Reflections - TWD

64. New world order.

The man walked out, a wired bat over his shoulder, a red scarf around his neck. It looked like the blood that covered Daryl's chest. "Pissin' our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feelin' we're gettin' close."

He admired the line of people. Isabella tried to be brave and make herself look bigger, pushing up onto her knees, just like Abraham had. But Abraham put a hand on her back and pushed her back down to her previous form. He was braver than her.

"Yep," The man mumbled. "It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon," He looked down the line and waved his hand. "Which one of you pricks is the leader?"

"It's this one," Simon pointed at Rick. "He's the guy."

The man walked over to Rick, a smug smirk playing across his face. "Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killin' my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killin' my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not fuckin' cool."

Negan turned and looked down the line again, but still spoke to Rick. "You have no idea how not fuckin' cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossin' me in a few fuckin' minutes."

Isabella felt her pulse all over her body, in her chest, in her wrists, in her neck. She reached out and held Abraham's hand. They couldn't talk, so she gave it a little squeeze, to say 'i don't hate you, I love you. Please don't think I hate you'.

Abraham gave it a slight squeeze back. His way of saying 'I love you too, honey. And I know'.

"Yes, you are," Negan smiled sinisterly. "You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't fuckin' mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if your fuckin' stupid, which you may very well be, you can understand it. You ready?"

Rick just gave Negan a look. So, the man continued. "Here goes. Pay attention," He pulled his bat down off his shoulder, Rick watched it closely as it came up to his shoulder. "Give me your shit...or I will kill you."

He grinned and leaned up, starting to walk down the line. "Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do," Negan pointed the bat at Rick. "You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job...now I know that is a mighty fuckin' big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it...you most certainly fuckin' will."

"You ruled the roost," Negan continued to drawl on. Isabella was shaking, she was sweating more than ever. She couldn't ground herself. Her body was telling her that this wasn't really happening, but her mind knew it was.

Negan walked towards Rick again. "You...built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half of your fuckin' shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later."

He backed up a little bit, so he was about halfway to the line and halfway to the RV. He held his arms out. "This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door..."

Negan chuckled when he saw the state of Daryl. That made Isabella's blood boil. She wanted to get up and hug Daryl. "You let us in," Negan sighed and turned back to Rick. "We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it the fuck down. You understand?"

Rick stayed silent. Sweat dripping off the ends of his hair. "What, no answer?" Negan leaned in and out his hand to his ear. Then, he seemed to get a bit impatient. "You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you?" Negan looked around at them all.