Hello you all. THis is Alitolexlto.
This is a fanfic that actually took on a different idea then the original. This is my first story writing for Negan so tell me how it is.
Also I don't know when the next chapter will be given my days as a teacher on the side so hopefully I can get a system in to be able to update regularly.
*Disclaimer: I own nothing at all in this except my own OCs. The Walking Deadbelongs to their original creators*
Chapter 1: The Savior
It's been...who knows how many days.
The sheer anguish it has been to travel the endless maze of the forest felt like an eternity. There were times where he felt as though he would go insane. Sounds became triggers to aim at, moving bushes resembled people trying to sneak up on him. There was no sanctuary from the malice that seemed to circle all around him. After a while, he had begun to lose himself to it. To accept the insanity was to accept his new self and move on. Then again, he believed that was just crazy talk making him accept the crazy shit. But he knew better; shit's been crazy for as long as he could remember.
He was born into this crazy world not as a baby, but as a man; one that was forced to see too many unnecessary deaths before he had to do something about it. He saw his chance and took it. For a while, he truly believed he was doing what was right for humanity—The only way to bring back civilization.
But then, he arrived. The one guy who opposed him.
Suddenly everything that was built was destroyed in ashes and guts. He was imprisoned, starved, almost killed, and had at least been able to win his freedom to leave it all. But what was worse...was realization.
He realized just how messed up his ruling was; how it was nothing more but a ruthless dictatorship that inspired more fear onto the weak then protect them. He doesn't regret his actions, but instead wished he could've improved on them a little better. Though, it no longer mattered anymore. He lost everything and was left to wander the forest by himself.
And now he was a disheveled man in his late-40s with a full-on mountain beard and short hair unkempt. He was dressed in a dirty white shirt, a pair of old black jeans, and muddy bare feet with on his hands were leather gloves. On his back was a backpack filled with barely enough rationales to make it to the next day.
He felt as though he were traveling for weeks or even a month by now. It was hard to tell, and he lost count after the sixth day. There wasn't much for his life anymore, and it was becoming worse and worse on him to go on.
He once thought about ending it all and just plunging his knife into his throat to finish it...but then, he didn't want to go out like that; just to kill himself like a coward and let everything he's done become a distant memory.
No...he needed one last hurrah. He wanted to get one last big nut in before he climaxed to his demise. Just for old times' sake. However, this time, he'd do it the right way.
But then, he began to hear something out of the depths of the forest he traveled in. It sounded like...Walkers.
He looked over to the side of him and saw a pair of Walkers dressed in, what he assumed was, the type of clothes high schoolers would wear. They were definitely Walkers with decomposing skin, and dead eyes.
"Shit..." The man grumbled. "Come outta fuckin' nowhere…"
One of the Walkers happened to spot him from the corner of its eye. The man noticed that it turn his direction and prepared himself for it to slowly approach him. However, what he saw instead made him almost drop his jaw.
The Walker came running after him. Running. A Walker was actually running after him.
"What the fuckin' shit?-!" He yelled.
He tried to reach into his back pocket but was quickly overpowered by the weight of the walker suddenly jumping on him and trying to bite him. The man did his best to push the growling bastard off of him while he reached for the knife in his back pocket.
Just off the corner of his eyes, he happened to see a few more Walkers began to make their way towards him.
"Fuckin' fuck this!" He grunted.
He clutched his gloved hand and began to punch the Walker in the face to get it off of him, just in time to roll out of the way for the other Walker to fall onto the ground.
The man got back onto his feet and pulled out two pairs of hunter's knives and prepared himself. "Come the fuck on then, you ugly undead pricks!"
He ran at them and began to swing his knives wildly at the Walkers. He stabbed, ripped, and teared through the decomposing drones one by one. He took a hint of pleasure in hearing their insufferable gagging be cut short as he plunged his knives repeatedly into warm flesh. His final kill was a clean slash through its throat that splashed blood onto a nearby tree.
He panted harshly while trying to stop his rapid beating heart as he wiped the blood off his knives with one of the dead Walker's shirts.
"Never seen any-fuckin'-thing like that before…!" He said, "That was…a Walker that could fuckin' run? It was actual runnin'…Just what in the fuckin' hell did I get myself into?"
He suddenly heard the sound of someone screaming bloody murder not too far from where he stood. He figured he might as well see what that was about.
He took off and ran towards where he heard it. As he did, he began to hear the sounds of something sharp whacking into flesh; the sounds of blood and guts splattered on the ground. He ran head until he went into a clearing of trees that grew darker and darker as he ran.
Soon he could barely see anything around him in the dense forest. That is, until he began to see bit of light shine through small openings straight ahead. He ran towards the small bits of light peeking through thick woods, until he came face-to-face with a brick wall in his path, submerged by trees and bush. It didn't seem tall enough that he couldn't climb over it.
The man pushed most of the bushes out of the way to get a better look at the other side. What he caught a glimpse of was a tall building that resembled more of a schoolyard, with a towering school building sitting in the distance. The man pulled himself up with his arms and whipped one leg over the other. From there he pushed off of the brick wall, and found himself standing on the coble ground of an abandoned massive school ground that resembled more of a college.
However, it had been anything but a normal campus. Surrounding him were a gaggle of dead bodies—both humans and Walkers alike—all piled on top of each other to cover the entire ground in a bloody smorgasbord.
"Some kinda…Walker death orgy goin' on here…?" He questioned.
The man's attention had quickly gone to the sight of something in all black running towards the entrance of the school yard. He didn't quite get the best glimpse of what it was, however he could assume that it was human, or his eyes playing tricks on him.
Regardless, the man went across the large pile of corpses over towards the extravagant school fountain. It appeared to have miraculously been untainted by the Walkers, to his relief. He used it to wash his face off and brush his jet-black hair back. However he didn't risk taking gulps of it.
He didn't have much time to waste as he saw more Walkers coming his way from the distance. He was just about to go into the school building, when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks once he came across something on one of the cut off torsos of a Walker. A sharp grin formed on his face.
"Well, I'll be fucked, and called a whore's uncle…" He said.
He picked up the torso and pulled off of it a dirty-but-good-enough black leather jacket, while from another walkers he found and pulled off a pair of black combat boots. He quickly slipped the boots on his feet and put the leather jacket on. For only a moment, he began to feel something familiar that he hadn't felt in a very long while—he began to feel like himself again.
"Alright..." He said with toothy grin. "Negan's feelin' like a new man."
Inside the school was worse than it was outside. The entire place had been a mess of blood and guts all across the halls. The sounds of chaos were all around him; screams of agony, and the low growl of Walkers just below the floor he was on. If it weren't for the man being so use to it all, he'd ran out of the place right along with everyone else. Instead, he did his best to sneak past most of the Walkers that went on by, while stealthy killing the ones he had to in order to advance.
"Shit…for there to be this many Walkers means people ditched the place…" He suspected. "Don't matter a damn thing to me though. Just get some fuckin' food and get the fuckin' hell outta here before the shitstorm really hits this place."
He carried on through the empty darkened halls until he could see some form of light down the dark path ahead. With it came the rotting stench of blood and a bit of sulfur to really make his throat burn. Nevertheless, he trudged on forward, desperately trying to keep himself from coughing and alerting attention to himself.
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of muffled screaming coming from inside one of the classrooms. Rather than bust in to save whoever it was, he instead stayed put and listened in from the outside of one of the two doors to the class.
"Stop bein' a fuckin' pain!" Said a man's voice. "Just let me do it already…!"
"Get the fuck off of me!" Yelled a woman's voice, followed by the sound of things being thrown around or falling. The man had to look around to make sure no Walkers could hear from around the corner.
"Come on, babe! Just let me get a lil bit of you, huh?" The male voice said with a playful tone. "We're both gonna die here anyway, so how about you give me one last good memory!"
"No, get off me, you fucking bastard! Get off!"
The man finally peered into the darkened room with the only light source being the sun peeking from the opened blinds. On the ground, the man saw two people; one on top of the other in a desperate struggle. They were turned in a position that faced away from where the bearded man could see them. The one on top was obviously a man, while the one trying to push him off was a woman; both seemed to be young adults.
The younger man finally held the woman's wrist down while he let out an almost maniacal laugh as the girl screamed desperately for help.
The bearded man was appalled at what he assumed was an attempted rape. That appall turned into blistering anger as his fist grew tighter in his grasp. If there were ever one thing he hated out of many things, it was rape; especially rape against women. He had the right nerve to bust into the classroom and plunge his knife right into his throat.
However, down the other side of the hall, he began to hear the approaching sound of Walkers slowly making their way on the other side of the hall. He was lucky enough to have been hidden behind a row of lockers so as to not be seen by them.
He had time to get outta there and just let the Walkers take care of the douchebag, but there was a chance that the girl wouldn't survive either. It seemed like a sad way to go, really; to get raped by some nasty pervert, only to be eaten alive by Walkers right after. He thought if something like that ever happened to him, he'd rather just kill himself.
But that wasn't the way he would want to go. And he could assume neither was that the case for her.
He looked back into the classroom and heard the sound of a zipper go down. That was all he could take anymore.
Immediately, the older man bust open the door, completely surprising the young man into a startling scream. He pathetically got himself up and fixed his pants together again as he screamed "Whoa! W-What the fuck?-!"
The leather jacket-wearing man got a good look at the two; the young man had blond hair brushed back, and his outfit was as sleezy as can be. It was a designer dress shirt, designer jeans, and alligator shoes. The pubic hair of a beard on his chin mixed with the horrible pencil mustache were all the perfect reasons to hate the guy by the bearded man's standards.
Meanwhile, the young woman was actually much older than he thought she was. She looked in her early 30's with long black hair, and her outfit forcefully ripped up. Based on the college campus, he assumed she was a teacher and the young man was a student. The fear in her eyes was the incentive needed to dish out a little bit of punishment.
"Well, shit." The older man said with a toothy grin. "The fuck're you doin' here?"
"W-Wait a minute, who the fuck are y—"
The bearded man did not let him finish that sentence as he placed a single finger onto his own bearded lips. "I'm the one askin' the question, you only gotta answer to me."
"L-look man, I-I was just…! Y-Y'know, I-I didn't—I-I was—"
"—hey, hey, relax, man." The bearded man said, coming in close to wrap his arm around the trembling young man's shoulder. He made sure to keep his piercing eyes and toothy grin pointed right at the spineless blond. "I'm just askin' you a simple question is all. No need to get all jumpy."
The jacket-wearing man looked over towards the other door and could predict the Walkers were close.
"Now, I can assume where you're comin' from; Apocalypse now, worlds gone to fuckin' shit, the DEAD are up and fuckin' walkin' around like they fuckin' own the whole fuckin' world—I completely understand."
The bearded man slowly walked the young man over towards the door, while distracting him with his words.
"But, even though it's all hands-on deck, and the pussy bar's all-you-can-rape, I can't just sit by and let you do what you just did back there…well…not without a lil retribution."
The two were just about at the door, both could hear the incoming Walkers approaching from down the hall. The fear had begun to set in for the young blond man as his body began to tremble and his bottom lip quivered as he looked towards the grinning older man.
"So you wanted to get a lil suck n fuck in before you get yours, huh?" He whispered threateningly. "Well…if ya wanted to get your balls wet…all ya had to do was ask."
Suddenly, the older man pulled out his hunting knife and viciously plunged it right into the young blond man's one and only treasure that he would never be able to use again. A blood-curdling scream echoed through the classroom, and most likely through the halls. The older man made sure it was in there nice and deep before ripping it out and letting the blood escape through the wound between his legs.
Through the young man's agonizing screams, the bearded man saw the Walkers come knocking on the door like rabid animals, as it began to crack with each knock.
He quickly ran towards the sat up woman who had clutched in her hand a fire axe and pulled her by the arm to stand on her own two feet. He didn't bother to wait or ask if she was alright and quickly ran out of the class and down the hall, opposite of the Walkers that had finally busted through the door. Everything in the older man wanted to stick around and see the slimy bastard be eaten alive, but the sounds of his screams were more than satisfactory.
The older man pulled the woman through the decrepit halls of blood and body parts as quickly as he could until he felt safe enough to stop in one of the dark abandoned college classrooms. The leveling desk and lower teacher's desk were on the far bottom side of the massive classroom. He went in first, and pulled her in with him, before he closed the door behind them. He grabbed one of the chairs and placed the head underneath the latch so as to keep it locked. His eyes went down towards the other door that lead to another way out. He hoped it could come in handy in case things got bad, before using the bright windows up above the massive chalkboard as a last resort.
In the meantime, the bearded man took that chance of silence from the Walkers to sit back against a wall, and finally relax for a moment.
"Alright…We're good for now." The bearded man sighed "You alright?"
No response. He looked down towards the stairs and saw the woman holding the axe close to her chest was walking down towards the teacher's desk area where she proceeded to crouch down behind it and stayed there in some vain attempt to keep herself safe, he assumed.
"Just so y'know, sittin' there ain't gonna keep you very safe." He called from the other side.
Once again, no response.
"But, phew...shit!" he said in relief. "Nothin' makes you feel more alive than seein' yourself helpless and somehow able to see another minute of life. If I were you, I'd treasure that shit, 'cause not many people got that anymore out there."
Again, she said nothing. The bearded man sighed. He figured he didn't make things easy for her at the moment. He could tell she was at a vulnerable moment and wanted to be alone to gather herself up.
"I'm…so sorry about what happened…well…what almost happened." He apologized. "I get it if you wanna keep quiet for a while…You don't mess with me, n' I won't mess with you."
She didn't respond. He took that as a yes from her. If there was no need to talk, then he might as well try to catch a little bit of rest from the Walker swarm out there. As he sat there, his eyes slowly began to close against his own will. He tried to keep his eyes from shutting, but they were just too heavy to hold off any longer. He only wanted to rest his eyes for a moment, only to end up slowly drifting into slumber. It was the first time in a long time that he actually felt at peace with sleeping.
The next moment he woke up to the same room he slept in with an orange hue coming from outside the windows. He wiped his eyes and looked around to gather his mind back to where he was before he fell asleep. He remembered most of how he got to the massive classroom, but the memory of him killing the blond young man who tried to rape a woman was all too fresh in his mind.
But what he noticed first was the scent of something good enough to make his mouth water. He looked around for the scent before he pinpointed it towards the cooked TV dinner of a steak with mash potatoes and a bottle of water. The fork was already placed in it for him.
He looked over towards the desk where the woman was, wondering if she had made it for him before returning back to the desk. Considering he wasn't dead yet or none of his body parts were chopped off, he at least assumed she was a woman who didn't mean any harm. He almost wanted to get up and see if she was behind that desk.
"You can eat it."
He turned and saw that the woman had been sitting in the corner of the room next to him. She was eating her own TV dinner, while leaning against the wall, beside her; was the bloody axe.
"They belonged to the teacher of this class. He has a microwave too."
"You made this for me?" He asked.
She didn't respond. She continued to look down at her food while eating it. The bearded man assumed she still wasn't in any mood to talk. Either way, his stomach took over his mind and he took the TV dinner.
His first bite was a taste from heaven that he hadn't had in months. He had survived on cooking wild animals and eating expired cans of food that he regretted moments later when his stomach acted up. He opened the water bottle and guzzled down as much as he could. When he drank enough, he let out a relieved sigh—best meal he'd had in quite some time.
He sat back and looked towards the windows—it was the evening. He had been asleep since this morning.
"Why…?"
The bearded man looked towards the quiet woman.
"What?" He asked.
"Why…did you save me…?" She asked in a quiet voice.
The bearded man chuckled while he stuffed his face. "The first time I hear you talk, and that's what you ask?"
"It's only natural…The World has ended—every man for themselves…so why save me?"
The bearded man put his head back against the wall to gather his thoughts for a moment before concluding;
"Don't get the shit twisted. I didn't save you because it was right…I saved you because you were weak."
Finally, the woman rose her head to face the man. It was then that the bearded man could get a better look at the woman; she was actually sporting a nasty bruise on the side of her head, along with a black eye. Her black hair was ruffed up just like herself. Her eyes told him everything; she wasn't too thrilled at being called weak.
"Excuse me?"
"You were weak. I saved you because you couldn't save yourself." He said taking another bite of food, "I get it through; he was a bigger guy then you but even so, you could've kneed him in his fuckin' balls, or bit the cum and piss outta his scraggly little dick, but you were just too damn weak…and I felt sorry for you."
She looked disgusted with the way he spoke to her. So much so that she lost her appetite. "I…I was about to be raped…! I couldn't do anything! I was fucking helpless!"
"You were…that was why I saved you." He replied, taking a swig of water. "Because you were weak at that moment, not in general…or maybe you are, I dunno."
"Ugh…! You fucking ogre…" She hissed.
"Heh, believe it or not, I actually hate rape." He confessed. "It's one of the most fucked up things any goddamn human being can do to another person. Not just for what the attacker can do to the victim, but also what the attack itself does."
"What do you mean…?"
"Rape is a pathetically weak attack and therefore makes the victim weak. And that is why I hate rape or any kind of sexual fuckin' assault there is, and anyone whose fuckin' pathetic enough to do it, should have his dick and balls ripped off by hand…least that's my opinion."
The woman wasn't too satisfied with his explanation, but she at least had enough desire to continue eating. "Well…at least you have some kind of moral."
"Yeah…so what now?"
"Huh?" She lifted her head up.
"What's next for you? Where's that axe gonna fly into? A Walker, me, or…"
She had a confused look on her face. "Walker?"
"Yeah, in case ya haven't noticed." The bearded man said taking another bite of steak, "They're the fuckin' things that don't look alive."
The woman looked even more confused than before. "You…you mean zombies."
The bearded man eyed the woman like she had said something that left a sour taste in his mouth. "The fuck is a zombie?"
"That's what these things are called; zombies." The woman explained. "Y'know, living dead, coming out of the ground, get bit and you turn into one—zombies."
"Where the fuck do you come from where they call 'em zombies?"
"Where do you come from where they're called Walkers?"
"The south." He answered. "From Atlanta to Virginia."
A grave look washed over the woman's face. "Jesus…it's in the South too?"
Clearly there was something both were missing in the discussion. The bearded man had to at least clarify something in order to wrap his mind around what was happening around him.
"Okay…question." The bearded man asked: "Where are we?"
"Um…Beverly Hills University…in Cali."
It was at this point that the bearded man had officially lost full grasp of the situation and almost dropped his food.
"W-Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the goddamn fuckin' phone! You mean to fuckin' tell me that I'm actually all the way in Cali-fuckin'-fornia?-!"
"Um…yes, you are…"
For in quite some time, the jacket-wearing man was at a loss for words. The running Walkers, calling them a new name, and this mysterious woman was one thing. But to now find out that he had actually traveled to California of all places was the tipping point. He hadn't even recalled walking that far.
"Fuck..." That was all the man could mutter at the time. He hadn't felt this out of place since the first outbreak so long ago. Now, it was those same emotions coming up all over again, but this time, thrown into absolute what the fuck territory.
"You're not from around here, are you?" The woman asked.
"Shit lady…I didn't think I'd even get to around here." He answered.
There was a small lull of silence between the two. She finally finished her food and placed it to the side before she spoke up once more.
"Gabriella."
The bearded man looked back over towards the woman, who finally lowered her legs and revealed her ripped up shirt had exposed more than he expected to see. He didn't think green was her color though.
She looked down at herself and immediately covered herself as she spoke again. "My name…It's Gabriella."
The bearded man nodded while toasting his water bottle to her. "Negan."
Gabriella nodded. "Negan…listen…" She took a drink from her water before she spoke again. "I…I have…plenty of supplies…stashed away at my home—"
"—you can stop right there." Negan ceased with a raised hand. "I know where you're goin' with this. You'll give me half of your shit, and in exchange I do somethin' for you. Is that it?"
Her silence was all he needed to know.
"So, you need me to ferry you somewhere, so you can feel some semblance of safety in all this crazy, assbackwards shit."
"No…but…" Gabriella hesitated. "There's…my son."
Negan looked back at her suspiciously. He was now beginning to figure out what she was getting at, and he was not too thrilled about the implications.
"Your…son?" Negan questioned.
"Yes. He's somewhere here on campus, but…I just…" Her voice grew shaky. He could hear the muffled sniffling as she buried her face in her knees again.
Negan sighed while taking the last bites of his food. "So, you want me to help you find 'em, is that it?"
"Please…I-I know it's a hassle but…I really need this…He's just a boy, and I need to know he's safe in all this shit…please…!" Gabriella said shakily, on the verge of tears.
Negan was in no mood to try and go on a scavenger hunt for someone's kid. He could barely find his own baring given the situation he was suddenly put in. Why should he have to waste his precious time trying to help some lady find her son in a Walker-infested nightmare? Three's too much of a liability. He'd rather go at all this alone, steal what he can, and high tail it out of there as quickly as possible.
He could have just left her there to find his own way forward. However, he couldn't help but feel something towards the woman's crying. There was obvious desperateness to her words and tears. He had seen enough crying in his life to not let it affect him, but this…this was different for some reason. Maybe it had to do with him traveling for so long, but he couldn't very well feel it in him to just leave the poor woman a crying mess as her son was out there on the verge of death.
Was it truly worth it to just go with her and rip through Walkers just to find one kid? Why do it anyway? For the resources? For the boy? For Gabriella? What really drove him to do this? He didn't know. All he knew was that he was going to hate himself for it later.
He took the last swig of his water bottle before throwing it away. He pulled himself back up on his feet and walked over towards Gabriella, who looked up at him with tears streaming down her bruised cheeks. Rather then help her up, Negan grabbed the fire axe beside her. Negan examined the bloody-looking thing; he suspected that the sound he heard earlier before jumping the school brick wall was from the axe. It was old wood but its blade looked sharp as can be.
"You wanna find ya boy?" He offered his hand to the woman with the axe on his shoulder and that wicked grin of his. "Well, then you better get the fuck up n' follow behind me."
The two of them were fortunate to have escaped through a second entrance to the classroom and ran down the rundown halls that smelled of the dead. Negan assumed it had seen better days, but compared to where he came from, this wasn't so bad. Save of course the blood that was splattered across the floor, and the dead bodies that would most likely turn at any moment.
"This way." Gabriella said.
She pushed open a pair of double doors that lead down towards the first floor of the building in a dark stairway. Negan checked over the edge of the second set of stairs and saw no sign of Walkers. He reached into his bag and pulled out a flashlight that he had to hit a couple of times to get it working again. The two slowly traveled down the flight of stairs as Negan's flashlight lit the way.
"You sure you know where we're goin'?" Negan wondered.
"Positive." Gabriella said, "The school has a protocol; in case of an emergency like a tornado or a bomb threat, we all escape through the emergency tunnel that leads to a massive panic room underground. Only one way in and out."
"Puttin' a bunch of people all in one place with only one escape is a fuckin' shit ass plan." Negan criticized. "All a bunch a' Walkers gotta do is stroll on down there with a hankerin' for dumb fuckin' civilians and they'll have themselves an all-you-can-eat buffet. No one goes hungry tonight." He joked.
"Jesus, do you ever stop being a fucking creep?"
"What? Joke was that bad?" He said playfully.
Gabriella rolled her eyes.
The two of them made it down the second flight of stairs and were in front of the door that lead to the lower hallway. However, before Negan could place his hand onto the lever, he began to hear the familiar low gagging that he had come to know far too well. He instructed Gabriella to stay low and quiet before he opened the door enough to get a small peek into the halls. As expected, it had been dark with the setting sun lighting what little light could shine through. However, their path had been filled with an arrey of Walkers lifelessly dragging their feet through the halls.
Negan closed the door as quietly as he could before speaking with Gabriella again.
"Okay, so where to now?" Negan asked.
"We'll need to go all the way down the hallway to the double doors at the end of it." Gabriella instructed. "From there, we'll be in the boy's locker room that leads directly to the gym. If we make it past there, we'll be right at the entrance to the panic room."
"Hmm, just runnin' on there is too risky." Negan said, "We'll need to keep this nice n'—"
Suddenly, both were startled by a harsh tremor that sounded like an explosion. It shook the stairway with dust coming down on them. What followed was the sounds of multiple growling voices rushing on by from outside. Stranger still, both Negan and Gabriella heard gun fire shooting from an unknown distance.
"What the fuck?-!" Gabriella hissed.
"Took the goddamn words right outta my mouth…!" Negan said.
Once he heard the sounds of gurgling growls began to fade away into the distance of gunfire, Negan peeked through the door once again and saw the coast had been cleared.
"Okay, let's get a move on!" Negan ordered.
The two of them ran out of the stairway and made a b-line towards the double doors on the other side of the hall. As they ran, they could hear the gunfire get closer and closer towards them from the corner of the room. Whatever it was, neither Negan nor Gabriella wanted to stay put to see what it really was.
They finally made it to the doors and ran right through them. Gabriella ran right in as Negan took the small window of opportunity to see who was coming with guns blazing. In that window, he quickly reached into his bag for something loud; a small rock that he had collected for the hell of it. He quickly threw it down one of the neighboring halls to his right, just as he saw someone appear from the corner of the other side of the hall.
Negan quickly and quietly closed the door but left a small peek of it open in order to see who they were. As expected, they followed the sound of the rock and ran down the hall towards it. As they did, Negan could some of them hooting and hollering like idiots. They were all dressed in the hillbilly stereotypical outfits while armed with guns at the ready.
"I heard some'in' down this way!" One of them said.
"Let's get 'em boys! We ain't leavin' none of 'em movin'!" Yelled another.
Negan watched them all go down the hall that was next to the double doors as they cheered and laughed all the way down.
Once they were all gone, Negan and Gabriella sighed a breath of relief.
"Who the hell were they?" Gabriella said fearfully.
"The hillbillys." Negan spat. "Bunch a' mindless fuckin' goons who only fuckin' wanna fuck, drink, and shoot anything that moves. Now that the goddamn world ended, they figured it's open season—Walkers and otherwise. Best steer clear of 'em."
"Yeah, definitely." Gabriella nervously agreed.
The both of them turned around and found themselves in the boy's locker room—it was just as much of a wreck as the rest of the school. Lockers had been punched in, while seats were turned over. Much of the glass cases that held rewards and trophies were broken into with bloody handprints on it. The dimly lit atmosphere certainly didn't help the unsettling mood.
"Okay. Now all we need to do is make it through the gymnasium and we're in the clear." Gabriella navigated as she walked towards the second set of double doors to the gym.
"Huh. You say that like it'll be a walk in the park." Negan said, walking with her with fire axe in hand.
"We'll have to be ready then." Gabriella said rather confidently. "I will not let these fucking zombies, or those goddamn rednecks stop me from reaching my son."
"Heh, least ya got the lady-nuts to do it." Negan smirked.
"Damn right." Gabriella smiled.
She had stood in front of the door; hands shaking and her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She was so close to her son, and yet felt so far at the same time. She could hardly bare the stress of waiting any longer.
"Okay, I'm ready." Gabriella said as she placed her hand on the lever. "Let's go, Negan…Negan?"
Gabriella turned back and saw that Negan had been…staring at something. To her, he almost looked entranced. She was a tad worried that he was slowly turning into a zombie himself. She cautiously approached him.
"Negan? Are you okay?" Gabriella asked.
Negan could not hear her. For what he had seen at that moment made his mind go blank.
It had caught the corner of his eye at first. There it was; practically untouched by the Walkers or anyone else for that matter. It was almost as if it called to him; begging him to take it for a spin.
Negan reached out for it but hesitated at first. He couldn't do all that again. He had put that behind him. He no longer had any desire to do all that all over again. He had finally forgiven himself for what he did and moved on. He used it to kill people, or in his case, those who deserved it. He let someone shoot, let other people hold, let someone else steal, broke, buried, revived, and burned her.
And yet, there she was in all her rich copper brown glory. It clearly wasn't the same as the original, but to Negan, it was close enough. And this one looked stronger, mightier, and more durable than the old her. He could barely keep himself from just holding her in his hands once again. He just wanted to feel her be a part of him—make him whole.
He was only inches from grabbing her and making her his like the old days. He could already remember the power that came with her by his side. He felt weak and lost without her. He wanted her. He wanted her so badly...
...but he stopped.
He stopped himself from becoming the very thing he was trying to change. He had wallowed in his grief and self-pity for far too long. It was time he finally move on. He wanted one last hurrah, and it didn't involve her ruining it.
"Negan!" Gabriella called to.
He finally snapped out of it and looked back at his companion, who was visibly worried for him.
"Sorry, I, uh…I just got distracted for a minute." Negan said with a grin, obviously trying to cover his emotions behind it.
"Oookay…" Gabriella figured.. She was just about to head over towards the door, when she looked down and noticed something before looking back up at Negan. "Huh."
"What?" Negan wondered.
"I didn't take you for a baseball guy."
"'scuse me?"
She pointed to his hand. "The bat."
Negan heart almost sank. He nervously looked down in the hopes that he didn't actually have it in his hand. He was disappointed in himself. There, in his grasp without him even realizing, was a beautifully crafted wooden baseball bat. In his hands, he could feel the strength and hardness it had. This bat was definitely leagues stronger then her.
He sighed. "Son of a bitch..."
"Well, it might be a good weapon." Gabriella said as she took the fire axe right out of his hands, "Now we're both armed."
"Uh...yeah, we are…" Negan said hesitantly.
Gabriella ran towards the door, with Negan following right behind her. Both of them listened out for any growling or 'yee-haws.' They heard complete silence for the most part, save for the sounds of Walkers that were approaching from the door behind them. They didn't have time to doddle around.
Negan opened the door, and both of them saw the confines of the giant gymnasium. It was a massive basketball court with bleachers on both sides of the room and two basketball hoops hanging high off the walls. It was surprisingly untouched by the carnage of the rest of the university. On the far side, they could see the double doors just waiting for them.
"Yes! There it is!" Gabriella said anxiously. "Come on!"
Gabriella went running across the basketball court towards the doors, with Negan just about to follow behind her. However, he stopped for a moment and saw something peculiar sitting right on one of the bleachers.
Bottles…beer bottles—twelve of them.
Negan was confused for only a moment, before it immediately clicked in his mind. He turned back towards Gabriella and saw her reach for the door's handles.
"Gabriella!" Negan yelled, running after her to stop her.
But he was too late. The second she opened the door, her face had been beaten into by the butt of a rifle, knocking her onto her back with a harsh landing. Negan tried to run after her, but he too was hit in the back with the butt of a rifle and was forced onto his hands and knees. Another clean hit to the back of the head made him fall flat to the ground.
"Fuck…!" He groaned.
He peered over towards Gabriella around the moment he heard the very outcrys he and she wanted to avoid. They danced around and cheered like the backcountry hillbillys they were, while holding Negan down on one side and doing the same to a screaming and struggling Gabriella on the other side. There were at least six of the bastards; all armed with their guns and their trucker hats.
"We got us some live ones, boys!" Said one of them.
"Whooo! One of 'em's a sexy lil thang!" Said another, "Why don't we just off this old fuck and have us some fun with the misses here!"
"Heh, or better yet, throw 'em to the zombies and watch how long he last? Ha ha ha ha haaa~"
The goons ripped the bag off of Negan's back and threw it to the side. They went for his knives, the fire axe thrown aside, and lastly, one of them took the bat right out of his hand. That was what hit Negan the hardest.
"NO!" Negan yelled as he reached out towards the one that had it. However, with the weight of four men holding him down, he had no such luck at retrieving it.
"Oooh, lookie here, boys. The old man wants his special bat back!" The hillbilly with the bat said, twirling it around in his hand.
"Ha ha! Hey, bring 'em on over here!"
The thugs brought Negan up and pulled him by the arms as his feet dragged across the floor. He was then thrown onto the floor again with two of the hillbilly's holding down his arms. Negan tried to struggle himself free but was at the mercy of their weight. He was forced to watch as Gabriella struggled to break free but was held down by the goons who made it loud and clear what they wanted to do with her.
"That's enough!"
The hooting all came to a silence as the perverted grins all fell into looks of fear towards the entrance of the safe room double doors. In walked a bigger man with a larger beard then Negan's that still had food in it. He looked portly but clearly had muscle to spar. The most distinctive features of him was his odd tattoo that was drawn onto the right side of his face of a cobra and the blood he was wiping off of his hands.
He strolled over towards the downed Negan and looked at him as if he were a worm.
"Huh. Guess I missed two." He said, "Where'd ya find 'em?"
"They was comin' into the gym, BB." The one that held Negan said, "All armed n' shit."
"Really?" BB said with a toothy grin, showing his many rotten teeth. "Lemme see 'em."
The other goons went over towards the thrown away weapons and presented each one to BB in a row. BB examined each one thoroughly. He started with the knife;
"Hmm, huntin' knife. I can tell you've been doin' this before, Big boy."
Then he went for the axe. He whipped it around for a bit before eying it good and proper.
"A fire axe…"
Finally, BB took hold of the baseball bat and admired its sturdiness. He looked back at Negan, then back at the baseball bat. Suddenly something clicked in his mind and he had a grin of realization.
"Wait a minute…I know who you are now!" BB said excitedly, "The leather jacket, the baseball bat—I heard about you from some of the boys over in the South! You the infamous Negan: leader of them goddamn Saviors."
"Wow…didn't think shit…could hear about shit…from even more fuckin' shit…all the way across the fuckin' country…" Negan grunted with a sardonic grin towards BB. "Want a fuckin' autograph now?"
BB let out a small chuckle. "Still as funny as they say you is. That's just what I was hopin' for."
BB gave a harsh kick across Negan's face. The kick knocked out one of his back teeth and bust his lip. He spit out the blood that filled his mouth before he had another remark to make;
"Damn…that was my favorite fuckin' tooth…"
BB let out another loud chuckle, looking to his boys to see if he seriously said that, before he looked down at Negan again. This time with the baseball bat inches from his face.
"Oh, I know all about you, Negan. You and your piss headed gang you called Saviors. See, You used to be one a' the most fearsome and dangerous ass leaders—rulin' with an iron fist over the lackies of whatever the zombie apocalypse spit out! You was cruel, but fair; some dumbass who really thought he was savin' people!"
BB and a few of the rednecks broke out into laughter, while only allowing Negan's anger to rise.
"Ah, but that was when you was the big honcho of the South. But here? Here you ain't no better than any of us."
He playfully tapped it onto the side of Negan's face. "This is how you'd usually have 'em right? Held down, talkin' em' to death before ya finally bash their brains in with your precious Lucille?"
"Don't you bring up her name, you ugly fuckin' fucker!" Negan yelled in a mindless rage. "Otherwise I'll rip your goddamn tongue outta your motherfuckin' mouth and fuckin' make you choke on 'em!"
Both BB and the rest of the gang all laughed themselves silly. Negan didn't take too kindly to that, but he tolerated it for now. All the noise they were making was just what he needed.
"Ha-haaa! Yes! That's it! That's the Negan I wanted to see!" The neckbeard grinned. "You may have the bark, but you definitely don't got no fuckin' bite!"
BB eyed the bat in his hand or a moment before a wicked grin formed.
"So how 'bout it, huh, Negan? How's about you see what'chu been missin'?"
Negan felt the bat tap the side of his head. He knew exactly what was coming and tried to break free, only to still be held down by the goons. Negan was helpless to the four guys on him and looked over towards Gabriella, who was pulled up by the arm by the perverted dude. He brought her in close until he was right on her back; one arm around her waist while his other was all over her chest. She tried to fight it but couldn't hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Ah, look here, boss! She's gettin' all teary eyed!" The man laughed. He brought his lips close to her cheeks as he whispered; "Hey, don't worry honey. When I'm done with you, you ain't gonna be cryin' for much longer."
Gabriella's lips quivered. Negan almost assumed it was out of fear. However, those lips arched into a wide grin, followed by a toothy smile.
"No…" She said, "That's not happening...because…"
She looked down at Negan. To his surprise…she winked.
"…I'm not weak."
Suddenly, Gabriella elbowed the redneck in the gut, making him let go of her. Before any of them could react, Gabriella threw down something that exploded into a large billow of smoke that submerged half of the entire gymnasium.
"Ugh! What the fuck?-!"
"What's all this damn smoke?-!"
"Shit!"
There was a scatter of rednecks all trying to find their way through the smoke. However, Gabriella took the initiative. She took off her heeled shoes and used them as weapons to incapacitate the men that held Negan down. All four of them were knocked out hard in the blinding smoke. Negan had finally been able to stand onto his feet, while still feeling the pain of getting hit in the back.
Suddenly, he felt someone grab his arm, and almost hit them square in the face. He luckily stopped himself in time to see that it was Gabriella.
Negan was ready to make a run for it; however, he was pulled back by Gabriella. He turned to face her in confusion but was met with those tearful eyes welling up and falling down her cheek. There was genuine fear that Negan felt through her shaky hand on his arm, and yet she couldn't help but have that same smile on her face. There had been a small sense of remorse in her that made Negan almost forget their situation.
Gabriella brought Negan close and whispered:
"Save my son. There's an outpost in San Francisco. Take him there for me."
Without warning, Gabriella lifted her hand and slammed it right into Negan's neck. Negan gasped as he felt something sharp sink deep into the vein. He almost assumed he had been stabbed by her. However, she pulled it out of his neck and revealed it to be a syringe.
"You won't be immune if you get bit, but it'll help." She said shakily, yet still kept that smile on her lips. "Please…! Save my son…! Please save hi—"
A loud pop rang through the air. Time almost seemed to come to a stand still before he realized it. He felt the warm blood hit his face, the tight shaky grip slowly release him, and the sound of a body flop to the floor. Negan was in a sort of daze but could slowly piece himself together again just as the smoke settled away. He saw himself surrounded by the same hillbillys with one of them holding a gun right where Gabriella stood.
"Damn bitch." BB said, pointing that same gun at Negan. "Some kinda ninja, or somethin'."
Negan hesitated. He didn't want to accept it, but there she was; Her blood had oozed onto the floor as her eyes finally shut for good. He quickly looked away, closing his eyes to it.
"Aw, shit, boss!" One of them said, "I was gonna have a turn with her!"
"Heh, well then you better get to it 'fore the body gets all cold." BB snickered.
Negan felt the gun poke at the side of his head. He didn't bother to move. He only stared deathly at the leader.
"As for you, buddy. Well, we may've lost the beauty, but at least we can have a lil fun outta the beast."
Negan heard the gun cock along with everyone else's guns aimed right at him.
"Any last words 'fore I pop you right here n' now?"
Negan said nothing at first. He instead took a deep breath to just about close his heart to it. He had wished there had been another way, or ask what she had injected him with, but life didn't seem to be on his side. He wished he could've at least gotten to know the poor woman better before she was shot down. He couldn't do anything to prevent the lost life, but he could at least get his own form of vengeance.
And as luck would have it, that vengeance came knocking just in time.
"Yeah…I got some last words…" Negan said before a sharp, toothy grin formed on his lips. "…I didn't lock the doors, you dumbass cuck-fucks."
The hillbillies were all equally confused by his words. However, they quickly found them to be true as they all collectively heard the sounds of the doors behind them bang. It sounded like a crowd desperately trying to get in. Finally, the glass and doors had been shattered, and in came over two dozen Walkers—growling and shrieking as they collectively ran at the men first.
"Oh shit!" Negan heard BB yell, as he pointed his gun at the incoming Walkers.
All the attention went towards the undead quickly running after the hillbillies, while Negan took the opportunity to escape their clutches. He didn't bother to look back but made a quick grab for his bag. He heard the sounds of gunfire going off, along with the crowd of Walkers all shrieking for a taste of human meat. What followed were the hillbillies and their agonizing screams as the sounds of flesh being ripped apart and blood splattering across the floor made Negan move faster.
He finally looked back and saw the horror of the undead slaughter them all in an instant. One had become food for the Walkers to chew on, while another had his limbs ripped to pieces. Each one died a grizzlier death then the last. And then of course there was the leader himself, who somehow managed to run a little farther away from it all, before he was grabbed by the leg and pulled right back in. He desperately scratched the floor and cried out for help from Negan.
Negan did nothing. Instead he stood there, smiled a toothy, sadistic grin, and waved him a solid goodbye.
The last he saw of BB was him being pulled into the crowd of Walkers with blood spewing everywhere and his crys slowly fading into a gurgling mess.
Negan didn't waste anymore time to stick around. He made a run for the baseball bat first then for the fire axe. With both, he high-tailed it out of there, towards the doors that lead to the panic room.
He practically bust right through them before looking back to find that some of the Walkers had heard the sounds he had made and were looking to have another course meal out of him. Negan happened to notice the shutter and the chain next to it. He ran right towards the chains and quickly pressed the button that closed the shutters with a hard slam to the ground. He had been just in time to hear the rapid knockings behind it.
"Fuck…!" Negan sighed. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK…!"
He had looked around him and found himself in a small dimly lit room that only had two doors. One that was right behind him, and another to the right of him. He opened up the door on the right first, only to find that it led to a flight of stairs going upward. He could only hope they're was a way out up those stairs.
He had one foot planted on one of the steps and was about to climb them to the top. He was about to do it…he was going to leave…he…
He couldn't.
It was as if something was pulling him back from taking another step. He couldn't find it in him to leave so soon. He wondered what it could've been?
Then the image of Gabriella appeared in his head.
"No…" Negan muttered. "No…don't fuckin' do this now…"
He tried his hardest to get the image of her out of his head and forced himself to move. But he couldn't.
His body felt as though it had a mind of its own. He just wanted to turn his back to it all and go on with his life of survival. That was all. That life was waiting for him just up the stairs and out the door. However, try as he did, his body did not move. Instead, another desire had slowly welled up inside of Negan. Deep down, he knew exactly what it was.
"God motherfuckin' dammit…!" He grunted.
Finally, he turned back towards the door that lead to the panic room and ran right to it out of suspense for what he'd find waiting for him down there. His hand reached for the knob and turned it. He opened it wide, and—
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Negan just narrowly dodged the path of a knife come thrusting through the shadows of the descending stairway. The second attack that was aimed at his gut had been intercepted by Negan grabbing the arm of his attacker.
He got a good look at the knife-wielding assailant and instead of seeing a man, it was in fact a boy.
The boy himself was on the young side—eleven or twelve by the looks of it. His ruffled dark hair had barely submerged his puffy, tear-filled eyes. His clothes were dirted jeans and a T-shirt.
"Y-You're one of them, aren't you?-!" The boy yelled. "Where's my mom?-! What did you do with her?-! Where is she?-! Why did you—"
"Shut up, shut up, shut the FUCK UP!-!"
Negan's roar silenced the boy into a trembling fit, that created silence save for the bashing Walkers at the shutter doors. Negan looked the boy in his eyes and asked, "your mom…her name's Gabriella, right?"
The boy nodded shakily.
He feared that was his answer. He looked back towards the shutters of barking knocks, before looking back at the boy. Negan did his best to refrain from showing any true emotions that could have the boy imply what happened to her. He knew if he told her the truth right then and there, it would've been more difficult to get out with him as a crying mess that could attract attention. Instead, he decided to tell him a whole different story.
"Your mom, she…" He hesitated at the thought of giving the poor boy some kind of false hope. He swore he'd tell him the truth once they were farther away from all the university. Until then, he went with what he could.
"Your mom told me to come get you."
"W-Where is she…?" The boy asked while looking around. "I-Is she—"
"No!" Negan quickly said, "No, no, she's…she was…taken somewhere…somewhere safe…"
"Y-You mean…San Francisco…the drop off place…"
"You know about it?"
"Yeah…mom told me about it before she left the panic room…She went to go find a way through, but…she didn't come back for hours…" The boy began to tear up again. "I…I thought she left me, or…!"
Negan bit his lip hard. He had to bite his tongue just to stop himself from revealing the truth. Instead, he said; "You mom's…on her way to the Drop off point…she…entrusted me to take your scrawny lil ass there…"
The boy wiped his tears and looked Negan up and down. The first thing the boy noticed was the baseball bat in hand. It didn't look like a very good weapon to use to fight off whatever was killing people. He looked back up at Negan with no confidence to offer him.
"You?"
Negan looked rather offended at that sentiment. "Yeah, me, you lil shit. Now, I didn't ask to have to play babysitter, but here I fuckin' am. Like it or not, I'm all you fuckin' got, kiddo."
Negan grabbed the boy and looked him dead in the eyes with an intense glare that put the fear in the boy's heart. "So, here's the plan; I take you to this Drop off point, leave you there with your mom, and then I go my own fuckin' way; we never gotta see each other again. Now you either deal with the shit situation we're in, or I'll leave ya here to let the Walkers get their dinner. You're fuckin' choice."
"O-Okay, okay! I'll go with you!" The boy quickly answered in a panic. "Not like I can do any of this without you…"
"That's what I thought."
Negan looked back at the shutter door. Dents had begun to form into it as the Walkers' growling became more and more restless. All the pounding had brought even more to the door.
"What's ya name?"
"Huh?"
"Your goddamn name, kid, come on." Negan said impatiently.
"Oh, it's Enzo, sir."
"Alright, Enzo. I'm Negan." Negan looked over towards the other door. "Let's get us the fuck outta here."
The rusty old door slowly budged open. He could see the blaring light of a sunset peer through the crack of the door. Negan was at least fortunate that there was a way out after all.
He kept pushing and pushing, until he pushed right through. He tumbled a bit but regained his footing as he stood back in the open. He covered his eyes to the glaring sun on the horizon and looked out towards the rest of the university ahead. It turned out he and the boy climbed up onto a large patio-style balcony that gave them a clear view of the entire campus. What they saw, however was anything but peaceful. Billows of smoke formed in some locations from massive fires, and buildings coming down in different areas of the campus. The far-off sounds of Walkers surrounded them.
"Look!" Enzo pointed.
Negan looked over towards the only gate that lead to a flight of stairs down towards the streets below. However, before they could even get through, a small group of the snarling things had been clawing their way through the gates and were just about to finally break through it, as the gate could barely hold on before coming down. Negan assumed the gate had been locked by the surviving civilians before they made their way to the panic room.
"How're we gonna get through that?" Enzo questioned.
Negan happened to look at the upper half of the towering gate and saw something that he didn't expect to see so soon. But once he did, a big grin couldn't help but form on his lips.
"Well, would you fucking fuck fuckity look at that? Hold this, kid."
Negan handed Enzo the fire axe, while he went towards the gate and grabbed tightly onto the prickly old barbed wire that lined it with his leather-gloved hands. He yanked most of it right off the gate and had at least twenty feet worth of it. He then went back to where Enzo was, and took a seat next to where he stood. Negan removed his bag and reached into it for two supplies; U-shaped nails, and a hammer.
"'scuse me for a moment, kid." Negan instructed.
Naturally Enzo looked at him as if he were crazy for choosing now of all times to work on whatever it was he had been doing. He looked towards the gate to see it begin to bend and creak the more the Walkers kept trying to get through it.
"U-Um…Mr. Negan…?" Enzo said worriedly.
"Hang on, kid." Negan said. "I'm gettin' it done as quick as I can."
Negan began to wrap the barbed wire around the baseball bat while nailing it down to really stay on it. As he did this, he began to remember the first and last time he wrapped the barb wire around her. Both times, he felt different emotions.
The first time was when he was scared. He couldn't imagine what he was going to do now that he had killed the first leader of a once small group. He simply needed to find something for them to believe in…for even Negan himself to believe in. That was where she had been born.
But the second time…the second time felt sloppy. It wasn't real. It was simply a false perversion of what he once had. He simply tried to rebirth her and ended up creating a false copy. It was then that he realized that there was no real her at all.
It was just a bat. It was just an inanimate object that he latched on to because he couldn't let go. And for that, it was burned asunder.
But now…now was different. As he wrapped the final bits of wire onto the bat, it was for a different purpose. Not as remembrance to the dead, but rather insurance for the living. Negan didn't know what that meant to him though.
He looked back up at Enzo, who fearfully looked towards the gate of zombies. Negan saw the weakness in the poor boy…it reminded him of his mother, Gabriella. He realized that once the boy knew the truth of his mom, he would break down in an instant and become weak. Before that came to pass, he knew what he had to do.
"Y'know what, Enzo…you're right." He said with a deep grizzly voice that caught Enzo's attention. "You can't fuckin' do this shit without me. In fact, you'd be fucked without me on your side. The shit you discover will make you piss your pants."
"Um…yeah…" Enzo said with uncertainty.
Negan stood back up and whipped the barb-wire baseball bat in his hand, before swinging it a few times to get the feeling back. He immediately noticed something different about his swings. They felt stronger, faster, more dangerous. He was impressed himself.
"But don't worry. Things are gonna be different now." Negan said with that crooked grin. "Because I'm gonna make you strong for when that day comes."
"Strong…?" Enzo questioned.
"Yep. But first, let me show you what's made me strong." Negan said.
The Walkers had finally burst through the gates and most came running at Negan at once. Rather then cower like Enzo did, Negan only put on a toothy grin as he held his barb-wire baseball bat tight in his hands.
"Let's show 'em what I'm fuckin' talkin' about, Lucille!"