chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Law of the New Order

The Sanctuary buzzed — not with noise, but with silence, thick and electric. A different kind of fear had spread, one laced with respect and raw truth.

The words spread fast. Whispered from bunk to bunk. Echoed in hallways. Traded over food lines and passed like gospel.

"Nobody touches a woman or a child."

Negan had said it before. He always had rules — brutal ones, sure, but rules. Structure. Some followed them out of fear, some out of belief, others just to survive.

But now, those same words meant something more.

Now, Axel was here.

And Axel didn't speak like Negan. He didn't give speeches. He didn't give warnings.

He acted.

The Sanctuary remembered Simon. They remembered the man's arrogance. His power. The blood on his hands. And now they remembered how Axel cut him in half like a butcher working his craft.

So when Axel said "no women, no children," it wasn't a suggestion.

It was the last rule you'd ever break.

---

Some of the worst of Negan's old crew — the broken ones who'd slipped through the cracks — started changing overnight.

Men who once bragged about cruelty now walked quieter. Kept their heads down.

A few tried to test the waters.

One grabbed a girl's wrist too hard near the food line. She cried out. He smiled, thinking no one saw.

But Axel did.

The man disappeared that night.

They found his body the next morning — what was left of it — hanging by its feet outside the supply yard.

Chest ripped open. Eyes gone. A single word carved into his skin.

"No."

Negan didn't even flinch when he saw it. Just lit a cigar and laughed like he'd been waiting for someone to finally pick up the slack.

---

Now, when Axel walked through the Sanctuary, people didn't part out of fear alone. There was something else behind their stares.

Respect.

Gratitude.

Terror laced with relief.

Especially from the women. From the mothers who'd lost too much. From the little girls who finally walked without shrinking away from the shadows.

Negan noticed.

He stood on the balcony one evening, Lucille over his shoulder, looking down at the people below.

Axel stood beside him, arms crossed, Katana on his back.

Negan smirked, his voice low. "You know, I used to be the Big Bad Wolf. Now you're the goddamn devil keeping the wolves in line."

Axel lit a cigarette, took a slow drag, and exhaled toward the sunset. "You gave them rules. I gave them consequences."

Negan laughed, deep and real. "Shit, kid... we make a hell of a team."

Axel didn't reply. He didn't need to. The message had already been written across the walls of the Sanctuary, in silence, in blood, in fear:

Women and children are off-limits.

Because now — Axel's watching.

---

The morning was dull and gray, sunlight barely filtering through the stained windows of the Sanctuary mess hall. Negan sat at the long table, tearing into his breakfast — eggs, beans, and whatever passed for meat these days. He ate with a kind of savage joy, like every bite was one more middle finger to the end of the world.

Across from him, Axel sat slouched, arms folded, eyes half-shut. Smoke from his cigarette drifted lazily toward the ceiling. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in days — or a man who didn't need to anymore.

Silence sat between them like a third guest. Until—

Knock. Knock.

The door creaked open.

A boy stepped inside.

He was small, frail even. Couldn't have been older than ten. His long, unkempt hair framed a face too delicate for this world — eyes wide and wet, lips trembling. He looked like he'd been trying to disappear before he even entered the room.

Axel opened one eye. "What?"

Negan didn't even look up from his plate, still chewing.

The boy's voice was soft. Nearly a whisper.

"You said nobody touches women… or children…"

Then he lifted his shaking hand, pressing it against his chest — right where a bruise was beginning to show beneath the tattered collar of his shirt.

Axel's expression didn't change. Not at first. But his jaw clenched.

Negan's fork froze halfway to his mouth.

For a moment, nobody moved. Just the hum of silence. Until—

"What the fuck?!"

Negan's roar shattered the air. His chair scraped back violently, and his plate crashed to the floor. His face was twisted in a rare kind of fury

Axel stood without a word. No scream. No rage. Just pure, cold purpose in the way he moved.

He crouched slightly, looked the boy in the eyes. "What's your name?"

"…Max," the boy whispered.

Axel nodded once. "Lead the way, Max."

Negan grabbed Lucille from the corner of the room, his expression darker than it had been in years.

"Let's burn this motherfucker to the ground," he growled.

And as Max turned and began walking, Axel and Negan followed, side by side. One calm and silent. The other seething and ready.

Whatever monster had touched that boy…

They were about to learn the price.

The Sanctuary had rules.

And today, those rules would be written in blood.

---

.

.

.

You can contact me through my official page on the following Accounts:

telegram:

miraclenarrator

tiktok:

miracle_narrator

instagram:

miracle_narrator