Poker Face

Chapter 48 - Bloodshed

"You push me," Negan called up to Rick, who stood up on the gates of Alexandria with Jadis' gun to his head. "And you push me, and you push me, Rick. You just tried to blow us up, right?" Aven couldn't quite hear everything being said as Negan launched into his second monologue of the day, but she got the gist of it. He stood beside a pathetically guilty-looking Eugene and ordered Dwight and Simon to uncover Sasha's casket and stand it up on the empty bed of the truck it had been brought on. Negan hopped up onto the truck and Aven's heart dropped. He was slightly elevated and standing alone, a completely open target. She wanted to jump out of the car and call to him, scold him for not being safer, but she stayed put, knowing she couldn't interrupt like that. She couldn't see him very well either, as the truck she was in was parked a few yards behind and Negan was standing in front of the large, silver casket, but what little she could see was about to confirm her fears about Negan coming there that day.

"Sash, you're not gonna believe this crap," Negan boomed, motioning to the coffin and stepping up to it, completely out of Aven's sight. She saw the lid swing open and everyone's demeanor change in an instant when Sasha stumbled out towards Negan and fell with him off the bed of the truck. Suddenly, gunshots were ringing out and the Scavengers atop the guard posts were struggling with the Alexandrians. Aven pressed herself up to the car window, trying to see Negan straighten up from behind the truck and retreat but she couldn't find him. Panic shot through her and one hand went to the gun on her hip while the other opened the car door. She slipped out of her seat and kept cover behind the door for a moment, assessing her next move.

She started to make her way towards where Negan had fallen, but when she got close she could see that he wasn't there, though the body of a bloodied and faceless Savior lay close to the truck. Before she could make another move, as quickly as the catastrophe had begun, it was over. The Scavengers had overpowered Rick's people and with a few last gunshots popping in the distance, they rallied the Alexandrians inside the gates. Aven sprinted back to the car and hopped in as Dwight got in the driver's seat to pull it into the community so they could pick up their supplies after the inevitable execution.

"Did you see Negan? Is he okay?" she asked, trying not to sound too emotional.

"He's inside already," Dwight grunted with a hint of bitterness, hiding well the fact that his own plan to kill Negan had just failed. "He's fine."

Once the car had pulled through the gate, Aven froze with both relief and fear to see Negan standing out in the open once again where anyone could shoot him. She shook off the adrenaline rush sending tremors through her hands and sat back in the car, slumping down in the seat and putting her face in her hands with a deep sigh. She hated the feeling of dread she got when he was threatened, but what she hated more was that no matter how many times he got back up, she'd have to watch him in danger again. And eventually he'd stay down. The compassion she felt for him was a prime example of why she had been avoiding communities, and it was the reason she couldn't go back to being on her own. She wanted nothing but to be with Negan, and if she couldn't, she didn't want to exist.

Carl and Rick were on their knees on a large patch of dead, brown grass and Negan sauntered around them smugly, Lucille swung over his shoulder. Aven frowned, surprised by the hint of sadness she felt when she realized was about to happen; she herself had advised killing Carl if things went south. Rick had fucked up one too many times and now he was going to pay the ultimate price. Carl was a little shit but, like Negan, Aven couldn't deny that he was impressive. It was a shame he wasn't on the winning side.

"Ah, Rick," Negan sighed disappointedly, "this is just gonna make you sad. Maybe you think the guy who did what he did to your friends wasn't me, like that was some sort of a put-on and I'm not the guy with the fucking bat." Negan pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head slightly. "But shit, you know, this is all on me, isn't it? And I gotta make it right."