Ties In The Torn World

Caged Negotiations

June's pov: 

I lead Rick's group out of the room and as soon as I make the turn to get away from the room where my dad is in, I open a door and lead them inside.

in the room there's one steel table with a couple metal chairs around. once they are all in the room I take a peek outside at the halls to check for saviors before stepping inside of the room with them.

"why did you do that" one of the guys with hair that covered his eyes and a leather vest spoke up.

"I didn't feel like watching your brains pop out" I say simply. 

"look, you wont be here forever, just until you come to your senses and realize its better to make the deal then die" I threaten. just as I'm about to leave, I make eye contact with a young boy in a flannel. he's wearing the same hat as the one who attacked me. 

his eye looks at mine in recognition and before I can think too deeply on it, I leave the room. 

Carl's pov:

as June left the room, the feeling of her staring at me remained. 

"she's gonna be a problem" my dad wiped the sweat off his brow. it was no longer cold in here, no draft to dry your sweat.

no, it was hotter then a summer day in this cell. 

"you guys heard what she said.." Rosita whispered "they're not giving Eugene back"

"yeah they are, or I'll beat in Negan's face with his own damn bat" Abraham shouted in anger.

"it'll be hard to do that when his daughters around" Daryl spoke up, coming closer to the group as we huddled around the metal table.

"do you guys even understand how hard it is to have such light footsteps, to stay so still in the dark, to control your breathing like that?" he lectured, everyone stayed silent.

"you try to attack Negan, you got one hell of a monster coming right at you" 

monster? she sure as hell was one. 

"what are we going to do about her, she's a danger to us all" Michonne said.

"if she wanted to terrorize us, she would've came to every single one of Negan's runs" Aaron testified.

"I mean come on Rick, she didn't even know your name, which means Negan doesn't talk about you to her at all" 

"or does he?" Glenn asked "she was acting dumb when I asked her about the circuit board, she could've been acting dumb about you" he said, pointing to my dad.

"we're giving this girl too much credit" Abraham waved his hand in dismissal "we're being terrified over a teenager" he said and no one had anything else to say. it's like he knocked some realization into us.

"he's right" my dad agreed "we were unfocused today, the fact there were no saviors made us put down our guard and made us susceptible to her tricks" 

"next time, we wont be so stupid" I pledged, but something made those words come out like a lie.

"the way to get Eugene back is to hit Negan right where it hurts" Rosita said, her determination shone through her words "he wants to use Eugene as a bargaining chip? what happeneds when we turn the stakes on him?".

"what do you mean?" my dad questioned.

"we all know he couldn't care less for Eugene, he's doing this to get something out of us, but we all know he cares for June" Abraham speaks up, understanding Rosita's idea. 

"are you suggesting--" Glenn begins.

"I'm suggesting that we neutralize the situation in the best way possible" Abraham says.

"neutralizing the situation means kidnapping her?" Carol's voice seemed uneasy.

"it's not technically kidnapping, we're just doing the same thing he did to us" he says. 

I look at everyone, they're debating it.

"I don't hate the idea but how do you suggest we kidnap the same girl who fooled all eight of us" my dad crosses his arms. 

"she's just a girl, that's all she is" he says, seemingly angry that June actually managed to fool us but he doesn't want to admit it.

"as you said, we were unfocused, won't happen again" Rosita puts a hand on her hip. 

my dad thinks about it, his eyes scanning all of ours. 

"alright then" he says slowly

"lets do it".