Chapter 27

Rick and Aaron made their way down the deserted road, eager to get back home. They found an abundance of supplies out on their run, having to go through strenuous hurdles to get them, but it was worth it. They both were complete wiped out and Rick was looking forward to taking a hot shower, slipping into bed with Michonne, and topping his evening off with an early bedtime. By the time they turned on the road that led to Alexandria, Rick was almost drooling with anticipation, but his excited mood was quickly flattened when he saw Negan's trucked at the entrance.

"What the hell?" Aaron expressed, concerned.

"What the hell, indeed," Rick affirmed.

This was no good. Negan and his Savior had just been there the day before to pick up their weekly supplies. There was no reason for him to be back here…unless something big had happened.

Rick ran a hand down his face, sighing wearily. He didn't like the sudden surprise, and he certainly didn't want to find the stamina to deal with it eithe; but he chose to straighten up and get ready to face yet another strenuous hurdle for what felt like the hundredth time in twenty-four hours.

Aaron pulled the box truck through the gate, being sure to maneuver it in slowly as to not offend the ones who were standing around on watch. When he came to a stop, both he and Rick shared a quick look, silently encouraging each other up to open their doors and get this shit over with. They grabbed their handles and popped them open at the same time and hopped out.

"Rick," a Savior he knew by the name of Gary greeted him. Rick nodded a polite, but forced hello back. "Where've you been? Negan's been waiting for you and you know how he hates to wait."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize he would be back so soon," Rick answered.

"Well, he is," Gary gave him a sarcastic smile. "Let's hope for you and your people's sake that a sorry will fucking cut it this time."

Rick nodded again. He could easily give Gary something to be sorry for, but he restrained himself from doing what he was envisioning vividly in his mind. It wasn't an easy restraint. Gary stepped up to him then, getting in his face a bit. "Whatcha got in the truck?"

"After everyone left yesterday, we thought it would be a good time to go out and get more supplies to ensure that we were ready for your next visit," Aaron intervened, stepping up to Rick's side.

"Was anyone fucking talking to you, pansy?" Gary snarled.

"No, I just thought-" Aaron started to say.

"You thought wrong, motherfucker," Gary cut in and shoved him away.

Aaron stumbled back a few steps, landing his pleading eyes on Rick. Gary shoved him again, and Rick took a step forward to break the two apart, but a couple of other Saviors stepped forward, too, in warning.

Gary landed a solid punch against Aaron's face, sending him almost to his knees. He lashed out another successful punch again, getting him to the ground this time. He continued to punch and kick him, another Savior swinging in to give it a go, too. Rick watched on fretfully, unsure of what to do but desperately trying to think of something.

"That's enough," Gary told the second Savior as he gave Aaron another kick to the stomach. "That'll give him plenty to think about when it comes to minding his own fucking business."

Gary glared at Rick and stepped over Aaron as he groaned on the hot pavement.

"You guys got here right on time," he told Rick with a half-hearted smile that quickly changed into a sneer again. He turned away from him. "Dave, Laura, let's check this shit out."

The three of them went to the back of the box truck and started to pull out and rifle through the load. They had brought back multiple boxes of provisions and some were filled to the brim. Normally, Rick would have jumped in to help, but considering whom that help would go to he didn't even bother. He went to Aaron instead, taking one of his arms to put over his shoulder and hauling him off of the ground. Rick kept a supportive hold on him.

"Why don't you and your dickhead boyfriend run along to Negan now," Dave said, tossing a bin haphazardly to their feet.

Rick quickly shifted Aaron away, giving the three Saviors a heated look he could no longer contain. He shook his head and started in the direction of the town, not really caring or needing to stay. Not after what they did to Aaron. The two of them had already completed their part. Let these assholes figure the rest of this shit out.

"Bye, Prick! It's always good seeing you!" Rick could hear a female voice calling after them which he assumed belonged to the blonde woman named Laura.

"Fuck you, too," Rick muttered under his breath and Aaron let out a short, grunting laugh and then a moan of pain. "Take it easy," Rick cautioned him.

"They wouldn't recognize a prick if they caught themselves in the mirror," Aaron commented laboriously, giving Rick a bloody grin. He felt his cheeks rise up at that.

"They wouldn't recognize a prick if they saw one dangling between their legs," Rick added, looking at Aaron from the side of his eyes. They both laughed simultaneously; big, hearty, boisterous ones. It felt good to let something out, but not so much for Aaron. He winced and groaned, clutching his stomach.

"Oh, if only we could say shit like that to their faces," Aaron sputtered out.

"You'd just get your ass kicked again," Rick teased him.

"It'd be worth it," he grunted back.

It was then the heard a scream from deeper in the town. Rick stopped walking immediately and looked to Aaron.

"Put me down. I can make it okay by myself. Quick, go check it out."

Rick didn't hesitate as he carefully let Aaron go and took off down the street. His heart was pumping furiously with uncertainty of what he might discover. He knew it had everything to do with Negan and he wondered just how bad this time would be. As he got closer to the source of the noise, Rick saw a large group of people by his house. Some were Alexandrians, but most of them were not. He charged up to the group, pushing through to get to the middle.

He stopped immediately as he came upon the sight of Spencer dead and gutted, bleeding in the middle of the street. He noticed a pool table, too, and Negan standing there with a large knife in his hand. What the hell was going on?

"Look who finally decided to show his fucking mug. It's Rick!" Negan heartily welcomed him.

"What the hell is going on here?" Rick demanded, not really able to hold back anymore.

"What, this?" Negan asked innocently and pointed to Spencer's body with his bloodied knife. "Oh, this! This was me doing you a fucking favor."

"A favor of what exactly?" Rick spat out.

"Easy there, Rick. You don't know the full fucking story yet," Negan cautioned him, giving him a smile. He took a step back and bent down next to Spencer, wiping the blood from the bowie knife onto the once pristine slacks. He stood up when he was done. "This dead as fuck golden boy here wanted you gone, Rick! He came to me, buttered me up with some smooth fucking whiskey, introduced a few minutes of fun into my life… I was starting to like the jackass, but then he just had to ruin it by bringing up your sorry ass name."

"Why is he lying dead in the middle of the road?" Rick pressed.

"Shit, don't shove it in dry, Ricky boy. Let me led up to the damn thing, will ya?" Negan mocked him. "This shit for brains came over here all dressed up nice and pretty with a bottle of your fine whiskey in his hands. Said he wanted to give it to me as a welcome celebration. A celebration of I didn't know what the fuck for until we got out here and he started in on how impulsive, careless, and uncooperative you are… Shit, he could've written the saddest fucking story in history if he wanted with all the fucked up mess he was telling me. How you let his family die and everything turned to shit once you became in charge and boo-fucking-hoo…"

Negan walked up to him, sheathing his knife in the process, but Rick's body was tense nonetheless as he stopped right next to him.

"You know what he told me?" Negan spoke softly. "He told me that we should kick you out. Exile you and send you on your merry fucking way back on the empty road. He wanted to take over, basically telling me it was his right. Now, I'm not sure how you feel about all of that, but I thought it was a pretty rat bastard way of dealing with an issue, sneaking over here while you were gone. In my opinion, he should've gutted up and taken care of whatever problem there seemed to be himself. Instead, I had to fix it the fuck for him," Negan swiveled to look at Spencer's prone form behind him. "Maybe not quite in the way he'd hoped."

"So, you're telling me," Rick took in an angry breath, "that Spencer came to you and asked to take over? And you killed him? For that?"

Negan gave him a speculating look, knitting his brows together, "For fuck's sake, Rick, I thought you'd be goddamn grateful. Not only did I take care of that fucking catastrophe waiting to happen, I also brought back your wayward son, too."

"What?" Rick asked. He scanned the crowd for Carl and found him standing on the porch with Olivia.

"Yeah," Negan was smiling again, his voice growing louder, "your boy there snuck into one of my trucks yesterday afternoon and hitched a ride over to my place. Then, when we were minding our own fucking business and unpacking shit, he decided to hurl himself out of hiding, swinging a fucking machete around like some watered-ass down version of Blade. Sliced open one of my men's faces and slit the throat of another."

Rick whipped around to Carl again, giving him a furious glare. Carl gazed sheepishly back at him and lowered his head. Rick returned his attention back to Negan, forcing down his anger for the moment.

"I apologize for that. He's just a boy. He's-" Rick began to reason, hoping that he could say anything to make up for his son's grievous mistakes. He felt terror crawling its way through him at the thought of what Negan might do to Carl.

"Relax," Negan soothed, stopping him. "We've already made amends, don't you worry. Carl knows what he did was wrong. He feels super sorry about it. Don't you, bud?" Negan called over to him with a grin. Carl's face was red and tentative as he looked at them through his hair. "See?"

Rick relaxed marginally though he knew no one was quite in the clear yet. He stood his ground.

"Regardless, I'll take care of Carl and make sure nothing like that ever happens again. Now, I think it's time you got your stuff and went."

Negan laughed and tongued the side of his mouth as he stared at Rick. He faltered a bit at the serious look Rick was giving him.

"All right, Rick. We'll get our stuff and leave," Negan shrugged lightheartedly. He beckoned for Lucille that one of his Saviors had a hold of and placed her on his shoulder. He stopped by Rick as his men started to slowly file out, leaning close to his ear. "Just so you know, Carl and I got to know each other well. He told me a lot of fucked up stories about what the two of you endured. We actually became pretty good friends," he tapped Rick's arm with the back of his hand. "I'm thinkin' pretty soon, though, he might start calling me daddy… Take care, Prick."

Negan gave him a wink and a smile, leaving the mess he made on the road behind.

"Carl, what the hell were you thinking?" Rick yelled. His was pacing irately in their living room, stomping back and forth while he yelled at Carl and threw his hands up in the air to punctuate his anger.

"I'm sorry!" Carl pleaded, barely able to get word in edgewise. All hell had broken lose as soon as they had close the gates behind Negan's trucks. "I was just try-"

"I could give a shit what you were trying to do! You could've gotten yourself killed!" Rick's face was red. "And look at Spencer!"

"I'm sorry," Carl apologized again, defeated.

Rick sighed and ran his hands down his face, trying to calm himself. All of the negative energy he was feeling was no good to him or the people around him he cared about. He needed to try to calm down.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Rick countered, putting his hands on his hips and taking a deep breath. "I should've kept a closer eye on you. Knew where you were at before I left… And Spencer made his own bed, that wasn't you."

Carl sniffed back the tears that had fallen, wiping his cheeks with the sleeves of his shirt. In a way he did feel responsible for Spencer's death. Any other day, his dad would've been here to deal with Negan, but no one would have guessed he'd be back the very next day. That was because of Carl, and maybe if he hadn't have snuck off then Spencer never wouldn't have had the chance to speak with Negan alone. Maybe he'd still be alive.

"It was my fault," Carl spoke numbly.

"No, it wasn't, Carl," Rick's tone was deep and serious. He went up to his son and grabbed him in a hard embrace. He whispered in his hair, "It wasn't you."

Rick pulled away and took him by the shoulders, pushing him back and bending down to look him square in the eye. He had to make sure Carl would never pull a stunt like that again. The boy was brave and he had his mother's doggedness to boot, but his determination was going to land him in a heap of trouble if he didn't control himself. Rick could practically feel the hairs on his head turning gray.

"Believe me when I say that there wasn't a thing you could've done to change what happened today… But I want you to know that if you ever pull anything like that again, I will lock you up in your room until you're just as old and miserable as me. Am I clear?"

Carl nodded, feeling sorry all over again.

"There's something else I need to tell you," Carl said, feeling a little bit scared now. How would his father react to what he had talked about with Dwight? Would he believe him? Would it mean they might be in more trouble? Rick waited for him to say something, taking his hands from Carl's shoulders and stepping back. Carl decided to speak before his courage left him forever. "While I was there…at the Sanctuary…I spoke with someone. They told me they could help us…against Negan."

Rick stood there for a minute, absorbing and assessing what he just heard. He couldn't make sense of it at first and he wasn't sure he wanted to, but his expression started to become angry again once he realized what this might mean.

"His name is Dwight," Carl jumped in quickly, hoping to assuage the anger his father seemed to feel. "He gave me reasons, good reasons as to why he'd help us, and I didn't say anything to him! I didn't even really acknowledge what he was saying, but he told me things. Things about Negan that I know I shouldn't know! And he told me about other communities that might help, and he told me to tell you to speak with Jesus about it, to figure something out. And-"

"Okay, Carl, stop. Stop," Rick said, shushing his son by placing his hands on Carl's shoulders again. He gritted his teeth as he looked away, not wanting his son to see the pure rage he was feeling at the moment. "I want you to forget everything you talked about with Dwight and never mention it again."

"What?" Carl was taken aback. He knew it might freak his dad out at first, but he hadn't expected this response. This was their chance at freedom! Why wasn't he going to pursue it? Do some research, at least?

"Exactly what I said," Rick replied, looking Carl in the eye again. "I'm serious. What Dwight told you was bullshit, all of it. There's no way to get at Negan and the sooner you get that fucking notion out of your head, the better."

"But dad," Carl begged as Rick started to walk away. He had to believe him.

"Don't, Carl. This discussion is over. I don't want to hear it anymore," Rick reprimanded and headed for the front door.

He yanked it open, not really sure where he was going, but just needing to go somewhere to think and calm down. He stepped out on the front porch and before the door could slam shut behind him he heard Carl yell, "Just talk to Jesus!"

Daryl stood in his new room, taking in his surroundings. Dwight had showed it to him a few nights before when Carl had been here, but this was the first time he had actually went into it and looked around. It wasn't much in the way of space or décor, but it contained a bed, two dressers, and a small area he could use as a kitchen if the only things a kitchen had were a mini fridge and microwave. He figured it would do seeing as he wasn't going to be spending very much time in it. This wasn't his home and it would never be.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, the soft mattress sinking in with his weight. He bounced up once, testing the durability of it and decided it was going to leave him with back issues if he ever slept on it. He looked to his right and smacked the pillow at the head of the bed. A couple of feathers flew out.

Figures, he thought resentfully.

He looked at where one of the feathers had landed and picked it up. It was light and soft in his hand, little. He thought about Everly and wished he were with her now. They hadn't been able to see each other much and Daryl had a big feeling Negan was because of that. The both of them had been kept busy training in the arts of being a Savior, which Daryl realized was ninety percent taking from other people and ten percent giving back. The actions didn't fit the name. The only good they really did was keep the walker population down, but that was mostly to their benefit. Negan couldn't build and control a whole network of people if they were all the walking dead.

Daryl still felt bitter about getting Everly into this mess. Mainly, he felt responsible for all the tribulations they had endured since they first meet Negan that fateful night a few months ago. Granted, there wasn't much he could've done to change how everything transpired, but he wished there had been other options. The main one being Everly back at Alexandria and out of the hands of Negan.

Three loud raps resounded from the other side of the door, and Daryl looked up, dropping the feather to the ground. He didn't say anything, but stared at the door waiting for whoever it was to either come in or go away. He hoped they would do the latter.

"Housekeeping!" Negan's raspy voice drifted through.

Negan turned the knob, opening the door and sauntering in. He wore a smile, as always, with Dwight and his best girl, Lucille, accompanying him. Negan did a once over around the room, nodding his head in mock approval.

"Pretty nice set up you've got here," he commented. "Going for the whole dirt poor look?"

Daryl stood up from the bed, not feeling comfortable being in a position lower than them. He walked over to the wall that his small kitchen occupied and put his back to the corner, the door still open to his right. Dwight stood by the wall adjacent to the door, his arms crossed.

"Just thought I'd swing by, check up on my silent friend," Negan explained, stopping at the end of the bed. He shrugged. "I really wanted to come by and talk to you about Mark. You know, the guy whose face I burnt off?"

"I know who you're talkin' 'bout," Daryl answered.

"Shit, he speaks!" Negan's face lit up and he looked back to Dwight. Dwight smiled back at him. Negan chuckled. "Yeah, it's hard to forget the man that the mean, ol' boss tied to a chair and stuck a red hot iron to one side of his face, but I guess that was kind of the point."

Dwight twitched at the comment, clearing his throat and shuffling around. He looked down at his feet a Negan peered over at him knowingly.

"Ain't that right, D?"

Dwight nodded with a fake smile. He let it drop once Negan turned back to Daryl.

"To be more precise, I don't want to talk about Mark, but rather what I had to do to him," Negan worked his way around the bed slowly and to where Daryl stood. "You see, he fucked up, rather majorly, and while I was forced to do that atrocious thing to him, I had already forgiven him. Do you know why that is, Daryl?"

Daryl stood there, choosing the silent treatment again. Negan couldn't figuratively back him into a corner if he didn't say anything.

"Fuck, he's mute again," Negan shook his head with a sigh, but he was still smiling. "I forgave him because I'm a nice guy. I know, big fucking shocker right? But it's true. I'm a man of good fucking intent. It's just that sometimes that side of me tends to get skewed in the mess of things. And I couldn't let the pussy bitch get away with fucking one of my wives, right?"

Negan held both hands out, the one cradling Lucille raising her high in the air. He let his arms drop to his sides and turned to Dwight, pointing a thumb at him over his shoulder as he spoke to Daryl again.

"This guy, he understands because he was tied down to that chair once not too long ago. Did he ever share that story with you?" Negan furrowed his eyebrows and looked between the two of them. "No? Well, I'm open to share."

He took a step over to Daryl's bed, plopping down on it with a sigh. He set Lucille down beside him and let his arms dangle between his legs, his demeanor easygoing. He patted a free spot on the bed next to him, a large smile growing on his face.

Daryl squeezed his jaw tightly as he tried to decide what to do. He looked over to Dwight who had his head down but his eyes on him. He figured the quickest way to get them to leave would be to go along with they wanted. He reluctantly took a distant seat next to Negan.

"You see, Dwight here used to be married to Sherry who is now my wife. And I know what you're thinking, how can a man work for the person who took his smoking hot wife away from him? Well, I'll tell you how," Negan sat back and opened his arms, directing his smile to Dwight. "D, be sure to interrupt me if I get anything wrong. I think I'll remember it quite correctly, however.

"Anyway, before Sherry agreed to leave Dwight and marry me, I was engaged to her equally smoking hot sister. Tina was sick, didn't have a lot of options in the way of meds, so she compromised and consented to being my wife. Well, as you might guess, Dwight decided to make the stupidest decision of his life and packed up his ex-wife, my soon-to-be fiancée, and some stolen meds from my infirmary. Then, he took off during the night like the cowardly shit that he is to make sure it would be harder to find them. Does that happen to remind you of anything?"

A flashback of being locked in the cage flooded Daryl's senses. All of sudden, he tasted the copper tang of blood in his mouth and felt his body ache from being beating and crowded in a small space for too long. His legs still felt numb sometimes, he had been locked in there for hours and days on end. His fingers twitched as Negan smirked at him.

"To finish the story, Tina didn't make it very far, and once she was out of the picture, Dwight did the responsible thing and he came back. Even brought all the shit he'd stolen from me, too. That took some motherfucking balls, and I have to admit I respect the shit out of him for it. But with apologies come some consequences and he sure did pay for what he did to me."

Daryl made eye contact with Dwight, trying to figure out why the hell he would come back here. He had to have known what would happen to him, if not the exact specifics. And why would he bring Sherry back here and endanger her life, too? Daryl had felt somewhat sympathetic for the man, understanding he had more than himself to think about, but he would never, ever put Everly in danger by bring her back here. Negan was right when he had called Dwight a coward.

"My point being, Daryl," Negan snapped his fingers in front of his face, getting his attention back, "is I can take your mistakes and let you make up for it. It might not be in the way you'd want, but it is something… And I want to make it very clear to you that I've set the bar for fucking fuck-ups pretty fucking high. I am a forgiving man, but my threshold for bullshit isn't unlimited. What you have with Everly, well, I can't get in the middle of it unless I need to. So think about that. You can have her; she's all yours so far…but if I were you, I'd be working out a way to make sure I keep her…because one fuck up," Negan snapped his fingers again, "and she won't be yours anymore."

Edited by lolasskicker.

Sorry Everly isn't in this one again. I didn't take into account that it might be boring. I should've spliced some different perspectives in these past two chapters (her's being one of them). And thanks to the reviewer(s) for the past few chapters. I appreciate your comments!

Stay cool, y'all. Figuratively and literally because, you know, it's starting to get warm out there. Unless you're from the southern hemisphere or somewhere generally colder. Then stay warm, but also keep your cool.