Chapter 18

"Were you able to get what you needed?" Sherry whispered quietly to me.

"A few things." I said back, it was mid-morning, Sherry and I were talking over our escape plan.

"I think it'll be just us and Daryl, it'll take too long to collect supplies for all them." I looked at Sherry surprised. "Most of these women are here for safety, they don't want to be out there." Sherry explained. "I can get the keys to Daryl's cell." Sherry whispered. That's when Amber stumbled into the harem with red eyes, tears streaming down her face.

"Someone caught us." She sobbed. The girls instantly huddling around her, guiding her over to the couch.

"Who, what happened?" Sherry pressed with a calmness in her voice.

"I don't know who it was, Mark just shoved me away, and said that somebody saw us." Amber sobbed. "Negan's gonna hurt him, or he's gonna kill him, or me." Amber leaned against Sherry, Sherry comforting her. I went and sat down by the door, knowing I would be no help in this situation.

"Ladies." Negan stepped in, Tonya quickly walking to the other side of the room. "Don't mind the kid." I looked up from my hands seeing Carl standing next to Negan both of us with a moment of shock on our faces. "I know, every woman where you're from dresses like they do the books at an auto shop, you're gonna wanna look at their titties." Negan said quietly to Carl, who was looking around the room at the other women. "It's fine, I won't mind, they won't mind, knock yourself out." Carl glared at Negan now. Soon Amber's sobs caught Negan's attention, and he seemed to be irritated, he looked at Sherry catching her attention. "Can I talk to you a minute dear wife?" Negan pointed to the bar in the corner. Sherry patted Amber's shoulder once more before leaving over to the corner with Negan.

I looked at Carl again, clenching my jaw, trying to whisper to him quietly.

"What're you doing here?" I hissed at him.

"I'm here to kill Negan." Carl whispered back.

"You need to get out of here." I whispered now watching Negan talk to Sherry.

"You're one of his wives." Carl growled.

"I'm trying to get Daryl out of here." I grunted at him. Carl was about to snap back when I shushed him seeing Negan strolling back over. He forced Carl to hold his beer, as he went over sitting down in front of Amber.

"Amber, baby, you know I don't want anyone here that doesn't want to be here, right?" Negan asked softly.

"Mm-hmm." Amber nodded nervously.

"So if you want to leave and go back to Mark, you can, but what can't you do?" Negan asked.

"Cheat on y-"

"That's exactly right." Negan growled, now inches from Amber's face. "You, can't... cheat on me." He said a little calmer, backing away from Amber a bit. "There's plenty of other gals who would love to take your place, and there's a few job openings that I can think of." Negan smiled slyly. "You want to go back to Mark and your mom? Hell, I'll put you all on the same job."

"No." Amber said quickly." I-I'll stay." Her eyes became glassy and her chin quivered. "I'm- I'm sorry." She looked down at the floor, trying to hold back tears. Negan brought his hand to her face sympathetically.

"You know what that means, right?" Negan whispered darkly.

"Ye-yes." Amber swallowed her tears as she looked Negan in the eye. "I love you, Negan."

"Oh, of course you do, darlin'." Negan said dotingly. "I don't know why you're crying, it's all gonna work out aces for you." Negan chuckled dropping his hand from Amber's chin. He looked at Carl wanting to see his reaction which was confused, Negan then kissed Amber's forehead before walking back over to Sherry. "Will you get Carson for me?"

"Yeah." Sherry said blankly.

"You see that, I wasn't hard on her, even though I am, very hard in general." Negan stopped Sherry, inching toward her.

"You're an asshole." Sherry stated.

"I know." Negan took another step closer to her. "But the messed up thing is, you like me anyway. You know the truth just like me." Negan leaned in kissing Sherry, she gave in easily.

Soon Dwight came around the corner dragging Daryl behind him with a tray of snacks. A shocked look on Carl's face looking Daryl over, who looked at Carl in an irritated manner. Once Negan and Sherry pulled away, she clenched her jaw at the sight of Dwight. Negan chuckler as he approached Daryl, taking a toothpick, stabbing it into a grape, popping it into his mouth. "Carl, will you grab this tray for me?" Negan asked politely as he chewed up the grape. Carl set Negan's beer down on the floor, Daryl handing the tray off to him. Daryl looked Negan dead in the eye.

"Why you got him here?" Daryl growled, sending chills down my spine, I never thought I would hear his voice again.

"Whoa!" Negan stepped back shocked, in a joking manner. "What we talk about when you're not here is none of your business." Negan said smugly. "Do not make me put this toothpick through the only eye he has." Daryl continued to stare Negan down. "You go with Dwight, he'll get you a mop.  Dwighty boy, fire up that furnace, I'll be down in a few. Time for a little déjà vu. Come on kid." Negan squeezed past Daryl and Dwight, Carl following. Daryl looked back at Sherry then myself, having a distasteful look on his face as Dwight dragged him away.

Every woman in the room let out a loud relieved sigh that Negan was gone; also the fact that nothing bad had happened, yet. Sherry went back over to the bar to finish off her drink, the other women rushing over to Amber to comfort her. I got up, going over to Sherry, leaning against the bar.

"I knew he was a monster, but I didn't realize he was the spawn of Satan." I growled.

"This is how he gets people to follow the rules that's all." Sherry explained.

"I'm going to work harder to collect supplies, I'm not going to allow this to go on any longer okay?" I whispered. "I will help you get out of here." Sherry nodded wiping a tear from her cheek, instinctively I hugged her firmly.

"What about Daryl?" She whispered.

"He'll be leaving with us, just tell me when, and I will see to it we get out of here." I said determined, keeping my voice low as I pulled away from her.

"Come on." Sherry said louder. "Let's get this over with." She sniffled, as she went over to Amber helping her regain her strength.

"I don't want to see this." Amber cried.

"You know there's no choice." Sherry said quietly. I followed after them, the other wives following suit. We made our way down to a large open area in the warehouse, now packed with bodies, and the smell of a hot furnace.

The crowd split as we entered allowing us to the front. In the middle of the crowd was a man, I'm assuming was Mark, tied to a chair, Dwight standing at the furnace. Daryl stood not too far in front of me with a mop and a bucket, their doctor standing off to the side. This did not look good. After several long minutes of hushed whispers and waiting, there was a long clanging coming from the catwalk above, everyone quickly kneeling

"Hold that for me." Negan handed his bat to Carl who took it hesitantly. "You know the deal. What's about to happen is gonna be hard to watch. I don't want to do it. I wish I could just ignore the rules and let it slide, but I can't. Why?" Negan began to stroll down the catwalk.

"The rules keep us alive." Everyone said in unison.

"That, is, right." Negan slowly came down the steps. "We survive. We provide security to others. We bring civilization back to this world. We are, the Saviors. But we can't do that without the rules, rules are what make it all work. I know it's not easy, but there's always work, there is always a cost. Here, if you try to skirt it, if you try to cut that corner!" Negan said angrily, then chuckled darkly. "Then it is the iron for you." Negan looked around at everyone. "On your feet." Negan came the rest of the way down the stairs with Carl behind him. Everyone getting up in unison.

Negan waded through the crowd, patting Mark on the face playfully as he walked past him. Carl followed behind him, stopping at the front of the crowd I noticed his eye bandage was gone, just a gruesome red scar where his eyes used to be.

"D." Negan chuckled as he put on a thick black glove. Dwight went to the furnace, using a hook to pull out a red hot iron, Negan took the iron and took a moment to look at Mark. "Mark, I'm sorry, but it is what it is."

Sherry quickly grabbed Amber whispering things into her ear, as Negan approached Mark. I could tell Negan enjoyed this, slowly he raised the iron to his face. Before the hot iron touched Mark's face he started screaming, his screams became piercing when the iron finally made contact. There was a look of horror on Carl's face, he looked over at Daryl for some sort of explanation. The smell of burnt skin filled the air, I covered my nose using the sleeve of my shirt as I watched intently.  Finally Mark's screams stopped as he passed out, Negan pulling the iron from his face, a chunk of skin stuck to the iron. Negan chuckled at the sight.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Negan handed the iron back to Dwight then looked back at Mark to admire his handy work. "Jesus, he pissed himself." Daryl was now looking at Negan, Negan approached him. "Clean that up." He said quietly to Daryl, who looked at Carl one last time before doing what he was told. "Doc, I'm all done, do your thing." Negan ordered. The Doctor came out of the crowd looking at Negan irritated as he went over to Mark. "Well, the pussy passed out, but we're settled. We're square. Everything is cool. Let Mark's face be a daily reminder to him, and to everyone else, that the rules matter." I noticed Sherry and Dwight glanced at each other. So that's what happened to Dwight's face. "I hope that we all learned something today, because I don't ever, want to do that again." Negan smiled at Carl as he strolled over to him. "Some crazy shit, huh?" He said quietly to Carl. "You probably think I'm a lunatic. Come on. Let's figure out what to do with ya." Negan put his arm around Carl's shoulder leading him away.

We stood around waiting for our moment to disperse. A few minutes later everyone started to clear out and we were free to go.

"We have to leave today." Sherry stopped me in the hallway.

"Now?" I looked around seeing if anyone was listening. "Fine, but how?"

"I overheard Negan's taking the kid back home, that'll be our chance." Sherry explained. "I'll go rig the door, I already have the keys, then I'll get my things." She stated.

"Okay, I'll get my stuff, I'll meet you on the outside." We rushed to our rooms.

I quickly yanked off my turtle neck, pulling on a tee shirt, and the hoodie I found. I threw a few necessities into my pack, just in case we were homeless awhile. I put on my hood as I started through the halls to Daryl's cell, glancing down at my map every now and then. When I got there the door was already open, Daryl was out already. I hurried on trying to see if I could find him, before someone else did, or before he left. I had to slow my pace or someone would see me or catch me if I wasn't cautious. I headed for the general location Sherry had told me to go, it was where they kept the motorcycles, specifically Daryl's motorcycle.

I came around a corner passing a couple doors until I heard a crash come from one of the rooms I passed. I stood there frozen, petrified I was about to be caught, the door opened and I quickly turned to defend myself. I realized it was Daryl, wearing a baseball cap, a brown flannel, black tee shirt, jeans, and boots that didn't fit.

"Daryl." I whispered. Daryl didn't say a word as he grabbed my arm, and led me in the direction I was already going. I stuffed the map in my pocket, knowing I would need it later.

We hustled through the maze of hallways, coming across a bin of pipes that Daryl took from. A weapon was a smart idea. Soon we made it to the door that Sherry had rigged with a flattened match box. Daryl shoved the door open, looking outside cautiously, then hurried over to his bike. I stood back watching him look over his motorcycle for a moment.

"What the hell?" Daryl and I both froze looking at a large man with a sandwich in his hand. "Whoa, Whoa!" He dropped his sandwich, raising his hands in the air. Daryl slowly started walking toward the man, gripping the pipe in his hand tighter. "It's cool, I swear. Buddy you can walk right out that back gate there, and I won't say anything to anybody. I'm supposed to be there now, but listen I'm just trying to get by. Just like you. Please." The man begged. Daryl didn't hesitate as he smashed the pipe into the man's forehead, the man hit the ground with a loud thud. Daryl continually hit the man over and over again, completely destroying the man's skull, blood flying everywhere. Daryl finally stopped, panting heavily as he looked at the mess he made.

"Daryl." We both turned around seeing Jesus, who looked horrified by what he just saw. Daryl dropped the bloody pipe, bending down to pick up the man's gun.

"It ain't just about gettin' by here." Daryl tucked the gun into his belt. "It's about gettin' it all." Daryl growled at Jesus. "I got the key let's go." Daryl gripped the handlebars of his bike backing it up. He pushed his bike to the gate, the three of us squeezing on to it, me sandwiched between them.

We drove until we were a good several miles from the sanctuary until stopping alongside the road by Jesus orders.

"This is one of the spare cars we keep out here, I suggest we take it, find a place to hide your bike." Jesus suggested.

"I'll drive it to the Hilltop, figure it out from there." Daryl grumbled, unwilling to leave his bike. I now had to make the decision, stick with Daryl on a long awkward drive or go with Jesus who would probably be less awkward. "Hazel, come on." Daryl answered for me.

I quietly climbed onto the back of Daryl's bike, the engine loudly roaring before we were off again toward the Hilltop. I clung to Daryl, resting my cheek against his back. I missed Daryl and his scent, even if it was bad, trust me if it wasn't for the clothes he stole, I would not be sitting this close to him. I had never been on a motorcycle before, it was exhilarating. The wind against your face, the rumble of the motor, I hasn't felt this type of freedom in a long time. I don't know that I could get myself off this bike, I was in love.

The trip was long, but I didn't mind it. We finally came to a stop at the large gates of the Hilltop. I never thought I would be this happy to be behind walls again, but I was, and I was going to keep things that way, because starting now things were not going to be that way anymore.