The Wolf You Feed
Chapter 71
The searing pain in his eye had dulled to a low steady throb. But it was still there, making it harder for him to think clearly. Carl felt like he was being ripped in half as he tried to make a decision. He glanced behind him into the woods beyond the Hilltop. His desire to start his search for Enid was pulling him in that direction. Even though he knew that finding her would be like looking for one particular fish in the entire sea. He told himself that he knew her well enough to predict her actions. Where she might have gone. What she might be doing. But the practical side of him knew that the chances of him finding her were still slim.
In front of him was the Saviors cargo truck. Carl had been watching them for long enough to know that he would be able to get inside the truck without being spotted. He could ride in the back of it all the way to their compound. Knowing where their base of operations was would be invaluable to his people. Carl knew his father. The man might be playing nice with the Saviors for now. But that wouldn't last long. They would eventually have to go to war with them. And the information Carl could gain by hiding in their truck could be the thing that tipped the scales in their favor. But if he hid inside the truck, that meant he couldn't look for Enid.
Carl took one more lingering look behind him. Then he darted forward. He climbed silently into the truck, ducking behind a stack of wooden crates. Carl wasn't sure how long he stayed behind the crates. The throbbing in his eye intensified. He had a small bag of pills for the pain hidden in his pocket. He broke one of them in half and swallowed it dry. Carl knew from taking it before that the pills would make him tired. And he wanted his focus to be as sharp as possible. It felt like an eternity before the truck finally started moving. The sound of the engine firing up was like music to his ears.
Carl had been lying in the same position for hours. He pulled himself to his feet and began to stretch out his cramped body.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Carl backed into the side of the truck, whipping his head towards the unexpected voice. Then he began to laugh. Jesus was in the truck with him. It seemed the other man had the same idea as Carl.
"I want to know where their base camp is," Carl admitted.
Jesus smiled and nodded his head. Then he turned and went back to digging through the boxes and crates that filled the back of the truck. Carl decided to follow the other man's example. He hit the jackpot on the first crate he pried open. The wooden box was full of guns. And not some little handguns or hunting rifles. These were serious guns. The kind that you could use to shoot down a whole herd of walkers. Or a whole group of Saviors. Carl went through a few more boxes. But his mind kept wandering back to the guns.
When it was obvious that they were getting close to the Saviors compound, Jesus jumped out of the back of the truck. Carl moved forward behind the man, pretending like he was going to jump off after him. But instead of jumping he stayed in the truck. He stared at the look of shock on Jesus's face until they turned the corner and the man was out of sight. Then he reached for a big gun.
Carl had assigned himself one job. Only one. To kill Negan. And he couldn't get it done. He slipped coming out of the truck and only managed to fire off a few found before he was caught. A man with a badly scarred face snatched his gun away from him and held a gun to his head. Carl was sure he was going to die. He thought about the people that he loved, their faces swirling together in his mind.
"Wendigo!"
To Carl it seemed as if the man appeared out of thin air. Grey Wolf was unarmed. He was filthy. His long hair hung from his head in matted tangles. And the man didn't even have shoes on. Yet he didn't seem worried about these insignificant facts as he plowed into the man that was holding the gun on Carl and knocked him to the ground. Carl scrambled for the gun the man had dropped, but Negan's soldiers were faster. He and Grey Wolf ended up on the ground next to each other with lots and lots of guns pointed at them.
"Oh hell no! I am not putting up with any more of this shit!"
Carl looked for the sound of the voice. He had not seen Negan in person. So he only had Aaron's description to go by. This man was tall. He was wearing a leather jacket. And he was clearly in charge. So Carl could only assume that he was finally getting his first look at the real live boogeyman.
"Friend of yours?," Negan asked, gesturing towards Carl.
Since Grey Wolf had just attacked one of Negan's lieutenants to save Carl it was obvious that he knew the boy. And he must know him well if he was willing to risk Negan hurting Rowan to protect the boy.
"Touch one hair on his head and I'll rip you to fucking pieces!," Grey Wolf hollered back, punctuating his words by spitting on the ground in Negan's general direction.
"Dwight," Negan ordered, "I think our friend here needs another time out."
Carl stayed where he was as the man with the burn scars grabbed ahold of Grey Wolf and escorted the man away. Oddly, Grey Wolf went with him without much of a fight. Negan stepped forward and pulled Carl up to his feet. He told Carl to follow him. And Carl did. He wasn't sure he wanted to go anywhere with the man but it seemed like a better option than being shot dead on the pavement.
They walked into the giant looming building together and headed through a long winding maze of hallways and stairs. Carl's mind was rushing with the many morbid possibilities of what was about to happen to him. And even without those possibilities as a distraction, he knew he would never be able to find the door he entered through without help.
They finally stopped walking and entered a poshly decorated room. A group of attractive women in black dresses hurried out of the area once Negan entered with Carl in tow. Negan sat the boy down on the couch and began asking him questions. Carl saw no advantage to lying. So he admitted that he was Rick's oldest son. Negan started to ask him another question when suddenly the man paused. He cocked his head to the side like he was listening for something.
"Tell me Carl," he asked, "...do you hear barking or is it just me?"
Carl furrowed his brows together and listened. He wasn't sure if he heard barking but he could definitely hear some sort of ruckus. He could hear a man yelling but he couldn't make out the words. And also the sound of rapid footsteps was getting louder. Someone was running towards them. And fast.
The door of the room flung open, slamming into the wall behind it. Carl stood up and in his side vision of his good eye, he could see that Negan had also quickly risen to his feet. Rowan and Tank flew into the room. The doorknob hit the wall and bounced the door back, slamming into the giant black dog. The side of his body hit Rowan's legs and knocked her sideways. She hit the floor hard, her knees and palms taking the worst of it. But the hard landing didn't even phase the woman. She scrambled forward, her sloppy ponytail falling forward into her face. The moment she clambered back onto her feet she launched herself at Carl.
Her body hit his forcefully as she wrapped her arms around the boy, sending them both flying onto the couch he had been sitting on a moment before. Tank was close behind her, jumping all over both of them with his tail wagging furiously. Carl hugged the woman back just as fiercely, his hands gripping the fabric of her pink hospital scrubs.
Negan was trying his hardest not to smile. But he had long since realized that his efforts at remaining aloof were useless when it came to the woman that had just barged into his private sitting room. He listened as she asked the boy a dozen questions in a row without waiting for him to answer any of them. What happened to your eye? Are you okay? What are you doing here? Where's Enid? Are they keeping you here? Do you need me to look at your eye? I heard shooting outside was that you? Negan cleared his throat to get her attention but she didn't even hear him.
David was Rowan's guard for the day. Negan always personally assigned her guards. The man finally appeared in the doorway, looking half terrified and completely out of breath.
"Sir… So sorry… I tried to stop her… Told her not to come up here… She's really fast…," David huffed. His face was beet red and he was gasping for air like he just ran a marathon. Negan waved him away. Then he cleared his throat again. Louder this time.
Rowan sat back a little and turned. She kept one arm wrapped securely around Carl's shoulders. The boy was gripping her back with his arm around her waist. Both of their faces were smeared with tears. Her eyes got wide as she looked back and forth between Negan and her young friend. Then just as quickly as she had jumped on Carl she released him and lunged at Negan.
Rowan hit the ground on her already bruised knees. She knew she was going to be feeling it later but at the moment her body was fueled with enough adrenaline that the pain was pushed to the back of her mind. One hand fisted into the hard fabric of his jeans and the other gripped the edge of his leather jacket. She knelt in front of him, looking up at his face through her long dark eyelashes, her face dangerously close to his already growing erection. Negan had thought about getting her in this position many times. But his fantasies didn't usually include an audience. Or at least not the audience he currently had.
"Please don't hurt him," Rowan begged, "Please don't kill him." She began to sob, the tears running freely down her face. "He's just a kid. Please don't do anything to him, please!"
Negan leaned down and took gentle hold of Rowan's arm, slowly helping her back to her feet. He had to stop himself and think about his words for a moment. Because all Negan wanted to tell her was that if she went back to his room with him, she could keep Rick's gun happy brat as a pet for all he cared. His dick was painfully hard. And she was so close to him. He could smell the scented oil she rubbed on her skin and in her long silky hair. He had to remind himself. He didn't just want to have her. He wanted to have her willingly. Blackmailing her into bed with him was not the way to win a woman's affections. Not this one anyway.
"Look at me," Negan said. He kept his voice soft and low.
Rowan tilted her head slightly back. She wiped the tears from her eyes so she could meet his gaze. He held it for a moment, savoring the closeness of her.
"I'm not going to hurt the boy," he told her, "But he did kill two of my men. I'm going to have a chat with him. Then I'm going to take him back to Alexandria and have a chat with his dad."
Negan watched as Rowan's green eyes narrowed. Some days they looked more brown or golden. But today they were a brilliant deep green. She stared at him, trying to decide if he was telling the truth. He could feel the heat of her gaze. It was like she could see straight through him. Like she could see inside his brain. She could see his black little heart and read the secrets inside his soul. And he loved every second of it.
"Thank you," Rowan whispered once she was satisfied that he was telling her the truth.
Negan began to lift his hand with the intention of touching her face. Rubbing the rough pad of his thumb over her pillow soft lips. But she was already out of reach. Carl was back on his feet and they were hugging each other again.
"Will you kiss Falcon for me when you get back?," Rowan asked.
Carl nodded. Rowan touched her forehead to his. Then she pressed a featherlight kiss on the bandage over his eye. Carl could feel the throbbing pain immediately begin to lessen. He smiled, thinking about how Michonne always said that Rowan had a healer's touch and he hadn't really understood what she meant until now. Rowan squeezed him against her one more time before she turned and headed for the door. Carl could hear the man that was waiting for Rowan start to scold her once they were outside the room. The man was telling her not to run off again and how she could have gotten hurt or gotten him in lots of trouble. Carl smiled. The man might as well be talking to a deaf goat. Rowan didn't even listen when her dad and Daryl told her not to take off running. Carl didn't think there was any chance she was going to listen to some random Savior.
"Are you really going to take me home?," Carl asked once he was sure Rowan was out of earshot.
Negan nodded. Then his face lit up with a wicked smile.
"I am. But first you are going to tell me who Falcon is. And then I want to see what's under that eyepatch."
