[003] welcome to your new home

                                   The drive felt like it took an eternity.

                                   Eden felt herself growing restless, planning a million and one escape routes. But her weapons were gone and she had no clue where she was. Eden was absolutely fucked and she knew it. Her kidnappers knew it too and they were thrilled about it. Eden had no choice but to go along with the rest of the ride, one that felt like it had been going on forever and ever.

                                   By the time the truck finally stopped, Eden had actually felt her eyelids getting heavy like little weights were attached to them. But the truck stopping was enough to wake her up before she could even begin to drift off. Eden looked at Vikram and Xavier before she looked ahead and saw a large gray factor surrounded by a chain-link fence. The walking dead were impaled by large poles placed in front of the fence, preventing them from even getting in. If Eden wasn't so worried about trying to leave, she'd probably admire the place. It was absolutely terrifying and looked nothing like the Sanctuary Xavier kept prattling on about.

                                    It looked like a prison. Just what the fuck had Eden gotten herself into this time? And most important, how the fuck was she going to get out?

                                    Vikram stands up, waving his hand for someone at the gate to see. Eden couldn't tell. It didn't matter anyway because as soon as she was about to ask questions, the gate opened. Vikram quickly sat back down as Dwight drove them further inside of the Sanctuary. Eden looked behind her, watching as the gates closed behind her. As much as she didn't want to give up hope, she knew that her chances of getting out of here were a hell of a lot slimmer than before.

                                    "What the fuck?" Eden murmured as she turned back around, immediately locking eyes with Vikram. "How the hell have you managed to keep this place running?"

                                    "Wasn't me. Wasn't any of us. We have one man to thank for that, a man we owe our lives to," Vikram explained.

                                   "One man? That seems like bullshit to me," Eden shook her head. There was no way that one man could make all of this happen. It had to be a couple of them to be able to make a community like this work. 

                                   "You talk your shit now. Just wait until you meet him. Then you'll see how one man managed to make all of this happen," Vikram argued.

                                  "But first, we have to give you the grand tour, don't we?" Xavier grinned.

                                  Xavier opened up the back of the truck and climbed out, making sure to drag Eden out of the back with him. Vikram followed, making his way towards Dwight who turned the car off before climbing out.

                                 "Tell Negan that we finally got the girl and that he should meet us at the cells. This one's wild and we can't risk her being around everyone else just yet. We need to figure out what to do with her first," Vikram replied before turning around to look at Eden. More like, glaring at her. "But personally, I wouldn't mind locking her away in one of the cells for as long as possible."

                                 Eden stuck up the middle finger at him, a smirk of her own at her lips. She was prepared to be stubborn until the very end.

                                "Why a cell? We could just have Negan kill the bitch right here, right now," Xavier remarked.

                                 "Who's Negan?" Eden questioned, although she started having an idea about who he was just by the way everyone was talking about him.

                                 "We're all Negan," Xavier responded as he began to walk towards the entrance, dragging Eden along with him.

                                "That's the game you're gonna play, huh?" Eden scoffed, trying to rip her arm away from his grasp.

                                That only made Xavier tighten his grip as the two of them continued to walk. "It's one you'll be playing pretty soon. Now hurry up."

                                "I can walk by myself just fine," Eden spat.

                                "Trust me, I know. I can't risk having you run away," Xavier responded.

                               "Why? Scared of me?" she scoffed.

                               "No, not of you," Xavier admits. You have no idea what Negan's capable of and I won't get punished because of you. But I personally hope that you piss him off so you'll see. The sooner you do that, the sooner you die and I'll finally get rid of you."

                               He shoved her forward, nearly making Eden trip on her feet. But with him still holding onto her with an iron-like grip, Eden thankfully managed to stay upright. She glared at him but continued to walk, the two of them entering inside of the so-called Sanctuary. What immediately took Eden by surprise was that she was surrounded by people. People were all over which shocked Eden, seeing as she was used to being on her own. What was even more shocking was how everyone looked. They looked... absolutely normal. Like the world hadn't ended. There were little booths and shops where people could trade and she could see some people eating at tables. There were even little kids running around.

                                Eden faltered as she looked at it all. It had just been Eden for so long that she forgot what actual civilization looked like. And to have it suddenly thrown back in her face, it was enough to make Eden pause.

                               "Don't tell me you're getting tired now. We still have some more walking to do," Xavier taunted.

                               "Can't help it. Your fucking awful breath makes me want to pass out," Eden retorted.

                               Xavier grumbled, once again dragging Eden forward so she could walk with him. She knew her arm was going to hurt by the time he was finally finished with her. Eden took one last look at the community before she had no choice but to look straight ahead. Eventually, Eden was taken down to some sort of prison. She was convinced that she was going to be thrown in one of those cells.

                              Eden manages to free herself from Xavier's grip when he loosened up just a bit. He tried to grab her but Eden landed one solid punch to the jaw. Xavier growled out of frustration, grabbing the smaller woman and slamming her into the wall. Eden felt her head spin after knocking her head into the wall but she still had a little more fight left in her.

                              If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting.

                              "Stop fighting! I've had enough of your shit," Xavier warned.

                              "Fuck you! I'm not going in there," Eden argued.

                               Xavier slammed her into another wall before kicking the back of her legs, causing Eden to land down on her knees. As angry as she was, her body seemed to be working against her. Eden was exhausted and it was starting to take a toll on her. Eden tried to get up, only for Xavier to keep her down. Just then, Eden heard a bunch of footsteps beginning to approach her. She could even see people now approaching her too. Eden stopped fighting, realizing that she was severely outnumbered.

                               "Well, well, well... lookie what we have here. If it isn't the cold-blooded murderer I've been hearing so much about," a deep male voice spoke, loud and booming as it echoed on the walls.

                                Eden looked over and saw a tall man standing in front of her. He wore a leather jacket and a white t-shirt underneath paired with jeans and boots. His hair was dark and slicked back and he had a little bit of a beard too. Piercing hazel eyes stare into her dark ones but Eden breaks his stare, focusing on the more important thing of all: his weapon. He had a big baseball bat that had barbed wire wrapped around it. Eden had to admit that it was pretty impressive. But she frowned anyway, ready to fight him too.

                                Surrounding him were other men. Some of them were faces she already recognized like Vikram and Dwight. But Eden didn't recognize the other ones. They all looked stone faced, looking down on Eden like she was the enemy.

                                "Who the fuck are you?" Eden questioned.

                                "Aw, my feelings are hurt. I thought I was pretty famous these days," he pouted, placing a hand over his heart in an effort to feign offense.

                                "Negan," Eden quickly guessed.

                                "Thatta girl! Didn't I tell you guys I'm famous? Even she knows who I am," Negan smiles, looking around at his loyal soldiers. By now, Xavier had even let go of Eden to join his men.

                                "Your fan club filled me in earlier. Apparently, you run this place," Eden replied. 

                                "Apparently? I do run this place, sweetheart. I run it with an iron fist. Or rather with Lucille here," Negan corrected her.

                               "Lucille?" Eden repeated with furrowed brows.

                               "My bat! Ain't she beautiful?" Negan grinned with pride, showing off the large bat. Even Eden had to admit that the sight of it sent a shiver down her spine. No one could survive a hit from Lucille, that was for damn sure.

                               "She's a real looker," Eden commented.

                               "Yeah. She's also a vampire bat. She really loves blood. I've been trying to curve her appetite but maybe today can be an exception. Fuck up and it'll be your blood that she's drinking," Negan points Lucille directly at her and for a few seconds, Eden's staring at the very end of a really big bat. 

                              "I thought you were going to kill me anyway," Eden replied. "I killed one of your men. Life for a life, huh?"

                              "I probably should but... I'm a reasonable guy. I believe in giving second chances. And darling, you're too damn pretty to end up becoming one of those biters out there," Negan shook his head.

                              "I'm not fucking you," Eden spat.

                              Negan laughs and a couple of his men join him. "Interesting where your mind went. But I figured a stone-cold killer like you... you can be really useful to someone like me."

                              "But she killed Adam," Xavier weakly argued.

                              "Adam was a dumb son of a bitch who was incapable of doing his job. If she didn't kill him, I would have sooner rather than later. I was pissed when I heard that you killed him. A Savior is a Savior and I try to protect my own people from any threat possible," Negan remarked with a shake of his head and Xavier immediately fell silent. He wasn't stupid enough to question Negan directly. "Didn't see you coming though. But now that I have you, I figured the best thing to do would be to turn you into one of us too."

                             "I'd rather you kill me," Eden spat.

                             "I figured you'd say that. But I'm not giving you much of an option here. You see, I don't like killing women. If I don't have to, I won't do it. I'd rather break you instead, tear apart that feisty spirit of yours until there's none of it left. I could just lock you in one of those cells and trap you there until you slowly lose your mind. You'll be a lot more cooperative by then, won't you?" Negan replied, sounding so calm the whole time. Like they were talking about the fucking weather and not imprisoning someone until their mind cracked.

                             Eden swallows hard. She doesn't know Negan at all but she already believes him. If he could make an asshole like Xavier grow fearful, he must be pretty serious.

                             "I'll take your silence as a 'Yes, sir'," Negan replied.

                             "Yes, sir," Eden reluctantly responded.

                             "Now, all you have to do is repeat after me, and then this can all be over," Negan replied. Eden looks around before her gaze settles back onto Negan who points his bat at Xavier. "Who are you?"

                            "I'm Negan," Xavier immediately answered.

                            "Who are you?" Negan then asked Vikram.

                            "I'm Negan," he answered.

                            "Who are you?" Negan asked Dwight next.

                            "I'm Negan," Dwight responded, although he didn't sound nearly as strong as the others did.

                            "And who are you?" Negan pointed Lucille directly at Eden, waiting for her response with a shit-eating grin.

                            Eden frowns, glaring up at Negan. She wants to tell him to go fuck himself. But she has to play this smart. If she wants to get out of here alive and in one piece, she needs to go along with Negan's sick games. "I'm Negan."

                             A wide grins dances on his lips as he sets Lucille down, chuckling shortly after that. "I knew you'd make the smart decision. Get her up on her feet. She's one of us now."

                             Xavier didn't look happy at all but he drags Eden up and she immediately shoves his hand off of her.

                            "Dwight here can show you to your new room and tell you all the rules about being here. And then, I expect to see you later," Negan remarked.

                            "Will I be able to get my weapons back? I'm one of you now, right? I need weapons of my own," Eden questioned.

                             "You have to earn those, sweetheart. Right now, I need to know if I can trust you," Negan shook his head, causing Eden to frown. "Dwight, take her away."

                             Eden looked over at Dwight and he looked right at her, a small frown on his lips as he walked ahead of her. Eden cast one final glance over at Negan before she followed Dwight. Eden needed to learn all she could about her new temporary home before she was going to break out of it.

                             But first things first, she needed to learn all she needed to about Negan, the leader of the Saviors.

(🐺🩸🔪)

word count: 2351
notes: here's the third chapter! we finally got to meet negan and now eden's starting her new plan to try and get out. but will it be so easy? please vote and comment your thoughts, let me know how you like things so far!