Ron slung his arms around himself, it had gotten quite windy when he reached the Ferris wheel and the cold stole its way from his clothes to under his skin and let the goosebumps bloom all over it. He didn't really know what to expect as soon as he got there or where he was supposed to find Nightmare Carl, and so he just leaned on the steel railing that fenced around the ride and stared holes into the air, anxiously waiting for whatever Carl wanted from him.
It was empty and it was weird. It's like the funfair had eaten away the people like the black matter half of the earth. The roads were swept empty but the attractions were still running in solitude. Up in the sky the rollercoaster was crashing into the curved tracks like a wild mustang galloping on a meadow and the dobby horses were seesawing in an endless loop to the happy but piercing music gushing out from the speakers built into the top roof.
Ron patience was held at an all time low and it turned into real challenge for him not to give in to his boredom and walk back to the theatre, forget about everything and just accept that they'd be stuck here for the rest of their life's. But something held him in place, maybe it was the pills was promised to be receiving from Nightmare-Carl or his soles were just legitimately grown onto the pavement and kept him from leaving.
Five minutes turned into fifteen. Minutes turned into an hour and the clear blue sky above him turned into a canvas of light grey clouds and a sun just barely peeking out from there in splotches.
Ron's knees started aching from all the standing and he lowered himself onto the ground only to be jumping back up right after as he heard a familiar voice coming from about five feet away.
"Blondie, you've actually showed up. Good for you."
"What do you want?" Ron blurted out and only now he noticed how freaked out he was as his words came out rather shaky and the struggle holding himself on feet because of his soft knees that felt like pudding.
"Why'd ya think i'd want anything from you when it's you who came for these?"
Rons gaze flickered from Carl's shadowed face to the outstretched arm and just then he noticed a pool of pills piled on his palm, all the same colour; grey.
"You actually have them!" Ron gasped. The hand closed again and the pills were covered by long fingers, skin blue as if he was freezing in the warm but windy weather.
A smile lined Carl's face and Ron didn't like the look his green eye threw at him. "That's right, and you can have all of them, even more than i carry with me right now. You can go back to the theatre and feed your friend with it shortly after. Under one condition."
Ron's eyebrow lifted "What is it..?"
"I want your soul."
"What?" A nervous laugh struck Ron, he couldn't tell if Carl was joking or being serious but the boys face rested in earnest.
"Your soul." Carl repeated. They fell silent and the wind swished against their ears, starting a dance with their hair and whipping their jackets like sails. Ron's blond curls hung cold from the wind over his eyelashes and he didn't dare to brush them away because that would mean he had to look at Carl who took in a intimidating posture opposite to him.
"Deal? yes?" Carl asked, dragging the answer out of from him.
"How'd that even work and how'd it affect me?" Ron asked.
"Oh!" Carl's eyebrows jumped up as if he was surprised Ron didn't know about this already. "You give me your eye, because that's the mirror of your soul. Next step would be you mix your blood with mine and you'd be imprinted from me."
"And... why exactly should I do that?" Ron asked slowly, his heart was hammering so viciously against his ribcage at this point and a new thought had fought its way up to his subconscious after the mentioning of him having to basically scoop out his eyeball. Thinking about this, he realised that he had never asked the real Carl how he lost his eye.
"To help your friend, he's a goner soon" was the answer.
"A what?"
"One of the deadlings" Carl shrugged "Don't care what ya call them. So deal?" He looked impatient with the blond boy, as if the time was ticking away from them.
Ron didn't know what to do with this information, if Carl really was going to die he would probably be willing to sacrifice his eyeball in trade for his life, but he couldn't be sure upon trusting Nightmare-Carl either. The whole thing just seemed like a horrendous scam to him based on the whole situation with them being stuck in Lost Jollity with all those nightmares.
"No-- I mean, no deal, because i'll get him the pills myself as soon as we get back to Alexandria" Ron said, trying to sound confident in his words but his voice was shaking regardless.
The look on Carl's face changed abruptly, giving him the stink-eye. "No? You can't say no. That wasn't an option. It's either yes or die."
"Okay.. okay" Ron's eyes jerked away from Carl looking for an escape plan, but Carl noticed it and surged towards him. "If those are the only options, i'm choosing you to die!" and with that he struck into a sprint, coasting away from the Ferris wheel and Carl's charging hands.
The cold wind beat into his face and stung in his eyes, and through the excessive blinking he soon spotted a good enough exit to escape which was to his left by a huge fissure in the gritty fence. He ran towards it without thinking long, nightmare-carl's now only inches away from him and his arms were trying to lasso around him, but only managed to catch the wind Ron's body left as he broke across the pavement.
"Give up!" Carl panted behind him "You're stuck here anyways! Can't get back to pathetic Alexandria!"
Ron didn't listen, mainly because another issue soon arose to the surface; his exit got blocked by Negan who joined Nightmare-Carl in keeping Ron cornered. His beard was shaven and multiple bristles on his head indicated that his baldness was soon to be old news.
"Any troubles here?" He asked, a sneer present in all its glory. "Get his arms tied, I got the implement ready"
It turned out that with 'implement' he referred to a spoon, but before Ron could dwell on that detection more his arms were pressed onto his back and another pair of arms looped around them tightly like tendrils.
"Got him." Carl's hot breath stung the skin by his neck and his whole body froze on the spot.
Negan was walking towards them, straightening his black tuxedo jacket with a blissful grin plastered all over his face. "I hope you know that what we do here is for a greater purpose, Mr. Anderson. I'm scared that this is the price we have to pay for our lovely Lost Jollity and everything within" he let out an dramatic sighed, lifting the spoon and all the carnival lights reflected into the grey steel.
And then suddenly it hit like bricks in front of Ron's eyes and he knew what the spoons exact use was;
they were going to scoop out his eyeball.