This Is How I Disappear (Negan/OFC)

Chapter 28

——— Negan's POV ———

"What's that fucker's name again?" I ask Simon as we and a few of my top saviors sit around the table in the meeting room.

"Gregory's the leader. He seems like a slime ball, to be honest," Simon answers.

A few days ago, some Jesus lookin' fuck came up to one of our outposts looking for help. He said his community was under attack from some unknown group. They've been picking off their scouts and scavengers for a few weeks and the poor fucks apparently can't do shit about it. And some of those scavengers that were women are fuckin' missing all together, which is fucked up. Simon led a group to their fuckin' compound, they call it Hilltop, and met with their leader to discuss what the fuck is going on. And they just came back.

"What'd the settlement look like," I ask.

"They got crops. A lot of them, actually. Animals, too. And they do that old timey blacksmithing shit," Simon adds.

"Hmm. That could be fuckin' useful. What's their weapons situation?"

"I didn't see a lot of guns. Their guards had spears and shit like that."

"Spears?" I ask as I chuckle. "So no fighters, then?"

"Didn't seem like it, boss. It seemed real... pastoral."

"Hmm." I sit back in my chair and interlace my fingers in front of my face. "We'll get some guys out to the areas they said their people fuckin' bit the dust, see if we can't get a beat on this other group. That seems like something we're gonna need to do something about. I don't want some group of roving barbarians or some shit on my doorstep."

"What about Hilltop?" Dwight asks. "Are we gonna do the whole 'grand entrance' thing?"

I think about it. "How many people they got there?" I ask Simon.

He answers quickly. "Few dozen."

"And how many fuckin' people we got under us in the communities I own?"

Everyone looks around for a second before Regina pipes up. "Fifty or so."

"Fifty or so people spread across three different groups," I think aloud. "Now those groups brought the mountain of shit we dole out on themselves when they attacked our outposts and our fuckin' convoys. The ones that got introduced to Lucille deserved what they got and the shit they pay us every week is penance for their fuckin' stupidity. But this new fuckin' group asked us for help, so we're gonna give it to them." I chuckle. "And they'll pay us for our generosity."

"Half like usual?" Gavin asks.

"No. Think we'll go less," I answer. I can see that everyone is confused as to what I'm fuckin' thinking, so I need to fuckin' explain. "We got a few hundred people here and a hundred and fifty or so more at the outposts. Now, we got fifty fuckin' pissed off people under us, providing for us, and if they decide to team up, they could do some fuckin' damage. Especially if we hand them a few dozen more pissed off people from this new group to fan the fuckin' flames. People, even the ones that hate our fuckin' guts, are a resource. And a valuable fuckin' one at that. Even if we take all their guns, if they have enough bodies to fuckin' throw at us, it can fuck our shit up."

I lean forward and rest my elbows on the table. "I rule with an iron fist, but I rule fucking fairly. If these Hilltop fucks double-cross us, then that motherfucker Gregory will certainly meet my dirty girl Lucille and we will collect our rightful tribute accordingly. But if they're good little girls and boys, we can have a mutually beneficial fuckin' arrangement. They can be a sort of..." I tried to think of the word I fuckin' wanted, "...colony. And their 'leader' Gregory, turns into a fuckin' governor taking his cues from yours truly. We show these people that our way is the best fuckin' way and we get a few dozen loyal citizens instead of a few dozen angry ass people looking to fight back."