AN: So one night when I was watching the walking dead and just recently having seen John Wick 2. I thought i'd write this for fun. For those who may be familiar with my past works. This story moves a long at a much quicker pace that way we can get to the head shots faster! Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Nice Car
It was a bright and modest day that shown over the silent greens of the state of Virginia. Along the roads that were riddled with dead pine needles and forsaken automobiles that were rusting away, a modest truck was rolling down the roads at modest speeds.
The driver was a man in his forties with a mustache and heavily receded hair line that was almost more grey than it was black. He chewed on his toothpick while rubbing his plaid button shirt while keeping a persistent eye out. The man riding shotgun was resting his greasy, blonde head on the the window while looking at the passing trees with dejected boredom.
The truck pulled off the main road an onto a dirt path to where a small community of amateur farmers were seen putting their increases into boxes and stacking them by by the mouth of the road. The people became slightly agitated at the sight of the oncoming vehicle and some even hid themselves away as the tires rolled up to a stop.
Both men got out and approached what remained of the farmers with one approaching and saying with pretentious delight, "Simon, you're early."
"That I am." he said callously, "But I see that you're also prepared and waiting for me, so let's see what you got."
Simon began peering into the boxes with an eye of scrutiny before nodding in condolence and said, "Not bad, Dwight load this shit up, I've got some other business to attend to."
The blonde did as he was told and began putting the boxes into the bed while Simon approached the leader and said while withdrawing his toothpick, "Now I appreciate the group effort and I know it must all be hard on you, however I got the feeling that you're holding out on me."
The leader nodded sternly and waived to another group to come forth with additional spoils. They then presented Simon with a box full of spirits and liqueurs."
"Now that's what I'm fucking talkn' about!" said Simon as he snatched it up before tossing a drink to Dwight then taking one for himself.
He walked back to the truck while taking a swig before noticing a walking corpse snarling and hobbling its way through the high grass making its way towards them. Simon then withdrew his revolver he kept on his hip and cocked the hammer back while looking towards the small group of settlers, "You keep your promises we keep ours."
There was a loud bellow that blasted from the smoking barrel as the walker's head shot back and fell with decomposing brain matter spattered all over the grass.
"What do you say for keeping you safe?"
The leader grimaced and held his temper modestly well, "Thank you Simon."
"Don't mention it,' he said as he hopped into the driver's seat, 'y'all better get your asses inside though because there's bound to be more on the way."
The engine turned over as Simon said as a last parting word, "See y'all next week."
The tires spun out as the truck went back the way it came.
The two men kept on their way with Simon humming along and tapping the door panel with his palm as they strode along. He couldn't help but notice his partner not sharing the same enthusiasm as he did.
"There ain't nothing wrong with smiling once in a while when your living the good life."
Dwight shrugged, "I don't know I've got this weird feeling."
"Like what?"
"Like our luck's going to run out."
Simon kept his eyes on the road while taking another drink, "We ain't gonna run out of shit, that's the purpose of these visits."
"I'm not talking about running out of food and stuff, I mean like how long can we keep this up?"
"What are you….?"
"Simon did you see them, they fucking hate us, the more communities we get working for us the harder it is to keep them under control."
"You dumb enough to think there'll be an uprising?"
"I'm saying; what if we stumble across a find that belonged to the wrong person to piss off?"
"I think that you're thinking too much and that you should have a drink before I have it for you. And besides everything we find out here, you know who it really belongs to."
Dwight took the hint and sampled his bottle as they continued to roll down the road.
The truck rushed past the scenery while kicking up dead leaves in its wake when suddenly as they were passing an old convenience store Simon whistled and said, "Oh hello…"
They pulled into the lot as the driver got out and began to walk up to a car that had caught his interest. He gave it a unique examination. It was nearly in pristine condition and very pleasing to the eye. He poked his head around and noticed that a little beagle pup was in the passenger seat who was wagging its tail when noticing him.
He began prodding while Dwight sat in the passenger seat and observed him from the window while letting out an annoyed pshaw. It was then that the door to the store opened and out walked another man who was holding a bag of supplies.
Simon perked up to get a good look at him. He was slightly rugged with longer yet cleaner black hair and dark scruff that covered most of his face which held a demeanor of that of both sorrow and aggression. He wore a modest brown leather jacket, white shirt and jeans.
He saw Simon's unwanted prowl and approached him with dead silence as Dwight got out and stood in the doorway of the truck.
"Nice car.' said Simon, 'Mustang Mach 1 Coupe am I right?"
"Yeah." came the man's subtle reply.
"She a 68'?"
"69."
"Is it yours?"
"You can say that." came the dismal yet cold response.
"That's where you're wrong." said Simon seriously.
The stranger said nothing just looked at him with constrained eyes.
"This car, that dog and all that shit you got with you now belongs to Negan."
The stranger was silent, only staring Simon down with unanticipated resentment. After this period of silence Simon said, "That means you hand me your bag and the keys."
Again the stranger was silent, he was not even moving, just intently gazing upon the perpetrator of this profound demand. Eventually he tossed his bag through the driver window and proceeded to open his door. Once it was ajar Simon put his hand on the frame and motioned to the gun on his hip.
"Now, now there is an easy way to do this and the hard way to do this. You got the opportunity right now to make the choice."
The stranger then grabbed Simon's wrist and wrung it to the point were he contorted and fell to a knee to prevent a joint from breaking. Dwight rushed in to help his friend when suddenly the stranger flipped Simon onto his back by his wrist and withdrew a black pistol and aimed it right between Dwight's eyes in which he stopped dead in his tracks with his hands slightly up.
The man then said with hostility, "I'll choose the hard way and if you're willing to go the hard way too then I suggest bringing some friends."
He released his grip on Simon's wrist (which relieved him greatly) and got into the mustang and threw it into reverse so fast that Simon had to roll and scramble to avoid getting run over by the front tire. The Mustang then spun around in which Dwight attempted to jump out of the way but found his hip rammed by the fender that sprawled him on top of the hood. The accelerator was hit in which he rolled off the hood and hit the ground with a heavy thud.
"Son of a bitch!" muttered Simon as he got to his feet and withdrew his revolver and took aim but decided not to fire on account of the probability that he would only waste ammo.
Panting Simon breathed deeply, "So that's how you wanna play it…"
The mustang zipped down the highway with modest haste that let out a deep growl from the idle. He kept a hand on the wheel and went on as if the last few moments never occurred. Every now and then during the transit the little hound would come up to lick his face in which he would show it some affection in turn.
Once he came to an intersection he slowed down and pulled out an atlas to check his bearings. He placed his finger on the point of the map where he presumably was then guided up towards a place named 'Alexandria.'
Convinced he was on the right track, he made his turn and continued down the road. He made only a few stops here and there to either syphon some fuel from cars that spotted the land or let the pup out to run around and take care of business.
It was then that the black haired man withdrew an item from his pocket that would be considered a useless relic in this world that has been portrayed. It was a smartphone that he kept charged and functional with great care. He opened the windows and began browsing through the photos of a brown haired woman whose features softened the man's eyes.
He looked through one of the videos of them on the beach in which she called out, "What are you doing John?"
His lip trembled and as liquid pearls came down his cheeks before he put the phone away and called the hound in.
The mustang started up once more and was again put in motion as was fore done. As the car was coming around the bend, John suddenly slowed down and gazed at the road ahead. It was obstructed with trucks and vans with men sitting around them as if they were awaiting his arrival. He stopped and stared at them before looking at his map to find an alternate route then reversed and went the other direction.
He made his detours while occasionally looking behind him to see if he was being followed. The car cut through the forrest that turned into a dirt road which went up and over the ridge and finally back down to the main road which put John back on track.
The hour was getting late while the clouds darkened the firmament but John was unfazed by it all as he turned on his headlights steered up and around another bend. And that's when he stopped dead in his tracks.
In front of him was an overpass with bodies hanging off like dead lumps. Some of them still had their jaws moving while savage growls emanated from them. But that was not all. There was the same style blockade of cars and men, who were all armed, again awaiting his arrival.
John looked back to see if he could turn back but this time the troupe was more prepared and blocked any hope of retreat as a few more trucks pulled in and parked lengthwise on the road behind him. A few whimpers could be heard from the little dog as it could sense the danger.
The scene seemed to be left at a stand off with the idling mustang positioned between two blockades and nearly zero movement. Finally John opened the door and got out in which four of the bandits walked forward to approach him.
John immediately recognized the one in front, it was Simon who had Dwight on his left. Simon was the first one to speak.
"Well asshole, I brought some friends."
John was deathly still while he assessed the situation, he could attempt a hostile action but had many guns trained on him, making any recourse futile. Simon got closer until he was at arms reach.
"Let's do it the hard way."
Simon then threw a right hook so hard into John's jaw that it spun him over and had him stagger to the ground. His attacker then followed up with a hard kick to the ribs which caused John to yelp and roll onto his back.
The beagle began to whine and bark out of fear as Simon and Dwight held John down so they could frisk him. They found his gun tucked away in the rear of his belt and pulled it out.
"Seriously? A Glock?' moaned Simon, 'I was hoping to get shot at with something more fancy."
He then began to open it up and take a better look, "It's a 40. so that's nice, plus the car makes up for all the other shit you have."
Dwight then pulled out another article from John's coat, "Hey look at this."
Simon's eyes perked, "Are you serious?" he stammered as he snatched up the smartphone then held it to John's face.
"Why in the hell do you still have one of these?"
The images of John's wife that were still kept within its memory flashed through his mind as he made an aggressive attempt to get up but was held down. Then in reaction, Simon pistol whipped him with the Glock which left him bleeding out the top of his crown and dazed.
"You want it that badly?" sneered Simon. "Then you can fucking have it!"
The next thing John saw was his precious device getting hurled to the ground next to his ear and watched it crack and break out a few chunks.
The hostility was making the little dog more agitated as it began barking and howling. Simon pointed and ordered Dwight, "Get that thing to shut the fuck up, it's going to attract the walkers!"
Dwight quickly slid into the driver's seat and grabbed the puppy who tried to pull away. All John could see was Dwight's backside and assumed he had the dog around the neck as all he could here was canine grunting and the sound of its claws striking the dash board as it was frantically kicking for its life.
Suddenly Dwight yelled due to being bitten in which he slammed its head into the dash then twisted it around until there was a faint snap. The puppy was no longer moving after that.
John gritted with immense rage but could do little to avenge his pain as he was still being held down by the other two while Simon held the gun to his forehead.
"Here's the score asshole, this car, your gun and all the other useless shit you got in the car belong to Negan. Everything you get after this point also belongs to Negan. That's not all, YOU belong to Negan!"
Dwight then stepped out with the road map and said, "Hey looks like he was headed to Alexandria."
Simon smiled, "You got friends there? Well talk about fate! Looks like you get to join the ranks of our newest recruits!"
John didn't say anything, he only gritted his teeth and scowled hard at his perpetrator. Simon then went on, "Normally after the shit you just pulled I would've just blown your brains out and would've been done with it but Negan can use a guy like you especially for those sorry sons of bitches at Alexandria. You see they need to start stepping up their game and getting their asses in line and I think you're just the guy to help them out."
John squinted and said nothing in which Simon looked over at the dead dog, grabbed it by its mien and held it up in front of him, "What your still not pussing out over this are you? Look man, whenever people start thinking they're above what we stand for we gotta shut that shit down and make the message stick the first fucking time. So here's my message to you. Get your ass to Alexandria and get those people back on track. Now if they give you shit then you'll just need to pop off a few to get the message across."
Simon then tossed the dead dog near John's head, "Now if you're not their by tomorrow, then we'll take one for every day you're not there and do to them what we just did to your dog."
John trembled but still said nothing.
"Nod if you understand."
He gave a resentful nod in which Simon smiled with sickly pleasure and said, "Welcome to the family son. And don't worry we take care of our own. You do this then you'll have protection, food, beer and all of the other good stuff and just for you, I'll get you a new dog, a better one unlike this little yelpy bitch you had sitting shotgun. And who knows maybe you'll get to drive this car around sometime."
He finally got off and had Dwight scoot over into the passenger side and got it into first before stripping the gears. Once ready to leave Simon said to the man on the ground, "Being seeing you around."
The mustang and the convoy rolled away leaving John on his side who leaned over and gently pet the mangled puppy. He grabbed the phone and began pressing the home button. The screen was cracked and so damaged that all that could be mustered was a white canvas with some colors here and there.
He picked up the puppy's lifeless body, held it close to his chest and wept.