7.
Ana brought her hands from Rick's buckle and gave him a swift push off of her. He landed solemnly on the other side of the couch as her wide eyes stared at him. Did she just hear-
"What?" she asked, moving her hair so that it covered both sides of her neck.
"Your husband is alive."
Ana kept her mouth shut, quietly thinking through how her husband could have survived the fire.
"He's alive and leading a group of people called the Saviors. They were the ones who instructed Ethan to stab Gregory at the Hilltop."
Ana's hand slowly covered her mouth. "No," she mumbled into her hand. Negan couldn't be alive. He didn't answer her, he was asleep upstairs when the fire started. Her mind instantly thought up the first rational response it could think of. "It's a different Negan."
"C'mon," Rick sighed in slight annoyance, "how many Negan's are there?"
"He wouldn't kill. He couldn't even be alive."
"World goes to shit, cant predict what people would do."
Her head was throbbing at the possibility of Negan being alive. She needed to get to him, needed to explain everything and throw her arms around him and never let him go. Her mind was racing and her mouth was quivering.
"We're going to one of their bases tonight."
Ana didn't respond.
"We need to attack before they attack us."
"No." Ana didn't bother to look at Rick. "Take me there."
Rick instantly regretted telling her, overlooking the fact that she would want to see him. How could he overlook that? "It's not safe, Ana."
Ana's eyes flickered to him at the mention of her name. She didn't care whether or not he would let her, she would go to Negan on her own. Part of her was still alive –her love was still alive. She stood up suddenly, looking down at Rick and furiously wiping at the tears that somehow appeared on her face. Using her shirt, she dried her wet hands.
"He's my husband," she said, a small crack in her quiet voice. Rick bit his lip, knowing that Negan was a killer and a manipulator.
"He is not your husband anymore," Rick voiced his opinion. Ana wanted to yell at him, punch him or slap him or hurt him for saying that. She restrained herself, rocking on her heels as she tried to think of something to say.
"We're leaving in an hour," Rick said sternly. "You're staying here. I'll have Denise look after you."
Ana felt like a child, but realized there was no use arguing. She missed her husband, and felt a burning desire to disobey Rick's commands. At the same time, she had no way of getting to Negan without Rick taking her himself. When she didn't respond, Rick stood up.
"I understand how you feel," he said. She wanted to fire back, yell that he didn't understand how it felt to think you've lost someone when you never did. To almost kill yourself because of it. His hand reached for her shoulder, but Ana took a sudden step back. She wanted to forget what happened between them. It wasn't right. It didn't feel right. "We can talk when I get back." Rick understood she needed her space, and left to go tell Denise about her new job tonight.
Ana was standing in the same place when Rick returned with Denise.
"I'm leaving," he told Ana. She nodded quietly as Denise took to the couch, exclaiming about how soft it was. When Rick left, Ana quickly let loose a string of words.
"I need to go get the clothes out back, they're on the lines."
"Very funny," Denise said with a chuckle, "I'll get them. You stay here, you look like you've seen a ghost." If only she knew the truth in her words. Denise stood up, walking towards the kitchen and out the back door. Ana took the chance, sliding on her shoes and running out the front door before the cars drove away.
A few people in the group noticed Ana as she casually walked past the cars lined up to leave. Rick was in the middle of talking to Rosita, his back turned towards Ana. She noticed the RV sitting in front of the gate. It seemed empty, so she took the opportunity to climb in and slip to her designated seat -the bed in the back. She curled up against the wall, making sure to remain unnoticed if someone looked down the hall. Then, Rick entered. She cursed silently, telling herself she should have known he'd choose this vehicle. A series of other people joined him, including Jesus, Michonne, Carol, Sasha, and the other guy from the Hilltop. Ana sighed, realizing this was going to be a long ride. However, the end reward would be worth it. As long as Negan was alive, she would be okay.
The ride was long and boring. Ana didn't want to risk being seen so she stayed awake, attentive to every movement, every conversation. For a long time she counted the small dots on the ceiling of the RV, played patty-cake against the wall, and tried to play the rhyming game with herself. It didn't work out well.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the RV came to a stop and everyone rushed out after a series of honks were heard. Ana remained in the RV. She would stay there until they entered the camp, and would follow their path afterwards. Without realizing it, Ana began to drift off into a deep sleep, not waking until the world outside was dark and the RV was in a completely different environment.
A loud alarm was what woke her up. The lights in the RV were dark, it was almost pitch black. Ana quietly rustled herself from the bed and peeked down the hallway. The RV seemed empty, so she brought the knife from her waist and lifted it. She opened the camper door and was surprised to see Maggie and Carol staring at her curiously.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"Were you in there the entire time?" Maggie questioned.
"Yes," Ana said.
"You can explain later, we need to keep quiet," Carol stressed.
"Why?" Ana asked. The two were quick to ignore her presence, and continued a conversation that Ana clearly interrupted.
"They need our help," Maggie said sternly, turning around as a walker approached her. Carol moved past her stabbed it easily enough. It fell to the ground with a satisfying thunk.
"You are staying here," Carol demanded. Nothing could be heard except for the angry breaths of the two women. They were both staring at each other intently while Ana crossed her arms. She was somewhat cold, dying to go back into the RV and curl under someone's jackets. She didn't get the opportunity to, for as she turned to fulfill her wishes, she heard a gun shot. Turning around, Ana saw Maggie standing above a male who was gripping at his shoulder. Her gun was pointed at his head. Ana swerved in a circle, trying to see if anyone else had come in their direction. Her question was answered as a cold voice spoke to Maggie.
"Stop or she's dead."
Whirling around, Ana looked into the barrel of a gun. The arm holding it was a woman, an inch shorter than Ana yet still terrifying. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat as her heart rate sped up astronomically. Maggie raised the gun towards the new woman after turning to see Ana. Suddenly a two more pistols were pointed at Carol, then Maggie.
"Shit," Ana whispered under her breath, realizing that tagging along might have not been the brightest idea.
"Guns, knives, on the ground right now," the woman in front of Ana demanded. She reached for the knife at her waist and tossed it onto the ground obediently, observing the two other women. One was older, shorter, and rounder. Through the darkness, Ana figured she was a good twenty years older than the women standing near Carol.
Following the encounter, Ana was ordered to sit on the ground alongside the other two women until morning came. There were two guns on the three of them the entire time; the older lady was tending to the man who got shot. Carol continually tried to bargain her way out of the situation, while Maggie begged her to give it up. They weren't getting out of this one. Ana focused on the compound through the gate in front of them instead of the gun to her head.
At one point, Ana realized she had the urge to pee. She embarrassingly piped up, quietly asking if she could go into the bushes. She was allowed to, but the older woman watched her the entire time. For the first time, Ana had trouble peeing right away. Having a gun pointed at your head while you do so has that effect.
Eventually, the ginger demanded the group stand up as she raised binoculars towards her eyes to look past the fence. Ana stood next to Carol, her hands tangled together in front of her body. The first light of sun finally showed itself, and with it came loud gunshots.
"The hell was that?" the brunette asked, pointing a gun towards Ana, Carol, and Maggie. Ana narrowed her eyes, trying to look through the gates towards the compound. She saw a commotion in the distance, but wasn't quite sure what was happening.
"It's Primo," the ginger said, "dammit, they've got him. Gimme the walkie."
A small tinge of hope spread through Ana's body. She assumed "they" were Rick and the group he took to the compound. There was a way out.
The sole man in the group produced a walkie-talkie, handing it to the ginger with concerned eyes.
"Babe, what's happenin'?" he asked. The female didn't respond and instantly brought the device to her mouth.
"Lower your guns, prick," she said sternly. Ana watched as the commotion in front of the compound seemingly stopped, "you with the colt python."
The gun confirmed that it was Rick and his crew. Ana sighed lightly, relieved to hear that they made it out alive.
"All of you lower your weapons right now."
A few seconds of silence and then,
"Come on out, let's talk." It was Rick's familiar southern voice, hoping to figure out who was speaking into the walkie, and where they were.
"How many we got?" the old lady asked.
"Eight in sight," replied the ginger, straightening her lips into a thin line as she turned her head very slightly. "Too many," she deduced.
"We can take them, we took more," the man said. The ginger brought her eyes from the binoculars to look at him. She didn't respond as she peered at him, then returned her eyes to the binoculars. She spoke into the walkie once again.
"We're not coming out but we will talk," she said. She placed the binoculars on her chest and turned towards the group of captives. "Names," she demanded. No one spoke for a moment, Ana's own voice was caught in the back of her throat as her eyes faced down. "Names," the ginger demanded, louder this time.
"I'm Maggie, that's Carol and Ana," Maggie said bravely, using her eyes to point out who is who. The ginger smiled and looked back towards the fence.
"We've got a Carol, Maggie and Anna, I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about," she said into the walkie, pronouncing Ana's name wrong. Ana was confused as to whether it was an accident, or some sort of way to assert dominance. "We're gonna work this out right now, and it's going to go our way."
"We have one of yours," came Rick's static voice. "We'll trade."
"I'm listening."
"First I want to talk to Ana and the others, make sure everyone's alright."
Ana's eyes lifted slightly at the mention of her name. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried to swallow the lump in her throat so that she would be able to speak. A millisecond later, the walkie was shoved in her face with the ginger demanding them to say they're fine and only that. Carol slightly pushed Ana in an effort to get to the walkie.
"R-Rick, it's Carol. I'm fine b-but-" the ginger shoved her out of the way, holding the walkie towards Ana's face.
"Speak," the girl said angrily, yet Ana's voice was hiding down her throat. She opened her lips and forced out a very small, "I'm okay," before the walkie was shoved towards Maggie, and subsequently taken away from them. Ana rubbed her arms against her sides, her eyes slightly heavy as she wondered how they would fix this. She listened as a couple walkers came up behind the group, and turned around to watch the brunette stab them.
"This is the deal, right here," she heard Rick say, "let 'em go. You can have your guy back, and live." Ana listened as they continued debating whether or not to save their guy. She caught the ginger's name out of the conversation, Paula. Three of the four captors started to argue with each other before Rick's voice came back.
"Do we have a deal?" Rick asked.
"I'll get back to you," Paula said before nodding towards the brunette. She came up behind Maggie, lifting her jacket over her face quickly. The same went for Carol, but Ana had no jacket to cover her head. She was wearing her dress from earlier, and hadn't realized just how cold she felt until she stared at their warm jackets.
"What do we do about her?" the brunette asked. Paula shrugged, walking towards Ana with her gun out. Ana sucked in her breath as she saw the butt of a handgun crack down on her head. She fell without a sound.
A/N: Christ, I'm so sorry about uploading this late. The past few weeks have been hell in terms of schoolwork; 6 hours every night -and no, that is not an exaggeration- takes a toll and I kept pushing this off until now...despite the fact I have the most homework I've had for the past week.
Anyway...to answer some questions you might be wondering: no, the next chapter won't be filled with all those conversations between Maggie and Carol at the base. It'll actually focus on Ana and her alienation from the rest of her group...sorry to say her experience won't be ideal. Anyway...I can't believe I have almost 60 followers so thank you ALL so much for following and ready my story! Don't forget to review and gimme some love!
Replies:
I'm a Nerd and Proud: Season 1 Rick was the besstttt! I loved his attitude and all his mannerisms...man I miss that Rick. And yeah, I felt like the show started going downhill around season four and five, but the second half of season six was awesome. I'll try to update more often so you can see Negan sooner :)
x3sunnydaay: haha, I'm sorry if you consider this a cliff hanger too. I feel like cliff hangers always intrigue more people to stick around for the next chapter
Guest: Aaa...the hard thing is perfecting Negan's persona because I have to get it just right! I hope my portrayal lives up to your expectations :)
StTudnoBright: Actually, Negan's POV would be an awesome way to write a chapter, especially one about his relationship vis a vis Ana. As for how they met? You'll just have to wait...:) More family flashblacks will follow!
Thanks for all the reviews, they make me smile every time I read them!