Okay guys, so I changed this scene quite a bit, please don't be mad. I normally stick pretty close to the original story line adding original scenes to accommodate Jo, but I couldn't resist having the opportunity to change this one! There's been a lot of build up to this one, so I really hope you guys enjoy it!

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Jo

They loaded us up and kept us in the back of a van. There was a bench against one wall where the others sat, but I was on the floor with Daryl half collapsed against me.

They had been incredibly thorough when they had searched us for weapons. Dwight had leered at the injured Daryl as he reached up under my shirt to take the knife I had hooked on my bra strap. 

 Daryl hadn't moved the whole time. His jaw had been clenched, looking like it was made out of granite. I didn't struggle and didn't react, not wanting to provoke Daryl into thinking he had to do something about it. Despite his taunting however, Dwight's hands never strayed beyond where I had hidden my knives.

I found it especially strange that Dwight had taken Daryl's vest. Even stranger that he had put it on and started carrying Daryl's crossbow over his shoulder. I couldn't decide if he was trying to taunt Daryl or if he was emulating Daryl. Either way, it was creepy.

The man with him had thrown a blanket back at us. I wrapped it around Daryl. The bleeding had slowed, but he had lost a lot of blood. His skin felt cool and clammy beneath my hands. I tried to get him to rest, but he never closed eyes once. He leaned against me, his body tight with tension as he shook from the pain but he never let his guard down.

They didn't drive us very far before the van stopped. Dwight glanced back over his shoulder at us. "Sit tight," he instructed hefting Daryl's crossbow and climbing out of the van. "If any of you try anything I won't hesitate to kill you," his eyes cut to me. "Starting with you sweetheart."

They both climbed out, leaving us alone.

"Dare-" I started to say, scrambling around him so I could check the wound. The sun was already setting and his face was cast in shadows.

"I'm fine Jo," he said and he coughed and winced. The gunshot was high in his left shoulder, far from his lungs or vital organs. The exit wound had somehow missed the shoulder blade, but there was a lot of intricate connective tissue up there. I tried not to think about all the possible ways this could go wrong and affect his use of his left arm in the future.

"Did they find everything?" Michonne asked in a low voice, she meant my knives.

When I glanced up she was staring at me. I licked my lips and nodded slowly, not daring to look at Daryl's face when I responded. The others had missed the search, but Dwight had made sure Daryl watched.

I paused, frowning. Dwight has realized Daryl and I were a couple, but we had never said that. And knowing Daryl he never would have told them about me when they were in those burnt out woods together. So either Dwight had been watching us closely for some time, or he was better at reading body language than most. I was betting on the former.

Michonne sighed in disappointment and leaned her head back against the van.

"So now what?" Rosita demanded agitatedly. She was leaning forward, resting her forearms on her knees, her eyes were flickering back and forth between Michonne and I. With Daryl down she wasn't sure who was in charge. To be honest, neither was I. My vote was Michonne, I was no leader.

I glanced at Michonne who was studying my face. "We wait," she said simply with a shrug. "They didn't tie any of us up, so there must be a plan of some kind. If we see our moment, we take it."

I dropped my gaze to Daryl. His breathing was quick and shallow. I had to assume from the pain and that there wasn't something more serious going on. He nodded at Michonne's words.

His hand moved under the blanket and he tangled his fingers with my own. He squeezed my hand reassuringly. He was trying to convince me he was okay. But I didn't see how that could be true. For the second time we had fallen into The Saviors' trap. Last time it had cost us Denise. I couldn't imagine the price we would have to play this time.

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Jo

It had been dark for a while when the whistling started. Sitting in the back of the dark van with the others I had started to lose a sense of time. I could hear Rosita fidgeting in the dark, but both Michonne and Glenn had rested while we waited. If I hadn't been so worried about Daryl I would have done the same.

I tensed, the simple two note sound filling me with unspeakable dread.

I sat up straighter, keeping Daryl near me. Suddenly there were lights outside the van and the whistling intensified as though there were fifty people standing right outside the van, surrounding it.

The whistling suddenly stopped and I couldn't hear anything more. There was the muffled voices of men speaking in tense tones, but that was all I could tell. Then silence again. I couldn't help thinking this was it. This is what they had kept us for, if we were going to get a moment, it was going to be soon.

I slowly extracted myself from Daryl and moved towards the back doors, placing myself between him and whatever was out there. I glanced over my shoulder at the others.

Daryl's skin was pale, there were heavy bags under his eyes and he looked sallow. It worried me he had changed so much in just a couple hours. As did the fact that his shirt and hair were slick with sweat. Daryl needed help, and soon. He caught my eye and I didn't see a hint of pain in them. He shook his head firmly. He of all people knew what I was thinking and he didn't like it. I was the best at hand to hand, I needed to be the first one through the doors.

Then someone yelled. "Dwight?!"

I tensed, rocking up into a crouch. I couldn't wait to get my hands on him. He was going to be the first to die for what he had done to Daryl and Denise.

"Yeah," Dwight responded, he was standing right outside the doors.

I was ready when the doors were jerked open, but when they did, I was momentarily blinded. Three cars with their high-beams on shone directly into the back of the van. I flinched and tried to avert my eyes, but they were already burning. I closed them and still could see the flashes of light behind my lids.

"Come on sweetheart," Dwight's voice was right next to me. "You got people to meet," he said and he grabbed my arm, hauling me out of the van. I stumbled and nearly went down but he gripped my arm tighter, his fingers digging in painfully as he forced me to stay on my feet.

I grit my teeth against making any noise of pain. I hesitated when I saw where we were,
my breath catching in my throat in near mind numbing panic.

It was a ring.

I slow blinked, unable to believe what I was seeing. After everything I had been through, it might end in the dirt of another ring at the hands of some other bastard. A fine tremble started in my hand and my breathing picked up. Beside me I felt Daryl tense as he noticed. He had been shot and yet somehow, he was still more worried about me than himself. I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't let myself become another problem. I needed to be part of the solution. 

Stop, reset.

I fisted my hands to stop the tremble. This wasn't that ring. There was no scent of blood and walkers. No cheering crowd. And no one here that compared to The Governor. That evil bastard was dead.

I sank my teeth into my cheek. I had to stay focused. Daryl and the others needed me. This was no different than any other threat we had faced. I needed to let go of the past and focus on the present. I could do this.

The ring was made up of vehicles, at least twenty, all pointing inward illuminated by their head lights. There had to be at least fifty Saviors all heavily armed. Who had this kind of resources? The manpower, the gas, the working vehicles, the guns...it was mind boggling that somewhere out there was a group that had enough resources not only to do this, but to spare that they could expend them on catching us instead of merely surviving. 

In the center of the Saviors was a group of kneeling people.

I swallowed thickly as I recognized Abraham, holding up a very sick looking Maggie. On her other side was Rick, his eyes wide and overwhelmed. Sasha and Aaron and Carl and Eugene were all looking around in shock.

"On your knees," Dwight growled. Shoving me down into the gravel. I grunted but knelt. It grated on my ego, but now wasn't the time to fight this. Michonne was on my left and Daryl on my right. With Rosita and Glenn beside him.

"Alright," a man standing in the middle of the circle said. From the way everyone reacted and the way Dwight turned to face him, I assumed he was the man in charge. "My name's
Simon," he introduced himself "We got a full boat. Let's meet the man."

I frowned at his words. Everyone in this circle has been acting like Simon was the boss. The group's level of fear and respect for him was almost palpable.

Simon sauntered over to our motor home and pounded on the door. There was a brief moment of stillness, where all I could hear was my groups gentle whimpers and Daryl's labored breathing.

Then the door flung open, slamming back against the side of the motor home. Simon backed away slowly, his entire posture changing to one of submission. I glanced at the other Saviors and noticed similar changes. Even Dwight was looking at the ground.

This man was the boss.

"Pissing our pants yet?" The boss asked and he stepped out into the circle of light. He was a good looking man in his early fifties. He was tall and lean, but powerful looking. This man was a fighter. He had a bat over one shoulder and a sickening jovial smile on his face.

"Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close." He swaggered a line in front of us as though he were on a stage. "Yep," he said nodding. "It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon." He paused and looked over each of us. There was something entirely menacing about how casual he was. How entirely certain he was of his control over this situation. My mind tripped over memories of The Governor once more and my stomach rolled as I realized how entirely lucid he seemed. The Governor had been crazy, through and through, it was evident in everything he did. This man, didn't looked crazy. It made him infinitely more dangerous. I swallowed. 

His eyes hesitated on me and Daryl and then Abraham and finally Rick. "Which one of you pricks is the leader?" he asked.

"It's this one. He's the guy," Simon said motioning to Rick.

He turned back to Rick. "Hi," he greeted with a charming smile." You're Rick right? I'm Negan."

I tensed, everything about this man and this situation pointed to one clear fact. This man was incredibly dangerous.

The smile dropped off of his face.  "And I gotta tell you, I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people," he tutted at Rick, "Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit it. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly," he shook his head and that sick smile was back. "Yes you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order and the new world order is this and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes, pay attention," he swung his bat down so it was near Rick's face.

Now I could see that it was wrapped tightly in barbed wire. "Give me your shit or I will kill you," Negan said and he turned away from Rick and started walking the line of us, looking down at each of us in turn. "You work for me now," he said turning back to Rick and pointing at him with the bat. "You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged. More pegged if you don't do what I want and what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much you can make, find or steal more and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So someone knocks on your door you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down. You understand?"

I glanced away from Negan, looking at the men surrounding us and I was suddenly reminded of the warlords. We were rebuilding civilization, one step at a time. We had gone from nomads, to isolated tribes, to trading tribes, and now the warlords had come. It had happened countless times throughout history, I had just never imagined this way of life was something we would face. 

When Rick didn't respond Negan leaned closer to him, cupping his ear dramatically. "What? No answer?"

Negan smiled and stepped back to the center of his stage. "You didn't really think you were going to get through this without being punished now did you? I don't want to kill you people. I just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead now can you? But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them, more than I'm comfortable with. And for that...for that you're gonna pay," and his eyes landed on Daryl.

I tensed beside him, feeling sick. My mind went back to the story Jesus had told us of when The Hilltop had first been visited by the Saviors. They had come in, demanded half of their stuff and beat a teenager to death with a baseball bat, just like that. That's what this was. We had gone back and forth, tit for tat too many times and now we were going to face the music. I let out a shuddering breath, trying to figure out a way to make sure it wasn't Daryl. I couldn't let it be Daryl. 

"So now, I'm gonna beat the holy hell out of one of you." He swung his bat around. "This," he said presenting it to Rick, "This is Lucille, and she is awesome. All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor," Negan inhaled sharply as he looked over every one of us. 

I glanced around the circle wondering which of my friends weren't going to make it out of here. I would do whatever I had to in order to protect Daryl. But as I knelt there, with the gravel digging into my kneecaps and the smell of exhaust permeating the forest, I realized I loved more than just him. Michonne and Rick and Carl, we had never moved out of the house, because we had all been through so much together, we were better when we were close. I thought about Carl, sleeping on the floor of my room when Daryl was gone so I wouldn't be alone. And Rick, checking on me, not just because Daryl asked, but because he too genuinely cared. 

Negan stopped, staring down at Abraham. "Huh," he said thoughtfully. 

Abraham straightened, glaring up at him defiantly. I swallowed as fear skittered through my stomach. Abraham was like my brother. He and I hadn't liked each other at first, in fact I hated him, and hadn't trusted him. And despite all that he had taken care of me when I had been injured so badly in the hospital. I had grown to depend on him and he had been there for me, always with a joke to make me feel better or when I had been in danger of losing myself. 

Negan ran a hand over his goatee. "Well, I gotta shave this shit," he said as though to himself.

Then he continued down the line. He paused in front of Carl and looked down at the pile of weapons the had pulled off of him. "You got one of our guns," he said crouching down in front of Carl.

Carl didn't flinch, he just stared back, his chin lifted defiantly. I recognized the look. 

"Whoa, yeah. You got a lot of our guns," Negan cocked his head as he studied Carl's face. "Shit kid, lighten up. At least cry a little." Negan turned back to Rick and laughed at the expression on Rick's face. 

He knew people, I realized watching him. He knew exactly how far he could push them. And somehow he managed to back off when he needed to without seeming weak when he did it. If I wasn't so terrified of what he was going to do I would have admired his abilities. 

"Jesus," Negan said dramatically, stopping in front of Maggie. "You look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now."

"No! No!" Glenn screamed and he charged Negan.

I considered it for a half of a second but then was certain, this was not it. This was not our moment, and I held my place. I was curious to make note what their reaction would be to a direct assault. 

The Savior's were faster than I anticipated. Dwight grabbed Glenn immediately, and threw him to the ground while another Savior started kicking him. It was as though they had anticipated a reaction from someone. It made me wonder how many times they had done this to other groups.

"Stop it!" Maggie screamed, sagging forward, though she also didn't move.

Dwight pointed Daryl's crossbow in Glenn's face.

"Nope," Negan said straightening himself. "Nope, get him back in line," he ordered, jerking his chin back towards Glenn's place. 

Glenn fought them, but Dwight dragged him away from Maggie as he screamed and yelled and begged.

Negan watched as though this was the best entertainment he had had in years. He chuckled to himself and shook his head. "All right listen, don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions!" he bellowed, then in the blink of an eye he called himself. "First ones free, it's an emotional moment, I get it," he said pointing at Glenn.

Negan had absolute control of himself, absolute control of his emotions. 

Negan turned back to Rick and crouched down, so he was at Rick's level. "Sucks don't it?" he asked. "The moment you realize you don't know shit." He looked back at Carl. "This is your kid right?" he asked pointing at Carl with the bat. When Rick didn't respond Negan continued. "Yeah...this is definitely your kid."

"Stop this!" Rick yelled, his eyes swimming with tears.

"Hey!" Negan screamed, towering over Rick. "Do not make me kill the little future serial killer. Do not make it easy on me!" He calmed himself once more, his emotions changing on his face inside the blink of an eye. He turned so he was addressing the group once more. "I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order," he started whistling as he walked the line once more. "I simply cannot decide," he chuckled and scratched his eyebrow. 

The tightness in my chest grew and grew as the tension in the group rose. 

"I got an idea," he said with that menacingly charming smile. He whirled the bat in his hand and pointed it at Carl. Rick tense and looked like he was ready to get to his feet. "Eenie," Negan said. 

Then he turned to Eugene, "meenie." 

Negan trotted to the other end of the line, smiling as though this were all some game. Like he didn't care who lived and who died. He pointed the bat at Glenn "miney," 

"Mo," Rosita.

"Catch," Daryl. 

"A," me. Negan met my gaze looking down the bat and something changed in his gaze for half a second. 

My mind started racing through the familiar children's rhyme as I counted off. I had to know. 

"Tiger," Michonne. 

"By," Abraham.  

I was nearly there when he changed.

"His toe," Maggie.  

"If," Rick.

"He hollers," Sasha. 

There was no way to tell, but it was coming around to our side of the line up. I wouldn't just sit here, I couldn't. I couldn't sit here and watch him swing the bat at any of my family members, but I knew myself, and I knew if it was Daryl I would have no control. 

"Let him go," Aaron. 

"My mother," Carl. 

"Told me," Eugene.

"To pick," Glenn. 

"The very," Rosita. 

"Best one," Daryl. 

My muscles tensed, ready to strike. Negan was larger than me and I wouldn't necessarily be able to take him down, but if I hit him low I would be able to knock him back. 

"And you," Me. Negan smirked at me and for just a moment it felt like he could tell exactly what i was thinking. He winked. I could see the excitement in his gaze. He wanted to do this. He couldn't wait to kill one of us.  

"Are," Michonne.

He was at the end of the line. I looked up and my breath caught in my throat. No, no, no, no, no. It couldn't be. 

Negan leveled the bat. 

"IT."

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So...I had to split it into two chapters. Please don't hate me!!! It would have been over 8,000 words if I hadn't. I really hope you liked it. I will have the second part up very, very soon. I promise!!!

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