The Wolf You Feed
Chapter 76
Carl took another sip of his lemonade. He was sitting on Daryl and Rowan's front porch. Nokake was sitting in the rocker next to him, her body tense with anger. The scar on her forehead was burning red instead of its usual faded white. Negan was on Carl's other side, holding Nokake's small son in his lap. The boy was sleeping with his thumb in his mouth. Carl watched as Negan's foot soldiers came filing out of his house, no doubt having turned the inside of the place into a total mess.
They were looking for Grey Wolf and "Deanna". This was made slightly humorous since the actual Deanna had brought them the lemonade and Negan hadn't paid her a single lick of attention. During the disturbance Carl had created at the sanctuary, the Saviors' two hostages had escaped. Though he hadn't planned it, Carl was happy to know that he had helped Grey Wolf and Carol get away.
"You are wasting your time," Nokake announced. She was narrowing her eyes at the men that were now barging into the house next door to Rick's but her words were directed to Negan. "My husband isn't stupid. He wouldn't come back here when he knows you're looking for him."
"Well where is he stupid enough to go then?," Negan asked.
Nokake didn't answer. She just crossed her arms under her breasts and glared at him. They had been having the same standoff since Negan picked Falcon up out of his crib and held the boy. Nokake didn't want to be anywhere near Negan. But she was refusing to leave him alone with her son.
"Maybe he took off with his girlfriend," Negan suggested with an evil grin, "...maybe he isn't ever coming back here."
Nokake bit down on her lip to keep herself from responding. She told herself that Negan was lying to bait her. But she wasn't stupid. She had seen the way Grey Wolf looked at Carol. He didn't even try to hide his infatuation with the woman. Nokake hadn't really worried about it since it seemed like Carol was adamantly opposed to having anything to do with the man. But that could have easily changed if the two of them were trapped alone together. Nokake knew how charming Grey Wolf could be. She didn't get pregnant in the middle of the apocalypse for no reason.
"If you want to get revenge on him I'm game," Negan offered, "I'll take you inside and give you a good angry fuck."
Carl's eyes widened as Nokake rose from her chair. She was more mild mannered than the rest of the Wolves. But everyone had a breaking point.
"WENDIGO!," Nokake spit as she thrust her middle finger directly into Negan's face. Then she spun on her heel and stomped inside the house. The screen door slapped shut behind her. Carl was worried what Negan might do to the woman after her disrespectful behavior. But Negan only laughed.
"I am fifty percent more attracted to her now," he announced.
The screen door slamming disrupted Falcon's nap and the boy began to squirm and fuss. Carl shifted in his chair unsure of what to do. He was relieved when Reg and Spencer appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a bottle of liquor and three glasses. When faced between holding a crying toddler and having a drink, Negan was quick to hand the boy off to Carl. Carl hurried him inside and gave him back to his mother, moving as quickly as possible before the deranged man outside changed his mind.
Reg wasn't sure what he really intended to speak to Negan about. His thought was just to occupy the man before he drove every mother in town to their limits. Deanna already had to talk Rosie and Michonne out of making a run for the bunker outside of town with their children. The Saviors didn't know the bunker existed and Deanna wanted to keep it that way. She was also afraid that anyone caught leaving town while the search was still happening would be dealt with using extreme violence.
Negan had his men carry a pool table out of Tobin's garage and set it up in the middle of the street. Spencer offered to play him and they were starting to draw a small crowd. Reg knew Spencer was quite skilled at pool and he could tell his son was missing shots on purpose so that Negan could win. Spencer was also using the opportunity to talk to the man about making the Saviors future interactions with his people more diplomatic and less violent. Reg knew Spencer was in agreement with the Wolves. He wanted to fight the Saviors. But until they were prepared for a war, they had to do something to keep anyone else from being hurt or killed by these madmen.
Negan was about to sink the eight ball when loud angry screaming erupted about two houses down. His cue scratched against the felt of the table. Negan tossed the stick down and grabbed his bat, taking a few steps away from the table so he could determine what in the shit was going on now. He hadn't actually expected to find his escaped hostages hiding here. But maybe he had gotten lucky.
One of Negan's men was coming down the porch steps of the house. He had what looked like a young woman in his arms. She was wrapped in a dirty blanket and her dirty bare feet were dangling down, swinging with the movements of his body. Arat was behind the man, dragging a teenage boy by the arm. The boy yanked his arm away and tried to run. But another soldier was ready for him. The man rammed the butt of his gun into the boy's face with a sickening crunch. The boy fell backwards onto the ground, clutching his face as blood gushed from his nose. A blonde woman came rushing down the steps towards the boy. But Arat stopped her.
"Get back on your fucking porch bitch!," she ordered, "unless you want some of what your pervert kid just got."
The woman hesitated for a moment before hurrying back up her steps. She grabbed for a younger boy that was clinging to her and looking completely horrified by what was happening.
"What in the SHIT is going on?," Negan barked. Several of his soldiers all started yelling at once. Negan waved at them to shut them up. Then he pointed to Arat. She kicked the bleeding boy at her feet, giving him a good one to ribs. Then she spoke.
"This pervert had that girl locked in his fucking basement. There was a naked fucking walker chained up down there too. He's been raping that girl! She's covered in bruises," Arat hollered.
Arat had seen a lot of blood and gore in her time as a Savoir soldier. And more since the beginning of the turn. And honestly, her life before that hadn't been all peaches and roses either. But the sight of that poor girl's body had been enough to send even her grabbing for the closest garbage can so she could retch up her lunch into it.
Negan looked around at the residents of Alexandria. From the shocked expressions on their faces, it was clear they had no idea what kind of sick perversion was going on right under their noses. They had been looking at Negan like he was the devil but even he wouldn't hurt a woman in that way. Tricking girls into bed with him was different. He never laid a hand on any of his wives.
"RAPE IS AGAINST THE RULES!," Negan hollered.
Negan's man approached him with the girl's limp body in his arms. He set her down gently on the pool table, still wrapped in the blanket. She clung desperately to the man's shirt when he tried to back away. His movements made the blanket fall back. When her face became visible, Carl started screaming.
"ENID!"
The boy rushed at Negan's soldier, pushing him forcefully away from the girl. Negan motioned to the man, letting him know he ought to ignore the boy's bad behavior and back off. While Carl shouldn't be pushing his men around, Negan was going to let the boy slide. Partly because he liked him and mostly because Negan was sure that it was Carl's girlfriend that they just found locked up in some pervert's basement. And that had to feel shitty no matter who it was happening to.
"Don't you touch her!," Carl screamed, "Don't come near her!"
Spencer was approaching to try and help with the situation but quickly backed off with his palms up. Carl had the girl's body gathered against his chest. Tears were streaming down from his one good eye as he carefully gathered the blanket around her to cover her nakedness.
"It's okay," Olivia said. Her voice was soft and low as she approached. "Carl. It's okay. Let me take her to the medical bay so we can see how badly she's hurt. Enid needs my help. Let me help her. Okay?"
Carl nodded and backed up just a fraction, allowing Olivia to take Enid from his arms and lay her down on the pool table. Olivia checked the girl's pulse and lifted her eyelids while Rosita took off running for a wheelchair. Together the two women gently lifted the girl. When she was settled in the chair, they began to push her down the street towards the mostly empty medical bay. Carl took a few steps after them. Then he froze. When he turned around he was focused on Ron.
"You did this!," Carl screamed. His face was red and blotchy and wet with his tears. "I'll kill you for this!"
Carl began to charge in the direction of the other boy but Negan grabbed him by the shirt. Carl spun, ready not only to kill Ron but to fight anyone that got in his way. But instead of stopping him, Negan was offering him his assistance. He had Lucille in his hands, the bat already stained with the blood of the other people the man had killed with it. Lucille is thirsty. Carl hesitated for a moment before taking the weapon into his own hands. Arat kept her gun pointed at Ron but she backed up a few steps to allow Carl some room. Jessie was screaming on the porch when Carl swung. He brought the bat down on Ron's head, caving it halfway in and splattering blood and brains all over the pavement. The first hit was so forceful that it likely already killed the boy. But Carl wasn't taking any chances. He brought the bat down over and over again. Just like Negan had done to Eric. He didn't stop until Ron's head was nothing more than a bloody smear in the road. After the last hit, Carl was breathing hard and his body was shaking. Negan took Lucille back, holding her in the air for everyone to see.
"Now that's what I call getting shit DONE!," he yelled.
Blood was dripping off the end of the bat. Negan turned around slowly, eager to see the reactions of the people around him to the sudden unexpected carnage. Instead he was suddenly facing a very angry indian pointing a handgun at him. Tony used the chaos of the situation to get close enough. And when Negan turned towards him, he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
Tony was ready to see Negan's brains blow out the back of his head. But instead of a wet cracking splash there was only the loud thunk of metal hitting wood. The bat in Negan's hands had caught the bullet.
Tony only got the one shot off before the Saviors were on him. They wrestled the gun away from him and held him down on the ground.
"WENDIGO!," Tony hollered in his fury.
"I am getting real fucking sick of hearing that shit," Negan announced. He still had no idea what the word meant. But it was obviously an insult or a curse of some kind. And it seemed to be directed solely at him. Which he really was getting sick of. "Arat," he hollered, "KILL SOMEONE."
Before anyone even had a chance to react, Arat turned and leveled her gun. She pulled the trigger once. Jessie's brains blew out the back of her head and the woman's body slumped to the ground. The younger boy she had been clinging to took one look at the mess and started to scream.
"Shut that fucking kid up or I'll shoot him next," she ordered. Deanna rushed across the street and grabbed Sam. Hauling him away from his mother's body, she clamped her hand down over his mouth to keep him quiet.
Negan plucked the bullet from Lucille's surface. He turned the small lump of metal around in his hand. He had seen a lot of bullets. And a lot of attempts to make bullets. It was not as easy as one might assume. This one had been made by someone recently. And it had been made well.
"Who made this?," Negan asked, stepping closer to his would be assassin.
Tony refused to answer. Instead he screamed some more curses and pressed his face into the knife they were holding him with, making a bright red stream of blood run down his face and neck. Negan hid it well but he was starting to become slightly jealous. These Alexandria people were lame and incompetant. But somehow they had managed to wrangle in the best army of crazed indians Negan had ever seen. He desperately wanted to find a way to turn them and keep them for himself. They would make amazing Saviors. He could tell. But so far he had no luck with that. They seemed oddly loyal to this town, totally blind to the fact that Negan could clearly offer them much better perks and accommodations. He wondered if his little prize kitten could help him with that. If Negan could turn Rowan, maybe she could bring in the rest of her group for him. And even if she couldn't, it was as good an excuse as anything to dick her down and make her his. He'd waited long enough already for her.
"I want the bullet maker and if he won't talk just slit his throat," Negan said, pretending as if the whole situation was boring him.
"WAIT!"
Negan turned. A heavyset man with a terrible haircut had rushed forward. He looked like he had his shitting pants on and was already making good use of them.
"It's me!," Eugene declared with an odd whimper. "I made the bullet."
Several of the saviors were looking at the man in disbelief. But to prove his point Eugene began rambling off a whole list of bullet making ingredients and yelling out all the steps he took to manufacture the bullet in question. Negan shrugged and gestured towards the man.
"Have him pack his shit he's coming with us."
