Man with the Bat || a Negan novel

Chapter 25: A Heartbeat's Just a Heartbeat Till it's Gone

The ride to Alexandria felt endless. I became so familiar with the low hum of the engine and vibration of the moving vehicle, I felt as if I was one with the motor vehicle. As we carried on, the lack of sleep from the night before caught up with me. I leaned my head on Negan's shoulder, placing my hand on his chest to steady myself from the reckless driving occurring. He soothingly ran his hand up and down my back, encouraging me to rest. Just as I was beginning to drift to sleep, the car lurched to a stop, myself jolting forward. Though, Negan had a tight grip on my waist and I luckily didn't hurt myself.

"What the fucking shit is this?" Negan snaps, my attention directing to the object of his anger. There before us was a large oak tree lying in the middle of the road. Completely blocking access to the road on.

Negan shimmied me off from his lap and I plopped in the spot where he had been sitting as he climbed out of the vehicle.

"You think they did this?" One of Negan's men questioned, earning a disgraceful look from Negan.

"Who the fuck else woulda done this shit?" He asked as if he was an idiot for assuming there was another reasoning for this.

As they all worked to sort this out and get the tree cleared off the road, I recognized I was alone with Eugene for the first time in weeks.

"You really think they did this?" I ask out of curiosity, I mean, sure they could've. But, why would they with Negan in charge of everything? Why would they purposefully piss him off?

"Wouldn't put it past them, bunch of hooligans of the sort. They might've articulated a plan to postpone our arrival, but they're sadly mistaken," Eugene scoffed as if it was such an idiotic thing for them to do. The way he said it though, such disgust in his tone, it almost sounded like he actually wasn't fan of our family anymore.

"What's up with you?" I ask of him, hoping for a typical Eugene response that involved a lot of translating what he said.

But instead, I just got a look.

"What do you mean by that?"

In all reality, I didn't really know. Eugene was just...off. He was still Eugene, but he had this aura surrounding him that he also wasn't.

At last, the tree was cleared and the engines roared on their way again. As we grew closer and clsoer to Alexandria, the fist in my stomach tightened more and more. Something bad was going to happen, I knew it, I could feel it. 

"Negan" I softly say, only loud enough for him to hear.

"Hmm?" he mutters, his eyes softening as they meet mine.

I feel my heart clench as I look in his eyes, how was it that just a simple stare could catch me so off guard?

"I-" I pause, stammering over my words, debating on how foolish they sounded, "I, I feel like something bad is going to happen."

His eyebrows furrow, confusion setting in, "Well of course something is going to happen baby, but be it bad, well who knows. Maybe, maybe not. But Rick started this fight and it needs to end before it even begins."

The fear in my eyes must have overwhelmingly evident, because his filled with a quiet amount as well.

"I promise you, nobody will hurt you" he assures me. But I wasn't afraid of that, I knew these people. I knew Rick and Carl and Daryl and they wouldn't hurt me, but what they wouldn't hesitate on is killing Negan.

At a time, I too would've stood with them, ready and rearing to end Negan's life. Now I just had to sit and pray that they didn't die and Negan didn't die.