"You stupid little bitch!" the man called out as he began to pace around the small house he had chased me into.
I had managed to tuck myself into a closet, hiding behind a pile of clothes. My gun at the ready.
I could hear the heavy thud of his boots on the hardwood floor.
He sure wasn't trying to be stealthy about catching us.
"You don't get to steal from my men and get away with it!" he called out again.
I could hear him climbing the stairs now.
I was part of a small group. We did well for ourselves, but their truck was sitting there.
Full of supplies, with no one guarding it. It was their fault really.
They were well kept, clean cut, they didn't appear to need it that bad.
However, it had been about a week since we took the supplies and they were still hung up over it.
So they must have wanted them pretty bad.
I let out a sigh as I heard him rummaging around upstairs.
I carefully pushed the clothes aside, trying my best to be quiet as I pushed the closet doors open slowly.
The hinges of the door whined as I pushed them open.
I paused, listening.
I could still hear him tossing things around, which meant he didn't hear me.
I crossed the floor quietly, holding my bag tightly as I made my way out of the bedroom.
Once I was in the hall, I crept quietly around to the back door.
I was free.
I started to run, down the back yard and into the woods and I didn't look back.
My friends knew where to meet me.
I caught a glimpse of the blonde, Elaina.
I veered off my path, running over to her.
She was taking cover behind a tree.
"You're not exactly out of sight" I said with a laugh as I got down beside her.
I was trying to catch my breath.
"Where is Marcus?" She asked worriedly.
"I didn't see him in the house, I think he was cut off by some of the men. Don't worry, he can handle
himself" I said reassuringly.
Elaina and Marcus were my best friends.
We were the scavengers for our little group. We were damn good at it too.
"We shouldn't have come back out so soon. Not after they almost caught us last time" Elaina sighed, pushing herself up to peek around to see if she could see anything.
"It's fine. Marcus knows exactly what to do" I was trying to comfort her.
I knew she loved him. It was obvious.
I did too.
It was easy to love him.
He was incredibly smart and brave, and handsome.
But I knew he loved her.
I tried to shake away those thoughts as I turned my attention back to the house.
We had a limited view of it from where we were, but we could see the men coming out of it.
Elaina let out a sigh.
At least they didn't have Marcus.
But as soon as we started to feel relieved, we heard a few gun shots.
They seemed far, maybe on the other side of the house towards the road.
Elaina started to get up, but I grabbed her arm.
"No! Stay here. They might be trying to lure us out" I said as I held tightly to her.
"It could be Marcus!" She snapped back.
A few more shots rang out and she wiggled from my grip, taking off back towards the house.
"Damn it, Elaina!" I called out as I stood, running after her.
I managed to catch up with her just as she made it out of the tree line, but it was too late.
The men had already spotted us.
They pointed their guns at us, but the man in front held up his hand.
"No, don't shoot. He wants them alive" He commanded.
I took a hold of Elaina's hand, pulling her back towards the woods.
We ran deeper into the trees and cut left, heading towards the creek.
We heard the whistle that stopped us dead in our tracks.
It was Marcus.
He was standing on the other side of the creek
"Come on" he urged us.
We looked up and down the creek.
It wasn't deep, but the water was moving and we didn't need to be weighted down by water logged boots.
I could hear the men close behind us, barreling through the woods.
I helped Elaina up onto a log to cross the creek, Marcus waiting on the other side for her.
"I found them!" one of the men yelled as he made his way towards us.
Elaina looked back to me, shaking her head.
She knew exactly what I would do.
"Go! Marcus just take her and go!" I urged them.
He gave me a look, nodding.
He understood and I was grateful of that.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back before they disappeared into the woods.
The man caught up with me and soon I was surrounded by them.
I had my gun drawn, pointing between each of them.
It was useless really, I could maybe take one of them down, but not all of them.
"Come on, little girl. Drop the gun" The tall man with grey hair laughed.
I wasn't going to go easily.
"Fuck you!" I snapped.
He walked forward, and in a fluid motion, pulled the gun from my hand.
But he was met with a solid punch.
I whined a bit, grabbing my hand as it ached.
"Fuck!" he stumbled back, holding his nose.
"Little bitch" he growled and two other men circled me.
They dug their boots into the back of my leg, making me stumble forward on my knees.
They took a hold of my arms, holding me back.
"Forget the other two. Let's focus on taking this one back to him" the corner of his lip twitched as he spoke, looking down at me.
I was going to protest, to demand to know where we were going.
But before I could, they placed something over my head where I couldn't see.
I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and I was gone.

The sound of the heavy truck door closing jolted me awake.
I went to sit up, but felt a hand tighten around my arm.
"Oh no, you aren't going anywhere" the man said.
I still couldn't see.
I could hear the muffled sounds outside of the truck. I could recognize the voice belonged to the tall man with the grey hair.
He was instructing someone on where to take me.
The door opened and I was pulled out of the truck, tossed down on my knees again.
The pavement beneath me was hot and made me wince.
But then I heard it. I could hear the clanking of something moving against a fence and the snarls of Walkers.
Where the hell was I?
The men got another hold of my arms and struggled to get me to my feet.
"It's your lucky day, you get to meet the boss" the man who had been sitting in the truck with me teased.
They began to tow me forward.
But again, I wasn't going to go easy.
I fought them the best I could, wiggling in their grip and kicking my legs.
The heat of the sun left my skin and I felt a cool breeze hit. I heard a door close behind me.
Okay, we were inside. Away from the Walkers. That was something.
We walked for a few minutes without turning, down a hall was my guess.
But then we stopped.
I continued to wiggle in their grip, cursing them as they held on to me.
They said nothing, they didn't move, just held on to me.
"And what do we have here?" The deep voice cut through the silence, making me stop.
Why was that voice so damn familiar?
"Sir, this is one of the girls from the group that robbed your truck" the tall man spoke clearly.
"Ah, well fucking shit. You managed to catch the sneaky little bitch." I could hear his footsteps get closer to me.
"The others?" He asked. He was standing right in front of me now.
"No, we couldn't find them. But she was the one who stole from you, Sir. We thought she might be priority. But she gave us one hell of a fight" his
tone came out annoyed.
"Yeah, I can see that by your bloody nose. No matter, extra points for the lot of you" he laughed and the men laughed as well.
"Now, open my present. I wanna see what Grandma got me!" he teased.
The man behind me jerked the bag off my head.
I closed my eyes tightly as the bright lights hit.
"Oh fucking hell..." the familiar voice said.
I looked up, face to face with him.
I blinked the spots away until my vision was clear.
My eyes widened as I took in who was standing in front of me now.
"Negan?" I asked in disbelief.
I was taking in his appearance.
He wore a black leather jacket with a red scarf tucked into it, sporting a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
But for the most part, he didn't look too much different from when I had seen him last, back before the world ended.
"Well, well, Elizabeth fucking Lane. What the good God Damn are you doing here?" he smirked, looking me over.
He was different.
The man I remembered was gentle, caring.
This wasn't the man I knew.
He had the same features, but he was unrecognizable.
"Negan, what the hell is going on?" I questioned.
But the man to my right twisted my arm hard, making me cry out.
"You'll watch your fucking manners" the man on my right snarled.
But Negan raised his gloved hand, waving him off.
"Now boys, we don't hurt pretty ladies like that. Loosen up" his tone was casual.
"Negan I.." I started again, but he swung the bat in front of my face.
"We have a lot to talk about, doll. But not right now" he smirked, giving the grey haired man a look.
With out even saying a word, they towed me backwards down the hall.
They stopped at the end of the hall to open a door to a small room.
They pushed me inside.
Negan popped his head in.
"I'll be back to deal with you later. Sit tight, doll" he laughed and closed the door.

R & R is always appreciated! I was so nervous and excited to start this story. I have loads of ideas for it and hope that you all enjoy!