Too Far Gone // D. Dixon

chapter forty-nine

Rick Grimes couldn't bring himself to move.

"We had an agreement." Rick spat, walking carefully to Negan. His voice shook slightly, his anger prominent in both his stance and his demeanor. Negan only smiled, they had a lot to talk about.

"Rick..." Negan smiled, "Look, everybody, it's Rick!"

Rick sighed at that, looking around at his people. At least, the ones who were left.

"Your people are making me lose my voice doing all this yelling. Rick, how about a 'thank you'?" Negan paused, seeing Rick's state, "I know we started this relationship with me beating the holy shit out of your friends, and because of that we're never gonna sit around and braid each other's hair or share our deepest darkest secrets, but how about a little credit? I just bent over backwards to show you how reasonable I am."

Rick stood there, not knowing how to respond. Rick mentally scowled, He wanted a thank you? For killing two more people? No fucking way. Negan was a lot of things, but he added delusional to the list.

"Your kid?" Negan scoffed, pointing at Carl, "He hid in one of my trucks and machine gunned a bunch of my men down, and I brought him home, safe and sound. And I fed him spaghetti!"

Rick glanced at Carl. Carl's face revealed the truth, he had done that. Was Carl sorry? No. Was he feeling guilty about Olivia? Yes. Maybe if hadn't of done that, she'd still be alive.

"Another one of your people, well, he wanted me to kill you and put him in charge. I took him out...for you," Negan glanced back at Rosita, "And another one here...she shot Lucille, trying to kill me just now, so I gave you one less mouth to feed."

Rick fought every urge, every natural instinct in his body to fight Negan, but he retained that. He'd have to save that energy for later, they had to keep this going for a while. He'd wait for his moment, the right moment, hoping that it would be sooner rather than later.

"Your shit's waiting for you at the gate..." Rick spat, "Just go."

"Sure thing, Rick..." Negan smiled, looking at Maren now, "Maren, you heard him. Let's get our shit and go."

Maren's face remained pissed, a face that Negan had become all too familiar with. Maren looked back at her group as she walked alongside her father, her face conveying all the things her mouth couldn't.

I'll come back for all of you. I promise.

- TOO FAR GONE -

Negan had taken Eugene, after discovering that he had been the one to make the bullets. Negan had treated Eugene with the same respect he had come to treat Daryl with, although slightly different in nature.

Alas, it had been another two weeks since that day in Alexandria.

What happened that day had weighed heavily in Maren's mind on repeat; her thoughts were constantly going over her short-lived reunion with her family. She hated herself for not fighting harder to stay, but Negan had already made him mind up. She knew from experience that Negan was not one to change his mind after being so furious. She figured this was no different, so she put her time into more productive things; like keeping a close eye on Eugene.

Eugene had been put in charge of defensive technology at the Sanctuary, as Negan knew making their own bullets would make their reign last for a long time. Maren was terrified at that point, realizing that if Eugene went through with making mass amounts of ammunition for the Saviors, she would never get to leave. She'd never get to see her family again. She'd never get to be with Daryl back in Alexandria again.

That pain, the hole that had been missing ever since that day, was left lingering and throbbing in her chest. She hated to admit it out loud, but she hated this. The feeling of being stuck; being completely and utterly powerless.