ELEANOR . NEGAN

115.

The sun was blaring through the grated windows and lightened up the bus, a ragged stop that left people jolting up in their seats. It didn't help that each and every person had a bag over their heads and an ache in their neck.

The metal of the bus was echoing throughout the empty space, guards on the outside clashing it with bats. This is giving me a fucking headache. Negan shot his head up and looked about.

"Is everyone okay?" Ezekiel asked, standing up.

Negan wasn't really there. He didn't know what the fuck was going on, or where he was. Or who he was with. "One of the trucks is missing." He furrowed his brows and twisted his head, catching onto Annie's concerned face. "Negan?"

"Where's—"

"Eleanor?" She shrugged. "Is she okay? I haven't seen her since we all got split up."

Negan looked around once more. He was with Maya, he can remember that. "Where is she?"

"Elle? I just told you—"

"No, no, Maya. Where is Maya?"

Annie had to pause a second, her brows furrowed tightly together as she looked around confused. "Maya?" Annie bit at her lip and mumbled the name again along her lips. It was familiar, she just couldn't pin point how. She blamed her memory loss on her pregnancy and waited for Negan to answer.

"Elle's kid." He retorted. "Fuck, she- she's my responsibility right now." Negan dragged a hand down his face and frowned. "Is she on this bus?"

Annie frowned. "No, I'm sorry."

"Shit." He widened his eyes and then squinted before looking out the gaps of the windows. "The truck that's missing? Means Gabriel, Maggie and Rosita got out."

"I was in and out. We stopped for a few minutes. There was a crash." Annie looked at him. "You think that was them?"

He nodded and looked over at the bus again. Some people were still dozed off, one of them being Frank. Typical. Somewhere in him though he was glad the guy was alive. "It fits. They either bailed or..."

"Or what?"

Negan didn't answer her. He kept his wandering mind connected to his mouth shut and turned to the front of the bus. The doors squeaked open and a man who looked freshly shaved and clean showed himself. Shit. Negan reached over and punched Frank in the rib — he shot up with a groan, and then wide eyes, before smiling in relief that Annie was here.

"Good morning and welcome." Any emotion Frank, Negan or Annie once held was now wiped. "Today is the first day of a new beginning. The world works when everyone knows their place. Your place is at the bottom."

Negan tried not to roll his eyes. He knew this speech all too well.

"All of the resources that we use to bring the old work back into the new and sustain it? All starts at places like this." Annie shuffled uncomfortably and place a hand to her stomach and Frank kept his eyes zoned in on her. "You should take comfort in knowing that good people will benefit from your labour here."

"That is your redemption. That is your salvation." Don't care, where the fuck is Elle and Maya? "Your children are safe and being attended to. Play by the rules, you get to see them again. In order to do that, you must work as one. Here, nobody has a name because we have no need for them. I'm not gonna tell you mine, and you will not address each other by yours."