[Chapter 12] The Rhyme

The Saviors were the ones causing mayhem in and around the city, making sure survivors were terrified by the new group. Filip Telford, the vice president of the club, and Jackson Teller were having a conversation about what happened to them in the city when they met the savages for the first time.

'They call themselves the Saviors?' Jackson asked unsure about the name. They killed one of the club members. He wasn't sure if that meant being a savior or a savage.

'It's what they to us said when they introduced themselves before they shot Kip. I'm just as shocked as you are, Jackie-boy.' Filip, usually called Chibs following his nickname, said with a strong Scottish accent. His nickname originated from the scars in his face. Chib is Scottish slang for a knife or stabbing tool, which were used to give him the deep cuts on his cheeks. It happened long before the outbreak.

'Anyone who explained what they are doing before they decided to shoot him?' Jackson asked.

'Their leader spoke of us having to relinquish half of what we have and give it to them. In exchange they would protect us from the living and the dead. Kip tried to act tough, resulting in… the wounds in his chest. We have to get even. Take revenge for Kip.' Filip almost forced Jackson to take action. The president had already thought about retaliation. It was one of the many rules the club followed. If a member got killed, they killed the killer. But not just by shooting them. They would use a terrible way to do so. A way they saw fit for their actions.

'Clear the chapel!' Jackson said with a loud voice as he re-entered the room where the lifeless body of Kip was still lying on the table. ', We need to discuss how we answer the crime done against the club.'

Everyone who wasn't a full patched member of the club was pushed out of the room. The body of Kip was put in a body bag they had still lying around from their days as outlaws. The door was closed with a loud bang, scaring some people.

'Something is bothering you. Tell me what it is.' Addison said when she crossed eyes with Mason, who was standing with his back against the wall, arms crossed over each other.

'The Saviors, he said.' Mason pointed at the oaken door. ', I have heard that name before, but I don't know where.'

'Probably just a déjà vu of some sort. Come. Time to get some sleep. It's been a long time since I've seen you having a proper night with your eyes closed.' Addison said, taking his hand and trying to pull him with her, but he didn't move from his spot.

'I'm not tired. Besides, I have to keep an eye on that old bastard to make sure he doesn't hurt you again.' Mason winked, talking about Clay. Addison shrugged and walked to the sleeping bag that was given to her, lying down next to Thomas who was already asleep for an hour. Finn was having a rough discussion with Linda. She wasn't going to let the club murder other people, since it was her duty to keep the civilians safe, but he explained to her that it was not the way the world worked anymore. She had to let the idea of safety and helping people go in order to protect herself. It was the first time Mason saw Finn outside his comfort zone, telling his stupid riddles with the everlasting grin on his face. He looked determined to convince Linda. An hour after the oaken door closed, it was opened again. Jackson had a stern look on his face when he walked up to his girlfriend, explaining what was going to happen. The atmosphere in the room was tense. Mason walked up to Jackson, looking him in the eyes.

'Can I join your cause? There's something I need to figure out.' Mason said, but Jackson shook his head.

'I appreciate your eagerness to help, but this is a matter for the club to handle. Sorry.' Jackson said, but Mason didn't let him get away with it that easily. He put his hand against his chest, stopping him from leaving the room. Opie pulled his gun and pointed it at the boy. Jackson waved the aggressive action of his friend away, not wanting to shed any blood within their own group of survivors.

'Put the gun down, Ope.' Jackson said. ', What is it you have to figure out?' Jackson asked Mason.

'They call themselves the Saviors. It's a name I've heard before. Somewhere. I have to know its origin. I believe that, when I know the name, I can help you stopping them.' Mason said. He knew he wasn't as courageous as he sounded, but the name of the unknown group of survivors kept spinning through his head, tearing on his concentration.

'Get your guns. We leave in thirty minutes.' Jackson said, eventually accepting Mason's offer to come with them. Mason immediately cheered up, ready to close his questioning. Addison was almost sleeping when she heard her friend talking to the president of the club. She got back up with a jump and ran towards him.

'Are you insane?' she asked him, slapping him in the face.

'What the… why do you think that?' he asked. The slap was really hard, leaving a red handprint on his left cheek.

'You're willing to risk your life to find out who the Saviors are? Isn't that dead man information enough for you to know who they are? They're murderers!' Addison said. She wasn't going to let Mason leave without a struggle.

'Trust me, I'll come back in one piece. Alive.'

'The same way Mack was going to come back? Alive?' Addison asked, tears popping up in her eyes. Mason felt like she was accusing him. And even though he always blamed himself for the death of her boyfriend, he still felt offended by her.

Mason didn't respond to what she said, pushed her away and walked through the door of the clubhouse. He got his Glock 30 back at the entrance of the compound and was given a MP5K for if a calm situation turned into a madness of heavy gunfire.

'Jump on the back.' Filip said to Mason the moment the gate was opened. Mason got on the back of Telford's Harley Davidson Dyna Street Bob motorcycle. The roaring bikes disappeared into the shadows of the night. They went back to the same place they met the Saviors the first time.

The Sons of Anarchy were busy raiding a house when a group of five men found them and introduced themselves as the Saviors. The club was with three members on the streets that time. Now they were fully equipped for a good fight, if necessary. Before they left, Thomas was woken up by Addison to try to stop Mason from going, but he knew it was futile and turned around to fall back asleep immediately. Addison felt left alone by both men.

'This is were it happened?' Jackson asked. Filip confirmed his question, pointing out the dried up blood on the wall.

'That's where Kip got shot.' Filip said.

There was nothing of interest in the house, but the group stayed close to the area. Ready for a confrontation at the first meeting location. Three hours of roaming around the house in a radius of five hundred meters went by without any luck.

'There's nothing. Let's head home, find another way to get to them.' Filip suggested. Everyone but Jackson agreed. The president was the only one who wanted to keep looking for the Saviors and get their revenge.

'You want to let this go unanswered?'

'No one said we're going to let this as it is. We head home, think of another plan to get to them and then we strike. Hard.' Filip said. A loud bang, reaching them from far away took their notice. Racing to the streets, they headed home, passing through a herd of walkers on the way. A terrifying scene was playing out when they got back to the Teller-Morrow garage.

The gate was blown open with some heavy explosives and the garage was burning in a bright fire which was drawing a lot of attention from outside. Mason saw Addison and Thomas being drawn out of the clubhouse with brute force through the thick smoke.

'Turn around. They haven't seen us yet.' Jackson said to the others, but they had actually been seen way before he wanted to turn. The people responsible for the explosion, the fire and frightening the people present in the clubhouse, had put out some scouts around the compound, keeping contact with the main operation at all times. They were forced towards Teller-Morrow by accurate gunshots, hitting their bikes and the spots around their tires.

The bikers parked their motorcycles, handed over the guns and knives and were forced on their knees next to the others while being locked in the sights of armed men. Jackson looked at his girlfriend who was barely moving, scared as she was. She wasn't the only one with fear in her eyes. Mason looked around, trying to find the answer for his questions, but still couldn't place where he heard about the Saviors before. A few more people were pulled out of the clubhouse, when a well-known person appeared in the light of fire.

'Good to see you're still alive for the big moment.' Barbie said with a satisfied look on his even more scarred face. Two fresh cuts crossed the right side of his war-shaped face. He was sure his companions would've died in the alley, trapped between two thick walls of walkers closing them in. But he wasn't disappointed that he was wrong about that. In fact, he was happy his friends were able to have first row tickets for the main show.

'Son of a bitch.' Mason hissed through his teeth.

'What do you want from us?' Jackson asked, not impressed by Barbie.

'Half of your things. We've made that clear earlier, right? Where's the boy anyways?' Barbie sadistically smiled.

'You killed him.' Filip said, biting his tongue to keep his rage inside him. If there weren't any guns pointing at him, he would've attacked Barbie.

'I'm sorry to hear that. He looked like he could be a good asset to our team.' he said, attempting to lure someone into attacking him to make for an ever better show. But no one took the bait.

'Back to business. Since you haven't voluntarily given up on half of what you have, we're going to take everything you have. We return every week for half of what you've obtained that week and we're going to take one of you with us. Just to make sure you hold onto your part of the deal.' Barbie laughed.

Mason jumped up from his spot and threw himself on Barbie and was able to fire two punches at his head before he was pulled off and thrown back into line. Mason was reckless, not thinking about the consequences of his actions. Barbie's calm, sadistic way of handling the situation was gone. He was angry and pulled out his gun.

'You don't get it, do you? You people are not in charge here anymore. And I will have to kill someone to make sure you get it.' he said.

'Stop. This is not how we do things.' another familiar voice said. Mason's eyes grew wider and his face turned into a white mess. The voice scared the shit out of him, remembering what that certain voice once said to him.

'Holy shit. You're still breathing? Who would've thought you were still fucking around these days!' Negan said, looking at Mason with a sick grin. He looked a lot scarier than the first time they met. He was wearing a leather jacket on top of a pair of black cargo trousers with heavy, leather boots. The thing that scared Mason the most, besides the promise of being killed by Negan, was the baseball bat. And Mason immediately remembered where he heard about the Saviors for the first time. Negan was called a savior by Lucille during diner, but in another context. She believed Negan was going to help everyone there was to help. He did, using another approach in doing so.

'Do you remember the promise I made you?' Negan asked, getting really close to Mason.

'Do what you have to do, but keep them out of it.' Mason said, acting tougher than he was.

'Killing someone who wants to die is way too easy. No, I think we have to kill someone who's not willing to die.' Negan smiled. ', I just don't know who to pick.'

Negan pointed out a few options. Mason was left in line, but the fear was getting bigger and bigger. Addison and Thomas were aggressively pulled to the new line. Finn was pulled in there as well, together with some family members of the Sons of Anarchy.

'I have an idea.' he said and he pointed his baseball bat at Addison, who was first in line. She wasn't able to see anything through her tears.

'Eeny…' Negan began.

'Meeny…' Negan spoke the word while moving the bat towards the face of Thomas. Everyone started to realize how he was going to pick his victim.

'Miney…' Tara, Jackson's girlfriend, was the third person in line. Jackson held his breath as he saw the bat getting close to her face.

'Moe…' Negan was amusing himself with the terrified looks of the helpless people in front of him. He knew that he already convinced them to follow his plan, but was going on with his evil ritual anyways.

'Catch…' Clay looked at Negan, not scared at all, ready to attack the man before the bat swung down on his head. He wasn't going to let Negan take him out without resistance.

'A tiger…'

'By the toe…'

'If he…'

'Hollers…' Negan walked back to the first person in line. Addison was crying loudly at this point. Thomas tried to comfort her, but was kicked on the spine by one of Negan's men. It was everyone for themselves during the ritual.

'Let him go…'

'My mother…' Negan spoke the two words coincidentally at the same exact moment he turned towards Jackson's mother, Clay's wife, Gemma.

'Told me…'

'To pick…'

'The very…' No one had the guts to interfere Negan, afraid they would be the ones he'd pick to execute on the spot. People closed their eyes as they felt the rhyme was coming to an end.

'Best…'

'One…'

'And you…'

'Are…'

'It…' Negan finished his rhyme.

'You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry. Hell. You're all going to be doing that.' Negan said. He put on a final, big smile and swung his bat down.

First there was a millisecond of silence, followed by the spine shivering sound of a skull cracking under the power enforced with the bat. The last sound heard before Negan continued his welcoming message, was the sound of crying and screaming. Negan had convinced them of being a dangerous threat. He didn't have to kill someone, but the death of his wife changed him into the psychopath that did it anyways.

…

I know, I know, I've stolen the famous Negan scene. But I just had to. I couldn't give the man another introduction than what he has in the comics and series. :)

Another thing: I know the Teller-Morrow garage (and the Sons of Anarchy in general) is originally based in California. But I really wanted to introduce them to the story, so I changed that part a little. ;)