forty seven

Ariana's eyes fluttered open, the world around her coming into a hazy focus. Pain radiated from her body, particularly her ankle, which throbbed with a deep, insistent ache. She blinked, trying to clear her blurred vision, only to realize she was sprawled on the cold, hard ground of the Sanctuary's courtyard.

Her ankle was twisted at an awkward angle, sharp pain shooting up her leg with every slight movement. Panic flared in her chest as she tried to push herself up, but her body was slow to respond, her muscles still in shock from the fall.

Then she heard it... the unmistakable sound of low, guttural groaning. Walkers.

Ariana's breath hitched, fear surging through her as she scanned her surroundings. The courtyard was scattered with the undead, their decayed bodies dragging across the dirt, drawn by the gunfire and chaos that had erupted moments earlier. They stumbled forward, their dead eyes locked onto her, hungry and relentless.

Her heart raced. She needed to move, but her ankle was useless, the pain almost unbearable. Gritting her teeth, Ariana crawled toward the nearest piece of cover, an overturned metal barrel near the edge of the courtyard. She winced with every drag of her body, her ankle screaming in protest, but she forced herself to keep going, desperate to put something between herself and the approaching walkers.

The sound of shuffling feet grew closer, their snarls filling the air. She reached the barrel, collapsing behind it as she fought to catch her breath. Her mind raced, trying to come up with a plan, but the pain and the terror made it hard to think straight.

She peeked around the edge of the barrel, her blood running cold as she saw the walkers closing in. They were only feet away now, their decaying fingers outstretched, jaws snapping hungrily.

She fumbled at her side, searching for any weapon, anything she could use to defend herself. Her fingers brushed against a small metal pipe half-buried in the dirt. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

As she gripped the pipe, a shadow fell over her, and she looked up, her heart freezing in her chest. One of the walkers had spotted her, its lifeless eyes fixed on her with single-minded hunger. It staggered forward, mouth open in a twisted, silent scream.

Ariana braced herself, clutching the pipe tightly, ready to swing.

Just as the walker lunged, a sharp, sickening crack echoed through the air. The decayed skull of the walker exploded in a burst of blood and bone, splattering across the ground. The creature crumpled lifelessly at Ariana's feet.

Standing behind it, bat in hand, was Negan. His eyes gleamed with a fierce determination, the barbed wire around Lucille dripping with gore. He towered over the fallen walker, breathing heavily, his grin as sharp as ever despite the chaos unfolding around them.

"Looks like I made it just in time, darlin'." He said, his voice a low growl, the swagger returning in full force.

Ariana's heart pounded in her chest as she stared up at him, relief flooding her for a split second before the pain in her ankle brought her crashing back to reality. She winced, clutching her leg as Negan glanced down, his grin fading into a look of concern.

"Shit." He muttered, kneeling beside her. "You're hurt."

"Yeah, no shit." Ariana snapped. "I just fell off a fucking platform."

Negan's eyes flicked to the approaching walkers, their numbers increasing, slowly surrounding them. He wiped a smear of blood from Lucille with a calmness that belied the growing danger.

"Alright, sweetheart. We gotta get you out of here." He said, sliding an arm under her shoulders and carefully lifting her up. Ariana gritted her teeth against the pain, trying to stand on her good leg as she leaned heavily against him.

"You shouldn't have brought me out here in the first place you fucking prick!" She muttered through the pain, her voice shaking with anger and fear.

Negan smirked despite the situation, glancing down at her as they hobbled toward the nearest building.

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect you to go flying off the damn platform. But hey, at least I'm not lettin' you become a walker buffet, huh?"

Ariana didn't respond, too focused on the throbbing pain in her ankle and the sound of walkers dragging themselves closer. Negan swung Lucille with one hand, whacking an incoming walker in the head without missing a beat, his arm steady as he kept her close with the other.

"We're almost there." Negan murmured, his tone gentler now. "Just stay with me, alright?"

Negan half-dragged, half-carried Ariana toward the nearest trailer in the courtyard, his grip tight as they stumbled across the debris-strewn ground. The sounds of gunfire cracked through the air, the sharp whizz of bullets passing dangerously close. Walkers groaned, their snarls growing louder, their numbers swelling, an unstoppable tide of decay closing in from every angle.

Negan grunted as he kicked the door of the trailer open, shoving it wide and practically throwing Ariana inside. She collapsed onto the floor, her ankle screaming in pain, but her breath came in desperate gulps, more focused on the chaos outside. The instant Negan slammed the door shut, he rammed the lock into place and braced against it, his chest heaving as the walkers began to press up against the metal walls.

The trailer shuddered as the first wave of walkers slammed into it, their hands clawing at the door and windows. The sound was a grotesque symphony of snarls, guttural groans, and scratching nails against metal, a nightmare closing in on them from all sides.

"Shit!" Negan cursed, his voice strained but edged with a twisted excitement as he backed away from the door. He shot a glance at Ariana, his face a mixture of adrenaline-fueled intensity and a hint of concern. "You alright, doll?'

Ariana, still gasping for breath, nodded weakly, though the pain in her ankle had worsened. She pulled herself up against the nearest wall, clutching her leg.

"I think... it's twisted." She replied, her voice trembling but steady enough.

Negan's eyes flicked down to her ankle, but he didn't have time to focus on it. The trailer rocked as more walkers crowded against it, their weight making the entire structure groan. The sound of bullets crackled in the distance, some coming from inside the Sanctuary, others from outside the walls where Rick and his group were undoubtedly continuing the assault.

"Jesus Christ." Ariana muttered, wincing as another violent shudder rippled through the trailer.

"Looks like your old pals brought quite the housewarming party, huh?" Negan said, his grin returning despite the situation, though it didn't reach his eyes. He moved to the small window, peeking through the grimy pane to assess the growing horde outside. The walkers were thick, surrounding the trailer on all sides, their grotesque faces pressed against the glass. Negan shook his head, his grip tightening on Lucille. "We're gonna be neck-deep in dead shit if we stay in here much longer."

"Then what do we do?!" Ariana asked, her voice taut with anxiety. She glanced around the cramped trailer, searching for something, anything, that could help, but the space was bare except for a small table and a few scattered supplies.

Negan stepped away from the window, Lucille resting on his shoulder, his eyes scanning the ceiling and walls as if trying to calculate their options.

"We wait for these assholes to thin out or for my people to clear the mess. No way I'm risking getting you out there like this. You're not gonna make it far on that ankle."

Ariana swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest as the relentless banging of the walkers reverberated through the trailer. She clenched her jaw, trying to focus on breathing, on staying calm, but the noise, the pressure, the sense of entrapment, all of it was overwhelming.

Negan crouched down beside her, his face inches from hers.

"I'll get you through this." He said, his voice low but laced with a promise. "I don't leave my people behind. And right now, darlin', that includes you."

Ariana's breathing was heavy, her ankle throbbing with pain, but her anger burned hotter than the panic she felt. As the trailer rocked under the weight of the walkers slamming into it, she glared at Negan.

"Why the fuck did you drag me onto that platform?" She snapped, her voice sharp and dripping with fury. "You used me as bait, Negan! You were ready to put me in front of Rick, like a fucking meat shield!"

Negan froze, his grin fading as he met her eyes. "Hold up, now." He said, raising a hand as if to calm her down. "I wasn't using you..."

"Don't lie to me!" Ariana cut him off, her voice rising. "You knew exactly what you were doing! You wanted to put me out there like some trophy, make Rick second-guess himself! Like I'm just another one of your fucking lieutenants!"

Negan's face darkened, his usual swagger faltering. "It wasn't like that, darlin'. I was trying to stop this mess from getting any worse. I thought-"

"You thought you'd control everything like you always do!" Ariana spat, pushing herself up against the wall despite the pain in her ankle. "You don't care about me, or about the potential fucking baby in me or anyone else, as long as it keeps you on top! You just wanted to manipulate Rick through me!"

Negan gritted his teeth, his expression hardening.

"You're wrong." He said quietly, though there was a bite in his voice. "You think I'd let anyone out there touch you? Fuck no. I wasn't gonna let anything happen to you."

Ariana shot back, her anger flaring hotter. "You were trying to use me, Negan. You wanted to keep yourself in control, and you didn't care what it cost!"

Negan paced for a moment, dragging a hand through his hair in frustration. The groans of the walkers surrounding the trailer filled the tense silence between them, but neither of them seemed to notice anymore. The real battle was inside.

"I brought you out there because I needed to make Rick the prick think!" Negan finally said, his voice low but rough with emotion. "Yeah, maybe I thought it'd get in his head. But that's because I don't want him to make a stupid move that gets all of us killed, including you. You think I want you dead?! Our fucking child dead?! You think I want any of this?!"

Ariana's eyes were still blazing with fury, but there was something in Negan's tone, something raw and unpolished, that made her pause. She wanted to scream at him, to curse him for putting her in that position. But beneath the rage, she couldn't shake the fear, the same fear that had been at her ever since she'd fallen into this world of violence and power.

"You could've gotten me killed." She said, her voice quieter now but no less intense. "You put me out there like I was expendable. I trusted you."

Negan's jaw clenched as he knelt beside her again, his eyes locked on hers.

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, Ariana. Not to you." His voice was rough, not with arrogance but with an urgency she hadn't heard from him before. "I know I can be a bastard. But I'm not gonna fucking lose you like that."

Ariana's eyes flickered with doubt, the anger still bubbling just beneath the surface, but she swallowed hard, biting back her retort. The sound of the walkers clawing at the trailer reminded her of the reality they were trapped in. The dead didn't care about Negan's promises or her anger. They just wanted blood.

"We need to figure out how to get out of here." She said, her voice still sharp but steadier now.

Negan nodded, standing up and pacing again, his mind already working on a plan. "I'm on it. We'll get outta this shitstorm, I promise you that. While your fucking hero Rick is destroying everything I've built for my people. You think he wouldn't kill you if he thought it'd give him the upper hand? You don't know him like I do, Ariana."

"And you don't know him like I do!" She fired back. "Rick's not perfect, but he doesn't use people. He doesn't play with their lives like they're disposable."

Negan's expression hardened again. "You really believe that? After all this time? You really think he's better than me?"

Ariana was silent for a moment, her chest tight with conflicting emotions. She didn't know what to think anymore, about Rick, about Negan, about herself. Everything was so tangled, and all she knew was that she was sick of being caught in the middle.

"I don't know what to believe anymore." She admitted. "But I know I can't keep letting you control me like this. I'm not one of your Saviours, Negan. I'm my own fucking person. If you want someone you can keep under your thumb who will follow you around like a sheep, I'm not the one for you."

Negan stared at her, his jaw working as he swallowed hard, the weight of her words hanging between them. For once, he didn't have a quick retort or a charming grin to hide behind. There was nothing to say in the face of her anger, her hurt.

After a long moment, he sighed and turned away, pacing to the other side of the trailer.

"You've got it all twisted, doll." He muttered, his voice low and strained. "But I hear you. I hear you loud and clear."