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Jo

My attackers hands were hot, like searing brands around my throat. His skin was slick with sweat and his hair was plastered to his face. My pulse was thundering in my ears as I fought to breathe. The edges of my vision were going dark.

Negan was there suddenly, knocking him off of me, but not before I got a good look at his face. I almost didn't recognize Scott with the blood dripping out of his eyes, ears and nose. Negan slammed the butt of his rifle against Scott's temple and the other man collapsed. I rolled to my knees coughing and gasping as I fought to remember how to breathe. The oxygen seared my throat.

"He's alive!" I croaked, holding a hand around my burning throat. Scott was the first person we had seen. I needed to stop Negan before he killed him. We needed information.

Negan has raised his rifle once more, preparing to slam it down again. When I called out he hesitated and glanced back at me, frowning. I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees and scrambled over to Scott's body.

I rolled him over, hesitating as I saw the blood running from his eyes, ears and nose. My fingers found his neck. There was a very faint pulse.

"Get away from him," Negan's hand closed around my shoulder and he pulled me back. I almost tripped over my feet but Negan caught me. He held me until I steadied myself. Seeing the exact symptoms on biters back at the hotel I found I agreed with him. Unconsciously, I scrubbed my hands against the leather of my pants.

Negan positioned himself so he was between me and Scott. He toed him with his boot. "Scotty boy!" He called loudly.

Scott stirred, frowning.

"Scott," Negan repeated, kicking him harder in the thigh to get his attention.

Scott grumbled and moaned. He rolled away from us. He tried to push himself up on his elbows but failed, falling back as a coughing fit took him.

Negan shifted uneasily and pushed us another few steps back. "Scott!" Negan barked the name like a drill sergeant and both Scott and I flinched.

Negan's hand on my elbow tightened as Scott's eyes flew open. His gaze landed on Negan and I.

"H-help p-" Scott broke off into another coughing fit. It was deep in his chest and wracked his whole body. Whatever was wrong was in his lungs.

"Scotty look at me," Negan ordered.

Scott's whole body was shaking from the effort of just turning his head. He was dying. Those biters we had seen had died from whatever this illness was that Matt had been trying to cure.

"Where is everybody?" Negan asked, his voice hard. I could tell he wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible, but we needed answers.

Scott was coughing again as more blood pooled in the corner of his mouth. He either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Come on Scott," Negan snapped impatiently. "Where are your people?"

"S-sick," Scott panted. He coughed again and gaged on the blood filling his mouth.

"Negan," I said in a low, warning voice. We needed to get our people as far away from this disease as possible.

Negan nodded, though he didn't take his eyes off Scott. "Yeah," Negan replied tightly, "I can see that. Where is everyone?"

Scott rolled onto his side towards us, though his eyes were open I didn't think he was looking at us anymore.

"Please help us," Scott managed to stammer out, he stretched his arm out towards us, though he couldn't see where we were.

Negan grabbed my arm and propelled me towards the door. My eyes landed on my knife I had thrown into the other man's spine.

"Leave it," Negan ordered. "I'll get you a new one," he promised gruffly.

When we reached the door I stepped out first.

"Please!" Scott begged from the floor and when he coughed this time he gagged over his own blood, retching onto the floor.

Without hesitation Negan lifted his rifle and shot him in the forehead. Scott's body dropped to the ground with a final thud.

Negan exhaled and lowered the gun. When he looked back at me I made sure he saw no judgement on my face. He fired another shot into the other man's skull before he could change. Then he slammed the door behind us.

"Let's find Matt and get the hell out of here," Negan muttered and he practically pushed me down the hall.

We cleared two more empty rooms before the sound of gunshots echoed down the narrow hall. Negan and I ran towards the sound. We rounded a corner and heard screams echoing out an open door that sounded like a bathroom. We didn't have any Saviors with that would scream like that.

We ran into a large shower room. White sheets hung at odd intervals making it difficult to see the whole room. On the opposite side of the room Merle and Tom were pinned down by ten biters. I wondered briefly why they hadn't just made a break for it and closed the door.

There were bodies littering the floor which told me they had been fighting for a while. Merle was collapsed back against a rack of towels, shooting a hand gun into the herd as blood ran from a deep cut on his thigh. Tom was fighting with knives instead of bullets.

From our angle Negan couldn't shoot into the herd without risking hitting either man.

I drew in a single ragged breath. Negan had taken care of the last ones. This time it was my turn.

I snapped off two throwing knives, dropping the biters at the back of the herd and without hesitation I ran straight into them. I was able to kill two more before the herd was even able to turn towards me. I slashed and moved and twisted through the herd like it was a dance. The biters were too slow and my adrenaline gave me an extra burst of speed.

My heart started thudding in my ears as I kicked my boot halfway through one of the biters rib cage. I pivoted off of my grounded leg, swinging around to make sure I didn't get stuck and planted another blade as I turned. The angle was wrong for it to clear and I had to leave it behind.

My hand dropped to my thigh sheath and I drew another knife without stopping.

There were more gunshots and shouting just like in the ring but the lights were low and it was a cement floor beneath my boots, not sand. The sounds faded as I forced myself to focus. There were only three left and I wasn't even breathing hard.

I slammed a blade up under the chin of one and round house kicked another, clearing room for myself. Another body dropped and another. A fourth and final form appeared in front of me and I twirled my knife through my fingers so I could slam the blade through the biter's ear.

I must have miscounted.

"BARBIE!" I heard yelling but Merle had been there when I was in the ring so it wasn't surprising. He had yelled at me plenty of times when he thought I was getting too good. If I was too good The Governor would be more interested in me. That was dangerous. But The Governor wasn't here anymore. Negan was standing at my back.

I drew my arm back and just before I could slam the blade home a strong hand closed over my arm, halting all movement. Before I could pivot back around on my attacker I was jerked backwards roughly. I almost lost my feet and I collapsed against a powerful chest.

My arms were pinned to my sides and just as I was about to fight back his lips found my ear. "Sshhh," Negan cooed. "Come on sweetheart, it's over."

When I blinked my eyes I realized it wasn't a biter in front of me. It was Tom. His eyes were too wide and he was watching me fearfully.

"There we go," Negan's voice sounded strangely faraway. "You kill Tommy boy and we will never hear the end of it from Kate."

Negan and Tom were chuckling but I could still see the fear in Tom's eyes. He had fought with me plenty of times, but he had never stared me in the face when I had lost control.

There was movement behind Tom and I jerked roughly, instinct compelling me to keep fighting. Negan's grip only tightened forcing me to stillness. Being contained made my breathing kick up and something in my chest tighten painfully as claustrophobia choked me. I needed to be free to move.

"Easy Barbie," Merle called continuing to limp towards us. It had been Merle moving. Just Merle. I sucked in a breath through my nose, fighting to control my body.

Negan seemed to understand the problem and he dropped his hands, releasing me. He trusted me more than I trusted myself.

"Holy shit!" A voice called from the door. I whirled towards it, a knife already pulled back and ready to fly. The man froze his eyes wide and I just barely managed to stop myself, my heart thundering away in my chest as I realized I had almost killed a third ally in two minutes.

I was not in control.

Stop, reset. I chanted to myself as I forced myself to put my knives away.

Merle stepped into the center of the room and behind him came two strange girls. One looked to be in her early teens and the other was young, maybe seven or eight. I realized why Merle and Tom hadn't just locked the door and left the biters. As gruff as Merle could be and as much as he claimed to not care, he never would have left them. Just like he hadn't been able to leave Kate and I.

Once I slid my knives away Negan had let me go fully. I stepped away from him as I fought to slow my breathing.

Negan stepped over to the girls. He crouched down in front of them and they flinched back from him.

"Hi there," he said in a gentle voice. "I need to ask you a few questions, okay?"

The older girl wilted fearfully at Negan's attention. Attempting to pull the other girl back behind her, but the little girl was having none of it. She shoved away from the older girl and lifted her chin as she glared up at Negan.

"You're him aren't you?" The younger one asked, lifting her chin defiantly. I glanced back and forth between the two girls and decided they must be sisters. They certainly looked enough a like. Both had the same honey blond hair and bright blue eyes.

Negan frowned. "Who?"

"The monster," she responded with the absolute certainty only a child could possess. "I recognize you."

"You do?" Negan asked in surprise. If it bothered him to be called a monster by a little girl he didn't show it.

"Yes, my brother said a monster might come with a red scarf, leather jacket and a baseball bat, and I mustn't talk to him," she looked Negan over and didn't look overly impressed.

I coughed behind my hand to hide my laughter. The girl was frowning now as she leaned sideways to look behind Negan. I had the distinct feeling she was looking for his bat. A look of disappointment crossed her dirty face when she didn't see it.

"What about your parents?" Negan asked, shooting me a look of disapproval.

"They're dead," the little girl said flatly. "But our brother takes care of us," she added brightly. "He warned us about you." She repeated pointing at Negan sternly. "His stories scared a lot of the others but not me!" She said proudly.

"Who's your brother?" Negan asked I couldn't tell if the amusement he showed was genuine or not.

"Scott."

The lazy smile on Negan's face slowly slid away. The older girl tightened, understanding immediately, but the young girl lifted her chin once more. "He's going to be in charge one day, everyone will have to listen to him then."

I remembered the single gunshot that had ended her brother's life and bile rose in my throat. With their brother's death these girls were alone. It reminded me too much of losing my own family.

"Where is everyone?" Negan asked.

The little girl's face fell and something that may have been fear flickered in her eyes. The older girl stepped up wrapping a protective arm around her sister. "Scott and Matt had them set up beds so all the sick people could stay either in the rec room or cafeteria."

"Had who set up beds?" Negan was pushing now. Desperate to find his answers.

The girl shrugged. "Anyone not sick. Not too many people actually."

"Where are they now?" I asked stepping forward. If that many people had fallen ill we needed to get out of here.

"They were in the cafeteria helping."

I frowned. "Why aren't you in there?"

The older girl licked her lips and looked back and forth between Negan and I. "Scott made us stay in our room away from the germs. We only came out because Ellie had to pee."

The little girl made a rough noise of embarrassment in the back of her throat but she didn't say anything.

"And then you got cornered," Negan filled in.

The older girl's eyes filled with tears as she nodded. Her eyes fell to the bodies surrounding us.

"She killed them all," the little girl spoke up.

Negan's mouth flattened and his shoulders tightened. He may not have minded someone calling him a monster, but he sure wasn't going to stand around and let someone do the same to me. "They were already dead," he said flatly.

"Well, yeah," the little girl said as though it were obvious. "But she killed all of them by herself." she pointed at me and her eyes were shining with admiration and wonder. "Badass," the little girl said reverently.

"Eliza!" The older girl admonished sharply.

"What?" The young girl asked unapologetically. "It was! I've never seen someone do that. And she's a girl."

"I'm going to tell Scott," the teen warned.

"I'm going to tell Scott! He would think it was badass too!" the little girl continued to enthuse.

Negan threw back his head and laughed. He had tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes when he finally got control of himself. "You got spunk kid," he said ruffling the girls hair. "How do we find the cafeteria? This place is a damn maze."

The teen spoke up. "Down the hall, two rights and a left. Go through the double doors and down the breezeway the cafeteria is at the end."

"Are you going to save everyone?" That was when I realized the little girl was looking at me.

I opened my mouth unsure how to respond.

Negan stepped up smoothly. "We're gonna save everyone we can," he motioned for two Saviors from the door to come in.

"This here is Jon and Erik, they are gonna take you out to the cars where it's safe."

The older girl looked relieved and quickly followed the men towards the door. The little girl paused at the door and looked back at us. "Scott's dead isn't he?" She asked matter-a-factly.

Negan frowned as he looked down at her.

"He never would have left us alone this long," she said with certainty.

Negan nodded. "He didn't make it."

She nodded. Then looked thoughtful before leaning back in the door. "We shouldn't tell Nikki yet, she isn't very strong."

Negan nodded. "I'll leave that up to you when you think it's the right time."

It occurred to me then how incongruous it seemed for Negan to be so good with kids. I remembered that he had been a coach and a teacher. He spoke to the little girl like she was an adult.

Once the kids were gone it was just Negan, Merle, Tom and I. Merle shifted and pulled off the dirty flannel he had been wearing over his dingy white beater. He used the bayonet on his prosthetic to cut the flannel. He tied a long strip around his thigh to slow the bleeding.

"You should head back to the cars too," I said watching him.

Merle scoffed and pushed himself to his feet. "Not happening Barbie," he said and he walked towards me. "Nice work," he said gesturing down to the bodies at our feet. "Badass...for a girl," he chuckled.

I looked down at the bodies laying around us. Blood was dripping out every one of their eyes and ears and a fresh surge of fear went through me. "How many people did Matt have here?" I asked in a low voice glancing towards Negan.

Negan's face was grim and he answered without looking at me. "Fifty or so," Negan said. "Only a dozen fighters." Negan slammed his fist into the metal door sending it flying back with a thunderous echo bouncing down the cement walls of the bathroom. "SHIT!" He bellowed.

"Boss!" A savior I didn't know called jogging towards us. "You better come see this"

Negan and I shared a long look before we jogged after the savior. Most of the Saviors who were supposed to be searching the building were gathered outside a pair of double doors. There were small, thin windows flanking the doors. Men were gathered near them, peering into the darkness. Going off of Nikki's directions this was the way to the way to the cafeteria.

"There's still people in there!" some one called. Everyone shifted nervously.

"We can't make it through there," Simon called back grimly as the glass beside the doors cracked as biters surged towards the new opportunity.

The crack of the glass made me flinch. Negan was already moving, so he didn't notice, but Tom did. He hesitated behind me, keeping space between us. I had scared Tom on more than one occasion lately, and while he tried not to show it, he was wary of me.

Negan strided towards the doors. "Who searched this area? Is there a way around?" he asked urgently.

"I found plans!" Someone yelled jogging towards Negan. Several of the others followed them away from the doors so they couldn't hear the screams. Merle and Tom stepped up near me, neither of them were afraid to look death in the face.

Merle glanced through the narrow window. Another biter slammed against it and his face became grim. "Shit," he muttered.

"We can't make it through," Tom said gravely. He drew his hand gun and checked the clip before he slid it back in with a click and slid the gun away once more.

Every second we wasted lessened our chance of finding anyone else alive in there. They couldn't make it through, but I just might be able to. The place in my head was still close, I could feel it slithering just out of reach. It wouldn't take much to push myself back there. I swallowed, I had nearly killed three allies in less than two minutes. That was with Negan close enough to touch me.

"Look, if we backtrack down this service hall-" Simon's voice was sharp with urgency, but it was beginning to fade to the back of my consciousness.

I drew two knives, twirling them through my fingers as I paced a small circle like a caged animal. I could still hear the screams through the door.

"Open the door," I commanded. "Once I'm through close it."

Both Merle and Tom froze, turning their heads slowly to face me with matching looks of disbelief on their faces. "Barbie-" Merle started to argue but I leveled a look at him. He was in no shape to keep fighting.

"What?" Negan's Head snapped towards me but he was too far away to get to me and still distracted by making a plan to get to the people down the breezeway.

"Open the door Merle," I commanded. My heart started to pound in my ears, slow and steady like a drum beat.

Merle looked doubtful.

"Jo!" Negan called in a warning voice. "Stop her," he ordered, but his men had seen me. They saw me lose control. No one was going to touch me. Especially when I had knives in my hands.

I cracked my neck and met Merle's gaze, twirling the knives through my palms. "Merle!" I snapped.

A girl's scream echoed through the hall. The men around us flinched but no one moved to help. There were no heroes here. Merle met my eyes, nodded once to me, and jerked the door open.

I sucked in a single breath, exhaled and ran through the door.

It took me five running strides before I was through the doors. Every time my right foot hit the ground, I exhaled, pushing a little more of myself away where this couldn't touch me.

"JO!" Negan screamed my name. I wondered how many more times he would do that before he had enough of me.

The doors slammed shut behind me, and that was the last sound I heard above the din of the biters. All around me were the sounds of growls and snapping of teeth.

I struck out at the first biter to move at me.

One.

I round house kicked, not really aiming, but working to clear myself room to fight before I was mobbed. I slid my left blade up under the next biter's chin.

Two.

As I jerked the blade free, I spun slamming my right blade through the next biter's temple.

Three.

I kicked straight out, kicking the biter away, clearing the blade. I struck out sideways with both blades at the same time, killing two.

Four. Five.

It was a flashy move. One I should have known better than to try. I swung myself forward using the blades as an anchor and kicked the biter in front of me with both feet. It staggered back and I was forced to let go of one of my knives. I kept my grip on the tight blade and when I landed I stabbed straight threw another biter's eye.

Six.

I drew my last knife from my thigh sheath as I spun and struck right again.

Seven.

I snapped off the last slim throwing knife. Burning it the middle of a biter's skull.

Eight.

I drew another blade from under my arm with my left as I slid the right blade into the base of a skull.

Nine.

It was coming down to a numbers game now. I had lost three knives which left me with twelve. I round housed with my right leg, my boot kicking the biter's head clean off. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

Ten.

Negan said there were fifty people who lived here. We had killed ten in the shower room. I struck left and kicked right again to keep some room to move

Eleven.

Two more died when we killed Scott. Plus the two little girls we saved put us at fourteen. I swung around in an almost windmill type motion slashing with the larger hunting knife in my left through two skulls by the time I completed the motion.

Twelve. Thirteen.

It left the potential for this seeming limitless flood of biter's coming at me to be somewhere around 35.

Fourteen.

The most I had ever faced in the ring had been twenty. And even then, The Governor has been careful not to unleash them all at once. He wanted to see what I could do, he hadn't wanted me dead.

Fifteen.

I had killed my fifteenth biter. That left somewhere around twenty more. I was moving okay. My kicks and strikes were still fluid and controlled. Sweat was dripping down my back and I regretted not taking off my jacket before running headlong into the herd.

Sixteen.

But I wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. Even I got tired. At some point that dark place in my mind that was insulating me from truly feeling it would wear down.

Seventeen.

My breathing was coming in short, sharp pants now. Each breath so labored it moved my whole body. I let myself look up for half a second before kicking the next biter back while slipping a blade through its neighbor's ear.

Eighteen.

I was halfway down the breezeway but most of the herd had surged towards me. There weren't many left. I looked up once more to count. Six left.

All it took was that one moment of lost concentration. The distraction cost me everything. I landed wrong coming out of a kick. My foot caught something and slipped sideways out from under me. I fought to right myself, knowing if I went down it was done. But even I wasn't strong enough to fight gravity. I fell backwards into a cold body. The growls surrounded me as teeth clamped down on my forearm.

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I would say I'm sorry for the cliff hanger...but we all know that isn't true ;)

Hope you enjoyed it!