Not That Bad

11 ~ Sunshine

Negan sighs, turning his head towards the door. "Come in."

Fat Joey enters, holding Negan's bat. "I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but, uh... you left Lucille out by the truck."

"Seriously? I never do that. I guess a kid fucking a machine gun is a little bit of a distraction." Negan chuckles, looking at Carl. "All jokes aside, you look rad as hell. I wouldn't cover that shit up. It may not be a hit with the ladies, but I swear to you, no one is gonna screw with you looking like that. No, sir." Then he turns to Joey. "Fat Joseph, did you carry her all the way up here for me?"

Anna takes the opportunity to say something to Carl. "If it helps at all, I think you look pretty cool, too."

Carl smiles weakly at the smaller girl as Negan shuts the door, coming back over and sitting by his daughter. "Now, you see? That's what I'm talking about. Men breaking each other's balls. This is the shit your dad's supposed to be teaching you."

Negan sighs again, "What do you like to do for fun? You like music? I want you to sing me a song."

Both Anna and Carl tense. Carl's eye's narrow, "What?"

"Yeah. You mowed down two of my men with a machine g*n. I want something in return for that. Sing me a song."

"Dad-"

"Anna, shush."

Carl begins to stutter, "I... I... I can't think of any."

"Bullshit! What'd your mom used to sing you? What'd your dad play in the car? Start singing."

"Okay, okay. Okay. Uh... ♪ You are my sunshine ♪"

"Go on." Negan smiles, standing up.

♪ My only sunshine ♪
♪ You make me happy ♪
♪ When skies are gray ♪

Negan grunts, swinging his bat, causing Carl to pause. "Do not let me distract you, young man."

♪ You'll... ♪
♪ never know dear ♪
♪ How much I love you ♪
♪ So... ♪
♪ Please don't take my... ♪
♪ Sunshine away ♪

"That's pretty good. Lucille loves being sung to. It's about the only thing she loves more than bashing in brains. Weird, huh? Did your mother sing that to you? Where is she now?"

Carl's only response is sniffles, making Anna tear up in sympathy.

Negan sits back down. "Damn. Dead, huh? You see it happen?"

"I shot her... before it could..." Carl explains, Anna tensing at his words. It wasn't fair. Anna never got to stop her mom's suffering.

"Damn, no wonder you're a little serial killer in the making. That was an example of breaking balls, by the way. Come on, kid. Get up. It should be ready." Negan stands again, pulling Anna up with him.

"What should be ready?" Carl asks.

"The iron."

***

Negan shoves Lucille into Carl's arms as they arrive on the main floor. "Hold that for me."

Anna stands beside Carl, having gone deathly silent and still. Negan turns to the crowd. " 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?"

"The rules keep us alive." The crowd chants.

"That... is... right. 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 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..." He chuckles, "Then it is the iron for you."

Negan turns to face Mark. "Mark... I'm sorry. But it is what it is."

Screaming and sizzling is all they can hear. Anna turns away as Carl watches in horror. Atlas and Simon watch from the side in glee.

"Ah, that wasn't so bad, now, was it? Jesus. He pissed himself. Clean that up. Doc, I'm all done. Do your thing. Well, the pussy passed out. But it's 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."

Negan chuckles, sauntering over to the preteens and whisking them outside. "I hope that we all learned something today, because I don't ever... want to have to do that again. Some crazy shit, huh? You probably think I'm a lunatic. Come on. Let's go figure out what to do with you."

"Can I wrap up my face now?"

"No, you absolutely cannot."

"Why the hell not?!" Anna flinches at Carl's yells.

"Look at this badass. You can't because I'm not done with you. And I like looking at your disgusting, rad-ass, badass eye, so it's staying out. What? You got something to say?"

"Why haven't you killed me? Or my dad or Daryl?"

"Daryl... is gonna make a good soldier for me. You see, he thinks he's holding it together... but you saw it. Your dad? He's already getting me great stuff. You, on the other hand... Well, we shall see. It's more productive to break you. More fun, too. You thinking that's stupid? Besides, Anna here seems to have taken a liking to you."

Carl scoffs, "I'm thinking we're different."

"Mm. You're a smart kid. What do you think I should do? You know I can't let you go. So, do I kill you? Iron your face? Chop off your arm? Tell me. What do you think?"

Carl glares. "I think you should jump out the window to save me the trouble of killing you."

Anna watches the exchange tensely.

Negan smirks, "Oh! Now, there is the kid that impressed the hell out of me."

"I think you're not saying what you're gonna do to me because you're not going to do anything If you knew us, if you knew anything, you would kill us. But you can't."

Negan smirks. "Maybe, maybe not. Let's go for a ride kid." He turns to Anna. "Go do your homework, sweetheart."

_______

964 words, bleh, writers block