Chapter 3:

[OC POV]

I stay put in the corner. My legs up to my chest. My arms around my knees, cradling myself. I hated Stan. But he was all I knew for years. Since I was maybe ten, maybe even younger, who knows anymore, and now, he was a pulp on the pavement, all because the sight of me angered This man some how.

Speaking of, the leather clad baseball player sighs, then turns around to me. A crazed look hazed his dark eyes as he walked over to me, eerily calm. He was covered in Stan's blood. I try to press myself closer to the wall, with fail. The man crouches down to meet eye level with me.

"Sorry you had to see that…that is, unless you enjoyed the show." He says with a grin. He had just killed a man and he's over here grinning at me? Surely I was his next victim. I stayed quiet and he sighed in response to my silence.

"Not a talker, huh? That's cool." He says as he shrugs off his leather jacket to reveal a white t shirt the front covered in blood.

"Listen. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not into hurting women, that shit, is so not cool." He says then and reaches for me, I recoil back and he puts his hands up in defense.

He's quiet, waiting patiently for my gaze to meet his again. When it finally does, he speaks again. "I'm Negan " He says casually, as though he didn't just bash the skull in of my worst enemy and only companion for years. I swallow down the breath I had been holding in for I'm not sure how long.

My eyes locked onto his, not blinking. The fear in my eyes so very clear to him.

"I'm Negan...and who might you be?" He asks me, repeating himself. I glance back over to the pile of mush on the floor before directing my attention back to Negan.

"E-emily." I tell him and he nods, taking a deep sigh. "I am so sorry you had to see that shit, Emily." He says again, as he points to the pile of mush that was once a living person, a piece of his flesh and skull still hanging off the end of his baseball bat, blood dripping from it. I remain quiet. I was taught to not speak unless spoken to. He then continues.

"I actually had not planned on doing that, but when I realized what that sick fuck must have been doing to you down here...well, I couldn't very well let him keep breathing, not in my world." I nod lightly, though I didn't really get what he was talking about exactly.

He then looks around the barn and sees some keys on a dusty desk in the corner. He grabbed them and approaches me. I flinch when he comes close, but find he unlocks the cuffs around my wrists. I look up at him graciously, then rub my wrists, first the left, then the right. My captor didn't let me out of them very often, except when I was good.

He looks at me, a softness in his dark eyes, as though he hadn't just killed a man before me, then he asks. "Why don't you come with us. We've got food, shelter, protection, and you won't have to deal with fucks like that." He points to the pool of blood and gore on the floor that was once my captor.

"Not as long as I'm around." I think for only a minute then nod up at him. It wasn't like I had very many options, the worst has already happened to me, and while it wasn't my choice to be locked down here, He was my only source of food and water, and he had told me the world had died out there, I hadn't seen it for myself, but I was sure I wouldn't know how to handle it out there all on my own. After I nod, he asks me if I can stand. I nod and attempt to do so, but fall back down. He catches me, and I recoil at his touch he puts his hands up yet again to show me he means no harm. I try to stand again, and find it difficult with the stabbing pain in my rib cage.

He kneels down again next to me. Worry in his eyes a bit. He leans over as he speaks "if you let me pick you the fuck up, I can carry you right up those stairs, fuckin' effortlessly, might I add." I hesitate then nod. He puts his hands on me to pick me up and I recoil back yet again and he sighs in frustration then looks down at me.

"How about, you come to me, and when you're comfortable, say the word and I'll take you the fuck outta this shit hole." He opens his arms. I take only a minute or two to hesitantly approach him and wrap my arms around his strong shoulders. I nod giving him the okay, and he lifts me up. I hold onto him weakly He carries me up the stairs I'm still terrified of him, though I'm also terrified of the outside world, if it's as terrifying as my captor says, not Only that, but I haven't left that barn in years, not since before the world ended.

He carries me up and the light of the outside world is too much for my eyes to bare. I close them quickly and lean into the strange man's chest for shelter against the light. I can't remember the last time I saw light that wasn't from the dusty yellow flickering clamp light in the barn. I keep my eyes closed and The man holding me barks out orders to whoever else is around I didn't catch the chance to see.

"ALRIGHT. LET'S GET A MOVE ON PEOPLE. LOAD UP THE TRUCKS WITH WHATEVER YOU CAN AND LET'S GO!" He hollers and I curl up in his arms, my ears not exactly fancying the sound of yelling. He notices this and I can feel him looking down at me once before he carries me to their cars. I can already feel the sun beating down on us, and burning on my pale skin. I remember as a child, when my mother would take me to the park, how warm and comforting the sun had once been. But now it's cruel and burning. Not only to my skin, but to my eyes as well.

He puts me gently in the car then closes the car door, then gets in on the other side. I squint my eyes open to look around the car. I haven't been in one in so long, since I was a kid. He tells me to buckle up, and I fumble with the seat buckle. He must have been annoyed with me because he ends up reaching over and does it himself. I clear my throat and close my eyes again, since the sun is still way too bright.

"Thank you." I say softly and he chuckles lightly.

"No problem, doll face." We drive for a bit and he looks over at my scrunched up face and closed eyes. "You can open your Goddamn eyes, you know." He tells me and I shake my head.

"No...too bright...it hurts…" I squint over at him and then close them again. He looks at me almost in disbelief.

"God Damn, how the fuck long did he keep you down there any fucking ways?" He asks, and I take note that this man says the word fuck a lot.

"Uhm…" I say softly, and think about it. "Years…" I say, unsure of just how long it's been. I feel him looking over at me again, then he looks back on the road.

"I'm sorry to hear that…" his voice is genuine. "I'll have good ol' Doctor Carlson take a look at you When we get home." He adds, looking at the side of my shirt where I was currently bleeding. the wound itself didn't hurt much anymore. My shirt in fact was stuck to the blood there. It was my ribs that really hurt. I nod lightly as the word home rings in my head. Home was gone. I hadn't had a home since before all this mess.

He leaves me alone with my thoughts for most of the car ride. I'm terrified of where he could be taking me, but it can't possibly be any worse than the situation I was in before. When we get there he helps me out of the car. Apparently I've forgotten how to unbuckle as well, and he picks me up and takes me to the infirmary the doctor was in he had spoken about. Could the world really be all that dead, if people found myself and my captor in the middle of nowhere, when no one could find us when the world was well and alive? Just how dead could the world be if there were still doctors in it? As well as an infirmary.

As we approach the building, I feel my stomach tangle in knots. Maybe he wasn't even taking me to a doctor. Maybe he lied. Maybe this was a trap, and I'm letting him carry me into whatever unknown horrors he wishes upon me. I think with panic, as the stranger carries me inside.

Author's note: A little more dialog this chapter! well, from Negan at least haha. Also, thank you so much, Horrorfan13 and guest for reading! I really appreciate it! haha. I hope y'all liked this chapter, please review! Thanks for reading!