Heading back in the direction of the mall, Lillian's load to carry was significantly lighter than she was used to, and it left her feeling rather defeated. She had arrived in the parking lot much earlier than she had anticipated. However, the sound of a gunshot firing in the distance sent her running at full speed towards the building.
As she rounded the corner, she wasn't prepared for the hoard of undead that were heading towards the noise, and she was right between them.
"Shit," she growled, backing up quickly. She had caught their attention, which meant she had unintentionally diverted them from whoever fired the gun.
She climbed up onto a pickup truck, hoping to give herself some distance from herself and the group. She thought she counted eleven of them, which was far too many for a single person to take at ground level. She sliced a sickle across two heads, then suddenly, another gun shot, followed by another. It was a lot louder this time, and Lillian's first reaction was just to crouch.
However, the man firing the pistol wasn't aiming at her. He was picking off the walkers, charging quickly towards them with a bat in hand now.
Was that...barbed wire wrapped around it?
No questions right now. She was just grateful for the help, and to be honest, to see another face for the first time in nearly two weeks.
"Go!" he yelled at her, gesturing with his arm towards the mall. "I can handle this."
Lillian heard words very similar to this before, but before she could reflect, she saw another group of five rounding a large canister and heading straight for them. She wasn't just going to leave him there.
"No way!" she persisted. She drove the sickle into another walker, then glanced behind her to make sure the stranger could hold his own while she took out the newcomers.
She could hear the baseball bat crushing decaying skulls, and she was confident that he knew what he was doing. Lillian took out another three, and he had joined her to help with the last two.
She huffed for a moment. It had been a while since she took out such a troublesome crowd, but it did get the adrenaline going.
"That felt good," the man said with a grin, but Lillian was still catching her breath.
"Thanks for the help," she answered.
"You could have booked it out while you had that chance, but you stuck around."
"Looked like you needed an extra hand."
"I'm a big boy."
Lillian smiled slightly. "Come on in. Maybe you can find some things you can use out there." As she led the stranger inside, she briefly wondered if he might have been the one that took what was left from the grocery stores. Either way, it wasn't a complete loss. She could try more locations tomorrow.
"Nice little place you got going here. Is it just you?"
Lillian opened her mouth, then paused. She wanted to just spill it all out, but she held back. She had no business whining about all her issues to some guy that she didn't even know.
"It is now."
He walked behind her, but she could tell that while he was propping his bat over his shoulders, he was looking at her curiously, as if he wanted more details. She wasn't sure that she really wanted to entertain him.
"I'm Lillian, by the way."
Good way to change the subject. Very smooth.
"Lillian," he repeated slowly, as if he was testing it. "Do you go by Lily?"
She stiffened a bit, and a lump grew in her throat. She turned around, though still continued to walk in the direction of the broken escalator that would take them up.
"Do it, and you'll have better luck surviving out there than in here."
He seemed more amused than anything else, which was more or less what she was aiming for, but it was her humorous way to tell him no. There was only one person that ever called her Lily, and he was gone now.
"Negan," he said as she turned back around, fluently stepping up the unmoving ramp.
"Where are you from, Negan?" she asked, resorting to smalltalk for the time being. Besides, considering he was the only living thing she had come across since Jason, she wanted to learn everything she could.
"Just a little up north," he answered.
"How did you get to Chesapeake, of all places?"
"Got separated from the herd. Some miscreants on the road that aren't exactly making it easy to get by."
Lillian imagined she had to be pretty fortunate to get by as long as she had here. Somehow, she felt she knew it wasn't going to last forever. As they reached the second floor, she turned around to see him drifting to what used to be a pretzel shop.
"I used to love that place," Lillian murmured, but then she noticed it was a lone walker that had caught his attention. He took it out with a single whack of the bat. "They closed up before...all this."
"You mean, before all the shit hit the fan, and you were lucky if you didn't wake up dead?" Negan said with a chuckle. He seemed like the sort who was constantly in high spirits. Or that it was all just an amusement to him.
"Yeah, that."
She was stiff for a moment, and once she quickly pulled herself together, she stopped in front of Unlimited Imports.
"This hidey-hole is outstanding," she heard him say behind her. "How long have you been keeping this up?"
"Since it all started, I guess." She pulled up the gate, and once they were both in, she closed it back up. It was a sure-fire way to keep the walkers out. After the supply run, she was pretty hungry--
"Shit! The bag... it's still out there."
She couldn't help but feel completely embarrassed, even more so under his amused grin.
"Hauled ass and left behind the goods. It happens." He seemed to notice she was still extremely bothered by her slip-up. "Tell you what, if it's that important, I'll go snag it for you."
Lillian shook her head. "You don't have to do that."
"Stay put," Negan insisted, already pulling the door back up. "I'll be back in two shakes."
Dumbfounded by how unfazed this strange man seemed about the whole situation, she stayed behind. She supposed the least she could do was prep a meal while she waited for him to come back.
And maybe he wouldn't come back. Lillian wouldn't have been too surprised if he grabbed what he needed from the place and split. If that was the case, she wouldn't stop him. She probably wouldn't even be able to if she tried.
Still, with faith that she might be able to trust him, she plopped two cans of cheap spaghetti into a pot and set it over a camping stove. She would only get one more use out of this small, propane tank, which meant she would have to grab another one from her stash in the back room.
The food was hot and ready in about ten minutes, which was about how long it took for them to get here from outside. Negan should have been back by now. Maybe he got held up. She doubted he couldn't handle himself; he seemed like a tough guy. She inhaled, taking some time to prep a second bed by thinning out her own sheets. She could make that sacrifice for one night. Besides, she couldn't imagine she'd be able to get much sleep anyway.
After another ten minutes, Lillian found herself getting nervous. He must have run off. She sighed to herself. No real surprise. He was kinda cute, too, for an older guy.
She pulled open the door, and as her arms lifted above her head, she shrieked in horror; it was short-lived, once she realized that Negan hadn't actually left. He held out his arms, the bag of food in one, gloved hand, and the bat in the other.
"Hey, it's just me."
Lillian huffed, looking slightly agitated. "Took you long enough. Your food's cold."
It didn't take her long to heat it back up for them, and soon, they were sitting on the ground, feasting on canned spaghetti.
"I got held up, but I'm here to tell you, it was damn worth it."
From the bag, he pulled out a half-emptied flask of Fireball whiskey. Lillian held a confused look for a moment. She only had alcohol once before, back when she had stumbled across a bottle of wine. She had a couple of sips until she realized she hated the taste of merlot.
Something told her it wasn't the best idea, but she felt the need to just...let loose and forget her problems, even if for a few hours. Besides, one swig wasn't going to kill her, was it?
Half way through her serving of pasta, he asked her what she did before the dead started walking. It almost seemed unreal, recalling that there was any sort of life that once existed that wasn't this. Like a dream, kind of.
"I was in my senior year at school," she said. "I was supposed to be in New York. My chorus class was going on a field trip, but I came down with this god-awful flu. Couldn't keep anything down. Jason wouldn't leave my side. He took care of me, even after it all started."
For the first time, Negan, who had taken his second swig from the whiskey, seemed somewhat serious. "I'm guessing Jason is gone."
Lillian was quiet for a minute, then inhaled. With a sigh, she didn't look at him. "He was my brother. More my guardian angel than anything else. He helped me survive, even before this shit."
She felt questioning eyes on her, and as they sat there on the floor of her safe haven, she felt this strange want to just pour out everything she felt. After all, he was practically permitting her to.
"What happened to the rest of your family?"
Lillian grimaced slightly. Her brother was hard enough to recall, let alone the demise of her parents.
"Well, my mom didn't have to suffer this world we live in now," she said, her stomach tightening. Her head felt somewhat fuzzy, but she took another shot from the whiskey flask as it was handed to her. Negan definitely had more than she did, but she imagined he could hold his booze better than she could. "She died giving birth to me."
"Damn... I'm sorry to hear that, Lillian." He sounded sincere.
Trying to shrug it off, she downed what was left of the fireball. Her body cringed and shook from the overwhelming flavor of cinnamon and whiskey, and it felt like something was practically burning a hole in her gut, but she really didn't care.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be a buzzkill."
"Naw," he said, shaking his head. For once, he didn't have anything witty to say. "I get it. It's hard to live with some things when you never get to vent about them."
She looked at him for a moment, wanting to pry just a bit, but there was no telling how he might respond if she tried. Screw it. She hadn't really talked to anyone aside from her brother, and now that he was gone, she had to try and open up to someone.
"What about you?" she asked. "Did you lose someone?"
"Who hasn't in this shit show?" he asked, and though that pretty much answered her question, she only wanted to know more. She didn't press it, and as she had partially hoped, he continued on his own.
"I had a wife before it all," he said. "Maybe she had it lucky, but then again, I can't really say fighting cancer is easier than fighting those dead pricks."
Wow.
It was silent for a few moments longer as Lillian absorbed this. She and Negan had both lost someone close to them.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Lillian said sincerely. She didn't really know what else to say, but it seemed the man was quick to shrug it off.
"It is what it is," he stretched, and she figured it was time to retire for the evening.
"Get some rest," she insisted. "I'll take first watch."
He gave her a slightly surprised look, then grinned. "Alright, ladies first."