It was really strange how fast things could change in such a short period of time.
Carl kneeled on the ground, his palms on his knees, and his mouth slightly open to allow his breath to flow in and out at the pace it needed to be at to keep up with his breathing. He was panting slightly as he looked around himself, the only eye he had was hooded by his long bangs and no one around him could really see it clearly.
His father was sitting in a similar position a few bodies to his right, looking around himself similar to how everyone else in the group was. They were surrounded by the people who called themselves the saviors, each of them had machine guns and riffles in their hands and had already confiscated the groups weapons. None of them could believe that their asses had been thoroughly whooped in such a short amount of time, but here they were now in a line, on their knees, in front of a trailer like they were waiting to see a king.
Carl could smell the amount of Alphas surrounding him, and he was afraid to make eye contact with any of them. He knew he reeked of omega; he had only taken 1 pill today, and with the new events that were happening, Carl was stressing the fuck out.
He could smell one alpha, though he couldn't see them, but boy did it smell strong. He was terrified when he realized that it smelled stronger than even his father, and his dad was the strongest alpha he had ever met. Carl wasn't ready to meet a stronger one, especially not under these circumstances, with at least four guns pointed at his head and ready to fire at any sudden movement.
He was just glad that his mother and Judith were back at Alexandria, boy would his mother be worried sick sitting here under the tense stares of at least a dozen other alphas. There were too many different scents for Carl to be completely sure how many there were exactly.
He sat next to Eugene at the moment, and beside him was Michonne and then his father. That's about as far as he knew the line that they were in, the lack of a right eye kept him from being able to glance over and check.
The door to the trailer swung opened, and Carl's head raised just enough to get a good look at who it was, knowing it was the strong alpha he smelled. Carl knew, as soon as he saw the confidant stride and the smug smirk on the alphas face, that this man would be big trouble for them. He knew this must be the guy, Negan, that they had been hearing about, this guy was too strong and too cocky to be anyone else. He was handsome, sure, at least on the outside and for someone who had to be in their 40's at least.
"Oh boy," Negan said as he looked across them, fallowing the line of people that kneeled under the armed gazes of his men. "Are we pissing our pants yet?" The alpha swung a very threatening looking bat around him as he strode up to the line. He didn't seem to notice the way Carl smelled, and if he did, he made absolutely no indication, hadn't even really looked at him yet.
His father stayed very quiet, but Carl knew that he was more angry than when Terminus turned out to be a trap. Everyone could smell just how angry he was, and though it caused the people from Alexandria to shiver in memory of his wrath, none of the saviors seemed to be affected.
Carl was dangerously sticking out right at the end of the line, and every alpha in the group wanted nothing more than to grab the boy and huddle around him, protecting him from the lustful eyes of the alphas that stared at him. They were being forced to hold still though, because with the barrel of a gun pointed right between their eyes, any sudden movement could mean immediate death.
"Which one of you pricks is the leader?" The guy with the bat asked, his voice deep and gruff and leaking the dominance that overpowered every person currently present. His heavy footsteps were loud, and his boots left behind large prints in the dirt as he walked up to Rick and smiled with triumph. "It's you isn't it?" He pointed down at Carl's father with the end of his bat, the thing covered in barbed wire and looking stronger and harder than rock. "It is, I can smell it on you."
Megan squatted down in front of Rick so he was at eye level with the man, still grinning at him like a sane lunitic as if the ex police man was insignificant compared to his own power. He seemed to be day dreaming about squashing Rick like the bug he thought he was. "I'm Negan."
Carl finally looked up and around him at the people aiming guns at him. There were at least 4 people that he could see, without turning his head too much, that were staring at him. He winced at the hunger in their eyes and put his head back down, wishing he hadn't looked up.
"Rick, I do not appreciate you killing my men." Negan said after saying hi to Rick, "Also when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people," he pointed an accusing finger at the alpha leader kneeling before him, "you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is, but I think you'll be up to speed shortly." The alpha stood up, and the smile left his face and was replaced by one of anger, "You are so going to regret crossing me in a few minutes." He licked his lips as if he was plotting on the spot against Rick and was having fun doing so.
"Today is career day, and the new policy is so simple even a dumbass like you, Rick, will understand; give me your shit or I will kill you." Negan smiled sweetly as if he was talking about a lesson plan in an elementary school. "You have shit? You give it to me, that is your job." The alpha was so confidant, as if the possibility that he was putting his own foot in his ass was non existent.
Anger was radiating off of Ricks frame along with a slight bit of fear. Everyone in the group was anxiously waiting for the opportunity to fight and get their weapons back. The didn't know what Rick was going to do, they had absolutely no room to try to plot something, they were all just sitting ducks waiting to find out what the leader of the Saviors had in mind.
"This might be a great big nasty pill to swallow," Negan continued, "but swallow it, you most certainly will." The alpha walked around some more and for a moment, they were all hitting a peak of fear when he walked closer to Carl. "You are not safe." He confirmed the obvious.
Carl looked up slowly when those heavy boots stopped in front of him. Negan wasn't looking at him but at his father, "This your kid?" he asked while pointing the bat to Carl's head.
"You leave him be." It was the first thing that Rick had spoken to Negan, and Carl could hear every ounce of anger that the man felt in his voice. Carl shivered, flashbacks of the claimers slipping across his mind. His father was practically growling at the stronger alpha.
But the stronger alpha just chuckled, amused. "This is definitely your kid." Carl looked back down at the ground before Negan could see his face, but his attempt to avoid eye contact was demolished when the man squatted down in front of him and grabbed his chin. Carl hissed and his father growled loud when Negan forced his face up to look at him.
Carl's only eye widened when his blue eye met twin hazel ones. Time froze and Carl knew coming on this trip to get Maggie to hilltop was the worst fucking mistake of his life. He could feel his entire body tingling and he knew that this man would definitely be the death of him. He couldn't breath, all thought escaped his brain, his palms got sweatier than already they were, and there was a cold heavy rock making a home in his throat. Carl hated his second gender, and everything that had to do with it. His biology sucked worse than not showering for over a year.
His blue eye narrowed in anger and he jerked his face to the side, breaking Negan's hold on his chin in complete outrage, but the older man wasn't having it and he grabbed his face more forcefully. Carls mouth was now covered by the alpha's leather gloved grip on the bottom half of his face, and the boy had to breath harder through his nose to keep oxygen flowing into his lungs. A heavy weight planted itself in Carl's chest and all he wanted to do in that moment was go home, crawl into bed, and never get up again. Instinct wanted him to submit to his alpha, but he refused, and the amount of depression he suddenly felt was so overpowering that he knew everyone could smell it on him as his scent got stronger.
"Shit kid." Negan said smirking at him with his salt and pepper beard and pearly white teeth. If the alpha felt anything like the tickling heat that Carl felt, he didn't show it. "Lighten up." Pheromones were being forced into Carl's senses now that he couldn't breathe from his mouth, and Negan reeked of them stronger than anything he had ever been forced to smell. The scent was overpowering, hypnotic, and smelled so good. "At least cry a little."
Carl eye narrowed in anger as his nose scrunched.
"I said leave him be!" Rick started yelling as he attempted to get up and tackle Negan away from his son, but three of the men who had been standing around him started beating and hitting him, forcing him back in line as Negan stood up and smiled at him.
"Rick, Rick, Rick Rick Rick." Negan sucked his teeth loudly at Carl's father. "You know what? I'm going to let that one slide, because I get it. It's all very emotional, a little frightening, so that was your one free pass. Next time though, that shit won't fly." Negan pointed the bat at him and glared in warning.
He smiled and walked away from Carl, but the group was just happy to see the distance between the two increase. "Now, what should I do to punish you pile of assholes for killing my men?" Negan stared up as if the starless sky would offer him an answer. "Oh I got it, I'll just play me some eeny meeny miny mo, and then beat the shit out of one of you with dear old lucile here." He pet his bat affectionately as if it was the head of a woman that he had loved and cherished for years.
The group looked nervous, and Carl was brave enough to look around at the people who came with them on the trip to hilltop. Glenn was the farthest from him, with Maggie looking sicker and sicker by the moment next to him. Then there was Rosita and Daryl fallowed by Tara, Shane, and finally Abraham.
"Enny," Negan started, pointing the bat at Carl before walking down the line. "Meeny, Miny, mo. Catch a tiger by the toe." He continued with the rhyme until he had gone down the line at least three times. The amount of fear and anticipation was strong in the group, and everyone wanted nothing more than to get up and beat Negan to death where he stood. They couldn't believe that they had just gotten up from their cozy beds just this morning and now here they were, with one of them about to die by this strangers hand. They should have seen it coming, they should have been more careful, but Maggie needed medical attention and they needed to get her to hilltop. They had been caught off guard, a rare chance of vulnerability on their part, but apparently Negan had taken the chance to take thorough advantage of them. This vial man deserved to die, and they couldn't wait to put a bullet in his head.
Each of them felt their fear grow as Negan walked closer to them, scared that he would stop on them and they would be the one to die. Natural instinct told them to be scared, but a choice few of them were hoping it would be them as long as it wasn't someone they loved.
Then Negan stopped, pointing his bat at Abraham. Rosita burst into tears as Negan made an irreversible decision to beat him to death. "Anyone moves, gouge the kids other eye out and feed it to his father. You can breath, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, all of you are gonna be doing a lot of crying." Negan was aware of people screaming at him to stop, but there was no way he was about to show weakness by going back on a punishment. So he rose the bat over his head and smashed it down on Abraham's big red head.
There was a satisfying crunch as the bat hit the top of the man's head, and Negan smirked down as he watched the alpha take the blow and then straighten himself up again. "Damn, taking it like a champ." He praised appreciatively, he could always admire someone who took a beating like a man.
Some of the people in the group burst into tears when Abraham was beaten until there was nothing left of his head except for shards of his skull and a mess of blood and brain. When Negan was finished smashing his bat against said pile of blood and brain, he allowed his bat to touch the ground by his feet and sighed. He didn't appear to be tired and didn't even need to take a minute to catch his breath, even though the beating looked to have taken a lot of energy out of him. The group was reminded of just how strong Negan was.
Negan whistled as he looked down at his handiwork, the darkness of night doing nothing to obscure his vision, the light of the trailer was enough. "Damn, what a mess," he glanced at Rick from the corner of his eye and shrugged, "least he won't come back."
Daryl suddenly got up and ran towards Negan, who didn't skip a beat as he turned around to watch as his men wrestled the hunter to the ground before dragging him back in line. Dixon didn't even get within 5 feet of Saviors leader before he was underneath four guys, and all Negan could do was laugh.
He sucked his teeth again, "Didn't I tell you that shit wouldn't fly?" Negan took a few steps backward towards Glenn, not taking his eyes off Daryl.
Maggie screamed as loud as her sick body could when Negan swung himself around and crashed the end of his bat against Glenn's head. She didn't stop screaming even as the alpha continued to beat the bat down just like he did Abraham, until Glenn was also reduced to nothing but a headless twitching body, covering the ground in blood and brain matter. Maggie's cries of anguish only brought anger to the rest of the group, coupled along with their sadness. Never before had they all felt such a flurry of emotion in ten minutes. Most of them had known Glenn for years, had loved him like family and had done everything to protect him like he did for them every single day since they met.
Rick couldn't believe that the asian dude who used to be a pizza guy was dead, splattered across the ground like water spilt over a counter. The same little asian guy that had saved him that day he entered into Atlanta only to get trapped, was now gone. Nothing left but a memory of who he once was, who they had once cared for. All those times where he had Rick's back on a supply run, or when they encountered an enemy, were now nothing but a distant memory, a wisp of the brave man he had known.
Megan hardly gave anyone an opportunity to recover from their shock. He walked right up to Rick, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him up, dragging him over to the trailer. "You and I are going on a little trip, Rick." He opened the trailer door and threw Rick inside before turning to look at his men. "Take the hunter and stick him in a truck, make sure he can't get away." He then glanced at Carl, who now wasn't afraid to make eye contact with Negan. Megan smirked as he watched the kids only visible eyebrow and nose twitch in a vast amount of palpable anger, he could smell how angry he was, and could almost feel the hatred that was dripping from his youthful pores.
It smelled intoxicating.
Negan looked around to his men, noticing all the lustful stares they were giving the omega. "If anyone so much as touches the kid while I'm gone," He spoke loud, throwing dominance and threat into his warning, "The two dead pricks on the ground will be nothing compared to what I will do to you." All of his men shivered at the threat, and looked down at their feet away from the object of their desire.
With that, Negan entered the trailer and shut the door, driving away a minute later and leaving everyone alone in the clearing.
...
The familiar stench of blood and death was heavy in the air as it forced it's way down everyone's sinuses and turned their stomachs. It was a relief that they were all used to the smell, or they may have been sick with the disgusting odor.
Carl looked around, the morning light making it's way through the trees and illuminating the faces around him. There were 49 men that he counted, standing around watching their group like a hawk does a mouse.
He didn't know how long his father had been away with Negan, but he knew it had to be hours. He wished that they had an opportunity to attack the people around them, but they were badly outnumbered and didn't even have a knife on any of them to fight. Even if the Savior's were tired of standing around, they still wouldn't stand a chance; at least one of them would surely be killed.
Where was his dad? What was Negan making him do that was taking so long? Surely Negan wouldn't leave his men alone for too long, right? Especially not if they were guarding prisoners.
Carl looked towards Shane, who was looking at him with massive concern in his eyes. The boy knew that even though he wasn't looking at the people staring at him like he was a piece of meat that they wanted to devour, Shane was painfully aware of exactly how many alphas were doing so.
Hopefully Negan's warning/threat to his men was enough to make them too afraid to make a move, but that didn't stop the hungry glances that Carl caught whenever he looked up.
Maggie was still crying, and Carl saw that Rosita was actually able to scoot over the couple feet between them just enough to pet her back comfortingly. Carl could hear her trying to shush the beta's sobbing, but they all knew the death of her husband would do nothing to quiet her sorrow. Nor would the fact that his mutilated body was laying just a glance away.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the trailer was heard coming back. The rumble of the engine and the snapping of branches under the wheel broke the silence and put everyone on edge.
When it parked, Rick was thrown out the door a minute later. The man looked more bloody than he had left and had a haunted look on his face, making mouths dropped open at the sight of him.
Megan stepped calmly out of the trailer and dragged Rick by the back of his shirt over to where he wanted him. Ricks feet dragged across the ground as he unsuccessfully tried to gain his footing on the loose gravel. Negan glanced over at Carl and smiled around at his people. "Were we good dogs?" He asked.
There were a few nods and affirmative noises from the Savior's, but Negan didn't seem to believe them so he looked at Carl. He smiled when he saw the look of hatred the kid was throwing at him, as if Carl was hoping lasers would shoot out of his eyes and chop his head right off the top of his leather jacket. "Were they good puppies, kid?" He smirked and winked, "cause I'll beat the shit out of them if they weren't."
Carl didn't answer, too busy thinking hard about how he would kill Negan if given the chance.
Negan's lips rose to a wide smile and he huffed in amusement, dragging out a happy awe. Rick looked between his son and Negan, wanting nothing more than to assert dominance and tell him the stop looking at his son the way he was.
Negan squatted down until he was at eye level with Rick, and asked the most screwed up question. "Who are you?"
Rick looked Negan in the eye, knowing that the alpha wanted him to claim himself as one of the Savior's just like every savior has in the past. He looked at the cocky and laid back expression that Negan had and hissed in the stronger alpha's face, "Rick." He spat, wanting that smirk to disappear.
Negan would never own him, or the rest of the Alexandrian's.
Negan sucked his teeth, but the amusement didn't disappear from his face, as if he had been expecting the resistance. "Oh, Rick," Negan scratched his scruffy chin, "Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick." He stood tall on his feet and stared down at Rick as if the alpha was a small child he was about to scold on the importance of respect.
Carl's breath caught when Negan looked over at him again, only this time the man seemed to stare deep into his soul.
"Kid," the alpha said as he held out a finger and crooked it, beckoning him over. "Come here."
Carl absolutely did not want to move from his spot, and he fought the instinct to do what the very strong alpha instructed.
Negan's eye brows rose as if he couldn't believe that Carl hadn't moved, omegas had always done what he said. He put a little more authority in the command this time, "I said, come here kid."
As if Negan had grown an arm long enough to reach across the ten feet of distance and grab Carl by the hair, the omega was forced to get up from his spot. He couldn't subdue instinct when Negan spoke to him that way, it was like trying to suffocate himself simply by holding his breath; eventually his brain would force him to breathe.
His body stood up without his permission and walked over to Negan. The man was still staring at him with that half smirk that reminded Carl of a jaguar stalking prey.
He tried to contain his fear when he saw Negan unbuckle his belt, but his shoulders betrayed them as they shook and his brain immediately jumped to the worst outcome possible. "You a lefty?" Negan asked.
Carl's eye brow crinkled in confusion, that was a strange question to ask.
"Answer me when I'm talking to you kid. Are you a lefty?" Negan didn't need to growl or raise his voice, the simple command was enough to make Carl answer.
"No," He hissed angrily. If he was going to be forced to acknowledge Negan in any way, he was going to make sure the man knew just how much he hated it.
Negan nodded and grabbed Carl's left arm, ignoring the growls that he heard from a few people in the group. He used his belt and wrapped it tightly around Carl's bicep. "Does that hurt?" He asked, never taking his eyes of Carl's.
Carl continued to force down the depression he felt, instead focusing on his ravenous anger.
"No." He said bravely despite the fact that, yes, in deed the pressure on his arm hurt.
Negan's eye brows rose again, and it was becoming increasingly annoying to Carl. "It should." He tied the belt down so it would stay with one last jerk and tuck, "It's supposed to." His voice was low and sultry as he spoke to Carl, making the boy wonder if the alpha was bipolar.
Negan patted his shoulder as if they were buddies discussing the weather, "Get down on the ground next to your father."
Carl did, hating that he was forced to do exactly as the alpha said. He got down carefully and stopped when he was on his knees, but apparently thats not what the alpha meant when he said, 'Down on the ground,' because a firm but almost gentle gloved hand pushed him the rest of the way down until his face was pressed up against the rocky ground. Carl laid flat and looked up at his father, who still sported that haunted and fearful look at he looked between his son and Negan.
"Good boy," The alpha purred to the omega, making Carl's shoulders tense as a warm shiver ran down his spine at the praise. Stupid omega instincts, he was sure Negan did that on purpose.
Negan asked someone named Simon for a pen and said alpha threw one over. The omega could hear Negan kneel next to him as a marker was uncapped. "Sorry kid, this is gonna be cold," was all Negan said as the tip of the black marker was dragged against the exposed skin on his outstretched forearm.
As Negan stood up again, Rick started begging, "please don't, don't hurt him." Carl hated the sound of his father pleading with the horrible human being, it sounded so pathetic, so unlike his dad. "You don't have to hurt him."
The leader chuckled as he looked down at Rick's pleading eyes, loving how he looked like he was about to lose his shit over the prospect of Negan hurting his son. He just chuckled as if it was the funniest thing he had heard all day.
"I'm not going to do shit, Rick." He turned and started walking around to the other side of the alpha before throwing down an axe next to Rick's hand. "Rick, I want you to cut your son's arm off, right on that line."
Carl's heart dropped further than it already had, and he wasn't sure how he hasn't passed out from so much shock.
As Rick looked between the axe and Carl's arm with the most scared and hopeless expression Carl had ever seen, Negan continued, "Now I know. Your gonna have to process that for a second, that makes sense." Fear and hopelessness didn't look good on his dad. "Now this may be a screwed up thing to ask but you're going to have to make it clean, sort of a 45° angle, give us something to fold over. We got a great doctor, you son will be fine." But then he snickered and added, "probably."
Shane started rambling, "You don-you don't have to do this man," he said. Shane pleading with Negan was so out of character that the reality of just how hopeless the situation was struck Carl like lightning. "We understand! We understand" Shane claimed, but Negan interrupted.
"I know you understand, yeah, but I'm not sure your boy Rick does." He looked down at Rick and for the second time the smile was gone from his face, "Rick I'm gonna need you to pick up that axe and chop the kids arm off, or everyone in your group is gonna die. And then Carl. Then everyone at home. And then you, eventually. Might keep you around for a few years so you can fester on this."
Rick looked at Carl's arm as if it was the only thing in the world. How could he hurt his boy so badly? How could he possibly cut off the arm of the son that he had been living to protect? He thought about the 9 miles that he had to run through when Carl got shot that day so many years ago, how he hadn't stopped at anything to get his boy to Hershel, how he had given Carl so much of his own blood that he almost suffered cardiac arrest. He would do anything to save his boy, anything to protect him, anything to keep him alive.
How could Negan make him do this?
Negan bent down again to look Rick in his horrified eyes. "Rick this is gonna have to happen now." He brought his bat down to hover by Carl's face, and Carl couldn't take his eyes off the blood stained barbed wire. "Or I'm gonna crush the little fella's skull in myself."
Carl hated himself more than he hated Negan. Why would his second gender pick this guy out of all people? How could it pick someone so cruel and heartless?
"It could be me." Rick started trying to haggle with Negan, hoping and praying to any higher power out there that Negan wouldn't make him do it, that he would choose to take Ricks arm and not his son's. "It could be me." He repeated, hoping that there was even a scrap of humanity left in Negan. How could someone fall this deep into the apocalypse that he would force a father to shop of his son's arm with a bloody axe?
"No," Negan said, not even considering the proposal, "this is the only way." He seemed to be growing impatient as his voice changed to becoming more commanding, dripping with the dominance and power that he possessed. It made Carl shiver, as if his body wanted to obey even though the command wasn't meant for him. "Rick, pick up the axe. I'm going to count to three and if that kids arm isn't being chopped, then I will start killing people, starting with the sick looking one." He pointed over to Maggie, who was watching the whole thing looking pale and sweaty with tears in her eyes.
"3," Rick hadn't even let Negan finish shouting the number at him before he started sobbing. It was precisely at that moment that Rick knew there was no getting out of this, nothing was in his favor and he couldn't do anything but beg.
"Please." His voice dragged as he sobbed, he couldn't even look at Carl anymore, feeling like he was personally betraying his son somehow. "Please don't make me." The sound of his father crying broke something in Carl, but the boy knew that if his father didn't do what he was told then everyone was going to die.
"2."
"Please! No." He looked up at Negan, hoping the tears and the begging would trigger something in Negan to change his mind. Negan stayed cold though as he got down on his knee and grabbed Rick's face.
Negan forced the alpha to look into his eyes, and all Rick saw there was cold, empty eyes that showed no mercy at all. "This is it."
As Negan stood up, all Rick could do was scream.
"Pick up the damn axe Rick! This is your last fucking chance." Negan was finally yelling at Rick now, and the father fumbled to grab the axe and his son's arm, his vision blurry from the amount of tears in his eyes.
"Dad," Carl whispered just loud enough for Rick to hear. He knew the better option was to take one for the team and lose his arm. He probably wouldn't need it much anyways... "Just do it." He accepted what was going to happen and prepared himself, turning his head away and closing his eyes.
He didn't see when Rick rose the axe above his head, he could only hear the terrified moaning coming from the man. Everyone knew that if Rick did this, then there was a chance that Carl wouldn't survive, even with a doctor's help. They didn't know how good the doctor was, what sort of equipment he had, if he even had equipment for this, or even if Negan would go back on his word to even let the doctor take care of him.
Negan grabbed Rick's arm before it could make it journey down.
Rick looked up hopefully at Negan before looking down at Carl's arm, as if he needed to process for a second that it was still there, still attached to his sons body.
"You answer to me." Negan said, it was a command and not a question. "You provide for me. You belong to me. Right?"
Rick nodded his head, but Negan didn't like that.
"You use your words when you answer me!" Everyone knew that he was only doing this to make sure Rick knows who is the stronger alpha of the two. He needed to make sure Rick knew that what Negan says goes, and if Rick had a problem with that then there would be consequences. Asserting dominance was Negan's favorite pass time.
"I answer to you," Rick said as if he was under a trance. It was at that declaration that everyone lost hope of ever overpowering Negan. If Rick wasn't strong enough to defy the alpha, then none of them could even start to.
"Right." Negan had a euphoric gleam in his eye, like he just won a battle and was ready to party. He pointed at Rick, "that, is the look I wanted to see." Referring to the complete submission in Rick's eye's. Carl's didn't dare move from his spot, nor did he bother to look at his father. He couldn't stand the sound of his heavy breathing or the sight of the look in his eyes.
The man stood up and looked around at his men and the rest of Rick's group. "Today, was a productive damn day." He paused as if he needed to take a second to take in the sorrowful eyes of the people around him. "Now I hope that you get it now. Whatever you had going for you, is over now." He pet a very silent Rick on the back, "Ahh, welcome to a bright new future you sorry shits." He said it proudly and with the enthusiasm of a football coach. "I'm gonna leave you a truck. Keep it, use it to cart all the shit your gonna find me." The alpha started walking away, and relief started bleeding it's way into the hearts of the group to watch him go. "We'll be back in one week for our first offering. Until then, ta ta."
Carl finally sat up as the Savior's started loading the guns into their vehicles. Negan had kept his word and left them an empty truck with enough gas to get them to hilltop and back home. But none of them moved from their spots lined up on the ground until all of them were gone, and for a few moments, not even then.
Carl watched an ant crawl across the ground as he waited for the saviors to pack up and leave, thinking about just how alike they were. Ants only had a few concerns in life; finding food, making shelter, staying away from things that want to eat them, and being careful not to get stepped on by anything bigger than themselves. Just like Carl and his group. Only they had been squashed, stepped on by the biggest, heaviest boot in existence. Unlike the little guy currently making its way across the gravel.
It wasn't until Carl got home, and was in the safety of his room did he allow himself to cry. He had been holding his instinct back the entire encounter with Negan, and when he was finally alone it was like a dam broke.
When it did, he cried hard. He hadn't cried this much or this hard in years, the last time he remembered was when he was 12 and he got shot by that man while he was looking at the deer. He was worried that the people in the house would smell the amount of sorrow on him, but he knew they at least respected him enough to leave him be.
Rick and Shane were downstairs with Lori and Judith when the smell hit them.
They each looked up at the ceiling as if they would be able to see Carl through it before looking at each other. They had been in the middle of having a discussion with Lori about what had happened when they realised how upset Carl was.
Rick knew that Carl would be upset, but he couldn't imagine why he was that upset. His boy had seen people die before, had even killed people before, so it wasn't like Carl to be so melancholy.
"Lori." Rick said to his crying wife, she had burst into tears when her husband told her of the death of Abraham and Glenn. "You need to go check on Carl," he hadn't told her yet what Negan almost made him do, and he wouldn't ever if he could help it, but he did tell her that he was an alpha so strong that even Rick couldn't overpower him. He told her all about how they belonged to Negan now, and how things were going to have to go from then on, and how Negan would be coming in a week to get the supplies that they gather.
Lori looked up at her husband before sniffing the air. Betas were never affected by the scent of Alphas or omegas, but that doesn't mean they couldn't smell them at all. Though it was more of just a fragrance to betas, and not something that could really control them.
Lori could smell Carl though, and knew what the alphas were talking about, drawing the same conclusion as them that there was something very wrong with their son.
She composed herself and straighten her hair out, standing and picking Judith up in her arms before heading over to the stairs.
Carl was laying face down in his pillow when she quietly opened the door to his room. Lori swallowed her worry and put Judith down on her feet, Carl didn't seem to notice their arrival.
The little girl cooed before walking carefully across the floor on her own feet, and Carl's head picked up to look at her when he heard her little voice.
When he saw the smile on her face as she walked over to him, he quickly wiped his eyes and smiled back at her. Judith was reaching for him, and he held out a hand for her to grab so he could pick her up and give her a hug.
"Hey, Judith," he smiled, she looked happily at his face and reached a hand up to grab his hair, completely innocent to the sorrow the boy felt.
When he caught sight of his mom silently waiting by the door, they made eye contact. It was then that Lori saw just how much pain Carl was in, all that she needed to see was in Carl's eye and she was across the room holding him in seconds, begging him to tell her what was wrong.
Carl quieted his sobs long enough to tell her, "he's my mate."
Lori immediately knew what that meant for Carl, and her face paled as realization hit her. "No," She shook her head, looking at her son as if he was already dead.
Carl's felt like he was signing his death warrant as he nodded, remembering the powerful surge of energy he felt when Negan and he made eye contact.
Lori put a hand over her mouth in shock. "Negan?" She asked just to make sure, and she hugged him tighter when he shook his head yes.
Everyone in the world had a mate, and as long as they were both alive, they were destined to find each other no matter what. It didn't matter if they were born on opposite ends of the globe, they would eventually find each other. Back in the day before the apocalypse, people could rest easy knowing they would have a chance to meet their soulmate one day in their lives. Only now during the apocalypse, it was a curse, especially for omegas.
Alphas and betas could live with the fact that their mate was most likely dead, they could even live with the fact that they may end up being star-crossed and have to live without them even if they were to meet them.
Omegas however, could not.
There wasn't an omega alive, even before the apocalypse, that was able to meet their mate, only to have some force keep them from being together. They always ended up dead from depression, because their second gender couldn't handle the pain from a love sick and broken heart. It was like trying to reach for the sun as if your life fully and completely depended on it, but it was unreachable no matter how desperately you reached.
Just like the chances an omega would survive a lonely heart.
In Carl and Negan's case, it was like the alpha loaded a gun, aimed it right at Carl's heart, and fired. Only the omega would die slow and painful until the misery was too much to bear, and then he would just... slip away.
It was a reality that was unavoidable, and Carl was scared to find out just how painful it would be.
Why did Negan have to do something so unforgivable? Thing's probably would have ended fine if he hadn't killed his friends and humiliated his father so irreversibly. Negan had been so cruel, almost forcing Rick to cut off his own son's arm. The threats to Carls life made his omega whimper, the dramatic rejection causing him to feel more pain than he thought was even possible. Negan was sick, merciless, a fucking demon, a plague that would infect them and kill them off one by one as time marched on. He was terrified and his omega was already wanting to give up, knowing the situation was hopeless.
Things would have been better if they had never met in the first place. Sure, Carl would still eventually die when his omega lost all hope of ever finding his other half, but nobody expected that to happen to Carl for years. Still, at least it would have been years instead of months.
Carl's tears stopped, but he was still unable to breath slowly as he buried his face in his mothers neck. Judith was sitting on his lap, looking up innocently at her brother wondering why he was so sad.
Lori pulled him away so she could see his one eye, "Carl, you listen to me." She forced him to look at her, "You are strong, and you will beat this." She held his face and wiped away a fresh tear, "You hear? You will beat this."
Carl nodded, knowing he had to fight it, because if he didn't, he was as good as dead.
"Your gonna be fine, baby," Lori was crying as well, so scared to lose her son. She remembered an old friend of hers who was a private tutor, and who also was an omega. She remembered in their first sessions that Mrs. Sampier was so loving, so compassionate, and so gentle and warm. As a little girl she loved holding her tutors hand because it was always so soft, and the heat she would feel reminded her of her mother.
Lori was too young to understand why Mrs. Sampier couldn't be with her mate, but she remembered her parents telling her quite often that her tutor was in the hospital again. They didn't tell her why, but she remembered crying her eyes out until her parents took her to go see the omega. She also remembered asking her parents why there was always fresh stitches on her wrists, but they always told her they were fake. Being the young girl who always believed everything her parents told her, she believed them every time.
She understood when she got older and Mrs. Sampier had been long dead. Her mate had died, and she had lost herself in depression.
There was almost no hope, but her boy was special. Whatever pain that would come to him in the future, she knew he could fight it.
She remembered in great detail what happened to her tutor, how she had been so happy at one point. Lori could still remember the last time she saw her. She had looked so tired, and had barely been able to look Lori in the eyes. The little girl could see that they were still the chocolate brown that they had always been, but they had turned ice cold. They had lost the warmth that she remembered and were completely vacant of any life, and she had cried to her parents asking in complete horror why her tutor couldn't see her anymore.
She couldn't watch the same thing happen to her boy, no. Not her pride and joy. She couldn't imagine Carl ever possessing the same far away and almost dead look that her tutor had. It was too horrible, even now as Lori remembered every glassy millimeter of her tutors eyes that day, she could still feel the bottomless dread that she had felt at the sight.
Carl would have to fight this for the rest of his life, if he ever lost himself the way her tutor had, she wouldn't be able to handle it.
Eventually, Carl fell asleep. It was hours later, but Lori knew it couldn't be later than maybe 4 in the afternoon. She lay her son down, and made sure a napping Judith was secured tightly in her brother's arms so she wouldn't fall off the bed.
When she got downstairs, Shane and Rick were talking about something, but she didn't pay attention to what exactly. She was too busy trying to figure out how to tell them the news.
Lori decided it was best to just blurt it out. "Carl and Negan are mates." She didn't even bother trying to gain their attention before she attacked them with that little sentence.
The reaction was immediate, and both alpha heads shot up towards her. The sentence was so small, and yet held so much power that it was like a punch in the gut from the Hulk. Shane looked to have gone into shock, freezing in his spot with his mouth dropped open and his eyes unblinking, while Rick's face dropped completely as he grabbed the side of his face with his hand and used the other to steady himself by the kitchen counter. They both looked incredibly stressed out, but Lori just crossed her arms, having already gone threw the first stages of shock and was now feeling quite pissed off.
"When did you say Negan would be here again?" She asked Rick as the man stared at the ground, still trying to process the prior information. He seemed unable to do so, because he stuttered and became a complete spaghetti brain who was incapable of providing Lori an answer.
Lori looked to Shane, but the man hadn't moved, hadn't even blinked in his spot with his mouth still hanging open. She rolled her eyes, not about to wait for anyone, and walked up to him to slap him across the face. "Snap out of it, Shane."
The man rubbed his face before looking at Lori with a hurt look in his eye, but the sight of the embodiment of anger and determination in front of him kept him from voicing his complaints.
"When will Negan be here again?" She asked again slowly, using her eyes to tell Shane how little patients she had for the two alphas at the moment.
"He said he'll be here in a week." Shane answered, wondering what was going to happen to Carl in the future. He knew what usually happened to omegas in similar circumstances, but Carl was different. The little guy was a fighter, and had survived this long despite the stereotypes, he knew that he could survive this too.
Lori nodded, "We have to do something about this. We need to try to form some sort of peace treaty."
Rick looked up at his mate as if she was crazy, "And how do you expect that to happen, Lori? The man did not seem to express any sort of desire for peace."
Shane agreed, and that was putting things lightly. He remembered how ready Negan had been to bash Carl's brains in with the same bat that killed Glenn and Abraham. It didn't seem as though the alpha had any intention to let them all live happily.
Lori looked as though she was trying to find a half assed solution on the spot, and instead of thinking things through logically, she threw ideas at them both hoping one of them would stick. "We could talk to Negan? Convince them both to at least talk to each other for Carl's sake? They could start courting. Carl is a sweetheart and very persuasive, maybe-maybe he can convince Negan to give you back some control?"
Lori didn't understand like they did, because she hadn't been there, and neither of them had told her just how cruel Negan was. How he had threatened Carl's life. How he had threatened all of their lives.
When neither of the alphas answered her, she got desperate, and her voice cracked while a tear fell from her eye, "I won't lose my boy, Rick." Carl needed Negan. He needed him like they all needed water every single day, whether anyone wanted to accept that very real fact or not. "I won't lose him."
Rick got up and hugged Lori, an instinctual reaction to seeing his mate cry, and the beta clutched him for dear life as she cried. "I won't lose my boy, Rick," she said again as her alpha shushed her gently, promising her she wouldn't.
"Carl is strong." Shane said as he hugged them both, "He can fight this."
Lori was aware of that, "But for how long?" was the question that was really causing her to suffer in fear for her son, and she croaked it out with all the pain that she had.
Neither alpha was able to answer that question.