Carolina in my mind

Chapter 43

Carolina pushed back against the dark. Against the sickeningly sweet smell of the rag that was being forced down over her mouth. She could still feel her fingertips scraping against the cross decal on the rear window of the car as she screamed Daryl's name. There were two men in the backseat with her. And while they weren't handling her gently, they didn't seem to be trying to hurt her either. Not yet anyway. Carolina reached up, clawing at the cloth that was pressed down over her mouth and nose. But her efforts were in vain. Her arms already felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each. And then she was falling. Down the rabbit hole. Like Alice in Wonderland. Except she didn't have a white rabbit to follow.

When she came to, the first thing Carolina heard was a knock on the door of her apartment. And then Maggie's whiny meowing. Not Maggie the woman, her pet cat Maggie. The fluffy tabby rubbed itself along Carolina's legs, wanting the canned food she had in her hands. In her hurry, Carolina set the whole can on the floor instead of scooping it into Maggie's dish like she usually did. She could feel her body tingling with excitement as she headed for the door. Carolina smoothed down her hair and tugged at the front of her dress, pulling it down so that more of her cleavage was exposed. She smiled as she approached the door. But she didn't open it. Not right away. She waited and made the man outside knock again, this time sounding slightly impatient.

"I thought I told you to stop coming over here," Carolina teased, only opening the door wide enough to give the man on the other side a tiny peek of her.

He was leaning forward, his hand splayed out against the doorframe. And despite the cocky grin on his face, Carolina couldn't stop herself from raking her eyes down over his body. His jeans weren't tight. But they fit him well, hanging low across his slim hips. His black t-shirt was rucked up slightly, since his arm was raised, displaying a tiny sliver of his toned stomach and the edge of his boxer briefs. Her insides clenched deliciously at the sight.

"Nice jacket," she said, eyeing the fresh leather that was hugging his body in all the right ways. Finally she glanced up high enough to meet his hazel eyes with hers. He caught her gaze and held it until her tongue flicked out to wet her lips.

"Open this fucking door," he ordered, tempering his demanding words with the large bouquet of flowers he brought for her.

Carolina giggled, shaking her head as she finally swung her apartment door open and allowed the man to enter. She took the bouquet from his hands. Lifting it, she closed her eyes as she breathed in the smell of the fresh flowers. When Carolina turned, looking for somewhere to put them, she started to laugh. He'd been sending her flowers nearly every day since the first time they slept together in the backseat of her car. Roses, sunflowers, peonies, tulips, flowers she had no idea what the hell they even were. They were stuck in vases, mason jars, and even drinking glasses, covering nearly every surface in her small apartment. There were even flowers in her bathroom.

"I'm running out of places to put them," she said, giggling as she took a step towards her small kitchenette. Her lover caught her by the wrist, jerking her body against his. He was tall enough that when they were this close, she had to tilt her head back to see the wicked grin on his face.

"You might be running out of places to put your flowers," he teased, his hand caressing down over the curve of her hip to palm her backside. "But I'm not running out of places to put my dick."

Carolina squealed, dropping the flowers on her counter as he pulled her into his arms. He crushed her against him, already gripping her ass through the silky fabric of her dress. Carolina lifted up on her tiptoes, hungry for the taste of his lips. His hand fisted into her hair, anchoring her head in place as he teased her by rubbing the tip of his nose against hers. She was already near panting with desire, desperate for so much more than just the tiniest brush of his lips against hers. His heated breath fanned across her face, smelling like the breath mint he sucked on while he was walking up the apartment building stairs to reach her door.

"Say my name," he ordered, his tongue flicking across the soft pillow of her lips.

Carolina strained against the hold he had on her, pulling her own hair in her desire to capture his mouth with hers. She let out a soft pleading moan, drawing the tension out between them for just another moment before she gave in and did as he asked.

"Negan."

At the sound of his name, Negan crushed his lips down on hers. His hand tangled in her hair as the other arm wrapped around her waist to jerk her body against his. Their kisses were feverish, a wild tangle of tongues and teeth. He released his hold on her just long enough to let her push his jacket off his shoulders. The moment his arms were free again he reached for the skimpy straps of her dress, raking them down over her shoulders. Her lacy dress was low cut enough that everything above her nipples was already on display, the sort of outfit Carolina only put on if she wanted someone to peel her out of it. Just pushing the straps down was enough to reveal her hardening nipples. And she moaned into his mouth as he rubbed his thumbs back and forth across the sensitive buds.

Carolina began to push against Negan's chest, walking him backwards towards her living room couch. He stumbled backwards a step, his boot catching on his discarded leather jacket. Their bodies clunked together, making both of them laugh. He gave her another hard kiss before he moved back a step so that he could kick off his boots. Carolina slipped her arms out of her dress straps, pushing the material down so that her top half was bare. She lifted her arms over her head, enjoying the hungry way he was eyeing her breasts as he lifted his foot out of his boot and kicked it away. With his boots off, Carolina began to tug him towards the couch. But he grabbed her, shaking his head.

"I need the bed for what I wanna do to you," he said, his eyes darkening as he pulled her back into his arms. Carolina felt her insides clench deliciously as she reached for the hem of his shirt. They kissed and groped at each other, leaving a trail of clothes in the narrow hallway that led to her bedroom. By the time he lowered himself down onto her bed and pulled her into his lap, the only item of clothing between them was her skimpy black lace thong.

Carolina wasn't sure what he was doing when he began to maneuver her body, putting her in the position he wanted. Because the next thing she knew she was face down across his lap with her wrists pinned behind her back. Her long blonde hair was dangling down as the blood rushed to her head. His hand came down hard across her ass, making her jump and squeal and the unexpected rough contact. Before she could recover from the first blow, he hit her again. And then a third time, pinking up her rounded cheeks. She was breathing hard. And her face was hot, partly because of the unapproved spanking she was receiving and partly because her head was upside down. Carolina felt him rip her panties down. And she braced herself for another blow. But inside of slapping her again, he slid his fingers between her cheeks. She gasped when he entered her, forcing two fingers into her slick pussy at once.

Carolina heard his satisfied groan. His dick twitched against her belly. "You liked that didn't you," he hummed. "You're fucking soaked."

After two hard thrusts of his thick fingers, Negan withdrew his hand and brought it down across her ass again. This time the slap was more playful. And he released his grip on her wrists, pulling her back up into more of a sitting position on his lap. Carolina held on to him, letting him kiss up the side of her neck as she dizziness she was feeling receded. What he said about her was true. Her insides were throbbing and almost dripping with need. Even her thighs were coated in her arousal.

"I want you inside me," she said, nipping at the sensitive spot behind his ear.

Carolina laughed as she was quickly rolled onto her back. Negan tossed her legs over his shoulders and wasted no time in lining up the swollen head of his dick with her slicked opening. He pushed in, filling her with one hard thrust. Carolina's hands fisted into the blankets as the pain of being forced open enhanced her pleasure. He pulled out completely, making her whimper before he slammed back in again. The sound of his skin hitting hers filled the room. And her breasts swayed and jiggled with the hard force of his thrusts. She closed her eyes, arching her back as she felt her orgasm wash over her.

Carolina felt her entire body go rigid. She couldn't feel Negan's body against hers anymore. And as the aftershocks of her orgasm receded, all she could feel was the pain. Her entire body hurt. The worst of it was in her wrist. But there was a weird pinching feeling in the crook of her elbow as well. And her face felt like the time she fell face first off the handlebars of her brother's bicycle. Except this time Collin wasn't there to cry like he was the one with a face full of road rash instead of her.

Carolina blinked her eyes open. She looked around, immediately recognizing the space around her as a hospital room. The pinching feeling was coming from the IV needle in her arm. And for a moment, she was flooded with relief. She was finally awake. She didn't smell like a skunk. Her walking dead nightmare was finally over. Her heart hurt at the thought of never seeing Daryl again, but she quickly pushed those feelings away by distracting herself with thoughts about all the cookie dough ice cream and Chinese takeout she was about to stuff her face with. She could cry about Daryl later. First she needed to figure out where she was and how long she'd been asleep.

Carolina felt around for the remote that was attached to her bed. Finding it, she pressed down on the call button. Nothing happened. Carolina shook the device, noticing that the thing wasn't even lit up. She pressed the buttons that were supposed to control the bed. But they didn't do anything either. Carolina furrowed her brows together, wondering if somehow the entire bed had come unplugged. It seemed strange that they weren't monitoring her vitals from the nurses station. Carolina moved slowly, unsure of how badly she was injured. Her wrist and face hurt. And when she brought her fingers up, she could feel a raised injury across her cheek that felt like it was stitched back together. Nothing a little makeup won't fix, she told herself to keep from panicking over her possible facial disfigurement.

Since her legs and the rest of her body seemed to be in better shape than her face, Carolina slid off the bed. She shuffled across the room towards the window, pulling her metal IV tower with her. When she reached the window, Carolina lifted her good hand and pressed it flat against the glass. This couldn't be happening. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to clear the images of the dilapidated city from her mind. She had to be seeing things. Because not only was she not back home in Virginia, she wasn't in Kansas anymore either, Toto. She was still stuck in the goddamned fucking show. And not only that, but from the looks of her surroundings, she was at the last place she ever wanted to end up. She was in Grady Memorial Hospital.

"Hell fucking no," Carolina cursed. "I'm not taking Beth's fucking storyline! This is some serious bullshit!"

Being stuck in a hospital with a bunch of weirdo guinea pig eating rapists was a very large no thank you. Carolina didn't even enjoy watching Beth's hospital episodes, let alone have any interest in living through them herself. Whether or not she could die in this reality remained a mystery. But she could certainly be abused and raped here. And that did not sound like fun.

Carolina pressed her forehead against the cold glass, closing her eyes and refusing to let her fear take over. Daryl would come for her. He came for Beth, Carolina told herself, and she didn't even blow him. He's definitely coming for me. I just need to stay calm and play it cool until he shows up.

Carolina took another deep breath before she pushed herself away from the window. Her first order of business was getting herself out of this room. Carolina felt the pinch in her arm as she moved towards the door. She was still attached to the IV pole. She reached up, turning off the saline drip before she gently removed the needle from her arm. With her elbow crooked to keep the pressure on the small wound, Carolina resumed her previous mission. A few jerks on the handle of the door confirmed that it was locked. No surprise there. Carolina lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

"Hey!," she hollered. "Is anyone there? Someone let me out of here!"

Carolina knocked harder on the door, pressing her ear to the varnished wood and listening for any response. She couldn't make out what they were saying. But she could hear voices and the sound of people scurrying around outside her door. Confident that they knew she was awake, Carolina sat down on the edge of her bed to wait, wishing that she was wearing anything other than a thin hospital johnny. The tile floor was cold against her bare feet.

After what felt like a long wait, the door to her room swung open. Carolina couldn't remember the doctor's name. But she recognized him from the show. And with him, of course, was Dawn, better known as constipated Katy Perry. The woman was brandishing a gun, like Carolina was about to really do some damage with nothing but her hands as weapons and her bare ass hanging out the back of her robe. When Dawn/UglyKaty realized that Carolina was sitting calmly and staring at her like she'd grown a third eyeball, the woman tucked the gun away.

"I'm Doctor Steven Edwards," the man said, cautiously approaching her. "This is Lieutenant Dawn Lerner. I see you already took your IV out," he observed. Carolina nodded, allowing him to check her pulse and shine a tiny flashlight in her eyes. At least she knew his name now, so she could stop referring to him as Milton 2.0 in her mind.

"I turned off the IV before I took it out," Carolina said, gesturing towards the IV pole. "I didn't want it to drip all over. Can you tell me where I am?"

"You're at Grady Memorial Hospital," he explained. He turned, exchanging a pointed glance with Dawn. Damn, she looks even more constipated up close, Carolina thought. As her former high school students said about girls they didn't like, Dawn was a ratchet bitch. "You have some medical training then?," the doctor asked. Carolina nodded. She didn't have much. She worked with the doctor in Woodbury for a few days. And Hershel taught her a little more. But these people didn't need to know the limitations of her knowledge.

"I was a nurse practitioner before the outbreak," Carolina said. To be honest she wasn't even sure what the difference was between a nurse practitioner and a regular nurse. She just said it because she thought it made her sound more important. "Can you tell me how I got here?," she asked. "Was I concussed when you brought me in? I don't remember anything." It was her second major lie in the last thirty seconds. She was probably going to go for a personal record and tell a few more too.

"My people found you passed out on the side of the road, surrounded by rotters," Dawn said. "They saved your life, bringing you here."

And Carolina thought she was a liar. That was the biggest whopper she ever heard. Now that she was totally awake and had regained her bearings, she remembered quite clearly what happened. Those motherfuckers tried to run Daryl over with their car. They hit one of the creepy claimer dudes and splattered him all over their windshield. That was actually sort of badass. But then they grabbed her and held a rag full of knock out gas down over her face until she blacked out. That was not cool at all. If they did anything else to her while she was out, she didn't want to know about it. They did sort of save her. Not from the dead but from that creepy band of rapists. But they also kidnapped her. And mangled up her face in the process.

"Oh," Carolina gushed. "Are they here? The men who saved me? I'd really like to thank them." Just to be extra, Carolina beamed a big smile at the woman. It hurt her face but it was totally worth it.

"I'm sure I can arrange that," Dawn said, clearly floundering to get her 'you owe us' welcome speech back on track. "But before that I have something I need to discuss with you. We expended a lot of resources healing your injuries. Supplies. Medicine. Gas to get you back here…" Carolina nodded her understanding. "You'll need to pay us back before you leave."

"Of course," Carolina said, moving to take the folded stack of clean hospital scrubs Dr. Edwards retrieved from the hall for her. "I'll do anything I can to help." She waited until the door clicked shut behind him and Dawn before she let out a huge sigh of relief. Lifting her hand Carolina felt over the pair of scissors she lifted from the pocket of the doctor's white coat while he was taking her pulse. The tip could be sharper. But it would do in a pinch. And unlike Beth, she was going to wait for the right moment to use them.