Chapter 7

Flames flickered in the zig-zags of the maze, creating a hypnotizing glow of burning walkers and steel walls. Acrid smoke drifted into the night sky, scattering a slight smell of burning flesh and gasoline. It wasn't altogether unpleasant.

Negan knew he had at least flipped Lucy from a hard "no" to a "maybe," in regards to her grand plan. He could work with maybe. Maybe was just a non-committal version of yes, at least in his book.

Despite his confidence, his bones felt heavy, like anchors in the black sea. All those nights of poor sleep, forged in chains, dragged behind him and tried to slow him down. He was always full of a restless energy, chaotic and untamable. It had been less than a day since he came to this shitshow and he couldn't tear himself away from this crazy ass situation. This crazy ass broad. He knew Kev and Snake were counting down the minutes, waiting to leave, but this was a delicate art. If he pushed her too much, she might give in but resent it deeply. Or worse- pull away, do something rash. Finesse.

Negan knew crazy, he dealt with it every day. Lucy may be a little crazy, but she was mostly too deep in grief. Feelings of despair, sadness, guilt, and who know what else were pounding away in her head. It was enough to make anyone want to die, if they were weary enough. He knew she didn't truly want to die, he knew from the second he saw that crazy-as-shit maze cobbled together, the meticulous effort made into creating something so intricate and damaging. She was just hurting. He may not show it ever, especially around his men, but Negan knew hurt. He could smell it from a mile away, festering.

He and Lucy stood watching the maze, watching the color of the flames dance and catch. Every once in awhile Kevin would try to lob another gasoline balloon, sometimes hitting the fire and causing a poof of flames, but mostly missing.

Lucy broke from their relaxed embrace, and Negan found himself again watching her watching the walkers. The blaze illuminated her face, added an eerie glow to her eyes. An unnatural light- like an animal's eyes reflecting in the darkness.

Creepy, but gorgeous. Negan felt a familiar stirring in his groin, and shifted uncomfortably. He had managed to control himself so far, avoiding his usual onslaught of innuendos and flirtations (kept only to a dull fucking roar), but he could only hold it together for so long. He wasn't a fucking monster, but he did have a limit to his self-censoring.

Monster. Flickers of memories, broken glass and broken hearts flooded his mind, but hit against the layers of steel he had built around his heart. Not the time, nor the place. Not here.

She glanced over and gave a soft smile when their eyes met. Shit, they'd only known each other for a day and he wanted to unwrap her like a birthday present. Was she a quiet moaner, a screamer, or something in between? Quiet moaners were usually way more freaky-deaky than screamers… He hoped she bit her lip when she came, that was always so fucking hot.

Gravel crunching caught both of their attention. They turned around to see Dwight. "Hey, uh…we might have a problem." He ran his head through his hair.

Negan instinctively reached for Lucille. "Well, what the fuck kind of problem might we have?"

"There's people coming – alive, not walkers. A few trucks, look like military-type vehicles. Snake saw them comin' over the ridge and I checked them out in the night vision goggles. The truck's got some sort of symbol painted on the side. It was hard to see in the low light and the goggles. But they look pretty organized."

"What the fuck kind of symbol? You recognize it?" Negan racked his brain on known factions in the area, but came up with nothing.

Dwight shrugged. "Some sort of a swirl thing. Looks kind of seashell I guess, based on what he said. We never seen it before."

Lucy stepped forward, breathless. She scratched something into the gravel. "Does it look like this?" Negan thought it did indeed look like a weird seashell. Stupid fucking symbol, he thought.

Dwight squinted at it and said, "Could be. Looks awful similar."

She turned to Negan, white as a sheet. Panic flooded her eyes, causing a turn in Negan's stomach. He hazarded she didn't often get scared much.

She slid his jacket off and shoved it towards him, running towards the walkway. "You have to go. NOW!" she called out over her shoulder.

Oh no you don't. Negan turned to Dwight. "Grab Kev and Snake, get the gate unlatched and start the truck. If we aren't there in five minutes, get the fuck back to Sanctuary. Take a different route if it looks like they took our usual one." Dwight looked to protest, but thought better of it. Instead, he nodded and ran over to the Kevin and Snake, who were currently fighting over holding the night vision goggles.

Negan turned back towards the maze, and started after Lucy. He was not going to fucking lose her after all this goddamn work.

The smoke was thick and stung his eyes. Up on the rooftop of the adjacent building, the smell had dissipated enough, but here, it was thick and concentrated. Burnt flesh was already an awful smell, but the rotting walkers added a special level of stomach-turning stench when they burned. Negan pulled up his red bandana over his mouth to help block out some of the acrid smoke. By the time he reached the hub, Lucy was already tossing things into bags, coughing heavily, despite the green bandana she'd tied around her own face.

She jumped when he grabbed her shoulder, looking like she was about to scold him, but instead shoved a bag into his arms. "Here, your people can use these. Medications and other useful stuff. I don't even know why the hell I had these." When he just stood there, she tried to push him towards the walkway. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Negan dropped the bag and turned her to face him. Tears were streaming down her face, but if it was from smoke or emotion, he couldn't say. She was spooked, real bad, and that worried him, too. "Nothing here is worth your fuckin' life or mine, darlin'. You are gonna get your sweet ass to the truck and let's fuckin' GO."

She stared at him for a moment, into his eyes as if she was reading his thoughts and intentions. She looked around at her maze, the chaotic work of love and hate she poured so much energy into. The fire was still raging, smoke billowing out from every corner of the maze. Negan grabbed her chin gently and had her face him, looking deeply into her sad, but beautiful eyes. "You don't want to fuckin' die. I know you. You don't."

Her eyes burned like the fire that raged around them as she shoved him away. "FUCK YOU. You don't know shit about me. We just met, you arrogant asshole." She glared at him, into his dark eyes. Eyes that pulled her in and drank her up.

He leaned back against the railing and crossed his arms. "Fine. I'll stay here with you then."

"NO!" She tried to push him back towards the railway, protesting to no avail. This mountain wasn't moving. He was amused at her attempts to shove him. "You sure you built this thing yourself with them skinny little arms? That just fuckin' tickles." It didn't, and he was not surprised at her upper body strength, but antagonizing her was just about the only thing that would snap her out of this.

Hopefully.

Lucy furrowed her brow and punched his arm, hard. When he just laughed (it actually did fucking hurt, but he sure as shit wasn't going to let her know that), she sighed, defeated.

Gotcha, Negan thought. I know you. You wouldn't let someone else die.

Grabbing one last bag, she slipped her hand into his. "FINE. Grab that bag you dropped, jerk. Let's go."

/ / / / /

The caravan of cars was still headed towards the maze, their view of the Savior's truck blocked by the halfway constructed building, for now.

Lucy and Negan piled into the truck cab with not a moment to spare. Snake peeled the truck out of the gates, taking out a few walkers for good measure and immediately headed in the opposite direction of the caravan on a side road that followed behind the maze. Kevin and Dwight clung for dear life in the back of the truck, bumping and jostling along as they attempted to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Lucy sat in the middle of Snake and Negan, eyes wide, scanning the area. We are about to be in sight of the caravan, she thought wildly as they drove up a slightly graded road behind the abandoned mall. She reached over Snake and flipped off the headlights.

"HEY! You crazy bitch!" Snake protested.

Lucy slapped his hand away from flipping them back on. "Shut up, shut UP. Don't turn the headlights on, it's too noisy out there and they might not notice us over the walker herd. There's enough light from the moon, we can see fine," she lied. She flipped back around, eyes scanning the road behind them and gripping the seat so hard her hands were feeling numb.

Snake leaned forward a bit, and raised his eyebrows at Negan.

"Listen to the lady, don't fuckin' turn on the headlights, asshole," Negan shrugged. He didn't like running away, but they certainly were not prepared for confrontation. They hadn't heard from their outpost a few miles away, so these trucks had either gone a different way, or the outpost was in trouble.

"Take a left here, we gotta get behind those trees," Lucy ordered. Snake sighed, but complied.

The truck slid left, slamming Kevin and Dwight into the side of the cab. "FUCK," one of them mumbled.

Shit, shit, shit, Lucy thought. Did they find me? Do they know who I am? Do they want revenge? All questions and no answers.

The truck continued to follow the road further into the woods, all eyes scanning the area. No one said a word, the only sound an occasional walker slamming into the truck.

Snake finally broke the silence. "They were takin' the road we usually would back to Sanctuary, but I think we can take this and loop around if we're careful." Negan grunted in agreement, deep in thought.

Lucy still sat backwards, peeking out of the back window of the truck. She didn't spy any headlights following them, but then again, their own headlights were off.

I owe them an explanation, she thought, the tension palpable in the truck. Her panic had been enough to get their asses moving, but they were going to be asking questions soon enough. She tried not to think about the heat radiating from Negan, the way grabbing his hand shot sparks through her body in a way long forgotten. Her leg pressed against his, shoulders occasionally bumping with the movement of the truck. Her body tingled dully every time they touched, a sensation long-forgotten.

Definitely not the time for any of that nonsense. She took a deep breath, pushing those thoughts away.

"That caravan- they call themselves The Order, a group of cultish assholes. Their leader is some former academic professor, in mathematics or something. Built a cult up around himself, with some plan to 'cleanse the world' and repopulate it with people of his choosing. He calls himself Typhon, after a creature in Greek mythology that tried to overthrow Zeus. His followers call him 'master' though. Real creepy stuff, they're all bonkers. They installed themselves in an old army base and are armed to the teeth, apparently. I ran into a handful of them a few seasons ago, maybe a year ago. Luckily that group wasn't too bright."

Negan snorted. "Sounds like they got themselves wrapped up in a bunch of bullshit. What the fuck do they want?"

"I don't know. I killed their men, though. I don't- I don't think they know it was me. It was just a few of their men I had run across. It was so long ago…" She sighed and put her head in her hands.

"I'm gonna need a bit more than that, doll. You sent us packing like bats outta fuckin' hell. You weren't scared of us, but you sure as shit were scared of them."

She sighed. You can't keep running away from your demons, Lucy. "They ran across me and… the last of my group in the woods west of here." Her voice cracked. "They… killed the others and took me. To their outpost, a shitty old Department of Forestry outpost. They did weird ritualistic shit and kept talkin' about me like I was… a prize or some reward for Typhon." She shivered. "It gave me the creeps. I had to leave before they transported me, who knows what they would have done for me."

"Typhon. That's a stupid fuckin' name," Negan said. Lucy hid a smile. Negan ain't exactly common, either. She kept her mouth shut on that subject, though.

Lucy continued. "They kept saying, 'Mister Typhon will have fun with her' or something like that. Not any sort of fun that I would want to be a part of, I'm sure." She thought for a moment longer. "I think they keep women at their base. Keep them. Like prized heifers. I was there at the outpost for…weeks…it felt like. 'Gettin' you warmed up,' they said."

"Fuckin' Christ," Negan said.

She took a shaky breath. "They did exactly what you think they did, and more to me." Hot tears welled up in her eyes, this time she let them flow. A pang of queasiness made her turn forward, unable to handle facing backwards in the truck, and into the past. The alcohol, the chase, the jostling in the car was all too much.

"Motherfuckers!" said Snake, slapping the wheel. "Boss, we gotta do something-"

"Shut the fuck up, Snake," Negan said dangerously, cutting him off.

She glanced over at Negan. It was hard to see, but his eyes looked black, a small sparkle in the moonlight gave him an eerie look. Like a spider spinning a web. He was tightening and relaxing his grip on Lucille, as if readying to crack into someone.

She cleared her throat and steadied her voice as they bounced along the road. "I escaped. They were cruel but they weren't too terribly bright. I had to be careful because of their numbers. I slit three of their throats while they slept and snuck out, waiting in the woods. I heard the others scream when the dead ones turned. I broke my own rule but I didn't care. I've been on my own ever since."

Negan turned to her. The close proximity made movement awkward, but he managed to place a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Damn. I'm sorry, doll, that shit's fucked up." She nodded, but offered nothing else. She had nothing else to give, anyway.

"Pull this shit over and let's make sure no one's fuckin' following us," he said to Snake.

The truck eased off the side of the road and rumbled to a stop.

"What's the rule you broke?" Negan asked Lucy. Dwight and Kevin jumped out of the back and took out a few walkers roaming towards the truck.

"What? Oh. Just…it's stupid. It's to never leave a walker around if I can do. Never let someone turn if I can. It's stupid, but if I can easily take one out, it might save someone else from getting trapped or surprised by it later on. Butterfly effect, and all that," she shrugged.

"The fuck's a butterfly effect?" Snake said, lighting a cigarette.

"It's like an old saying or philosophy concept I guess. That a butterfly flapping it's wings in Africa can cause rain somewhere else. One small action somewhere can cause a cascade of events that leads to something completely unrelated, you know?"

Snake didn't, but agreed as Dwight knocked on the window.

"All clear," he said to Negan.

"Great," said Snake. "I gotta take a piss anyways." He jumped out the truck, lightly jogging away from the rest of them.

Negan turned to Lucy. "Listen here doll, you stay the fuck in here. We're going to make sure those shitbags aren't followin' us and I gotta talk to my men about what's to come."

She nodded, and Negan slid out of the truck, Lucille in tow. Would they discuss dumping her, she wondered?

You're too much trouble than you're worth, said that goddamn annoying voice. You shouldn't have made such a big fucking show, just killed yourself quietly in the woods.

"Shut UP. It was your fucking idea!" she hissed. Thank god she was alone in the truck. Being around others was making her acutely aware that she was off her rocker, arguing with a bitter voice inside her.

It was otherwise a quiet night. The moon provided a promise of light, illuminating the road just enough for everything to look sinister and foreboding. But for the first time in a long time, a tiny bubble of hope replaced the constant pit of fear in Lucy's stomach.

The muffled sound of the men talking nearby was like the low purr of an engine to a baby. She curled up in the cab and closed her eyes, floating away into the dreamless sleep of the weary.

/ / / / /

Several miles away, a caravan of military trucks pulled over onto a hill overlooking the maze, overrun by hundreds of walkers. The driver of one of the cars jumped out and ran around the side to open the door. Out came one big, heavy boot, followed by the other. A tall man, solid as a mountain and just as unmovable, clad in an all-black suit and an expensive looking hat, flicked cigar ash as he surveyed the area. His eyes were black, with too much white around them, always menacing and slightly unhinged looking. He took a drag from his cigar and turned to the driver.

"You have confirmed they've left the area?"

The driver swallowed nervously. "According to the scouts, they have. A few men and a woman."

Mister Typhon frowned. "A few is not an exact figure. Get me the figures and where they are headed. Don't kill the woman. If the others fight well, they may be of use, but kill them if you must." He stepped back into the vehicle and rolled the window down. He pointed to the walkers with the butt of his cigar. "You may finish burning the lot of them, disgusting creatures that they are. Once they are taken care of, I want that maze disassembled and brought back to base."

Before the driver could finish his "Yes, SIR!" the window rolled up. The inside of the cab was pitch black, except for the orangish-glow from the cigar. The man gave a heavy sigh familiar to the privileged and highly intelligent, forced to interact with the ill-educated and frankly, stupid, everyday folks.

It's so hard to get good help these days, he thought mournfully.

/ / / / /

AN: Thanks to all the reviewers and new followers! New developments, a more sinister threat now on the horizon... hope you all have had a good holiday season, whatever your beliefs. Feel free to leave a review, let me know your thoughts!

Take care, lovelies!