𝑨 𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑴𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒚. (𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏)

{60} A Fateful Desicion

"You ready kid? It's gonna be just like ol' times"

•••

The air was misty. A faint hue of light illuminated from the torch that Negan had clenched in his hand. It was impossible to see what was around them. Sure, it was evident that him and the brothers were nearing the swamplands due to the thick fog that had suddenly engulfed them, but it didn't help their case at all.

Last night, the three of them were forced to lay down a camp after growing tired from the constant walking. They started a campfire, and Negan offered to stay up and take watch whilst the two younger boys slept. Negan didn't mind. It's not like he could sleep anyway. His brain was consistently awake all the time, worrying over Brooklyn and her wellbeing.

But today was a new day, and since the early start, it looked like they were getting closer and closer to their destination quicker than they thought they would.

"This fog can fuck off," Negan grumbled, his dreary brown eyes squinting in to the distance that seemed to be filled only with more clouds and empty shadows. "I can't see shit!" He was especially antsy, this little rescue mission was taking to long. He wanted Brooklyn back. And he wanted her back now.

Hunter chuckled, although he was trying hard to concentrate on the space around him. The amount of times one of them had tumbled in to a tree so far was unbelievable, it was, however, something that put a smile on their faces despite the circumstances.

"It means we're getting pretty close," Austin mumbled. He hugged his arms around his torso, waddling alongside his brother as they followed behind Negan. Fingers latched around his knife, Austin noticed something in the distance and tapped the older man on the shoulder, "hey stop!" His voice was incredibly low now, "look over there. Is... Is that a building?"

Both men followed the younger boy's gaze, their expressions lifting slightly at the realisation that they were finally where they needed to be. "Sure looks like it," Hunter agreed. He glanced over to Negan, who stayed silent observing the strange building with deep concentration.

Inside, Negan was jumping for joy. He was but a few yards away from the woman he loved, that's if she was really there anyway. "Shut up and follow me," the intention of his stern tone wasn't supposed to be rude, the boys had gathered that. All they understood was that Negan just wanted all of this to be successful and so he was just stressed, which of course was understandable.

The trio crept closer towards the building, the damp forest leaves squishing beneath their feet. Thought it seemed that the closer they became, the more clearly they could see exactly what and who they were dealing with.

"These are definitely the people that we ran in to with Rick and the others a couple weeks back," Hunter told Negan, his lips thinned together as he studied one of the guards patrolling around the perimeter of the little camp.

Overall, their community wasn't at all threatening- on the surface at least. From what the three of them could see, there were a large number of wooden huts, surrounding a burning campfire and a bunch of tree stumps that were presumably used for sitting on. Negan scoffed and clicked his tongue, "this is going to be fuckin' easy!" He peered over his shoulder at the brothers, "these assholes are harmless! Look at 'em!" The man pointed to the wretched men wondering around and attending to their daily lives, "they're just a bunch of low-life's moping around with nothing to do!"

Austin chewed nervously on his lip, "I dunno... They look kinda tough," he wasn't at all convinced that this group were as dumb as they seemed, "we need to come up with a plan that's smart. It can't be something loud and stupid." His gaze wondered over towards one of the men, who was carrying a plate of food towards one of the buildings, "D'you think Brooklyn's in there? That guy looks like he's going inside to feed someone."