Jessica stirred, opening her eyes slightly to her surroundings. She was in a small living room, lying on a sofa. Four figures stood near her: she could instantly recognise Rita and Victor, and within a few seconds she remembered seeing Sam before she had been carried into the cottage. But the fourth figure hadn't been there earlier. It was a man who was tall, fierce-looking… and pointing a gun at the other three. She shut her eyes tight again, feigning sleep in the hopes that the intruder wouldn't notice that she was there, and if he did, that she was awake. She listened carefully to the dialogue, waiting for the right moment. Rita spoke first.

"I take it this is Hugh." Sam and Victor nodded in response.
"Why yes, it is," the intruder replied smugly. "I've been the talk of the town recently, it seems. No matter. I didn't fight my way here and climb through a second-storey – that I had to smash, I might add - just so I could listen to you shame my name. I came for the girl. Where is she?"
"Didn't you just hear us? She's gone. Your henchman must have taken her."
"Not that I am to believe a word you say. You have every reason to lie, so give me a reason to believe you."
"Why would she leave this cottage, the safest place for miles, unless it was by force?" Sam spoke up, crushed that Hugh hadn't perished in the swarm earlier that night. Victor tried to sneakily get his gun out from the back of his jeans, but Hugh noticed.

"Thank you for reminding me, Victor. All of you, weapons down on the floor. Otherwise you'll be on the floor with them.
Rita and Victor retrieved their guns and knives and reluctantly let them fall to the floor. Hugh raised an eyebrow at Sam.
"You took my weapons on the road, remember? I haven't exactly had time to rearm myself."
"Don't get smart with me. Weapons on the ground in five seconds or I put a bullet in you."
"I'm serious, I'm not armed. Look." Sam emptied his pockets on his jeans and jacket, revealing nothing. He waited for Hugh's response.
"Turn around."
Sam complied, swivelling round to show that he wasn't packing heat in the back.
"Can I turn back now?"

Hugh raised his gun and fired.

Sam cried out in pain as a bullet pierced his thigh, lodging itself in there. He fell to the ground, crashing heavily down on the floor. Rita screamed, grabbing hold of Victor in terror. They watched as he scrambled across the floor in agony, clutching his thigh as blood covered the carpet around him. Hugh groaned in boredom.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time. Now you two, in there." He pointed his gun towards the kitchen. Victor and Rita walked in hand-in-hand.
"It will be alright," reassured Victor, more saying it for himself than for Rita. She didn't reply, too occupied by the floods of tears cascading down her cheeks. Hugh pushed them forward, following them in.

"Stop!"

Hugh stopped dead in his tracks as a gun pressed up against the small of his back. "Drop it or I'll drop you," snarled Jessica, ordering him to surrender his weapon. He released it from his hands and it crashed to the ground.
"On your knees, hands behind your back. Victor, kick the gun away."
They both followed her orders, surprised by her sudden taking charge.

"Rita, find something to tie him up. He's got a lot of explaining to do."
The nervous old woman took deep breaths, heading past them and searching through the house for rope or something similarly useful. Victor ran over to help Sam, who had crawled into a corner and was nearly crying. He retrieved his gun from the floor (Jessica had picked up Rita's) and nearly collided with Phillip and Lenny, who came bursting through the door with weapons in hand. Phillip had a gun too, despite all weapons having been taken back when he had been captured. Lenny asked what happened before spotting a figure knelt down in the doorway, with Jessica stood over him.

"Is that Hugh?"
Victor put his gun in the back of his jeans. "Yeah, he just shot Sam and Jessica got the jump on him. Where did you get that gun, Phillip?"
"I… I found it in the basement, along with a knife."
Lenny took notice and stared at the weapons that he was now showing. "Eileen had those earlier."
"That's Jessica's gun," said Victor. "She must've left it behind when the walkers attacked the camp."
"So Eileen took it and ran off, then I caught up with her and gave her that knife to protect herself with."

Victor sighed. "So she did get kidnapped then. Why else would she leave those here?"
"Well it can't have been Hugh, because he wouldn't have come back if he had her."
Phillip spoke up. "And it couldn't have been Becky, Patricia or Randy."
"Or Mira." Victor raised an eyebrow at Lenny.
"So it was Grant then, meaning that he's now long gone with her. There's no chance of finding her, unless she escapes and comes back here."

Phillip made a face at Lenny's comment. "Well, I don't think we should stay here."
"Why's that?" asked Victor.
"There's a slight problem."
"Spit it out."
"There's about a hundred walkers outside."

Victor took a moment to respond. "Shit" was all he could come up with.
Lenny took charge. "That doesn't leave us much time then. If we can't find Eileen, we can at least find out where she's being taken."
"How?"
"Said asshole down on his knees over there."

"I'm not deaf guys," muttered the out-of-luck intruder. Rita returned with an armful of extension cords.
"Will this do?"