Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

8- That night in the clearing

"Guess we're lucky I didn't put Dwight on the fence after all," Negan smirked as he turned his gaze to Dwight. "You're gonna find them for me."

Dwight tilted his head slightly. "I don't know where to start," he tried to hide the uncertainty in his voice.

"That's not my problem." He leaned back into his chair and sighed heavily.

Alden leaned forward before he spoke up, "they took out the satellite outpost, right? And Dwight ran into one of them in the woods. That means they can't be too far. Pretty sure they're rural, otherwise we would have run into them already." He held a short pause. "Just take a map and roster it up. Then search the map one square at a time."

Being helpful and proactive kept Negan's gaze off him. Made sure he wouldn't get punished for something he had nothing to do with again.

"and that's why Al is my logistics guy," Negan laughed. "Dwight, take a couple of men and a map. Then you're going to follow Al's plan to a tee." He noticed Dwight didn't spring to action immediately. He slammed his fist on the table. "Now!"

He stood up without saying a word. There was an empty and defeated look on his face. Simon waited till Dwight was out the door before he said something, "are we sure we can trust him?" His question was clearly aimed towards Negan.

"He'll prove himself by fixing his mess. Dwight is a loyal soldier," he replied. "Now, onto bigger things." He paused. "We're gonna need to scare them shitless. And for that, Al, I'm gonna need your help."

Alden cocked a brow. It was well established that he didn't fight and wouldn't have anything to do with it. Negan wouldn't ask that of him, he knew better.

Negan smiled ominously. "I'm gonna need you to put up roadblocks as soon as we know where they reside. I need you to herd them to where I want them to go like the sheep they are." He leaned in on the table and slammed Lucille on the table; another scaring tactic. "Can you do that?"

"It's going to take some time and planning, but yes I can do that," he replied. He was simply too afraid to tell Negan no.

Of course Alden didn't want to play a part in getting people killed. If it were up to him he would have nothing to do with it. If he could be passive, he would. But he knew better than to oppose Negan, which meant he had to play a part in death. He didn't know much about this group they were after, mostly because he didn't want to. He never wanted to humanize them because that would make his life a lot harder and make him hate himself more.

"I'm gonna take out the biggest baddest motherfucker they have," Negan grinned. "Gonna serve them right for killing my men."

Alden didn't know what to say. He didn't want more people to die. "Yes," he finally replied after a couple of seconds because he had to say something.

Simon slammed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it, Al," he taunted jokingly. Or as close to jokingly as the creep could get.

"Is the intel we have on them any good? I mean about their location." Alden choice to ignore Simon.

"We got it from the leader of the Hilltop Colony," Simon shot back, clearly annoyed that Alden dared to question him. "It ain't exact, but it gives you a well enough area to work with."

He sighed and nodded again. "I'll make it work."

"Get planning then," Negan insisted.

"Yes, I will." He stood up and took one of the area maps with him and headed towards his room.

On his way back he halted in the staircase. It was the only silent and dark place he could take a moment to be on his own and think. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. He rolled his head back against the rough wall and sighed deeply. He just needed a minute to clear his head.