[005] first day on the job

                                   Eden wakes up bright and early, almost expecting to be back in those woods with the bright sky staring down at her. But she's greeted with the ceiling instead and she's instantly reminded of everything that's happened to her. She went from being a scavenger to a prisoner and now she was working for the very man she had screwed over. As long as Eden made sure to earn Negan's trust, she'd be able to live another day and plot her escape.

                                  It was definitely going to take her a little longer than planned. But there was no way Eden was giving up and actually settling down here. Sure, it was nice to have her own bedroom and be able to eat and shower and pretend like everything was normal. But you should never get too comfortable. The moment you do that, you allow yourself to be weak. And weakness equaled death.

                                  Eden belonged in the wilderness. It kept her sharp, it kept her alive. It served as a reminder that the world would never go back to the way it was again and Eden liked that. She wasn't made for the old world. She felt more herself in this one. And while everyone in this sanctuary could go on and pretend like they were going to be safe and cozy forever, Eden certainly wasn't.

                                  Before Eden was set to go out and scavenge along with the rest of the team, she had to eat something. And so she went down to the cafeteria to get her breakfast. But that was probably one of the tensest moments in Eden's life. She hadn't had this many eyes on her ever since the day she had been let go from the police station after the... incident. Eden, however, was not about to let all of the glares intimidate her. So she stared back at them and eventually, it all stopped. Eden doesn't take too long on breakfast, even if it was probably the best thing she had eaten in a really long time. Eden knew she had to hurry and make it outside where Negan said he and the others would be.

                                  Sure enough, Eden would find the other men outside and standing by the trucks. There were women too, although Eden could count on one hand how many women there were. It didn't really matter to Eden at the end of the day. She was just playing the part until she was able to find her way out.

                                  As Eden walked outside and felt the sun's warm rays on her skin again, she once again felt eyes on her. But only one man dared to approach Eden as she continued to walk. And it was definitely the last man she wanted to see.

                                  "What the fuck are you doing here?" Xavier questioned.

                                  It was bad enough that Negan kept her alive because he had a hard on for her. But at the very least, Xavier had hoped that he wouldn't have to see her around. If she were smart, she'd find a way to keep herself hidden. But Eden was either incredibly bold or incredibly stupid. Either way, Xavier felt himself getting pissed off all over again.

                                  "What does it look like? I'm helping you guys scavenge. You so desperately need help from the looks of it," Eden answers with a scoff.

                                   "We don't need any of your help here," Xavier quickly argues.

                                   "And yet Negan does. He already asked me to be here so what you and your other friends think don't really matter," Eden argued.

                                    "If I had it my way, you'd be dead. Just like Adam. Life for a life, you know," Xavier reminds Eden, as though it's supposed to scare her.

                                   It doesn't, of course. There's nothing Eden hates more than an empty threat. Either put up or shut up. "Good luck with that."

                                   "Just because Negan finds you pretty doesn't mean it'll be enough to save you. You better watch your back," Xavier continues, grabbing Eden by the arm.

                                  Eden shoves him away, turning around to glare at him. "What? You're gonna try and beat me up again? Remember how well that worked out for you last time? Or maybe... you really want me to fuck up your ugly face."

                                  "Hey, that's enough," another man speaks up, causing her and Xavier to pause.

                                  Reluctantly, Xavier backs away from Eden. Eden turns around to better examine the guy who had intervened. He was around Xavier's height but his skin was much darker. He even had a stubble and warm brown eyes, making him nearly stand out from the others who looked so cold and unfeeling. But the big gun he carried quickly reminded Eden exactly who he was. 

                                  "I'm Malcolm Randolph. Negan told me about you, Eden," he introduces himself, holding out his hand for Eden to shake.

                                  "Probably wants to make sure you won't try anything stupid," Xavier spoke from beside Eden.

                                  "I'll be on my best behavior," Eden replies as she shakes Malcolm's hand.

                                  "He wants me to take you to him," Malcolm adds.

                                  "Oh. Oh, okay," Eden nods.

                                  Eden follows behind Malcolm, tossing Xavier one final glare from over her shoulder. She continued up ahead, noticing Vikram standing by one of the trucks along with another blonde man. They turned to look at Eden for a brief moment before turning back around, speaking in some sort of hushed conversation. Eden scoffs, looking straight ahead to where Negan now stood - leaning against his truck.

                                 "There you are. I was beginning to think I had to go up to your room and drag you out myself," Negan remarked.

                                 "I wanted to be fashionably late," Eden shot back.

                                 Negan chuckles, pulling something out from his pocket. The more Eden looks at it, she quickly realizes that it's a hunting knife. As he places it in Eden's hand, she twirls it around to get a better look at it. It looked practically brand new. Eden knew that she could do some serious damage on a motherfucker if she really wanted to.

                                   "I don't get a gun?" Eden questioned, glancing back up at Negan.

                                   "So you can shoot me in the back of my head? Sweetheart, you're cute. But you're not that damn cute. You're lucky I'm even giving you this knife," Negan answers.

                                   "Seems to be a bit unfair, don't you think?" Eden raised a brow.

                                   "You managed to make it on your own this long without one. I think you can survive for today," Negan smiles at her.

                                   He even pats her on the head before walking ahead, motioning for her to follow him. Eden locks her jaw in place but does it nonetheless, climbing into the truck with him. Negan takes the lead, driving first in a long line of trucks. Eden knows she could put the knife in her boot but she keeps it in her hand, gripping onto the hilt which brings her some comfort. Negan couldn't help but notice it, finding the girl beside him both odd and hot. She was odd in a hot way, Negan supposed.

                                  "So how long have you been on your own for?" Negan asks her.

                                  "I wasn't aware we were going to be having small talk on the road," Eden frowned.

                                  "Seeing as I know virtually nothing about you, you're just gonna have to deal with hearing my voice for the next twenty or so minutes," Negan answered.

                                 Eden sighs. "Since the beginning. I've never been with anyone. I've just had to worry about myself which is a good thing."

                                 "So that explains why your people skills are shit," Negan chuckles.

                                 "And you're supposed to be a people person?" Eden raised a brow.

                                 "Hell yeah! Everyone loves me, when they're following the rules! I'm not saying that we sit around a large campfire, holding hands and singing kumbayah every damn night. But we work together, we help each other out, and it's all because of me. Teamwork makes the dream work, darling, and the sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be," Negan reasoned.

                                 "I feel bad for you," Eden confesses.

                                 "And why's that?" Negan decides to take the bait.

                                 "You have so many people looking up to you. They think you're their hero. Their savior. They expect you to take care of them forever. You've given them a false sense of security. And when that shit finally crumbles, it's going to be your fault," Eden explained.

                                 Just for a moment, Negan's smile falls and his eyes darken. Eden resists the urge to grin. Finally, she was beginning to see the man beyond the proud, ignorant asshole he paraded himself to be. But just as quickly as she sees a glimpse of the real him, the sooner a big grin graces his lips and then... he laughs. It's loud, filling up the entire car. Eden is the one who falters now.

                               "I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to piss me off so I won't have to ask you any more personal questions. Nice try, sunshine," Negan remarked.

                              "My name is Eden. Not sweetheart, not darling, and definitely not fucking sunshine," Eden narrows her eyes at him.

                             Negan laughs. "That spunk of yours is so fucking hot. I'm glad I didn't let Lucille kill you. You're gonna be entertaining."

                            "Are you gonna ask me another question or try to flirt with me, old man?" Eden scoffed.

                            "I'm not old," Negan replies, actually looking a little offended.

                            "Sure. You're old enough to be my dad. My uncle at least," Eden bluntly replies.

                            "Does that turn you on?" Negan teased.

                            Eden groans, looking away from him.

                            Thankfully, Negan's questions didn't get too personal. And Eden was able to answer them without wanting to drive a knife through the man's skull. So when they arrived at their destination which seemed to be an abandoned neighborhood of some sort, the questions were put to an end.

                             Negan arranged for them to separate in teams of two, figuring they'd cover more ground that way. Eden, of course, was stuck by Negan's side since he obviously didn't trust her with anyone else. Negan was probably the only one who'd be able to handle Eden.

                             Given her own bag to put supplies in, Negan and Eden make their way to their first house. Of course, it didn't really turn up anything other than a whole bunch of corpses. No matter how much time had passed since the world ended, Eden didn't think she'd ever be able to forget the stench of death. It was something that stayed in your senses days and even years after.

                             The second house they raided proved to be more useful thankfully.

                            The two of them made their way into the kitchen, filling their bags with whatever they could get. Some of the food was unfortunately rotten but most of it was safe to make food with. Eden had never been the kind of woman to perform domestic duties very well. She never learned how to cook or sew or do any of those things. Her mom did though, and it was for that very reason that Eden didn't bother to learn. She hated her mom, mostly because she always took her abusive dad back. She tried to love him, even if he was too far gone. And when he'd hurt Eden, she found a way to make excuses for the crazy bastard. Eden wanted to be nothing like her mom, rejecting any and everything that was associated with her.

                             She then glances over at Negan over her shoulder after she had finished, watching as he put other supplies into the bag. Lucille was out of his possession and resting on the side. Although it was a heavy bat, Eden knew she'd have enough strength to carry out and then swing it onto Negan's head. She'd be able to bash his brains with it over and over again until there was nothing but a puddle of red, mangled flesh on the ground.

                            "Take a picture, it'll last longer," Negan replied, causing Eden to snap out of her daze.

                            She had been staring at Negan the whole time without even realizing it, only adding to the man's amusement. Naturally, he assumed that it was because of his good looks (and not Eden's murderous thoughts) that Eden couldn't keep her eyes off of him. If only he knew.

                            Eden huffs, folding her arms across her chest. "Are we done here or what?"

                           "Yeah, I think we're about done here," Negan nods as he picks Lucille back up. "So did you like what you saw or what?"

                            "Shut up," is all Eden says as she makes her way to the front door, holding onto her bag.

                            Negan just laughs but doesn't bother pushing his luck as he too leaves the house alongside her. He walks a little ahead of her now, determined to take charge as the leader. Eden doesn't mind, preferring to be alone for the moment with her thoughts. But as she was doing so, the faint noises of growls were enough to draw Eden's attention back to the presence. Sure enough, there was a biter now beginning to approach Negan.

                           Eden pulls out her weapon suddenly and grips onto the knife a little tighter, immediately lunging towards the undead asshole who had decided to interrupt their peace and quiet. She stabs it in the head as quickly as possible, lodging the blade deep inside of its skull before pulling it out just as quickly. Negan turns around when he hears the heavy thud and sees Eden clean the blade off with her shirt.

                          "See, old man? That hearing of yours has gotten worse. Couldn't even hear the biter behind you," Eden remarked.

                          "I heard it. I just wanted to see if you'd let it get to me or not," Negan admits.

                          Eden scoffs in disbelief. "You were testing me? You actually risked your life for a fucking test?"

                          "I sure did. And luckily for you, you passed. Now come on, we still have more work to do. Welcome to your first day on the job," Negan responded.

                          Eden only shakes her head before continuing to walk ahead. If she was ever going to earn Negan's trust, she'd have to understand the confusing man a little more. And that meant getting closer to him which would take some time. How long? Eden wasn't too sure. But she was more than willing to put in the work necessary.

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word count: 2469
notes: chapter five!! let me know what you thought! the next chapter will have some more action in it!