The Walking Dead: LIFE AFTER THE WHISPERER WAR

In search of something new

It's pitch black. Must be around 1:00am now, but the cars' head lights are on high beam and to add a little colour to the dark, gloomy night, Negan has: Ain't no rest for the wicked by Cage the elephant blasting through the radio speakers with the windows rolled down. Not a care in the world. A big smile plastered across his unshaven face with the fact that he's finally learned to live without that damn bat. It's about time too he thinks. It's just hindered him really. Never saved him. Not mentally anyways. Physically most certainly. But, that baseball bat was not good for his health. It was better off in the fire than in his hands. This is what freedom feels like. Being on the open road, feeling the steering wheel vibrate as the car travels faster and faster. He's still shocked Rick allowed him to leave on his own. Even more shocked that Maggie decided against killing him, after all, it would've been fair game. He did bash her husbands brains in with that same damn bat. Who knows what's in store for Negan! He may live the rest of his days a loner. Maybe he'll meet a new group of people and they'll all survive together. Hell, he may even die today by hitting a pothole at this speed and flipping the car so he breaks his neck. Or maybe he'll run out of fucking gas... he looked to see the dile on the gauge that is now on the E and the car began to slow down rapidly. He sighed and pulled over on the side of the highway, just by a sign that says: CLEMMINGS. 12 MILES.
It's gonna be one helluva walk.
He stepped out the car, zipped his leather jacket up and put his hands in his pocket as he started his twelve mile journey down the highway to Clemmings.

Along the way, he thought back to everything that has happened so far. He thought about when he and Lucille first met. He thought to when they got married. He thought back to the time he cheated on her whilst she was dying. He thought about how he formed the saviors and how he met Rick and went to war with him. How he broke Ricks leg after having his throat slashed. How he spent years in prison and met Alpha and Beta. How he destroyed Lucille over Betas back and he thought about how Rick, despite everything Negan put him through, he thought about how Rick let him live. And even Maggie! Negan wondered if Rick gave Maggie the go-ahead for killing him. But he brushes that thought aside knowing Rick wouldn't do that. He's not that type of guy. Maggie's reasons for letting Negan live were a lot darker than Ricks. She wanted Negan to live wishing he was dead. Although she may go around believing that is what is happening, but it's not true. Negan now has a new view of life. He's happy. He's ditched the bat and moved on. It's not like he's forgot about Lucille or anything. It's more that he has turned a new leaf.
Now he has to find a new purpose. Maybe he'll find it in Clemmings. After all, all this thinking has killed a lot of time and he's only got another two miles until he's there.
He's now off of the highway and taking a shortcut through the woods. The smell of wet wood is thick in the air because of the recent downpour in rain. The leaves in the trees bristle in the freezing cold breeze and the moss and grass on the ground sticks to the bottom of his boots with each footstep. The distant moans of the dead can be heard in the woods, but they are indeed distant and nothing to worry about right now. The weather is a concern though. He can feel light spots of water hitting his forehead and he can already tell another assault of rain will be battering against him, only this time he's not in the safety of his car. So he knows he needs to find somewhere secure even if it's just for tonight. Maybe look for some supplies and hunker down and wait out the inevitable storm that will tear through Clemmings.
His leather jacket has kept him warm thus far but it isn't going to through this storm. The gust of wind whistles between the branches and is starting to pick up strength. Enough so that it rattles the leaves attached to the branches loudly. Times running short and he's not out of the woods yet. (Figuratively AND Literally speaking).

He pushes his body forcefully through the brambles and nettles, getting stung and muttering 'fuck' in an angry tone each time he's hit by one of the brambles or nettles. When he pushed through the bushes of pain, he reached the other end with both hands covered in scratches and stings. He clenched his fists in agony, trying to get passed the worst of it when he realised a group of four zombies had spotted him. All wearing tattered clothes over their rotten decomposing bodies. A strong wind could take their heads off at this rate. They hobble their way toward Negan, who doesn't deem them as much of a threat and can't see the point in wasting his energy on them. He turned left to see a big sign: WELCOME TO CLEMMINGNS.
Spray painted on that same sign is the letters: RF. Whatever the fuck that means.
    Ignoring the dead, Negan headed into the small suburban town. It's tiny with a total of twelve houses all bundled up together. The road is covered in litter and blood. There's signs of forced entry into each home as well. Only two zombies roam the street but who knows how many are hold up in the houses. Negan despatched the two zombies with ease. Kicking them both in the legs to knock them to the floor and stomping on their heads causing an explosion of blood, brain and skull to erupt over his moss and grass covered boots. He scraped his feet on the wet road and headed into one of the homes with the number three next to the letter box.
    He opend the door and is shocked to see that the house is emmaculate. The welcome mat is pristine and the beige coloured carpet has been vacuumed up. The radiators are bright white with no signs of rust. The walls have been wiped of any muddy spots and in the sitting room is where this house, no, home. Negan thinks to himself is where it is truly impressive.
The tv is dusted clean, the wooden table sitting in the middle of the floor has been polished so well it works as a mirror. The counters have been wiped clean along with the pictures sitting on top of them. The pictures have different people smiling. Family members most likely. The people who own this place? Maybe. Maybe this place is already taken, but Negan can't help but investigate. And he is also starving hungry, so if this place is as well maintained as he sees, it's more than likely full of supplies. Food. Water. Maybe even some dressing for his bloody hands.

Negan headed into the kitchen to search for some supplies and sees a door at the end of the kitchen marked: Preparation. But he's too enamoured with the kitchen and how clean it is. The tiled floor has been cleaned with soapy water and the table has six clean white plates with knives and forks sitting next to them. There's empty glasses too, for drinks. Which must mean there's food. Negan opened one of the cupboards sitting on the wall and sees a goldmine of food.
Cans of beans, cans of peas, cans of peaches, cans of spaghetti and there's even bread. Fresh bread! How? How can it be fresh? There's even gravy granules and seasoning for meat.
He takes a can of spaghetti and scoffs it in one gulp. It's a little cold but tastes brilliant. He uses his sleeve to wipe his mouth clean of the juices and then looks into the fridge, which is turned on. There's electricity running through the house. The tv and DVD player in the sitting room probably work too. He opened the fridge and sees some ice cold beer sitting there. He snatches a bottle, uses the old Boy Scout trick to take the cap off using a counter and downs the beer in one. The cold taste coats his throat like cough medicine and he lets out an audible 'ah' after finishing. He licked his lips and threw the can and bottle in the trash. If anything can be said, it's that Negan certainly didn't expect his day going like this. He has plans to investigate the whole house, maybe take a few things but not too much. He doesn't want to be greedy and leave these people with nothing. For all he knows they might have kids. They may be the nicest people on earth. Yeah, Negan knows that's very unlikely.
A fusty smell wafts up his nose. It's not pleasant. He doesn't know where it's from but it's his guess that it's coming from the preparation room. Maybe it's damp, or maybe that's where they chop up fresh meat they hunt.
Hell, maybe it's just one of those stinking rooms that no matter how hard you try, it's just not cleanable.

A noise is heard from the front door. It snaps Negan out of his trance and he turns his backwards to listen. There's voices. Three males and a female. All chatting. Negan darts for the room with preparation written on the door and upon opening it, he is greeted with an awful stench. It's pitch black though so he can't see. He slams the door shut quickly behind him and is in the dark. Blind. The only thing he has is the awful stench in his nostrils that have also ruined the nice taste of spaghetti and beer.
He stumbled to the left, feeling the wall for a light switch when he slips on a sticky type of liquid on the floor, possibly blood, nearly landing on his ass. He hears the front door open and the voices are more clear. Closing in on his location. The man is talking about a recent "delivery" he made last week of "fresh meat" and the three men sound happy. Not the woman though. She makes no sound at all. Maybe they're part of Alexandrias trading system? Maybe Rick did a deal with them, it wouldn't shock Negan if Rick held this information from him. Rick didn't exactly trust him.
Negan fumbles a little more and feels a large plastic square sticking out of the wall. He feels the middle of it and yes, it's definetly a light switch. Now he'll be able to see what the hell it that he's smelling.

"What the heck?" One of the men say. This stops Negan from flipping the light switch. Maybe they'll be able to see the light through the crack under the door. "What is it?" Another male asks. There's a pause and Negan holds his breath. "Someone's been here." Negan sighs in anger. How could they know? He wiped his feet before entering, he only took a can of spaghetti and a bottle of beer. They surely wouldn't be able to notice those two things gone when there is so many other things there.
"How can you tell?" The woman asks. "Because look at the cans. One is missing." Negan hears footsteps coming closer to the wall he's opposite of and then there's another pause. "How many cans were there?" The lady asks. "Thirty." The man instantly replies. "There's twenty nine now." Another pause. "We're missing a can of spaghetti. Check the fridge." He orders one of them.
To be fair, this place is immaculate. They probably keep constant track of their supplies and know exactly how many cans of what type of food there is.
"Oh, wow." The woman says. "What?" That same male voice asks. "One of my beers are missing too." She replied.
"Right. Chuck, Nathan, Head upstairs. Make sure whoever the hell took this is seen to." Then Negan hears footsteps stumble away upstairs.
"What about me and you?" The woman asks.
"The preparation room. That's where we'll check." The man says.
"Son of a bitch." Negan muttered under his breath.

To be continued...