Poker Face

Chapter 6 - The Tables Turn

"This is going to be hard to watch." Negan stood on a metal walkway over the cavernous meeting room, leaning forward on the banister with a look in his eyes that was almost sad. Almost. "And I do not want to do it." Why did that sound like a lie?

Aven knelt with Dr. Carson as far back in the crowd as possible, though everyone was gathered so they had a clear view of whatever was about to happen.

"Not doing this would mean ignoring the rules and I simply cannot do that." He began to descend the metal stairs towards the crowd. "And why is that?"

"Rules keep us alive," the crowd chanted, Dr. Carson included. Aven furrowed her brow at him in surprise. She already wasn't happy about kneeling, and the list of cult-like behaviors kept building, partially answering her question about the Sanctuary that Dr. Carson couldn't.

"Correct!" Negan boomed, his voice almost cheery for a second. "We provide protection for people. We are bringing civilization back to life!" His boots hit the concrete floor and his steps echoed as he made his way towards Dwight, who sat in a wooden chair with his hands tied behind his back in the middle of the crowd.

Nearby, while the crowd had awaited Negan, the man Dr. Carson identified as Simon stood in front of a furnace, staring in at the flames. It was clear Negan wasn't the only one with a flare for drama.

"But I can't do that, we can't do that, without rules," Negan continued. "Rules are what make this thing work. Rules keep us safe. But safety has a cost." Negan finished his strut to the middle of the room, looming behind Dwight's chair. Dwight kept his head hung and the rest of his body sat just as heavily limp, as though his very reason for life had been torn from him.

"And if you think you can cut corners," his volume crescendoed quickly, his voice so gruff and his eyes so firey Aven felt a tinge of fear from all the way across the room, something she hadn't felt because of him since first meeting. "If you think you can get by without doing your part, if you think you can side step the responsibilities that everyone else adheres to in order to coexist..." Negan stopped for a moment, dropping his hands heavily on Dwight's slumped shoulders. His mouth stretched into a wolfish grin and he ran his tongue across the top row of his teeth, letting out a low chuckle. He absolutely wanted to do this. "Well, then...it's the iron for you." Aven's face dropped from its expression of judgement and disbelief to one of realization and horror.

"Dwight is one of my best men...or so I fuckin' thought," Negan went on. "But Dwighty-boy, here, decided that his personal interests were more important than the interests of our community. He stole from me, and if that weren't bad enough," Negan's eyes went grim for a moment, "he got one of our own killed, one of the women he should have been protecting." He stepped in front of Dwight and lowered himself to get in his face. "Not cool."

"On your feet," Negan said softly after a moment, turning away from Dwight and back to the crowd. Aven let out a hard sigh born of anger as she made a definitive decision about the Sanctuary and Negan's brand of rulership. The asshole brought her in there like he was some sort of white knight only to turn out to be a text book tyrant, not to mention a grade-A douche. "I'm sorry, D," Negan muttered as Simon placed the heated iron in his thickly gloved hand, "but it is what it is."

Dwight's curdling scream drew Aven's attention out of her thoughts and instead of looking back away, she was glued to the moment, studying the way his skin melted and stuck to the iron as it sizzled. Many people watched on with the same blank expression, but there were also plenty of people visibly disturbed by the scene. Aven, though horrified at the method, was unphased by the actual sight. She'd seen worse in the previous months, as had most others. But she wondered what Dwight did to get himself in so much trouble. She'd been rolling her eyes when Negan led her around the Sanctuary, explaining the rules and intense consequences. As intrigued as she was by him, she wasn't sure he was a fit leader.