sweet caroline | n.

vi. partners in crime.

sweet caroline. chapter six.
SUMMARY ; beta tries to separate caroline from negan.

❝ and if you feel the great dividing
i wanna be the one you're guiding
cause i believe that you could lead the way ❝
——

BETA HAD HEARD everything between the two the previous night, their hushed voices weren't quiet enough to not be heard from ten feet away, he wanted to go over and slit negan's throat right there and then for him even daring to speak to caroline after he already threatened him, and he would have if it wasn't for alpha stopping him. she demanded that negan would be an important member of their group and forbidden beta from doing him any harm.

beta was not a fan of the man, he feared alpha had plans to make him just as important as he was, if not more. this couldn't happen, and he would do everything in his power to make sure it wouldn't. even if this meant showcasing every mistake the man made, maybe even blowing some out of proposition, even if he had to lie about the actions negan made, if it meant alpha getting rid of the man, he would do it.

that early morning when the whisperers started to rise and the day began, caroline and negan separated themselves from one another, thinking that doing this would stop anyone from knowing they had been awake with one another the whole night, but beta knew better, the two were oblivious to what caroline's father knew. the group exited the woods to begin traveling on foot once again, returning to their usual spots to resemble themselves as a herd of walkers, caroline and negan in the middle.

negan stole a few glances every now and then at the blonde walking beside him, to which none she ever turned to. he hoped caroline didn't regret sharing the information she did about herself to him, or the stories they passed back and forth, he knew she was a very cautious person — he didn't blame her for that, that was smart — and she didn't open up easily, usually neither did he, but he really did see a lot of himself in the girl, despite her tough act and refusals to ever need any kind of help, he knew deep down inside that was all she wanted, because that's what he would've killed to have when he was younger.

he knew caroline just wanted someone to care for her, to let her cry when she needed to, and for heavens sake let the girl sleep in a bed, negan knew it's had to have been ages since she last did. it wasn't her fault her father was a freak, she shouldn't have gotten stuck with these people, she was nothing like them. negan thought caroline resembled things such as a sunrise, or that warm mug of hot chocolate when it was winter time and cold outside, the rest of the whisperers were mud puddles and the power going out in a rainstorm.

total opposites of each other.

negan could practically hear caroline's teeth shattering together from how cold she was, and negan wouldn't lie, he was cold too. they were moving further into winter, the nights were starting to become unbearable, at the end of the day they weren't truly walkers and they would end up freezing to death during the night if they didn't start taking precautions. caroline wouldn't have put it past her father and alpha to somehow believe they could rough through it, their leader seemed to never want to believe that they were humans.

the group soon approached what looked like an old washed up town, with stores lined up next to each other, they all seemed to be completely empty, but it wouldn't hurt to look. alpha tells the whisperers to split up into groups of 2 to make the search go quickly, and strictly instructs them not to pick up any useless items, only tents and blankets. pillows weren't a necessity to keep them alive in her opinion.