The Girl Next Door • Carl Grimes

Chapter 95: Words of Wisdom

Grace

We were about to open the front door and go see what was happening outside. Olivia was already standing on the porch, watching. Then a noise came from the back of the house, like someone had just come in.

"Hello?" I called out.

"Guys? What's going on?" I heard Beth's voice emerge.

"Oh- it's just you." I let out a sigh of relief.

"Negan is here. I- I'll tell you all about it later. But for now we gotta go outside. Something is happening with him and Spencer." I tried to explain quickly to Beth, "Carl, just go put J in her crib. She shouldn't be out there in case something happens." I told him.

I put away the final dishes as Carl went upstairs with Judith. Beth stood next to me, resting a protective hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" She looked at me, her eyes full of worry.

"I'm fine." I answered quickly, "just gotta get through today." I sighed.

Carl came back down the stairs and the three of us walked onto the porch. Olivia was standing by the stairs, Beth standing next to her. I stood between Beth and Carl. We all just stayed there, silently watching as they played pool. They were playing pool and drinking their liquor as if everything was normal.

Then, Spencer started to talk crap about Rick. He was calling Rick a bad leader. The things that he was saying were making me furious. Everyone was gathered around, watching their interaction take place. I couldn't hear them well, but I got the gist of it. Spencer was an asshole. He blamed his family's deaths on us, our group. As if they weren't murdered or killed by walkers. It was pure bullshit.

From what I was hearing, it sounded like Negan wasn't digging on Spencer too much. Even he could tell that Spencer was a whiny little trust fund baby. My jaw dropped when Spencer had the audacity to say that he'd be a better leader. Like he knew jack-shit about how to lead us.

"Who does he think he is? He's gonna make this worse for us." I said quietly under his breath to Carl.

"I don't know, but it's not going to end well." Carl replied, grabbing my hand instinctively.

"So what? You just proposing that I kill Rick for you and you get to become the leader?" Negan narrowed his eyes at Spencer.

"It's funny, because even though Rick hates me, he's actually out there, finding shit for me. While you're in here, hiding away from him so you can ask me to kill him. You know what? Why not just do it yourself?" Negan said as he got closer to Spencer.

I could sense the anger Carl was feeling right now by the way they were both talking about his dad. "It's okay..." I tried to calm him.

"You know what I think? You just ain't got the guts." Negan said as he took one step closer towards Spencer.

Then he plunged his knife into Spencer's stomach. I couldn't believe my eyes. He slashed his knife to the side, opening Spencer up entirely. He fell slowly to the ground, holding his exposed organs in his hands. It was disgusting.

Olivia gasped loudly beside us, but Beth, Carl, and I stayed quiet. It sucked that someone else had to die, but Spencer was a potential threat. Still, he was a human. One of our people. It wasn't right.

Everyone stood and watched in disbelief. Nobody moved, nobody said anything. Negan did all the talking.

"Oh boy, I was just so damn wrong! You do have guts. There they are, allllll over the concrete." Negan mocked Spencer as he lay dying on the ground.