Light, cartoonish sounds flowed out from under Eugene's door while Lilith walked past. The girl stopped in her tracks, becoming curious. She went up to it and leaned her ear against the crack between the door and the wall. Beyond the digital ambience, she could hear popcorn popping.

Placing her hand on the knob, she knocked gently, but didn't bother to wait for an answer before opening the door. Inside the room, Frankie and Tanya sat on either side of a large green arm chair while Amber sat on the bed with a champagne flute in her hand.

All three women faced Eugene who stood by the microwave with a bowl of popcorn. At the sound of the door opening, the four of them turned to face the young blonde girl.

"Well, ain't this a party?" Lilith joked.

The TV continued to emit the animated beeping sounds she had heard from the hallway. An abandoned video game remote sat on the coffee table. Lilith raised an eyebrow at the group.

"So this is how you decided to spend my dad's reward?" She sneered as she uttered the last word.

"We're enjoying ourselves, Lil," Frankie answered, "We're making intelligent conversation."

Lilith struggled to hold back a laugh, pursing her lips together. "Intelligent conversation?" She repeated.

Frankie gave her a look, telling her not to make fun. Little did the red head know, Eugene had experienced Lilith's jokes plenty of times at that point.

She smiled, "He tell you what he did today?"

The women shook their heads.

"He fixed our fence problem. The rotters out there will be much more permanent thanks to him."

"He was just about to tell us about the Human Genome Project," Tanya spoke up.

"Oh?" Lilith looked him in the eye, "Well, fire away, nerd."

"Truth is," Eugene began, "The bulk of my work with the HGP fell under the Black Box Program, of which I'm not at liberty to discuss. In all likelihood, even if I could, it would escape your comprehension."

"Did he just insult us, Tanya?" Frankie asked the brunette woman beside her.

"It was not a dis. It was merely a statement of fact. My intelligence had been objectively measured. I am fully a man apart."

"So what? I gotta see some proof other than some big words," Lilith teased, "Are you one of those guys who can like make a bomb out of bleach and a toothpick or something?"

"Of course not. That would require many more supplies, such as hydrogen peroxide, liquid dish soap, maybe some balloons, and plenty of other common household sundries," Eugene explained.

The teenager smirked, and the other women in the room joined in. They all mentally agreed on the next course of action. Eugene began gathering the supplies he needed. The rest of them waited in excitement.

Lilith stared at Frankie. The last time they really spoke one on one was their argument before Carl showed up. The blonde girl still felt guilty about how she talked to her. She had no filter. It's not like it was the first time she said something out of hand, and it definitely won't be the last

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amber trying open a bottle of wine. The young woman's hands shook as she did so, and her eyes at half mast. As Eugene finished collecting supplies, he lead the group out of the room.

Lilith stepped in front of Amber, blocking her from leaving. She gently laid her hand over top of the woman's, the other hand grabbing the bottle.

"Go to bed, Amber," she told her.

"Oh please," the woman protested, annoyed. She tried to go around the girl but was unsuccessful.

"I'm serious."

"You don't tell me what to do."

"No, my dad does."

Amber's expression faltered, turning more sad than annoyed. Lilith bite her tongue. There it was again, no filter. The older woman sighed, placing the bottle down before moving around Lilith, shouldering her hard in the process.

Lilith immediately felt guilty, she tried to go after her, "Amber, wait. I shouldn't have said that—"

But she was gone.

A loud bang came from outside, and Lilith huffed knowing she had missed it. Eugene's party trick. Her mood ruined, she heeded her own advice and went to bed. She only hoped not to say anything too insulting the next day. Though, whether she felt bad about it usually depended on the person.

________

The next morning, in fact, did not bring forgiveness and smiles. Instead, Lilith woke to her father yelling and raging. Again. Apparently, he was still distressed about Sherry. Of course he was this upset over a missing "wife" of his.

At first, Lilith assumed it was Dwight that helped her escape, but decided against the idea. She then thought about the fact that Daryl, their prisoner, had recently escaped as well. Maybe, she considered, they were connected.

Turns out, Negan was angrier than she thought as all Saviors were called to the iron. 

Standing next to Dwight by the furnace, Lilith watched Eugene enter with Laura. They stood above everyone, behind the yellow railing. Her father appeared at her side with Lucille over his shoulder. He looked beyond pissed.

Lilith was clueless. She didn't even know who was in trouble. Doctor Carson looked stressed, but he always did before an ironing. She had absolutely no clue what her father planned to do. But with one glance from him, she put on the glove agonizingly slow, desperate to be in the loop.

Everyone kneeled upon Negan's entrance. The man paused before allowing them to rise. He rubbed his chin, then turned to face Eugene above him.

Pointing to him with his bat, he said, "You are gonna wanna play close attention to this."

Then, to Lilith's dismay, her father lifted Lucille and swung it against Doctor Carson's side. The man crumbled in pain and confusion.

"No, no, no, I didn't do anything!" He begged.

Negan then took out a small piece of paper and showed it to the doctor. "I found this little thing in your desk," he told him.

Doctor Carson insisted he didn't know what it was. Lilith now not only felt clueless but shocked and even concerned. Why on earth would her father accuse their doctor of helping someone escape? And what would happen if they didn't have a doctor?

"You left the door open and let my puppy out," Her father said, "You knew Sherry hated Daryl being here, so you tried to be the hero and let him out. Then you could move in! That is some weaselly shit right there."

Lilith was taken aback by the accusation. She didn't know how her father came to his conclusion, but she also didn't know if it was true.

"I didn't do that! She's the one who ran—" Doctor Carson tried to protest.

"Oh, she ran? You know why she ran?! Because she knew I would blame her, which to be fair, I did. But see, Sherry told Dwighty Boy the whole story right before she was torn apart."

That felt like a punch in a gut to Lilith. Sherry was dead? And no one told her. Sure, she often would go out of her way to avoid the wives, but the woman was still nothing but kind to her.

Lilith looked at Dwight. His forehead held beads of sweat, which could've been from the fire he stood in front of or from anxiety, she didn't know. He also clenched his jaw tightly, which made Lilith suspicious.

"He's lying," she heard Doctor Carson say.

"Why, why? Why would he do that? Why would he intentionally try to hurt you? Sherry's gone. And if she is alive, if she is out there, I will find her. And I will burn the other half of his face off until he dies. So, what is he gonna get out of this? No, see, I know my Dwighty Boy. All he needed was one more night in the hole to get his head screwed on straight. Ain't that right, Dwighty Boy?"

Dwight nodded. "That's right," he said, though he still looked abnormally stressed. He then pulled the iron out of furnace and looked at Lilith. She hesitated.

Her eyes rested on the iron for a long moment. She could feel her heartbeat shake her entire body. She felt it in her feet. Her breath was so loud, she thought it might break her eardrums. She hadn't been this confused in a long time.

Slowly, her gloved hand rose, reaching towards the hot iron. She heard Doctor Carson begging, pleading not to be harmed. Her fingertips has just grazed the handle when she heard him confess.

"Yes! I did it. I did all of it. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he told Negan.

Lilith froze in place, not moving her hand forward another inch. She stared at her father, waiting for any kind of signal. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he lifted his hand, telling her to stop.

She exhaled loudly, ripping the glove off her hand with aggression. She stepped away from Dwight and the furnace, and towards her father, needing the physical distance from the hellfire the raged next to her.

Negan turned back to Doctor Carson with a smirk, "That's all you had to say."

Lilith felt relieved yet confused at her father's actions. But, after a long moment of tense silence, she understood them. Because out of nowhere, to the horror of every person in the room, Negan grabbed the doctor's coat and dragged him towards the furnace, throwing him inside.

The poor man screamed in pain as his skin melted until he either died or passed out from pain. She knew there was no surviving that, but she still hoped it was the latter. The doctor deserved to die quickly. He had helped so many people, including her.

"Good thing we have a spare Doctor Carson," Negan joked, throwing his arm over Dwight's shoulder.

In her state of shock, Lilith found herself slowly walking backwards. She caught Frankie's gaze, who cried while she held Amber in her arms. Lilith hadn't noticed the tears in her own eyes. She didn't know what caused them. Sadness, fear, anger, stress, she didn't know. But after one fell down her cheek, she immediately turned around and left, not wanting to be seen in that state.

________

(Word count: 1730)