Jeffrey Dean Morgan Collection

Merciful - Negan

Raine had been at the Sanctuary for a few weeks after some of Negan's men found her out on the road. She was getting by, working for points just like everyone else. During her time there she hadn't had a lot to do with Negan. He had greeted her when she first arrived, given her the tour and explained how everything worked. She would receive shelter and protection in exchange for work, and after the demise of her last group those were two things she was in desperate need of. Negan was always friendly in passing, even a little flirtatious sometimes which if Raine was being completely honest with herself, she kind of enjoyed it.

The night was like any other, she had spent hours tossing and turning willing sleep to come. Only when it finally did, she was haunted with nightmares of what this world had become. So Raine did what she always did on nights like this, sneaking her way through the halls she slipped outside into the darkness. Finding the spot she knew the guards never walked by she settled down on the ground, her back leaning against the cool exterior of the old factory. Something about the night sky was calming.

She let the tears fall from her eyes, knowing keeping it all in would do her no good. Wiping them away with her sleeves she sniffled in the darkness when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. 'Fuck' she thought to herself. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. She was going to be caught outside the building at night and be punished for it.

She held her breathe in anticipation, keeping as quiet and still as possible hoping that whoever it was would walk on by and not notice her. As she saw the tall dark figure of none other than Negan walk by she became more anxious. He wandered over to one of the picnic tables a few metres away and took a seat, setting Lucille down in front of him.

'Shit... what do I do' Raine thought to herself. I'm in so much trouble.

"You know you shouldn't be out here at night" his deep voice spoke as he looked over his shoulder at her, almost as though he had sensed her presence.

"I... I'm sorry sir. I know it's against the rules. I just needed some air" Raine replied as she got up and dusted off her pants.

"Come sit" he instructed and she quickly did as she was told. "Raine right?"

"Yes Sir"

"Don't call me Sir. Negan is fine".

"Sorry Negan".

"What the fuck are you doing out here?" He questioned.

"Couldn't sleep".

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah" she sighed as she fiddled with the bracelet around her wrist.

Suddenly Negan caught her arm gently with his large hand making her jump, he examined the colourful braided bracelet with beads that read Mum. "You never told me you have a kid" he said as he looked at her.

"Had..." she whispered. "I had a kid. I lost him".

"When?"

"Right before your men found me out there. He was only six. He had so much life ahead of him".

"Is that what's haunting your dreams Raine? Losing your son?"

"Yes. I was weak... I failed to protect him".

"You don't look fucking weak to me" Negan said seriously.  "What happened?"

"The group I was with, we got over run by a herd. I was shielding him as we tried to fight our way out. One of the guys started firing off shots and then he got bit. As he went down he kept firing... one of the bullets hit my boy. Everyone was dying, I grabbed him and I ran for safety as he bled out in my arms. By the time I found somewhere to stop it.... it was too late. Leo was gone".