Chapter 25
Inner Demons
I remember having the strangest of dreams while I was recovering. Most of them were terrifying and the few that weren't were weird and made little to no sense. My body seemed to go through sensations of sweltering heat one moment before turning drastically to freezing cold. I remember seeing faces of people I didn't know flitting through my field of vision, sometimes speaking incoherently like I were listening to them from underwater.

Once or twice I saw Glenn. He was back to his monstrous vengeful darkness and when he turned to look at me, his eyes were once again the black he had had back in my room those few weeks ago. I shut my eyes at the sight of him, breathing hard and praying he would be gone the next time I opened them. The next time they opened to light, he had slipped away just as I prayed he would and the room was safe once again, but not for long.

I didn't know how I got up into a tower but all at once I was staring out a wide opened window. The sky was dark and thunder shook the foundation of the concrete walls. My mind told me I had climbed up there, though I didn't remember exactly how I got up there. I thought I could faintly remember climbing up a hill though, not a tower. I turned around the small room and felt it shake dangerously as the storm raged outside.

Instinctively I knew I had to get out of here. The tower was going to fall, I just knew it. I stepped towards the window, feeling the wind whip my hair around in every direction. It made sense that I should have been able to climb down just as I climbed up but when I looked down I realized there was no way to do that. The foundation was made of smooth concrete with no footholds. It was entirely impossible to climb down no matter how I approached it. Not only that but it seemed hopelessly tall; nearly a mile up. I couldn't even see the bottom.

What could I do? I was going to die! The tower was going to crumble away and I was going to die! Feeling the sensations of vertigo take hold of every one of my senses, I gripped the windowsill and lowered to the floor, staying as close to the ground as I could possibly be.

"I want to be on the ground! I don't want to fall!" I thought over and over again.

There had been no noise, but out of nowhere I suddenly felt the presence of someone else at my back. In the far corner of the little room I looked to see the silhouette of a man right across from me. I pressed against the opposite end, hoping to be as far from him as I could be without plummeting to my death. I wasn't sure who this man was, but two things I was sure about him was one: he was an enemy and two: he was someone I knew.

I squinted trying to see if maybe I could recognize the shape of his outline, but all I could tell really was that he was most definitely a man.

He spoke something and it took me a moment to realize what he was saying.

"Try not to fall."

With those words, the tower shook again and I felt my heart pounding in my ribs, doing everything in my power not to topple out of the window. When he had spoken I thought I recognized the voice, but when it finally clicked I cringed in horror. At first, I assumed this was Negan coming to mock me as I held on for dear life or it was a complete stranger, here to murder me in cold blood. And if not that there was only one other person I felt it could possibly be.

He told me once more to be careful and from the sound of his voice I recognized him at last.

It had to be Shane then.

Here he was to examine me or make me feel more under the microscope as he tried to convince me Rick was the enemy who had killed my real father in cold blood. It would make sense for him to show up like this. Never had I ever seen his face. I only ever saw his shadow.

"Go away!" I cried. "I don't want you here! I don't care what you say, alright! So, keep your trap shut and leave me alone already!"

"You need help."

"Not from you."

"You'll die."

"I don't care."

"I do."

"So what! Just stop it, already! You're not my dad, okay! So just leave me alone!"

With those words, Shane's outline seemed to sink back into the stone and the tangible mass was reduced to just a shadow once again.

But just as he vanished, the tower simultaneously gave a hideous groan and shook as if it were alive, trying to rid itself of a bug that had landed on it. My hands scraped over the stone but the sweat from them made it too slippery and tossed me out into the open air. I plummeted down inky darkness till the terror of it jolted me awake at last.

Every sense felt like it was in its own fog. It felt like my head was inside a drum and someone kept beating it over and over again, making my ears ring and intensifying the headache throbbing through my brain. Even through the haze I was still somewhat aware of another presence.

There was a hand stroking back my hair while something wet like a cloth pressed against my sweating neck and forehead. I was still on my stomach and my back was enflamed worse than ever before. My mouth was dry as dust and I was panting, feeling vulnerable and terrified.

"Who's there?" I asked in a shaky voice, unable to move an inch from my position. My throat felt raw and I longed for something to sooth the burn.

"It's just me, honey." A familiar voice answered back.

I breathed easy at the sound of my father's voice, eased by the thought that there was nothing in this world that could hurt me with him watching.

"Is there some water?" I asked with a raspy voice. A cup was instantly produced and I sipped carefully, my thirst sated but barely. In the back of my mind I was somewhat aware that I was a bit delirious when I spoke again, but the nightmare I'd just experienced lingered thick over me, causing my heart to race as I tried to find my dad's hand. He took mine and held it, rubbing it gently to sooth whatever terror I'd been lingering in. "I'm… I'm not in that tower, am I?"

"No. There's no tower, you're in the infirmary right now. You're safe."

My eyelids pulled apart and I worked onto my elbows, looking around wildly with growing anxiety as I searched around the room, finding monsters in the shadows that the flickering candles made.

Dad's hands gently tried to coax me back in the bed. "Judith, don't try to get up. Lay back down, you're still not well."

Sweat slid from my brow while I curled back up, gripping the blankets for added protection, even if I was boiling under them.

"I was in the tower," I breathed, more sweat growing on the back of my neck and forehead. "There was lightning everywhere and it was going to fall over."

"It's alright. You're not in a tower, you're home in town."

I continued to babble as his hand held mine. "It's the worst card. It's worse than the devil card or even death… it foretells disaster."

"Judith, it was just a dream."

I barely heard him though as my mind snapped to another lingering fear. "Where's Shane? He isn't here, is he?"

"Sh-Shane?"

"I don't want him here!" I announced through the haze of my fever. "Make sure he doesn't come back! I hate him, Dad."

"A-alright. I promise, Shane's not here right now. It's just you and me at the moment. You just try to get some rest now, alright."

My body relaxed, but I didn't slip back to sleep just yet. "He's such a liar. I want him to leave me alone already, but he's just won't go! I tried to banish him the way I did the Governor. He kept haunting Michonne, giving her all those nightmares. Do you remember that?"

"Uh… a little, I guess."

"I made him leave. He was no good to anyone and he was a liar. Vanessa showed me how to banish him and it made him go away for good. His spirit was weak so it was easy. Shane is harder, though. I can't get rid of him. He won't leave."

"D-don't talk anymore, Judith. You really need to rest so you can heal. We'll talk more once you're better."

"I don't want to sleep. He's there, every time I shut my eyes. I don't know what to do."

"Judith," the way he said my name made me focus on his expression for the first time. In it I saw a determined readied expression, like he was staring down a fight that he knew he was going to win. It wasn't with me, but someone out to do me harm. He held my gaze as he continued determinedly. "There is nothing that Shane can do to get you. He's dead. In every meaning of the word. He can't hurt anyone. I promise."

As an added reassurance, he stroked back my sweating bangs and squeezed my hand comfortingly.

With those final words, there was a peace that swept through me. I knew better than to ever doubt my father. If he made a promise about something, he did not make it lightly. I knew he would move heaven and hell to make sure he always kept his promises and especially the ones he made to his kids.

So, with him watching carefully over me, my body relaxed once again and lied inside the covers to sleep.

Author's Notes: A short chapter today. Not sure if I'm going to post the next one just yet. There are still some kinks that I'm working out with it, but if you can definitely leave a comment and I might just be encouraged enough to post how the news of Judith's immunity is received by her dad once she's lucid again.