Philip looked over to me. I exhaled slowly and closed my eyes trying to come up with a plan. This couldn't be happening. Not right now. When I opened my eyes, I saw Danny's frantic face.

Knowing it would only be a matter of seconds before we had to confront them, I turned to Eric and spoke quickly.

"Bring Danny to the locker rooms and keep him hidden there."

Eric nodded and both him and Danny headed towards the back of the school. I turned to Philip and he watched the two disappear down a hallway.

"Who is that?!" Philip asked frantically, confused about why Danny was here.

"I'll explain later," I said, looking out the window. Four large trucks had pulled up right out front and there were men and women with guns, rounding up the Doveporters that had been outside. I could see Vivienne standing with the rest of the group, looking around confused. A man with a gun was approaching the doors and he made eye contact with me.

"Phil, I need you to trust me on this. When they ask us who is in charge, we have to tell them it's me."

"Why?" Philip demanded, looking out the glass window on the door seeing that the man was almost to us.

"Just please trust me," I repeated, reaching out and grabbing his arm hoping he would cooperate.

"Okay." Philip's confirmation that he would be willing to play along was all I needed to relax a little bit and I nodded at him confidently as the door opened and a gun was aimed right in my face.

"Outside! Now!" The man barked, and I put my hands up and nodded my head, moving forward through the door and outside to the front of the school. Seth, Amy, and Vivienne were now standing next to one another with their hands out too. About ten other Doveporters had joined them.

Seth had opened the gate to let these men in and their trucks were parked haphazardly throughout the parking lot. The armed man led us to the rest of our group, and as Philip and I reached the others, I noticed we were completely surrounded by the Saviors. Some of them were wielding guns and others had melee weapons. All of them were scowling at us. I watched two men go into the school and I hoped like hell they wouldn't find Danny and Eric.

A sharp whistle had me twisting my head to the side. I tried to see who had made the shrill noise, but was suddenly shoved to the payment. My hands shot out to catch my fall and I could see that the others were being forced down too. I didn't feel like I could look up and instead stared at the cement. Two black boots approached us and stopped right in front of me.

"Which of you sorry fucks runs this shit show?" A low, velvet voice rang out right in front of me. I swallowed hard and looked up.

He stared down at Philip who was looking straight at me.

He was tall, with slicked back black hair and a salt and pepper beard he kept trimmed. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a red scarf tied around his neck. He was older, but much like Vivienne, had aged well. These days, people usually looked bent out of shape, dirty, and disheveled. He looked clean. He looked handsome. He looked like someone from before the walkers. Well, he would have if it wasn't for the barbed wire baseball bat he had slung over his shoulder. It was like something out of a movie and I couldn't help but stare.

"You?!" he asked, slightly surprised, turning to look at me. I nodded, and realized the rest of Doveport didn't know about this lie I was about to spin. I hoped no one would speak up. We needed him to believe I was in charge. If he had a soft spot for women, me being the leader might benefit Doveport. We had to at least try.

"Yes, sir," I said, meeting his gaze. He was regarding me intently and then he crouched, his face inches away and smirked.

"Well hot damn! What's your name, doll?" he asked, his eyes burning into mine. I continued to hold his gaze, despite the fact I wanted to drop it now that his attention was turned on me.

"Elle," I answered. "And you're Negan."

Confirming what had been my educated guess, he grinned at me with wide eyes as if my knowledge of who he was brought him great joy. He brought a hand up to his beard and rubbed it, watching me and then he stood up and started to address his men.

"Did you fucking hear that? My reputation precedes me!" He outstretched his arms like he was putting on a show. When he turned back to me, he paused for a few seconds as if he was taking me in. I watched his eyes trail down my body and then back up to my face.

"So Elle," He put emphasis on my name. "How the fuck did you hear about me? Were you gossiping with the girlfriends?" He walked up close to me and bent down again, his face nearing mine. This man didn't seem to understand personal space.

"Some people we met told us," I responded carefully, not daring to tell him it was Danny. They were probably looking for him and I needed to select my words carefully.

Negan rose his eyebrows at this.

"Just some people?" he questioned.

"Yes, sir. My people met them on a scavenging run." It was only a half lie. Doveport wasn't mine, but Amy had been scavenging when she met Negan's runaways.

"Well shit." He looked at me so amused. He pursed his lips and then cocked an eyebrow. "Then you know what happened to them?"

"No," I answered. I was surprised at how composed I sounded. I wanted to throw up.

He regarded me intently and suddenly the doors to the school opened. The man that had ordered us outside previously came outside with more Doveporters, who all looked scared and confused. They joined the rest of us on the ground. I was relieved to see Eric and Danny were not among them.

Negan beamed as the rest of the community was gathered. There was about fifteen of us total; I had always thought our group was fairly large, but now that we were standing in front of Negan's Saviors I felt like we were minuscule. He scanned their faces until he looked back at me.

"Nice little community you got here, Elle. I think you guys have a lot of fucking potential!" He approached me and I felt a lump form in my throat. My nerves were already shot.

"Potential for what?" I asked, choosing to be straightforward with him. He chuckled darkly.

"Stand the fuck up," he ordered. I wasted no time in doing as he said. I stood up on my feet and looked up at him. He was swearing a lot and I wondered if he did that to be intimidating.

He took a step and was even closer, his smile growing impossibly bigger.

"Damn girl, you just fucking met me and you're already doing as I say. I fuckin' love it!" He laughed and then his expression turned serious. The sudden change alarmed me. He went from joking to being dead serious in a matter of seconds.

"This little community here isn't yours anymore, understand? It's mine. You all work for me now."

I nodded obediently, hoping my submissive responses would make a good first impression. I knew what these men were capable of and I wasn't about to lose anyone.

"You will provide supplies every week. And not shitty no-good garbage. I mean real prime shit. Might have to go on a few more pick-up runs than you motherfuckers are used to, but it is in your best fucking interest to please the piss outta me and my men."

"Okay." My voice came out in a whisper.

"What was that?" He cupped his ear and leaned towards me.

"Yes, sir," I spoke a little louder.

It became silent and I stared at him with wide eyes not knowing what else to do. I felt like everything needed to be okayed by him–that I needed permission to speak or move. I watched him, waiting for his response.

Negan stared me down and then grinned again.

"Adam! Start getting me my shit." He continued looking at me as he ordered at one of his men. A man covered from head to toe in tattoos started walking towards the school along with a few other Saviors. I turned my head to watch them go inside and my heart pounded even harder. If they found Danny, we would be in serious trouble.

I jumped as a gloved hand gently took my jaw and turned my head to face forward. My eyes widened in fear and I fought the instinct to pull away. He looked so entertained.

"Over here, doll." He dictated. "Now, this is usually the part where I beat some unlucky bastard's fucking head in to reiterate just how motherfucking serious I am. But you get it, don't you, Elle?"

"Yes," I blurted. "Please don't."

"Please?!" He bellowed. It made a few Doveporters flinch, his raised voice startling them. "Those are some good fucking manners built into you, doll. My people must have painted a real good fucking picture of me, huh? Told you how to respond to me? How to submit? Hell, you are making this whole process too fuckin' easy." He leaned even closer to me.

"But if I wanna bash someone's fucking brains in, someone's brains are gonna get fucking bashed."

I swallowed hard and he saw.

"But! You did say please…" He leaned in so he was only inches from my face. I didn't dare breathe. It was like this was some kind of unspoken test of my resolve. Except if I failed, lives would be lost. I wanted to get everyone through this, so as much as I wanted to roll my eyes or scoff at his ridiculous demeanor, I bit my tongue.

He turned like he was going to leave, but then spun back around to face me, twirled the bat in his hand, and then pointed it in my face. My eyes focused on the sharp barbed wire wrapped around the smooth wood mere centimeters from my nose

"Elle, meet Lucille," he said, grinning wide.

I stared at the bat. It had a name. The name Danny had mentioned before Negan had arrived. I didn't know how to react so I remained frozen. Negan chuckled and then placed the so-called Lucille back on his shoulder.

"I fucking love that you're being such a good girl for me right now, Elle. But I know there's more to it. See, some of my ungrateful people didn't like how I was running things and so they decided to leave. Took a lot of my shit."

He peered down at me and after he didn't say anything for a bit I answered him.

"I don't know where they are."

"I do," Negan said in a sing-song voice. "Well.. most of them. I'm missing my good friend. Oh, Danny boy. He's probably scared fuckin' shitless. But you see, Johnny already paid the price for their little endeavor and because I'm such a merciful fucking guy, all has been forgiven." I wondered if Johnny was the man we watched them execute at the burning house.

"I really like that kid," he said, and he turned his attention to the school and regarded it. His expression was hard to read and he almost seemed distracted by the brick building.

"If we find Danny, we'll send him home," I said quickly, hoping it would please him. He was still looking at the school. I was nervous he was going to discover we were sheltering the very person he was looking for inside.

"This place got a gymnasium?" he asked and I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Yes."

"Got lots of sports equipment?" He turned and looked at me quizzically.

"Yeah. It's got a few things." I spoke slowly, and felt thrown off. Why would he give a shit about the gym?

Negan grinned at me.

"It is like fucking Christmas up in here."

Just then the doors to the school opened and Adam came out carrying a box in his arms. I could see some weapons sticking out from the box, a large cooler of water, and a tennis racket, but couldn't see the rest of the items. I tilted my head to try and get a better angle to see and Negan stepped into my line of sight, blocking me.

"You don't need to worry your pretty little head about that, Elle. All of this belongs to me now."

I had tried hard to keep myself from glaring but my expression slipped and Negan noticed it immediately. He laughed and went over to look in the box, and pulled out a can of fruit. He nodded and pointed at the truck for Adam to load it up still holding the can.

"I know this isn't what you want, but you'll learn to appreciate what we do for you, Elle. You keep me happy, you follow the rules and everything is going to be peachy." He set the can down in front of me. They were peaches. I wanted to chuck them at him.

"Repeat the rules, Elle." His joking expression turned cold and serious again and as I stared down at the peaches, I answered.

"We belong to you. We provide for you." I sounded like a robot programmed to obey him.

"See? That wasn't so fucking bad." He winked at me and then ordered his men to leave. They all did as he said immediately, putting their guns down and marching towards the trucks.

"I'll be back in a week for my shit. And boy, do I have a fucking feeling you are going to go above and beyond for me, Elle!"

"We will do our best." I felt on edge. He grinned showing pearly white teeth, and then turned and walked towards the rest of his men.

I stared in disbelief, not sure if this first encounter went well or not. I turned to watch Negan as he got inside the passenger side of one of the trucks. He looked straight at me and waved. I didn't move.

The trucks sped off out of the school, leaving our main gate wide open but no one got up to close it. The others were still kneeling, probably still trying to comprehend what had just happened. I stared off into space. Had I done a good job? Would Phil have done better?

I exhaled loudly and closed my eyes. Time would tell. Negan would be at our door in a week. No one had gotten hurt now, but if we didn't deliver he wouldn't be happy. If he found out about Danny, we would suffer the consequences.

We needed to start gathering supplies. We needed to impress him. We needed to survive.

Because right then and there, we all belonged to Negan.