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The first thing I saw was his hateful grin. God, I think I'd give my life just to wipe it from his cheeks. His lean figure emerged from the van, black hair slicked back from his face- almost beautiful if it weren't for that pleased smirk that smothered his features. Nausea suddenly drowned me as my gaze darted to the baseball bat slung over his broad shoulder.
"Pissin' our pants yet?" He sauntered forward, his posture commending pride and charm. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I just ran over and throttled him. As though we had all the time in the world, he continued to rattle on, but I couldn't hear a word of it over the sound of my own heart pounding in my ears. My breathing grew heavier, terrified his eyes would meet mine as he scanned the line of prey; for some reason I just couldn't look away. "Which one of you pricks is the leader?" His gravelly voice echoed in my stomach as Simon pointed out Rick beside me, his hair drenched in sweat and his resigned eyes bloodshot- it almost ached to see him like that.
Stone crunched beneath his merciless step as he stood before Rick, eyeing him over his nose. "Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan." As he spoke, I wondered how such an asshole had managed to gain so many loyal servants with so few braincells that they'd do his bidding and call themselves by his name. Even bigger assholes I assume. But Negan was uncomfortably close now. So close I could touch him. I caught myself saying silent prayers to Gods I didn't believe in that he didn't shift his formidable gaze a few more centimetres to the left to see me.
Negan began to drawl about how we killed his men, behaving like this whole situation was just a minor inconvenience for him, as though we were not all on our knees before him at his mercy. "Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is," his warm breath blew clouds of heat in the air, and I saw his patient demeanour fade, somehow the cold calm that replaced it was even more terrifying, "But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yep, you are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes." I found myself, no doubt in some pathetic attempt to regain the groups dignity as we knelt before Negan like sitting ducks, opening my mouth- disregarding previous prayers for my safety. "I doubt that," I snorted, stifling a wince at the sudden break in the air after Negan dominated it for so long. Everyone's gaze fell to me, and if I was thinking clearly then perhaps my cheeks would have flushed. But my thinking lost even more logic as Negan's stare fell on me, I wondered if I would die from his gaze alone.
"And who the fuck are you?" His grin didn't falter as he crouched before me, one arm draped over his knee while the other leaned on his bat. The movement pushed through the air as his scent surrounded me: citrus and leather. His cool eyes on mine were unrelenting; I had already said too much to look away now, leaving me no choice but to lock my jaw to keep from shaking. A stupid, immature part of me considered staying silent, wondering if the fact he didn't know my name changed that I was vulnerable and weaponless, with a man nearly twice my size before me wielding a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat. "Beatrice." I replied as steadily as I could, ignoring the desperate looks Rick and Maggie burned into the side of my face. "Beatrice," he repeated thickly, his voice low, as if he were savouring the taste of my name. He was so close that my eyelids fluttered shut whenever his breath hit my face, "Well, Beatrice, I suggest you keep your clever fucking comments to yourself. I'd hate to have to bash in that pretty brain of yours."
I glared up at him from under my eyelashes, contemplating my next retort; to test how far I could push him before he'd snap. I was mainly betting on the fact that I was a young woman so he wouldn't actually do anything to me, a stupid chance to take. But before I could open my mouth, he was standing again, pacing before us slowly until he decided to finally tear his gaze from mine.
I didn't care what else he said, I didn't care about the "new world order," or Lucille swinging at his side, I just knew I was going to kill him.
