"Hey, kid, hold up!"
Rhys' spine tingled as he came to a gradual stop, his breathing heavy. He could hear Negan sauntering up behind him. He didn't turn to face him on the narrow, country road, littered with walker corpses.
"You know we are meant to be doing this as a team," Negan told him. "Now, don't colour me wrong... I have zero issues letting you brain these guys left and right. It's badass, and I am totally here for it. But if I turn up back in the suburbs with your walker in tow... well, I just don't think sorry is gonna cut it."
Rhys didn't turn to look at him. He bent down to pull one of his knives from a rotten eye socket by his feet— his feet that were splattered with red... not unlike the rest of him.
"Goddamn," Negan groaned, looking around. "You enjoy killing these guys, or did they growl some shit that pissed you off?"
Rhys snatched up the spear he'd left lent against a rusty truck. He walked off the road in the direction the small herd had come from.
"Not much for trading war stories, huh?" Negan said, following behind him.
Rhys huffed.
Negan chuckled. "Okay... I get it."
They kept walking. The small groups of walkers they kept running into weren't anything too bad, and they'd walked about five miles, but with Negan in tow, it felt like a hundred.
"How 'bout I spy?" Negan suggested. "I'm good at that one."
Rhys could hear him tapping the broomstick he'd been allocated as a weapon against his palm as he walked behind.
"Okay," Negan hummed. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... F!"
Rhys stopped. He spun around to face Negan, whose grin quickly dropped.
"What are you doing?" Rhys asked, deadpan.
"I don't deal with awkward as fuck silences well," Negan answered. "Thought I'd—"
"Well, don't."
Rhys turned around and kept walking.
"It was fucking trees, by the way!" Negan called after him. "Gave you an easy one."
They came across a winding country lane with a small ruined tractor across its path. A fresh cluster of three dead ones was already closing in from just a little further up the path. Rhys was in all honestly exhausted. It was almost dark, and his blood-soaked face had been a perpetual grimace since they left Alexandria.
Negan waved at the walkers with an amused smirk.
Rhys pointed at one before striding his way to the other two on the far side of the tractor as he unclasped a few of the knives on his thigh.
Negan opened his mouth but seemed to think it not worth the breath to argue.
Rhys tossed one of the knives from his leg.
THWIP
The first walker collapsed.
He thrusted his spear up into the second's chin.
The second walker dropped dead.
"Holy shit balls," Negan laughed. "Badass!"
Rhys pointed again, silently, to the walker coming down Negan's side of the road.
Negan rolled his tired eyes, swiping out the feet of the walker with his broomstick, then bringing a heavy boot down on its head once it hit the ground.
Rhys looked away for that bit— never forgetting how talented Negan was at that kind of brutality.
"Augh," Negan groaned, grimacing down at his boot as he wiped it in the grass.
Then he saw something by the tractor's tire, his teeth showing as his lips peeled back into a slick smile.
He plucked a black crowbar from the weeds, feeling the weight in his hands.
"Oh, lookie here..."
"Not happening," Rhys said, thinking of the one Maggie almost used to beat his skull with.
"Come on," Negan chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that God put this here for a reason. To help me, help you..."
Rhys couldn't help the teeth grinding in his skull. He thought about how disorganised Alpha had made them that Gabriel and Aaron would actually let Negan out here with just him.
Oh how he would have jumped at an opportunity like this a few years ago...
"Put it down," Rhys ordered.
"Look, we all know this broomstick ain't cuttin' it."
Rhys continued to glare.
Negan sighed, dropping the crowbar with a thud.
"Listen," he said, his voice more serious. "I am trying to make things better. Everything I did. I am not that guy that you think—"
"Three more," Rhys told him, pointing at the tractor. "They're on your side."
Negan's face scowled, but he softened it, raising two thumbs up. "Right, okay. I am on it, Boss."
Negan didn't struggle taking them out.
It was that time of year when the sun didn't care to stay out past its allotted time. The darkness seemed to fall on them fast. And as it did, they kept taking out walkers that seemed to be funnelling through this spot.
On the last few walkers, both of them seemed to struggle a little. Rhys barely raised his spear in time to take out the last in a group of four.
Negan wrestled with his last, grabbing the crowbar from the ground and slamming it against the walker's noggin. It hit the ground. Negan slammed the crowbar down on its head to an explosion of red slop.
Rhys' skin started to itch, as his chest suddenly tightened.
"Phew," Negan breathed down at the walker, scratching his arm. "Did you see—?"
"I'm done," Rhys said sharply. "Time to go back."
Negan frowned. "Well, that is the best news I've heard all damn day. But don't you mean we're done?"
Rhys shrugged, wiping his spear tip against the ground. "Stay out here and die. Go back to Alexandria. I don't care..."
"Jesus Christ, kid."
Rhys' eyes narrowed.
"Enough of the goddamn stern looks!" Negan hissed, his face sour.
Rhys just stared at him, not showing a lick of emotion in his green eyes.
"Yell at me," Negan said. "Be pissed at me. Knock a few teeth out if it makes you feel better! Goddamn, just stop with the creepy fucking death stares!"
Rhys took a step closer to Negan.
There was so much he could say.
So much he knew he wanted to.
It took him a moment to swallow it all, then he shook his head and turned away from the man.
Negan laughed. "Oh, there he was... I saw him for a second. That little psycho I was expecting to meet out here."
"Out here?"
"Away from the walls," Negan hummed on a gruff dragging note. "Here in the woods where no one can hold you back. Away from the prying eyes of Alexandria."
"Would you just shut the fuck up for once in your life?"
Woah-hoa, cool it on the attitude, little man. I'm just sayin'—"
"Don't call me that!" Rhys barked suddenly, turning back around and squaring up to Negan. "And maybe you should just stop saying."
Negan chuckled, looking down at Rhys, standing a significant few feet taller him.
"If you think that's all it's gonna take from Carl's little slice of eye candy to freak me out..."
Rhys shoved Negan. Negan shoved him back. Rhys' eyes went wide with shock. Maybe something else. He drew his knife, and Negan jumped a step back and raised his hands. It was like a dance between the two of them. A tango where Negan was leading and Rhys' fuse was burning short.
"Okay, kid," Negan cooed. "Cool it."
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Rhys yelled.
"No, no, I'm not," Negan told him, slowly lowering his hands. "Just trying to get you to pull that stick out your ass and drop the bullshit persona of a guy that doesn't give a fuck. A little honesty goes a long way."
"Oh, you want honesty?" Rhys laughed in disbelief. "What, Negan? You want me to tell you that you ripped my fucking family apart before I even met you?! That you're the reason I'm alone?"
Negan raised an eyebrow, clicking his tongue. "I thought Sash was like a sister to you..."
"Don't act like you know us. Maggie left me. She left, and she took the only brother I have left. If you want me to admit that cutting you open and watching you bleed in the dirt for what you did to her... to Glenn... to me... that I don't wonder if it wouldn't make all the fucking pain over the last few years go away... I can tell you that, Negan. But it doesn't bring back any of them."
The small and satisfied smile on Negan's face from getting a rise out of Rhys slowly melted away. "I did what I had to do back then."
Rhys' throat tightened. "What did you just say?"
Negan's face was stern.
"No," Rhys growled. "Tell me why you had to take him away from us!"
"Okay..." Negan croaked calmly. "One simple fact. One truth that kept my people going. If you don't protect what belongs to you, then sooner or later it belongs to someone else. That goes for your land, your wallet, your home, your country... everything. It is your job as a man to protect it. That's the story of America, Limey. The story of the goddamn world. And ain't nothin' changing it. Not you, not me, nobody. So you can bitch at me about how your momma's gone... your brother... your daddy. Truth is, we all could've done better."
Rhys stepped closer. He could smell the blood on Negan's shirt. The faint scent of sweat and pine soap.
"Some of us more than others, no?" Rhys whispered. "Shit, I've still got Sasha... Carl. Where were you when your wife died? I've heard the stories."
Rhys felt satisfaction soaking in deep inside his chest when Negan's face twisted like a wounded animal.
"Careful, kid."
"Naming a bat after her?" Rhys smirked. "She would hate you now."
Negan chuckled suddenly. "Is this the way that it's gonna end up... you and me? Best man wins kinda shit? Today, tomorrow... whenever. Is that what you want?"
Rhys grimaced at him, and Negan seemed to take his answer from that.
"I get it, Rhys," he said slowly. "I get it."
Then Negan pointed over Rhys' shoulder.
"Might wanna look out, by the way..."
Rhys spun on the spot, but the walker was already on top of him. He managed to raise his knee between them and keep the teeth back from his neck when they got got dangerously close as the two crashed to the ground. Green moss seemed to shed itself from walker's skull, covering Rhys' face as he pushed against the corpse with as much strength as he had left.
THAKK!
Rhys was saved from the walker as it was launched off him with one strong blow from Negan's crowbar. He finished the job by crushing its head with the heavy metal.
KRAKK!
SPLAUGG!
Rhys spluttered as a thick layer of blood hit his face.
"Fuck," Rhys gasped, his eyes itching something awful as he pressed his palm against them.
"Don't touch 'em!" Rhys heard Negan bark, feeling his hands on him, pulling him to his feet. "Gotta get somewhere safe to wash it out."
"Get off!" Rhys howled, but Negan's grip around his waist held tight as they started to move forward and Rhys vision got blurrier.
Rhys could hear more growls getting closer.
"Stop your whining before you get both our asses munched on."
Rhys felt the temperature change as he was pulled up some creaky, wooden steps and pushed into some kind of room. He heard a door slam.
"Negan?" Rhys hissed, keeping his voice soft when he heard the distant growls of the walkers they'd escaped.
Rhys felt the wet carpet under his feet. His eyes were still burning. He went to rub them but hesitated. He squinted instead, trying to see further than two feet ahead of him.
He tried moving forward in the unfamiliar building. A side table or something similar jabbed him in the side, and a lamp or some other glass ornament tumbled and shattered. The walkers outside seemed to get closer after that.
Rhys found a wall and pressed his back to it.
He slid down until he was sat on the wet carpet he'd felt under his boots, knife clutched between his hands. He quickly grabbed the canteen on his hip and poured the contents over his eyes, reaching for the hem of his undershirt to wipe them dry.
He couldn't see any better, but the stinging seemed to calm down.
Rhys heard a crash in the back of the building. It sounded small.
"Kid?"
Rhys sighed, almost relieved. "Here," he whispered sharply.
"You alright?" It sounded like Negan was standing directly over him now.
"My eyes..." Rhys hissed. "I can't see."
He didn't want to sound scared, but he was and couldn't stop it from showing.
"The flowers that were growing out of those walkers is hogweed."
Rhys made an annoyed grunting sound.
"Nasty shit. Causes rashes... blindness."
"Will I be able to see again?"
"Depends. You wash your eyes out?"
Rhys nodded.
"Good," Negan said. "Use all your water?"
He nodded again.
"Parched?" Negan asked. "Want some of mine?"
Rhys was, but he shook his head.
"At least use it on your eyes," Negan said. "Last thing you want in this world is to go all double-Gabriel."
Rhys stumbled to his feet. "Fine."
Rhys didn't want help, but Negan didn't give him much choice when he roughly took under his arm and helped him to a seat. He explained that were in a trailer home, and that the living room seemed like the safest spot.
"Tilt your head up," Negan instructed.
Rhys begrudgingly did, wincing as water ran over his sore eyes.
He felt Negan's hand touch his face, and he jolted back as far as the La-Z-Boy would let him.
"Calm down, princess," Negan chuckled. "You wanna go blind?"
Rhys went still, letting Negan wipe the water from his face with some kind of rough cloth.
Negan stood up when he was done. Rhys heard him sit down nearby, a few feet away maybe.
"What are you doing?" Rhys grunted, pulling himself up. "We need to get back. Siddiq and that new guy can fix—"
"We'll wait till morning," Negan said. "They ain't gonna do nothing for you that we haven't already."
Rhys slumped back into his seat, realising he didn't have much choice right now.
"And it's Dante," Negan told him. "The new doctor. He can be a bit of a creep, but seems like an okay guy."
"How'd you know?" Rhys asked. "How'd you know about the hogweed?"
"Grew up in woods like these," Negan told him.
Rhys tried to focus on the smell of rot to distract himself from his itchy eyes.
It didn't work.
"You ever get it in your eyes?"
"Never that stupid," Negan chuckled.
"Then how—"
"Had a dog go blind from it once."
Rhys went quiet. He realised talking to Negan was a worse distraction than the rot.
"Where'd you grow up?" Negan asked.
"I'm sure you've dragged that out of Carl over the years..."
Negan groaned, shuffling in his seat like he was getting comfy.
"Nah," he said finally, in a tone like it annoyed him. "You were off limits down there. Only reason I'd bring you up is if I wanted Carl to storm off in a huff."
"Right."
"I guess you were my biggest backer down in that cell... the only way I could get under Carl's skin if he was being a dick. Worked on Mikey, too, sometimes."
Rhys folded his arms.
Negan let out a long grating laugh.
"Okay, fine, asshole," Negan snickered. "Remain a mystery. What about other people. What's Sasha up to now?"
"Why do you care?"
"Kid, I haven't held a conversation with many more than Gabe, Carl, and Mikey-boy in the last however many years... throw me a ball, here."
Rhys sighed, giving up. "She's Hilltop's leader now."
Negan groaned in a way that quickly made Rhys uncomfortable. "Of course she is! That girl— sorry... woman— was such a damn badass all those years ago. Shit, I bet she's a sharper edge than good ol' side-eye Michonne."
Rhys shook his head.
"She single?" Negan asked.
Rhys grimaced. "Dude, just shut the fuck up."
"Okay, okay," Negan laughed. "How about you?"
"Yeah, I'm taken, thanks."
"I mean before," Negan hummed. "A pretty boy like you, bouncing between Kingdom and Hilltop like I've been told you did. Must of been a piece of ass that kept you going."
"Do we have to talk?"
"Shit, I'm just curious about you, kid. Come on, shoot the shit with me. I don't even know which way you swing. Chicks and dicks? Or is it just sausage party for you? It's all cool, just curious."
There was a very stale silence.
"Sorry," Negan chuckled. "Guess I'm just glad we're not on our way to see those skin freaks."
Rhys lifted his head a little. "You don't approve?"
"Shit," Negan sighed. Rhys could hear him rubbing a hand against his stubble. "They're insane. I mean wearing the skins... It's smart. Always on the move... I get it. But beating on little girls? That lead bitch sounds like she's asking for her skull to get bashed in —sorry."
Rhys sighed.
"I had a friend called Mateo," Rhys said, again trying to distract himself from the burning in his eyes. "We had a moment a long time ago... we talked about it. Realised there wasn't really anything there."
"Why's that?"
"Guess I was still holding out hope Alexandria would change their minds about the lockdown."
"Well, fuck, if that's not the most romantic thing I've heard."
"Shut up and let me get some sleep, asshole. You're taking first watch."
"Yes, sir."
Rhys settled back into the chair, but Negan spoke again.
"What was with the silent treatment? Felt like some fourth grade shit."
Rhys considered not answering. He didn't for a while, and Negan didn't push it.
"Maggie couldn't get you out of her head," Rhys said. "I've decided just to not make room for you."
In the morning the sun came up, and Rhys could see it.
Negan was still on watch, leaning against the window frame with his eyes fixed to something past the glass.
He must have heard Rhys because he asked how his eyes were.
"I can see," Rhys said.
"Good."
"Anything happen?" Rhys yawned, not having gotten that much sleep.
Negan shook his head.
"We headin' back?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned his head to look at him.
Rhys didn't look any less bitter about his existence, but he nodded.
"What you said the other night," Negan said suddenly. "About you still deciding if seeing my guts will help you sleep..."
Rhys just stared at him with his new found sight.
Negan shook his head, turning back to the window. "Never mind."