talk || book 7 of 'she's a dixon'

chapter 11

carl and i followed negan hand in hand downstairs to where all of his people were gathered. a chair sat in the middle of the room with a man tied against it. dad stood next to him with a mop. dwight was by the fireplace heating up an iron.

negan introduced himself by beating lucille against the railing. in unison, all of his people bowed. "hold that for me" negan said turning around holding out lucille. carl grabbed it with his free hand.

"you know the deal. what's about to happen is gonna be hard to watch. i don't wanna do it. i wish i could just ignore the rules and let it slide, but i can't. why?" negan asked his people. "rules keep us alive" his people responded in unison.

"that is right. we survive. we provide security to others. we bring civilization back to this world. we are the saviors. but we can't do that without rules. rules are what make it all work. i know its not easy. but theres always work, theres always a cost. here, if you try to skirt it, if you try to cut that corner, then it is the iron for you" negan said with a smile.

i looked over at dad who was also kneeling. when i made eye contact with him, he looked away. he didn't want me to see him like this. i then looked at carl who was standing next to me holding my hand. we both had worried expressions on our faces.

"on your feet" negan ordered his people. they all stood up. carl and i then followed negan over to where the man was tied up to the chair in the middle of the room. while avoiding making eye contact, dad still kept his eye on me. "d" negan said walking over to dwight, putting on an oven mit.

dwight took the iron our of the fire place, and negan grabbed it with the oven mit on. the iron was glowing red. "mark, i'm sorry. but it is what it is" negan said slowly walking over to the man tied to the chair.

negan then pressed the red hot iron up against his face.

as mark screamed out in agony, i buried my face in carls arm. i didn't want to watch it happen. i know i'm tough, but that doesn't change the fact that i hate to see the living get harmed. "it's okay, it's okay" carl whispered to me trying to comfort me.

after a few seconds, mark passed out from the pain. once the screaming stopped, i lifted up my head to face dad. dad looked at me with a worried expression. he knew i was scared. he knew how much i hated shit like this.

negan chuckled. "ah, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" negan asked mark who was still passed out. negan then retuned the iron back to dwight. "jesus, he pissed himself. daryl, clean that up" negan ordered. dad immediately started mopping the floor.

"doc, i'm all done. do your thing. well, the pussy passed out. but its settled, its squared. everything is cool. let mark's face be a daily reminder to him and to everyone else that the rules matter. i hope that we all learned something today, because i don't ever want to have to do that again" negan said addressing all of his people.

he then walked over to carl and i. "some crazy shit, huh? you probably think i'm a lunatic. hell, little dixon couldn't even watch what just happened. now come on, lets go figure out what to do with you two" negan said quietly to us.

we followed negan back to the room we were originally in, and sat back down. we all sat in silence as negan started writing something in his binder he had laying on the table.

"can i wrap up my face now?" carl asked breaking the silence. "no, you absolutely cannot" negan responded looking up from his binder. "why the hell not" carl asked loudly making negan chuckle.

"look at this bad ass. finally getting some spunk outta him like his girlfriend. you can't because i'm not done with you. and i like looking at your disgusting, rad-ass, badass eye, so it's staying out" negan said in amusement. carl sat in silence giving him a death glare.

"what? you got something to say?" negan asked carl. "why haven't you killed me? or reagan? or dad? or daryl?" carl asked. negan sighed.

"daryl, is gonna make a good soldier for me" negan said sitting back against his couch. "the hell he's not!" i said loudly causing negan to smile. "see, he thinks he's holding it together, but you two saw it. he's bowed down to me. and as long as he has you to constantly worry about, i know he's not going to try anything" negan said pointing his finger at me.

"now rick, he's already getting me great stuff. little dixon, i like her a little too much. but you, we shall see. it's more productive to break you. more fun too. you thinking that's stupid?" negan said talking directly too carl. " i'm thinking we're different" carl responded.

"you're a smart kid. what do you think i should do to you? you know i can't let you go. so, do i kill you? iron your face? chop off your arm? tell me. what do you think?" negan asked carl. carl stood up and pointed to the window. " i think you should jump out the window to save reagan and i the trouble of killing you" carl said getting in negans face. i smiled.

negan looked over at me impressed. he expected this out of me, but not carl.

"now there is the kid that impressed the hell out of me" negan said to carl with a smile. " i think you're not saying what you're gonna do to me because you're not going to do anything. if you knew us, if you knew anything, you would kill us. but you can't" carl said still in negans face. negan looked at him with a smile the whole time.

"maybe you're right. maybe i can't" negan said with a smile. he then clapped his hands together standing up. "lets go for a ride kids" negan said grabbing lucille and heading towards the door.

we walked outside where negans right hand man was waiting with a transport truck. "sorry kids, theres only three seats. i'm not driving, and neither are you guys" negan said opening up the door to the truck. simon was in the drivers seat and carl hopped in sitting in the middle. "rae, you can sit on my lap" carl offered.

i hopped in the truck, sitting on carls lap. negan sat in the seat next to us. " i have to admit, you two make one bad ass pair" negan said shaking his head at the sight of us.

simon started driving towards the gate, but then he stopped. "daryl!" negan called out of the window. dad approached the truck. "you seem worried, so i'm taking the kids home" negan said in a surprisingly comforting tone.

"if you do anything to my girl or the boy-" dad started but negan cut him off. "dwight! daryl needs a time-out. put him back in his box for a while" negan yelled out.

' i love you' i mouthed to dad before he got dragged away.

simon then started driving the truck back to alexandria, where i knew a very angry rick was waiting for us.