Too Good to be Bad | Negan |

64 - How it can be

Max is a genius. Ever since he stepped into the room where they put the children, he put his own fears aside and has done everything within his power to make the kids more comfortable. He has assured them none of them will get hurt and right now he has them distracted by a guessing game where he thinks of an animal and the kids need to find out what it is.

I try to put on a front myself, but my thoughts are constantly on Derek. What will they do to him in that cell? And I keep thinking about our friends at the Sanctuary too. The whole place got flooded with walkers. What if Alex, Kat and Nikolai didn't get to a safe place? What about Jody? Her daughter, Sam, is here with us. I'm happy to see she's comfortably distracted by Max's game. But Jody must be freaking out, not having her with her. And my thoughts are on Negan too. Did they get him? Is he dead? But that is one worry I won't be voicing out loud here.

Priya and me are sitting in a corner of the room. She's holding Karishma and I've got Carmen on my lap. Despite my fears, Carmen and Miguel do seem to take comfort out of me being here. She doesn't want to compete in the game though, and stays curled up in my arms, watching the game from a distance.

'God, I hope they're all okay', Priya says. Her mind must be on the same things as mine.

'I'm sure they are', I say, trying to sound more confident than I am.

'It's a bit much, isn't it?' Priya says, pointing her gaze at one of Rick's guards, hovering in the corner on the other side of the room. 'Do they think we're going to bust out of here with a group of children?'

There's two guards in the room and another in the hallway. And I noticed two more in front of the house when they brought us in here.

'You can't be too careful, I suppose', I sigh. This whole thing is crazy. How did Kieran trying to steal from the outpost lead to playing guessing games with children while being held hostage in an American suburb? Not for the first time, I curse him for being so ridiculously stupid. But I curse myself too. I should have just knocked him out and dragged him back to the villa. On the other hand, Priya may not have been able to deliver the baby so safely and who knows what else could have happened to us on the road? And if we hadn't been at the Sanctuary, I never would have met Derek. I sigh. I hope Kieran's all right. I have no idea if these people attacked the outposts too.

As we're watching the guard, someone knocks on the door to the living room and the guard goes to open it. The woman with the dreads comes in and takes the guard's place. She gives us a small nod before she leans against the wall. We give her a small nod back before we turn our attention back to our conversation.

'Do you think he's really dead?' Priya asks in a hushed tone. 'Negan?'

'I don't know', I sigh. 'I saw him fall off the platform. I'm not sure he had the time to get away before the place got swarmed with walkers.'

'Why were you there anyway?'

'Just coincidence. I was delivering laundry in that hallway when the shots went off and I sneaked into the war room to get a closer look. Probably shouldn't have done that because when they came back in Simon thought I had something to do with it and almost choked me to death.'

I run my finger lightly along my bruised neck. It hurts a bit when I swallow. Priya follows my finger with her eyes and shakes her head in disbelieve.

'What the hell was he thinking?'

'I don't know... Apparently I was also on his suspect list for letting Daryl go. If I didn't know any better I'd almost think he doesn't like me very much.'

Priya snorts, but then turns her attention to Karishma who suddenly starts to cry.

'What is it baby, are you hungry? I just fed you, didn't I?' Priya rocks the baby gently in her arms to calm her down. Carmen reaches out her hand and carefully strokes the baby's head.