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ODETTE REALIZED THE STUPIDITY OF HER ACTIONS as she stared up at the unknown man with her big blue eyes. His dark eyes danced with danger as he looked at Odette with a devilish grin on his bearded face.

Everything about him screamed danger to Odette. To her he looked like one of the bad guys in those action movies Ozzy use to watch. From the leather jacket to the fingerless leather gloves he wore on his hands. But worst of all was the bat carelessly thrown over his shoulder, bloody barbed wire was wrapped around the end of it — a menacing looking weapon of choice in this new world for a menacing looking man.

Her grip on the knife in her hand grew tighter as he took a small step closer towards her, rubbing a gloved hand over his beard. Odette knew she could kill this man without hesitation, but the baseball bat on his shoulder made her think he'd take a swing at her head before she even got a chance to plunge the knife into his skull.

The sheer stupidity of her actions had put Rigby and herself staring right into the face of danger. An evil danger by the looks of it.

Walkers were always an immediate danger. But they didn't know why they killed, why they were always hungry for flesh, but people, people did. In this new cruel world if you wanted to get ahead you had to take out anyone who could be a threat to you or your survival — it was the way of the world now. Nature versus Nurture. And sadly, nature won more than nurture did.

"You said a bad word mister!" Rigby's small voice broke the silence in the room as she stepped out of her hiding spot in the corner of the closet.

A small gasp left Odette's lips as she watched her daughter walk towards the baseball bat welding man. She quickly reached her knife free hand out, grabbing the brunette by her shoulders, pulling the small girl back towards her.

Rigby's sudden recklessness had shocked Odette. Her daughter had always listened when she was told to hide or be quiet, and for the small girl to come forward just because someone had said a bad word was a shock to the woman.

A chuckle left the man's mouth as he stared down at the small brunette. "Yeah, kid. I guess I did."

"I'm guessin' you're mama bear to this little cub." He said, returning his dangerous gaze back onto Odette. "You can hand that knife over, mama bear." His ordered, holding a gloved hand out towards Odette.

Odette shook her head as her blue eyes stared down at his hand. There was no way she would give up her trusted knife to this man. It was her only means of protection and she wasn't about to hand it over to some man.

The man inhaled deeply, shaking his head. "Look, I don't feel much like bashing your fucking skull in. Lucille's already had her full of brains for today, but that doesn't mean I won't do it." His tone was dark and serious, but there was a playfulness on his face that made Odette's blood run cold.

It was obvious that she was dealing with a psychopath.

"Here." The brunette muttered with defeat as forcefully placed the knife into the strangers hand. "Can we please leave now?" Odette asked, swallowing thickly.

All she wanted to do was get Rigby and herself out of that fucking house and away from the man with the devilish grin on his face and danger in his cold eyes.

"Leave?" He chuckled. "Now, what kind of man would I be if I let a mama bear and her little cub go out there defenseless?" A sinister grin grew on his face as his cold dark eyes stared into Odette's wide blue ones.

Fear grew in the pit of Odette's stomach at the man's words. He wasn't going to let them leave. If Ozzy were here he'd do whatever he could to make sure they got away from that man, but Ozzy wasn't here. It was just Odette and right now she needed to do whatever it took to keep Rigby safe.

"Don't look so sad, mama bear." He chuckled. "I've got a fuckin' palace compared to this little shit hole."

✞

NEGAN WAS THE NAME OF THE MAN ODETTE QUICKLY LEARNED on the ride to wherever it was he was taking her and Rigby.

The word sanctuary left his mouth more than a few times and that very well could of been the name of his so called 'palace', but Odette wasn't paying attention to much of what was coming out of his smirking mouth. Fear still consumed the woman as she put as much distance between herself and Negan inside the truck.

Odette's blue eyes looked around the truck, searching for a weapon of any kind. Negan had not only taken her knife but Rigby's as well, and the brunette couldn't help but feel that if she could somehow get her hands on a weapon and hurt the man next to her, then Rigby and her could get free.

Where would they go after her great escape plan? Odette had no fucking idea but anywhere would be better than where she was right now.

"Now, you don't look that fuckin' stupid." Negan commented as he watched the brunette out of the corner of his eye. "There's no weapons in this truck." He clarified, noticing the way her forehead furrowed in confusion at his words.

"Well, besides Lucille here, but that would not be a smart decision on your part to touch her." He added darkly, taking his eyes off of the road for a moment to turn his cold gaze onto Odette.

"What would be your bright plan if you did kill me and get out of this truck? You do see that other truck behind us, those men in there are loyal to me. Now, I'm tryin' to help you mama bear and little cub, but if you were to kill me, well I don't wanna scare the little cub here with what would happen."

The promise in Negan's voice sent shivers down Odette's spine. She had no doubt in her body that the man sitting next to her would follow through with every promise that left his mouth.

"We've got a fuckin' ride ahead of us. Why not get to know each other better?" He questioned with a smirk crawling across his face.

Odette swallowed, nodding her head slowly. There wasn't much else she could but agree. It had been a long time since Odette had felt weak in this new world, but that's exactly how she felt right now.

"Good." Negan nodded, satisfied with how easily the brunette woman agreed. "Let's start with something easy. What's your name?"

"Odette."

Her name slipped from her chapped lips in a low tone as she stared out the window of the scenery passing by them. It felt like a defeat to her that he now knew her name.

"What about you little cub?" Negan asked, taking a quick look over at the small brunette who was clinging tightly to her mother's hand.

"Rigby." The small brunette spoke with a confidence that made Negan chuckle.

"Rigby, huh?" He raised an eyebrow at the girl's unusual name. "Excuse my language , but what the fuck kind of name is that?"

"I was named after my mom's favorite song. You know, Eleanor Rigby." The small girl stated, a bit baffled that the bearded man driving the truck didn't get the reference to her name.

"That song by The Beatles?" He questioned, earning a simple nod from the small brunette. "That's a dark fuckin' song to be namin' your kid after, mama bear." Negan chuckled while running a hand over his beard.

"You know, you say a lot of bad words." Rigby stated.

A chuckle left Negan's mouth at the kids matter of fact tone. "Yeah, kid. I do."

Silence soon fell over the truck, something Odette was grateful for. Odette didn't think she could handle another minute of Negan's talking. She had only known him for a few hours, but it was long enough to know that every word that came out of his mouth was bullshit.

Odette had never really believed in God, and she especially didn't now since the start of this fucked up world, but right now she was praying to that big guy in the sky once again. Praying that he'd let her and Rigby get out of this alive.

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A/N -
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