Lilith let out a sigh of relief when she looked back and realized the bullet had lodged itself into the wood of Lucille. Better that than her father's head, she thought to herself.

Not according to him, though.

Negan was livid. He cursed and screamed and threw a tantrum. "You shot Lucille!" He raged at the woman whom Lilith had pinned down on the ground.

"She got in the way," Rosita retorted.

Then, Lilith took her smaller pocket knife out, holding it against the woman's neck. Behind her, Negan picked up the shell casing off the ground, looking at it.

"What is this?" He asked, out of breath. "This little bad boy made from scratch?" He examined it for a moment. "Look at those crimps. This was homemade. You may be stupid darlin', but you showed some real ingenuity here. Lili, honey, move that knife up to the lady's face." Once she did, the man leaned down, "Lucille's beautiful smooth surface is never gonna look the same, so why should yours?"

The tension between everyone thickened as Negan continued to breath heavily. Then he spoke up again, "Unless. . . unless you want to tell me who made this."

Rosita didn't hesitate before responding, "It was me. I made it"

"You see, now I just think you're lying. And lying to me now?! Such a shame. Lilith's gonna have to cut up that pretty face."

"It was me." Rosita reiterated, picking her head up which caused the knife to leave a shallow gash on her cheek.

"Woah! You are such a badass!" Negan laughed. "Fine, have it your way." He looked at his daughter, "Honey, kill somebody."

Lilith's arm moved on its own. Her instinct to follow orders taking over as she turned and aimed.

"No, please! It was me!" Rosita begged from the ground, but the girl had fired it at the first person she saw.

Olivia.

Lilith stared in shock at her hand. She watched as Carl, who'd been standing next to the woman, crouched down to look at her. She couldn't help but feel the slightest bit guilty.

The girl moved away from Rosita, slowly standing back up. She hid her emotions well, masking her heavy breathing as anger instead of remorse.

Just then, Rick showed up with a wounded Aaron leaning against him. He passed the man onto someone else before marching up to Lilith's father.

"We had a deal!"

"Rick!" Negan cheered hoarsely. "Look, everybody, it's Rick! You people are making me lose my voice doing all this yelling." He was met with that typical cold stare.

"Rick. . . how about a thank you? I mean, look, I know we started off this relationship with me beating the holy shit out of one of your friends, and because of that we're never gonna braid each other's hair or share our deepest darkest secrets, but how about a little credit? I just bent over backwards to show you how reasonable I am. Your kid—" he gestured to Carl, "he hid in one of my trucks and machine-gunned a bunch of my men down, and I brought him home safe and sound. And I fed him spaghetti."

Carl stood back up from his place on the porch. He looked at his dad guiltily, knowing the man was unhappy with him.

"Another one of your people, he wanted me to kill you and put him in charge. Lilith here, took him out. For you." Negan motioned to his daughter, who stood to the right of them. "Another one," he gestured to Rosita, "she shot Lucille trying to kill me just now, so I gave you one less mouth to feed. And by looking at her, that mouth did some major damage. Now, personally, I wouldn't of picked her to be the one to go, but Lili, well, didn't trust her."

Rick gave the man the most unholy stare, stepping towards him, "Your shit's waiting for you at the gate. Just go."

Negan smirked, "Sure thing, Rick. Right after I find the guy or gal that made this bullet. Arat?"

The woman moved her arm to aim her gun at someone else, causing a brunette woman to step forward. "It was me!" She called out.

"No, it wasn't," A male voice spoke up. Many of Rick's people turned their heads towards the face, varying amounts of fear on each face. Which lead Lilith to think this man must be the real bullet maker. "It was me. It was only me," he told Negan as every Savior around him pointed their gun at his head.

"You?" Negan asked.

"It required one spent casing, one four-holed turret reloader, powder, one funnel for the powder—"

Lilith had decided she'd had enough of her father tormenting the poor man, who looked more terrified than anyone she'd ever seen. "Shut up," she told him, "We believe you."

Then, Negan turned his back to the mullet-haired man. He lifted his bat to his face, "Lucille, give me strength." He exhaled slowly, "I'm gonna be relieving you if your bullet maker, Rick. That, and whatever you got for me at the front gate. And whatever you scavenged, it's not good enough, because you are still in a serious, serious hole after today. Let's move out!"

And the saviors started moving. A couple men grabbed the bullet maker and started to force him away when Lilith ran and caught up to them. "I got it," she told them, and they stepped away.

She looked at the cowarding man, "Breathe slower, dude. You're not gonna get any oxygen at the rate your heaving." She was met with a confused but equally terrified look. Sighing, she grabbed his elbow, dragging him in the right direction. "Relax. You're not in as much trouble as you think you are."

"I- I'm not?"

Lilith chuckled, "Dude, you made an actual bullet from scratch. You are way too valuable to face the wrath of my father, trust me. Now, what's your name?"

"E-Eugene."

"Good to meet you, Eugene. I can already tell we're gonna get along."

They had finally reached the gate, and Lilith passed the man off to a savior who placed a sack over his head before putting him in one of the trucks. She gave Eugene a two-finger salute before going to climb into her own truck and waiting for her dad. Once he got in beside her, they were off.

Back to the sanctuary again.

———————

The trucks stopped once inside the fence, and Lilith quickly hopped out. She made her way over to the truck which held Eugene and gestured to some saviors to open it. They dragged the man out, pulled the bag off his head, and led him inside the facility.

Lilith held his elbow tightly, directing him around each corner and through each door. Eugene flinched at every yank and quivered incessantly that the young blonde grew annoyed. Eventually, they made it to their final stop. The man began crying violently.

"Please, god, no. I hate this, please," he begged.

Lilith rolled her eyes, twisting the door knob and pushing it open. Eugene slowly walked through the doorway, turning to look at the girl with confusion.

"Told ya. Not nearly in as much trouble as you think."

He scanned the room slowly. It held all the same accommodations as an old world hotel room, complete with it's own kitchen. Lilith clipped the zip-tie which had been restraining his hands. "Welcome home, Einstein," she told him.

Eugene rubbed his wrists before he laid his eyes on the small stack of books on the dresser.

"There's more at the library. A lot more." Lilith said.

"You, uh, you have a library?"

"Yep. Though I'm sure I use it more than any of the other douchebags around here combined."

"Um, V-Vonda M-McIntyre. This will be satisfactory."

"Ok, well, you hungry? I'll get you something. What do you want?" She asked, leaning against the door.

"What do I want?"

"Yeah, to eat. What do you want?"

"Anything?"

"Sure. Whatever."

"Really? Anything I want?"

"Dude, yes. You can have anything. What do you want?"

"Can I have lobster?"

"No, you can't have lobster. What the hell do you think this is?" Lilith huffed, chuckling slightly.

"Do you have canned tomato sauce and pasta?"

The girl nodded, "Orange-y or red?"

Eugene thought for a short moment. "Orange-y."

"Ok," she turned to walk out the door.

"Do- do you have pickles? I like pickles."

"We're out of pickles."

"You got potato chips?"

"We do. Fresh, Homemade."

"Homemade. . . made here?"

"That is indeed that definition of homemade. We got a kettle—"

"No thanks."

Lilith laughed, "Ok, well, I'll have the sauce and pasta sent up to you. Try to settle in."

She closed the door behind her and walked up to the first savior she found. "I need a delivery service," she told him, causing the young man to perk up upon hearing who was addressing him.

—————

Lilith had finally made it back to her room. She kicked her shoes off and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted. It felt like she had just ran a lap around the planet. Like talking to Carl about her mom on the very bed she sat had happened years ago, when in reality it had been three maybe four hours.

Letting out a loud sigh, she closed her eyes, wanting to rest for even a moment. Of course, she was interrupted by her father bursting through her door.

She groaned in frustration. "What?" She snapped.

"Did you know Daryl was gone?" Negan asked angrily.

"What do you mean?" She asked in an uninterested tone.

"He's gone, vanished. Missing. In. Action. Did you know?"

"The prisoner, Daryl?"

"Mhm."

"No! I cant recall a time I even interacted with him once! Ask Dwight, he's the one who stole the poor man's identity."

Her father mumbled something to himself, turning to walk out of the room.

"Close the damn door!" Lilith shouted after him, but nothing.

Huffing, she marched over and slammed it shut out of annoyance. While she was up, she decided to change out of her bloody clothes and into some comfier ones. Finally, she went back to lay on her bed, letting out a long exhale.

As she tried her best to rest, flashes of the day's events filled her head. The way she overshared with Carl. How she pressed a hot iron to another man's face. How she gutted a man and proceeded to laugh about it. And how poor Olivia died at her hands.

She actually liked Olivia. She may have threatened the woman in the past, but Lilith could tell she was a sweet woman who deserved a better end. Frustrated with the way her mind raced, she groaned loudly, rubbing her hands down her face. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

Something about these people, Rick's people, triggered something in her. Lilith found herself angrier than she'd been in a long time. She didn't love the lifestyle her father had made for them, but at least they were together. That's the only thing that mattered to her in the end.

And Rick could ruin everything.

————

(word count: 1866)

much love,
chloe <3