17.

Ana left the meeting with her arms wrapped around her stomach in a comforting manner. Negan was by her side, gingerly offering his hand every few minutes but Ana never took him up on his offer. She instead kept her distance, and traveled a foot or two from his side. This upset Negan, considering that he thought the meeting went well. He shared the fact that they were going to see Rick soon -something that must be something for Ana to look forward to, as much as it pained Negan to realize.

Ana felt sick. Her stomach was tied in knots at the idea of seeing Rick again, after knowing what happened last time when Rick simply looked in her direction. She was also terrified of Simon, who was trailing behind the two with the excuse that he was protecting Negan. Negan had said he didn't need any protection, which Ana agreed with. Nonetheless, there was Simon with a knife in hand and a smirk on his face.

"Is there a snake in your boot or something?" Negan finally broke the silence between the two, glancing across the hallway at his wife's face.

"I'm fine, Negan," Ana forced through gritted teeth.

"Don't fucking lie, I'm tired of that bullshit."

With that, Ana looked over her shoulder at Simon, who showed his teeth in a wide smile. She clenched her hands, and took a step closer to Negan. He welcomed it, and used the opportunity to throw his arm around her shoulder. The feeling caused Ana to completely stop in her tracks, her eyes clenched shut. Don't touch me, she whispered into her head, please, don't touch me.

"Ana, what the hell?" Negan stopped next to her. With a second thought, he made eye contact with Simon and demanded he leave. Simon retreated awkwardly.

"I'm just not feeling well," Ana whispered below her breath. Negan had the ears to hear it, and rubbed her back comfortingly. But to Ana, the texture of his hands on her back was another dreaded feeling. She wanted his hands off of her. She stood there quietly for a couple of minutes, clenching her fists together, when Negan brought his hand to his side and sighed.

"Well shit, Ana. You haven't felt well since you were born."

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize." Negan kept his mouth open as if he were to say more, but something turned in his mind and he switched gears. "Go get packed, we leave in twenty."

Ana took his dismissal and scurried down the hall, not quite sure where she was going but just trying to place some distance between herself and Simon. Eventually she wound up near the wives' lounge area and tracked her way back to her bedroom. She was about to open the door and then caught herself. No, she wouldn't be safe alone. That gave Simon more advantage. No one would hear her in her room -the walls were too thick. So, she turned on her heel and headed for Logan's room.

Logan opened the door immediately after Ana knocked, as if she hadn't been doing anything. But as Ana peered into the room, she saw a multitude of books and papers spread out across the bedspread.

"What's up?" Logan asked curiously.

"Nothing, I just need a place to hide," Ana offered.

"Oh yeah, sure, of course, come in. Y'know, I totally understand that feeling."

But it wasn't a feeling, it was a safety issue.

Ana slid past Logan into her room and stared at the messy bed for a few moments.

"Oh, I've been writing," Logan explained.

"Do you have any clothes I could use for the next day or so?"

"Why?"

"I'm-" Ana paused, and carefully thought through her words. "I'm leaving with Negan in fifteen minutes and he told me to pack."

"Oh, yeah, of course," Logan replied, walking to a bureau and rummaging through a few sets of clothes. She eventually pulled out a dark black hoodie with a pair of sweatpants. Then, she handed them to Ana. Ana took them and wrapped them up in each other before folding it over the crook of her elbow. She had ten minutes to kill before departure, so she took a seat on the cleanest part of the bed and took a deep breath.

"You okay?" Logan asked.

No, Ana wasn't okay. She had been abused by Simon countless times and could not bring herself to say anything. Plus, she was going to see the one person that Negan would hurt her over, and that didn't make her feel any better.

"Yeah, just stressed. We're going to see an old friend."

"Oh boy. I wish I could see my friends. Most of them are probably dead though," Logan sighed.

"Logan," Ana said after a brief moment of contemplation, "where did you come from?"

Logan smiled, and cleared a spot on the bed next to Ana before sitting down. "Southern tip of D.C. I lived there with my cat, Neko."

"What happened to him?"

"Her, actually."

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault, Neko sounds like a guy's name. Anyway, she got out of the house when I was trying to load things into my car and I have no idea where she went. I'm sure she's dead too, but I still have hope sometimes."

Ana crossed her legs. She wished she had lost something as simple as a cat.

There was a small knock at the door.

Ana's heart began to beat faster as Logan left the bed to open it. Luckily, it was Dwight standing behind the door with a small smile on his face.

"Time to go," he said lightly, gesturing to Ana. Ana scooted off the bed to the door, and said a quick thank you and goodbye to Logan. Then, she followed Dwight into the hall where he led her through the maze of a compound, until the wounded up out front, where a couple of cars greeted them.

"You'll be with Negan," he said, leading Ana to a small silver sedan. He opened the passenger side door and let Ana slide in. She pulled her arms to herself inside the car. The air conditioner was on, and it was cold. Goosebumps lined her dainty arms as she looked through the window at all the walkers a few yards ahead of her. Then, something caught her eye.

Daryl.

That had to be Daryl, she figured, staring wide-eyed at the being mere feet away from the car, dressed in some sort of overthrow and brushing his hair out of his eyes. Her thoughts were cut in half as she saw Carl walk to the truck in front of her, casually, as if nothing was wrong. Something twisted in her heart. What had happened while she was busy worrying about what Simon would do to her? What the hell happened?

Carl hopped into the truck as soon as the car's driver door opened. Negan fell in lazily, and spent a couple of minutes adjusting his seat.

"Why-" Ana stopped herself. Asking Negan about Carl might only make things worse.

"Sweetie don't pull that half-a-sentence shit," Negan muttered, pulling at his seatbelt.

"No, it's fine," Ana mumbled, looking at the window. Daryl was staring straight at her with ferocious eyes. What was he thinking? Did he think she was betraying Alexandria?

She had no time to contemplate this further, as Negan pulled the car around the truck and began to drive to the main road. Daryl slowly disappeared from view, Ana watched him in the sideview mirror as he became a small dot in the background.

"All this nature shit makes me miss the park," Negan commented. The park. Ana sighed. She wanted to go to the park. She stopped focusing on Daryl and stared straight ahead, at the road littered with dead bodies. "Well don't just stay quiet like some limp ragdoll. Talk to me."

"I'm not feeling well," Ana replied.

"You didn't feel well since the second Tuesday of last week. What the fuck is up?"

"Let it go."

"No, I will not let it the fuck go. Are you this miserable with me? I have literally everything you need, what else do you need, princess?" he said sarcastically.

"Negan, please," Ana felt herself tearing up like a five year old that barely fell on the playground. She didn't want to have this conversation right now, and the fact that she had no control over what Negan would say to her only brought her further into a pit of despair.

"There's a reason you're saying 'Negan, please'. Can you make this easier for both of us and tell me for the love of God?"

"You don't want to know."

But he did want to know, and as he drove the small sedan towards Alexandria, he decided that he was going to figure out what it was whether Ana wanted to share it or not. He deserved to know.

"Ana, I'm sick of this stunt your pulling. Tell me."

Ana felt her heart begin to race, and her breathing became shallow. Her throat began to tighten.

"Annnnaaaa," Negan said in a sing-song voice. "Aannnaaaa."

"Stop!" Ana suddenly shouted, louder than she thought she could shout. Soft sobs began to control her body as her mind raced about what happened with Simon. He had taken advantage of her in the cold, dark cell. She began to feel his hands on her body, pushing at her ribs. She began to feel his legs rubbing against her thighs, and his chest threatening to crush her. She lost control, and her sobs became louder. "Stop, stop, stop!" she screamed.

Negan took this as a sign, and skidded to a stop, nearly causing the truck behind them to crash into the trunk. He unbuckled himself and reached across the car with both arms, grabbing Ana into his arms and holding her tight.

"Stop!" Ana tried to fight him off of her, but he wouldn't let go. He held her through her sobs as she clawed at his arms, drawing blood. "Get off of me!" Her arms fell to her side as she realized he wouldn't let go, and she leaned into him, crying hysterically.

"What happened to you, Ana?" Negan whispered into her hair.

Ana tried to take a deep breath. It didn't work and she broke down bawling for a few more seconds. Then, things seemed to lighten. Her lungs inhaled air clearly, and let it go in a strong breath.

"Simon raped me," she said in a clear voice.

A/N: In lieu of the new episode of the Walking Dead, I was inspired to finish writing this chapter and the following chapter. I will be uploading the other chapter sometime soon, as I know these have been long awaited by many of you. Since I want to get this up as quick as possible, I will be replying to reviews in the next upload. Enjoy! I also apologize for any spelling errors, as I reread this very quickly!