"No! Let me go! Negan! Negan, help! Don't let them take me away! NEGAN!"
Negan woke up with a major headache. He reached around; no Lucille. He saw everyone else vomiting and yelling and arguing. Duck was in a panic over something. On further inspection, Negan realized Katjaa wasn't with them. He rubbed his head and slowly stood up. Everyone was so panicked they barely noticed he was there. Trying to orientate himself, Negan looked around, taking in his new surroundings. One of the first things he realized was the absence of a certain little girl who wears a baseball cap.
"Where is she?"
No one answered. They were too busy whining and carrying on about their situation and how they'd get out.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE!?"
"Holy shit." Carley was the first to speak. "They... they took her, Negan."
"Those cannibals have Katjaa and Clementine." Doug continued nervously. "They said something about using her as a bargaining chip."
"Those fucking bastards. When I get out of here they're all fucking dead. They better not... FUCK! Where the fuck are we!?"
"We're in a meat locker, Negan," Carley stated. "A meat locker. You know, where people put meat. For eating."
"Shit. We have to get out of here. If they fucking hurt her I swear to God..."
"There's no way out. I-I tried already." An unfamiliar voice piped in from a corner of the meat locker. No one had even noticed the kid until now, and now all eyes were on him. The boy was young, at least 16-17. He had on some sort of school jacket. The name Ben was printed on the collar.
"Who the fuck are you?" Negan demanded, not in the mood for pleasantries.
"I-I'm Ben... Ben Paul." The boy responded nervously. He only just met him, and Negan already scared the shit out of him.
"Ben. How did you end up in here?" Carley asked, trying to calm the boy. They were all stuck in the same boat, no point scaring the new kid when him being here wasn't his fault.
"We were at the playoffs when ... all this started. Eventually, it was just me, Travis, and the band director Mr. Parker... just, I don't know, trying to stay alive. A group of guys in masks raided our camp yesterday." Ben explained as best he could in his shaken state. "We barely escaped. That's when Mr. Parker stepped in a bear trap."
"A bear trap?" Doug echoed.
"Yeah. We didn't know it at the time but..." Ben shook his head. "God..."
"So, what happened?" Negan asked, curious where this was heading.
"These farmers, Andy and Danny showed up... they... they freed Mr. Parker and convinced us to trust them. Then at dinner time..."
"You discovered you were eating your band director?" Negan growled in disgust. Ben nodded and crossed his arms, shuddering involuntarily.
"I threw up... and next thing I knew, I was locked in here for... I don't even know how long." Ben confirmed with a sick tone to his cracked voice.
"So..." Carley looked around and folded her arms. "Where's your friend Travis?"
Ben shook his head and shrugged, staring at the floor. Negan had heard enough. These sick bastards had killed and eaten multiple people as well as traded with bandits. He sure as hell wasn't about to allow Clementine to be used in trade, dead or alive. She was his, and he'd protect her at any and all costs. He found her, he saved her, and she was his responsibility. Clementine and Lucille were all Negan had left that meant anything to him. He was a broken man that lost it all. He'd sure as hell not lose her.
"We need to get out of here. Fuck! Everyone, look around. There has to be a way out of here!" Negan ordered. On that, everyone began to search the meat locker for a way out.
Clementine and Katjaa were scared. They needed Katjaa to take care of Maybelle. But Clementine had no idea what they wanted her for. She was trembling in Katjaa's arms as the Belgian woman tried to comfort her. Danny was keeping watch over the locked barn where the rest of the group were imprisoned, while Andy kept watch of the girls. Clementine told Katjaa she was scared, to which Katjaa promised everything would be okay.
"What's going to happen to us?" Clem asked, her voice trembling.
"Nothing, Clementine. Don't worry. They need me alive and you are just a little girl..."
"They're here, Andy." Brenda had returned. "They want the girl."
"Alright, Mama." Andy grabbed Clementine by her arm roughly. She screamed and Katjaa held on begging him not to take the little girl. "Let go, woman!"
"Katjaa, Katjaa help!" Clementine cried as Andy dragged her outside. There they were met by five masked bandits with guns. Andy offered her to the leader. "Here ya go. We'll have meat soon for our next deal, but right now this all we got."
The man grabbed Clementine and looked down at her. She trembled as she looked up at him. "She'll do. You best be good on your promise, Andy. We'll be back."
"No, no! I don't want to go with them!" Clem squealed. As she resisted, they picked up the child and carried her back to their camp kicking and struggling in terror.
Back in the meat locker, Ben found the AC duct. Unfortunately, their next problem was removing it. Everyone emptied their pockets searching for coins or anything that'd fit in the screws. Ben pulled out a quarter he found a while back, shortly after the apocalypse started. Negan snatched the quarter from the teen's grasp and proceeded to unscrew the AC unit. Once the screws were loose, Negan and Doug carefully removed the AC unit only to discover the duct was too small for any of them to fit through.
"Shit. We have to get to Clementine. Who knows what those sick fucks are doing to her right now." Negan growled, fists clenched in frustration.
"I might be able to fit." Duck piped in. He was a little taller than Clementine, but he was still just a kid himself. Negan looked at the boy, sized him up. If he could do this, he'd prove his worth to the group. All in agreement of Duck being their best, and only, option Doug and Ben lifted the kid up into the tiny space.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Carley asked.
"I just want to get back to my parents. And save Clementine. She's my friend." Duck admitted. With that, he crawled through the duct. The entire group prayed he didn't get caught or stuck on the way through. All was quiet aside from the movement overhead. Finally, they heard a click and Duck emerged through the now open door. The boy was pale as a ghost as if he saw something no kid should ever see.
"Are you okay? Were you seen?" Doug asked nervously.
Duck shook his head. "No. But..."
"But what?" Carley questioned.
The boy shakily stepped aside. As the group exited the meat locker they realized they were on the other side of that locked door in the barn. And what they saw made them throw up any remaining contents of their stomach. Some went into dry heaves. Blades, tools, body parts in jars, blood from wall to wall, ceiling to floor. Over in the far corner was a bathtub full of blood. Above it was a dead body hung from a noose. Its arms and legs were gone, and it was barely recognizable as a teenage boy. He had on the same jacket as Ben.
"Oh my God."
"Holy fucking shit."
"TRAVIS!?"
