Poker Face

Chapter 7 - Out Alive and Back Again

Do you get nervous watching me bleed?
~

"I said get up, you fucking cunt! I know you're awake." His nasally voice practically dripped with slime. She lay face-down on the metal floor of her cage, refusing to acknowledge the man's presence; that always pissed him off. She heard the jingling of keys and the click of a lock, followed by a sharp pain over her scalp as she was dragged forward, her stomach getting scraped on the entrance to the cage.

Then she was face-down on the cold, concrete basement floor, the man's muddy boots standing an inch from her face. He reared one back to the side and swung it hard into her ribs. Cindy whimpered as she looked on; Melanie couldn't watch. Aven pushed herself up onto her side and the man crouched down next to her, his hand wrapping tightly around her throat.

"You get up when I fucking tell you to get up. You fucking belong to me."

"Bullshit," Aven spat. No sooner than she had, the man's other fist collided with her mouth. She shook her head to ground herself, her tongue running over the inside of her sore lips.

"You are mine," the man growled, thinking he sounded truly intimidating. Aven tasted blood and felt the warmth of a small drop trickle down her throat. She smiled, she couldn't help it. She began to laugh.

"You are so fucking pathetic," she sneered. "You think you're so fucking tough." The back of his hand struck the side of her face and she recoiled but straightened up again. "Fucking worthless little boy." The man struck her again and again and Cindy screamed, begging Aven not to anger him anymore and get herself hurt further. He grabbed Aven by her hair again and lifted her so she was struggling to stand on her weak legs.

"I guess you don't get the fucking rules," the man's voice warped as he spoke and she looked up to see the white-haired man from the woods. "The rules keep us alive." His mouth moved but it wasn't his voice; it was Negan's.

Then she was face-down on the cold, concrete floor again, a dull pain throbbing at the back of her head. She pushed herself up on her arms and groaned, the phantom pains of having just been thrown to the floor stretching across her body. She looked up ready to face the man again, but he was gone. She looked around, unable to see much in the dark room, although there wasn't much to see. It was always dark like this in the man's basement except for a single red, blinking light coming from the dehumidifier, which Aven couldn't find a the moment.

"Cindy?" she groaned. No response. "Cindy, I'm sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to-"

Aven was interrupted by the sharp creak of a large door opening and light flooding in to blind her. She threw her hand over her eyes, only able to see the silhouette of a man in the doorway. She saw the outline of the gun on his hip and all at once came crashing back mostly to reality and remembering where she was.

"She's awake," the man said gruffly. Another unrecognizable silhouette appeared at the door.

"I'll go get Negan," the second man said.

"Well, hold on," the first man said thoughtfully. "He's expecting her to be out a few more hours...why don't we have some fun with her?" Aven could practically hear the shit-eating grin on his face.

"Don't even think about it, David. You know he would chop your dick off and feed it to you as a biter." The larger man, David, cringed. "Sorry, bud. His words, not mine." The man patted David on the shoulder before they both backed out of the room. The slamming of the cell door immediately sent familiar panic through Aven's body. Though vaguely dizzy from being knocked out, she jumped to her feet and lunged at the door banging on it with her forearms and shrieking, at first unintelligibley.