Negan took a break from slamming Lucille into Carl’s head to look over at Lori and Rick, both of whom were covered with both sweat and tears. “Oooooh my fooookin’ God…you pair are a mess….” He said, glancing between Lori and Rick as Carl gagged and coughed, still slumped against the dirt. Then, Negan stopped, noticing the wedding ring still on Lori’s finger, then looking over at Rick. It didn’t take long for him to put two and two together. “…No fuckin’ way, dude. God dammit, looks like we have a whole family here tonight!” He said, laughing as he excitedly twirled Lucille around. “Guess this ain’t your average family evening, huh?”
The others were in complete and utter shock, too. Daryl was in complete and utter tears, shaking in fear. Michonne was looking about as terrified as a threatened Rat. Maggie, Sasha, Rosita, Aaron, Eugene, all crying. Even Rick looked completely terrified. They all flinched one more time when Lucille came crashing down on Carl’s head again, and again, and again, until he wasn’t even moving. Even then, Negan didn’t stop. Rather than swinging overhead, he’d resorted to slamming Lucille into Carl’s temples. Left, then right, then left again, then right again.
When Negan finally did bring it to an end, he immediately aimed Lucille at Lori, who had chunks of skin, flesh and hair caught between the folds of her barbed wire surface. “Ooohohohoh, no…you stay there”.
“Boss, this asshole’s getting heavy!” One of the Saviors yelled. “Eh, fuck it, let him go”.
When the hands were removed from Rick’s body, he immediately scrambled over to Carl, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him onto his back, looking at whatever remained of his face as he began sobbing hysterically. “C-Carl…Carl, p-please. Carl wake up. Wake up! C-Carl! S-Son….so-…No…NO! CA-ARL! C-CAAAAARL!”
“Shut the FUCK up!” Negan roared, slamming his boot into the back of Rick’s neck as a warning. But he didn’t stop there. “P-Please…kill me….let me be with…P-PLEASE!”
“I said SHUT UP!” Negan said, aiming Lucille at Rick. “I’ve already bashed three fucker’s domes in…don’t make it a fourth….wouldn’t wanna leave your proud lil’ lady all on her own now, would you?”
Lori couldn’t b r e a t h or see. Her eyes were glazed with tears, her throat had closed up with a scream, with vomit, with t e r r o r. Her baby boy was gone, dead. He wasn’t moving. There was no life. He just wasn’t. She threw her face into the dirt, wailing. Her fingers just barely grazed Carl’s lifeless hand, willing everything to give her life to him. She couldn’t believe he was gone. She couldn’t believe the man could senselessly beat a child to death.
Carl didn’t get to live his life, it was s n a t c h e d from him.
She found that she was more furious at Rick for leading him into the death trap that their family was now locked in. She just wanted to snatch the bat from Negan and beat her ex-husband into nothingness. She wanted to repay him for taking her son away from her.
Slowly, she lifted her head, tears and dirt caked on her pale and sweaty face. Straightening her body, k n e e l i n g before the man.“P...Please...Don’t hurt anyone else. I’ll do anythin’. I...” She didn’t know what else to say, what to do. A part of her had just been ripped from her, plucked from her breast.
“I...I’ll go with you, please, just leave them alone. T...They learned their lesson. Please.” She whimpered hoarsely, nodding her head. “Please, they won’t cross ya again, I...I’ll go quietly, please.” Lori had never begged as hard as she did that moment, and she would beg even harder if it meant she could hold Carl one more time.
But that would never happen.
