Chapter 34: Blood

It was quiet. Too quiet. The morning breeze was cool and promised the first rain in quite some time. As the dark clouds rolled in, Carol shivered. The grass was still damp with dew when she and Daryl stepped foot onto Negan and Lucy's porch. The front door was wide open, a sure sign something wasn't right.

Daryl drew his crossbow, and Carol kept her fingers curled around her knife in her belt. Daryl stepped inside first, and when he nodded, Carol followed him inside.

"Negan?" Daryl called. "Lucy?" They turned toward the staircase, where streaks from bloody hands stained the white walls. "Shit."

"God," Carol murmured, turning toward the dining room. She gasped in surprise to see an arm sprawled in an unnatural angle just past the doorway. "Daryl." Daryl stepped in first, aiming his crossbow and he stepped around the pool of blood. Someone lay there, who, he couldn't tell right away. It was a man based on the clothing, but his face and head were so badly mangled, identifying him was difficult. And then they saw the weapon, lying in the pool of blood, glistening with blood and barbed wire. Negan's bat.

"Negan!" Daryl called again. There was blood all over the walls and the table. It couldn't have all been from one person. When Carol met Daryl's gaze, her heart sank.

Overhead, the ceiling creaked, and Daryl nodded toward the stairs. Together, they started climbing, following the bloody footprints on the steps and being mindful of the blood on the banister.

When they reached the top of the stairs, another pool of blood, with little, bare footprints and bigger boot prints lay drying just before the steps. Daryl carefully stepped around it and helped Carol around it so she wouldn't slip. And then they saw the light coming from the main bedroom at the end of the hall.

"Jesus," Daryl muttered. He nodded to Carol's knife. "Be ready for anything." They crept down the hall, peering into each room as they went. And when they finally reached the room at the end of the hall, Daryl stepped in first.

Carol's eyes scanned the room the moment she stepped in behind Daryl. Bloody footprints led the way to the bed, and on the floor, at the end of the bed, sat Negan, slumped over with his wife's lifeless body in his arms. Her arm was limp at her side, a deep, gaping wound just past her wrist. Her head fell back against the crook of Negan's arm, and a deep wound was visible at her neck. Her white sleeping gown was soaked with blood, and Negan's hands and shirt were stained with it, too.

"Oh God," Carol murmured. Negan looked up then, as if he hadn't heard them in the house at all. His eyes appeared out of focus, his brow furrowed in confusion. He'd been crying, and his chest was heaving as he tried to gain his composure.

Carol took a step toward them, but Daryl grabbed her hand and kept her back.

"I didn't see Henry. He, uh…he wasn't here when I…"

"He's safe," Carol promised. "He ran to our house. He's not bitten. He's…he's ok." Negan nodded absently at Carol's words, and he pulled Lucy's body against his chest. His hand cradled the back of her head. It, too, was tinged with fresh blood from the knife he'd put through her skull to keep her from turning.

"It was David," Negan murmured, staring off somewhere past Carol and Daryl. He's brows raised, and his eyes widened. "He was at the gate. He must have gotten bit. I ran him off, and I didn't think." He looked down at Lucy. "Merle relieved me on perimeter watch. I went home. The light was on, and I thought…" He shook his head again. "She must have heard a noise, went to see if someone needed help. She's good like that. Was. When I got home, she was already gone. Bled out. Looks like it was fast. I don't know. Blood was everywhere. Red. Everywhere. So thick you could smell it. And he was…" He clenched his jaw, shaking breath coming out faster as the memory hit him. "David was on the floor with her. And I knew she was gone. But I had to make him stop. I hit him. Over and over again until he was still."

"That wasn't David," Daryl pointed out. "You know that. Them things don't pick and choose."

"I know," Negan murmured, wiping at his nose with the back of his bloodied hand. "But I wanted it to be." Carol and Daryl stole a glance at one another, and Daryl took a step forward. "I wanted him to feel what Lucy must've felt. What I was feeling. It was his fault. His dumbass fault." Carol took a step closer, and Daryl was right at her side.

"We need to get you out of here," Carol said softly. "She wouldn't want you here like this."

"She's dead. What she wants…" He let out a little chuckle, squeezing his eyes shut tight as that laugh crumbled into a cry. "Just leave us be."

"You got a son. He needs ya," Daryl said quietly. Negan looked down at his wife's pale face, and he leaned forwards to kiss her forehead. He whispered something against her skin, and Daryl felt the lump in his throat rise and fall with a hard swallow. He'd had nightmares about this very thing, only it was him holding Carol. They'd both had some close calls over the years, and while they could both take care of themselves, it was always a fear in the back of his mind. Any time he left to go on a run, he worried what he'd be coming back to. Anytime she went out there, he couldn't focus until she was back home, safe with him.

"Everyone ok in here?" A voice coming from downstairs echoed through the house. Carol recognized it as Tara's. "Oh, shit!" Carol quickly turned and left the room, hurrying down the hall and carefully stepping down the stairs until she was standing in the foyer, peering into the dining room where Tara stood over David's body.

"Tara."

"What the hell happened? I saw the door open, and I thought something was wrong. Who's this?"

"David. That kid from Decatur."

"Jesus," Tara murmured. "What happened?" She looked away, biting back the urge to throw up at the sight of David's brains and pieces of his skull all over Negan's dining room floor.

"He must've been bit. Negan says he came home and found Lucy dead. And David was…" She shook her head and took a deep breath.

"What happened to David? I know there was that thing at the gate yesterday, but…"

"Yeah, I guess he got bit trying to take down a couple of them. I don't know. Whatever happened, he hid that he was bit, and now Lucy's dead."

"Poor Negan," Tara murmured. "What about Henry?"

"Henry's shaken up, but he's ok. He wasn't bit."

"Should I get Denise? I mean, for Negan?"

"I don't think he's hurt," Carol said quietly. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, anything."

"Can you go to Merle's and watch the kids for a few minutes? Send him over. We'll need him to help with the bodies."

"Yeah, of course." She reached out and touched Carol's arm. "I'm really sorry. I know you and Lucy were friends. I know she was a good person. It sucks that this happened." She turned then and headed off toward Merle's, while Carol went back up the steps.

When she arrived back in the bedroom, Negan had moved Lucy up to the bed, and he was sitting on the end of it with his back to her body and his head in his hands.

"How's he doing?" Carol whispered, curling her hand into Daryl's. Daryl shook his head, and Carol sighed softly. She turned her attention to Negan and spoke a little louder. "Merle's coming to help. We need to move her."

"Yeah," Negan murmured, looking up. "I know."

"We'll need to bury her today." He nodded again. "You understand that, right?"

"Yeah. I get it." He stood up and crossed the room, stepping into the side bathroom and washing the blood from his hands. Carol looked to Daryl and gave him a sad little smile.

"We haven't had a funeral for a long time."

"First one in over a year," he said quietly. "Sure didn't think she'd be the next one we'd be buryin'."

"Me neither," she said quietly. "Come on. Let's give him some space. Merle will be here soon." She gave his hand a squeeze, and together they left Negan to wait downstairs for Merle.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Please leave feedback. It's greatly appreciated.