Poker Face

Chapter 56 - Wartime Prep

Before meeting with all of his advisors, Negan met Simon in the interrogation room where Gregory was being kept. Simon trusted what Gregory was saying, that the Hilltop's soldiers attacking the Saviors was a fluke that he had nothing to do with. When Negan spoke with him, he was more skeptical. He had begun to seriously doubt Gregory was still in control of his community, but Simon was intensely confident about their plan to kill anyone at the Hilltop who took up arms. Negan had to give them the benefit of the doubt; ideally this would be a war against two settlements rather than three.

After grilling Gregory, Negan and Simon met Eugene, Arat, and Gavin in the war room. There was a lot to discuss but Negan was having trouble worrying about anything but Aven, trying to speed the meeting along so he could take care of the rest of his responsibilities and then get back upstairs. But Simon wasn't making it easy.

They were discussing their upcoming attacks on the Kingdom and Alexandria. The Kingdom still had an ample arsenal while Alexandria was mostly unarmed, although they'd found out from Jadis that Rick had managed to scrape up a few guns, and Negan was sure Ezekiel would supply them with more. The attacks themselves would be easy; it was turning the survivors that would be the problem. Negan wanted to keep the communities running but he knew Aven was right when she said there would be stragglers who wouldn't cooperate no matter what. He didn't want to keep those stragglers alive long enough to let them hurt anyone else, but he didn't know how to do that without taking everyone out.

"Then let's just take 'em all out," Simon said as though it were an easy answer.

"Simon, what is my fucking answer to that fucking suggestion?" Negan asked with a hint of exasperation.

"People are resources," Simon grumbled. "But boss, there will always be more people."

"So we should level two whole towns and wait for two more fucking communities to come together," Negan said to illustrate the problem with Simon's perspective. "We fucking built something here and we need what those communities provide."

"Negan, we lost too many men the other day," Simon said, having not yet told Negan about the casualties since Negan hadn't given him the chance. "Fourteen gone, eight injured and at least temporarily out of commission. These people are picking away at us."

Negan and Simon went back and forth while Eugene, Arat, and Gavin looked on silently, until Negan finally lost his temper, swinging Lucille up from his side where he was sitting and slamming her against the table to shut Simon up.

"People are a resource," Negan hissed, slamming Lucille against the floor when Simon wouldn't let up, a hard frown forming on his face and his chest starting to heave with rage; it wasn't like Simon to be so insubordinate. "Money on the table." He slowly rose from his seat, rearing Lucille up again before slamming her down on the table and raising his voice with each of his words. "PEOPLE ARE THE FOUNDATION OF EVERYTHING WE ARE BUILDING HERE," he yelled before reeling himself back in and staring Simon down. No one could look at Negan, everyone's eyes staring forward, glued to the table in front of them.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Are you confused about who we are?" he continued, lowering his voice almost to a whisper. "Are we backsliding, Simon?"

"No, sir," Simon muttered finally. The corner of Negan's lips twitched upwards into a grin.

"Good. So either you shut your fucking mouth and give me a real suggestion, or you can go waste the other communities yourself and take over here trying to keep shit together." Negan continued to stare down Simon, who still couldn't make eye contact and said nothing. "Choosing to shut your fucking mouth," Negan growled. "Good fucking call." Negan leaned back, taking a deep breath to calm down before turning to Eugene.