sin and sawdust

21

*very small edit on the last chapter to fit with this one! Seems these characters haven't decided what they do and don't know yet*

"Is that a fucking tank?!"

Eve jumped as Negan's shout next to her raided her brain like an airhorn.

"It is! It's a goddamn tank!"

Negan slapped his thigh and Eve bit back an unexpected smile, he was like a kid on Christmas morning, it was quite amusing and... sweet?

The two vans stopped, he launched himself from the cab and stood to survey the wrecked building from a distance, Lucille swinging loosely by his side.

"Well, shit," he announced with a grin, "What an absolute fucking shit hole this place is!"

He motioned for Eve and Simon to join him as he made his way up the road that led to the building, swinging his bat at the dead ones that were shuffling around the grassed areas.

Eve swallowed down the lump of dread in her throat. There couldn't be anyone alive here, which didn't bode well for any supplies, the place was literally blown to pieces, the dead were lurking at every turn from what she could see and she was starting to wonder if she should have just taken her chances at the hospital instead.

"A tank," Negan's voice was full of amused awe, "You gotta wonder just where one might acquire one of those these days, ya know?"

Eve was starting to get nervous, this happy, jokey tone Negan had was laced with something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on and she was usually excellent at reading between the lines. To most, he would just sound like he was genuinely fascinated by the appearance of such an odd and unusual vehicle but the undertone wasn't adding up. She really didn't feel safe around him, not one bit.

Bet you'd feel alright under him...

Eve rolled her eyes at herself, she hated these snippets of inappropriate thoughts. She could honestly say that physically Negan did nothing but scare the shit out of her but apparently her subconscious was skipping through fields holding Negan's hand off into the sunset. Eve shook her head and continued to slay the dead where they stood, following the two men towards a chain gate where yet more dead ones were gathered.

The trio stood at the fence, assessing the damage, the risk and the dead.

"Reckon we can get through, boss?" Simon asked, craning his neck to get a rough count of the dead ones in the yard.

Negan didn't answer, instead he started running Lucille along the chain link fence, the barbed wire tinkling against the metal catching the attention of the walking corpses and luring them towards him.

He turned and whistled loudly at the waiting van, beckoning for them to join and turned back to face the yard. Without a word, he pulled a knife and plunged it into the head of the nearest dead one against the fence and let the body slump, moving onto the next and the next.

Eve followed suit quickly, the rhythmic punch, squelch and thud as the dead dropped to ground pulling her into a kind of trance. She didn't even hear Laura call her name, until she put her hand on her shoulder and Eve swung round, eyes wide, knife gripped in her fist. Laura stepped back, her hands up in front of her signalling peace and Eve dropped her hands to her side.

Negan tilted his head, but didn't address her, he just turned to his crew and started barking out his orders.

"In two's, in, around and back here in 20. Radios are for emergencies not fucking gossip."

Eve stepped towards Laura to pair off but Simon was already calling her away,

"Let's go blondie,"

Laura shrugged and followed Simon into the yard, dodging the dead, the undead, the dead dead and whatever fucking other kind of dead there was knocking around this place.

"You sure are on edge, sweetheart," Negan said, simply, no hint of sarcasm or anything else.

Eve bit the inside of her cheek as she thought about her answer, the truth? No. Maybe.

"I... knew someone here," she said simply and she walked off into the yard, Negan followed her in silence.

"Thought you'd have been used to death by now," he remarked casually a few minutes later, "Not exactly uncommon these days,"

Eve shrugged and started to pull on a door to the prison, finding it quite wedged and she rattled it in frustration. Negan leaned over her and pushed on it, swinging it open with ease.

"You're welcome," the amusement in his voice ringing in the air as Eve stomped her way into the building, embarrassed.

"You always this much fun?" He teased and Eve stopped walking, turning to face him. Time for honesty.

"You scare the fuck out of me. I don't know what you want from me and it puts me at a disadvantage. You know I'd been to the veterinary hospital, I don't know what you wanted to gain by sending me there." The words wooshed from Eve's mouth in a tumble and she quickly clamped her lips together to stop anymore coming out.

"Why?" Negan shot back, "What have I done for you to fear me? Apart from patch you up, give you a place to stay, feed you, give you clothes, weapons and a goddamn job. And as for the fucking hospital? How the hell would I know you'd been there before? You sound paranoid, darling and I suggest you knock it the fuck off. I don't appreciate the accusation and the insinuation that I'm a bad fucking guy, cause in case you've forgotten,  you'd be long dead if it wasn't for me and my group,"

Negan's earlier teasing demeanour was long gone, replaced by a fervent anger that blew Eve away and she dropped her chin to the ground.

"Don't you do that," Negan's voice was levelled but mad, " You put your goddamn head up and look me in the eye, you don't pull that coy little woman shit with me,"

Eve's head snapped back at his words,

"What do you..."

Negan's radio crackled to life, interrupting her and Simon's voice came over the waves.

"Boss man, you're gonna wanna see this,"

It was Negan's turn to stomp off, leaving Eve wondering what the hell she had started.