Chapter 7 – Invasion
"You're plotting," Kurt muttered as he sidled up to Negan, folding his arms. "You plotting when we've established a plan already can't be a good thing."
Negan sighed gruffly.
"Either you don't fully believe that the plan can work or you're considering blindsiding everyone with a stroke of self-proclaimed genius that will either end amazingly or with every one of us blown to pieces."
"You're overthinking this. I'm running contingencies while I have some time to kill. The great thing about having underlings is that you have more time to consider the bigger picture. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be prepping the armoury?"
Kurt grinned. "It's all set. Organised by weapon size and cross-organised by how likely it is that we'll need them. I left the chainsaw at the back of the room; I can't see us needing one of those when they come."
"Just when I start to think you're a badass, you start with the organising."
"Me being well-organised doesn't refute the fact that I can kick some serious ass. It just means everything's tidier when I need to lick my wounds."
Negan quirked a brow. "Please, continue to talk about licking things."
Kurt leaned up, bravely running his tongue over Negan's earlobe, all but feeling the shiver run through the man as he did so. He wondered when the last time Negan had some intense physical contact was. "I felt you might prefer a physical demonstration instead."
"Jesus Kurt, you're making me want to work harder to save your life."
"It wouldn't be the first time that's worked."
"Oh, I'll bet," Negan chuckled. "You'll have to tell me that story sometime." Negan slapped Kurt's ass sharply.
"If I don't get ripped in two after the invasion, I'll tell you anything you want to know."
"I'll hold you to that," Negan grumbled.
"Don't think this deflection means I'm not thinking about whatever crazy scheme you're cooking up."
Negan sighed. "You always have to kill my boner, don't you?"
Kurt shrugged. "Always leave them wanting more."
Rick sighed as the rest of the group struggled to keep up with the exception of Glenn who was at his heels.
It wasn't as though they were unfit or fatigued; Rick knew that nobody was entirely sold on his plan, especially the hurried execution that he had put into motion. Night had fallen, they were headed into unknown waters, he understood their reticence perfectly well. But Rick was nothing if not observant. From what he had gathered, the Walkers would be few and far between from their base to where the Saviours lay, and they had the element of surprise on their side. If even Negan and his people had prepared a defence, it would take them time to organise it and, by that time, Rick would have taken action.
He could almost hear Glenn's brain whirring behind him, wondering how this whole thing was going to turn out, why they were leaving ahead of schedule, what the whole thing was really about.
If Rick started walking just a little bit faster, well he could chalk that up to adrenaline, couldn't he?
In a strange way, Kurt felt like he was waiting behind the curtain for his cue to go on stage. The scene was set, the actors were in place, and Kurt had the all-too-familiar nervous ache in his stomach like he used to get before a performance.
Negan had instructed most of the Saviours to wait behind the trees for the captors to truly experience the confusion of what was happening. They knew about the Sanctuary and what it held, but they didn't know what kind of trap Negan was going to spring for them. Kurt still didn't either. All he had was a gut instinct that something was about to go very, very wrong.
Kurt walked out of the shadows and gaped at what he saw.
He saw all of his former captors, arranged in some sort of twisted semi-circle, kneeling with their heads bowed. Some of the group, Michionne and Daryl, were looking around at the Saviours, rage and fear mixed together in their eyes. Before Kurt could figure out who was missing from the group, Negan walked out of the caravan.
"Well, look at who we have here. I suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Negan, but you already know that don't you? I wish I could take credit for this little piece of theatre in the round, but that's a brainchild from one of my very own. I believe you know Kurt."
Their eyes snapped towards Kurt as Negan pointed at him. Kurt frowned back at the man.
"I can't say it's ineffective because damn you guys are looking pretty helpless right about now."
Negan lofted Lucille above his arm and she came to a rest behind his head, resting on his shoulder. Behind him, Kurt stared warily at the grip on the end of the bat. Negan was gripping it tightly, and Kurt knew that meant nothing but trouble.
"Here's what's going to happen. You are not going to talk." He turned behind him. "That means you guys too. Everyone is going to shut the fuck up and not move an inch. If you talk or move without my permission, well I'll just bring sweet little Lucille here down on your head. Got it?"
Nobody moved or spoke.
"Good," Negan grunted. "Although I have to say, your intrusion here won't go unpunished. What would you do if a group of us decided to storm your base with weapons? You'd kill us, right? Right. So it's only fair that I do the same."
Kurt's heart hammered in his chest as he realised this had all gone much too far. He had gone from being held captive by Rick and his group to escaping to being picked up by the Saviours and now the two were at odds, Kurt ostensibly in the middle of it all. He knew that Rick would blame him for whatever happened, as would the others, something they would probably have every right to do.
It was when Kurt found Glenn that his heart truly sank. He stood deathly still, praying that Glenn wouldn't look in his direction, because he didn't think that he could handle the guilt. Glenn had trusted him, once upon a time, and that was about to be wiped out because of Negan's manipulation.
He didn't know what Negan had to gain from telling them it was Kurt's idea, which it definitely was not. Maybe he thought that Kurt would double-cross him and he wanted to ensure that Rick would refuse him if he tried to leave. Kurt couldn't deny its intelligence. It was collateral to ensure that Kurt would remain loyal to the Saviours for as long as he could. Kurt looked behind the tree-line and absently wondered how far he could get during the impending distraction before one of the Saviours could catch him. He was sure it wasn't smart; he had no supplies, no plan, no place to call shelter.
He took a deep breath and remained present, watching as Negan circled the group like a tiger. Negan twirled Lucille in his hand and whistled tauntingly as he walked across the group, stopping right behind Abraham.
Kurt gaped as Negan swung Lucille above his head, slamming the weapon down atop Abraham's head. He immediately looked to Rosita, whose jaw was clenched in lieu of screaming. He saw Rick bow his head. Glenn averted his eyes. Kurt, weighed down by guilt, could only watch, aghast, as Abraham's brains spilt out of his skull.
Negan went in for the second strike, just to pour salt in the wound, and cracked the skull even more. Abraham's blood spread across the floor and curled around Negan's feet. The man stepped away to avoid the liquid staining his shoes.
Kurt couldn't help but look at Sasha, whose eyes were raining tears like a faucet. Her eyes found him and filled with undiluted rage. Kurt tried his best to look apologetic without actually saying anything, but wasn't sure she had gotten the message. Even if she said, he knew it would be unwelcome.
"Oops. Looks like I made a bit of a mess here with old Red." Negan swung the bat and bits of Abraham's brains and blood flew across the clearing, strewn across Rick's face. Kurt's fists absently clenched as he heard Rosita heave a sob. "I won't lie, though," Negan continued, "that was extremely fun. Kinda makes me want to do it again." His manic eyes found Kurt, curious. "Wanna come and watch this next one, Kurt? See all your hard work in practice?"
Kurt, stoic, walked across the clearing and sidled up to Negan.
"Aren't you just ecstatic seeing your former captors all helpless like this? Got any preferences for who I whack next?"
"No," Kurt muttered, not making eye contact with anyone.
Negan chuckled. "I get it. This is a lot to take in. I guess I'll just pick by myself."
Negan startled whistling again, a jauntier tune this time, truly having gotten into the rhythm of killing.
In the space of a few seconds, Negan stopped in front of Glenn, Kurt looked pointedly at Rick and held three fingers up at his side, wiggling them quickly, and Maggie screamed.
As Negan readied himself, Kurt launched himself across the side, taking advantage of Negan's preoccupation and putting pressure on Negan's wrist, sending Lucille clattering to the floor. Kurt deftly bent down to pick her up, turning his back on their captors. Kurt put his hand up towards Negan.
"No sudden movements. Any of you. Weapons down or your fearless leader ends up as nothing but a pile of guts on the floor."
Negan leaned back and chuckled heartily. "Well, well, well, look at this. Little double agent badass."
Kurt panted heavily. "I'm nobody's agent. This has just gone far enough."
Kurt swore he saw a glimmer of fear creep into Negan's eyes, but he could've been mistaken. Kurt smiled tightly as he felt movement behind him.
Rick came into view in Kurt's peripheral, having snatched a gun from one of the Saviours nearby. Kurt was aware the gun was pointed at his temple, but he couldn't bring himself to be scared. He was more aware of Rosita behind him than the gun being levelled at him.
The remaining Saviours simultaneously turned their weapons on Rick, waiting for a signal from Negan.
"Look like we've got ourselves a standoff," Negan grinned. "Stand down, everyone."
The Saviours dropped their guns.
Rick seethed at Negan. "I'll kill him, Negan."
Negan shrugged. "After that little display, you can do whatever the fuck you want."
Negan took a step forward and Kurt raised Lucille a little higher.
"I said no movements. Or did you not hear me?"
"Oh, I heard you Kurt," Negan spat. "I just decided not to listen. I think if you take a swing, Rick here will shoot you down. Look at him, he doesn't care a lick about you."
Kurt clenched his jaw as Rick put more pressure on his head with the gun.
Negan advanced towards him, smile growing wider with each step until he was close enough to touch. Negan ripped Lucille from his grasp. Negan walked back to his original spot and turned to Kurt.
Kurt's eyes widened slightly, like a creature trapped in a cage. "Please. No more."
Negan tutted. "See, if you'd just asked me rather than acting out, I might have listened."
"No, you wouldn't have."
"You're probably right," Negan chuckled. "What makes you think I should listen to you now? Besides, they captured you and held you prisoner. Don't you want revenge?"
Kurt felt a shiver down his back at how unhinged Negan sounded when he said that last word, ordinarily that would've been enough to spur him into action. Instead, he gestured around them. "Look at us. We've been so fucked up by the end of the world, that we're killing each other now. The Walkers don't need to do anything, we're doing their job for them."
He swallowed heavily and turned to the rest of Rick's group, before turning back to the Saviours. "We've all had something taken from us from all this, the apocalypse. Instead of fighting each other for land and supplies, why not just learn to live together?" He looked at Negan sadly. "I'm tired of always having to fight for my life, and that's not against the Walkers. I've been almost killed more times because of people than I have those fuckers. I think we owe it to those of us who didn't survive this to try to live. We can't do that if we're constantly battling for dominance. Think about it."
Rick's gun clicked. "I'm done talking."
Rick turned the gun at the last second and sent a bullet into Negan's arm, causing him to drop Lucille. "Now!"
In the panic, Kurt was thrown backwards by somebody as the former captives scrambled from the floor to retrieve their weapons.
Rosita launched into action and scooped up Lucille, advancing on Negan with demented rage in her eyes.
Michionne had retrieved her katana and was slashing down Saviours right and left, Daryl covering her with a gun he had stolen.
Glenn and Maggie rushed towards each other, fighting where they could.
Kurt watched the pandemonium around him with a dazed expression as several different groups of fighters paired off against each other.
The last thing Kurt remembered was seeing Negan round on Rosita, arm drenched with blood before he felt a sharp blow to his head and the world crashed into darkness as he hit the floor with a resounding thud.
The second he came to, Kurt knew that he was experiencing some severe deja vu from the last time he had been in this specific place. He remembered the dank smell that lingered in the air, the unfeeling coldness of the metallic bars, the loneliness of his old prison cell that he got the feeling hadn't been used since he vacated it.
Kurt sat up, aware of someone else's presence in the room.
Of course, it would be Rick.
The man was sat at the back of the admittedly small room, leaning his head on the wall behind him. It looked to Kurt like he had been asleep.
"You're awake," Rick muttered, sliding his chair closer to the cell.
Kurt felt the unmistakable throb of pain at the back of his head and realised he couldn't remember exactly what had happened at the Sanctuary. "Did anyone else get hurt?"
Rick sighed. "Sasha has a concussion and Carl's got a broken finger. Carol's taking care of them now."
Kurt shook his head and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry."
Rick chose to say nothing, though Kurt could tell that he wanted to.
"I need you to know…"
Rick clamped his hands around the bars, face pressed against it.
"That wasn't my plan. What happened to Abraham, that wasn't me."
Rick nodded. "I know, Kurt."
"So why am I back in here?"
Rick clenched his jaw. "I put it to a vote. Everyone's still pretty raw about Abraham and said it'd be safer to put you in here again. For now, it's not permanent."
"Who was on my side?"
Rick smiled. "Glenn, Shane, and surprisingly Maggie."
Kurt chuckled lightly. That had been a surprise. "And you?"
"Of course me," Rick said soothingly and slipped a hand through the bars. Kurt grabbed it immediately and squeezed it tight, relishing the feeling of affectionate human contact.
"I missed you every day."
Rick exhaled heavily. "What the hell happened to you?"
"After I…left, I spent a long time trying to pick a direction to go in. I foraged for some food, stole a lot from a small camp not too far from here. I spent a long time just walking until I realised it'd be safer for me to stay where I knew there was water. I set up a little base by a river near the forest. One night a few weeks ago, there was a storm and I was coming back from a supply run. A run-in with a Walker had taken my shirt and I collapsed. When I came to, I heard a truck coming. It was Negan's men. The rest is history."
Rick felt tears well in his eyes at the story, but he shoved them down as he had been doing a lot lately. "I wanted to go after you. But after…how you left, I couldn't without giving us up."
Kurt nodded, not really wanting to remember the circumstances surrounding his escape from Alexandria. "I'm sorry. You know I never would've…"
"I know. The same way I know Negan set you up back there. The same way you know I never would've pulled that trigger."
"The same way I know that I love you. And even though you may not say it, I know that you love me. Why else would you have moved the mission forward?"
Rick gritted his teeth. "I couldn't have you there. I had to come and get you. Did he hurt you?"
Kurt blinked quickly. "Actually, no. It sounds strange to say considering what you saw, but Negan was very accommodating."
"It almost sounds as though you like him," Rick huffed.
Kurt smiled. "Down, boy. I have a certain respect for what Negan has been able to accomplish, but he's far too egomaniacal for my liking. He manipulates and puts on these acts so you feel at ease when you know you really shouldn't be around him."
"Would he want you back there?"
"After what I pulled? Unlikely. So, no, I doubt he's going to bring people here and retaliate just because you took me. Speaking of, do the others expect me to stay in here?"
Rick looked down at his feet. "Kurt…I'm gonna need you to stay in here for a few days. Just while I talk them round."
Kurt held up a hand. "Say no more. As long as I'm properly fed this time, I'm okay. I'm just happy to be back here with you."
"I'll see you as much as I can," Rick whispered. "I think Glenn and Maggie want to take the first watch. I imagine they'll have a lot to say to you."
"I imagine everyone will," Kurt shook his head ruefully. "I don't know how much they'll believe, but I'm going to try to earn their trust. I know it'll be harder for Rosita and Sasha, but I'll try my best."
"They'll come around, Kurt. I know they will."
"How do you know that?"
Rick chuckled. "Have you ever tried being angry with you? I tried when you first showed up here all those months ago. And now look what happened."
"You fell in love with me," Kurt finished for him, knowing that the words wouldn't transpire.
"Exactly," Rick smiled sweetly before standing up. "I'd better get back to everyone. I'll come back later for the night shift."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, must guard the dangerous prisoner."
Rick squeezed Kurt's hand one last time before leaving the room, keeping the door ajar to let a little more natural light in for Kurt.
Kurt smiled at the gesture and sat back down on the floor, thinking that while it seemed he was back at square one, it was a lot better than when he had been imprisoned the first time.
This time, he had Rick, and he was back with him, and that was something that couldn't be undervalued. The fact that it had taken the death of Abraham to achieve it weighed heavily on Kurt's mind and he would ask to speak to both Rosita and Sasha sometime in the next few days.
For now, though, he opted for some long-awaited sleep.