Chapter Seven

How Villains Are Made

I remembered everything. Every. Single. Thing. I needed Negan's help and I was worried he wouldn't give it to me if he knew that I remembered all of it. Or that I knew about his bullshit conversation with Dwight two days before I had fallen off the building.

I knew we had been planning to take down Brendan and that I had been making the bullets to do that with. I remembered running from Brendan's guards to the roof of the lab when I realized he was coming for me. But more importantly, I remembered watching my family get slaughtered and Negan showing up too late to stop it.

My breath caught in my throat as I willed my legs to not give out and just keep fucking climbing the stairs. I had already run through half of the compound, trying to duck and weave the man trying to drag me to Brendan and I felt like my lungs were going to burst at any given moment.

He had chased me into the lab, hot on my ass as I tried to make it to the backdoor until another guard had burst through, diverting me up three flights of stairs to the roof.

"You fucking bitch," I heard one of the guards puff out behind me, too close for comfort.

Reaching the top I slammed into the door to the roof with everything I had left in me. A sharp pain went straight to my shoulder. I scrambled through the now open door quickly before shutting it again behind me. I looked around frantically. Nothing. There was fucking nothing up here that I could use to keep this door shut.

The decision was made in seconds.

I grabbed the gun that I had strapped to my thigh, under my dress.

An eerie calm settled over me. It was always going to end this way.

You or them, Piper.

I backed away from the door seconds before it swung open, leaving Brendan's guards falling through. They caught their balance and two sets of eyes locked on mine. I could see the fear ripple across the pair as they looked down the barrel of my gun. Two quick pulls of the trigger and two bodies dropped before me.

"Oh, Piiiiiperrrrrr," I heard a singsong voice call out, "Did you just take out another of my men?"

I closed my eyes. There was no way I was getting out of this alive. I didn't know who told him what I was planning, but he knew. He fucking knew. Everything I had worked so hard to accomplish was ripped from the tips of my fingers.

Breathe. Everything is fine. I just need a Plan B.

"Two of them, actually. Is there something I can help you with, Brendan? I'm a little busy up here," I returned over the side of the roof, being careful to keep myself out of his line of sight.

"Why don't you take a look down here, babe? I have some friends that were desperate to see you. I know you don't like to keep people waiting," he said, keeping his voice cheery.

No, no, no, nononononononononono.

I slid closer to the edge of the roof, peering over carefully.

My heart stopped, mid beat.

Mom, dad, and Colt were kneeling on the pavement below, hands tied behind their backs. Mom's hair was a mess and she had a look of devastation on her face as she looked up at me. Dad had blood dripping from his nose and his face was hard as steel, his eyes staring straight ahead. But Colt, Colt looked murderous. His eyes stayed trained on Brendan, who was standing a few feet in front of them, watching his every move.

"Brendan," I began, before being cut off suddenly.

"Oh, babe. I'm going to go ahead and stop you right there. You've been a very, very bad girl, Piper. Don't you think? You had one job, Piper. One fucking job. And you couldn't even handle that," he stated, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

I knew Brendan well enough at this point to know that he was going to launch into a monologue that no one wanted to hear.

"But that's not even the worst part, is it Piper?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow up at me, "No, it's not. You had to go and fuck around with that cocky asshole from The Sactuary."

I saw his face change at the mention of Negan. He was losing his calm, his face changing to one of pure rage.

"Like I don't give you enough here, Piper? Like I don't provide for you enough? I have done every-fucking-thing for you and these three useless fucks! I gave you a home, but food on your fucking table, kept you alive! But no, you had to go and spread your legs for that fucking cretin!" His face turned red as he bellowed the last part at me.

His hand jerked to his side as he unholstered his gun, swinging to point it directly at my father as his eyes stayed trained on me. I could see his chest rising rapidly and his hand shaking slightly.

My dads eyes finally looked up to find mine. His mouth opened slightly as he looked at me, causing my heart to pound in my chest.

His lips started moving.

"I love you," he mouthed up at me quickly, before glancing at mom and Colt and whispering something.

"You know what happens now, right, babe? You have to be punished," Brendan said, a large grin overtaking his face, as the rage stayed in his eyes.

Before I could scream, or move, or bargain, or fucking think, he pulled the trigger.

The air left my body as blood splattered from the bullet hole in my fathers head. My mom screamed, a scream that would be embedded in my brain for the rest of my life. Colt watched in horror as dad's body dropped on the pavement.

My mothers sobs filled the air as I just stared at my dad. My sweet, funny, tough father who had taught me to ride a bike and put enough weight behind a right hook to knock a grown man out. The man who lived for dad jokes and making my mom happy. I couldn't take my eyes off of his body as tears made their way down my face.

"This isn't enough punishment though, is it Piper?" he tsked, as he slowly turned to face my mom, drawing my eyes from my father, "Because you, my dear girl, were planning to fucking kill me. And that is an inexcusable offense. No, you need to fully understand the extent to which your actions have upset me, Piper."

"Brendan, please don't. Please, I'll do anything, I'll do anything!" I screamed, lurching the top half of my body over the side of the building, my gun still clutched in my right hand.

"Oh, babe. You should have had that attitude the whole time, don't you think?" He chuckled and shook his head. "You wanna say goodbye to mommy dearest, Piper?"

"Please don't do this. I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry, Brendan," I cried, tears streaming down my face.

I saw his eyes land on the gun that I still had in my hand. He signaled behind his back with his free hand and one of his guards stepped forward, placing a gun to the back of Colt's head.

"Drop the gun, Piper. Now," He ordered.

I released it immediately and it fell, landing on the ground below with a loud thud.

"Good job. Now say goodbye to mom, Piper. You're wasting time," he commanded, his gun staying trained on my mom's forehead.

I don't know when it happened, but she was no longer crying. Her shoulders were squared and there was a hardness in her eyes as she looked up at Brendan. Her head whipped to the side, eyes locking on Colt.

She whispered something to him, something I couldn't hear, but I watched as his shoulders dropped and tears trailed down his cheek as he responded.

I screamed, begged Brendan to let them go, to take me instead. Made promises of never going against him again if he would just let them go, but he just laughed.

"Baby, baby, look at me," my mom spoke, raising her voice so I could hear her. My eyes landed on hers again as tears clouded my vision. I could see the acceptance in her face.

"Don't ever forget how much I love you, Piper. How much your father loved you," she said, staring into my eyes. She glanced up at Brendan for a brief second before raising her eyes back mine, "Burn them to the fucking ground, my fearless girl."

"Mom - "

Her body fell as the shot rang. My legs gave out and I dropped to my knees, my head falling to the rough concrete ledge around the roof. I screamed. And screamed and screamed and screamed.

I heard loud footsteps behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to care as large hands grabbed me and pulled me up, restraining me.

"I got her, boss," I heard the voice call from behind me.

"Go ahead and bring her down, Gordo. I think she needs to be down here so we can discuss her brother's fate," I heard Brendan yell back, laughing as he spoke.

And then literal hell broke loose. Gunfire sounded from every direction as screams filled the air. My eyes sprang open as I jerked my head up.

I blinked rapidly to clear the tears from my eyes. A sea of men in dark clothing stormed down the street, shooting at everything that moved. I stood frozen for a second, still locked in the hands of the guard. Recognition hit me. They were Saviors. And Negan was in the middle of it all, Lucille in one hand, gun in the other. Blood covered his face and a menacing grin graced his features as he shot at the guards charging his men and swinging Lucille in a deafening crunch when someone got too close.

I frantically threw my eyes back to Colt, who was watching everything unfold. As if he felt me, his eyes met mine.

Within seconds, Negan and his men were coming up on Brendan and Colt.

He's going to get us out of here. Negan is going to get us out of here.

My eyes fell on Brendan. Shock was etched into his features and a thin sheen of sweat coated his forehead.

Without another thought, I threw my head back as hard as I could into the face of the guard behind me. I heard a crunch as my head connected with his nose. He screamed and his hands let go as he brought them up to his face. I whirled around, using every bit of strength in my body to swing my leg up and make contact with the side of his head. His skull snapped to the side from the force of my foot and I landed an immediate punch to his face.

I didn't watch as his body hit the ground. I scrambled for the gun on his hip, hastily pulling it from his waistband before twirling around towards the street.

The moment my eyes locked with Colt's again, I heard a shot ring out. Although bullets were flying everywhere, this shot sounded louder to me, clearer. And in what felt like slow motion, I watched as the proud smile fell from Colt's lips and a vacancy in his features replaced it.

The world stopped. I heard nothing. I felt nothing. I watched Colt's body slump forward and hit the ground.

It had taken less than ten minutes for my entire world to come to a screeching halt. Less than ten minutes for the three people I loved the most to die, as I sat by helplessly and did nothing but beg Brendan to spare them. Less than ten minutes for the fight in my body to completely dissipate.

I hauled myself up onto the brick ledge of the roof, my eyes never leaving Colt's body.

"Wildflower! Wildflower!" I heard someone scream.

My eyes slowly made their way across my family's bodies.

"Piper, god damn it, look at me!"

I heard the desperate voice command.

I looked towards the sound and my eyes fell on Negan's. He looked terrified. Bullets were flying around him, blood covered the street, people were running everywhere. But he was staring at me.

The numbness had settled deep in my soul, taking root and letting a darkness fall over my entire being.

"Piper! Piper!" He was desperately yelling and he started to move through the carnage again, but kept his eyes locked on me.

I turned my head back to my family. They were all so close together, almost touching, as blood pooled around their bodies.

My name was still being screamed, but it sounded like a prayer falling from the lips of the man who had made me feel so much in such a short amount of time.

I closed my eyes for a moment. I sent a prayer of my own to whoever it was that listened, asking to please make sure that my family's afterlife or next life or whatever came next, was nothing but happiness, and that we found each other again.

My eyes slowly opened as another desperate plea filled the air. I looked to Negan, who had become frozen six feet from the corpses of my family. He was staring at me, the horror I had seen moments ago had morphed into a frantic, panicked expression.

My mind wandered for a brief second, remembering his easy laugh when I said something funny or the way his hands felt on my back. The glint in his eye when I snapped back at something stupid he said or the fascination that painted his face as he watched me assemble bullets or fix a gun.

I jerked back to the present, letting a peaceful smile pull up my lips as I looked at him. While it might have all been a lie designed to get me to work for him, he had still been one of the best parts of my life the last few months.

Pain flashed across his face and I heard him scream my name once more before I let my eyes close and my body free fall through the air.

Scalding hot water beat against me as I sat curled on the floor of the shower.

I had wanted to die. And while that thought still hadn't left the spot in my brain that it had sunk its claws into, hearing that Brendan was still alive had caused an anger to rise in my body that shadowed everything else.

I had a new goal and a plan was already forming in my brain. With or without the help of Negan, I would kill Brendan. I would take pleasure in making his final moments on this miserable planet unbearable.

The last moment I'd had with Negan on that rooftop drifted across my mind again. His terror, his fear that his future weapons maker was about to end her life. At the time, I'd let what I knew to be true go, and just focused on the positives of our… situationship. But now that I wasn't about to throw myself from a building, anger coursed through me at how much he had played with my emotions to get me to agree to leave with him once Brendan was nothing but a memory.

A different, more irrational anger boiled up in me. He had been down on the ground before Colt died. He had been within firing distance of Brendan. He could have stopped him, could have protected Colt, but he'd been too busy staring at his cash cow.

I pulled myself from the shower floor, shaking myself. My newfound rage was my only driving force right now and I was determined to let it lead me where I needed to go.

I shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, quickly drying myself off and throwing on clothes I had yanked out of Negan's dresser. Which were just a pair of his sweats and another of his white t-shirts.

The clothes were entirely too big, but I made do. Drawing the strings on the sweats as tight as I could, I tied it into a bow. I found a hair tie in a drawer and tied the back of the shirt up, tucking the leftover fabric up into the shirt.

I glanced in the mirror. The sweats hung low on my hips and the shirt now fit to my body like a second second, only baggy around my arms. A small sliver of skin was visible around the top of the pants. I pushed my damp hair over my shoulder and exited the bathroom.

Negan was walking towards the table in the corner of the room, carrying two trays with food. He looked up at me and his steps faltered for a second as he took me in.

"Don't open your mouth. I just want food," I muttered, knowing he was going to say something that made me want to kick him in the teeth.

I made my way to the table, sitting down with an irritated force and pulling my legs under me and crossing them. I looked up and Negan was still standing there, staring at me, not making any move to set the trays down.

I let out an annoyed groan.

"You look real fucking silly right now and we're not exactly on good terms, Negan. So withholding food is only going to make me plot your death in various creative ways. Please, set the tray down before I become absolutely unhinged," I demanded, pointing to the table in front of me.

Finally a smile broke out over his face as he chuckled to himself and slid the trays to the table. He took the seat across from me as I glanced over the tray. Lasagna, breadsticks, a small salad, and another small piece of chocolate cake.

I set in on the cake immediately, shoveling it into my mouth like a heathen, before starting on my other food. Negan ate quietly across from me, looking relaxed and carefree. It made me want to stab him with my fork.

"Do you have a gym here?" I asked him.

He glanced up at me, raising that stupid eyebrow.

"We do," he answered, watching me as he took a bite of his breadstick.

"Cool. I want to go tomorrow morning, if you can have one of your minions point me in that direction. And I need somewhere to work. I'll make a list of things that I need, if you can have someone go search for them. I know the spots they'd be most likely to find everything, so I can put that on there too." I said, not even looking up at him.

"You gonna say please or are we just demanding shit out of each other now?" He asked, irritation sounding in his voice.

"Oh, shove it up your ass, Negan," I responded, standing from the table and glaring at him.

My resolve to hide from him that I knew what his plan was this entire time breaking almost immediately. He stood up so fast his chair toppled over and hit the ground behind him.

"I will not be saying please for a fucking thing. I think, after everything you've done, the least you could do to make up for it would be to get me what I fucking ask for!"

I was yelling. I was yelling and shaking with anger and I didn't care for a single second that this giant man could probably snap me like a twig. I needed to hurt someone. I needed someone to hurt like I was hurting. The rational part of my brain told me that this wasn't fair, that I needed to calm down and think about this for a second, but I locked that bitch back up and kept staring daggers at the giant man in front of me.

He was around the table in an instant, the anger rolling off him palpable as his hand wrapped around my throat and he pushed me against the wall again. The same place he'd kissed me the night prior. Which only served to piss me off even more. So, I did what any logical person would do at that moment. I swung my hand back and slapped the fuck out of him.

His head jerked to the left with the force of the hit, before he slowly turned his face back to mine.

I felt the blood drain from my face, having the decency to regret that decision for a second. That was probably a mistake. That was a huge fucking mistake, but I wasn't going to say that. I pasted an angry look back on face and stared up at him with defiance in my eyes.

"Why. The fuck. Would. You. Do. That." He ground out, his fingers tightening slightly around my neck.

"Because fuck you, that's why! You fucking lied to me, Negan. I followed you that day, you know? When you were sneaking back out of the gates to go home? You left your radio and I was coming to give it back to you. But I heard you talking to Dwight. I'm just a nice piece of ass that's attached to a brilliant brain, right? Right, Negan?" I kept my voice an even tone as I attempted to control the all-consuming anger that had taken up residence within me after remembering everything. "I didn't mean anything, right? Because you were just trying to keep me happy so I'd willingly follow you here and work for you. Right, Negan?"

His eyes went wide and he had the common sense to look a little ashamed. I put all my force into pushing him off of me, not caring for a second when he stumbled back. I advanced, all instinct of self preservation departing my body.

"Isn't that why you stood on the pavement beside my dead family and yelled for me, Negan? Looked up at me and begged me not to do anything stupid? So you wouldn't have to find someone else to produce ammo for your unbearable group of assholes?" I was still yelling, but Negan just kept his eyes locked on mine and didn't move an inch, even as I started shoving him.

I couldn't control it. I couldn't stop the anger or the grief or the sadness that weighed down my chest.

"You just wanted me for what I can do. You wasted time though, Negan. I was so desperate to get my family away from that psychopath that I would have just agreed to whatever you wanted me to in order to make that happen, as long as you helped me. So all of that extra shit that you laid on so thick? No fucking point! Because I was using you too. I needed you to get my family out of that fucking place. Everything between us was bullshit on both sides."

I felt tears slide down my cheeks, making Negan's stoic face go blurry for a second.

"What did you think, Negan? That I meant that shit? I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I wouldn't be dumb enough to fall for shit from a man that is just like Brendan."

The moment I compared Negan to Brendan, I felt him shut down completely. His face morphed into something I didn't recognize and he wouldn't look at me.

"Your room is ready for you. There's a Savior outside the door. They'll take you to it. I'll have someone collect you in the morning and show you the gym and show you where I'll be setting you up to work." He turned on his heel and left the room, heading into his office.

I stood there for at least five minutes, breathing and staring at the door he'd just left through. He hadn't denied anything, hadn't explained anything away or tried to calm me down. Hadn't even tried to hurt me back.

I wiped my face and fixed my posture. I breezed through the bedroom door, noticing Negan at his desk from the corner of my eye. I didn't look at him head on, didn't say anything, just continued marching until I was opening the front door and stepping into the hallway. I slammed the door shut with a vindictive force behind me.

"Hey. I'm Fat Joey. You ready?" I heard a nervous voice say. I glanced up to find an overweight man with a tentative smile and dark shaggy hair.

"Yeah, thanks," I muttered, following him down the hall.