It has been two days since the Monroe Militia came into the small town, two days since Ben was killed and Danny was captured, two days since Charlie, Aaron and Maggie went off to find Danny.
An eighteen year old blonde girl, Maria, carries a basket full of warm, freshly-baked rolls through the centre of the village. Maria's parents died in the early stages of the blackout and she was taken in when she was three years old. It is her job to deliver all of the food to each house in the village. She works out how much each house needs, using the number of residents.
Maria is a friendly, well-mannered girl, who can be known to be a bit sassy from time-to-time. She passes a few 'hellos' and 'how are yous' as she walks through the village.
All of a sudden, a gunshot sound flies through the air, making Maria jump and drop the three remaining rolls, along with the basket, on the floor. She feels another hand on her's and she looks to her right. It's her boyfriend, Cole.
"Let's go inside." He tells her. "Let the adults handle it."
Maria wants to stay and confront the Monroe, now she is eighteen, but knows better than to argue with Cole. The two run inside the nearest house, which isn't theirs, but are warmly welcomed by Mrs Banks.
The pair, along with the woman, watch through the front window of the house. A man sits on a horse, followed by several other insignificant members of the Militia. It's not Major Tom Neville, Maria knows what he looks like.
The man introduces himself, "My name is Sergant Matthew Oldman of the Militia Monroe." No-one replies. Ben normally talks in this situation but, due to recent events, he isn't able to.
Instead, an old man steps forwards. He walks with a walking stick and has a limp. His long, grey beard comes to just above his waist. "What do you want?" The man asks in a shaky, but not scared, voice.
Matthew laughed, "You want me to cut to the chase, eh? Wise man, this one." A moment of silence occurs. "Our Militia base is low on women. I mean, really low. There are only three fresh women left in our camp." Maria's turns her nose up at the word 'fresh.' "So, we've decided to go on a little scouting trip."
Women all around the village begin to cry and flee away.
"Get them." Matthew orders.
Inside the house, Cole looks at Maria. "We've gotta get you out of here." Cole tells her before grabbing her hand and leading her to the back door. Mrs Banks quickly shows them the way and shuts the door behind them.
"These women are of no use!" Matthew shouts. "Find the good ones."
Cole and Maria run behind the house and start towards the whole in the fence that only they know about. The hole where they sneak out at night and watch the sun go down.
But, before Maria can make it, she feels a strong, rough hand grab her wrist tightly.
"You can't get away that easily, missy." The man laughs. He has dark, black hair and a small moustache.
"Maria!" Cole screams, running back to her. However, the man quickly shoves Maria to the floor and sends his fist smashing into Cole's left temple, knocking him out cold. Maria tries to scramble away, but its no use, the man soon has her in his grasp again.
"I caught a nice one." The man gladly smiles as he pulls Maria so she is in front of Matthew. She kicks, she screams, she punches but she just can't break free.
"You all make me sick." Maria suddenly bursts out, calling to the other people that live in the village. "You're just going to stand and watch while one of your own girls is taken for sex by the Militia. Who even has the courage to stand up? You're never going to see me again. This village was already crumbling without Ben, Maggie, Aaron, Charlie and Danny. And, this event, is going to be enough to send this village crashing down."
"Ooooh, I like this one." Matthew smirks. "I think I'll have her for myself."
"In your dreams, creep." She spits. Maria jerks her arm from the man's grasp. "Get. Off. Me."
She knows that she can't escape, so walks by herself into one of the carriages connected to the back of the horses. The carriage is completely cut off from the outside world and looks like its been thrown together with old wood. The man that had captured her locks the door.
As the Militia pulls out of the village, Maria bumps up and down on the seat, due to the rocky road. They stop several times, but no other girls are 'collected' until the fourth stop.
In this town, a girl is thrown into the carriage rather forcefully and slams against the floor.
"Oh my god!" Maria shrieks, bending over to help the girl up. "What's your name?"
'Summer' is all the girl manages to get out before she bursts into a fit of sobs.
"Listen here, Summer." Maria tells the girl. She can see that the girl is genuinely scared for her life. "Are you listening?" She nods. "It's going to take at least a week by horse and carriage to get to the capital of the Monroe Republic, which means that we'll need to stop somewhere for the night. And, at night, is where we strike and make our escape. Our best bet is to give them a false sense of hope and play nice until then." Maria had been planning her escape ever since she got on the carriage.
"Are you s-sure it's go-gonna work?" Summer asks.
"It's going to work just fine." Maria replies. "It's just a waiting game."
Two painfully long hours later, the carriage finally pulls to a stop and Maria wakes Summer, who was sleeping on the other bench.
"Where are we?" Summer asks.
"I know as much as you do..." Maria admits. "But, I assume that we're at our hotel for the night."
The door swings open and Matthew's annnoyingly smiling face appears.
"Girls!" He smiles. "We have arrived! May I help you out?" Matthew lifts his hand up.
Maria stands from the bench first and walks out, ignoring Matthew's 'polite' gesture. Summer follows closely behind, not wanting to be too far away from her new friend.
The two girls look up to the building in front of them. The words 'Holiday Inn' are painted on the side. Two Militia soldiers work to cute a vine from the side of the building with an axe.
"This used to be a hotel before the blackout. I used to take my Gran and my brother here, all the time." Matthew explains.
"I don't care." Maria bluntly says as she crosses her arms. Summer gently pokes Maria in the stomach with her elbow.
"If you want to be pure, until you get to the Monroe Capital..." Matthew says as he turns around. "You need to keep your mouth shut until you're spoken to. Okay?" She doesn't reply. "That was a question."
"Yeah." Maria bluntly replies.
"A 'Yes, Mr Oldman' would be nice." He shouts as he turns around and begins to walk
"I'm not in school." She spits. Without warning, Matthew spins around on one foot and send his fist crashing onto the left side of her face. Maria isn't knocked out, just viciously sent crashing to the floor. She splutters a bit of blood on the ground next to her.
Matthew laughs cruely, "Pick her up." He orders to one of the soliders. Matthew walks off as Maria is picked up by the man. Summer stays close to Matthew and Maria as they walk inside.