A week later, the Saviors' trucks pulled up to Doveport and we filed outside. I was actually eager to see Negan. I wanted a chance to talk to him about what had happened. He was the only one in my life who really knew.

I frowned when I realized he wasn't with them.

Instead, Adam—the man who had dragged me to the Sanctuary and thrown me in the cell—stepped out of the passenger side of one of the trucks. The other Saviors watched him closely. I didn't need to him say anything to figure out that he was the one in charge today. The other Doveporters watched him walk up to where I was standing in front of the school. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt, and his tattoos were visible, dancing up and down his arms all the way up to his neck. He was looking past me, as if he didn't even see me.

"Where's Negan?" I demanded, blocking his way to the school where Philip was standing by the front doors. Amy and Eric came outside and joined him. They looked around for Negan, confused when they didn't see him. It was the first time the Saviors had come to our community without their leader. I couldn't help but wonder if the reason he hadn't come was because of me—because of what had happened at Sanctuary.

"I'm here to talk to the man in charge, not you," Adam hissed, placing a hand onto my shoulder and pushing me to the side to continue on. I followed him over to where Philip was.

"Hey, old man! Looks like I'm in charge of you dipshits now, and I'm expecting you to really pull through for me."

"We'll do our best," Philip said, crossing his arms and frowning. He seemed just about as frustrated with this new situation as I was. We hadn't even been confident when dealing with Negan, but at least we had a good idea of what we were working with. Adam was a whole new ticking time bomb we would have to learn to diffuse.

"You'd better deliver. Because if you don't, someone's gonna die. And I would hate to break up your little family here." Adam turned and looked to me. I was standing to his side and glaring at him. He was trying to be intimidating like Negan, but I wasn't buying it.

Adam noticed my scowl, and grinned wide at me.

"Except Elle doesn't have to worry," he added. "When you spend the night with Negan, you get a free pass." He winked at me. I narrowed my eyes even more at him. Philip turned to look at me confused, and I pointed over to the wall by the gate.

"Your shit is over there. Take it and leave," I growled, crossing my arms.

"Ohhhhhhh, you didn't tell them, did you?" Adam raised his voice, and the other Doveporters looked over to where we were standing. Amy and Eric stared at me with wide eyes and at what Adam was implying. "The last night she spent at the Sanctuary, she slept in Negan's room."

I could have killed him.

The silence that grew spoke volumes. Everyone was looking at me with shocked expressions, but I didn't make eye contact with any of them and continued to glare at Adam. I wasn't going to stand there and let him make an ass of me.

"Leave," I hissed in a low voice, getting up into his face.

"Aren't you feisty. I bet that's why Negan likes you." Adam grinned wide at me. Then he turned away and shouted for his men to start taking the supplies. I felt my face grow red hot as the others said nothing, and we waited for them to load up their supplies.

Once the boxes were loaded, the Saviors got back into their trucks and Adam turned his attention on Philip.

"We'll be back in a week for our shit. Don't disappoint me, old man!"

With that, he got behind the wheel of one of the trucks, and they all drove off beyond the gate. Philip let out a long sigh once they disappeared down the road. I turned to see everyone was staring right at me, as if they were seeing me in an all new light. I frowned at them.

"I didn't fuck Negan!" I shouted, taking them all by surprise, and making them all avert their eyes—all of them except Amy, who was looking at me with a worrisome expression.

I turned away and stormed into the school, pissed off that Adam had made it look like I was sleeping with Negan. I didn't care what his men thought, but I didn't want my friends thinking less of me. Many of them still saw Negan as a bully, and we all remembered what he did to Seth. They hadn't seen that more human side that I saw when I was at the Sanctuary. They probably wouldn't believe me even if I told them.

I entered the little teacher's lounge that was near Philip's office; we used the area as a makeshift living were a few couches and a big table inside. I sat down on one of the sofas and put my head in my hands.

I really didn't want to have to explain what happened at the Sanctuary. Doveport didn't need to know about the man I murdered. They didn't need to know I slept in Negan's bed, but Adam was trying to force my hand. We had only been dealing with him for one day, but already I was sick of him.

"Elle?" a soft voice brought me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to see Amy slowly entering the lounge.

"What?" I snapped, and immediately regretted it. She had a look of concern on her face, and I let out a sigh and spoke again before she could. "I'm fine, Amy. It's fine."

"You're not fine," she said, coming over to sit next to me on the couch. "I don't know what happened at the Sanctuary, but I know you. And I know you didn't sleep with Negan."

I took a deep breath and exhaled for a few seconds. It was a relief to know she wasn't falling for Adam's shit.

"I just feel like things were easier when the Saviors weren't in control of everything—when all we had to worry about were the walkers," I muttered.

Amy nodded in agreement, and then leaned back into the couch, stretching out. I stared at her stomach that had extended slightly from her pregnancy. I thought about how it wouldn't be long before Doveport would have a new addition; she was about 15 weeks along. Then I thought back to the Sanctuary.

"He has a really nice place," I told her, still looking down at her stomach. "It's guarded well. It would be a good place to raise the baby. It's safe there."

"Can't be that safe if Negan and his goon squad are running things," Amy responded with a chuckle. "I'm sure he has a nice home, but I want to raise my child here, in Doveport."

I couldn't blame her. She hated Negan, and I knew it. And she had a point; the Sanctuary, although safe, was still a place controlled by a man who carried around a barbed wire baseball bat and dropped the f-bomb every chance he could. It wasn't the best place for children, and Doveport was safe in its own way. She was already thinking about what was best for her baby.

"You're gonna be a really good mom, Amy," I said, smiling up at her. She had told me when we first met that she really wanted a baby. Now she was further into her pregnancy, and I knew she was excited, but also terrified about what was to come.

Amy smiled at me, and I watched as her eyes watered from my comment. I patted her shoulder, surprised that it was getting to her. She turned her head away and sniffled.

"Stupid hormones," she grumbled, wiping at her eyes. We laughed together and I squeezed her shoulder. Suddenly things didn't seem so bad with Adam trying to embarrass me. Amy had my back, and that made me feel so much better about things.

A knock against the open door made us both look up to see Philip was peeking his head in the room.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked.

"No, Phil. You're fine." I said, smiling at him. "Come in."

Philip made his way over to the other couch and flopped down onto it with a loud sigh. He was staring off into space, and looked so incredibly tired.

"I'm already sick of Adam," he muttered, rubbing his head. "I hate to even say it, but I kind of miss Negan."

"I wouldn't go THAT far," Amy said with a laugh.

Philip chuckled with her, and then turned to me.

"I'm sorry that he said that stuff about you and Negan. I know he's full of shit."

Not quite. I had spent the night in Negan's room—in Negan's bed. But Negan hadn't joined me, and I wasn't sleeping with him. I wondered if Adam thought I was. He was certainly implying that I had.

"We're running out of supplies to give them," Philip continued, "We're only gonna be able to keep Adam happy for a few weeks, unless we can find some new places to scavenge." Philip looked out the window that was facing Vivienne's garden. I looked out it too and could see she was working in it as usual.

"Don't worry, Phil. We'll make it work," I assured him, smiling.

"It's too bad you're not sleeping with Negan," Amy joked. "Maybe then we could catch a break."

The three of us laughed, and I lightly shoved her shoulder and faked a scowl.

She wasn't wrong. Negan seemed to have taken an interest in me, but we weren't dealing with him anymore.

Another week went by, and then Adam was back for his supplies. We weren't able to find anything new, so we scrounged up supplies from previous finds and filled a few boxes. Philip went out to greet him, and I followed him; I didn't want to leave Philip alone with Negan's men. There was something about Adam that made me feel uneasy.

Per usual, we lined up the boxes over by the school wall. Without greeting us, Adam walked over to inspect the multiple boxes, and then turned to face Philip.

"You can do better," he growled, narrowing his eyes at us. He strode over to where we were standing, and pointed a finger into Philip's face.

"I asked you to deliver. There's hardly anything here!"

"You're right. We'll do better next week," Philip said calmly, meeting Adam's menacing gaze. I glared at Adam as he berated Philip. I hated that we had to coddle the jerk. Philip was only telling him what he wanted to hear. We really didn't have much left to give, and were trying to spread it out as best we could.

"Load it up!" he ordered, and his men began picking up the boxes and carrying them to the truck beds. Adam continued to stand in front of us and a smile formed on his lips.

"You're kind of a pushover, ain't ya, Phil?" he asked.

"I just want to make sure we keep Negan happy," Philip replied, still stoic as ever.

Adam narrowed his eyes, and his lips turned into a frown at the mention of his leader.

"You're working for me now, old man," he growled, taking a step so his face was right next to Philip's. Philip looked away, backing down and nodded. Adam smiled wide at Philip's submission.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

He smirked and then turned to leave. I took a step closer to Philip and scowled at Adam as he and the Saviors got into their trucks and drove away.

"You okay?" I asked gently, putting a hand on Philip's arm. He was watching the trucks drive out of the gate, and I could see the worried look on his face.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Ellie." He turned and looked at me, frowning.

I wanted to reassure him that things would be fine, but I couldn't. I had that same feeling. I still didn't understand why Negan had put Adam in charge and wasn't coming here himself. We were only a week in dealing with Adam and it was exhausting.

"Me too," I finally admitted, after a long silence. We needed to find another place to get supplies, or we were in big trouble, and we both knew it. I wondered what kind of punishments Adam had in mind for us if we didn't get him enough stuff. That alone was enough to keep me up at night. I couldn't let anyone else get hurt.

Eric walked over to where Philip and I were standing in the parking lot.

"I'm going on a run. Does anyone wanna join me?" he asked, pulling on a backpack.

"Where's Amy?" I asked, looking around outside. The two of them were usually tied at the hip. Seeing Eric without her was surprising.

"She's not feeling good, so she's laying down. The baby has been kicking her ass lately," he said with a laugh, and then looked over to where the boxes had been stacked up against the wall. He also had a worrisome expression that mirrored Philip's. We all seemed to be on the same page when it came to Adam.

"I can go with you if you want," I offered. Getting out beyond these walls was like getting fresh air, and I needed that badly.

Eric smiled and nodded at me. He didn't like to travel alone, and I couldn't blame him. Scavenging could take hours, and it was always preferable to have someone to visit with. I knew I wasn't his first choice, but since his wife wasn't feeling well, I was happy to be the one to go with.

"Careful out there," Philip said, turning to head back into the school. I watched him as he trudged inside. I hated how much stress this was putting on him.

I turned back to look at Eric and forced a smile; I didn't feel very hopeful about finding anything, but we had to at least try.

"Okay, let's go."

We drove down the road and kept our eyes peeled for anything we could scavenge. Eric was behind the wheel, and I sat next to him in the passenger side. It was getting late, but the sun hadn't set yet and we were determined to find something before daylight disappeared on us. I was leaning against the window and silently begging the universe to give us a break.

"That Adam guy is a real prick," Eric said, breaking the silence. "I kinda liked it better when Negan was the one doing pick ups."

"Yeah, I think we all feel that way," I said with a sigh. Who would have thought we would be missing Negan? The man had killed our friend Seth, but even he was less irritating than Adam. Negan's wrath made sense in a morbid way. Adam was trying too hard to be like his leader, and that could end up being bad for us very fast.

Eric pulled the car into a familiar town, and I realized it was the same place I had met Charlotte. Feeling excited at the idea of seeing her again, I pointed down a road.

"Turn here. I need to check on something."

Eric looked at me confused, but did as I asked. We drove down a few blocks until I could see the big tree with the wooden walls within its branches. The walkers were gone; there wasn't a single one in sight. Before this town had been crawling with them, but it seemed they had moved on in the weeks since I'd been there.

"Pull over?" I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt. I was out of the car before it was even completely stopped. Eric watched as I jogged over to the treehouse.

"Charlotte!" I called up, but didn't receive an answer.

I grabbed the flimsy ladder and climbed, calling her name again.

My head popped up into the little wooden house, and I frowned.

It was completely empty.

Charlotte, and all of her things, were gone. All that was left were a few cans of peas shoved up against the wall. I reached over and took the cans into my arms, and then made my way back over to the opening of the treehouse. I tossed the cans gently down onto the grass, and then looked around one last time at the now empty treehouse. I climbed back down and gathered the cans in my arms. I knew I had a huge frown on my face as I returned to the car and opened the backseat door, setting the cans of peas inside.

"Hey! Good find! How did you know those would be up there anyways?" Eric asked, shifting the car into drive and pulling away from the treehouse.

"I met someone out here. She was living up there." My eyes went back to the tree, and I continued to frown. "I don't know what happened to her, but she's gone. I was hoping I could see her again."

Eric slowed the car and looked back to where the treehouse was.

"Maybe she moved on to someplace safer?" he tried to be reassuring, "A treehouse isn't exactly the best place to live."

"Yeah," I mumbled, looking out the window. I wanted to believe she was okay, but it was possible I'd never find out what happened to her.

We continued to drive and search for supplies, but I couldn't stop thinking about Charlotte.

I wondered if I would ever see her again.

If I did, I'd have to thank her for the peas.