NEGAN

Negan stood staring angrily at the group in front of him. Dwight had brought back a few of the members of the settlement that had attacked his men. Negan slid his eyes over Dwight, a look of obvious disgust on his face. If Dwight thought bringing these people back would get him off Negan's shit list, he was sadly mistaken. Negan knew Dwight had purposely delayed coming back for more of Negan's punishment for breaking his rules and had just been lucky in stumbling onto these people. It certainly wasn't due to any brilliant tactical moves on Dwight's part. The man was an idiot. And Negan thought he'd taught Dwight the truth of that already.

As Negan stared at Dwight, Dwight attempted a meek smile back- as if to say, look how good I've been. You forgive me now, right? Negan huffed in aggravation and turned his full attention to the four in front of him. An Asian boy, a black woman who looked quite the warrior, a young Hispanic girl who had the look of having at one time been military. And the last one. Here Negan's gaze stopped as he pondered the man before him. Obviously wounded by that fool Dwight shooting him. Very rough looking, filthy really. Hard to believe he had been with the other three-they at least looked like they bathed regularly and ate decent portions. This man looked lean-very close to thin-although powerfully built. He looked half wild, again making Negan wonder how it was this man was traveling with the other three.

Negan cocked his head to one side, studying Daryl. Daryl shifted restlessly, wincing at the pain in his left shoulder. The bullet had gone through, no true damage had probably been done. But he'd been bleeding steadily now for over an hour and he was starting to feel lightheaded. A cold sweat had started to run down his back and it was taking more and more effort to stay upright.

"The fuck're ya lookin' at" Daryl snapped. Best to get over whatever was coming, he wasn't going to last much longer before passing out.

He noted the other three-Glen, Michonne and Rosita-stare at him as if he'd gone mad. They wanted him to stay quiet-he wasn't going to be able to. If this asshole was going to kill somebody, he would gladly volunteer so he could just be out of this damn pain and the others could go back to Alexandria.

Negan smirked at the venom in Daryl's voice. He was no fool though, he could detect the weariness and pain underneath that bravado. He despised anyone who begged and cried for his mercy-despised any show of weakness. This man was a worthy opponent from what he could see in these brief moments. This man would be difficult to break, if at all. The other three-they would be child's play, although he bet the black woman would take longer than the other two to bring her to her knees begging.

Negan nodded and the men holding onto the four roughly pushed them all to their knees. Negan saw Daryl biting back a yelp of pain at being manhandled by his wounded shoulder. He nodded in approval at this further evidence of bravery.

"Alright, so let me introduce myself," Negan said as he strode slowly by each of them, swinging his bat idly by his side. He liked giving his captives a glance at his favorite weapon-Lucille. He liked them seeing the barbed wire stained and flecked with blood and flesh from previous kills. He liked how just seeing Lucille caused most of them to piss themselves in fear at the thought of what might be done with that bat. "My name is Negan-" he began.

"Are ya really, or are ya just another sorry prick claiming to be Negan?" Daryl growled. He was openly sweating now, beads trickling down his face and dripping onto the cement floor he was kneeling on.

Negan stopped and frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked in obvious curiosity.

Daryl spat with what little spit he had in a mouth that was getting dryer by the moment. "Fuck, every time we run into one of your group we get told that their name is Negan. That they're all Negan. So excuse me if I call bullshit on your calling yourself Negan," Daryl finished in a wheeze. His vision was fading in and out and he blinked his eyes to try and focus.

Negan shot a glare at Dwight. "Is this true?"

Dwight's weak smile faded quickly. "I don't know nothin' bout it," he whined.

Daryl snorted in disbelief. If he was going to die, he could at least take that prick with him. "Fuckin' liar," he rasped at Dwight.

Dwight glared at Daryl and started to approach Daryl.

Negan swung Lucille up in Dwight's path. "Whoa, whoa, whoa Dwight. Did I tell you that you could go over near that man?"

Dwight stood still, fear clearly on his face at the sight of Lucille in midair in his path.

"No, sorry," he whispered and scuttled backwards to where he'd been standing, his eyes not moving from Lucille.

"That's right," Negan continued nodding. "So, this man you've been tracking to bring to me-who has had at least three run ins with some of my men- is telling me something and you tell me you know nothing about it?"

Dwight paled at the question and licked his suddenly dry lips. Negan cast a glance at Daryl and saw the man was clearly struggling to keep from falling flat on his face on the concrete. This would take away all the fun he had planned for the four. Frowning, Negan strode closer to Daryl and squatted down so he was face to face with Daryl. Roughly grasping Daryl's hair he jerked Daryl's face up and gave him closer scrutiny. Daryl's face was washed out, almost a grey color, and sweat was pouring freely off him now. Negan observed the left sleeve of Daryl's shirt soaked with blood and could only guess how much the man had lost. As he looked Daryl over, he noted Daryl's eyes fluttering to stay open and conscious.

"No my friend, you aren't going to die like this. We'll get you patched up so I can play with you another day," he whispered softly to Daryl, his mouth close to Daryl's ear. He nodded at the two men standing just behind Daryl. "Pick him up-gently!" he admonished at their rough rush to hold Daryl up. "Take him to the infirmary and tell Claire that I'll need her to tend to him." At this Negan stood back up and strode back to face the other three. He sighed and shook his head. "I'll tell you what we'll do. You three can go on back to Alexandria. Tell your man there that I'm keeping Daryl here until I decide how I'm going to make you all pay for killing my men. Tell him that I don't want anyone coming here to negotiate, or trade or anything else like that." Negan nodded slowly as he watched the three react to what he had said. "Don't contact me, I'll contact you. In about a week or so," and here he motioned his men to take the three away. Turning he left the room in the direction his men had taken Daryl.

His men dragged Glen, Michonne and Rosita from their kneeling positions and jerked them along back outside. "Get in the back of the truck," one grunted and motioned for the three to get into the back of the pickup they had arrived in. The three did as told, remaining silent until they could be alone and unheard to discuss what had just happened.