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The gates were a chipping maroon, tall and tilting as the rumbling trucks pushed through the gravel. The black pick up hurled toward the entrance, pebbles and dust swirling through the daytime sultry air. Vada rested her chin against her palm, gazing through the grimy window and up at the guard tower. The rays from the sun blocked the face of who sat with a gun, stiff in posture watching the enemy barrel onto their property. From the baggy black and white flannel with vivid blue jeans, scrawny teenage body, she could make out who it was right away.
Vada's eyes flickered to the man beside her, his hands gripped to the wheel and his attention set forward. Licking her lips, she placed her fingers on the handle and pushed it halfway open before feeling a hand clutch to her shoulder. She spun her head around, hair flicking over her shoulder as she furrowed her brow.
"Stay with me," he grumbled before pushing his own door open and ambling out. Vada followed in his tracks and slammed the door shut, placing a hand over her eye to make out Carl's face perched on the top of the wall. His jaw was set tightly and he followed every movement Negan made with his one eye, glowering and swallowing his hatred to walk down and pull open the gates. Vada stayed with her shoulders slumped behind the man in the leather jacket, waiting patiently for the gates to open and reveal her younger brother.
The red divider slid, leaving no more than a few steel bars parting the siblings. Vada smiled at her brother from behind Negan, but he paid her nearly no attention, not even a twitch of the lips. The young boy emitted an animalistic growl as he clutched the rusted bars, glaring at the man and his accomplices.
"Carl, open up." Vada narrowed her eyes and squinted, shuffling beside Negan. The boy only gripped harder onto the bars and locked his eyes to the man, glare dripping of venom and words he didn't dare speak aloud.
"You're early. Again." Carl grumbled, popping his jaw out. Negan bit his lip harshly and raised the dangling, cruel weapon from his fingertips.
"We're here to pick up what you failed to get us last time. Better be good." Negan grinned, popping his lips. The boy tightened his jaw and kept his glare set on Negan, attention not flickering to his sister once. Negan's expression faltered after a few moments of silence and he thinned his lips. "Open the fuck up, Carl or," he raised Lucille, imitating a sinister popping noise. "Well, I'm sure you've caught on by now."
Carl hesitantly gripped the bars tighter and pulled them open, his face scrunching from the strenuous weight. Vada hurried in and flicked her head around, searching for sight of anybody she knew; especially her father. She spun her neck back around and set her eyes on the back of the boy's long, shoulder length and unkempt hair.
"Carl, where's dad?" She asked hurriedly, eyes darting from place to place. Carl gave a slight shrug of the shoulders without turning back to look at her. She slumped and clenched her jaw, shuffling on her feet.
