Chapter Twelve – Confrontation
Amelia and Dwight were walking through the corridors of the Sanctuary, all of the people that passed them acted no different towards them than they had done previously. Most people didn't care that Negan had ditched his wives and was now a one woman man, some of the Saviours had commented that it was just a passing phase and he would be bored soon enough, others thought that it could soften their leader…not that they would ever say that to his face, Dwight was one of those of that opinion.
They made it outside and were walking slowly around the perimeter, general conversation flowed between them. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright and there were few clouds in the sky, Amelia couldn't believe how blue the sky was looking, from the murky windows in the room she shared with Negan the sky had always looked tainted to her.
Taking a deep breath she took in the fresh air.
"Honestly, this feels like bliss."
Dwight laughed.
"You know what they say about small things."
Amelia rolled her eyes and playfully pushed Dwight, the two of them carried on their conversation as they continued on their way. Ahead, there was a small group of people, looking up her heart skipped as she saw that in that group was Negan. He was giving instructions to some of the Saviours, she suspected it had something to do with what happened yesterday but she thought nothing more of it. Looking his way, she smiled as he seemed to notice her. His expression didn't look happy; he looked as though he was through her.
"What's he looking at?"
Dwight turned his head and grabbed Amelia's arm, putting himself in front of her. Behind them stood Frankie, gun in hand, neither of them had noticed her presence.
"Not a good idea Frankie."
She scoffed, her eyes fixed on Amelia.
"It's not fair Dwight; I didn't ask to be abandoned…what makes her so special? She's hideous."
Amelia narrowed her eyes, she went to speak but Dwight stopped her, moving himself further in front of her.
"Move on Frankie, this isn't going to end well for you if you carry on, you've been warned."
Frankie lifted the gun, aiming towards Dwight and Amelia, her eyes filling with tears, her hand shaking. The panic rose is Amelia, she honestly hadn't realised how unstable Frankie had become, this is what Negan had obviously now been shielding her from. For the first time in a long time she was scared, and it wasn't just for her own life. She could hear the sound of Negan calling his men.
"If I get rid of her, it'll go back to how it was, he'll forget about her…"
With that Frankie pulled the trigger, time felt like it slowed for Amelia as events unfolded, she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her shoulder but all she could focus on was what she saw in front of her, Dwight crumpling to the ground. Instinctively Amelia caught his fall and lowered him the rest of the distance until he was lying on the ground, her eyes were still wide with shock and the echo of the gun shot was still ringing out around the compound. Once again Amelia heard the sound of Negan's voice, this time it was calling out her name, there was a sense of urgency in his voice. Looking up towards Frankie, who still had the gun aimed at Amelia, she was smiling manically. Bracing herself for what she thought was the end, she watched as a bullet entered the side of Frankie's head killing her, as her body fell to the floor the gun fell out of her hand.
There was a rush of commotion, Amelia could hear the sound of approaching footsteps and she could tell they were running. Cradling Dwight she attempted to stop the bleeding in his chest. The bullet Frankie had fired had gone through Dwight and grazed Amelia's shoulder. Ignoring her own wound, she continued to apply pressure, Dwight was barely conscious and losing a lot of blood.
"Come on Dwight, stay with me, please wake up…dammit!"
Before she could do or say anything more one of the men that had come running ushered her out of the way, struggling to stand through a mixture of adrenaline, shock and pain she turned to see Negan racing towards her – her eyes filled with tears.
"What the fucking hell!"
Negan pulled Amelia into a tight embrace, kissing the top of her head he cupped her face in his hands and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes.
"Are you hurt?"
Sobbing, she motioned to her arm.
"It's nothing, just a graze…Dwight."
Amelia turned her head towards Dwight who was still lying on the floor, people around him applying pressure to his wound. Negan gritted his teeth.
"What the fuck are you waiting for? Get him to Carlson for fuck's sake."
She watched as a number of men picked up Dwight and carried him towards the building. Negan turned his attention back to Amelia.
"We need to get you checked over sweet, we need to make sure everything's okay with you both."
Amelia nodded as she wiped away the tears that stained her face. She looked towards Frankie's body, she heard Negan tut.
"Can somebody clean this mess up? Burn the body."
Amelia's eyes widened.
"Burn her body? Aren't you going to bury her?"
Negan shook his head, his face was hardened it had been a very long time since she had seen him with this look.
"She doesn't fucking deserve it, I would feed her to the walkers but I know you wouldn't approve of that so burning her is the next best thing."
Amelia was shocked by his cold attitude towards Frankie, sure she had try to kill her but did she deserve to be treated so cruelly.
"Negan…"
Before she could finish her sentence he had shaken his head.
"No Amelia and that's the end of it."
She said nothing more as they walked past Frankie and headed towards the building; two of the Saviours had stayed behind and were collecting her body, taking it away from view. Some of the residents of the Sanctuary had heard the commotion and watched what unfolded, there were some people crying and others were silently shaking their heads, as they had walked past a few of them Amelia heard one of the women comment that Frankie been warned about her behaviour and they were largely more concerned about Dwight.
