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Jo

The motorcycle slowed. I didn't think we had been on the road long enough to have reached the fifth checkpoint and Negan had tensed beneath my hands alerting me there was something off. I tightened my arms around his waist to steady myself so I could rise up enough to look over his shoulder. I had been wrong, we were at the checkpoint, but there were several trees laying down across the road in front of us, blocking us from continuing onto the sixth.

"What the-" Negan growled and I could feel his words reverberating through his chest.

He stopped the bike but didn't turn it off or make any move to park it. He turned his head right and left studying both sides of the road. His body was tense, expecting some sort of trouble.

I turned my attention to the sides of the road as well, but I couldn't see a threat. The rising tension in Negan's body was starting to make it difficult for me to focus. I slowly lowered my arms, letting go of his waist, so I could go for a knife if need be.

"These were done on purpose," Negan called to be heard over the rumble of the engine.

"A trap? Or just meant to slow us down?" I called back to him, turning my head each way. If it was a trap we needed to figure out which way the attack was going to come from.

Negan grunted but didn't respond. Instead he reached down and turned off the bike.

As soon as the engine quieted I could hear it. My eyes widened and I swung around from side to side. Music. It was music. I didn't recognize the song, but it was close and scratching loudly through old speakers.

I practically leapt off the bike. I spun in a circle trying to pinpoint the source.

"Negan," my voice was low and tight. I didn't bother trying to hide my rising emotions from him. He would have seen through me any way.

This was a trap, no doubt about it. Trees down to force us to stop and a radio playing to draw in the biters. Now the only question was whether it was too late for us to escape.

Negan climbed off the bike. Unlike me, his movements were slow and controlled. "Keep your eyes open," Negan growled. He reached forward and lifted his bat off the handlebars in one hand and pulled a handgun out of the back of his belt with the other.

"Where's it coming from?" I asked, pacing around the small clearing.

It felt like the music was all around us and now that the motorcycle was off it made it clear just how far the noise was echoing through the otherwise silent forest.

"With this road blocked off," Negan said motioning to the downed trees as he searched. "Whatever rotting bastards come this way will be funneled straight to our gates."

I swallowed. Whoever had laid this trap would be extremely pleased when they realized Negan and I had stepped directly into it. I wondered if it was all related to what had been happening back at Sanctuary. Had they laid out this elaborate plan to get Negan alone outside the fence? If so, whoever the mastermind was, they knew a lot about the way Negan thought and the way Sanctuary was run. But they hadn't anticipated me. Together we were a more than formidable team, we weren't going down without a fight.

"Bingo," Negan called. He was standing at the base of the tree stand, looking straight up, his head cocked to the side. He lifted his gun.

I jumped forward and shoved his hand down. He whirled towards me, anger sparkling in his eyes. I shirked back and he went very still. Anger still lit his eyes, and he was completely unapologetic about his movement, but he was waiting to make sure I knew he wasn't going to hurt me.

I sucked in a breath and licked my lips. "If there are any close by a gunshot will bring them a hell of a lot faster than that music," I explained, some of my earlier confidence lost. "The shot will carry further."

He made a noise of impatience in his throat and I didn't know if he was frustrated by my reaction or me being right. He moved around to the base of the stand.

"When was the last time someone was here?" I asked in a low voice.

"Yesterday morning," Negan's voice was tight and angry.

The tension in my body rose and I began pacing along the edges of the road. I never made the conscious decision but suddenly there were knives in my hands. "We need to get back," I called to him.

Negan leaned the bat against the base of the tree and tucked the gun back into the back of his pants. He pulled himself up the ladder. He was halfway up when he started yelling. "Jo!" he bellowed.

I turned up to face him and his eyes were locked behind me. He reached for his gun one handed.

I swung back around as I heard snarls behind me. My eyes widened as a wall of biters came pouring out of the forest. Making their way up the road towards us. I didn't understand how they had gotten so close without my realizing it. The first part of the herd was already between us and the bike.

The herd was converging on us. I glanced from the bike back to Negan. He had started climbing down from the tree. Coming to rescue me, no doubt. 

"No!" I shouted at him, "Get the radio!" I ordered and I swung back to face the herd.

"No, Jo!" he called again.

"I've got this!" I assured him. 

We had to get back. Whoever did this was getting exactly what they wanted. I took a studder step towards the herd, preparing myself to fight. Negan was vulnerable, treed like a cat. But we couldn't leave the checkpoint like this. If what Negan said was true this entire herd would keep shambling down the road straight to The Sanctuary if we didn't do something about it.

I heard my name behind me, but it was so distant it sounded like I was underwater. I couldn't tell if it was real or a memory. For just a moment it sounded like Tommy. That exasperated tone he used to use when I did something particularly frustrating. Just thinking his name nearly jolted me out of my mind. It was almost enough to allow me to rein myself back in and keep control.

Almost.

But then the growls were all around me, there were so many of them, coming through the trees. I was shaking. I was losing control as my mind kept flashing to the cell and to the ring and back, over and over. Places I would never see again, but would forever be branded on my memory.

It felt like a weakness, like I was fighting with a handicap. I wished for just a moment Negan had someone else out here to watch his back. Someone he could depend on, someone stronger.

Weakness into strength.

Remembering Negan's words I drew in a deep breath and instead of trying to control it. I, maybe for the first time since the ring, let myself go.

Less control.

I turned towards the herd and let myself see it. My mind started racing as it worked to process everything I needed to fight this new threat. I drew in a breath and raised the knives in my hand. I exhaled and focused.

Negan needed time and I could give him that. I kicked back the first biter, forcing it into two behind it, knocking them all down like bowling pins. I sliced sideways with my left burying it through the temple of the next while I spun and stabbed upwards with the right. The flesh gave way easier than expected and my hand and knife were trapped in the skull. I kicked the body away to clear the blade as more poured through the trees. Gore coated my right hand and arm but it meant nothing. All I noted was that the handle of my knife on the right was more slippery.

I slashed with the right, coming sideways through the next biters temple. I spun, using my momentum to clear the blade as I buried the left through an eye socket.

It was harder than it should have been to remember I wasn't alone out here. That part of my brain kept being overrun by the pure instinct and movement that had kept me alive for so long. But Negan was with me. Negan was behind me, and he didn't have one of his soldiers with him to watch his back. He was stuck with me.

Weakness into strength

I had to keep a clear path for him to get to me. We had to be able to stay together. It was hard for me to think of it that way. No matter how hard I tried, the thought kept being swallowed up in the movement. I spun and slashed and kicked and struck. I had been made into a creature of movement and instinct. I couldn't fight it. So instead I forced myself to keep Negan at my back. Even lost in the moment of the fight I wouldn't let myself be flanked by the biters, guaranteeing a clear path back to Negan.

I kicked forward and then spun out to the side taking two more to the ground. I could throw any one of my knives and kill the biters on the ground, but I would never get those blades back if I lost them now. And there was no telling how we were going to get out of this one. The bike was lost, swallowed up in the sea of bodies all shambling towards me.

I slashed and stabbed and struck. I forced myself to focus on each one as they came. I kept my strikes tight and close, conserving my energy. I didn't know how many there were, too many. I could feel the knowledge settle in the base of my skull, warm and sure in its certainty I couldn't fight my way out of this one.

Something fell twenty paces to my left, crashing against the black top and shattering. I jerked in surprise and fumbled a strike. I felt as much as heard the click of the biter's teeth only inches from my skin. I tasted panic as I kicked the biter back, slamming my foot so hard into its chest I felt the rib cage give way.

A very small part of my brain was able to recognize it had been the radio that fell. Part of the herd peeled off, drawn by the movement and sound, but the reprieve wouldn't last long. I was too tempting of a target. I used it however, as it was intended and pushed forward. My feet slipped over the gore and blood splattered asphalt, but if possible we were going to need to push towards the bike. It went against every instinct I had to move into the herd, but I sank my teeth into my lower lip and focused on the goal.

I felt more than heard movement behind me. I rolled my body away from it, not clear how I had been flanked. It took me a moment to recognize the movement was too fast, too controlled to be one of them.

Negan.

Negan roared as he leapt forward to meet the herd. He swung his bat powerfully enough I heard it move through the air. The bodies started to fall. We had fought together before, but not like this. Not so intimately that I could feel the way he moved, his speed and power all taken into consideration subconsciously as we fought in tandem.

With him so close I couldn't lose focus in quite the same way again. I had to keep him in the forefront of my mind. I forced my focus onto our breathing. We were both panting, grunting occasionally with each particularly powerful strike. It took me a long time to realize it wasn't the herd I was focused on anymore, it was the man beside me.

"Got an exit strategy Hot Friend?" Negan called loudly to be heard over the roar of the herd. He sounded almost jovial and I couldn't decide if he was actually enjoying himself or if he was trying to keep me from seeing how worried he was.

I sucked in a breath as I opened my mouth to respond to him. Speech felt so far beyond my ability to comprehend. It was just one of the many trappings of civilization that had no place here when I was in this place.

"The bike!" I finally managed to choke out over the echoing snarls that both surrounded us and were bouncing around in my head. I pushed forward another step.

"No way!" Negan called, grunting as he smashed the bat through another skull.

"It's the only way home!" I bellowed back and took another step forward.

But as usual Negan had made up his mind and simply didn't accept that. He reached out, locking his hand around my forearm and pulling me back away from the herd. Away from the fight.

"You're gonna fight." "For how long?" "Til ya can't anymore."

I could always fight. We could still make it out of here. If I fought hard enough, pushed just a little bit further I could make it. Especially with Negan there to watch my back. All I needed to do was focus.

Weakness into strength.

I twisted my wrist in his grip, preparing to make him let me go when he shoved me back against a tree. It wasn't full strength, but it was hard enough to get my attention. My shoulder blades slammed against the base and I grunted as the wind was knocked out of me. He pinned me against the tree, pressing his forearm against my sternum.

"It's too risky," he growled, his mouth inches from mine. His eyes were hard like pieces of obsidian and glinted with determination. Watching him out here, in the middle of a fight, was distracting. With the chaos around us he felt like the only solid thing in the world.  He was like a deep pool, still and cold. I don't know why it was surprising. I had expected heat and temper, maybe even rage. Instead he was dead calm. He was made for this world.

He turned away from me to kill the next biters.

"I can get there," I insisted.

He swung the bat again, his long arms combined with the bat cleared more space for us than I ever could.

"I have no doubt you could Hot Friend," he called swinging again. There was sweat running down his neck, but every swing was as powerful as the last. He cleared the space around us and turned to face me so I was staring at him eye to eye. "Its not worth risking you," He confessed plainly.

I was frozen in shock as he turned back to the herd, keeping his body between them and me. It was like my brain couldn't wrap around the fact that he wasn't willing to use me and my skills to his advantage. Chances were good I could get us out of here. I could fight my way to the bike. But he didn't want me to. He was protecting me. Negan was an opportunist in every sense of the word. It made absolutely no sense.

So if he wouldn't let me fight our way out I would need to think our way out. What had he said? An exit strategy?

"How's your cardio?" I called to him, sliding under his guard so we were fighting side by side once more. I could feel his movements, we were close enough every time one of us struck our arms or back brushed against each other.

Negan glanced down at me, a look of annoyance pulling at his mouth.

I smirked back at him. It was endlessly entertaining to me to know I was aggravating him for a change.

"Try and keep up!" I called back playfully. I took off down the street we had come up yelling as I went, and banging my knives together. Anything to get the attention of the herd. I jogged a quarter mile before I turned. Negan was right behind me and the herd was one hundred feet behind him.

He started yelling too, bashing his bat along the asphalt, making as much noise as possible.

"Is this your master plan?" He called loudly. "We're gonna lead the herd away on foot?"

"Do you have a better one?" I yelled my reply, anything to keep the herd coming. "We get them moving far enough away in the right direction and we circle back to the bike through the woods."

Negan glanced over at me and then looked thoughtfully to the West. "It'll be dark soon," he said.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" My voice was teasing but my heart was still thundering out of control from the fight. That had been close, very close.

Negan flashed me a smile that was all teeth. "Lead the way Hot Friend."

We led the herd for miles and miles back the way we had come. We were able to alternate walking and a slow jog. The biters could only shamble along. As long as we stayed far enough ahead the pace wasn't difficult to maintain.

I'm not sure exactly how far we went, but had been dark a long time before Negan and I slid off the road into the woods. It was difficult navigating with little moonlight and once we were twenty or so paces in Negan grabbed my arm, jerking me around the side of a tree, out of sight from the road.

I could barely see him in the darkness but he pressed his finger to his lips and I got the gist. We were going to wait out the herd passing rather than risk one of us making noise while we stumbled through the dark woods.

The growls sounded closer as the herd came even with us and began to pass. Negan took a step closer to me, to make us a smaller target though I didn't know how well the biters could see in the dark. His hand was still on my arm and though it didn't seem likely I would have sworn I could feel the heat from his hand even through my leather jacket.  

I drew in a deep breath as the growls echoed through the trees. I was fine, we were fine. We had managed to stay ahead of the herd for hours easily. It should have been a relief to step aside and let it go. I pinched my eyes closed against the onslaught of emotions and fears I had managed to keep at bay while I had been moving. It had always been the same in the cell. I could fight and move and just react but only for so long. Eventually it would catch up to me and I would come down from it. Whoever I became when I fought them would run out and I would just be Jo. And Jo was very much afraid. 

Negan ran his hand up and down the arm of my leather jacket reassuringly and it was only then that I realized I was shaking. He wasn't looking at me however, he was standing far enough in the shadows he was able to watch the road. I closed my eyes, trusting him to keep his eyes on the herd while I fought to control my breathing. His hand moved up and down over my arm but now it was like it was subconscious. I exhaled one final time as the noise from the herd faded into the distance. 

"Well shit," Negan muttered after a moment. He pulled back and looked down at me. In the dim light I could only see his outline but I knew that he was looking at my face. "Let's get the hell out of here, what do you say?" He asked.

I nodded and he stepped back away from the tree, reluctantly releasing me. I ran a hand over my face and stepped off into the dark of the forest. 

"So..." I said after a few minutes of silence. "It's pretty clear someone is either trying to overthrow you, or kill you. Any ideas?" I tried to keep my voice light, but my shoulders tensed sub consciously. I wasn't sure how Negan was going to respond to being questioned. He and I had to figure this out and we had time to talk. It would be hours before we made it back to the bike. 

"Look Hot Friend, there are dozens of people in that shit hole who would want me dead, but not many who would dare." Negan's ego was evident in his voice and I rolled my eyes. I half wished he could see it so he would know I didn't buy into his persona. 

"And why is that?" I asked wryly. 

Negan snorted as though my question was ridiculous. "Because, people will start dying if I'm not there to stop it," his voice was a serious growl. 

I hadn't realized I hesitated until Negan's shoulder brushed against mine as he caught up to me. I swallowed and continued to walk side by side with him as my mind raced. 

"Admit it, there isn't anyone back there strong enough to hold that group together."

I tried to think of all the people I had met. Simon was second in command, but I didn't think he would be a very good leader. I think Negan's assessment that people would die was right. The only way Simon knew to handle things was to start shooting. Regina was one of the higher ups, but not enough of the men would respect her. Everyone else I had met were sheep. 

"No, there isn't," I admitted. 

"No one except maybe you beautiful," Negan called as he held a branch out of the way for me to duck under. 

I jerked and looked at his face in confusion. In the dim light all I could see was the white glint of his teeth as he smiled down at me. I shook my head. "You're nuts," I muttered and continued. 

"Maybe," Negan drawled good-naturedly, but he didn't sound like he really believed me.  

I sighed and moved on, because I wasn't comfortable talking about this. "I think the real question we're missing is who would have been able to get out of the gates last night after you locked the place down." 

Negan grunted, which I assumed meant he wanted me to continue. 

"They would have to be comfortable out here, be strong enough to chop down those trees, and know enough about Biters to know how to draw them in and direct their path." 

"Right," Negan agreed. 

"So, who was working the gate last night?" I asked. It was the obvious place to start. Whoever had done this hadn't come out on foot. Whoever was watching the gate would have had to let them out. 

Negan stopped and I turned to face him. He took a slow step towards me his head cocked thoughtfully to one side. "The gate?" he clarified. 

"Yeah, there's no way whoever was working the front gate didn't see something, if not outright letting whoever is behind this out. You had the place on complete lockdown. It was the only way in or out right?" 

Negan nodded and pressed his lips together. "Right. Well then..." he started to say and he shook his head, snorting a little in disbelief. 

"What?" I asked, a bad feeling going over me. "Who is it?" I asked hesitantly. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like the answer.  

Negan turned and looked me dead in the eye. "Your Uncle Merle." 

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Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed the update! It's a little shorter than normal but I wanted to get it out. So...what did you think? 

So I was recently accepted into an extremely prestigious national level advanced education program for my job. The program runs over the course of the next few months. I'm not sure how much free time I will have to write but I promise I am not abandoning this story and I haven't forgotten about you guys. I will continue to write when I have the chance. I will probably need it as a way to decompress haha but my updates will probably become a little more spaced out. Probably every couple weeks instead of once to twice a week like I have been doing. I really appreciate your patience and support through this process! You guys are amazing readers and it's your comments and votes that keep me writing!

Side note: I usually just assume most of you are reading this story because you have already read Last One Standing. If not, you should check it out! Last One Fighting is the Negan-Jo AU to Last One Standing which is a Daryl-Jo fanfic and is MUCH longer. 

Happy Reading Everyone!