Chapter 10

He had locked me in the cell again, but not the same one. This room had no window and nothing to offer but the desolate, silent darkness; the only light to be had seeping in from the hallway underneath the door. It had been a couple of days since they had beaten and locked me in here. I thought for sure Negan was going to let them kill me, be beaten to death like Abraham and Glenn, but he hadn't. Although, I don't think I had been far from it.

"No painkillers! Negan wants her to feel everything," I could hear Dwight's voice outside the door.

From where I lay, I saw shadows silhouetted against the wan light at the bottom of the doorway and heard an older man's unfamiliar voice telling Dwight that he would do what he needed to. The lock clicked and the door opened. A short, thin man took a step inside, assessing me from the door way. He looked back at Dwight who in return gave him a menacing stare. Stepping in, the man set down a bag next to me and got on one knee, giving me a benign smile.

"Everly?" He spoke gently, his voice deep and smooth. "I'm Dr. Emerson Avery. I'm one of the doctors that live here at the Sanctuary. Do you mind if I look you over?"

He looked so kind, but I didn't trust him. I struggled to sit up and pushed myself back into a corner, wincing from the pain as I did so. I didn't want him or anyone else to touch me. He seemed disappointed, his dark eyes thoughtful and sad. He nodded and reached for his bag, squatting down to open it up. I flinched.

"I'm just going to show you what I have. You don't need to be afraid of me. I want to make you better," he said in a calm, placating tone.

He reached into his bag slowly, watching me to gauge my reaction. One at a time, he took out and held up ace bandages, gauze, rubbing alcohol, iodine, and a small bottle of pills which he slipped out from under a swathe of cotton dressings, careful to not let them rattle. I sized him up, trying to see if this was another test from Negan, but it was impossible to be sure. I gave him a small nod because at this point, what did it matter?

The doctor let out a breath and smiled, "Good."

He placed all the items back into his bag, being careful not to let anything touch the dirty floor. He sidled over to me awkwardly, still down in a squat, and showed me his hands in a sign that he meant well. He pointed to my soiled shirt, indicating that he'd need to remove it. I nodded again. Gingerly, I sat up and let him lift the shirt over my head. He placed a warm, steadying hand on my back as I got dizzy and swayed backwards.

"Whoa," he said, concerned, "let's take it easy now."

"I'm trying," I mumbled, my voice barely a whisper. My throat was intensely sore from screaming.

"I would suggest not talking either. Sounds like you've bruised your vocal chords quite a bit."

I didn't say anymore, but let him take in and evaluate the damage that had been done to me. A few times, he clicked his tongue and shook his head in clear disgust, his fingers prodding me all over. Finally, he let out a long sigh and grabbed the ace bandages.

"You have a few broken ribs," he said. "I'm going to need to wrap you up, but first you'll need to remove your bra. I will have to see you," he paused, looking me in the eye to see if I understood. "Will that be okay?"

I could only nod, starting to shake and feeling vulnerable. He placed his hand lightly on my shoulder and nodded before helping me to remove my bra. I could feel Dwight's eyes on me from the doorway, silent and watchful.

When he was done, he moved to the ankle that Negan had hit with the pipe, "I don't think it's broken, but it's at the very least severely bruised and sprained. The best I can do is to wrap it up."

And he did, his dark hands deft and shrewd. I decided that I liked him, for now. He was the first breath of fresh air I had gotten in this placed besides Suzanne. I just prayed that he wasn't a snake in the grass.

"This part will probably be the most painful," he explained as he got out some cotton balls and doused them with alcohol, "but I need to clean these cuts up. Try not to make any noise. You don't want to hurt your throat any further."

I clenched my hands into fists, breathing hard against the pain as he cleaned me up. It took a lot of effort, but I only cried out a couple of times, mostly uttering pathetic whimpers. I began to relax as he finished, covering the larger wounds with iodine.

"Try not to lie on the floor. I can't cover everything up, and I don't want you to get an infection," he pulled out a fresh, white t-shirt and tugged it over my head. "This should feel better."

"Thank you," I mouthed more than said. He nodded his head, giving me a sorry smile and took my hand.

"I'll check in on you later," he said knowingly and I felt something small pressed into my hand from his. He stood up and gathered his things, stepping past Dwight and into the hallway.

The painkiller Dr. Avery had secretly given me helped. Although it didn't quite eliminate every ache, it certainly dulled it quite a bit and I had slept a little bit more soundly. I was sorry he hadn't given me more when it started to wear off, the pain fresh and unabatingly earnest again. He hadn't come back to check up on me. That worried me some, but maybe there wasn't much more he could do.

The same routine as before started back; nothing but a small cheese sandwich again and a bit of water to satisfy my hunger and thirst. No shower, though. I guess they wanted to make me as uncomfortable as possible and it was working. I was grimy, still covered in my own blood, and I was miserable.

Five days. I had been in here for five days and I felt myself going mad. The darkness was pressing in on me and time seemed to move not at all. I only knew how long it been because Dwight enjoyed making me aware of it every time he saw me.

"The end to another day!" He chucked my daily meal at me. "Five days down, many more to go."

I teemed with anger at the memory. Dwight had started out different. He had seemed somewhat sympathetic at times before. Now, he was just a second-rate Negan; not nearly as intimidating, but it was obvious he tried to be. I don't know what happened to change him, to make him so callous towards me when he had at least been decent before. Now it seemed he hated me and for what reason I didn't know. That was why it was hard to trust the doctor at first, but he seemed so genuine it was hard not to.

I wondered about Daryl and what they were doing or had done with him. It was possible he was still locked in the cage, trapped with barely any room to stretch out. I couldn't help but think that maybe I had gotten the better end of things. Granted, we both had our asses kicked and were confined to a small space, but mine just happened to be quite a bit bigger.

How had they found out about us? We were so careful, scrawling down our notes to each other in private, no one around to see. Sometimes, I would even have a hard time deciphering what Daryl had written, his handwriting was so sloppy. There was no answer, though, and I might never get the chance to ask.

What's going to come next? I thought. What more could they possibly do?

I feel asleep trying to figure out the answer.

"Up and at 'em!" Negan yelled into the small room, the door hitting the adjacent wall from where he had swung it open.

The small heap on the floor jerked up, long, dark red hair framing a bruised and tired face. She squinted her eyes and brought one slender hand up to shield herself from the light coming in from behind them. When she didn't move, Negan sighed and stepped in, grabbing a hold of her arm and wrenching her up from the floor. She cried out in pain.

"I said," Negan got in her face, "let's go."

He let her glare at him with her emerald eyes for a second before shoving her out into the hallway where Dwight caught a hold off her, steadying her on her feet. She hobbled on one foot, the other bandaged still.

"Oh, boy, do I have a surprise for you," he gave her a stern stare and then smiled. He threw out his free hand in a gesture for her to go first. "Gentlemen let ladies go first, and I am one gentle man."

Dwight snorted a smirk at Negan over Everly's shoulder and urged her forward. They led her to the front of the compound and out to where they kept the walking dead chained outside a chain-link fenced that encircled the factory. They showed her down the steps, having to almost carry her down, and up to the fence where the living dead spit and snarled on the other side. Dwight let her go and Negan began to circle her, a wolfish smile plastered on his face.

"Oh, yes, this is gonna be a sight to see. I don't think I've been this fucking excited in a while!"

Negan laughed as Everly stood there rigid and shivering, her head held up, but her eyes lowered to the ground, unblinking. Some of the men from the compound came out, ready for what was about to happen, and Dwight saw Sherry step out behind them. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her and his chest ached horribly. He stared at her as she descended the steps and made her way towards them.

"Baby!" Negan sang when he saw her, a loving smile shining just for her. She came up to him and kissed his cheek, her hand on his chest.

"What are you doing out here?" Her brown eyes found Everly. She quickly looked at Dwight and back again at the girl.

"Oh, nothing much, just getting my little gladiator ready for the show," he smirked over at Everly, enjoying the uncomfortable look on her face.

The look on Sherry's face was not a pleased one and it angered Dwight to see it. It was as if she was jealous of Everly, just as he was of Negan.

"Well," she took a step back, her hand still on Negan's chest, "don't take too long."

"I won't, baby," he cooed, grabbing her to give her a long, wet kiss. He bit his lower lip and shook his head as he watched her go. "Damn."

He turned his eyes back to Everly as Sherry disappeared into the building, and the smile dropped a little. He scratched his cheek and swung Lucille up on his left shoulder as he slowly walked toward her.

"That was my wife. Well, one of my wives," his teeth flashed in the outside lights. He whispered, "Look at me."

Everly kept her eyes down, not blinking and barely breathing.

"Aw, come on, you're gonna be shy now?" Negan grabbed her chin and forced her head up. "I said, look at me!" He bellowed into her face, the hair around it fluttering from the force of his breath.

With obvious defiance, she languidly raised her eyes up to meet his, and Negan squeezed her jaw tighter as he glared at her.

"I don't know what you just saw or heard, but I think you should take a brief moment to think about how and why you came to be here," Negan paused to let her think about it, not taking his eyes off of hers, his gloved fingers still digging into her face. "That hot piece of ass, my wife, wasn't so sweet on me when we first met. In fact, she used to be married to Dwight here, but look at her now. She adores every inch of me."

Negan smiled as he saw tears start to swell up in Everly's green eyes, her mouth pinched and her brows furrowed in anger.

"You didn't think he came by that scar on his face before he knew me, did you? And he's one of my best men! You see, there's a reason why I run shit around here, and that's because I don't take no for a fucking answer," Negan's mouth turned down as he scowled at her. "I get what I want, I take what I want, and you're going to learn that very quickly, and remember it, whether you like it or not."

He shoved her face back, causing her to stumble a few feet backwards, favoring her bad foot. She was breathing raggedly and brought her hand up to gingerly massage her face, her loose curls falling forward around her.

"So, that was the lesson and here is the test, and you're gonna want to listen carefully because this will require some quick thinking on your part," Negan squinted his eyes and pointed at her like a strict teacher would. He smiled as she glared at him through her hair. He took the finger he was pointing at her and directed it to a blocked off section infested with the walking dead.

"Out there lies your friend, boyfriend, whatever the fuck he is to you and without your help those dead fucks in there will find him and rip his fucking insides out. Now, here's the tricky part, so listen closely," Negan took a couple steps up to her and leaned in close as if he had a big secret to share and didn't want anyone else to hear.

"The only way," he whispered in her ear, his breath crystallizing in the night air, "to get him and yourself out of there alive is to find a key I've hidden. It could be anywhere; I could've shoved it up your ass while you were sleeping for all you know, but I digress. You need to get that key and get to him before those dead fuckers do, unlock him from his chains and bring him back through this gate. And don't think for one motherfucking second that you can take this opportunity to run away because you won't get far," he uttered the last four words menacingly.

"You do that, sweetheart, if you can show me that you can be a team player and go by the rules, I might be a little bit nicer to you. Hell, I might even let you suck my dick clean," Negan leaned back a bit to look into her face. She was crying freely now, but made no sound. Her lip trembling, she took in a deep breath and let it out as she closed her eyes. Negan held Lucille just below her barb-wired head. He put the end against Everly's face, stroking her cheek with it just like he had when they first met.

"Aw," he sighed admiringly, a smile leisurely climbing up to his eyes. He let Lucille drop back down and said softly, "Go stand in front of the gate."

Hey, guys. I hope your New Year was festive and all you dreamed it would be. Mine was quite lazy, and I wrote part of a chapter while "slightly" lit off my ass on Apothic Red before ringing in the new year (beginning of chapter 19 if you guys are curious- don't worry, I'll have edited it a butt load of times before you guys read it. I actually did pretty well when reading it over the next day! I feel kinda smug about that...).

Anyway! I hope the upcoming chapter has more MEAT in it. ;) You guys be sure to let me know your thoughts; if I could've done things differently and so on. I like knowing what you guys think!

*gasp* ALSO! Fun story time. I just remembered this the other day, but a while back I was in Hotlanta (Atlanta for the layman). There were not many people around and I was passing by Woodruff Park, just carrying on my merry way when I saw a burnt up police car in the middle of the street. Now, not used to the city at all at the time, I stopped mid-stride and looked around like I was about to be caught up in the middle of a gun fight or something. When nothing happened, I thought maybe I had stumbled upon the remains of a crime scene, but the police car was literally the only out of place thing out of an otherwise normal day (despite there not being very many people around). I realized later as I heard other people talking that it was a prop for, you guessed it, TWD! Unfortunately, that was the only thing I saw. They must've filmed over the weekend and I just saw the leftovers of the scene. I also walked on a few other sets while in the city at different times: The Hunger Games, a Ryan Reynolds movie I don't remember the name of, and something else that I never learned was about but there were cameras and actors everywhere (no one I recognized). I never saw or met any famous actors either, but I knew they were there, lurking around. And I walked where they walked. My feet were where their feet were. WE BREATHED THE SAME SMOGGY AIR! Haha. Thought you guys might get a kick out of that very uneventful story.