033: no escape
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Joey pushed Carl away by the shoulders. He stumbled back on his feet, nearly tripping over the arsenal. She was nearly seeing red. "Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?" She spat, moving to grab a gun off the table. She stuffed bullets in her bag and stuck on the knives in her boot and sock just to be safe. Carl grabbed her wrist. "You aren't going. You have to stay here."
Joey nearly cut him with her other knife as she swiped it off the table and shoved it in her belt loop. "I can fight better than you." She wasn't sure if that was really true—but it could've been. She had seen more than he could ever imagine. Carl insisted she didn't know what it was like—but he didn't know what it was like. "Maggie is my friend. I need to be there for her—especially because Glenn isn't here." She sighed, not looking him in the eye. Bill and Finn weren't even being skeptical about her coming with them—it was almost a give-in. She couldn't understand why Carl was being so aggravating.
"I already told Enid she should stay back too—" he started, and Joey let out a laugh.
"Oh good. You should tell both your girlfriends what to do." She snapped, zipping up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Carl was doing the same—but was blocking her way out. "Are you seriously making this about you right now?" He accused, and Joey grew red.
"You are the one who is making this about me!" She yelled, pushing him again. He grabbed her harshly by the arms and shook her slightly. "You know who is out there. The Saviors—you know what they did to Denise. To Maggie, Carol, and—and—Rosita, Glenn, Eugene. I can't let any of that happen to you, Joey, I just can't."
Joey watched him closely, his scrunched nose, the way he was gripping her arms so tightly as if he would lose her if he let go. It could've felt endearing, in any other context. But she was so angry at him for thinking he could tell her what to do, for thinking that she didn't have authority over her own life, that she saw past everything that made her care for him so deeply. "Good thing I can take care of myself then." She pushed his hands off of her, and made her way to the trailer, to which Rick was frantically carrying barrels of gas onto.
Abraham, Sasha and Eugene were all talking to Rick by the door, while Bill and Finn were jogging to catch up to them. Bill looked Joey up and down and grabbed her by the arm, as though she was running away. "If you're going, we're going." Bill muttered, making way for the others to get on the trailer. Rick placed a hand on Joey's arm. "Where's Carl?"
"Back at the armory." she snuffed. She was angry at him again—she was always angry at him.
"Hey. You good?" He asked, and Joey couldn't tell if he was talking to her or not. "Uh—yeah. I'm fine." she breathed, nodding slowly. Rick gave her a curt nod before she made her way into the trailer. Maggie was laying in the back—she was pale, with her lips and the skin around her eyes a dark shade of purple and blue. Her hair had been chopped off by her ears, and she was sweating through her clothes. She looked awful. Joey didn't really know what was wrong with her, but Enid had told her it was something with the baby. That was why they had to go to Hilltop—they also didn't have a medic in Alexandria at the moment.
Joey sat by her bed, and Maggie groaned with her eyes half shut. Joey ran her fingers over Maggie's dampened hair, brushing it away from her face. "You're going to be OK. The baby's going to be OK. I know it." Joey cooed, although she didn't really know if that was true. She didn't know what even was wrong, but she knew all Maggie needed was reassurance. When Carl got on, Joey made sure to sit far away from him.
Rick got on the trailer shortly after, and then Abraham started to drive. It was pretty packed in the trailer—Joey was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Finn. Joey was growing slightly tired, but the looming dread of what might happen to Maggie kept her awake. As well as the bumps all throughout the road. "What happened?" Finn whispered to her, and Joey shrugged. "Something with the baby."
"Well—" Carl started, and Joey sneered. "Nobody was talking to you." She snapped, which earned a sigh and an eye roll from Carl, and startled and confused looks from everyone surrounding them. Joey, for once, knew she wasn't being irrational. Even if Carl was just trying to protect her, she didn't need his help, and she didn't want to be protected.
They were on the road for a while, before Abraham grumbled from the driver's seat and pressed on the brakes. "Enemy close." he announced, and Rick immediately pushed to the front. Joey looked at Bill and Finn, before inching closer to the front seat. Out on the road, there were three trucks blocking the road, as well as men all standing in a makeshift wall. They were standing triumphantly over a body that was laying on the road, bloodied. Joey wondered if it was one of the missing people from the group.
"We doing this?" Abraham asked, but Rick shook his head. "No." So Abraham shifted the gears, and put the trailer in park. Rick pushed out the side door, while the others followed in suit. They carried their guns loosely by their sides, and walked gingerly toward the Saviors that were sprawled on the road. Joey kept a firm grip on her gun, but didn't click off the safety yet. She hadn't had to kill anyone since the Wolf attack—but she wouldn't be surprised if this didn't end well for them. Rick held his hands up to show that they weren't a threat—but Joey knew they were.
"He's someone who was with a whole lot of someone's who didn't listen." A man from the road spoke. Joey watched as the injured man writhed on the ground.
"We can make a deal. Right here, right now." Rick spoke after a moment of silence, his hands still up by his ears. Joey noticed she was shaking a little and cursed to herself. Carl looked back at her, concerned, but she just kept her eyes forward.
"That's right, we can." The man had an uncanny smile on his face that gave Joey the chills. She shifted on her feet. "Give us all your stuff. We'll probably have to kill one of you, that's just the way it is, but then we can start moving forward on business. All you have to do is listen. Rick smiled, laughing to himself, and Joey anxiously looked at the others, who were doing the same.
"Yeah. That deal's not gonna work for us. Fact is, I was just about to ask for all of your stuff, only I'm thinking I won't have to kill any of you."
Joey could tell Bill didn't agree with the approach Rick was taking, just by the way he was standing. He was gripping his gun until his knuckles were white, and his breathing was rapid as his chest rose and fell. Joey inched closer to him because she, for once, felt scared. He actually made her feel safe.
"Any more of you." Rick added, a triumphant grin on his face. Joey swallowed and watched the other men's faces contort with a wide range of emotions. One man started rattling a can, shaking it as he approached the man on the ground, and spray painted an X over his body. Joey stared at him with disgust.
"Sorry. My deal is the only deal. We don't negotiate."
Rick shook his head, waving his hand around for them to go back into the trailer. Bill placed a hand on her arm and started guiding her back. "Then me and my people are leaving."
"Okay, friend. Plenty of ways to get where you're going." The Savior yelled back, pacing a bit on the concrete. Joey settled in a spot next to Bill and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She did not know why she was so scared—they had fought people like this before. But almost every time they had an option. Now, it seemed as though they didn't have a choice at all. The man outside kept talking, but Joey couldn't hear anything. Her ears kept ringing and she pinched her eyes shut.
"Rick. Don't you think we should try to get some sort of deal? We don't know how much man power they have. We could be driving to our deaths." Bill suggested, leaning his arms on his knees. Rick didn't even look over at him—Joey could tell Bill was trying hard and biting his tongue. "No. They don't deserve a damn deal. They told us what they want—we can't give it to them."
Bill huffed, leaning back in his seat and anxiously bouncing his leg. Joey reached forward and grabbed his hand to gain some sort of comfort, but it didn't really work. Both of their hands were shaking.
After they got out of the eye sight of the Saviors, Abraham pulled over on the side of the road so that Eugene could cook up a route from the map provided. They wanted visibility—to see the Saviors from a distance so they could avoid them at all costs. Joey and Carl sat by the window—although Joey didn't want to be near him—and watched the rotters in the field outside wander through the grass. Carl looked at her, but Joey tried her best not to look at him, although she wanted to so badly.
"I'm sorry for trying to keep you back there. I just—don't want anything happening to you." He whispered, trying to make it so no one would hear their petty, adolescent argument. Joey grew slightly red and blew out air from her nose. "If we're going to do this, you know...this," She gestured between the both of them, "Then you need to stop acting like I'm not my own person."
Carl was quiet, looking down at the ground as the trailer began to move. Maggie shifted in her sleep and the pair of them brought their voices down even lower. "I just care about you, Joey."
She sighed, shaking her head. "You know me. You know how I am. If you keep treating me like this—we're never going to get better. We'll always be like this." Joey was tired of everyone treating her like she was about to break—like she couldn't take care of herself. Every time she thought she proved herself to them, it was like they just continued to treat her like she was an infant. If Carl kept treating her like this, when he was the only one who understood her the way that he did, she wouldn't be able to look at him anymore. Everything was getting harder and harder to stomach.
"I know. I'm uh—I'm sorry." Carl murmured, moving forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders as she was sitting down. Joey wrapped her arms around his waist, closing her eyes and trying to melt into him. There was an abrupt screeching from the brakes as the trailer halted to a stop. "Bitch nuts." Abraham groaned, and everyone moved to try and get a look out of the front window. Everyone moved to let Rick to the front, and Bill reached to delicately hold onto Joey's arm.
"We making our stand?" Sasha asked, and Rick, contemplative, continued just to stare at the barricade of Saviors blocking their path. Carl loomed over Joey's shoulder. "Yeah. We end it."
"No. Not now." Rick pushed. Joey looked at him, and didn't know whether she agreed with him or not. She knew that nothing was going to get better until they fought, or until they gave the Saviors half of their belongings. She knew nothing would get better until one of them was dead. Rick was being complacent—which wasn't like him. Joey could tell Carl was thinking the same thing, too.
"They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel, that's eight on sixteen. We're gonna play it our way, how we want it," He turned around to look at Carl. "Right?"
Carl looked at Joey, and then looked at Rick again, nodding. "Right."
Joey released a hefty breath and turned around to look at the line of cars and Saviors again. Her heart was racing, to the point where she could feel it in her ears. Rick pat Abraham on the arm. "Alright—go slow." Everyone took out their guns as one of the Saviors shot multiple gun shots in the air, and they all swarmed the windows. Joey kept both her hands on the gun and held it up to the window. Multiple shots rang out in the air as Abraham slowly pulled away.
Carl moved over in his seat so Joey could sit down with him. She watched the trees whirring by in the window, awkwardly reaching to hold his hand. It was sweaty, and she tried not to laugh as he stiffened up. Soon, the trailer screeched to a stop again, and everyone shot up to look out the window. "What the fuck." Joey muttered, peering out over the drivers seat to see a line of rotters chained together, blocking the road.
"We can't go through—can't risk the RV. We'll clear it." Rick cocked his gun and headed toward the door of the RV. All of them had their guns up as they exited the RV, and Joey clicked off the safety of her gun and cautiously aimed everywhere to see if there were any Saviors hiding ready to attack. It was quiet, save for the growls of the rotters, and it made Joey even more nervous. Bill stood in front of her, with Finn on the other side. They all looked up in the treeline, hoping to find someone.
"Putting together a red rover like that takes people. A lot of them." Eugene suggested. Rick seemed to be fed up, and wrapped the gun over his warm. "C'mon, let's do this." Carl seemed to stare at one particular rotter for longer than normal, and Joey looked at him with concern. He nodded toward the rotter, and when Joey focused on it, it had Michonne's clothes and katana slung over its back. Joey screwed up her face and lowered her gun. "Shit." She hissed.
"Dad." Carl warned, and Rick halted. "That's Michonne's." Joey nodded toward the rotter, and Rick cautiously moved closer to it, as it clamped his jaws and tried to go after them. Joey couldn't tell if it was Michonne or not—it only had two pieces of her hair in its head that looked to be drilled into its head.
"Shit, that's Daryl's." Sasha yelled, pointing to another rotter at the end of the line. It had long hair, two arrows in its chest and similar clothes. "What the fuck." Joey whispered, moving closer to the rotters to try and see who else it could've been—and if any of them were Glenn.
"Joey." Bill spoke in a warning tone, moving to grab her arm and pull her away from the rotters. All of them stood and stared, trying to understand what to do with the information. Joey did not know whether she wanted to cry or not—she didn't know if she should be scared, if she should be worried, or if she shouldn't take any of it seriously. Her stomach was turning and she felt like she was going to be sick. Rick moved forward and took the pieces of Michonne's hair out of the skull of the rotter, tossing it around in his hand before raising his ax to put it down completely. Suddenly, there was a chorus of bullets that rang out from the trees. Everyone ducked to the ground, trying to dodge the bullets.
Bill threw himself over Joey and Finn, before aiming his gun up to the treeline and shot back. Everyone did the same, while Rick yelled for them all to go back into the RV. Joey pushed out from under Bill, and pointed her gun at the treeline and at everyone who popped up from behind the bushes. Carl grabbed Joey by the arm while pulling her back to the RV, while Bill ran to help Rick take down the rotters that were chained together. When Joey tried to turn back, Finn just pushed her into the RV himself. After they cleared the road, while the Saviors were still shooting at them, the rest of them clambered into the RV.
"Jesus." Joey sighed, still keeping her head below the window as she was scared of bullets piercing through the glass. Abraham immediately sped away as fast as he could once he got into the driver's seat. Everyone sat in silence as Rick toyed with the strands of Michonne's hair in his hands. Carl moved to hold Joey's hand, but she was stagnant—almost unable to move. She could hear the bullets whirring past her ears. It was slightly haunting to see that they had either dressed up rotters to look like Michonne and Daryl, or that they might have possibly killed them.
About twenty minutes later, there was an alarming squealing sound coming from the undercarriage of the RV. Sasha questioned it, and Eugene inhaled a large breath. "Undercarriage could've caught a bullet. Or could be transmission. It could be nothing."
"They were firing at our feet," Rick muttered, and Joey inhaled. She wasn't really sure what that meant. "They blocked the road, but they weren't trying to stop us. They want us in this direction."
Joey stared at him, confused. "Why would they want us going in this direction?" She asked, and Rick shook his head. "They must want us—to be trapped. Or something. They're cornering us."
"Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we want to go north." Sasha said frantically, running her finger up and over the map to look for possible directions. Joey felt her head begin to hurt as she pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand.
"Meadows. Could take us east a piece, but we can get back on track at Mayhew." Eugene suggested. Bill aggressively stroked his beard. "We're down to a third of a tank." He muttered, exasperated. Sasha swallowed, shaking her head. "We could top off at the next stop, but no refills after that."
"All right." Rick muttered. Joey continued to pinch the bridge of her nose, and Carl squeezed her hand reassuringly. It didn't make her feel any better, and she let a heavy breath out of her nose. Joey wasn't really sure what to think of the situation—but she knew Maggie wasn't getting any better, and it didn't seem like any of the roads were working in their favor. The RV continued to squeal, and Joey moved to trace some of the bullet holes on the side of the RV, and winced at a sharp piece of wood piercing her finger.
"Rick." Abraham called from the front, and when she turned around, Joey saw an even larger number of Saviors, stacked on top of the cars, behind each other, and in between. More than any of the other blockages, and it made Joey's heart skip a beat. They were stagnant on the road before Rick told Abraham to turn around.
"We're running out of ways to go." Joey muttered to Carl, who was staring at the table in front of them. There was a squeal of the brakes and Abraham turned the RV around, and they were back on the road again. But, it wasn't long before they turned down a road that was blocked with tons of tree trunks and branches, with hefty skid marks and footprints from people and big trucks. "Shit balls." Abraham grunted, putting the RV in park as Rick moved back up to the front to observe the situation.
He wordlessly grabbed his gun and pushed the door open. Everyone but Finn and Maggie moved to leave the trailer, as well, and Joey kept her hand on the handle of her gun as they moved toward the trees. "These tracks...they would indicate they not only have people, but some big ass toys and capabilities." Eugene muttered.
"What it indicates is that we're neck deep up shit creek with our mouths wide open." Abraham grunted. Joey opened her mouth to say something, but there was a scream from behind them, and a man's body hung writhed as he was being hung from a rusted chain. There was grunting and gagging as the man clawed at his neck, and Aaron aimed his rifle at him. "Don't." Abraham insisted.
"I can try and break the chain." He yelled, his hands trembling. "Holy shit." Joey breathed, tilting her head slightly to try and gauge the severity of what this meant—was this furthering the threat? What were they trying to impose onto them? The man continued to choke until his body went limp, and all they could do was stare. Carl was shaking and tried to hold Joey's hand, but she couldn't move it from her gun. Suddenly there was the smell of smoke and fire crackling, and when they turned around, the tree trunks and branches were on fire.
"You're treating your people good, right? Like it was your last day on earth? Or maybe one of theirs?" A voice yelled out from over the branches. Joey recognized the voice—it was the man from before. "You better go. It's gonna get hot. You go get where you're going." Joey stared at the fire, squinting slightly and holding a hand up to them as the flames got bigger and started to irritate her eyes. "Go, go." Rick urged them, and Bill grabbed Joey by the arm and dragged her and Carl back into the trailer.
They all clambered back on the trailer, and Abraham quickly started the engine and turned around. They were silent and only listened to the RV run. At one point, they came to a dead end, and Abraham carefully turned off the trailer as they tried to plan out their next move. "So, what's the play?" Abraham asked. Joey pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a loud breath. "We don't have many other places to go." She mentioned toying with a loose string of her jacket.
"She needs a doctor." Rick spoke urgently. Joey moved her head slightly to look into the room, but only saw Finn sitting down by the bed.
"There are two more routes north from here." Sasha spoke, shakily dragging her finger up the map. "They're probably waiting for us right now." Aaron muttered. Joey knew he was right—but they always came out on top. She didn't want to believe that they were losing. Eugene shook his head frantically. "So they're ahead of us, probably behind us. But they're not waiting on us, per se, they're waiting on this rust bucket—and they don't know the moment-to-moment occupancy of said rust bucket. The sun sets soon."
Joey sighed, biting on her lip. "So—we go...on foot?" She asked, and Rick was quiet before he nodded slowly. Bill clapped his hand on her back and rubbed her shoulder gently.
They decided that Eugene was going to keep driving the RV to distract the Saviors into thinking that they were still in there. While that was happening, the rest of them were going to transport Maggie to Hilltop on foot—going through the woods to try and stay out of the Saviors eyeline.
Bill, Finn, Rick and Aaron helped to pull Maggie out of the trailer on a cot. Carl and Joey both had their guns out, making sure that they were alone from all sides. Every time there was a rustle in the trees, Joey thought she was going to soil her pants. Her and Carl were going to clear the pathways while the rest of them helped carry Maggie.
The woods were dark and eerie. The surroundings were damp from the dewy air, and Joey kept stepping on sticks as they made their way through the dark. A few rotters stumbled out from behind the trees, and Joey and Carl both took them down as much as they could. Carl talked to Rick after they had walked a few miles but Joey was zoning them out—and was just focusing on getting through the darkness with no trouble.
"What happened to Denise...I;m not going to let anyone die like that again." She heard him say, and Joey furrowed her brows at him. She knew he wasn't talking to her—but she knew he wasn't capable of stopping something like that. None of them were. Joey was terrified of what was going to happen—because it didn't seem like this Negan was giving up anytime soon.
While they were walking, a whistle echoed from throughout the forest. All of them stopped in their tracks and turned to look in the direction it came from. "The fuck was that?" Joey whispered, narrowing her eyes to try and peek through the many trees that were blocking their sight. More people started to whistle, and they all looked around frantically to see where it was coming from. When she looked hard enough, Joey saw silhouettes of men moving between the threes. She raised her gun, but Carl immediately pushed it down.
"Save your bullets." He whispered, while keeping a steady hand on his own gun. Rick nodded his head. "Go, go!" He exclaimed, moving to run in the other direction. The whistling kept coming from all directions, and Joey didn't know where to go or what to do. They ran in all directions, guns drawn, while trying to avoid the whistling that was surrounding them. But it seemed no matter where they ran, there was whistling everywhere. Joey's breath started to get erratic as she contemplated what to do—and if they were going to make it out together this time.
They made it through an opening in the trees, but just as they thought they had narrowly escaped, large lights turned on, blinding them. Joey held up her hands to protect her eyes, while the whistling grew so loud as all of the Saviors cornering them whistled in unison. Joey kept her gun raised, but even so, the Saviors started to corner them in the opening, and there were way too many of them. Joey heard the ringing return to her ears and she winced, tears sparking in her eye. There were trailers, trucks, and tons of people. They all had weapons as well—just like Eugene had said. Plenty of manpower, plenty of weapons. There was no way out of this. They were all sweating profusely and guarding Maggie with their bodies.
When they turned, they saw Eugene on his knees, across from the RV. They had gotten him so quickly—they knew their plan before they even executed it.
"Good—you made it." One Savior spoke, and Joey puffed her chest out as if she was going to intimidate him. "Welcome to where you're going." He turned to look at all of them, and chuckled a bit at Joey. "Lookin' tough sweetheart." He winked, and Joey scrunched up her face. "We'll take your weapons." He smiled like a Cheshire cat, and Joey thought she was going to be sick. The hidden knife in her boot tingled against her skin.
"Now." He pointed a gun at Carl, and Joey's breathing grew rapid again. Rick staggered, unsure of what to say. "We can talk about—"
The Savior interrupted him. "We're done talking. Time to listen." A group of Saviors came up to them to pat them down and take their weapons—the two that were dealing with Joey took her pistol, and her two knives that were strapped to her holster. They loosely patted her down and didn't seem to find the knife that was nestled in her feet. She wouldn't be surprised if it was piercing her skin. Joey crept closer to Carl and their shoulder brushed while the Mario-mustached Savior lowered his face and grabbed Carl's gun.
"This is yours, huh?" He looked at Carl, not blinking, and Carl kept his eyes narrowed. "Yeah. It's yours." He flicked his hat, and Carl didn't flinch. Joey glared at him so hard she thought she was going to singe holes in his mustache. He backed up and Joey grabbed Carl's arm. "Alright. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees."
Joey staggered a bit, still holding onto Carl's arm as one of the Savior's tried to pull her away. She yanked her arm away from the guy's grasp, and stumbled a bit in her steps. "Let go of me." She grunted, stepping away. Rick and Abraham helped Maggie off the cot and onto her knees, while the others staggered around. Eugene got dragged over, and all of them stared at his bloodied, crying face in shock. Joey didn't know what to think, and was nearly frozen in place. "Gonna need you on your knees." The Savior ordered Rick. They all wanted to see what he would do—if he was oblige, and fall to his knees, defeated. Or if there was a fight to be fought. There was a moment of contemplation before Rick went to his knees, and the others followed. Joey was the last one as Carl pulled her down.
"Dwight! Chop chop." The Savior yelled. A man with long blonde hair and a defomred face moved from behind the crowd, and over to a van. He opened the back doors, to reveal Michonne, Rosita, Daryl and Glenn, all battered and bruised, being aggressively pulled from the van and into the line. Joey shifted slightly on her knees when she saw how bloody Daryl was. Glenn was trying to get to Maggie, but the deformed man named Dwight was keeping her back.
"Alright! We got a full boat. Let's meet the man." The Savior yelled, and Joey tried to keep her composure under the watchful eye of the other Saviors, who were chuckling to themselves and dangling their guns in front of all their faces like carrots. Her throat was closing up and she closed and opened her hands in fists while adjusting on her knees. The man knocked on the door, while the others watched and waited. Joey didn't know who they were exactly looking and waiting for—but her heart was beating so loudly in her chest she thought it might fall out. The door creaked open, and there was a pool of shadow that came out of it. A tall, lanky man donning a leather jacket and a barb-wire wrapped bat over his shoulder stepped out, his hair slicked back and an evil smirk on his face.
"Pissing our pants yet?" he grinned, and Joey felt like she was going to throw up. The knife in her sock started to cut her ankle and she tried not to make it obvious as the blood pooled her shoe. Joey wouldn't be surprised if she did pee her pants at some point. The man, whom Joey assumed was Negan, stepped out into the spotlights casting on the opening. He was still smiling—he had them all in front of him, weak and defenseless, and he was smiling. "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close."
He paced back and forth in front of them, and Joey tried to not look in his eyes and just kept her gaze on the ground.
"Yep. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon." He laughed. Joey looked to Bill, who was doing the same as her—slightly shaky and keeping his eyes away from Negan. "So. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" Negan asked, waving his gloved hand around. The Savior from before pointed to Rick. "It's this one. He's the guy."
Negan looked at Rick, his smirk still on his face, and moved slowly toward Rick, his bat still slung over his shoulder. Everyone seemed to hold their breath the closer he got to them. "Hi." He smiled. Rick hardly looked at him. "You're Rick, right?" He asked, but Rick didn't answer. "I'm Negan—and I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not fucking cool."
There was silence, nothing other than their heavy breathing and the crickets littering in the woods. "You have no fucking idea how not fucking cool that shit is. But I think you're going to be up to speed here shortly." Negan watched Rick carefully—Joey thought he was about to cry. "You are so going to regret crossing me in a few minutes." Joey felt a chill go up and down her spine, and she kept writhing her hands together to keep herself distracted.
"Fuck yeah you are. You see Rick, whatever you do, no matter fucking what, you do not mess with the new World Order—the new World Order is this, and it's really very simple...even if you're fucking stupid, which you very well might be, maybe you can understand it. Now I know that is a mighty, big, nasty pill to swallow. But swallow it you most certainly motherfuckin' will."
Joey took the chance to look at him, and it was like looking at the Devil. She never believed in God, but she still found herself praying, talking to whoever she could in her head, pleading for something. Pleading for some sort of mercy.
"You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But...the word is out. You are not safe, you are not even fucking close. In fact, you are fucked. More fucked if you don't give me what I want, and what I want is half your shit, and if that's too much, then you can go make, find or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later." He swung his bat around like a pendulum, and Joey flinched a bit when he carelessly pointed it in her direction. "This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone comes to your door, you fucking let us in, we fucking own that door. You try to fucking stop us, we will fucking knock that fucker down. You understand?"
No one answered—Joey knew it was a rhetorical question. But, she didn't know what Rick was thinking—she couldn't decipher his shocked expression. She didn't know if they were even going to be able to fight back at this point. Negan mockingly leaned down with a hand cupped over his ear. "What? No answer?" He chuckled a bit to himself. "Did you guys really think you were going to get through this without being punished, now did you?" There was another beat of silence. Joey looked at Carl, and he looked at her, and that was the first time Joey saw him so scared. His eyes were wide and his face was pale. She looked away from him before she started crying. Her leg hurt from the incision from the knife.
"We don't want to kill you people, just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me, and you can't do that if you're fucking dead, now can you?" He looked at all of them, and Joey went back to looking at the dirt ground. "I'm not growing a garden, but a whole fucking shit load of them. More than I'm comfortable with—and for that, you gotta fucking pay." Joey swallowed over her dry throat, anticipating his next words.
"So now...I'm gonna beat the holy fuck fucking fuckity fuck out of one of you."
Joey released a heavy breath, staring intensely at Negan's bat. It had barbed wire wrapped around it, and she swore she saw dried blood on the handle. "I don't want to." he lied, twirling the bat around a few times and looking down at it, like it was something to be proud of. "This...this is Lucille, and she is awesome." he grinned, swinging the bat around a bit more. "All this...all this, just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor."
Negan swung the bat around, pacing back and forth and intently looking at each person. Abraham sat up, pushing his chest out to show Negan that he wasn't scared. Joey didn't think that was true—they were all terrified. He moved his way back down the line, and stopped in front of Carl. Joey stiffened up a bit and tried to move closer to him, wincing a bit at the knife piercing her skin.
"You got one of our guns." He crouched down to be eye level with Carl, and Joey could feel him stiffening up beside her. "You got a lot of our guns." he stared at Carl for a while, who narrowed his eye, and then looked over at Joey, to which she did the same, and tried to muster the most I hate you look she could muster. "Shit, kids, lighten up. At least cry a little." He grinned, licking his lips. Joey still glared at him, even after he got up and shoved the gun down the front of his pants. He walked back down the line, eyeing everyone up, and stopping at Maggie.
"Jesus...you look fucking shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now." He swung the bat up slightly, and everyone, including Joey, moved forward on their knees. Glenn screamed from his place on the ground, moving to lunge at Negan. Three of Negan's men took him down, and Dwight pointed a crossbow at Glenn's head. Maggie screamed, and Joey tried not to cry.
"Nope, nope. Get him back in line."
They dragged a kicking and screaming Glenn back in line, and he cried out for them to stop. Negan only looked at him and laughed, his Cheshire grin spreading across his face as he threw his head back. "Alright, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First ones free—it's an emotional moment, I get it."
Joey realized how easy it could be for her to grab her knife out of her sock and stab him in the neck. He wasn't looking at her—he had his eyes fixated on a distraught Glenn. Maybe the others would kill her once she did it—but who would they have to answer to if he was dead? It was easy—too easy. But she felt cemented in her place.
"Sucks, don't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit." He looked at Rick, and then looked at Carl, who was nearly on his feet. Joey wanted to grab his arm, put him behind her as if she could protect him. She wanted to stab Negan just for looking at Carl. "This is your kid, right?" Negan pointed his bat at Carl, and Joey's breathing increased. Negan started to laugh as he walked over to Carl, keeping his bat pointed. "This is definitely your kid."
"Just stop this!" Rick screamed, banging his hands on the dirt ground. Joey flinched a bit. "Hey! Don't make me kill the little future serial killer. Don't make it easy on me." Negan yelled, but it still looked like he was amused. Joey looked at Bill, who was shaking with a pale face. "I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order." He began whistling while walking back and forth, eyeing everyone with amusement and swinging his bat back and forth.
He came back over to Carl and Joey, and pointed the bat between them. "Maybe I should just put these two out. Shit eyed cowboy and his shit eyed girlfriend. That would teach you guys a lesson, hm? What do you think?" he pointed to Finn and Bill, who were on edge, and looking about ready to kill him. He furrowed his eyebrows together. "I don't know who you two are looking at." He laughed at the pair of them, and continued to whistle and go up and down the line.
Laughing, he shrugged his shoulders. "I simply cannot decide." He turned around, pinching the bridge of his nose, before turning back around with the same evil grin. "I got an idea." He chuckled, and moved slowly toward Rick, not blinking. Joey watched his boot-clad feet press against the dirt. He lifted his bat and pointed it to Rick, and moved down the line.
"Eenie...meenie...miney...mo..."
authors note: my heart racing lowkey