Nothing Really Matters

The alarm woke us both up on September 11th and I just wanted to crawl back under the covers when I heard the pounding of the rain to the windows.

“Get up.”

She grunted when I pushed her shoulder.

“No… I’m staying here. I don’t need to save the world from the undead today.”
“Baby, please, I need you there…”

I begged, knowing I really didn’t need to but the smile that started to play over her lips, made me week at the knees and she knew that.

“Hey!”

She protested loudly when I removed the covers from her naked body, but the protest quickly turned out to a soft moan as I placed myself on top of her and kissed her between her shoulder blades. Her body was so attuned to my touch that her hips lifted off the bed even before my hand made its way down. I watched as her sweet realize made her scream into the pillow and I was going to let her recover a few seconds, but she had other plans. Not really knowing how, I found myself on my back and she had climbed on top of me, still panting slightly but with a determent look in her eyes that made me quiver with excitement.

“Thank you for the best wake-up call ever. Again”

She leaned down to kiss me at the same time as I felt her guide me inside her. I wasn’t able to stop the moan that escaped my lips.

“Anything for you, my love.”
“Now, let me make up for it.”
“Please do.”

I arrived to make-up half an hour too later that morning but they had gotten too use to it by now that they simply sighed and shook their heads at me.

“Why the hell are you in such a good mood?”
Apparently my high spirit didn’t rub off on Steven when I joined him in the chair next to him to get my fill of dirty and blood for the day.
“Well hello to you too, sunshine.”
“It should be illegal to be so damn much in love. When will you start having the boring kind of relationship? I mean it’s been 4 months, shouldn’t you have stopped with the damn honeymoon yet?”
“This will never stop, get use to it.”
“It’s creepy! You need to share, one person can’t be this happy, it’s not fare.”
“I’m not sharing her, but I’m sure I can hook you up with someone if you like.”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Oh, come on, Steven. You’re just grumpy you’re not getting any in the morning, you need to find yourself a girl.”
“Is that why you’re always late…? Every morning?”
“I tell ya, ain’t any better way to start the day.”
“Fuck you, Norman.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Fine…Where’s she anyway?”
“With Andy and Chandler. They’re already staring out there.”

The rain kept pouring down throughout the most of the day filming. I was wet to the bone once we wrapped it up. After a quick chat with some of the crew, I headed to find London. She had been spending most of her day with Andy and Chandler, since they were keeping to Alexandria, while I was out in the woods.

Miss you…
I had a text waiting when I picked up the phone.
I’ll be right there. Hitching a ride back. You’re with Andy?
Yeah. Good day?
I had the best possible start, so yeah, pretty fucking awesome day today.
I think I know just how to make it the best possible ending to this day as well.
Really?
Yeah. You might have to get naked though.
I can do naked.
Good.

She was sitting on the porch to one of the houses with Andy when I was being dropped off. Not many people were still around and those who were, were getting ready to call it quits for the day. I was ready to get home as well, but she seemed to be in deep conversation with Andy. At first I hadn’t thought they had noticed me, but when I walked up towards them, she looked up and her entire face lit up like the 4th of July, making me actually stop breathing for a second. How the hell did I get so damn lucky? She ran into my arms and I caught her, lifting her off her feet when she kissed me.

“Well, hello.”
“Hi…”

She wrapped her legs around me and beamed up at me, as Andy came walking up behind us.

“If you need a room, I’m sure there won’t be much people around.”

He nodded his head back towards the house, grinning stupidly. She looked back at him and for a moment I actually thought she was going to take him up on his offer.

“Shut up, Andy… I’ve been around you all day, can’t I get excited to see my man again?”

She looked back at me, pulling away some of the hair from my face and kissed me once again.

“You can get as excited as you like, Lo.”
“Good… I love you.”
“I love you too, Lo.”

I could hear footsteps behind us then and I watched, as in slow-motion how both Andy and London seem to freeze to the ground. Her breath got caught in her throat and her eyes widened in shock. Andy even took a few steps back, panic in his eyes. She was still in my arms as I turned around.

“Hello, London.”

She slipped from my arms when I came face to face with her father once again, a gun resting in his hand. It wasn’t raised towards us yet but his hand twitched as I made to move between him and his daughter. She stopped me and pulled my arm, making me stand behind her.

“Hi, dad.”

His red shoot eyes locked with hers but she didn’t look away. His eyes were the only thing she had inherited from him. He looked nothing like her, besides the eyes. He was tall and brood shouldered. His hair was mostly grey and it looked like he hadn’t seen the inside of a shower for a while. I could smell the alcohol even from the distains.

“Are you going to introduce us?”

His voice was rough, but quite steady.

“Are you going to put the gun away?”

He let out a laugh and shook his head. I started to look around, trying to find a way out of this, but there were nowhere to go, besides past him. There were no way we would all make it if we made a run for it. I just prayed someone had seen him and called the police.

“What do you want, dad?”
“You’ve been hiding from me pretty good, honey. Why is that? Why didn’t you come home?”
“How did you find me?”
“You’re mother’s dead. She passed away last week… Cancer. She wanted you to come home, she wanted to say goodbye. I promised I would try to find you. I just never thought you’d be stupid enough to go back to him when you know I knew about him.”
“Do you want me to come home?”
“Of course I do, London. You belong in Boston, with me, you know that. ”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there… Could we go somewhere else? Maybe eat something and we can talk?”

Andy moved suddenly, walking up to stand right behind her and I could hear the shock in his breathing. She sharply turned around and looked at him, warning him with one glance not to say or do anything.

“Lead the way.”

I knew it was stupid as fuck but I just couldn’t stand behind and watch her walk away with him. My hand flew out and grabbed her arm when she took one step forward. I pulled her behind me although I could hear her loud protest.

“She’s not going anywhere with you.”

I hissed at the man. A smile filled his face, a terrifying smile that made my insides crawl. The gun was steady in front of him now, pointing to my chest, but I just needed to feel her safe behind me. I had sworn to protect her.

“Well, well, well… Mr. Reedus, isn’t it? I see you changed your mind about wanting my daughter back in your life… Too bad. You should’ve left her alone. She need someone who knows how to take care of her. She need to be controlled. Little whores like her need to be kept in cheek or they will destroy everything around them. John was the only one who knew how to control her. Now when I’ve finally found you again, I think it’s time you came home so that you can be controlled again. Don’t you think, London?”

He leaned to the side so to be able to look at her. I could feel she had started to shake and tears were falling down her cheeks, when he started to walk closer to us. Both Andy and I closed in on her, trying to shield her from him.

“Is she really worth it? Is she worth dying for?”

I had had guns pointing at my head before, while filming, but this was a whole other thing. His voice and hand was so calm and collected that that made me even more freaked out then the actual gun pointing to my head. He was a trained killer. At the corner of my eye I could see Andy make a move towards him. She shrieked and I think I did too, but everything happened so fast. He knocked Andy to the ground with on swift, hard blow with the back of the gun to his head. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get up again, a dark pool of blood, starting to spread from the back of his head.

“I told you not to let anyone get close to you, London. You don’t deserve it! I’m the only one that has ever loved you! That know what you need! No one else is good enough!”

He was so close I could feel him spit in my face as he yelled. The gun was suddenly pressed to my temple. I had no time to react to it. London was suddenly rushing towards her father.

“Leave him alone!”

She dragged me backwards, making me lose my balance and fall over backwards.

“Are you protecting him now, huh?! Your dirty little whore!”

She was standing over me, trying to block me from his view or more likely from the aim of the gun. I was still too paralyzed to move. The first blow came so fast I had no time to react to it at all. I just saw her hit the ground, next to Andy and he was on top of me. His fist landing on the side of my head, making my vision blurry. She was screaming.

“Do you love this scum?!”

He repeated the question at least five times, each time delivering a new punch. The pain was excruciating but all I could think about was her. I just wanted to keep her safe. I just wanted to love her and keep her safe.

“YES!”

Her words suddenly cut through the sound of his yelling and her screaming and I think I was screaming as well. But he stopped and rose to his feet. I spat out some blood, trying to get some air into my lungs, when she was suddenly by my side, kneeling beside me. I could hear him laugh. Actually laughing.

“Say goodbye, London.”

The gun was pointing straight at my head at that moment and I could hear her scream, trying to block me from view with her own body once again.

“No!”

I saw something silver shimmer for a second, before the blade of the knife entered the side of her body. I think I yelled out and tried to get to my feet, but my body wasn’t allowing it. He walked past her, not even bother to wait for her to fall to the ground. I felt the cold metal pressing to my forehead and an image of her and Mingus suddenly flashed before my eyes. They had been playing a board game one night when I got back home and I had found them both on the floor, laughing their head of, wearing matching Walking Dead hoodies. It was a great last memory. I had always been afraid of dying but as I laid there, waiting for it to happen, it wasn’t all the things I hadn’t done yet that passed through my mind. It was all the right things I had done in my life. Mingus of course being the central and first thing. Then there was her. I would never regret meeting her, not even now. She had brought so much more joy into my life. The pain I felt now was just temporary, it would go away. I tried to focus on her. Everything seemed to happen so slowly, but it must have been only seconds since the knife pierce her body and she hadn’t even had time to sink to the ground, before a shoot echoed through the houses and I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to subside. It never did. Instead a heavy body fell next to me and my eyes snapped open again. His eyes were vide open and starring into nothing, seeing nothing, no life left in them. A fine, circular wound was just beginning to oz blood from his forehead. It didn’t even take another heartbeat before I could hear London’s cry fill the air. A cry of fury. She was on top of him, the knife that had been forced inside her, now in her hand and she was stabbing every part of him. My adrenalin finally kicked in then, seeing the blood pumping out from the side of her body and I managed to crawl closer to her, putting a hand on her knee.

“London, stop. He’s dead.”

She found my eyes then and I could see her drop the knife. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her breathing was very strained. She fell to her back next to me, gasping for air.

“I love you…”
“Hey, don’t try to speak.”

My hand landed over the deep cut that kept pumping out wet, dark blood with each breath she took. She cried out when I pushed down hard over the wound.

“I’m sorry, baby. Stay with me, Lo.”

Her eyes were drifting back and forth between being conscious, she tried to focus on me but it was getting harder with each breath.

“I love you, Lo. Don’t you dare leave me now. You gotta fight, ok?”

There were suddenly a lot of people around us. Cops and medical staff. I was barley aware of what happened around us, I just tried to keep pressure on London’s cut while I think people tried to talk to me, wanted to know what was wrong. I just told them to help her. She needed help! I was fine, but she was dying! I remember hearing Andy’s voice, or maybe I was just hallucinating when they placed me in the ambulance.