𝑨 𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑴𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒚. (𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏)

{4} Playing The Good Guy

"Jesus sweetheart, lighten up a bit," the man chuckled, "I just fucking saved you from ol' Rick and the tiny dick brigade and now you're acting all depressing and shit!"

Brooklyn twisted her head and peeked through the gaps in between her fingers, what he was saying was true. At least he hadn't tied her hands up or acted that rude. In fact, he'd been quite the opposite. He'd saved her, offered her a home and for what? Because she saved him from a tiger? Or because she chose to help him instead of fighting for Rick?

"No, sorry I er," she stopped and took a deep breath, "thank you- Negan. Thank you for everything, for saving me, for trusting me enough to not tie my hands and for-"

"Fuck sweetheart, I don't need a fucking monologue," he teased, poking his tongue in between his two rows of teeth, "plus you should be proud."

The girl furrowed her brows as she once again sat up in her seat, "why should I be proud?"

"You got my fucking name right!"

Another thing about this man was that he could lighten any situation with a joke or a simple grin. Brooklyn had only known the guy for about two hours and she could already describe his personality- or so she thought.

Curling the corners of her mouth upwards in to a small smile, she shrugged, "Yeah I guess I did. Still, you don't know my name though."

Negan raised one brow, his egotistical smirk failing to leave his face, "shit I don't do I?" He paused and let out a hoarse chuckle, "Well? What is your name darlin'?"

Telling this man her real name couldn't hurt could it? She told Rick her real name, so why not tell Negan? She had nothing to loose.

With a widened smile she simply told him, "Brooklyn. My name's Brooklyn Scotts."

"That, is a beautiful fucking name," he complimented. He began saying her name in a choppy tone, letting each letter roll off the tip of his tongue, "Brooklyn. Brooklyn Scotts."

Emitting a quick giggle, the girl ran her fingers through her clotted hair, completely forgetting that it was like a dreaded mop.

Yet as she began to think about the past twenty four hours, another pang of guilt hit her as she remembered that guy Daryl and how aggressive he was when she mentioned Negan. Her smile vanished as she slumped back in her seat, "I'm an asshole," she murmured, gently shutting her eyelids.

Negan immediately noticed her sudden change of mood, "What the fuck is wrong now?"

"Well, those people, they trusted me but I escaped with their enemy. Should I feel bad, I mean, I was going to leave anyway. But I guess, I don't know, I guess I do feel kinda bad..." She rambled on, feeling awkward that she was pouring her heart out to a guy she barely knew.

She heard him sigh, "don't feel fucking bad darling. They put you in a crappy cell, which is fucking rude and I, for one, would not use the word trust to describe it."

His words were strangely comforting and the girl felt a protective vibe easing off of him. Negan winked at her, a couple wisps of his unkempt hair falling in front of his eyes, "now cheer the fuck up sweetheart. Rick Grimes is an asshole, don't waste your fucking thoughts on him."

Brooklyn half smiled and reached for her back pack, she unzipped it and carefully pulled out her lyric book and pen. She didn't have to look up to see Negan intently watching her, she could feel his stare against her shoulder.

Setting the pen to paper, Brooklyn calmly glanced out of the window, witnessing the serene forests bursting with colour and nature, almost untouched by anything as she whizzed past.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Questioned the man sat beside her, he sniggered and gave her the 'seriously?' look.

Brooklyn rolled her eyes, "I'm writing. What the hell does it look like I'm doing?"

"Writing what?"

"A song."

Negan parted his lips, forming an 'o' shape with his mouth. A tiny part of him was intrigued to know more about the girl but since one of his men was sat beside him, he didn't want to seem 'soft'.

"Well darlin', might as well put that shit away cause it looks like we're finally fucking home!" He praised, motioning his hands towards the cracked windows of the truck.

Averting her sight from the musty notebook, Brooklyn gasped at the sight of what looked like a huge factory. It had large fumes of wispy black smoke wafting out of the many chimneys and snarling creatures were tied up to the rusted chain link fencing. There were heavy armed guards holding dangerous weapons and other people dressed in tattered clothing with bright orange letters painted on the front.

As the truck slowly pulled to a stop, Brooklyn shoved her book in her bag and threw the door open. She hopped out, clasping on to the vehicle as she felt her ankle wobble slightly.

She limped alongside the truck until a strong arm supported her weight, "shit, you're not having much luck with that are you?" Negan teased, then with his free hand he extended his arm in to the open, "Welcome to the sanctuary Brooklyn. You're gonna fit in just fucking nicely!"

The girl kept her mouth shut and hobbled alongside him, she tightened her grip on her bag, making sure it was safe and within reach if she needed it. But as she noticed what the leader had clenched in his hand, her stomach uneasily twisted in to a tight knot.

It was the baseball bat from earlier, but what she didn't realise was that it was stained with faded splotches of blood and smothered in thick silvery strands of jagged barbed wire. Negan felt her body tense and maliciously smirked as he followed her line of sight, "beautiful ain't she?" He held the barbaric weapon in the air, praising it like some sort of trophy.

"Her name's Lucille. And she is fucking awesome!" Proclaimed the man, holding the bat in front of Brooklyn's nose.

Swallowing her fear, she managed to mumble, "cool," which only made her look pathetic. Her whole view of Negan had suddenly changed, maybe he was a madman or a murderous psychopath. But then again, how could she be so quick to judge? In a mad world, you'd have to be mad to be sane.

"Damn right she's cool," he drawled, swinging Lucille across his shoulder, "anyways let's go sweetheart. I gotta make an announcement and then we'll have ourselves a little chat about what to do with you."

Brooklyn was consumed by silence and so she simply said nothing. Her brain was trying to figure out what intentions this man had. What did he want with her? Or did he genuinely just save her?

She couldn't come up with an answer. All the girl could do was wait and see. Maybe Negan was trying to help. Or maybe there was more to him then Brooklyn knew.