A Galway Runner and a Kentucky Cop

81

The Key
Part Two

Rick whistled as they made their way through the darkness that was under the upper floors of the building.
The only other sound aside from the dead was their footsteps and Y/n hoped she had hit Negan and they would find him dead in a puddle of blood and could end this thing, they could try mercy some other time with who everyone wanted to try them next.
Rick pulls out a lighter, giving them very little light in the darkness, the sounds of the dead could be heard far off.
"You still alive?" Rick asks
"I'm a goddamn cat." Negan answers
"Did I at least hit ye?" Y/n raises an eyebrow
"Nope, sorry, sweetheart."
She sighs in disappointment, glancing behind them when the growls grow closer. She shares a look with Rick as he flicks the lighter closed.
There's a thud ahead of them where Negan's voice had came from and they start that way.
"So, where's your people?" Rick questions "They should be here by now. We didn't get that far."
"Oh, they're coming." Negan says
"This is where you die..." Rick trails off, there's another thud followed by growling "in the dark, all alone."
"What the hell is your problem, Rick? Huh? If you aren't the most stubborn know-it-all prick I've ever crossed dicks with..."
Rick moves faster as Negan keeps talking, leading them right towards him.
"Why didn't you just let me save you, Rick? I'm good at it. I saved everybody in the Sanctuary, the Outpost, Hilltop, Kingdom--I saved them all. Their kids... can grow up safe."
Y/n rolls her eyes at the ego of this man and his god complex, she wasn't sure how he could actually believe what was coming out of his mouth.
"They didn't lose one after we took over. All those people were doing just fine before Rick Grimes!" Negan rants.
Rick pulls at his lighter and holds it up to some planks that were covering a door, the word EATERS painted on it, muffled growls and groans coming from behind it, Rick closes the lighter.
Their heads snap to the side hearing a loud clang, followed by Negan's voice.
"You've not only failed your kids and wife, you failed your people, Rick. Kind of makes me sick just thinking about it."
Rick backs away from the door, scanning the area around them.
"All that wasted potential. But, see, there is still hope for you." Negan pauses for a long moment "A one-time deal that I will make for your badass son, someone that I actually respect. You get Hilltop, Kingdom, Alexandria to fall in line, and our arrangement is back in place, and you are forgiven, Rick. I will lower my take from fifty to twenty-five percent--a lousy twenty-five percent. But you, you and the badass-Irish-babe got to come work for me.
"Janitorial to start--not bad at all. Your people, they get to live like seventy-five percent kings! Now, that is an epic freakin' Christmas-Hanukah-Kwanzaa gift all rolled up into one, considering what a thorn in my ass cheek you've all been."
They could tell by his voice he was just getting closer and closer to them, giving them time to prepare their attack.
Y/n keeps her gun up as they round a corner, not seeing any walkers or Negan didn't make her untense as she followed Rick further into the darkness.
She freezes when her foot hits something, she recognized the sound of the object as it rolled across the floor.
Leaning down she picks up the blood covered bat, gut twisting at the sight of it, at the feel of it in her hand.
"Rick..." She whispers, holding up Lucille when he looked at her.
"Now, why would I trust any deal offered to me after what you did to Jadis' people?" Rick asks
"The hell are you talking about?" Negan responds after a slight pause
"The Scavengers. You killed them--all of them. A whole community just wiped out."
It's quiet for a long moment.
"Is that how you 'save' people? Still just us... even though plenty of your people must've seen you go. See--See, it's times like this, you realize who your true friends are. No one's coming for you."
Y/n flinches hearing another walker thud to the ground, she was ready to get out of the basement before they were overrun.
Rick chuckles darkly as he takes the bat from her hand, he rests it on his shoulder.
"What you have... oh, that was never gonna last." Rick says as he walks around a corner "Sooner or later, you were gonna meet someone like me. You can't save me or my people or even yours. You can't save anyone, because you don't care about anyone. You use people to bring food... to sleep with you..." Rick grunts as he grabs some gasoline that was on the floor "to protect you. The only thing you care about..." He pours the gas over the bat "is this bat. You can't even save that. I'll make you a deal. I'll let you kiss her goodbye."
"Don't you touch her!" Negan roars
Rick lights a match and holds it to the bat, light filling the area as the bat catches on fire "Come and get her." He uses the flaming bat to break down the boards keeping the dead in.
Hearing screaming Y/n turns just in time to see Negan before he tackled her and Rick into the room.