Chapter Text
Unraveled
Chain of Command
I was getting the fuck out of the Sanctuary and nothing was going to stop me. Not Negan. Not walkers. Not the 30-feet walls that separated me from the outside world.
A bullet zipped by my head and created a spark of amber as it hit the wall beside me.
A bullet... A bullet could probably stop me.
"Next one ain't missing," Simon threatened. Not only was I unlucky to have been caught, but the one to do it just had to be Simon. "Now I can't put one through your skull, but I will not hesitate to send a bullet through your spine. Right hand to the good man himself I will make you fucking paraplegic."
I didn't want to give up. I only had another 10-feet of rope left to climb before I would have made it into the liberating grasp of freedom. I had MacGyvered a grappling hook out of wrenches. I had shredded my palms and blistered my fingers climbing the first 20 feet of rope. I had risked my life and well being and the payoff was only 10 feet away. But I knew Simon's aim was shit sharp. His threat would become a reality if I didn't comply.
The battle wasn't worth fighting. I casted my pride aside and dropped to the ground. As a good sign of respect I held my hands to either side of my face. The helpless woman schtick would hopefully work.
"I am loving this right now," he said, jimmying his gun into the front of his loose khakis. He eased over to the rope I once held onto. The look in his eyes was a mixture of confusion and the stupidity that comes with trying to figure it all out. He quirked an eyebrow and gave the rope a good tug. "What's this attached to?"
"A wall."
"You trying to leave? You surprise me, Sloane." He snatched my makeshift grappling hook off the wall, barging into my space without a care. I kept my hands to myself no matter how badly I wanted to pop out his eyes. Attempting to escape was bad enough. I didn't want to deal with the after effects of killing Negan's right-hand-man just yet. "That ain't a good thing."
"How about instead of telling me what surprises you, you do your job and take me to Negan. That is what happens next correct?" I said. "Let's not prolong the inevitable. That's just in bad taste."
Nose flaring, he snorted. The anger in his beady eyes didn't melt away even though he took a hand to his face and wiped at it. That same hand wrenched into a fist that he made sure to keep at his side.
"You want to hit me?" I asked. I didn't mean to laugh afterwords it just happened naturally. "Go ahead. Show me how weak I already know you are."
"I pray that today's the day he kills you. You see, you won't be able to talk your way out of this one, sweetheart. I just hope I'm able to see what Lucille has in store for you. Then we'll see who's weak."
Simon held my forearm in an unnecessary grip that only furthered the ache of muscles. He dragged me throughout the compound, mumbling words that I couldn't decipher. When we passed the holding cells, I stifled a smile. I didn't expect Simon to heed my orders and take me to Negan. Mr. second-in-command didn't have a mind of his own.
The walk to Negan's bedroom was used wisely. It gave me time to think and to actually conjure a plan of getting out of this alive. I could get out this, I'd weaseled out of worse. No matter the costs or sacrifices, I'd survive.
Simon knocked unceremoniously a few times on Negans door. An insurmountable amount of time passed before the creak of the door hit the air like a shrill note. Lucille was the first to reveal herself. The knob of the bat glistened even in the faulty lighting. Cinched around her handle was the feared dictator himself, Negan. I choked on his corrosive energy. The very presence of him suffocated everyone in its path even when he was barely in sight. He situated himself so that only half of him was visible – the other half concealed behind a door. It was hard to believe that he was just flesh-and-blood like the rest of us. Especially when the lack of light casted him in shadow, painting him to look more monstrous than any nightmare or any walker.
"Somebody start talking before Lucille asks her questions," Negan ordered. "Now."
Simon the good samaritan snitched before Negan even finished his sentence.
"Sloane was trying to escape."
Negan's eyes immeditately hit mine. "Is that right?"
"I'm guessing this place broke her. She was using this to climb our walls." Simon handed over the grappling hook. "Figured I'd let you decide the fate of the rat. Stomp it or snap its neck."
Finally, Negan fully entere the bleak corridor with us. His lithe frame leered over mine brutishly. In a cheap display of intimidation, his bare chest pressed against me. The grip of his dominance wrapped around my throat and squeezed against my jugular, threatening to siphon the life out of me if I didn't get out of his path.
"Say it isn't so." I winced at his words, preparing for the very worst. Any given moment he could've hit me or fed my brains to Lucille.
"You scared?" Negan's grin crept slowly across his face but it burned me alive. "You went through all this work, you used my own tools against and tried to climb the fucking Berlin wall, Sloane, you do not get to pussy out in the end."
I felt weak around him. Like a powerless mouse cornered by a hellacious lion. I couldn't fucking think with his face this close to me. And I couldn't contain my thoughts with his sardonic grin inches from my whirling mind. My thoughts felt so loud in my head everyone in the Sanctuary must've heard them. I hated it. This oh-so familiar feeling of being controlled wasn't who I was anymore. It wasn't who I wanted to be.
I tried taking a step back to crawl away from Negan's darkness but it latched onto me. He gripped my waist, keeping me still. His breach of my personal space wasn't appreciated and my reflexes acted before I could control myself.
I slapped him. Harder than hard. Rougher than rough. And if the pain wasn't enough of a message, the bloody print of my hand on his cheek would surely get the job done.
"Tell me, Negan," I edged closer to his face. Our eyes didn't waver from each other's. Two alphas fighting for dominance. "Does it fucking look like I'm afraid of you?"