. I'm not 100% happy with it and may rewrite it at some point but thought that you guys deserved a quick update. Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoyed the small twist!
Also, can you hear the whistling? Negan's coming soon.
TEN
_
Negan stood in the doorway watching as Emily stared at her reflection in the mirror. A floral black chiffon dressed adorned her body, sculpting her curves delicately. Her long blonde hair was in loose waves and shaped her face that had a light application of makeup applied to it. She noticed him looking at her from afar, and smiled at him. He didn't return the smile and kept his gaze on her. She narrowed her gaze at him.
"Are you okay?"
"Not really," Negan replied. Emily moved towards him where she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Tell me," Emily whispered.
"We've just gotten back," Negan said. "Why can't you stay here and go out another night?"
"It's Olivia's birthday," Emily explained. "You knew that. We're going out for some drinks, that's all. I'll be out for a couple of hours and I'll be back before you know it."
She looked up at Negan who refused to look at her.
"I thought we could've spent the evening together," Negan said.
"We can," Emily said. "Just not tonight."
Negan smirked and let out a chuckle. Emily smiled up at him with a goofy grin, and as Negan wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed passionately, lost in each other for a blissful moment. Emily stroked his face and feeling the rush of love overwhelm her. She moved her face away from him, and he opened his eyes at her.
"I need to go," Emily whispered against his lips.
Negan nodded, and placed a gentle kiss against her lips. He placed her back on her feet.
"How do I look?"
"Beautiful," Negan commented. A mobile phone started ringing and Emily answered the call, listening to the other person talk on the other end. She bid her goodbyes and hung up.
"They're outside," Emily said moving towards Negan. "I love you."
"I love you too darling," Negan said. "Have a good night."
Shane led the way down the corridor. The interaction with Dawn had unsettled Emily to her core, and she found it difficult to keep her mind on track and focus on the task in hand. As she traipsed behind Shane and Andrea, she felt an unsettling feeling swirling around in her stomach. Andrea raised her hand up and they all came to a halt, their attention focusing on their surroundings.
The corridor was empty of all life, but in the distance, screaming and shouting could be heard faintly. Shane listened and his worry began to grow at the thought of his friend being in pain. He wondered what other secrets were being kept hidden, and just how long it would take for them to unearth them all. A shiver ran down their spines as they stood in the cold, desolate and eerie corridor.
No words were exchanged as they watched the door to a room fling open and a man came out. Blood stained his knuckles and he turned to look back into the room as a smug smirk etched across the man's face. Shane felt his blood boil. Before the two women could realise what was happening, he had crept up on the man and had him in a choke hold. Andrea and Emily ambled towards him, and as the man was being held in a submission hold, Shane grabbed the keys on the man's belt and threw them towards Emily. She caught them swiftly.
"Start opening the doors," Shane instructed. The man slumped in his arms, and without another thought, Shane pushed him away and he crashed to the floor.
Emily followed Shane's order and began to unlock the rooms. As she did so, she could hear Shane give Andrea the order of returning to the room they had been in to get the rest of the group.
"If you see any officers," Shane told the blonde. "Shoot them dead."
The bar was the epitome of a dive bar. The interior was an unglamorous image with old fashioned furnishings adorning the large space. A jukebox was playing in the background as the three women entered the bar. Their entrance seemed to gather the attention of the locals who sat at the bar nursing a beer. Emily glanced towards her friends with a questionable expression on her face, and they offered her the same look.
"Are you sure you want to spend your birthday here?" Emily asked. Olivia looked around and after a moment, she nodded.
"Drinks will be super cheap," she commented. "And I like the redneck look."
Emily and Layla giggled as they moved to a booth. As they got comfortable, they took a moment to look around. Patrons were sat at the bar, lost in their own thoughts. There were a couple of women dancing to the music, and a few people were playing pool. As drinks were ordered and consumed, the three women began to relax and conversation between them and the locals seemed to flow incredibly well. A man stumbled over to them, a playful smirk on his face and a drink in hand.
"Well, well, well… what are ya lovely ladies doing in a dump like this?"
"It's my birthday," Olivia said.
"Well, happy birthday sugar tits," the man said to the surprise of the three women.
"Are you always so shy?" Emily asked, to which the man smirked and pointed to her.
"Only when there's hot women in front of me," he commented. Emily raised an eyebrow at him and laughed it off. As the man made his way back over to the bar, Emily glanced at her friends.
"Who would've thought the locals would be so nice?!" Emily asked sarcastically.
As the night deepened, more drinks were consumed and before they could comprehend what was happening, they were well and truly wasted. The drinks had not been harsh on their pockets, and they were all surprised at how drunk they were. The man returned and introduced himself to them all, and had taken a liking to the birthday girl. Emily watched the two of them flirt and she rolled her eyes at them.
"I'm just going to the bathroom," Emily shouted over the music to Layla. Layla nodded and Emily slipped out of the booth.
As she made her way towards the bathroom, she wasn't looking where she was going and accidently bumped into someone.
"Oh, goodness. I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed to which the man shrugged. His eyes were narrowed, and he was slightly taller than her.
"S'alright," he muttered. "Just be careful, yeah?"
She nodded and made her way to the ladies bathroom. As she opened the door, she heard the same man say in the distance: "Merle, ya do know ya on tag, right?"
As soon as the doors to the corridor were open, the commotion seemed to overwhelm Emily as she watched as hordes of people, all wearing the same uniform that Hershel wore, milled around each other and scrambled down the corridors. The energy was frantic, and the people were all desperate to escape. Emily couldn't blame them. It was evident that they had been there awhile, and Emily couldn't imagine what they had gone through. It terrified her knowing that there were people being kept prisoner for no fault of their own.
People had become monsters in the two months since the outbreak occurred. The desperation to be safe and protected had been paramount in many people's thoughts, and Emily understood the extent of their decision to overpower others. Everyone was in the same boat, all trying to deal with the same things but were rowing in a completely different direction.
"Emily!" A voice sounded behind her and she turned her head just as she unlocked the last door of the corridor. Carol and Sophia rushed towards her. Sophia wrapped her arms around Emily's burgeoning stomach and the young woman held her tight. They all worked together as they opened the rest of the doors.
As the last door was opened, they moved back to the room Gorman had come out of, just as Rick and Glenn exited the room. Blood stained their faces and seeped out of the wounds that marked their face. The shock of their current state made Emily feel nauseous, and she watched as Rick wrapped his arms around Lori. The woman didn't seem to mind that her husband's blood had transferred onto her, for she was glad that he was safe.
She kept her gaze on the door as Shane came into view. He was slow and struggled slightly, and it took Emily a moment to realise that he was holding up an unconscious Daryl. The man's arms were around his shoulders and his body was sluggish and limp. T-Dog rushed to Shane's aid, and placed Daryl's other arm over his shoulder and they both dragged him out of the room.
Daryl's condition seemed to shock Emily to her very core, and she watched as the men passed her. She watched as they walked away from her, and that was when she saw it.
Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the open wounds that marked his back. Blood dripped down from the wounds to his back and landed upon the sterile floor. She felt saddened at his condition, and she wondered if they were ever going to be able to come back from this. He was weak and vulnerable like an injured wolf. But it was what she saw underneath the wounds that caused her to fall back slightly.
A large tattoo inked on the man's shoulder. Old scars embedded into his skin.
Emily followed the trail of blood. Despite the commotion happening all around her, she felt numb. Her fingers burned as she stared at the scars on the man's back and she took a deep breath. A small hand slipped into hers. She looked down and saw Sophia staring up at her, her young eyes alert and terrified.
Rick came into view, and he moved towards them.
"Are you all okay?" he asked, worriedly.
"Are you okay?" Carol asked. The man shrugged and wiped at his bloodstained face.
"I will be once we're out of this place," he commented. "Have you seen Hershel?"
Emily shook her head. "No. I've not seen him."
People continued to move around them frantically, and they all took a moment to watch the people around them. The busyness of the hospital seemed strange, for they were all used to it being quiet and curiously empty. There were hundreds of people being reunited with their families that they had been separated from, tears of joy cascading down their faces.
An African-American woman came over to them, and pulled Emily into a hug.
"Thank you for releasing us all," she said. "I cannot thank you all enough for what you did."
Emily nodded shyly, unable to conjure up anything to say. She smiled at the woman reassuringly.
"Do you have somewhere to go?" Rick asked the woman. The woman nodded her head with a small smile playing on her lips.
"I'm going back to my son," she said. "He was with his father when I got picked up by them."
"I hope you find him," Rick commented, extending his hand to shake her own.
"Thanks," she replied. "I'm Michonne. If I ever meet you again, I'll be sure to thank you again."
And with that, Michonne moved into the crowd of people and disappeared from view.
It wasn't long before they found Hershel. He was stood watching the chaos happening around him, unsure of what to do. Rick slipped away from them and over to him. The shock on Hershel's face had made Rick understand just how serious his injury was.
"We're going to take you home, Hershel," Rick said, and the man teared up. He pulled Rick into a hug.
They all made their way out of the hospital, leaving behind the bad memories of the place. The streets that were once empty apart from the occasional walker was now full of people all with the new hope of finding their own kind of salvation.
