Candy Shop - Negan -

Chapter 1

Whenever Alexis felt the last bits of humanity vanish from inside her, she chose to put the old, worn out saddle on the back of her horse and simply ride out all on her own. 

People called her stupid for choosing loneliness on her rides. They all thought that it was only a matter of time until someone would shoot, or even worse, caught her. But at least they still wanted her to come back. 

Though, what they all feared never happened so far. Alexis knew the forest that surrounded her community inside out and her horse did as well. Still, sometimes she even asked herself why she had to put distance between her and her home from time to time, she was a leader after all. She chose all of this. 

But then, when she felt the steady rhythm of the chestnut gelding's hooves, her own breath and the slight breeze in her hair, she knew why. For a moment, it didn't feel like the apocalypse anymore. She was just a girl on her horse, enjoying a nice ride in the untouched nature. 

Then again, it was all an act. The sweet, innocent Alexis that loved horses for her whole life died on the day walkers started to eat people. Sometimes she was still holding to the last pieces of her former self, but at least she knew that it wasn't her true self anymore. 

The bat that was leaned against her leather clad shoulder reminded her of it. When she saw the walker stumbling into the clearing she was just passing, the melancholy was pushed the edge of her mind. Her left hand held the reins, while her right clutched the long, smooth bat tightly and then the muscles in her legs tensed, giving her horse the sign to quicken his pace into canter. Bravely, he ran towards the creature, completely trusting his rider. 

When the bat crushed into the already rotten head of the walker, Alexis felt this warm feeling running through her body and a savage smile spread on her face. She liked crushing heads with her bat. Of course she knew that it was sick, but she couldn't help it. This feeling of power, it was amazing. 

Her head came back into focus when she noticed that the walker was completely on its own, which was a sign that it could have been a survivor. That could mean that it had something useful on it. She stopped and jumped down from her horse to quickly check for anything. 

At first, she found a small knife on it, which was already more than the average walker carried with it. But when she roamed more closely, she found a paper in an inside pocket of its jacket. Quickly she unfolded it and scanned the numbers scribbled on it. Those were coordinates. Jackpot. Maybe its where the group of the now dead man hid its supplies. Following such leads was always a risk, but often they were worth it. 

Alexis climbed into the saddle again. She had to go back home, this wasn't something she could do on her own. 

...

Negan leaned his head back against the headrest of the truck and thrummed his fingers in the rhythm to the tunes of some Bon Jovi songs. One of his lackeys was driving the massive car and it annoyed the hell out of the Savior's leader that this one wasn't very talkative. It bored him shitless and this urge to bash Lucille into something struck him. Why didn't he take Simon with him? At least he wasn't too afraid to joke around with him. Well, someone had to be in charge while Negan himself was gone. 

He would probably see a lot more fear in people's eyes when he was done with today's mission. Simon found him a community that they never had seen before. It made him wonder why. Usually some Saviors would find people from other places on scavenging trips, but the walls of this one they found just by coincidence. 

And hell, Negan hated coincidences. They led to sneak attacks. 

But he could see why they've stayed hidden for so long. The road leading there was narrow, leading straight through the woods and nature already had started to take the dirt road back. It didn't look like cars were passing here often.