Dead Man Walking

lvii.

Hunter thought he had it all. Well, all that he could have in an apocalypse. He has Rick, Carl, and Judith. He has a home, he has a girlfriend. He has a family, though they weren't blood they were family. And right now, as he was on his knees looking at his family, holding onto Maggie's hand. He knew he was going to lose it all. He was panicking.

    "All right! We've got a full boat," Simon smiles at the group on their knees, "Let's meet the man."

    Simon leaned against the RV and knocked on the door. His eyes shifted to the door and a man in a leather jacket stepped out with a grin across his face, "Pissing our pants yet?"

    As the men stepped into the light, Hunter saw a baseball bat with barbwire around it over his shoulder, "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one of you pricks is the leader?"

    "They've got two. These ones," Simon pointed to the back of Rick and Hunter's heads.

    "Hi. You're Rick, right?" Negan asks smiling down at Rick before his eyes shifted to Hunter, "Hunter? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men."

    Hunter feels Maggie squeeze his hand tightly, "Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes."

    "You see, Rick, Hunter, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order," Negan begins to explain to the brothers, "And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you guys are stupid, which you very well may be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention."

    Hunter tensed up as he held the bat right to his head, his breath hitched and he felt Maggie's grip tighten, "Give me your shit...or I will kill you."

    Negan stood up straight with a grin that Hunter wanted to wipe clean off, "Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You guys ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later."

    Negan walked down the line, "This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door, you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us? And we will knock it down. You understand?"

    Negan leaned down and cupped his ear when they didn't answer, "What? No answer? You don't really think you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you?"

    Negan chuckles at the silence, "I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that, you're gonna pay. So, now...I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you."

    Negan swung his bad around his fingers, "But first, I would like to know which one of you is the real leader. Now you say, it's both, and I'm sure that's true. But I want to know who came up with the plan to kill my people."

    "It was me," Hunter gritted through his teeth. If anyone had to die, he wanted it to be him. He could feel Rick's eyes on him but it was his plan, "It was my plan. I lead them there. I did it."