Five Minute Window

Chapter 14

Maggie twisted her shoulders, trying to test the tape that held her wrists together behind her back. All she succeded in doing was ripping out some arm hair and giving herself a painful knot in the muscles of her neck. The only thing she could hear was the wet smacking sounds mixed in with the muffled thuds. Glenn was in the next room having the shit beaten out of him in the next room by Daryl's deranged brother.

She could feel the tears threatening behind her eyes, but she choked them back. That man had put her here for a reason. He wanted her to listen. He wanted to scare her. She needed to show him that she was not going to crack this easy. The noises stopped and she heard the sounds of Glenn being questioned again. Maggie was having a hard time understanding why they didn't just tell this man where his brother was. Certainly he didn't mean his own brother any harm. Maggie had heard bits and pieces about Daryl's missing brother, but like everyone else, she had assumed he was dead.

The door to the room Maggie was in swung open. She expected to see Daryl's brother in the doorway, ready to serve up another helping of what he had been feeding Glenn. But there was a woman there instead. She was on the tall side with long dark blonde hair. And she was covered in tattoos. In her right hand, she was holding a wicked looking hunting knife. The same style Daryl favored.

For a moment, Maggie was afraid the woman was going to use the knife to hurt her. But all she did was squat down behind Maggie's chair and cut the tape that was holding her wrists together. The woman held her finger to her lips. A silent warning for Maggie to keep quiet. The woman lay down on the floor by the door, peeking out under the crack. Maggie heard the tread of boots passing by the door. Once the sound trailed off down the hall, the woman was on her feet, signaling Maggie to follow her.

Since she didn't have too many more appealing options, Maggie followed the woman, closing the door quietly behind her. They stalked down the hall to the room where Glenn was being held. The door was locked, but just with a slide lock from the outside. The woman slid it open slowly so it didn't make noise. Then she opened the door. When she saw what was going on inside, the woman rushed in.

Glenn was still taped to a chair. He was trying to fight off the walker that was coming at him, and not doing a very good job. All of a sudden, the walker was being stabbed in the head but someone standing behind it. It dropped to the ground, all the undead life gone now that it had been pierced through the brain. Once it was down, Glenn almost couldn't believe his eyes. RickyJo was standing there, and Maggie behind her. Glenn almost started crying he was so happy.

"Shut the door," she told Maggie, who moved quickly to comply. Then RickyJo moved forward, using the knife she was holding to free Glenn from the tape that was holding him. She guided him into another chair, sitting him down and feeling his face gently with the tips of her fingers to see if any of his bones were broken. He winced at her touch, but held still and let her do what she felt needed to be done.

"Can you walk?," she asked him. Glenn nodded, swallowing a mouthful of his own blood and then wishing he had spit it out.

"RickyJo," Glenn gasped, "It's good to see you." She smiled, taking her fingers away from his face and leaning down to wrap her arms around him. Carefully, like she didn't want to hurt him worse than he already was. He wrapped his arms around her, getting a chunk of her hair stuck to the tape on his arm. He used his other hand to help unstick it without ripping her hair out.

"You too," she said. She turned back to look at Maggie before she mentioned, "Doing well for yourself I see." Glenn nodded again. Maggie was a beautiful woman. That thought had crossed his mind many times, but never as a negative until Merle snatched them up.

"I am taking you back to your people," RickyJo said, noting the hopeful expression on Glenn's face. "But I want to come with you," she asked, "I don't want to stay here anymore."

"Of course you can," Glenn told her, one of his hands coming up to grip her empty one. She squeezed back and then ran to the door, peeking out into the hall like she was afraid someone might be coming back soon.

"I've got a car hid nearby," she said, her voice just above a whisper, "how far is yer camp from here?"

"Not far at all," Glenn told her, hugging Maggie to him and letting her kiss the side of his mouth that was not as swollen as the rest, "we have been staying at the prison. North of Highway 34." RickyJo nodded. There was no hesitation in his voice. He trusted her completely.

"Is Daryl alright?," she asked. Glenn could hear the concern in her voice for the man. Glenn had been uncertain about the exact nature of their relationship, but he knew they had been close.

"Yeah, he's there," Maggie said, finally speaking up so Glenn wouldn't have to talk with his swollen bloody mouth.

"Who else made it," RickyJo asked, opening the door a crack and peeking out into the hall again. She stuffed her knife back into the sheath on her belt.

"Rick, Carol, Carl, I think that's it that you know," Glenn said, "Maggie's family and a few inmates that were left in the prison when we got there."

RickyJo jumped back from the door as it was swung into the room with such force that the doorknob made a hole in the wall behind it. A tall man Glenn had not seen before came in, with Merle and another stranger behind him. The other man was hispanic, and he was holding Glenn's watch in his hands. Merle had taken it from him when he searched him for weapons. The tall man got close to RickyJo, looking down at her threateningly. Glenn scrambled to his feet, shoving Maggie behind him.

"How long?," RickyJo asked the hispanic man. He gave her a big smile.

"A minute and a half," he informed her.

"Ha," she said to the tall man, shoving him back away from her and holding out her hand. "Pay up." The tall man laughed. The sound made Glenn's skin crawl. The man pulled a pack of cigarrettes out of his back pocket and slapped them into RickyJo's open hand. She darted around him, telling Merle and the hispanic man the same thing. Pay up assholes. Just like the tall man had down they each shoved a pack of smokes at her. She wrinkled up her nose at the green and white pack the hispanic man handed her.

"Menthols?," she asked. "This is some fuckin' bullshit Ceasar." Merle laughed. "Whatever fucker, you're the one that's goin' ta be smokin' em," she informed him.

"That was some impressive shit there babydoll," Merle informed her, pulling her close and kissing her hard on the mouth. His hand reaching down to grab a handful of the roundest part of her ass. Glenn was confused. He was starting to think that he has just been played but didn't want to believe that RickyJo would do something like that to him. Sure she had punched him that one time, when she had taken his car to go after Merle. But other than that she had always been cool with him. They had gone on a lot of runs into the city alone together. Quiet and quick. He considered her a friend.

"What the hell is going on RickyJo?," Glenn finally spit out. She turned and gave him a wicked smile. It hit him then. She was acting. Not before, but now. This was a show she was putting on. When she had been in the room alone before. That was the real her. Not this uncaring monster.

"What's going on is I wanted to know where my husband's brother is," she told them, "and I didn't feel like wasting time letting him beat it out of you." Her eyes flicked towards Maggie. Glenn could only imagine what these men would have done to her to get the information they wanted. And then what she just said registered in his mind. Her husband. What the hell alternate universe had he stumbled into. Last he knew RickyJo was into women. The last thing he expected was to hear that she was married. To Merle.

"What should we do with them now, Governor?," the hispanic man asked. He was not asking RickyJo, or Merle. He was talking to the tall man. This man was a governor? Whoever he was he was clearly in charge. Glenn was even more confused than he had been before, but what the man said in response made his blood run cold.

"Take them out and throw them in the screamer pits," the governor said. Glenn was watching RickyJo very carefully. He saw her eyes open a little wider when the tall man said that. Then she quickly regained control of her face.

"Phillip," RickyJo said, a question in her voice. He liked the men to call him Governor, but he let her get away with using his first name. It implied she was about to ask him a personal favor, not about something that was for the good of the town. "Do you mind if we double check their story first before ya kill 'em dead?," she asked, "jus' in case?" When he turned to speak to her she gave him a big fake smile. Then she stuck a cigarette between her lips and let him light it for her, putting her hand over his while he flicked the wheel on the blue bic in his hands.

"Good idea," he said. He liked that she had asked him instead of making demands in her usual way. And he liked when she called him by his name like they were friends. He turned to Martinez.

"Keep them locked up down here for now," he said, "if they make any noise, cut the girl's hands off."