Lurking About

Chapter Three

"Carl...Carl, put it down." Rick urged his son, who had a gun pointed at one of Negan's men as we entered. "No. He's taking all of our medicine. They said only half our stuff." the boy replied, his tone filled with anger as Negan stepped in. "Of course." Carl quickly aimed the gun at Negan, who's eyes widened in amusement. "Really, kid?" was his only response. "And you should go. Before you find out how dangerous we all are." Carl bit back, and I moved closer, getting ready to jump in front of him if things went south. Negan closed the gap between them, tilting his head to the side. "Well, pardon me, young man. Excuse the shit out of my goddamn French, but did you just threaten me? Look, I get threatening Davey here, but I can't have it. Not him, not me."
"Carl, just put it down." Rick repeated, only to have Negan hold up a hand. "Don't be rude, Rick. We are having a conversation here. Now, boy, where were we? Oh, yeah. Your giant, man-sized balls." Negan stated with a wide grin as he looked down at Carl. "No threatening us. Listen, I like you, so I don't want to go hard proving a point here-- you don't want that. I said half your shit, and half is what I say it is. I'm serious. Do you want me to prove how serious? Again?" I tensed up at his words, blood going cold as he let out a sharp exhale, scratching at his temple. "You know, Rick, this whole thing reminds me that you have a lot of guns. There's all the guns you took from my outpost when you wasted all my people with a shit-ton of your own guns, and I'm bettin' there's even more, which adds up to an absolute ass-load of guns, and as this little emotional outburst just made crystal clear I can't allow that.
They're all mine now. So tell me, Rick -- where are my guns?"
Olivia greeted us as the garage door opened slowly, the sound of the motor whirring making each second seem longer. "I figured you were coming." she stated softly, eyeing both Rick and Negan. "Show him where the guns are, Olivia." Rick ordered her softly, and she nodded. "The armory's inside." Negan tilted a bit as he looked her up and down. "You run the show here?" Olivia nodded once again, "I- I just keep track of it all; the rations, the guns." she answered, her voice shaky. Negan looked somewhat impressed by this. "Good...smart. Don't let me stop you. Take her out, boys-- show 'em the goods." A few of his men left with Olivia, and as Rick and I moved to follow he stepped in front of us. "Wait, wait, wait." he started to say, holding up a hand to stop Rick, who looked at him with a clenched jaw.
"While they're at it, I just want to point out to you that I'm not taking a scrap of your food. Slim pickin's in here. And I can't be the only one to notice that you got a fat lady in charge of keeping track of rations, can I?" I frowned in disgust as he spoke, hating how he talked about Olivia, desperately wishing I could punch him. "Either way, you starve to death, I don't get shit, so for now... you get to keep all the food. How 'bout that?" Rick looked over the man's shoulder, "What do you want me to say?" he simply asked, and Negan shrugged. "I don't know, Rick. How about a thank you. You think that might be in order? Or is that too much to ask?" he chuckled, giving me a quick wink. "I know we started off on the wrong foot, but what can I say? You forced my hand, Rick. But it's like I've been tryin' to tell you -- I'm a very reasonable man as long as you cooperate, so let me ask you a question, Rick.
Are you cooperating?"
Rick glared at him, and I could tell from where I was standing Rick was about to snap. "What's it look like?" Negan smirked, stepping back a bit. "Oh-ho-ho. I know what it looks like. But what I really want to know is if we're gonna find all the guns back there, or if maybe you got a few just waitin' for their moment, just like my Lucille. "They're all in there, to the best of my knowledge." Negan nodded, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I am countin' on that, Rick." he replied softly, looking over at me once more as he licked his lips.