The Day Will Come When You Won't Be

Life As it Were

Fear.

That's all I felt as I was shoved to the ground along with the rest of the members of my group. My knees hit the rocks on the ground, but I was more focused on the man behind me with a gun to my head. I looked to my right at Rick, who in turn looked at me with a mixture of fear and sadness in his eyes.

We had been captured trying to get Maggie and the baby to Hilltop for treatment. She was sick and possibly dying. We knew who these men were, they were the Saviors. Retaliating for us killing their men.

There was a sense of dread throughout the entire forest, and fear radiated off of every one of us. There was only one way this could end and we all knew it. I think all of us in that moment were accepting our own death. I know I was.

I stared at the ground and thought about how after so many years of living through this hell on earth it could end like this. If there were things I could've done differently or even wanted to. I realized how most everything in life was trivial and I'd done nothing of much importance. 'What a waste' I internally thought and laughed at myself.

Everything sounded muffled through the monstrous heartbeats in my ears. I couldn't make out what anyone was saying, or if they were saying anything at all.

"Let's meet the man!" The man with the handlebar mustache shouted, pulling me out of my thoughts. He tapped on the door to the RV twice to signal that we were ready for whatever was coming next. My adrenaline picked up and I felt like I was on the verge of passing out from the blood rushing to my head.

A few moments later a man clad in a black leather jacket and red scarf, stepped out of the RV wielding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. He was intimidating.

"We pissin' our pants yet?" He asked with a shit eating grin on his face. He eyed all of us down the line. "Boy, do I have a feeling we're gettin' close. Yep. Gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" I kept my head down as he stalked over us, not wanting to see the horrors that awaited us.

"It's this one." I heard the Savior behind Rick tell their leader. "He's the guy."

I heard the rocks crackling beneath his boots as he sauntered over to stand in front of Rick, and then kneel down to eye level.

"Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent MY people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how NOT cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. Yes, you are." Rick was visibly shaking, that was the first time I'd seen him legitimately terrified since I'd met him. I wanted to reach out and hug him and tell him everything would be alright. But I knew that we would both know that was a lie. I looked back down at the rocks on the ground trying to focus on anything other than what was currently happening.

Negan continued, "You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very well may be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention. Give me your shit...or I will kill you. Today was career day. We invested a lot so you can know who I am and what I can do. YOU work for me now. You have shit you give it to me." Negan was walking down the line during his speech, pointing his bat at us as he spoke. I still refused to look at him, so when boots stopped in front of me I froze. I felt the cool end of the bat touch just under my chin, lifting my face up to look at him.

"That's your job." Negan smirked down at me making my stomach churn. His smile sent chills down my spine, he was enjoying this. Removing the bat from my chin he walked back down the line and continued, "Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not EVEN close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want." He said pointing his bat at all of us for emphasis.