"It's almost noon," Gareth said to his people, waiting among the caravan of Saviors parked a few miles outside Roanoke.

Gina checked her watch. "He'll be here, don't worry. Man's never tardy."

"So, this is where your loyalties lie now?"

She fiddled with the buttons on the watch. "Yep."

"Still, you'd do this for us," Kaylee remarked.

"'Cause we got history," Gina replied. "Which I never forgot. You seemed to have."

Kaylee folded her arms. "I'm making up for that."

"Mm-hm."

Gareth threw a snide look at Kaylee before asking Gina, "Even though I know the answer, I have to ask: if it were between us and this Negan..."

"I'd choose him," Gina answered. "Yeah, I'll come right out and say it. Just how it is now."

"That them?" Albert asked as a sedan arrived up across from the congregation.

Gina nodded. "All y'all stay here." She trekked off to the newly arrived vehicle.

Gareth tapped his fingers on his hips, anticipating the man who Gina chose over him. Though the sea of Saviors oriented to the vehicle and blocked his view.

Cynthia stepped to Gareth's side and he made a point to avoid her continued longing looks. "I don't like these people," she said. "Even though Gina said they have this policy against stuff like rape, I don't like 'em."

"Oh, I don't like them either," Gareth agreed. "They're just a means to an end. We were on a wild goose chase to West Virginia and we would have been S.O.L. if we hadn't come across them."

"Like they'll let us go when we get Theresa and Martin back?" Kaylee contended. "I have a pretty good feeling they won't."

"We already went over—oh wait..." He brought his fingers to his lips. "We didn't. I purposely excluded you from the conversation."

She scowled. "You're a child, you know that? So what did you go over without me? Like, what about Beth and Tyreese?"

Gareth sighed. God, he wished he could get his hands on those two... "Gina said asking for two more just so we can..."

'Have toys to pay with.'

"...would be pushing it. And after we get ours back, I'll say we play on our own, and thank him. Gina's already paying with her 'points,' so if he's as 'reasonable' as she says he is, then that will be enough." He scanned the crowd of distracted Saviors before turning his back to them and lowering his voice. "Then we can look for Naz, kill her, then go back to Sipsey."

"You're just gonna kill her?" Kaylee whispered.

"If we want a future at Sipsey, sort of have to, hm? We already have two blemishes to our name there. Naz will be on our trail looking for her sweetie, so we find her on the way back and waste her. Say she got capped along the way."

"And that'll mark the second time one of theirs just happened to die while we're in the vicinity."

"Twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. And she'd be 'lost on the road,' not just happened to have been killed by a walker outside the fence. Have to admit, Cynthia, I'm amazed they bought that. Especially with how teary you were." Cynthia frowned.

The further he could push her away, the better.

"They'll think we ate her," Albert muttered.

Gareth gave Albert a pat on the back. "Then we'll bring back her uneaten walker. I really did want to give it to Mark though, damn. Gotta do what you gotta do though."

Heavy footsteps began toward him and he quieted.

"Excuse the fuck out of me," a male voice came from behind him. Gareth turned to Gina standing beside a middle-aged man with a graying beard and wearing a leather jacket.

The Saviors had parted in the middle and wore faces of reverence. Even Gina even wore one—something Gareth thought her incapable of.

Gareth donned a smile and inched up on his heels slightly to lessen their height difference. "My apologies, Negan. Gina fill you in?"

"That you're those fucking humanitarians she used to run a butcher shop with? That you have people in Roanoke? Yeah, told me a bunch of shit." He looked Gareth up and down. "You know, you'd be prettier than a few of my fucking wives if you shaved the fur off your face."

Wives? Plural? Not touching that one.

"What does it?" he added. "Virgin flesh give you a radiant glow?"

Cannibal jokes. Naturally.

"No, just genetics," Gareth replied. "And we haven't had to be humanitarians in a long time. So, since you haven't told us to fuck ourselves sideways, I assume—"

"Don't ever 'assume' what I'm going to fucking do. And I want a goddamn introduction first. You're Gareth, I know that. Anyone else want to say hello?" He glanced across the other four hunters.

And now he cares about proper manners, Gareth thought, biting his tongue and suppressing a grumble.

"Yeah, man, I'm—I'm Alex," Alex replied.

Negan stared at him as if scrutinizing his molecular structure. "Mm-hm. You're the one with the little wifey you want back. Right, man?"

Alex's jaw clenched. "Yeah."

Damnit, learn how to hide how nervous you are.

"I'm Cynthia," Cynthia greeted, stepping forward.

Albert gave a wave. "Albert."

"I'm Kaylee."

Negan fake flinched at Kaylee. "Oh, shit, I didn't even see you there until just now. You're fucking miniature."

Gareth held back a laugh, a tad softening his disdain for the man. He could feel Kaylee's burning offense behind him and it felt good.

Negan chuckled. "Alright, thank you for your pleasant introductions. Now as long as Gina here remembers who she's fucking loyal to, we'll have no problems. Pretty damn surprised she'd go so far just for old flames. But then again if they're stuck with those fucking Samaritans? Cheery fucks and their rainbow colors piss me off."

"So why not just mow 'em down and take their shit?" Alex asked. "You got the numbers."

"Because I'm a reasonable guy just like Gina told you. It's an old car salesman thing, those fucks got a deal of a lifetime."

Gareth figured the man might appreciate some fire thrown back. "That's funny. People assumed I was a car salesman before, or a lawyer, or politician. Among other life-sucking leeches of the old world. No offense."

He smiled. "None fucking taken. And all-fucking-right, we'll head out to Woodstock at twelve-forty."


"You still able to walk short distances by yourself?" Theresa asked Martin from his bedside.

"If I gotta, I can," Martin replied, lying on his side with his hands buried under the pillow. "Guess you're not keen on takin' me to the bathroom?"

She gave a weak nod. "We are royally boned."

"Yeah, bad time to get beat."

"They knew if they incapacitated one of us we'd be trapped here. I just wonder who's the group they have to trade with." She moved to the doorway. "Well, I'm going to see what Ebony and Ivory are jabbering about in there."

"Oh, that's a good one. I'd laugh if it didn't cause horrible agony."

She offered a tiny smile. "What about the salt and pepper shaker?"

"You're a comedic genius."

"Then you owe me hysterical laughter once your rib heals." He gave a thumbs up and Theresa exited into the kitchen, spotting the round clock on the wall reading 1:07 PM—just after when the rival group was scheduled to arrive.

"It's one," Theresa announced to Beth and Tyreese at the kitchen table. "They ought to be here by now. So, what are you—" A knock on the door interrupted her.

The three exchanged worried glances before Theresa crossed into the front room and answered it.

Their two male guards stood shoulder-to-shoulder, semi-automatics slung over their backs. "I'm sorry to inform you that you've been requested," the older one on the right said.

Her heart dropped. "What?"

Beth and Tyreese came around. "Why now?" Beth asked.

"The rival group," the guard on the left started, "they—"

Theresa breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, you don't mean a beating?"

He chuckled. "No, no. The group appeared beside your friends. If I can recall the names, let's see, Gareth, Alex—"

"Alex?" Her eyes widened. "He's—they're here?"

"Yes, along with Cynthia, Albert, Hayley, and Gina. They're requesting you and Martin along with our trade. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to oblige."

"It's Kaylee," Theresa corrected. "And how do I know this isn't some mind re-molding trick?"

"Well, you were never kind enough to tell us your friends' names."

She whirled around. "Martin, get out here! Now!"

"What about us?" Tyreese asked.

"You weren't mentioned," the younger escort replied.

Theresa did a double take. "Wait, did you say Gina?" she asked the men.

"Yes?"

She figured it was a misunderstanding. "You mean that was the name of their negotiator or—"

"What?" Martin interrupted as he slogged up from the hall. "What the hell is it?"

"Gareth's apparently with their trading buddies," Theresa replied. "They're asking for us back."

Martin scoffed. "Sure."

"They knew their names."

He squinted. "And why would your pals be with ours?"

She looked back to the guards. "Yeah, why?"

"Gina said she offered her points to get you back," the older guard replied. "I assumed she knew you."

"Gina?" Martin asked.

"Yes. They're waiting right now."

"Wait, Gina? Did she sound like she was from Louisiana or...?"

"Sounded like it. Now please, come along, we have no choice but to hand you over and they're waiting."

Martin simpered at Tyreese and Beth. "Looks like you're on your own, salt and pepper."

Beth scratched the back of her neck. "Good luck, guys."

Tyreese clenched his one fist. "We said we'd get out together."

"They're not giving us a choice," Theresa replied with a shrug. "Sorry."

Almost in-sync with one another, the two guards took their weapons in hand and gestured outside. Theresa and Martin followed behind the two as they started off. Beth and Tyreese's stare burned into their backs with every step.

"I don't need to be held," Martin huffed as he refused Theresa's physical support.

Theresa gave a closed-mouth sigh in return as she noticed the dead quiet of the town. No one on the streets, no upbeat music playing out of a garage, no activity at all.

They're terrified of these people.

The four reached the front gate that led to the outskirts of town and edge of their stronghold. Several long-faced Samaritans stood peering out by the fence. Once outside, Theresa scanned the considerable crowd of armed people for her own. She spotted them toward the forefront of the convoy, Gareth standing before Alex, Cynthia, Albert, and Kaylee. Yet no sign of the fabled Gina.

Theresa smiled and stepped forward. "Al—"

"Shhh!" her guard silenced her. "No talking at this part. Stay still."

Her eyes locked with Alex's and his face filled with relief. For a moment, she felt everything was okay.

"I assume these are the two you wanted?" the man she assumed was their 'fearsome' leader shouted, clad in a leather jacket and domineering posture. He stood beside several others rummaging through crates and a nerve-wracked Mark.

"That's them," Gareth confirmed before narrowing his eyes at Martin. "Wait, what's wrong with him?" The Samaritans were quiet.

"Hey!" their leader shouted. "What the fuck is wrong with the guy? Looks like he's about to keel over."

Mark folded his hands in front of him. "He—he had to undergo a treatment."

"Oh, you did the thing where you beat his ass for a few hours to make him all rainbows and sunshine, huh?"

"It was necessary."

"Excuse me?" Gareth asked, raising his eyebrows. "Oh, now I'm in a bad mood. You bring me back one of mine damaged?"

"This is piss poor," a balding man announced from one of the crates. "No way this is half of their harvest with all the rain this spring."

Sure isn't.

Mark looked to the 'fearsome' leader and raised his hands. "Negan, I can explain."

Weird name.

Negan chuckled. "You stupid motherfucker. After last time, you're still trying to pull this shit?"

Theresa noticed the reflection in a nearby car's window of someone in a tree behind her with the glint of a rifle pointed outward. From what she judged, it was aimed at Negan. The sniper's finger flexed on the trigger as Negan appeared to be close to going homicidal on Mark. And Theresa wasn't about to prevent that.

She licked a dry tongue across her lips and yelled, "Negan! Sniper in the tree above me!"

Negan averted his attention to the oak behind her before skirting aside as a bullet hit the crate next to him. Those armed in his group drew their weapons and Theresa saw the sniper's reflection retreat.

He boasted unamused laughter. "You stupid, stupid, stupid motherfuckers. I have been more than patient with you assholes. And now? You give me shit as a harvest and try to fucking take me out? You want our protection or not? Huh? How do you think you fucking pussies haven't been raided and torn apart yet? It's because of my kindness."

Mark shook his head and gestured to the sniper's tree. "N—no, no, I didn't order that!"

"I think it's time you say hi to Lucille."

The color drained from Mark's face and his mouth gaped open. Cries of dissent erupted from the community's fences.

"What about Lucy?" Gareth chimed in with a smirk. "Shouldn't he see his daughter one last time?"

Yes! They discovered who the real enemy was at Sipsey and took her out.

"You have her?" Mark asked with hope in his eyes.

"That would be poetic," Negan replied. "Mauled by your own dead daughter."

"No," he mouthed. "She's not a—I don't believe you!"

"You should, saw the ugly skank myself. But no, no, that'd take too long and I'm not in the mood for more of your fucking blubbering. Lucille's been itching for action lately." He held a hand out. "And she had dibs."

Theresa was dying to know who Lucille was and why she would do the killing. A man moved through the crowd carrying a barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, revealing Lucille as an it.

"Oh, shit," Martin muttered.

The Samaritans pleaded for him to show mercy.

"I told you if you crossed me again, bossman gets it!" Negan yelled at the crowd and took Lucille in his hands. "And I'm a man of my fucking word."

Theresa leaned forward, holding her breath as she recalled the bats the butchers used at Terminus. Negan's intention clearly wasn't to knock Mark out before his demise.

"Kneel."

Mark complied and sniffled.

Gareth stood wearing a face of disappointment which threw Theresa for a loop before figuring he wanted to show off a dead Lucy to daddy.

Whines like a bitch when he doesn't get what he wants.

The rest of her people looked on the edge of their seats. Theresa hoped Alex would return her gaze for reassurance, but stayed focused on the two leaders. Then at last, she spotted Gina standing to the side of her former group—and by god it was the Gina she knew at Terminus.

Oh my god...

But seeing ghosts would have to wait.

"I don't care if she's turned," Mark uttered, fists balled. "I want to see Lucy one last time."

Negan looked Lucille across. "One question before we begin, is, I mean was, your brat's full name Lucille?" Mark gave a nod. "Oh, this is too fucking good. Looks you'll have to say your goodbyes to this Lucille." He raised the bat above his head.

The Samaritans protests were deafening as Negan brought the bat down on Mark's head, sending an all too familiar crack through the area. Theresa spent little time on the killing floor at Terminus, but the sounds of skulls cracking were tattooed on her brain.

Both guards next to her and Martin were crying out and the one next to her's grip loosened around his rifle. Theresa contemplated grabbing it from him.

"Why aren't you fucking smiling Mark!?" Negan exclaimed. "Beat out the hate! Come on, love me!" He brought Lucille down again and Mark collapsed onto his hands and knees. "Oh, I'm sorry, I meant why aren't you 'fudging' smiling. Didn't mean to offend with my unconstructive nasty words."

The man was a maniac. A pit formed in Theresa's gut at what he might do to her and her people, but the corners of her mouth twitched up as he continued his assault and mocked the Samaritans' values. She had hoped to pour bleach down Mark's throat herself, but Negan's way worked just fine.

Her eyes flitted between the gruesome sight and the distraught Samaritan next to her, waiting for the moment to steal his gun. At the end of Negan's rampage, Mark's head was reduced bloody heap on the ground. Negan casually flicked brain and blood matter from Lucille.

Jesus...

The trembling Samaritan next to Martin fired his weapon and missed considerably, hitting one of Negan's men in the calf instead.

Martin struck him in the jaw and snatched the rifle away before firing a round into the guard's skull. "Duck!" he shouted at Theresa and she complied before Martin unloaded into the opposite guard's neck.

Theresa retrieved his own rifle before he even reached the ground. Her ears rung from the shots and more erupted from both sides, but most Samaritans were fleeing back inside their compound.

Spoiled and pampered.

"Do you see ours?" Theresa asked Martin as they darted behind the base of the sniper's former tree.

"No, but I got somethin' to do first," he replied. "We're both the proud owners of AR-15's. Better make good use of 'em." He shuffled off toward the gate.

"Where are you going!?"

"Somethin' I gotta finish!"

"You're going to get yourself killed! Martin!"

She made a split second decision to go after him. Alex and the rest were able-bodied—Martin needed her help.

"Tess!" Alex's called as he came out of the crowd alongside Gareth and Cynthia.

She halted upon seeing him and forced away her desire to fall into his arms. "Alex... M—Martin went off to—"

Cynthia beamed. "Hey! Theres—"

"You two go cover him," Gareth ordered, nodding to Theresa and Alex. "We need to find Albert."

Theresa and Alex obeyed and sped into the Samaritan's complex. "Who are those people!?" she asked through her quick breaths.

"We met 'em on the road," Alex responded. "They're called The Saviors and Gina's alive and with 'em. She vouched to get y'all back."

Before Theresa could reply, Sarah sprung out from behind a neon yellow shed and shoved Theresa to the ground. Her firearm clattered to the pavement.

"You bitch!" Sarah screamed and punched Theresa in the face, sending a sharp sting throughout her cheek. "You ruined everything!"

Theresa growled and drove her fist into Sarah's neck, causing her to gasp. "Oh, get fucked!"

"Hey!" Alex heaved Sarah off his wife, pressed his revolver against her assailant's temple and fired. A warm spray of blood moistened the side of Theresa's face as Sarah collapsed. "Sorry," he said as Theresa wiped her face on her bare wrist and stood up. "Where's uh, where's Martin going?"

She retrieved her rifle and shook off the pain. "To find the bastards who beat him. There were four. I doubt he's heading anywhere specific, just looking. Come on." She took off again and Alex kept up beside her.

"What happened to Beth and Tyreese?"

"Either back in the house they gave us or making a run for it."

"Gareth wanted—"

"To hell what Gareth wants."

They turned a corner and trampled over a bright green lawn to find Martin by its garage standing before a man's body.

"Martin!" Theresa called as she and Alex caught up to him.

"Man, we gotta go!" Alex exclaimed, glancing at the dead man lying in a pool of his own blood leaking from a hole in his neck.

Martin struggled through breaths and shook his head. "There's still three more."

"Yeah, I know," Theresa said. "But you're injured and we're at risk out—"

"Seriously!? These people are god damned cowards, hidin' in their houses. Like shootin' fish in a barrel."

"Their lives are ruined, their cult leader's dead. This place is too big to go looking in every house and we finally have a way out."

He looked at her for a second with misty eyes. "You said—"

"I know what I said, but we can't be stupid. I'm sorry I have to ask you to leave them alive, but think here."

He gulped and stared down at the man's body. "You owe me four now."

"I owe you four. Now come on."

Martin dragged his feet behind them as they hurried back to the gate without a Samaritan in sight. The Saviors appeared to have taken hits to two of their own, but no apparent fatalities.

Negan had remained by Mark's maimed corpse. "Anyone else!?" he bellowed. "You all just going to hide in your houses like little piggies? Fucking disgraceful. I've met some fucking cowards in my day, but you take the cake!"

Theresa searched the crowd for any of her own as Alex helped Martin remain steady. She spotted Kaylee jogging toward her from the sniper's tree when a shot rang and punctured the side of her waist.

Kaylee fell face first on the pavement to reveal Joseph standing several yards behind her holding a small pistol. He dropped the gun and held his arms out. "Do it! Kill me! My family's gone, not like I have nothing left!"

Theresa raised her semi-automatic and aimed for his neck instead of the head to doom him to walkerdom. Her finger pulled the trigger and the recoil made her balance falter. Joseph went down and Theresa breathed a small sigh of satisfaction before rushing to Kaylee's side. "Kaylee? Hey, Kaylee?"

The injured girl let out a groan against the concrete. Alex bolted to their side, rolled Kaylee on her side, and put pressure on her bleeding wound.

No, no, no...

Kaylee couldn't die. Not after everything. Despite what she did, all Theresa saw was the lonely, sad girl she held in her arms the night she found her contemplating suicide.

She didn't die then and she wouldn't die now.

"Oh... help her!" Theresa jumped to her feet and looked to the crowd of Saviors. "She's still alive! We have to get her... Those supplies! Are there any medical?" She started toward the supply carts but Negan blocked her way.

"And why the fuck would I share with her?" he asked, staring her down. "Gina gave her points to get you two out, not to save the miniature girl."

Theresa squared her shoulders, forcing her vision away from the dreadful sight of Mark's body mere feet away. "I'm the one who saved your life over there. That sniper was aiming for you and you know it. Please."

She knew the ridiculousness of the situation—begging a man who just merrily bashed in another's head to save a stranger.

He took a moment, another moment while Kaylee bled out. "You're not the boss of the group, peach. Won't twig boy be mad?"

"He didn't save you a bullet in the brain. Just please help her."

He groaned a sigh. "Since I'm feeling like fucking Santa Claus today..." He gestured to Kaylee. "Steph! Take a look at that one." A tall brunette woman ran to Kaylee's side.

"And Martin," Theresa added.

Negan scoffed and raised his eyebrows. "Don't ask for much, huh?"

Theresa stood her ground despite every fiber of her being screaming at her to flee to safety.

Gareth appeared and grabbed her by the arm. "We don't want her saved!"


A/N: So here goes my take on Negan and inclusion of the Saviors (!). I'm using comic knowledge to fill in the blanks of what's not been revealed on the show. So when S7 premieres it may be rendered null, but this whole fic is way outside canon so I do what I want. The basic storylines (including future ones) of those outside the Terminants are roughly the same as canon, with the alterations that you know of. Obviously, this all takes place pre-any contact between Rick's group and the Saviors.

And no no, Rick's group will still not be making an appearance other than perhaps a mention later on. Or maybe one character appearance? Don't know yet.