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Negan

I followed the woman, Jo, up the stairs out of the cell block. Lucille resting over my left shoulder. I wasn't one hundred percent convinced she was Kate's sister. She didn't look anything like Kate, and she certainly didn't act like her. But the prick in charge had called her Jo when he paraded her around in front of me a couple weeks ago. Plus she matched the description Kate and that asshole gave aside from the short hair. It would suck to get it wrong.

They had been right, this place was worth the trouble. It had been a long time since we found a place this well stocked. I had given my word to Kate I would bring her sister back if the place turned out to be even half as good as they promised. Honestly, I hadn't believed their hype, but the armory alone was worth the drive. It would double our stock of guns and ammo even after what we spent taking the place. It was too far out for the usual deal. Didn't matter though either way. After I met the prick in charge and saw what he did to people under his protection I knew I was going to burn this place to the ground.

Jo glanced over her shoulder at me, her hard eyes wary. I slowed down, putting a few more feet between us, wondering if that would make her feel better. We were here to be friends, no reason to antagonize her.

"Wh-where is he?" she asked when we reached the top of the stairs. Her voice was hoarse and she had to clear it for me to hear her even though I was only a few feet behind her.

She tensed as I neared her, and I stopped two steps down from her. It put us at nearly eye level.

I forgot what a tiny thing she was. 5'2" or 5'3" maybe, and she was wearing boots. She looked worse than she had a couple weeks ago. More gaunt, like he hadn't been feeding her. There were dark circles under her forest colored eyes. This close I could see she was older than I though, early thirties instead of mid-twenties. Her exposed skin was peppered with ugly bruises and dried blood. The confident strut I had appreciated last week was also gone. Now she was moving like she was hurt.

He had punished her for what happened.

I hadn't considered that, hadn't thought he would make it worse for her. I should have hustled to get back sooner. This job took a lot of resources and a lot of planning and that took time. Time she had been left at his mercy.

I tightened my fist around the handle of Lucille. I wanted to kill him, to show him what happened to pussys who took advantage of people under their protection.

I had checked out Jo's story when I got back home and both of them had confirmed. Kate hadn't seemed to know as much about it, but the asshole told me all about the other girls The Governor had done this to. None of the other ones had survived like she did.

She was still staring at me, waiting for my answer. She wanted to know where he was.

"My men are holding all of the people in the main square."

Her eyes widened, "all of them?" she asked uncertainly, her eyes trailing over me, as though she could tell how strong my group was just by looking me over.

I flashed her a cocky smile. "You can consider us professionals," I told her chuckling confidently.

She didn't react. Instead, she just blinked at me, her eyes thoughtful. He had done a lot of damage. I didn't think Kate realized how much damage. She opened the door at the top of the stairs and turned left, heading down the dimly lit hallway.

"Military?" she finally asked.

"Some," I told her, seeing no reason to keep anything from her. If she was who she said she was, she had earned herself a ticket home with us.

She nodded, but didn't respond again. She moved warily, as though she were waiting from something to jump out at her at any point.

"The entire compound's been cleared," I told her after a few minutes of watching her. She reminded of a big cat somehow, every movement was controlled but still somehow managed to look graceful.

She nodded again, but didn't change the way she moved, maybe she couldn't. All that stuff I had seen her do, maybe she was stuck like that in her head, with no off switch.

After a few moments of walking in silence I cleared my throat. "So...Kate," I bit off the name and waited for a reaction. I needed to make sure this was the right person. She flinched.

Bingo.

I felt a little bad, she had obviously been through a lot, but I needed to make sure we were rescuing the right person. Embarrassing as hell rescuing the wrong damsel in distress.

"She's spunky," I said casually.

Jo didn't respond, just continued down the hall, her knife gripped in one hand and checking doorways as we passed them. After we made a few turns she slowed, and glanced back at me. "How did she find you?"

I lifted my eyebrows, surprised she didn't know. They had said they escaped but I hadn't realized Jo had no idea how they managed it. I gritted my teeth as I realized they had left her behind, not knowing if they were alive or dead. That was some messed up shit to do to your family. "Kate and your uncle stumbled across a group of my men, they-"

There was a loud chorus of snarls from the open door to our right. "Look out!" I warned, but it was too late, they were already on us.

They were too close for me to swing Lucille, so I held her horizontally, using her to shove two of them back. Once I had clearance, I bashed both of them with single strikes to the skull. I heard a snarl behind me and turned just in time to see one right on top of me.

"Negan!" I heard her voice behind the rotter but it was too late. Then the undead bastard jerked and fell. It collapsed at my feet with her knife buried in it's skull.

I looked up at her to thank her. She was leaning against the wall, the arm she had used to throw the knife hanging limply at her side. There were three dead at her feet. She looked like she could barely stand. Another came snarling out of the hall towards her. Her eyes widened and she tried to push herself up straight, but she staggered.

I jumped forward, swinging Lucille at the next one, but there wasn't enough room. The hallway was too small for me to get in a full swing when I had someone behind me to protect. I dropped Lucille and pulled my handgun. I didn't like to use it if I didn't have to. But more were coming. I shot two more as another was closing on Jo. I reached out to snag her arm and drag her behind me. She flinched away from me like I was going to hit her. She stumbled and went to her knees in her haste to get away from me. She fell to the floor and I stepped up between her and the remaining undead assholes. I shot three more before they stopped coming.

My ears ached from shooting in such a small space. I tucked the gun away and jerked the door closed in case there were more. I turned back to her, but she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were pinched shut and her jaw was clamped together tight enough I could see the muscles standing out along her jawline and neck.

I snagged the radio off my waist. "Simon," I barked into it.

"Yeah boss," my right hand man responded almost immediately.

"Who was the asshole responsible for clearing the north hallway that was too damn dumb to police their kills?" I snarled.

"Milton," a quiet voice called from the floor.

"I'm not sure boss," Simon's voice crackled through the radio. "But I'll find out."

"Good," I responded, though my eyes were locked on the woman at my feet. She had pushed herself up onto all fours and her chest was heaving as she drew in deep breath after deep breath like she was trying to get control of herself.

Kate had no idea how damaged her sister was.

I held the radio up to my mouth again. "Whoever it was, they're too dumb to live and need to spend a week working the fence to remind them we are goddamn professionals. This was amateur hour bullshit and that is unacceptable."

"Roger that boss," Simon responded.

I clipped the radio onto my belt and turned back to the woman at my feet, sighing. She had impressed me the last time I was here, but I didn't know what to make of this. When she didn't get up right away I moved towards her, keeping my movements slow so I didn't scare her again. I squatted in front of her like you would with a frightened animal.

"I'm fine," she snarled at me before I could say anything.

I whistled and chuckled. "If you say so friend," I responded in clear disbelief. I rocked back on my heels and ran my tongue over my lips.

"Milton," she said the name again, though she still hadn't opened her eyes.

"Milton?" I asked, raising an eyebrow even though she couldn't see it. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Seemed like she had less of a grip on reality than I first thought. Promise or no promise, if she was a danger to my people she wasn't coming back with us. I had too many people depending on me to let something like sentiment or pity get in the way.

"That door leads to Milton's lab," she said and she opened her eyes to scowl up at me. "He kept biters in there," she told me, glaring out of the top of her eyes at me. "Your men probably missed Milton in their sweep," she said and she slowly pushed herself to her feet.

She swayed as she righted and I caught her elbow, steadying her. She tensed, but didn't pull back from me this time. She was trembling beneath my hand and I didn't let go. She closed her eyes again, gritting her teeth as she fought to steady herself. I stood as still as she was, easily supporting her with one hand. She was too light for how much muscle she had, too damn skinny. He was starving her, that's how he figured out how to control her once her sister was gone. I ground my teeth angrily but didn't let her see it. She was already jittery enough.

"Who is this Milton asshole?" I asked a little gruffly.

She opened her eyes and I could see the surprise in her green eyes when she realized how close I was. Her muscles coiled impossibly tighter but she didn't try and back away from me. She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling and she relaxed a small amount, staring intently into my eyes as she did it.

"He's the scientist here. The Governor's minion," she said and I chuckled.

She looked confused for a moment and I realized she hadn't meant to be funny.

"He's a coward," she bit off the word bitterly, as though it were the worst thing she could imagine. "He probably hid in his lab and let those biters loose. That hallway leads to his lab," she stepped towards the closed door, gently pulling away. I let her go, but staying close to make sure she had it. She immediately seemed steadier.

She frowned for a second and looked down at the corpses lining the hallway. She moved towards the one she had thrown her knife at and jerked the blade free. She wiped the blade clean on the bastards clothes. She straightened, but she was moving slow and stiffly.

"How bad are you hurt?" I asked her seriously.

She turned to look at me, frowning like she didn't understand the question. "I'm fine," she snapped after a few tense seconds.

I smirked at her, but I didn't believe her for a second. But then she didn't know me, and didn't have a reason to trust me. I nodded and scooped up Lucille as I stepped towards the door. I opened it and she was right behind me, her knife raised and ready for an attack. The hallway was pitch black, I pulled out my flashlight and clicked it on.

There weren't anymore and all the doors lining the hallway were closed. Someone had closed them to funnel the rotters straight out to us. "He may be a coward, but he's clever," I allowed, more to break the silence than anything.

"It's the one at the end," her voice was a quiet whisper just behind me. I glance over my shoulder and she was standing less than a foot from me. I opened the door and she stepped in around me before I could stop her. She stood in the middle of the room, gazing around her, her eyes narrowed as she studied the room.

There was a click from the shadows. Gun. I pulled mine, but I didn't have a target.

"I'll-I'll shoot you," a voice stammered from the dark.

"Come out Milton," she called calmly.

"I'm-I'm not kidding," the pussy stammered. "Jo, I-I have a g-gun, and it's pointing at you. I will shoot you. J-just leave me alone."

For some reason I expected her to react in some way, maybe seem afraid or mad, but she was perfectly calm. She stood in the middle of room and stared into the shadows completely fearless.

There were piles of scientific equipment. I was going to have to send the boys back up here to raid this place once we took care of this little problem.

"It's over Milton," she said, and she sounded tired.

"No," he argued. "The Gov-"

"That pansy ass prick is downstairs staring down the barrel of a gun. Your little community here, and everything in it belongs to me now," I snapped, my patience running out.

Jo glanced over her shoulder at me warily, but still she didn't move. She caught my eyes and hers flickered over to the left. I dipped my chin, recognizing that her hearing was probably better than mine after being in that dark cell. I turned, pointing my gun towards the left side of the room.

"You should have picked a better hiding place asshole," I warned him. I could't see him but he didn't need to know that. "Now come out."

The coward shuffled out from behind a large bookshelf. He held his hands up, the gun loose in his grip. I stared at him. He was thin and soft looking. Someone who had gotten himself a cushy gig by doing terrible stuff for a psychopath.

"So now, Milton...the length of your new life is going to depend on your answer," I drawled moving towards him. I gestured with my gun that he should throw his down at my feet. He did and I kicked it towards Jo.

"M-my answer?" He stammered uncertainly, his eyes flickering from me to Jo. She bent down and picked up the gun and that seemed to make him all kinds of nervous. Interesting that he cared more about her holding a gun than me. Shrugging a little I tucked my gun away. If he was more intimidated by the femme fatal standing to my right than me, who was into argue. There was no reason for both our arms to get tired pointing a gun at him.

"Yep, your answer," I replied jovially, "I have just one question for you and if you answer right, you win the grand prize."

He blinked, and pushed his glasses up his nose, "what's that?"

I smiled at him and it had too much teeth to be friendly. He shirked back a step. "You get to walk out of this room."

He swallowed audibly, "and if I fail to answer correctly?" He asked, his voice breaking.

I took another step towards him, I lifted Lucille off my shoulder and give her an experimental twirl. "Well, then you do not get to walk out of this room."

Milton's eyes went to Jo. I glanced back at her, curious what she thought of the whole thing. Instead of looking upset, she was calmly staring Milton down, his gun hung in her left hand, her knife still gripped in her right. I met her gaze briefly and her eyes were devoid of emotion. She didn't seem to care either way.

I shrugged. "So Milty," I said taking another step close to him, "do you mind if I call you Milty? Not that it will matter if you get this wrong..." Milton flinched at my words. Jo was right, he was a coward. "You strike me as an idea man, and you must have come up with some doozies to get that psychopath to set you up with all this cool shit," I said gesturing dramatically at the room around us.

He followed my gesture and when he looked back at me I had brought Lucille up to eye level, pointing the rotter blood coated end in his face. "So tell me, did you know a woman was being kept down in that cell, tortured and forced to fight? A woman, who if I'm not mistaken, and I doubt that I am here Milty, came here looking for help. And you and your boss kept her in line by the equivalent of someone holding a gun to the head of a seventeen year old girl. And when that didn't work...you starved her."

Milton's eyes flickered frantically back and forth from between me and Jo. He was scared. Good, he should be. People like this pussy and the asshole prick in charge were the reason I had set up Sanctuary in the first place. Things were bad enough without shit like this being done to people who couldn't defend themselves.

"I ah-" Milton started to shake. "I don't understand the question. Was there a question?" He squeaked.

I exhaled loudly and he flinched. I glanced over at Jo. Her expression was unreadable, her eyes emotionless. I knew she had seen a lot of blood and a lot of killing. I didn't want to scare her, but I wasn't going to let this walking piece of shit live. Normally when people came to Sanctuary they volunteered and were fully prepped and screened before they saw this side of the business. Seems my new friend had earned herself a backstage pass.

"I smell bullshit," I called in a sing-songy voice though I still wasn't looking at him. I was watching her. She was holding herself eerily still. She looked like she was frozen, her eyes locked on Milton, a scowl on her face. The only movement was the pulsing grip she had on her knife. He had been a part of this, no doubt. It was starting to look like if I didn't get on with it, she just might beat me to it. No worries then.

"So before I hand down judgement tell me, why her?" I demanded, I was genuinely curious.

Milton looked confused as though the answer should be obvious, but it wasn't to me.

"Why did your boss decide to do this to my new friend here?"

"I-" Milton started to stammer.

I pulled the bat back one handed and his eyes widened.

"He-he wanted her," was his only explanation.

I shook my head in disgust. Milton's eyes were locked on Lucille, so he didn't see me lift the gun and fire a single shot.

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Jo

I jumped. I had been waiting for Negan to kill Milton with the bat, so when he fired the gun it caught me by surprise. I flinched from the loud shot so close, but watched impassively as Milton's body dropped unceremoniously to the floor. I stared at it, feeling absolutely nothing.

He wanted her.

Milton had said those words. I didn't know if Negan had actually been curious why Phillip picked me or if he had somehow realized that question, that very question was the one that had been tormenting me for months. Why me? What had I done to deserve this? The question that echoed it's way around my uncontrollable mind...

Stop, reset.

I couldn't let it get to me. I had to stay in control. But I was so tired and when I was tired and hurt it was worse.

"Well," Negan said matter a factly. "Now that that unpleasantness is taken care of, shall we?" He asked gesturing towards the door. "You've got a date with a psychopath."

I nodded and led the way, frowning as my tired brain tried to figure him out. There was sort of a casual joviality about him that I knew was an act. I had seen the predator inside, seen the seriousness in his eyes. But maybe I was wrong, maybe it all was the act. I couldn't tell. I was normally so good at reading people but I was far from my best.

I couldn't explain why, and I was hesitant to admit it even to myself, but there was something about him I was willing to trust. Maybe it was his anger on my behalf, or the fact that he had opened my cage and willingly sent his men away when their presence had been too much for me. Maybe it was because he had given me a gun without hesitating. The most likely answer however was no doubt, Kate. He had no reason to lie about her and no way to make up the information he had. So Kate had trusted him, and while I didn't always trust her instincts about people, I did trust Merle. Good old Uncle Merle. I couldn't think of who else could be with her. He had kept his word and kept my sister safe. I owed that man more than I would ever be able to repay.

We didn't encounter any more trouble. Negan chatted as we walked but nothing he said was meant to force me into conversation. Which I appreciated. I wasn't in a place where I was capable of idle chit chat. I slowed as we neared the final door, and my hand trembled as I opened it. This was it. When we stepped out onto the dark street I froze.

Negan kept walking and brushed against me, before he realized I had stopped. I flinched away, my body trained to brace for a strike of some kind. But instead of reacting he simply stood, perfectly still and let me process.

I drew in a deep breath and stepped outside for the first time in almost a year. While the ring was open air it didn't count. This did. The Main Street of Woodbury was a straight shot down to the front gates of the community and they were standing wide open.

I was free.

The impatient movement of a crowd caught my attention. I turned and was surprised to see the street in front of me lined with people. I recognized the citizens of Woodbury kneeling fifty feet away, about ten armed men standing around them.

The men who had been soldiers were kneeling in a group of their own. I spotted Martinez right away. There were at least thirty other men milling around, loading things into the large trucks and vans that lined the streets. It looked like they had raided every house. They hadn't taken over Woodbury, they were clearing the place out and getting ready to move on.

I turned and it felt as though the entire world slowed down. Like the entire
planet beneath my feet was holding its breath, waiting. There, not ten feet from me and kneeling between two personal armed guards was the man himself.

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Hi friends! I hope you enjoyed the update! It was my first time using Negan's perspective, what did you think? Did you like it? Shall I use it more in the future? Or just all Jo all the time? ;) thank you as always for the incredible support! You are amazing!