Chapter Ten : Let's See How Far You Get

Note : All words in italics are flashbacks.

Negan was taking us to Alexandria.

Or at least he was taking Carl back to Alexandria, Kelly wasn't sure why she was being taken along, but if it meant she could see her brother again, even for a little while it would be worth it. She had only been gone a little over a week, but it had been a long, painful, and uncertain week. And with Negan's offer hanging over her head maybe seeing her brother again would bolster her resolve to tell him no.

Rick would tell her that Daryl would want her to say no. That he would be pissed if Kelly said yes to Negan just for his sake.

Carl and Kelly were in the back of the truck and Kelly wrapped her hand tight around Carl's, she brushed his hair back from his face a little, keeping his socket free from the hair that did not need to be irritating the injury. Kelly wanted to wrap it back up. There was a reason he kept it covered and it wasn't just because of how it made Carl feel when everyone saw it. The wrapping kept it clean and sanitary.

Kelly closed her eyes and rested her head against the back window, her arm was killing her, the bounces on the road jarring her and the pain was pretty intense. She just wanted to get back to Alexandria and trick her mind for a few moments that she would get to stay.

Team C was on gate duty. Kelly looked out the window at her home while James pulls the gate open for the Saviors. Negan jumps out of the truck with a huge grin on his face again, Kelly wondered if his face was stuck with that arrogant smirk. "Okay boys, you know the drill. Then make yourselves at home, we might be here a while." He then turns towards the truck and motions for us to get out of the cab. Negan wraps his arm around Kelly's shoulders when they get out and tells Carl to take us to his house.

Kelly looks around at her home as they walk through town, a few people are peaking out their windows and doors as we move past, when they go past the church Kelly can't help but freeze a bit, she hadn't been home to see to Shayla's grave, Daryl hadn't been there either. And even though it wasn't like they were not going on purpose it still hurt her heart a little. But there wasn't anything she could do now either, not wanting to draw Negan's attention to what she was looking at, not wanting to answer any of his questions if he figured it out she kept walking.

We make it to Rick's house and Negan knocks on the door with the bat and a startled looking Olivia answers the door, moving aside as Negan strolls into the kitchen like he owned the place. Kelly follows Carl in and folds herself into the corner of the kitchen as Negan pops his head into all the rooms on the ground floor, before returning to the kitchen and asking Olivia where Rick was, who said in a shaking voice that he was out on a run.

"Um he went out pretty far. They might not be back today. We're running really low on everything. We're practically starving here." That last bit caught Kelly's attention, she had only been gone a week, unless the Saviors were taking more than half or someone was breaking rations or the whole system she put in place was ignored Alexandria shouldn't be running that low yet. Olivia could also be trying to keep more food behind the walls.

"Starving?" Negan says with another one of his annoying grins, "You? By "practically," you mean "not really." He says cruelly Oliva stands there for a moment before turning from him and starts crying. Kelly resists the urge to go over to her and hug her, Olivia was a sweet lady, she didn't deserve that from anyone, let alone someone as cruel and Negan.

"Really?" he chuckles, walking over to Carl and shaking his head. "You people seriously don't have a sense of humor." He sighs, wipes his face, before approaching her again. "Excuse me. What's your name again?"

"Olivia."

"Right. Olivia." He pulls at her arm until she looks at him again, Kelly feels something settle hard in her middle, Negan was being creepy. "I am sorry for having been so rude to you just now. And it looks like I'm gonna be here for a while, awaiting your fearless leader's return. And if you'd like I think it would be enjoyable to screw your brains out. I mean, if, you know, you're agreeable to it."

Kelly almost jumps out of her skin when sweet Olivia smacked the large man across the face.

"I am about 50% more into you now. Just sayin'." He laughs again before finally stepping out of her space and raising his voice back to his normal, louder than needed level. "All right, well, I'm just gonna put my feet up and wait for my stuff to get here. Olivia would you be a lamb and make us a little lemonade? Now, I know I left you all some of that good, powdered stuff."

"Well, I'm supposed to be with-." She hesitates before Negan yells over her and Kelly looks over at Carl, Judith was here, that was why Olivia was here, Rick and Michonne both were gone and Olivia would be the babysitter.

"Make it. Take your time. Make it good."

Olivia glances back at Carl and Kelly before heading to the door in a rush. Negan looks back at Carl, a huge grin on his face. "All right, kid! Take me on the grand tour."

Kelly didn't know who was more annoyed about showing Negan the house, Carl or herself. Negan treated the place like it was a fun house. Taking his shoes and socks off to walk on the carpet, playing with the sinks in the kitchen and bathrooms, played with the dart board in the game room, looked through the bookshelves, he even rummaged through Rick's closet and moved all the pictures around. The room Daryl and she had stayed in was empty and Negan just poked his head into Carl's room before he stopped outside of where Judith was and Kelly felt her heart speed up a little as he didn't buy Carl's lie about it just having the water heater inside it.

He pushed the door open and Kelly clenched her hands into tight balls at her side at her niece came into view. Her blonde curls sticking up and an elephant that Glenn had found her clenched in her arms. She had clearly just woken up from her nap and was just standing in her crib. "Oh-ho, my." He hands Carl the bat before walking into the room. Kelly wanted Judith to start crying, screaming at the man so he would hand her over to someone, or one of them could pick her up, but Judith just stared at the strange man as he picked her up in his arms. "Look at this little angel."

Negan looked so strange holding the child, but it was more horrifying as Judith just let the man hold her like he wasn't a monster. Judith was used to new people coming and going in her life all the time so it wasn't that surprising she didn't care that his person was new, her life was full of new people. "So not only does Rick has a little serial killer he has this little darling too. This is just wonderful. Let's go sit somewhere and wait on Rick. He'll be so happy to see us."

Negan carried Judith downstairs, Carl and Kelly right on his heels, she was trying to control her shaking, Negan didn't seem like he was going to hurt Judith and in reality what good would that do him? Especially right now.

Olivia is in the kitchen when we get back. "There is no lemonade on the shelf, someone must have taken it. W-would you-."

"Olivia, I said lemonade, so I suggest you find who has it, and take it for me."

Olivia looked at a loss, it wasn't in her nature to be demanding of people and with Rick being gone and her demanding something from someone for Negan had the potential to not go over well. "Olivia, there should be some in my kitchen, unless someone's been in there Dar- I mean I still had some left."

"I don't think anyone has been there, I can-."

"Actually, I think a little walk around would do everyone some good. Make sure everyone here still knows who is allowing this little slice of paradise to keep standing." He hands Judith to Olivia and tells her and Carl to stay right where they are and that we'll be back. He looks at Kelly with a smile and motions her ahead of him. When they get outside of Rick's house a few of his men are standing outside and the neighbors had all vanished inside their own houses.

"Let's go see what else this place has to offer, let's see your house. Lead the way."

The house wasn't that far from Rick's, but the walk seemed to take forever in Kelly's mind as Negan kept a light grip on her arm the whole way, but when they came to the porch she really did not want to take this man into the home she and Daryl had lived in, where they had tried to build their own little space in the world. Instead, they walked up the porch and into the house, Kelly stepped to the side and Negan came in behind her. This place was pretty sparse compared to Rick's house and Negan cocked an eyebrow as he looked around.

"Not much here."

"The lemonade is in the pantry, to the left." Kelly says as she walks towards it, just wanting to get it and leave, but Negan had other plans.

"We'll get that on the way out, you and Daryl have another hot-water heater stashed away like Rick?" he says with a smug look on his face.

"No, just us."

"Not really the best time for kids huh?" he walks around the floor, opening up the closets and drawers. "There really isn't much here."

"Haven't been here long. In this house."

"The empty room?"

"Yeah, until a few weeks ago."

"Now I'm curious really. I have seen my fair share of women do stupid shit for their men. But not one of them has blatantly put themselves between me and them. But you, even after I bashed your friend's brain out, you shoved Daryl to the ground and I want to know why. Especially if you've only been an item for a few weeks. That's the shit prepubescent idiots do."

"I've been with Daryl since almost the start."

Negan looked confused at her words, but she figured she could understand why if he had the notion in his head that her and Daryl were at the start of a relationship where everything anyone did was pure impulse, plus the house being bare, the room in Rick's house that Negan probably thought only she had been staying in. But to be fair Negan was right newly in love people did stupid crap all the time. But for some reason the fact that Negan was taking what she had done and boiling it down to her just being stupid and in love was insulting. If Kelly hadn't been with Daryl as long as she had, more than likely she would not have noticed the tick in his muscles, the look in his eyes that gave away that he was about to be impulsive, but then, what had she really seen?

Most of that night was blurry for her, a haze of panic and fear, but she had seen Daryl, seen him toss the blanket off his shoulders and lunge for Negan. In truth if he hadn't been as hurt as he looked like he was Kelly probably wouldn't have been fast enough to stop him, she definitely would not have been able to get him off his feet like she had. Kelly had tried several times over the years to move Daryl from one place to the other when they had just been messing around and simply not being able to move him if he didn't want to be moved.

"Hey." A shout pulls her from her thoughts as Negan snaps his fingers in front of her blank face. "Jesus, you zone out like that it's no wonder you fell out of a damn tree house. Come on, while we're here might as well get some shit for you to take back. You've been in the hospital clothes since you got here and no points to your name yet so let's go."

We walk up the stairs and go into the bedroom and Kelly sees the mess that the room is now. The mattress is gone, the blankets and pillows are in a heap under the window. The nightstand drawers are pulled open and so are the dresser drawers, clothes and shoes are scattered around from where the place was obviously turned upside down. Walking over to the closet Kelly pulls out a backpack and sets it on the dresser. The mirror has a new crack in it that wasn't there the last time she was here, and what Kelly saw in the mirror was completely different than what she was used to seeing.

There were bruises along her left side, even peeking out from under the collar of the shirt was a yellowing mark, dark circles under her eyes and she almost sneered in disgust at what she was seeing looking back at from the cracked glass.

It was like stepping back in time.

"I really am the clumsiest person." I say in a voice that I was using more than I liked. "Honestly we're talking about moving just to get me away from the stairs."

"You're lucky all you did was bruise a rib and break your wrist from the sound of that fall Miss Grimes." The Doctor says as he wipes off the plaster from the bright blue cast that now engulfed my right arm. "Your fiancée should be done with the papers soon and you can leave."

"Thank you, I'm ready to get somewhere a little quieter."

The curtain pulls back and Philip walks in, hands full of some paperwork and a bottle from the vending machine. "Hey, you ready to go home?" he asks, his voice making my skin crawl, but I just smile and give a small nod.

"I would recommend taking her to your primary when you get back home, just to make sure that everything this alright. Injuries on vacation can stress the body in ways that make bouncing back a bit difficult. How much longer are you staying in Savannah?" The doctor says standing and shaking Philip's hand.

"We're going home on Saturday; I think two more days of room service will do her some good."

"The nurse went over protocol with you and her concussion?"

"Yes, I have it under control." Another man with a wheelchair came in, as I was getting moved to the chair Philip left to move the car closer to the door. When he disappeared down the hall the doctor stopped the man pushing the chair and crouched down in front of me. I tensed up and prepared myself for the same speech all the nurses and doctors in Atlanta had given me in the past.

"Kelly, are you sure you fell down the stairs?"

"Yes, I told you what happened. It was an accident, new shoes for vacation and I just do not mix."

"If someone is hurting you we can help. We can get you away from him. But you have to tell us. My hands are tied unless you tell me what happened."

"Please, I told you what happened. I promise. It was an accident. I just slipped and fell down. I would still be laying there if he hadn't heard the crash and came back in. Now please, I'm really tired and I just want to go."

"Here, take this card, if you change your mind you can call me, I know people who can help."

"I don't need it, give it to someone who does."

The man pushing the wheelchair didn't move until the doctor nodded for him to do so. I blinked a few times as I was pushed closer to the car and the man that had turned me into the worlds biggest liar. And soon I was in the passenger seat and we were driving towards the hotel. Philip held my hand tight in his as we went.

"I'm sorry Kelly, I didn't mean it. I swear, it will never happen again. Lets get to the room, I'll call room service and we can just stay in and relax until we leave, just the two of us." He pulls my hand towards his lips and kisses the back of my hand. "This stays between us Kelly. You know that right?"

He voiced it like a question, but it really wasn't. I knew how to respond to him and I did. Saying there was nothing to tell, it was an accident, he loved me, and that in a few days it would all be in the past.

But as I sat on the toilet in the hotel bathroom as Philip wrapped my cast in a trash bag I looked over into the mirror and saw my face, but it wasn't really my face. Dark marks on my upper arm from his grip, dark circles under my red-shot eyes. It wasn't Kelly Grimes in that reflection, it was someone who was too scared to do anything, too damaged to think they deserved anything different. It was a stranger, a bruised and beaten stranger who had no way out.

"Jesus, my people sure know how to leave an impression on the place, unless this is how you kept everything." Negan said loudly as he kicked at a pile of clothes that had been tossed from the closet. "Look at that." He says as he walks across the room from the closet to the pile of pillows on the floor, where he bends and picks up the pillow she had wrapped Daryl's shirt around after he had been taken. "A little lonely?" he asks wiggling his eyebrows.

Kelly looks at Negan, the condescending smirk on his face. Was it somewhat pathetic to wrap a pillow in Daryl's shirt? Probably. But she had done what she felt that she needed to. But Kelly also knew saying anything back would probably be a bad idea, so she turns to the dresser and hopes that her socks are still in the drawer. He lets out a sigh behind her and hears the pillow hit the floor with a soft thud. Negan steps up right behind her and leans against the dresser, closing the drawer she had been looking through with his body. "Listen, I'm starting to gather that this stink eye all you have is genetic, hell I think even the little angel was giving me one when I first picked her up. But I'm getting really tired of seeing it, especially on you. You belong to me. Regardless of your choice, you will be under my roof, and I refuse to walk through my own home and be glared at by someone who owes me quite a bit." He leans further into Kelly's space and grabs the sling strap, forcing a little whimper to pass as it jolts her arm. "I could have killed you that night, would have been easy and it was justified on so many levels. I told you all that first one was free, that didn't stop Daryl, and it obviously didn't stop you. Then, out of the kindness of my heart I stop you from chopping your own arm off after your dumbass fell out of a damn tree like a five-year-old. And now, now not only did I not kill that one-eyed kid when he killed even more of my men, I brought him home. I let you come too, see him safe and sound, get some of your own shit to bring back. And yet you stand here and look at me like that?"

"I'm sorry." she whispers as he jerks at the strap again.

"For what?" he says, and Kelly wishes he would go back to his loud voice, the quiet whispering one was terrifying.

"I'm- I mean- I just – I don't-." She stumbles over her words, Kelly knows what he wants her to say, and a part of her from long ago is just wanting her to say it, it would end all of this. It was a voice that had been buried under alcohol and therapy. But she also knew it was a bad road to go down, but all she wanted was Negan to back away, to let go of the sling so her arm would stop being jostled around as he spoke. Taking a deep breath and looking into his face, Kelly's eyes looking at his nose. Philip always liked it when she looked at him when I apologized and his nose was the closest to eye contact that she could do at the moment.

"Thank you for bringing Carl back. And for my arm. I didn't mean to make you upset. You're right, I owe you my life and I haven't thanked you like I should have. I'm sorry. I'll try harder."

He blinked at her words, obviously a little surprised by them, maybe not expecting that much from her. Or something that nice. His eyes narrowed a little as he looks down at her, Kelly kept her poker face in place, she had practice with keeping calm under a gaze like his. Whatever he was looking for he suddenly smiled and let go of the strap and reached his hand up and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I really hope you chose door number one sweetheart; you're going to be hard to let go if you don't."

He stepped away from Kelly and grabbed the bag from the dresser and held it open with a smile. It was easier to shove things into it with one hand while he held it open, Kelly resisted the urge to pack one of Daryl's shirts, as much as she wanted that comfort she didn't know what was actually going to happen once they were back at Sanctuary. So, she just shoves her stuff in there and as little of it as possible. The bag wasn't very big anyways so it was pretty easy to get away with just packing the essentials. Negan zips the bag when she was finished and motioned for her to go back down the stairs, we made a pit stop in the kitchen where he grabbed the lemonade and a jar of tomatoes from the pantry and we were back at Rick's house.

Olivia was pacing with Judith in her arms and Carl was sitting on the couch with a scowl on his face, Carl didn't often act like a glaring teenager, but every once in a while he'd sit and glare at anything that moved. Negan ordered Olivia out of the house to go find him some noodles and Carl and Kelly found themselves sitting in the bathroom on the tub as he shaved his face. Kelly tried to keep her face as clear as possible, not wanting a repeat of what happened at her house to happen in front of Carl.

It all seemed like a game to the large man, he left the sink covered in his beard hair and didn't clean the razor as he wiped his face clean. He wanted Rick to have to deal with his presence even if Rick wasn't there at this moment. It was all just to mess with him. Invade his home and use his stuff, furthering the message that Negan owned all of this. Then we were all in the

kitchen as Negan rummaged around the cabinets and soon started cooking what was looking like meat sauce.

"You know how to cook kid?" Negan asked as he set a bowl on the counter by the sink. Carl just looked at Negan and blinked. "By that look I'm going to take that as a no. It's still an important life skill. Stand up." Carl looked at me and then pushed himself to his feet, his scowl deepening when Negan hands him an apron. Negan soon gives him the recipe for some easy rolls.

Olivia comes back with the noodles and Negan again asks about Rick and where he went. "I don't know for sure, it was just out pretty far, he said he might not be back today when he left this morning."

"Who went with him?" Kelly asks seeing as Negan was growing annoyed at the lack of information.

"Aaron."

"Eric might know, or the maps."

"No, he doesn't. I asked. I've told you everything I know."

"Well, then you can make us some more lemonade. Then help Kelly set the table. She can't do much with that arm."

About fifteen minutes later the food is done, the table is set, and the only one who has eaten anything is Judith who is now sleeping on Olivia's shoulder. The rest of us are just sitting around the table. The space next to him is empty, waiting for Rick, Carl and Kelly are on his other side, and the silence is thick and awkward. Negan bangs on the table a few times as the minuets pass before he finally says, "I'm not waiting for your dad anymore." Reminding Kelly of a jaded housewife on TV. "I don't know where the hell he is, but Lucille is hungry. Carl, pass the rolls Please."

Lunch was an awkward event. Not feeling particularly hungry Kelly mainly pushed the noodles around, twirling a small amount on her fork and forcing a few bites down. Carl was a teenager and he ate like he was starving, which if Olivia was too be believed he might have been as even she ate all that was on her plate. Negan ate like he was a king on his throne, tossing random comments into the air like he was at a dinner party, digging for compliments on his cooking, which was pretty good.

When it was done and they were dismissed by Negan, Kelly stood up and went to the living room and sat down on the couch, pulling a pillow onto her lap and resting her arm on it. She had been given a pain pill when she left the infirmary but it had long sense worn off and all the jostling Negan had done earlier it was really starting to hurt. She laid her head back and closed her eyes, forcing her body to become completely still and relaxed.

"Aunt Kelly?"

"What buddy?" she asks, not opening her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little sore." She pats the space beside her and he gently sits down.

"Dad said it was hurt pretty bad."

"Yeah, it was. The doctor there fixed me up pretty well I think. It's just been a long day." Kelly turns her head a little to look at her nephew before reaching up and pushing his hair away from the space where his eye should be. "You'll need to clean this when you can. The skin is getting irritated. If there isn't any in the stash you can get some of the aloe from the worktable. I think it's in the green jar, but it's labeled. I don't think they've touched my plants much." She closes her eyes again. "Where is he?"

"Outside, talking to someone. Olivia is cleaning the table"

"How is everyone doing? Your dad? Merle?"

"Merle hasn't been around much. I saw him a few days ago and he looked okay, but he's been going out every day. He's not really talking to anyone, but he brings stuff back so dad isn't on his case too much about being gone so long. Dad is okay, I think. He's hard to read sometimes."

"He's not, I mean, back at the prison-."

"No, nothing like that. Or I don't think so. He hasn't been acting like that. He's still listening to most of what others have to say. He hasn't been going out alone either."

"Good, the last thing we need is him going off the rails again. Judith doesn't need to see that."

"Jesus knows where Sanctuary is." Carl says in a low voice, causing Kelly to open her eyes again and look at him. "He was in the same truck I was. He tried to get me to jump out and go back with him, but I just wanted him dead. Everything he did. Abraham, Sasha, Daryl. Then dad said he took you too. I was so angry."

"Carl, you can't do things like that. It was so stupid. He could have killed you; he could have killed Daryl or anyone else behind these walls. Especially with your dad gone who would have stepped up to stop him?" Letting out a sigh and forcing her body to sit up straight. "If something happened to you-." The sound of the kitchen door bouncing off the walls and heavy footsteps cut her short. A random savior moves into the doorway and motions for us to go outside.

"Come on, out to the porch. Negan said all of you."

Turns out Spencer was a bigger, brown-nosing, pain in the ass than Kelly thought he was. The saviors had drug the pool table that normally resided in the garage of the house Merle stayed in to the center of the street and he and Negan were setting up the game. Kelly sat down on the stairs with the pillow from the couch and shot as many eye daggers at Spencer as possible. Especially when he started really getting into what he wanted to talk to Negan about. "Rick Grimes has a history of not working well with others."

The tension on the porch spiked. Spencer had always been a two-faced nuisance but this was over the top even for him. Kelly remembered what he had been like after Abraham and Sasha's death, how he acted at the meeting, and even how he was before that. Always causing trouble, but this was looking for more trouble than we already had. Spencer telling his story about losing his family, As if it was all Rick's fault. As if he was the only one who had lost someone.

"So, everything was peachy here for - what - years? And then Rick shows up, and suddenly, you're an orphan? That is the saddest story I've ever heard." Negan was a lot of things, but he didn't like being bullshitted. "Good thing for you he's not in charge anymore."

"Doesn't matter. His ego's out of control. He'll find a way to screw things up, to try and do things his way, to take over."

"What exactly are you proposing be done about that?"

"I am my mother's son. I can be the leader she was. That's what this place needs. That's what you need."

"So I should put you in charge - that's what you're saying? You know, I'm thinking, Spencer.

I'm thinking how Rick threatened to kill me, how he clearly hates my guts. But he is out there right now, gathering shit for me to make sure I don't hurt any of the fine people that live here.

He is swallowing his hate and getting shit done. That takes guts."

Something shifted in Negan's stance, his smile changing in a way that made the pit in Kelly's gut open wider. "And then there's you The guy who waited for Rick to be gone so he could sneak over and talk to me to get me to do his dirty work, so he could take Rick's place. So I got to ask - if you wanna take over, why not just kill Rick yourself and just take over?"

"What? No, no. I didn't - I don't -."

"You know what I'm thinking? 'Cause I have a guess." The closeness of Negan to Spencer just screamed danger to Kelly, he looked like a predator that knew he was going to win. Negan's mouth moved, his words too quiet to hear, then like a flash Negan gutted Spencer like a fish, his blood spilling out along with his insides. Kelly gasped and pressed her hand to her mouth in surprise and shock, Spencer looked too stunned to even realize what was happening before falling to the ground with a thud, shaking hands holding his middle as he slowly died at the feet of the man who was decimating everything he touched.

"How embarrassing. There they are. They were inside you the whole time. You did have guts.

I've never been so wrong in my whole life! Now, someone oughta get up here and clean this mess up. Oh. Anyone want to finish the game? C'mon. I was winning!"

Suddenly a gunshot filled the air and the tension that had been hanging there where Spencer fell was suddenly replaced with fear, confusion, and as Negan stood up and started screaming "Shit! What the shit?! Shit! You just - You tried to kill me?!" anger. Anger crackled around like lightening.

Judith's cries could be heard from inside the house, the loud gun shot obviously waking her up from her nap. She was used to strangers but not loud noises. Kelly glanced at the door, wanting to go to her niece, but the scene in front of her and the guns pointed at all the Alexandrian's who had gathered around kept her frozen in place.

Rosita was on the ground, the woman Negan always seemed to have around him was on her, knife to her throat as Negan yelled and ranted, waving the bat in the air and lunging back and forth. "You shot Lucille!"

"She got in the way." Rosita says back, voice firm, not a tremble. Reminded Kelly of Abraham, how he never seemed to be afraid. How he hadn't been afraid even as Negan took the same bat he was ranting about to the side of his head.

Negan backs off, seeming to calm a little as he bent and picked up the bullet from the ground. "What is this? What is this? This little bad boy made from scratch? Look at those crimps. This was homemade. You may be stupid, darlin', but you showed some real ingenuity here. Arat, move that knife up out on that girl's face. Kelly, go calm little angel down and you come right back out here. Everyone needs to hear this damn message loud and clear."

Kelly quickly went into the house and up the steps, Judith was standing in her crib crying, face red and shining. Kelly was grateful she was older and it was easier to scoop her up with one arm and hold her. Kissing her hair and with some struggle getting a cloth from the table and wiping her face.

Another gunshot echoed through the windows and Judith yelled her displeasure again, but it wasn't too bad since she was being held. Kelly held Judith close to her chest and walked her around her room as she cried. Dread at what thay second gunshot meant, someone else had been killed, and since there hadn't been any other shots it was someone from Alexandria, another of her community was gone at the hands of the monster outside who claimed to be a savior to all the lost in the world.

Judith was quickly quieting down, she was never a very fussy baby and after a few snuggles and a quick song she was dozing off again. Kelly laid her back in her bad and kissed her cheek and again was grateful that it wasn't her right arm that had been trashed. She walked back down the steps and out of the window she could still see the group gathered, Negan was in Rick's face and all Kelly could do was stand in the middle of the room and watch her brother. Rick looked so defeated, beat down. Reminding Kelly of how he was when we ran from the farm, the first night in the clearing when he finally snapped from all the comments and arguments tossed in his direction.

Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead.

Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard.

Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get.

He had been beaten down then too, his shoulders had been hunched and he had been vibrating with nervous energy just like he was now. But instead of snapping Rick just folded into himself. He didn't look like himself, Kelly didn't really recognize him anymore. Just like she hadn't recognized herself in the mirror earlier.

Something seemed to settle over Kelly and she walked over to the bag that she had brought from my house that was sitting by the stairs and she picked up the bag and pulled half the stuff out and kicked it on the floor before going to Rick's fridge and pulling a water bottle from the door and some rolls that were left from lunch and shoved them into the bag, She also grabbed the longest kitchen knife that was on the counter. Going to the back of the house, she peaked out the windows and saw there were no saviors on this side. She pulls the door open and slips out the back, making her way towards the opposite end of town. Alexandria had the main gate that would be swarming with saviors, they would possibly even the gate a few blocks from it, but there was a gate across the pond that was far away from most of the town and Rick's house so the chances were good no one was going to be in that general direction, plus there had been a section of the fence that had been weakened when the last storm came through and as far as Kelly was aware it hadn't been fixed yet.

She made it to the fence line without an issue, a few saviors had crossed her path but they hadn't seen her as they moved to get to where all the commotion was, gun shots would draw all the saviors to Negan's side like they drew walkers. Fixing the weak part in the fence had been on the agenda before all this crap happened and they obviously had not gotten around to fixing it since the panels easily separated enough for her to slip out.

Then Kelly ran.

Her arm was curled as tight as possible against her chest which made running awkward, but the forest was just up the way, maybe not the best place to run too, but she needed to be out of sight. Once Negan figured out she was gone who knew what he would do. Forcing herself to keep running as the thought of him killing someone else from home because of her actions entered her mind, but she kept going.

This wasn't like Rosita and the stupid bullet; she obviously knew who made it. Killing her would do Negan no favors since he wanted and needed to know. The answer was obviously Eugene, he was the only person smart enough to do it. But Rosita knew and wasn't telling, she killing the people around her would get her to talk.

Nobody back home would know where Kelly went, they were all gathered outside of Rick's house watching Negan go on a rampage because of a stupid bat and Rosita not using her damn brain. It wouldn't make sense to kill anyone there, Kelly reasoned with herself. She wasn't there to witness it and none of them knew where she was. They would be okay.

Kelly suddenly remembered Jim from the beginning, how he had been after he had been bitten, in denial about the situation, going on like normal, pretending it was all going to be okay.

"I'm okay." was Jim's reply. It sounded like a mantra, like something that he believed if he said it enough would make it reality. But Jim wasn't dumb, He knew he really wasn't. Yet he kept saying it. "I'm okay, I'm okay." His voice low and frantic.

His never-ending stream of "I'm okay" started to sound like the final words of a criminal before their execution.

It was a mantra Kelly was now saying. She had ran away from a monster, a monster who did not like being told no or disobeyed in anyway. Kelly was also sure if he ever found her he would kill her.

But still she kept pace through the woods, forcing her brain to think about anything else but her possible fate.

There had to be a story behind that bat of Negan's, Daryl liked his crossbow, it was his baby that he took extra care of, but he never named the thing or had other people call it a name, Rick loved his python and it was the same deal, it didn't have a stupid name. But there was Negan and his stupid bat that he seemed to care about more than anything else from what she had seen so far.

Finally feeling like she was deep enough into the trees Kelly slowed down to lean against a tree as she sucked in several deep breaths. Holding even tighter to her arm I crouched down and let the backpack slip from her shoulder. She organized everything in the bag better, wrapping the rolls up so they wouldn't crumble apart and get all over everything, grabbing a sock and finally pulling her hair up into a horrible loose bun, and putting the water on the side pocket of the bag, zipping it closed before taking the sling off. Kelly looked at her arm and blinked back her tears.

It was swelling and the surgery site was hot to the touch under the gauze and tape that held it in place, it had been throbbing almost the entire day. Kelly took the t-shirt and wrapped it tight around the upper part of her arm using her teeth and good hand to pull it tight before placing the sling back on, the extra bulk making it pull uncomfortably on her neck but the extra support would help when she was back on her feet. Pulling the backpack over her good shoulder Kelly grabbed the knife tight in her right hand and started north. Hilltop was about 20 miles north, she wouldn't get there tonight, not on foot and definitely not moving as slow as she was so she would need to keep an eye out for a place to settle.

Hilltop wouldn't be her final destination, just a stop on the way, let Maggie or Glenn know she was safe and maybe they could tell Rick. Maybe Jesus could get her somewhere safe and then tell Rick where she was. Then she could talk to her brother, tell him what she saw, how Negan ruled over everyone with fear and intimidation, burning the people who did wrong. Maybe it would help motivate him to fight back. Maybe give them all a purpose again. Kelly had been separated from the group at Terminus, she had missed the massacre in the church but she had heard about it, had heard about everything that happened while she was held hostage in the hospital. If Rick could do that without even blinking then he could take on Negan. And Rick would win, her family would win, and they would get Daryl back.

*/*/*/*/*/*

Finally got a new chapter up.

So, this took a lot longer to get out because I completely changed my mind on how I wanted this to go. My original plan was to keep Kelly at Sanctuary until the start of season 8, maybe even the middle of season 8 with some added plot lines and all that. But the more I wrote and thought about it the more I just did not like it. I really want my love birds to be together again sooner rather than later.

I also did a lot of research into how far away all the communities are from each other and where they are located and how long it takes to get to each place on foot and by driving. I'm basing a lot of it off of the comic information of Alexandria and Hilltop being 20 miles from each other and building everything up around that. So, it's going to take time for people to get anywhere if they are walking versus the time they can travel when they are driving.

We're going to leave Kelly in the woods for a bit and mess around with Daryl since he's been kinda MIA for the last few chapters and look at the aftermath of Kelly leaving Alexandria and how well Negan is going to take that.

A big thank you to my new subscribers and everyone who has reached out in the comments or messenger.

I always enjoy comments, helpful criticism, and tolerance for all the typos in this.

Thank you all for reading!

Maxy