Fighting to Survive: The 3rd installment to Daring to Feel

Chapter 30: Bite. Chew. Swallow. Repeat.

As we drive, something strange comes into view from up ahead, "Daryl." Sasha says first, not sure we see what we see.

"Ya, I see." He tells her.

Abraham snarks back, "what in the holy shit?"

Daryl pulls up to the crowd of men stopped in the middle of the road and waits with his foot on the break.

The four of us stare at them, willing them to move for us. The man in the middle gestures for us to come out while leaning against his bike "why don't you come on out, join us on the road." He spits to the side, "if you wanna resist, try something, it's a choice I guess. But we will end your asses." He tells us, as if he knows something, "split you right in two, straight through the sinus'. So come on." He gestures again with his hand at us. I look at Daryl, who looks at me then the other two. I grab a hold of his leg once and the two men open the door before both getting out. Sasha and I following them. I stand next to Daryl, Sasha next to Abraham, holding my breath to see where this goes, "now that's great" he tells us, looking over at one of his buddies, "doing well right out of the gate. Now step two, hand over your weapons." He gestures with that hand again and I bite my tongue wanting to go over there and bite those fingers off.

"Why should we?" Daryl snarls back at him.

"Well they're not yours." He claims.

"What?" I say out loud, hearing Abraham asking the same thing.

The man answers, "see" he steps a foot forward, "your weapons, your truck, the fuel in your truck, you got mints in your glove compartment, you got porn underneath the seat, change in the seats, hell the seats themselves, the floor mats, your maps. Little stash of emergency napkins you got there in the console. None of those things are yours." He tells us. I can feel my blood boiling inside of me, knowing the others I'm with must be feeling the same thing.

Sasha asks lowly, her own rage showing in the tone of her question, "whose are they?"

He takes two steps forward, "your property, now belongs, to Negan." He eyes bore into all of ours as he comes off as serious as he can. Silence is what follows on our end, not sure what this guy us telling us, "and if you can get your hands on a tanker, you're people our person wants to know." He points at our truck, "so let's get those sidearms, shall we?" He walks up to Daryl first, "right now."

Daryl grabs his out of his waistband and hands it over, "thank you" the man says sarcastically to him. Moving to me. I slide the bow off my arm and give it to him, "thank you" he says to me and then again to Sasha as she gives him her weapon. He moves to Abraham, who stares him down, "if you have to eat shit, best not to nibble. Bite, chew, swallow, repeat." He gives him his version of advice, "it goes quicker." Abraham hands his gun over, leaving us defenseless against them, "thank you."

"Who are you people?" I ask as he walks back towards the group of men still pointing weapons at us.

"I get the curiosity, but we have questions ourselves." He responds to my question, "and we'll be the ones asking them while we drive you back to wherever it is you call home." He turns back to us, "take a gander at where you hang your hats. First, though, your shit. What have you got for us?"

"Yeah, you just took it." Daryl spits at him.

"Come on." He pleads annoyed at us, "I mean, can we not, okay? There's more. There is always more." He turns around for a second, "T" He says to a man, "take my man to the back of the truck, start inside the back bumper, work your way to the front."

The man 'T' gets off his bike and walks over to us as the other guy gets back on to his. I look to Daryl who just stares at the man coming towards him, "go" he directs and they move to the back of the truck.

"Bite, chew, swallow, repeat." The man says again to us.

Abraham calls towards him, "who's Negan?"

"Ding, dong- Hell's bells." He points the gun towards Abraham, "you see, usually we introduce ourselves by just popping one of you right off the bat. But you seem like reasonable people. I mean, you're sportin' dress blues, for Christ's sake." He laughs a bit, "and, like I said, we're gonna drive you back to where you were. I mean, do you know how awkward it is carpooling with someone whose friend or friends you've just killed? Oof." He rolls his eyes, clearly enjoying being sarcastic, "but I told you not to ask any questions. And then what does this ginger do? So that's that. I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me." He cocks the gun to shoot him.

"Wait!" Sasha yelps, causing him to stop. She exhales slowly, "wait. You don't have to do this."

"Shut up." Abraham mutters to her, now that he pulled a second gun up to point at her. At this point I hear something behind me, a struggle of some kind, but I don't turn around. I know better then to tip off the people in front of us that Daryl may be fighting the man 'T' he's back there with. I wait it out.

"I am talking to the man." I hear Sasha mutter back to Abraham. I keep my eyes trained on the guns in front of them.

"No, you're not." He says back to her, keeping the guns up, "can't you be quiet, like her." He eyes me for a moment then back to them. He keeps his arms steady while glaring at them. He lowers the guns down with a long exhale, "I'm not gonna kill you." The three of us exhale as well, relieved at this conclusion. But only a moment passes before he speaks up again, "wait, wait. You know what?" He pauses, then smirks just a little "yes, I am."

There's an explosion in front of us, pushing me backwards as the heat courses through my body and my head and body hit the ground. I slowly sit up, staring through squinted eyes at what is left of the men and the bikes that were just before us. Daryl comes out from behind the truck and offers me a hand to help me up, the rocket launcher slung across his arm, "son of a bitch was tougher than he looked." He says turning to look at 'T' on the ground behind the truck.

"Did he cut you?" Sasha asks, noticing the cut on his back.

"A little." He says back, "what a bunch of assholes."

I put a towel against his back, putting pressure on the wound, "let's get you fixed up at home." I say with a smile, releaved at the thought of this day finally ending.

"Yes, ma'am." Daryl utters back, leaning down to peck me on the lips before opening the door and helping me up.

Before Abraham gets in, I hear him snarl back at the pieces of human scattered around, "nibble on that."