DEVIL DOESN'T BARGAIN, part one-070
"We'll take your weapons." The man declared. He didn't give the group time before pointing his gun at Carl. "Now."
Matilda kept her eyes glued to her brothers as their father spoke.
" We can talk about—"
"We're done talking." The man cut in coldly. "Time to listen."
Matilda flinched as a Savior stepped in front of her and takes her bow and arrow, gun, and knife.
"That's yours, right?" the man spoke to Carl. Matilda watched as the man leaned toward her brother. "Yeah, it's yours. Okay. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees."
A group of Saviors made a move towards the stretcher but Abraham growled at them.
"Hold up," He snapped. "We got it."
The group backs up and allows Rick and Abraham to lower Maggie safely to the ground. Aaron helps support Maggie before lowering themselves to the ground.
Rosie kneels on the other of Maggie as her sisters kneeled on the other side of Aaron.
"Gonna need you on your knees."
Rick nods and lowers himself down next to Kelly, his eyes going between his children. As the rest of the group kneels, Matilda was between Lee and Carl on the far side from their father.
"Dwight, bring them out!" The man shouted.
Dwight pulled open the back of a van as people of their group stumbled out. Daryl comes first, who was wrapped in a blanket. His skin was shaded paler, blood seeps through the blanket from his left shoulder.
Matilda reached out for her oldest brother's hand as tears welled up in her eyes, staring at her husband. Michonne, Glenn, and Rosita followed after him as the man knocked on the RV.
"Let's meet the man."
Matilda's eyes focused on the ground as the door opened and the sound of metal scratching the dirt. Heavy boots crunched on the ground, as the man spoke.
"Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. Yep, it's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon."
Matilda glanced up, her eyes trained on the man. The man was an overly cocky smirk as he steps closer to the group and scans over them, left to right.
"Which one of you pricks is the leader?"
Rick tensed as the Savior from earlier clapped him on the back.
"This one. He's right here."
The man bearing the barbed wire bat looked at Rick. A devilish smile appeared on his lip as he stands in front of her father.
"Hi. You're Rick, right? 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. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. Fuck, yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So even if you're stupid which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention."
He held the bat to Rick's head who flinched when the wire grazed his cheek.
"Give me your shit...or I will kill you. Today was career day. We invested in a lot, so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mightly big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will."
He gestures to all of the group as Matilda watched as the bat swings closely to her father's face.
"You ruled the roost." Negan continued. "You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door...you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down. You understand?"
Rick doesn't answer, Negan cups his hand over his ear. He leans closer, Matilda saw the fear flooding his face.
"What, no answer?" Negan questioned. "You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you?"
Matilda's eyes moved towards her husband, who already looking at her. A tear fell from her eyes as Negan's voice rang out again.
"I don't want to kill you, people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you? I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that, you're gonna pay. So, now... I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you."
Negan swings his bat a couple of times, before pointing the end at Rick. "This--this is Lucille, and she is awesome. All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor."
He moves down the line, towards Carl, Lee, and Matilda. He stopped in front of them, kneeling in front of Carl. "You got one of our guns. Oh, yeah. You got a lot of our guns."
Carl glares at the man as Negan smirked again. "Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little."
Negan whistles as he moved toward Maggie, lifting his bat. "Jesus, you look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now."
"No!" Glenn cried, jumping and drives towards Maggie.
Dwight tackled him, kicking him in the stomach as Glenn cried out. Matilda watched with fear as the blonde man pointed her husband's crossbow at her best friend.
"Nope. Get him back in line." Negan said as Dwight drags Glenn back to his spot in the dirt. "All right, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. The first one's free. It's an emotional moment, I get it. Sucks, doesn't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit."
Rick glances at his children which caused Negan to catch it. The man points toward the siblings, stepping towards them. "These are your kids, right? These are definitely your kids. And this one is a mama."
"Just stop this!" Rick yelled, speaking for the first time they had got here.
"Hey!" Negan stopped him. "Do not make me kill the little future serial killers and the mama. Don't make it easy on me. I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order."
He paused, glancing around at everyone before he starts whistling as he walks down the line.
"I simply cannot decide."
He chuckles before facing them and smiled. "I got an idea." He began to point the bat at everyone while chanting.
"Eenie."
Rick.
"Meeny."
Violet
"Miney..."
Abraham.
"Mo."
Kelly.
"Catch..."
Daryl.
"A tiger."
Aaron.
"by.."
Matilda
"his toe."
Sasha.
"If he hollers."
Rosie.
"Let him go. My mother...told me...to pick...the very...best one...and you are..it."
Negan stands in front of the chosen person. "Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father and then we'll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, you're all going to be doing that."
Before anyone could blink. he swings the bat into Abraham's head. Rosie and Rosita let out a piercing cry, watching as their freind's blood trickled down his forehead.
"Oh! Look at that!" Negan exclaimed. "Taking it like a champ!"
Rosita sobbed as the redhead man pulled himself upright and stares Negan in the eyes.
"Suck...my...nuts..." Abraham spat.
Not a second later, Negan hit Abraham again. He continues to hit him until his face was no longer recognized. Rosie stared at the body of her friend, flinching every time he smashes Abraham's head even more.
"Did you hear that?" Negan asked. "He said Suck my nuts."
He laughed, swingings his bat around. Blood splattered across Rosie's face as Negan hit Abraham's head once more.
"Oh my goodness!"Negan laughed. "You guys, look at my dirty girl!"
He turns to Rosie, shoving the bat in her face. "Sweetheart, lay your eyes on this."
Her eyes stared at the blood in horror. Her friend's blood dripped onto the ground, bile runs up her throat, but she holds it in.
"Oh, damn," Negan says. "Were you—Were you friends? That sucks. But if you were, you should know there was a reason for all this. Red—and hell, he was, is, and will ever be red. He just took one or six or seven for the team! So take...a damn look. Take a damn look!"
Suddenly Daryl shot up, Matilda lets out a small cry watching as few Saviors tackled her husband after he had punched Negan. They forced him to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back. Daryl glared a hole in Negan's head in rage.
Negan pointed Lucille at the man's face. Matilda froze, tears falling from her eyes and were wide as she stared at her husband.
"No! Oh, no." The devil man snarled before backing up, chuckling. "That? Oh, my! That is a no-no. The whole thing—not one bit of that shit flies here."
Dwight rushed towards Daryl, pointing his crossbow at his head. Matilda let out a silent sob as Dwight glanced at his master.
"Do you want me to do it?" The blonde man questioned. "Right here."
Negan grabbed Daryl by the hair. "No. No, you don't kill them...not until you try a little."
With that, Dwight and the other Savior pulled Daryl to his original shot. Matilda let out a breath, leaning forwards slightly so that she was leaning against her hands.
"And anyway...that's not how it works. Now, I already told you people—first one's free, then what'd I say? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions."
Negan was very close to Glenn, Tilly glanced at Maggie to her best friend. Something was going to happen.
"Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you're been dealing with...But I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important. I need you to know me. So...back to it."
Negan turned swiftly and brought the bat down onto Glenn's head. Matilda let out a ''No', sobbing staring at her best friend. Maggie stared in horror at her husband, tears streaming down her face.
The Korean man lifted his head, gasping as he stared at his wife. His head was parted down the middle, making one of his eyes pop out his socket. Matilda's hand gripped the dirt, sobbing as Negan spoke.
"Buddy, you still there? I just don't know. It seems like you're trying to speak, but you just took a hell of a hit! I just popped your skull so hard, your eyeball just popped out, and it is gross as shit!"
"Ma—ggie, I'll find y-ou." Glenn stuttered out.
Negan's eyes darted between Maggie and Matilda who was sobbing at the loss of their boy. False sorrow danced in his eyes as he glanced around the group.
"Oh, hell." He mocked. "I can see this is hard on you guys. I am sorry. I truly am. But I did say it. No exceptions!"
Negan swings his bat, knocking Glenn over. This time he doesn't get up, Maggie sobbed as he brought Lucile down on Glenn's head.
"You bunch of pussies." Negan growls. "I'm just getting started. Lucille is thirsty. She is a vampire bat."
Glenn's body twitches one last time, as a piece of brain hung from the bat and Negan walked towards Rick.
"What?" He says. "Was the joke that bad?"
"I'm gonna kill you." Rick threatens coldly.
"What?" Negan teased. "I don't quite catch that. You're gonna have to speak up.
Rick sniffed before taking a deep breath. "Not today. not tomorrow, but I'm going to kill you."
"Jesus." Negan inhales, seeing that Rick was serious. "Simon...what did he have, a knife?"
"Uh, he had a hatchet," Simon says.
Negan glances towards the Savior. "A hatchet?"
"He had an ax." Simon corrected.
Negan chuckled and glanced at Rick. "Simon's my right-hand man. Having one of those is important. I mean, what do you have left without them? A whole lot of work. Do you have one? Maybe one of these fine people still breathing? Oh. Or did I—Sure. Yeah. Give me his ax."
Simon walks over, hands Negan the ax as his leader searches Rick's face, but Rick doesn't back down. He places the ax on his belt loop before he grabs Rick's by his jacket, pulling him away from the group.
"I'll be right back," Negan says, dragging Rick through the gravel. "Maybe Rick will be with me. And if not, well, we can just turn these people inside out, won't we? I mean...the ones that are left."
The RV door slammed shut, blocking the view of Rick and Negan. The Grimes children stared at the vehicle. The RV drives away, leaving the group with suffocating silence.
This was only the beginning.