Saved

XXXIX

I was sitting in the passenger seat of Negan's truck, all five of the prisoners gagged, hogtied, and with black bags over their heads in the trunk behind our seats. None of them had said a word, but I was sure that when everything stated, they'd be crying. I had refused to let Dale come, he wanted to, and it probably would've been easier to escape if he had come, but I didn't want him to see this. 

"How long do you think this will take?" I whispered to Negan, trying not to let any of the bodies behind us hear, and he shrugged. 

"It'll take as long as it takes. Buckle up for a long ride sweet-cheeks." I scoffed at his pet name, but did settle in, kicking my feet up onto the dashboard, and using the time to pick at my nails, but obviously Negan was having none of that. 

"Really? Get your shoes off my fucking dashboard." He growled, and I rolled my eyes. 

"Piss off asshole." I said, voice coming out louder than I intended, and I couldn't help but notice three of the bodies in the back shifting, and letting out soft noises. 

"Keep still and shut up." I said, louder than I had been speaking, and all the bodies froze. 

"Ah, look at my girl, using her bitch voice to get people to do shit." Negan said, smirking at me, and I rolled my eyes at him. 

"Not your girl you dick-wad. Now can we please just... not talk? I have a headache." I grumbled the last part, rubbing slightly at the sore spot on my skull where I was pretty sure I would get all my headaches from for the rest of my life. 

"Sorry. Your head hurt? You need some meds or anything? I think one of the guys has some weed stashed in on of the cars." Negan offered, actually looking guilty for once but I just shook my head. 

"No. Thanks. But I don't need anything else from you." That shut him up nicely, and we spent the next hour in silence, the only noises coming from the slight shifts of the prisoners, and the random walkers that would pass by our car and the other mens cars, but no one bothered to get out and get them. The windows were so tinted they couldn't see us, and they were no danger to anyone here. 

There were about twenty of us camped here in the woods, and fifteen to twenty men in each of the other groups, rounding us out to about a hundred men that we had brought out as a show of strength to this group. We didn't know how many fighting men they had, but we wanted to show that we had more. And I'm sure we would. 

"Negan sir. They got to our barricade, and are heading to the next one." Gavin said over the C.B., informing us that the first barricade had succeeded, and they were heading to Arat's next. The one with the souvenirs from each of the people behind us. 

Ten minutes later, we got the message from Arat. 

"They've seen ours. Ran out like bats outta hell." Arat said simply, and I nodded. So either Simon or Regina's group was next, either way it'd be a good one. Simon had been delivered the man that Gavin had threatened, and would be hanged from a bridge, and Regina had a group of walker children that we had found that we would threaten them with. 

"They saw the man die, and backed off before we could do anything else. I had some men follow after them a few miles, and one of the men is driving the R.V. the others are taking a woman on a stretcher through the woods, headed your way. " Simon informed, meaning Regina's barricade was a bust, but whatever.

"Simon, have you man grab the RV and bring it here. Then capture the ones in the woods. Regina? Head back to the Sanctuary." Negan ordered, and climbed out of the car. I copied his actions, hand resting firmly on the butt of my sword as I joined Negan's side. 

"Men! We have incoming. Get the prisoners down on the ground, but don't remove their bags yet. Want the element of surprise. Simon's getting the stragglers, and the fun should start soon! Let's go!" Negan ordered, and a few men, including Dwight dragged the prisoners out of the trunk, while Negan and I waited for the others to show. The RV came first, one of our en pulling it up right in front of us, and dragging a weak looking man behind him out of the RV. 

"Let's get up in there Riley. I always love the dramatic effect." Negan said with a grin, gesturing to the RV, so I nodded, and followed him in. It looked incredibly familiar, but I'm sure there are thousands of RVs just like this all over this country. 

It only took two minutes after we were settled in the RV for the whistling to start, and I knew what that meant. Negan's trap had worked, and Simon's was herding them into our circle of death. 

I peeked out the window, and saw Simon standing in front of the group we already had, and he was talking to the group standing in front of him, I could tell there were a few more than we had already taken, but not many, and I couldn't see their faces. 

"Good. You made it. Welcome to where you're going. We'll take your weapons. Now." Simon said, and I watched as the leader struggled to understand what was going on. 

"We can talk about-" He started, but Simon cut him off. 

"We're done talking. Time to listen. That's yours right? Yeah, it's yours."  He said, pointing back at the RV, ad waiting for a nod, but not really needing it. 

"Okay. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees. Lots to cover." Simon ordered, and after a bit of a struggle, they were all kneeling down, and ready for Negan, except for the woman, who was kind of... not kneeling? I don't know but she looked in pain. 

"Gonna need you on your knees." Simon ordered, staring down the woman, who finally kneeled down. 

"Dwight!" Simon called, and Dwight stepped up from next to one of the hooded prisoners. 

"Yeah." He said, and Simon kind of just looked at him. 

"Chop-chop!" Simon called, and Dwight nodded, and ripped the hood off the prisoners faces, and all the new arrivals stared as each face was revealed, and all of them looked beyond depressed, based on their body language. 

"Maggie?" One of them said, struggling to get to his feet and get to the woman who was in the stretcher, but Dwight grabbed him and shoved him back down. 

"All right! We got a full boat. Let's see the man." Simon said, and then a rap sounded against the door of the RV, and I scampered to my feet as Negan yanked the door open, and swaggered out, me right behind him. I still couldn't see any of the prisoners, because of how the men were lighting the area, all I could see were shadows, and Negan's back. 

"Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. Yep. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" Negan asked, sauntering out with his bat on his shoulder, and then, I could suddenly see him. Rick. Simon had shoved him forward so we could see who it was. 

"It's this one. He's the guy." Simon declared, and I felt my stomach drop through the fucking floor when his eyes met mine, and surprise and fury suddenly was staring back at me. 

"Rick." I whispered, but apparently not quiet enough, since Negan spun around to look at me, a large malicious grin on his face. 

"What? This is Rick? Big brother Rick? The douche bag that picked your cheating ex over you?" Negan declared loudly, grinning at me, but I couldn't move my gaze away from Rick, and the hunched body of Carl beside him. I can't believe I didn't notice before. How could I not see that hat? 

"Well well... isn't this a big giant clusterfuck? I can't kill my girl's family! But I definitely can't let him go unpunished for killing our men! So... what to do? What to do?" He said sadistically, advancing on Rick who still had not broken away from my gaze, and I felt the tear fall on my face as Negan turned to look at me, awaiting an answer. 

A/N: Just kidding on this being the last chapter of Part II, gonna have to cut it in half! Oopsie!