"I wish we could lie like this forever," Katie smiles as she curls her fingers through John's chest hair.

"Hmm, it is nice. Might get fucking boring after a while though," he teases. Katie slaps his chest playfully. "Anyway, i said i'd go out on a run with Negan."

"I don't like you going out there, what if you don't come back?" She pouts, stroking at his neck.

John chuckles lightly. "I'm not fucking going anywhere till i'm good and ready. It'll take more than some dead fuck to take me down."

"Well. I guess it'll do you some good. You and you're brother spending some time together."

"Yeah," he frowns. "Nothing like bonding over smashing heads in."

Katie leans up on her elbow, her hand resting against his chest. "What is it with you two? He genuinely seems pleased to see you, and you couldn't be any further from that."

John sighs. "It's nothing for you to worry about, baby. Just stupid family shit."

Katie rests her head in the crook of his shoulder. "Did you hear about his wives?"

John smiles. "Yes, i have. Greedy fucker. Who the fuck needs three wives?"

"Come on. You're not telling me that you couldn't find time for three wives? What with your appetite," she smiles.

"Well yeah, i'm gonna look into that the next time you have a headache," he jokes.

"Shut up," Katie giggles.

"You asked," he smiles. John strokes her shoulder. "Do you.. never mind."

"What?"

John shakes his head. "It doesn't matter."

"Go on," she smiles.

"Do you think he's.. you know, good looking?"

Katie tries to hide a smile and fails. "You did not just ask me that? You do realise you're twins right?"

"I'll take that as a fucking yes then," he frowns.

"Well yes, since you're both identical. It'd be insulting if i didn't think he was hot."

"Woah, wait! You think he's hot?"

Katie rolls her eyes. "We are not having this conversation," she gets out from under the covers and grabs her jeans.

"Don't be like that, i got ten more minutes," he smiles, reaching out a hand. "Come back to bed."

Katie crosses her arms, looking away from him with a scowl.

"Come on, i'm hungry," he licks his lips teasingly.

Katie giggles. She holds out her hand and he pulls her back under the covers.


"What the fuck took you so long?" Negan frowns.

John answers him with a sly smirk as he almost swaggers his way towards the truck.

Negan places Lucille between the both of them as he gets in the driver's seat. "Lucky bastard."

"You're shitting me right? You got three fucking wives," John says bemused.

"Yeah, but listen to this shit. Their damn cycles have lined up, can you believe that?" Negan says in disbelief.

John laughs, so hard his side's begin to ache.

"I'm glad you find it fucking funny," Negan says with little humour.

"It's fucking hilarious," John smiles. "Oh, Jesus," he exhales deeply, trying to calm himself down. "So where we off too?"

Negan starts the engine. "Fucking wing it, see what we can find. Keep having to go further out each time, supplies are getting scarce."

"You ever come across any other communities?" John asks.

Negan shakes his head. "Nope. I mean, we've come across groups before. But only small ones, no more then six at a time. And they joined us."

"It's a shame you haven't come across other communities. You could start some sort of bartering system," John points out.

"Look at you, thinking all ahead and shit," Negan smiles. "You planning on staying then?"

John shrugs. "Why wouldn't i?"

Negan tilts his head. "Wasn't sure you'd be able to get past shit. You always did hold a grudge."

John turns to him, frowning. "That's bullshit! Since when did i hold a grudge? And don't fucking look at me like that."

Negan turns his head back towards the road with a smile. "Maybe we were both as bad as one another, fuck knows. Like you said, doesn't matter anymore. Not since the world turned to shit."


They had been driving for hours, stopping whenever they saw a half decent looking building, only to be disappointed that it had already been looted.

John had taken over behind the wheel, scanning the road for signs of a mall, or even a gas station. "Hey, check that out," he points at a sign, slowing down to take a closer look.

"Adrian, population, six hundred and fifty," Negan reads. "That's a small fucker."

"You think we should check it out?" John asks.

"We're gonna need some more gas. You'd think there'd be a fucking station, but i haven't seen one for miles," Negan frowns.

"We'll find one," John says.

"If it hasn't been fucking stripped clean already," Negan says.

They drive on another few miles until they find another dilapidated gas station. John cuts off the engine and steps out of the truck, taking his knife from his belt. He hears the passenger door slam shut, as Negan makes his way towards him.

"Let's go see if those babies got any fucking juice in them," Negan gestures towards the pumps. "I'll go get the hose, you check out the station, see if there's anything worth taking?"

John nods, making his way towards the gas station. He bangs on the door, giving it a good minute or so before he slowly steps inside. The door closes with a creak, and the smell of age and decay hits his nostrils. John cups his nose and mouth with his hand as he scans the interior. A dozen rotten corpses lie on the ground, bullet holes strewn across the wall. Shit went down here, he thinks, as he notices that the corpses don't appear to have any visible bites.

"You find anything?" Negan says.

John almost jumps a mile. "Jesus, Negan. You scared the fucking shit out of me."

"Jumpy eh?"

"You seen this?" John frowns.

Negan makes his way over to him, staring at the rotting corpses in front of them. "Dead bodies, big fucking wow! You had your eyes closed since the world turned to shit or something?"

John huffs loudly. "Look, there's no bites."

"So? What's your point?"

"Someone obviously killed them for no reason," John points out.

Negan shakes his head. "You don't know that. These guys could've been assholes. Or maybe someone did kill them no reason, what the fuck does it matter to us?"

"It doesn't, i guess. I just don't like it. It's fucking senseless," John says.

"Damn fucking right it is, fuck all we can do about it though. Come on," he pats John on the back. "I managed to fill the tank, let's get the fuck outta here."


They arrive at Adrian, slowly driving the truck along the road in search for a store that appeared untouched.

"Hey! Check that out!" Negan points at a large convenience store. It's gated, roughly half a dozen of the dead rambling inside the gates. Army vehicles and makeshift tents litter the parking lot outside the building.

John pulls up the truck. "Could be a goldmine in there. Gate's still chained. Looks like someone turned and they got overrun."

"Exactly. Place looks like it's pretty much untouched," Negan smiles.

John turns to him. "How we doing this?

Negan bites on the inside of his cheek, deep in thought. "One of us should drive the truck to the other side. Lead those dead fucks over there, while the other cuts the chain."

"I'll cut it," John offers.

Negan raises an eyebrow. "You sure you can handle it?"

John chuckles lightly. "I've been surviving out here for the last couple months. This'll be a piece if piss," he smiles as he gets out of the truck. He grabs a pair of bolt cutters from the back before heading back to Negan.

Negan hands him a gun. "Take this, but only use that fucker unless your ass depends on it. We don't wanna attract more of those fuckers."

John nods and hides out of sight from the dead, as Negan drives to the other side of the gate. John hears him honking the horn. He watches, waiting for the dead to head towards the truck before he makes his move. He cuts the chain, the gate swinging open. One by one, the dead turn towards the sound of the creaking gate. They stumble their way towards him, snarling at the promise of fresh meat. John holds the bolt cutters in his hands, baseball bat style, figuring it will make a much better weapon than his knife, what with the extra range. He swings at the skull of an approaching corpse, it's brains splattering over the parking lot. It goes down with a thud, but not before he swings at the next. John kicks at another, allowing himself time to take out a third.

Negan watches his brother, rather impressed. He runs beside him, swinging Lucille. They both swing almost in unison, taking out the dead with no close calls. They stand a few moments, catching their breath.

"Guess i owe you an apology," Negan smiles. "You did good."

"Fuck yeah i did," John smirks. "We going in there then?" John gestures the bolt cutters towards the convenience store.

"Yeah, let's just make sure there's no fucking surprises in there," Negan says as he heads towards the main entrance. He bangs Lucille against the doors, standing in silence for at least a minute, waiting for the tell tale sound of the dead.

"I think we might've gotten lucky," John says. "Don't sound like there's anything in there."

"I agree, let's get fucking to it then," Negan opens the doors.


They had hit the jackpot. So much so, that Negan had to radio through to his men for more trucks.

John sits on the back of their truck, leaning against several crates of canned goods. It'd be a good few hours before the other trucks got there, and there was no way they were leaving this little goldmine unmanned. So they had time to kill. He watched Negan childishly swinging at rocks with his bat. John couldn't think of it as Lucille, it was too weird.

"You fucking see that, John? That one was outta the damn park!" He chuckles, shading his eyes with his hands.

"Simple fucking things," John shakes his head with a smile.

"You're just saying that cos you suck at baseball," Negan taunts him.

"The fuck i do," John frowns.

"Come on then," Negan gestures his head. "Let's see what you got."

John hops down from the truck and makes his way over to Negan.

"Here," Negan holds out Lucille.

John stares at her, and in that moment, he really does think of it as her. He takes her from Negan, feeling the weight of it in his hands.

"Alright, you ready?" Negan asks, holding a rock in his hand.

John nods, still slightly fixated with the bat. Negan throws the rock, and John swings Lucille. This time, it really does go out of the park, going much further than Negan's attempts.

"The fuck? That's bullshit!" Negan frowns.

John smiles slyly. "Wow! You're a bad fucking loser."

"Fuck that," Negan makes his way over to John and snatches Lucille from him. "You got fucking lucky, that's all."

"What the fuck ever," John rolls his eyes.

"Come on, i'm fucking starving. Let's see what the fuck we got here," Negan says as he heads towards the back of the truck.

John follows him. He feels a sickly feeling in the pit of his stomach. Lucille had felt good in his hands, made him feel powerful. He curses himself mentally, and heads towards the truck.