Too Far Gone // D. Dixon

chapter thirty-six

"What? Was the joke that bad?" Negan laughs loudly at the group as he stares closely at Rick, who only looks down at the gravel beneath him.

Abraham was dead. His bloodied, brutalized body remained there, unmoving in front of all of them. Taunting them, telling every single one of them that they were next. It was only a matter of time.

"I'm gonna kill you..." Rick whispered, but Negan only sighed at the statement. Maren snapped her head in his direction, fear swelling in her chest. She hated this. She understood that Rick wanted her dad dead, but he was still her dad. He was still her flesh and blood, her only remaining family left in the world. She couldn't just discount that, even after being faced with the person he is now.

"What? I didn't quite catch that. You're gonna have to speak up." Negan smirked, bending down to talk to Rick face-to-face.

"Not today...not tomorrow...but I'm gonna kill you." Rick stated, looking directly into Negan's eyes for the first time.

Maren gulped, closing her eyes, as if that would somehow wake up her up from the nightmare she seemed to be stuck in. But when she opened her eyes again, she was still there. Watching her father, seeing the blood oozing from Abraham's mutilated corpse. She felt sick.

Negan's smirk quickly fades into a loud sigh as he starts grabbing Rick's axe, "I'll be right back. Maybe Rick will be with me. And if not, well, we can just turn these people inside out, won't we? I mean...the ones that are left."

In the meantime, all the group could do was remember.

Negan laughed, "Oh, my goodness! Look at this! You guys, look at my dirty girl! Sweetheart...Lay your eyes on this." Negan placed the bat in front of a sobbing Rosita. Maren felt her breath hitch in her throat, watching her dad be so nonchalant about having killed someone. She watched him through hazy eyes.

"Oh, damn. Were you...were you together? That sucks. But if you were, you should know there was a reason for all this. Red, and hell, he was, is, and will forever be red. He just took one or six or seven for the team! So take...a damn look. Take a damn look!" Negan swung his bat around everywhere, effectively landing a layer of blood on everyone. But it wasn't just blood, no, it was Abraham's blood.

Daryl grunted as he lunged at Negan, but not before his men stopped him. They had begun to beat him, making Maren scream.

"Daryl, no!" Maren cried out just wanting this to all be over, her voice yelling at Negan's men, "Fucking stop!" Negan looked at her and then back at Daryl. So that was his name...

"That? Oh, my! That...is a no-no. The whole thing, not one bit of that shit flies here. Do you want me to do it? Right here," Negan paused, "No, you don't kill them...not until you try a little. And anyway...that's not how it works. Now, I already told you people...first one's free, then what'd I say? I said I would shut that shit down! No exceptions. Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you've been dealing with...but I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important. I need you to know me. So...back to it."

Everyone gasped as the bat landed on Glenn. Maggie screamed, watching Glenn fall to the ground in pain. Glenn struggled to breathe as he gasped and groaned, but somehow managed to push himself back up.

"Buddy, you still there? I just don't know. It seems like you're trying to speak, but you just took a hell of a hit. I just popped your skull so hard, your eyeball just popped out, and it is gross as shit!" Negan joked as everyone looked away, not bearing to look at Glenn in his current state.

"...Maggie, I'll find you." Glenn says to her, through forced chokes. Maggie sobs, as the bat goes down again. And again. And again.

"Oh, hell...I can see this is hard on you guys. I am sorry, I truly am. But I did say it. No exceptions!"

The group cried, seeing Glenn's mutilated body laying just feet from them. This was too much. Seeing Glenn and Abraham being killed was so much to bear. They were their friends, their family...they'd spent so much time together on the road.

And now they were dead.

- TOO FAR GONE -

When Rick returned with Negan, it was morning.

Maren let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Rick. He was alive. She felt a tremendous amount of guilt for being happy about anything at a time like this, but she was grateful that he was still here. Negan hadn't killed him, that had left her with some tiny glimmer of hope.

Negan roughly dragged Rick back to the circle, "Here we are. Let me ask you something, Rick...do you even know what that little trip was about? Speak when you're spoken to!"

"Okay. Okay..." Rick said, trying to get back on his knees and steady himself.

Negan stood up again, "That trip was about the way that you looked at me. I wanted to change that. I wanted you to understand. But you're still looking at me the same damn way...like I shit in your scrambled eggs, and that's not gonna work. So...do I give you another chance?"

Rick began breathing raggedly through his reply, "Yeah...Yes."

"Okay, all right. And here it is...the grand-prize game. What you do next will decide whether your crap day becomes everyone's last crap day or just another crap day. Get some guns to the back of their heads."

The Saviors were quick on that order, the sounds of guns cocking began echoing through the woods. They were armed. Very armed.

Negan smiled, "Good. Now...level with their noses, so if you have to fire...it'll be a real mess," Negan looked at Carl again, "Kid...Right here." He motioned for Carl to move, and hesitantly he did.

"Dad, stop-" Maren pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

"You a southpaw?" Negan asked, but Carl didn't understand.

"Am I a what?" Carl asked him, not sure how to respond to that.

"You a lefty?" Negan clarified, to which Carl shook his head no, "Good. All right. Get down on the ground, kid, next to Daddy. Spread them wings." Negan proceeded to draw a line on Carl's arm, intending to have Rick cut it off.

"Dad, please-" She couldn't watch this happen.

"Don't do this..." Rick pleaded, looking at Carl's stoic face.

"Me?" Negan laughs, "I ain't doing shit. Rick, I want you to take your axe...cut your son's left arm off, right on that line. Now, I know...You're gonna have to process that for a second. That makes sense. Still, though, I'm gonna need you to do it, or all these people are gonna die. Then Carl dies, then the people back home die...and then you, eventually. I'm gonna keep you breathing for a few years, just so you can stew on it."

Michonne spoke up, tears evident in her eyes, "You...you don't have to do this. We understand."

"You understand...yeah. I'm not sure that Rick does," Negan went back to Rick, "I'm gonna need a clean cut right there on that line. Now, I know this is a screwed-up thing to ask, but it's gonna have to be like a salami slice...nothing messy, clean, 45 degrees...give us something to fold over. We got a great doctor. The kid'll be fine...Probably."

Sensing the severity of the impending situation, "Please don't..." Maren begged now, not crying but looking directly into Negan's eyes, "You do this...I'll never forgive you. Fucking ever."

Negan lets that sit for a moment, dropping the axe, "Rick. You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right? Speak when you're spoken to!" Rick shook, but still responded.

"Today was a productive damn day! Now, I hope, for all your sake...that you get it now...that you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you...that is over now," Negan paused again, glancing at Daryl, "Dwight...load him up. He's got guts...not a little bitch like someone I know. I like him. He's mine now. But you still want to try something? I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep or, better yet, I will bring him to you and have you do it for me."

"What?" Maren panicked, "You don't have to take Daryl! I'll do anything-"

Negan ignored her, "Welcome to a brand-new beginning, you sorry shits! I'm gonna leave you a truck. Keep it. Use it to cart all the crap you're gonna find me. We'll be back for our first offering in one week. Until then...ta-ta."

With that, Negan's men hopped in the trucks and threw Maren in the seat right next to Negan.