A United Front Chapter Six

Rick’s knuckles were almost as raw and bloody as his prisoner’s face but his philosophy was no pain, no gain.

“Just tell me where he is,” said Rick.

The man’s breath was ragged. He couldn’t take much more and Rick wasn’t sure his hands could tolerate dishing anymore out. He’d still need to be able to hold a gun when Bishop and his men got there, and he had no intentions of breaking his fists on this asshole’s face.

“I’m..a…alone...”

“Stop with the loner bullshit!”

Rick yanked up the man’s right arm and exposed the raised flesh in the shape of a ‘B’ that had been burned on the inside of his forearm.

“B for Bishop. Now tell me where he is.”

The man spat a mouthful of blood at Rick, who barely escaped getting a face full by turning his head away. He left the room to grab a chair and to give himself a moment to breathe. When he returned, it was to the low, raspy voice of the prisoner.

“He said you was a pussy who couldn’t do what you needed to protect your own.”

Rick stood with his hand on the chair, regarding his captive. Bishop didn’t know Rick well enough to come to such a conclusion about his character. In fact, Bishop’s only encounter with Rick had been to get his ass kicked. That meant that whoever ‘he’ was, he knew Rick. There was only one man who could be in Bishop’s camp that would disparage Rick’s character and his ability to protect those he loved.

“Shane.”

The man looked down. Rick took the seat across from him and put the edge of his blade to the man’s throat.

“Shane was wrong. I’m gonna prove it, on you, if you don’t answer some questions.”

Rick then moved the blade from the man’s neck to place the sharp tip of the blade against the side of the man’s knee, right where it bent. He pressed until he saw pain on the man’s face.

“I know what Bishop wants. You’re not willing to give him up out of loyalty. I get that. What I’m interested in right now is what does Shane want? You don’t owe him anything. Remember that.”

The man swallowed hard and cleared his throat. “He joined us a few days ago. He wants his woman and kid. Says you took ‘em.”

Rick pulled the knife away and decided to give the man a reward for cooperating. He called for Beth to bring him a bottle of water. When she brought it in, Rick saw the look of interest in the man’s eyes. Beth hurried out.

“She’s cute,” the man said. “She won’t last long in our group.”

Rick wanted to slice the man for saying such a thing about Beth but he decided to let it slide for the moment. He had bigger fish to fry.

“Would you like a drink of water?”

The man nodded, looking desperate for something to wet his dry, raw throat. Rick let him have half the bottle before pulling it away.

“What did Shane tell y’all about me?”

“You’re a soft, piece of shit coward. You hide behind women and children. You let your own wife get eaten by the freaks cause you were worried more about some stranger than her.”

Rick saw a bulge in the man’s shirt pocket. He reached over and fished out a half pack of Winston’s and a lighter.

“Would you like one?”

The man blinked at the offer of a second reward.

“Yes.”

Rick pulled a slightly bent cigarette from the pack and placed it between the man’s lips, and then lit it. He let the man take a couple of deep draws from it before pulling it from his mouth.

“What’s your name?”

“Kevin.”

As soon as the man answered he looked as though he regretted it.

“Where are you from, Kevin? I detect an accent.”

“Moved here from New Zealand when I was nine,” he said. “Why?”

Rick didn’t answer. Instead he let the man have another couple of draws from the cigarette.

This time, when he took the smoke away from Kevin, he held it up, and then he held his knife up beside it, showing the man he had a choice. Pain or pleasure. 

“How many men and weapons does Bishop have? Answers get you a cigarette. Refusal will get this knife in your knee joint. After I’ve destroyed your knee so that you’ll never walk again, I’m going to set you outside the gate. You won’t be able to run from any walkers that happen upon you. You won’t have a weapon to fight them off. You’ll be eaten alive. Those are your choices. Answer my questions, have a smoke. Refuse to answer, and face a terrible death, because you see, the woman Shane is after isn’t his. She isn’t mine but she isn’t his. The boy he claims is his son isn’t his. He’s mine.”

Rick leaned in close. He had Kevin’s full attention now.

“That is my son Shane is after. That is my friend he wants to capture. These are my people. It’s true that my wife died because I was trying to be a hero. I put a stranger above my wife and son and nearly lost them both. You need to understand that way of thinking is gone to me forever. I will do whatever I have to do to keep my son, my woman, my friends, my people, safe. That includes maiming and killing you. So one last chance, Kevin. This is it. No more torture, no more fucking around. Where is Bishop? How many men does he have, and what kind of weapons is he packing?”

*~*~*

Tyreese and Glenn were beginning to make Daryl wish he hadn’t included them. They bombarded him with questions almost the whole trip. 

“How do you track in the dark?”

“Shouldn’t we head for town? Surely they’d be in town.”

And so on and so on.

“Be quiet,” he hissed. “I need to listen.”

They fell silent and Daryl reached out to snag a yellow piece of material from a nearby bush. “He used this to find his way back.”

“Can you find our way back?” Glenn asked.

Daryl was using the moon to guide him. He knew their exact position relative to the school and he’d been keeping track of the distance they’d traveled.

“We’re fine,” Michonne said, exasperated. “You’ll have to trust Daryl.”

He could understand how trusting a couple of strangers would be difficult but Michonne was right. They needed to be quiet and have a little faith that he wouldn’t fuck up and get them lost in the woods.

“I’ve been to town twice since we got here. There’s no one there,” said Daryl. “They’re searching the woods. They know we’ll find somewhere outside of town to fortify. I taught Shane a few tricks and now I’m regretting it.”

They made their way deeper into the trees, finding other scraps of yellow material until Daryl came up short. He didn’t just search the ground around him, he kept his attention to the trees. A threat can come from above just as surely as from the ground. He spotted the lookout in an oak tree, not too far up in the branches, his focus in the other direction. Daryl leveled his crossbow and fired. The bolt hit the man directly in the back of the head. He hit the ground, dead. Thankfully the soft cushion of dead leaves muffled his fall. Daryl reclaimed his bolt and loaded it back before motioning for them to move ahead.

Soon they saw the fire, an orange glow in the darkness that was nearly extinguished. One man added some wood to the fire and stoked it before hanging a pot of water over it to boil, probably for morning coffee.

“Stay here,” he whispered. “I’m going to see how many men he’s got.”

Tyreese, Michonne, and Glenn nodded while Daryl moved further on. His three companions were impressed how the man could move in complete silence.

Waiting was hard. It was tense and Michonne was just about to head out in search of Daryl when he came back.

“Eight men,” Daryl whispered. “All heavily armed. Shane’s with ‘em.”

Michonne nodded. “Let’s get back and tell Rick.”

They started back, heading toward the school, barely making a sound, when Daryl came up short. They came to a stop and saw that three men were moving through the trees, not bothering to remain quiet. They were at a Y in the path. If they headed right they would come upon the school. If they went left they’d go deeper into the trees.

“Fuck,” Daryl said. “It’s Martinez.”

Daryl watched as Martinez took the left path. Once they were out of earshot he and the others broke into a run to get back to the school.

“We’re fucked,” Daryl said. “We’re royally fucked if the Governor decides to hook up with Bishop and come after us.”

“Who’s the Governor?” asked Glenn.

Michonne gave him a quick rundown on who the Governor was and what he’d intended to do with her the time he’d captured her. By the time she was done, both Glenn and Tyreese agreed with Daryl. They were royally fucked.



Next chapter