"I'm Negan, and I do not appreciate you killing my men." Negan held up his bat and turned it in the light.

"This, this is Lucille... And she is awesome! And she is gonna kill one of you tonight."

Everything the man said came out boisterous and emphasized. He moved constantly, swinging his bat as he talked. He was happy to see the fear in the eyes of those who stood on their knees, completely at his mercy.

"Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city real fucking soon."

Negan looked around at all the pale faces and made a face of fake concern. "What, was my joke that bad?" Negan asked sardonically, chuckling.

He turned around, his eyes landing on Maggie, another shit-eating grin crossing his face. "Wow, you look like absolute shit! I should just put you out of your misery!" he said, pointing his bat at Maggie and watching her cower.

"No," Rick rasped, looking up at the man. "Leave her be."

"Ricky, Ricky, Ricky, are you the big man on campus here? No? Didn't think so."

"I'm gonna kill you."

"What?" Negan asked loudly, cupping his hand around his ear and leaning towards Rick. "What did you just say to me?"

"I'm gonna kill you," Rick repeated, his voice wavering the slightest bit.

"That's hilarious! Now, give me half your shit before I beat your fucking brains out with my lovely lady here!"

If the situation wasn't so terrifying, Maisie would've laughed at how the man talked about his baseball bat.

"I've got a fun idea," Negan announced, smiling another evil smile as he pointed the bat at Eugene.

"Eeny..."

He pointed the bat at Rosita.

"Meeny..."

He pointed the bat at Maggie.

"Miny...."

He pointed the bat at Rick.

"Moe...."

He pointed the bat at Abe.

"Catch a tiger..."

He pointed the bat at Carl.

"By its toe..."

He pointed the bat at Maisie.

"My mother...."

He pointed the bat at Daryl.

"Says...."

He pointed the bat at Glenn.

"You are..."

"It," he finished, rather dramatically for Maisie's taste, turning around and bringing the bat down on Abraham's head with a heavy swing.

Tears slipped down Maisie's paled cheeks, in sync with the blood the dripped from his hair line and down his forehead.

"Suck... my... nuts..." Abraham uttered bravely, staring into the head of the bat. With a sob, Maisie saw the two fingers he held sideways to her.

"Ho, ho! Takin' it like a champ!" Negan exclaimed, delivering another blow to Abraham's head, leaving him sprawled on his stomach in the gravel.

Maisie felt pressure on her right hand and turned to see Daryl's hand wrapped around hers. He didn't look at her, but he squeezed her hand every time they heard another thump from Negan's bat. It was a small attempt to bring her comfort.

Their hands were still clasped together tightly as Negan straightened up and swung Lucille around, splattering some of Abraham's blood and brain matter across a few of their faces.

"Well," Negan panted, "That was fun.

Red—and hell, he was, is, and will ever be red—he just took one or six or seven for the team! So take a goddamn look," Negan barked, before his face split into another smile.

"Did ya see what I did there with the red? Pretty fucking funny if I do say so myself, don't you agree," Negan asked rhetorically.

"A blind man could see what you fuckingvdid there," Maisie snarled, the words leaving her mouth before she could bite her tongue, drawing Negan's attention to her.

The villain strolled lazily towards her, building the tension. "Well, well, what do we have here? Holding hands? My, my, that is so fucking cute. But that shit just does not fly with me," Negan said quietly, squatting down to get in Maisie's face.

"Maybe, just maybe, I want to take this hot piece of ass back for myself and my boys if I feel like sharing," he said calmly, tracing a finger along her jawline.

Maisie's eyes went wide when his fingers pinched painfully into her cheeks, forcing her look him in the face. She flinched heavily as a body flew past her; Negan's hand left her face with a jarring tug and she fell back.

"Don't touch her!" Daryl roared, his fist drawn back as Carl helped Maisie up. The red marks his fingertips dug into her skin shined on display for all to see.

"Daryl, don't!" Maisie shrieked, in time for Daryl's fist to with Negan's mouth in a powerful punch.

"No!" she shouted, watching as Daryl was pinned to the ground and a man who wore his angel wings put his knee on his back and pointed Daryl's own crossbow at his head.

"I'll put an arrow in his head, just give me the word," the man said, holding Daryl's face to gravel.

"That won't be necessary, Dwighty boy," Negan chuckled, locking eyes with Maisie. "Lock him up."

Maisie's mouth fell open as Daryl was dragged by the collar of his shirt to a van that waited just outside the circle of bright white light. She watched Daryl skitter around in the back of the van, looking for an escape like a cornered animal before the doors were closed and locked on him.

"Well," Negan said, regaining his composure, "Back to it," he finished, swinging Lucille on Glenn.

Maisie's throat closed up on her, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, tears falling fast down her cheeks as Maggie let out a gasping sob from somewhere to Maisie's left. After that, Maggie went silent, unable to find the right noise to make when Glenn looked at her, his eye popping from its socket.

Carl grabbed the back of Maisie's shirt as she tried to crawl to Glenn, pulling her back against his body and barring his arm across her chest as they watched Negan swing again. He wrapped his other arm securely across her abdomen, holding Maisie tight against him. She turned and pressed her forehead against the teen's shoulder, sobbing into his flannel as Negan continued to beat Glenn's skull into a million bloodstained pieces. She lifted her face away and glanced over her shoulder, looking away again as Glenn's headless corpse twitched grotesquely.

"Look at my dirty girl!" Negan exclaimed, smiling at the bloody Lucille held so lovingly in his hand.

〄

Dawn had just started to break the darkness surrounding the bright white flood lights.

"Its a new day, Rick," Negan told him, striding to one of the trucks, whistling the Saviors eery whistle. "Oh, and, your little blonde belongs to me now."

Those were his final words before he climbed into the cab of the truck and slammed the door shut.

Carl fought hard to keep his hold on Maisie's body as a thin man with a receding hairline and obsidian eyes stepped forward and seized her arm.

"Don't make me shoot you, kid."

Carl reluctantly released Maisie.

The remaining Alexandrians tried to block out Maisie's cries as she was forced into the same truck Negan was in. Carl struggled the most, unable to forgive himself for giving up Maisie so easily.

Rick sat back on his heels, tears spilling from his glazed eyes. Sweat dripped in beads from the hair that fell over his forehead. Two of his own had just been brutally murdered in front of him, while two more were on their way to the Saviors camp, unsure of what would become of them.

Rick had failed them as a leader.

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