Negan left us out here all night. His men still crowded us, watching our every move as Negan dragged Rick away in our RV. As if we'd even dared to move at this point. I couldn't. Not when what remained of Glenn lay 10 feet away from me. Not when I still had Abraham's blood soaked into my clothes. Not while Maggie now silently sobbed while clutching her stomach. Not while Eugene retched up everything in his stomach. And not while Daryl sat there, slowly bleeding out.
There was daylight by the time the RV returned. The morning dew cast a cold chill that settled into our bones as we sat with the realization that Abraham and Glenn had just been murdered. We were left here to stew with that feeling. They wanted the events of last night to sink in, to fester so deep they could hold us on a tight leash.
The door of the RV swung open, bouncing against the hinges as Negan dragged Rick along the gravel by his coat collar. Rick stumbled with him. His eyes were bloodshot with a dark stain of blood coating the right side of his face. Abraham's blood. Negan dropped him in the centre, smiling at us.
"Here we are. Let me ask you something, Rick-- do you even know what that little trip was about? Negan asked. There was silence, Rick not knowing how to answer or was too frightened to. "Speak when you're spoken to," Negan commanded.
Rick inhaled a ragged breath, "Okay. Okay."
"That trip was about the way that you looked at me. I wanted to change that. I wanted you to understand," Negan sighed as Rick looked up at him from the ground. "But you're still looking at me the same damn way... like I shit in your scrambled eggs, and that's not gonna work," Negan raised his voice, causing me to flinch. "So..." Negan knelt beside Rick, his bat held firmly in his hands, "...do I give you another chance?"
Rick continued to panic, fidgeting in his place on the floor, "Yeah," his voice shook, "Yes. Yes."
Negan patted him on the back harshly, "Okay. Alright. And here it is-- the grand prize game." Negan threw out his arms, a deranged smile sliding up his face once again. "What you do next will decide whether your crap day becomes everyone's last crap day or just another crap day." I sunk into myself, wanting to scream out at him. The twisted torment was never going to end and all we could do was just sit here and take it. "Get some guns to the back of their heads," Negan ordered.
I shifted on my knees, swallowing hard as I looked up at Daryl. His eyes were already on the man who stood with a shotgun pointed at the back of my head. He followed his every move. I jumped when I heard the click.
"Good. Now... level with their noses, so if you have to fire..." Negan imitated the sound of an explosion, "It'll be a real mess." I subtly shook my head at Daryl when he finally looked down at me. I prayed he wouldn't do anything now, but the hatred he had in his stare as he looked at the man looming over my shoulder made me weary.
Now that Negan had everyone where he wanted them again he called out, "Kid..." beckoning Carl over to them. "Right here," he pointed to the spot on the ground to his right. Carl stared him down. "Kid... now." Carl stood, walking over slowly. Rick was visibly shaking. Negan removed his belt, "You a southpaw?" He asked.
"Am I a what?" Carl harshly spat out.
"You a lefty?" Negan asked as he grabbed hold of Carl's left arm.
"No."
"Good." Negan began wrapping his belt tightly around Carl's arm, just below his armpit, fastening it tight. "That hurt?"
Carl didn't take his eyes off Negan as he tilted his head, "No."
"It's supposed to," Negan smiled. "Alright. Get down on the ground, kid, next to Daddy. Spread them wings!" Negan grabbed the top of Carl's hat, tossing the thing over his shoulder. He guided Carl to the ground before pushing on the centre of his back to lay him flat on his stomach. "Simon... you got a pen?"
My eyes darted the the man that trapped us here, the same one that had marked an X on the man beaten in the middle of the road to the Hilltop. He patted his jeans dramatically before smirking, "Yeah," he tossed a sharpie to Negan. I watched as the marker flew in the air, my stomach twisting as it landed in Negan's hands.
Negan knelt between Carl and Rick, lifting Carl's sleeve and marking a thick line across his arm just below the elbow.
"There you go. Gives you a little leverage."
Rick began swaying now. "Please. Please. Please don't. Please don't." He shook his head as Negan met his eyes with an amused smile.
"Me?" He chuckled. "I ain't doing shit."
He let the realization sink in, sending Rick into an all-out panic. His eyes went wide with fear, his breathing becoming unsteady again.
"Rick, I want you to take your axe... cut your son's left arm off, right on that line," he ordered. "Now, I know-- I know. You're gonna have to process that for a second. That makes sense. Still, though, I'm gonna need you to do it, or all these people are gonna die. Then Carl dies, then the people back home die... and then you, eventually. I'm gonna keep you breathing for a few years, just so you can stew on it."
My own breath caught in my throat, my mind racing between wanting to yell at Rick to do it but also wanting to beg him not to. Carl could live without an arm, but that's only if the proper medical attention was given to him immediately. Now, knowing Negan, he would allow Carl to just bleed out on the gravel right now.
"You-- you don't have to do this," Michonne pleaded, "We understand. We understand."
"You understand. Yeah." Negan's eyes went wide, running his tongue along his bottom lip as he motioned down at Rick. "I'm not sure that Rick does. I'm gonna need a clean-cut right there on that line. Now, I know this is a screwed-up thing to ask, but it's gonna have to be like a salami slice-- nothing messy, clean, 45 degrees-- give us something to fold over. We got a great doctor. The kid'll be fine. Probably." Negan let that thought fester for a moment.
"Rick..." he put his hand on Ricks's back, kneeling over him "...this needs to happen now-- chop, chop-- or I will crush his the little fella's skull myself," he hovered Lucille right over Carl's head. The wood was still soaked with Glenn and Abraham's blood.
"It can-- It can-- It can be me," Rick cried sputtering on his words. "W- W- Y- you can do it to me," he was barely able to formulate a sentence he was so distraught with the thought. "I c-- I can go with-- with you."
"No. This is the only way," Negan exhaled. "Rick... pick up the axe. Not making a decision is a big decision. You really want to see all these people die? You will. You will see every ugly thing." Negan was yelling now, his patience growing thin. "Oh my god. Are you gonna make me count?" Rick began to audibly groan as he cried, looking around at each of us for help. After everything he has been through tonight, now he is expected to cut off his own son's arm. "Okay, Rick. You win. I am counting. Three!"
"Please!" Rick sobbed. "Please! It can be me! Please!" He gasped for breath, looking up at Negan for mercy.
"Two!" Negan shouted, squatting in front of him to scream in his face through the sobs.
"Please, don't do--" Negan slapped Rick across the face mid-hysteria before clutching his jaw in place. I winced, tears starting to roll down my cheeks again as I was forced to watch.
Negan held him still, "This is it." Rick shouted at the top of his lungs, snot running down his face. "One!"
Rick didn't stop screaming as his trembling fingers grabbed ahold of his axe, holding Carl's hand with the other.
"Dad... just do it. Dad... just do it," Carl pleaded with him, okaying it. He was brave. He was always so brave.
Rick's entire body shook as he nodded his head, raising his right arm up over his head with the axe in hand. I turned my head away, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Rick. Rick." I could hear Negan say over Rick's wails. My head snapped back around seeing Negan stopping Rick from going any further. Rick was breathing so fast I thought he might pass out. "You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right?" Negan spoke slowly to make sure Rick understood. Rick nodded his head vigorously, too traumatized to say anything. Negan harshly gripped Rick's jaw once more, "Speak when you're spoken to!" He roared. "You answer to me. You provide for me."
"Provide for you," Rick bawled.
"You belong to me, right?!"
"Right," Rick exhaled.
"Right," Negan confirmed, letting go of Rick's face. "That..." he pointed, "...is the look I wanted to see." Negan picked up Rick's axe and stood. "We did it... all of us, together... even the dead guys on the ground. Hell, they get the Spirit award, for sure. Today was a productive damn day! Now, I hope, for all your sake... that you get it now... that you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you... that is over now."
I fell onto my hands, my breath staggering. I was praying that he was done now. I-- we need this all to be over with. I couldn't stand to be here any longer. I couldn't stand to listen to him any longer. Not with the rest of our lives dangling like the strings of puppets in his hands.
"Dwight..." Negan called out, "...load him up." I followed the direction of his bat, my eyes landing on Daryl. Dwight harshly grabbed Daryl under his armpits as Daryl tried to shove him off.
"No--" I yelled out before stopping myself, knowing no good could come from it. My body still lurched forward.
"Oh, don't you worry sweetheart... you're coming too," he smiled at me. I shrunk away from his gaze, folding in on myself. The last place I wanted to go was anywhere with him. "Simon, load the feisty one up!" He demanded.
I could feel the group's eyes on me as Simon gripped the top of my forearm, yanking me to my feet and shoving me toward the van. No one knew what to do or why the hell Negan wanted me as well.
"Get off of me!" I shouted as I tugged my arm against Simon's grasp, digging my heels into the dirt. He aggressively shoved me forward, throwing me straight into the back of the van. The last thing I saw as they slammed the door in my face was Lincoln angrily gripping the stones on the ground in front of him.
I whipped around as soon as we were alone, grabbing onto Daryl. My hands hovered gently over his shoulders as I analyzed the bullet wound. "Are you okay? What happened? Who did this to you?" I sobbed. The entirety of his left arm and the side of his torso had been drenched in blood by now.
I could see him physically wince as he raised his arm, his hands gripping both of my cheeks as he held my head up to look him in the eyes. "Red, listen to me. Whatever you do, don't give in to him," he spoke quickly, almost frantically. I had never seen Daryl like that before. Was this what he was like when I was taken by the Governor? Or when we split up on the way to Alexandria? Or when I was trapped with Rick in that RV? "Whatever he plans to hold over your head... you keep yourself alive. You hear me--"
"What about you?" I cried, the tears rushing down my face. "I don't know what he wants from me. But-- but what if he uses you?"
"No," he held my face tighter, "don't worry about me. I'll be fine. We don't die," he said firmly, wanting to make sure I understood.
I sniffled, "Daryl... Glenn just did." I studied every feature of his face I could while I still had the chance. I watched as his mouth pressed into a firm line, his brows dropping like he was reliving that very moment in his head.
He leaned his head closer, "You and I don't die. Red, you promise me that right now. You won't give in to him."
"....I won't."
~~~~~
Omg, my first real full chapter in what... like 8 months? I am having so much fun again! I missed this, I missed you guys! As you guys may have predicted... Negan is taking Scar too.
Anyways, back to the same old! Comment your thoughts down below for the chance of a shout out in the next chapter xx