Austin thought about sleeping. He was locked in a pitch black room with nothing else to do, sleeping seemed to be his only thing to possibly do. It was cold and lonely, he was starting to think that he was seeing people in the shadows. But, that was only his eyes playing tricks on him. The door opened up for the first time in hours, a bright light causing him to squint.

"Sleep good?" Negan looked down at Austin, waving a sandwich in his face. "Come on. I got something to show you."

Austin hesitated, his eyes glancing down to Lucille. Negan laughed. "You wanna eat or not?"

It didn't seem like he had much of a choice as this point, walking out of the cell and taking the sandwich from Negan. He was expecting something vial to be waiting for him, but a freshly made chicken sandwich waited. Hs didn't bother to fear the possibility of poison, he knew that Negan would kill him in a much worse way if he wanted him dead. Negan nodded his head as the two walked through the sanctuary. "So, Natalie's gone again. Take it she's back at Alexandria, right?"

Austin ignored him. Negan laughed again. "Also...I think it's time you know that you're here for a reason. Your buddy, Daryl? Escaped right before you got here. Pretty awesome trade, really. I didn't know the two of you were so generous."

Austin stopped chewing as his insides felt like they were about to spill out. Not only did he come for Natalie, Daryl and Eugene were a huge part of this mission. All to now realize that Daryl wasn't even here, he didn't need to be saved. Negan took joy out of Austin's expression. "That's okay...I think I like you better anyways."

Negan stopped as Austin did the same, straightening his back up to try and some what be on the same level Negan had been. The older man smiled down to him. "You want to see my office?"

It was exactly what he said it was. An office. A couch for him to sit in, a chair for Negan to intimate him from. The pair stared back and forth at each other. Austin inhaled deeply, the anger bubbling up in his chest. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"Oh?" Negan laughed as his tone. "So, you didn't loose your ability to speak. That's a relief."

He leaned forward and nodded his head. "You like that sandwich? I get one of those every single day. You know what else I get? Bunch of different wives. Bunch of men doing whatever I ask them to do. It's like, the world went to shit and I was elected king. And Kings make the rules, don't they?"

Austin glared as he tilted his head. That rubbed Negan the wrong way as anger casted over his face, grinding his teeth together. "You have that same look your Dad and brother have, you know that? You look at me that way one more time and I'll bust your brains out all over my office."

"Why haven't you yet?" Austin didn't know what he had to loose. Negan was gonna kill him either way, he was trapped here regardless if he died now or later. "That's what you've wanted this entire time. Now i'm here, and you haven't laid a finger on me."

"Oh, do you want me to?" Negan shrugged his shoulders. "I have no issue taking off your pinkie right here if you want me to so badly. Maybe i'll ship it back to Alexandria, let one of my kids find it or let Carl know his brothers suffering."

Austin stiffed up and shut up after that. Negan smiled. "You are right, though. Why haven't I killed you yet, right? I mean, i've wanted to for a while. I've threatened it every time I see you, I have every right to. So, why haven't I? You wanna know why? Because I like you, I see me in you."

That was probably the worst thing Austin had ever heard. Him and Negan being compared, being similar. It made him sick to think about, it made him almost wish he was dead in that scenario. Negan could tell that rubbed him the wrong way. "You have that crazy in your eye that the rest of your people don't. You can mess some shit up and I love that! I mean, that video camera I found? What you told that woman at Alexandria when you first got there? Beautiful."

Austin's hands gripped hold of the seat he was in, anger building up in his chest as he bite down onto his tongue. Negan leaned toward. "You really blow a bunch of innocent peoples heads off after your girlfriend got killed?"

Austin rose to his feet, the couch he was sat on pushing backwards. Negan rose just as fast as he did, raising Lucille in his direction. Austin glared as his chest heaved, staring at Negan with the crazy look he liked so much. He grinned. "There it is....having a little fangirl moment."

"I want to go home." Austin stated as he stared at him. "Tell me what you want from me. I'm not staying here."

"Oh, well if you don't want to stay then i'm not gonna make you." Negan shrugged casually as he stood up with a smile, waving Austin to do the same. "You wanna get out of here...small cost."

Austin didn't want to know what that meant or what Negan was about to make him do. But, he could tell by the look in his eye, it wasn't gonna be good.

The gate full of walkers awaited him. No smearing guts all over himself this time, just a bunch of infected. He wasn't even allowed the backpack he came with, meaning there was no weapon to defend himself with. Austin knew the chances of survival for this were slim, but so was staying with Negan.

"I use to think you were smart." Negan commented as Austin stood before the gate. "Now I just think you're down right stupid. You're walking into that with nothing to defend yourself."

Austin shrugged. "I get to go if I make it out the other side."

"Okay." Negan smiled as he shrugged. Deep down he really didn't think the kid was gonna do it. "Real good sight for Rick, you know? Show up and see you limping around with the rest of the dead."

Austin smiled as he pushed open the gate, getting on the other side as he looked back to Negan. "Try to get it on camera."

Austin had a good two seconds before the walkers all realized he was there, able to smell his human flesh and hear his words. He didn't know how to get to the other side, they were in every corner. He had a little bit of lead way, running into the opening as he spun out of the walkers way. He grabbed hold of one of them, the back of their shirt grasped hold of before tossed into three others. Getting four down in one sitting helped him tremendously, glad he would go bowling back in Atlanta.

Austin shoved into two at onces, their jaws snapping at him and inches away from succeeding. He heard the others behind him, getting close. He needed to get these two before he was attacked from behind, trying to time it perfectly before he let the two walker go and ducked down. It caused the two he was holding to collide with the three behind him. Negan smiled when he saw Austin disappear in the crowd of five. "Simon, get th-"

He paused when he saw Austin pop up on the other side and run, clearly had crawled through the walkers legs when they all collided. Austin tried to dodge one that was coming at him from the right, the act making him stumble into two more. He had three on him at once again, he had to act fast here. The Grimes boy dug deep into one of the walkers eye sockets, holding back a deep gag as he kept pushing into he completely destroyed the brain and made the walker fall. He caught him before he could, using his body to block the other two from getting to him.

He ditched the dead walker as he made another run for it, so close to the wall. One more stood in his way, one more that he had to get through. The others were getting closer but not close enough. Austin braced himself as he ran full force, body slamming the walker so it hit the ground. He didn't stop running then, his foot smooshing into his rotten brain.

Negan watched with his jaw slightly gapped. Austin jumped up on the fence, using the holes to his advantage so he could sling his body over. His feet hit the ground, sending a shoot of pain up his calf's but he'd gotten use to it by now. Austin huffed a he caught his breath, looking at Negan from the other end of the fence. He rose his hand to wave, taking a bow. The walkers swarmed the fence, but Austin was protected.

He took off in a sprint through the woods.

•

kylie speaks

my mannnn thank you
to my man! missed y'all,
missed him. so happy to be
back in a place where i have the
time to update my favorite baby
boy again!!