I paced back and forth in my room, my thoughts running a million miles a minute.
Seeing my friends, how scared Marcus seemed, how mad Negan was and the kiss.
It all blurred into one thing, anger.
I was mad that he was keeping me locked up, hell I was mad I was even here in the first place.
When I arrived, my initial reaction was to do whatever it takes to survive.
But after seeing Negan, I just fell too comfortable here.
It was easy to forget that, no matter what freedom he gave me, I was still a prisoner.
I could rebel all I wanted, I could push his limits and work my way up, but nothing would change.
The man I knew before, the man I had fallen in love with, was gone and I needed to accept that fact.
I can't save him, nothing could. He would never change.
All I could do was keep surviving here with the hope that maybe one day he will get bored and let me go home to my friends.
Until then, I'd work like I was supposed to, I would see my friends like Dwight promised and I would wait until I got the chance to go home.

I tried my best to sleep, but it wasn't going to happen.
My thoughts just kept circling in my head.
I needed a run, I needed to clear my head.
So I went about my usual routine, getting up and getting ready.
I slid my bag over my shoulder and went to open my door.
Of course Negan had men outside my door.
I let out a sigh, "It's time for me to meet Simon for my run"
One of them turned and eyed me up and down.
I shook my head, giving them a look.
"Got a problem? I'm gonna be late and Negan won't like that.." I crossed my arms.
He let out a groan, "Fine, but I gotta escort you there" his voice seemed annoyed and I felt bad he had to watch over me.
I relaxed a little, "Okay then"

The man followed me down to one of the meeting rooms and lingered by the door.
I tilted my head, "You don't have to wait with me. I'm here with the guys and Simon, like I'm supposed to be. I'll make sure Simon walks me back when we're done with our run. Go enjoy your day" I spoke quickly, not giving him much time to disagree.
He sighed again and walked off.
I stepped into the room and Simon smiled at me,
"Princess Lizzie, was wondering what was taking you so long. Old Theo there taking up all your time?" he laughed.
He was always so calm and happy and that relaxed me further.
"Yeah, slow poke really" I laughed "What do we have planned?" I asked, stepping over to where he was sitting.
He slid the map out on the table and traced his finger along an area.
"We are going to make a quick run here" he pointed to an area we had already been to a few times.
I shook my head.
I needed a good run, not a comb over.
"Why there?" I questioned.
He shifted in his seat for a moment, "We just want to do a quick sweep.." his voice trailed off.
I let out a sigh, "Negan talked to you, didn't he?" I crossed my arms.
Simon looked up at me, letting out a sigh.
I shook my head, slamming my hands down on the table.
"I want a longer run. A real run!" I snapped.
Simon shook his head, pointing to the area again.
"Where exactly do you want us to go?" he asked.
I slid the map closer, looking over the surrounding area.
I pointed to a spot to the east of us. It was a large area that we hadn't been to yet.
"I want to go here. It's prime shopping ground, not heavily populated but with enough space that there would be some good finds" I looked at Simon who became suddenly tense.
"No, that's the dead zone. It's been cleared already and we are not going there" he spoke quickly.
"But Simon.." but he cut me off before I could continue.
"Elizabeth, we are not going to the dead zone! That's final. We are going to this area, if you don't like it I can have you sent back to your room" his tone was harsh as he snapped at me. He had never really been that way towards me, not even when I first arrived here.
So I knew something was up.
I took a few steps back from him, a little too shocked by his outburst to really say anything.
I turned and walked towards the door.
"Elizabeth, you know you can't leave with out an escort" he said as he stood.
I stopped, but didn't face him. "I'm just going to get some air and load up the truck, that's all. We can go to whatever area you want, I just want to go Simon.." I sighed.
Simon did the same, "Okay Elizabeth. I'll be out there shortly.."
I didn't wait for him to say anything else, I just made my way outside.

I was at the front truck, loading up our supplies and my pack when I heard footsteps.
"Took you long enough" I sighed, expecting it to be Simon, but it wasn't.
It was Dwight.
He looked around for a minute before stepping in close to me.
As he got closer, I could see the purple bruising around his eye.
"Dwight.." I sighed his name.
He shook his head, "I'm fine. Look I heard you talking to Simon.. You wanna go to the dead zone?" he questioned.
"Yeah, to my knowledge it hadn't been explored, but he insists that it has" I crossed my arms, watching him carefully.
"It hasn't. Negan put strict orders for no one to go there." he looked around again.
I shook my head, "I don't understand. If they insist it's empty, why order everyone no to go there?" I was thinking out loud.
"I think Negan might be hiding something out there. Simon knows about it, but I don't. You're itching for a good run, aren't you?" he asked as he looked me over.
"Yeah, I need to clear my head. But you'll get in trouble.." I placed my hand on his shoulder.
"Oh he can't do anything worse to me. If Negan believes you care for me, he won't rough me up too bad. Besides, Simon will just think you bailed on the run. I already payed off Theo to pretend you're in your room and I have a car just outside the back gate. But if we're going to go, we should go now." he took a step back, holding out his hand for me.
I didn't really think much about what I was doing, I just wanted to go.
I took his hand and followed him.
We made it out the back gate fairly easy and to the car he had waiting.
He brought two of his friends with us as well.
So if we did get caught, we had two others proving we weren't ''sneaking off together''.

The drive east wasn't too bad, just long stretches of road.
The men tried to make jokes and small talk, but I was still in my thoughts.
"What do you think Negan is hiding out here? More wives?" one of the men laughed.
I crossed my arms, sinking down in my seat a little.
Dwight placed his hand on my leg, looking over to me for a second before returning his focus to the road.
"Don't mind them. They haven't been out in a while" Dwight laughed, trying to make me feel better.
But as we drove further away from The Sanctuary, further from Negan, the more nervous I got about it all.
Finally we pulled up to a small mill type town.
Small stores and big mill style buildings lined the road.
A pretty big contrast to the stretch of farm lands just beyond it.
"Let's start with the stores, work our way up to check out those big buildings. We packed light, so we will only carry back light. We can always come back" I looked between each of them as I spoke.
They all nodded in response.
It felt good to get back into my rhythm.
"Let's go then" I said with a smile as I got out of the car.

We made a sweep through all the stores.
Everything was intact, seemed way too cleaned up.
Though there really wasn't much to get, maybe Simon was right.

We met back up in the street, all of us pretty much empty handed.
"Alright, we will take one last sweep of that big building and call it a day. Maybe Simon was right." I looked to Dwight.
He shook his head, "I don't know. It's so quiet. Even on our rural runs we see at least one Walker, but not here. Everything is so clean.." he looked around.
"I don't know, maybe Negan has cleaned it up cause he's wanting to expand? Make a new outpost or somethin?" one of the guys offered.
"Maybe. We will check the building anyway" I shrugged.

We made our way into the big building.
It was clean as well, quiet and empty.
In fact, it was a little too empty.
I expected for there to be shelves, tables, counters, anything really.
But the floor was pretty open, aside from a few chairs out in the middle and empty beer bottles.
I knew immediately that something here wasn't right.
We walked right into a trap.
"Dwight.." I started, but he grabbed my hand.
The doors we had come through swung open behind us.
Each of us spun around, Dwight pulling me back behind him.
A group of men flooded the door way, spilling into the space.
A tall man with a slender build and messy, dirty blonde hair walked forward.
"Well boys, think we found our salvation" his laughter filled the room.
He had some what of a southern accent, but his tone was sickening still.
He stepped forward, a few men spreading out to our sides.
I instinctively reached for the strap of my bag, but realized I left my pack in Simon's truck.
"Shit.." I whispered to myself.
The man walked up closer to Dwight, the two guys who came with us closed in with Dwight, pushing me back behind them.
"You're part of that big group, yeah? That jacked up face of yours says it all" The man laughed, licking his lips as he eyed Dwight.
"Who are you?" Dwight asked, holding his ground.
The man laughed, "Well I'm Julian! It's a pleasure to meet ya, Pretty. This group here, we call ourselves the Heretics. You see, we got a certain set of beliefs and practices that this world has opened our eyes to." he rambled a bit and caught himself.
"Practices and rituals that get interrupted when your people come pushing our territory. Now, we done warned your leader once about this. Seems like we need to send a better message, huh?" he bit at his bottom lip as he chuckled, pulling a gun from his holster.
The other men followed the same action.
"See, we ain't got time for you to beg or cry or whine, so we're gonna get this over with real quick. We're gonna kill all but one of ya. The last one standing can go back to your leader and tell him to back off. That understood?" He questioned, pointing the gun right at Dwight.
But I noticed one of the other men inching closer to us on the side, he eyed me closely.
I swear I had seen him before.
"Wait a minute boss, you're gonna wanna rethink this.." he spoke up.
"What is it?" Julian asked, a bit annoyed.
The man who was watching me smiled brightly, a sickening smile.
"The girl" he nodded towards me.
Two other men stepped up to the guys and pulled them away from me.
I took a few steps back.
"She belongs to the leader. He's constantly checkin' up on her. He's obsessed with her or somethin'" He spoke as he walked over to Julian.
"Your best bet is to just kill her, let the men take her back to their leader. That will send one hell of a message" he laughed.
"Kill the Queen to hurt the King.." Julian mumbled to himself and immediately pointed his gun at me.
"No, no. You're wrong! She's my wife, not his. Please" Dwight started to plead.
But it only made all the men laugh.
"I'm Negan's right hand man. You wanna hurt him, kill me. Not her" Dwight continued.
Julian pointed the gun at Dwight once again.
"All your beggin' is doing is tellin' me that's she pretty important. But you want me to kill you instead?" he questioned.
"Yes. I work the best for Negan, I get the most done. He doesn't care about her." Dwight stepped closer to him.
"They are lyin' boss." The man who ratted me out spoke up with a laugh.
"Maybe so. But I like this one beggin' me" Julian laughed.
Dwight nodded, it was obvious he was ready to accept this fate.
"Just shoot me and get on with it!" Dwight snapped and closed his eyes.
"Alright then. We will get on with it" Julian laughed out loud again.
Dwight closed his eyes tighter, bracing himself.
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes as I watched.
The shot rang out through the room, sending our ears ringing.
The only sound we could hear, apart from the ringing, was Julian's manic laughter.
Only to be followed by a silence that was equally as deafening.

R & R is always appreciated! Ah I am so excited for all of this!