Day 875 - Night

Becca

"One of you killed one of us back in that mall. Shot him right through the head. I know one of you did it, and whoever it was knows it was them. Some of you might know who it was. So you can sell 'em out, or you can all pay."

He stopped pacing and smiled – a horrible, intimidating, patronising smile. "But first, let's get to know each other a little."

The man turned around on his heel and paced back down the line again. "My name is Ivan." He said, and then gestured to the gravelly voiced man, "This is Brandon." He looked at the hooded man, "This is Ethan," and he finally pointed towards the tall African-American man, "and that's Don."

"Donald." 'Don' corrected.

"Shut up." Ivan said, and then ran his hand through his thick hair. "What do you think of them, fellas?" He asked his goons, talking about Becca's group as if they weren't there. "It's always the same way with poor saps like this – they always come in twos. How do you reckon they all add up?"

Brandon shrugged and gestured towards Becca and Annie with his pistol. "They're sisters." He said, and then directed his arm towards Wyatt and Miles. "They're brothers."

"Those two are fucking." Donald said, looking at Daniel and Lucia.

"You're all idiots." Ivan said. "If you'd been listening rather than fucking around, you would've noticed that the little girl cried out and even let us know she was awake when one of you hit the prick with the beard. Clearly those two mean something to each other. You're probably right about the Spanish bitch and Hat Boy over there fucking each other; you should've seen the look on Hat Boy's face when you suggested pissing on his bitch, Ethan."

Ethan chuckled and adjusted his hood slightly as Ivan inspected the rest of the group. "I think it's clear about this boy…" he aimed his gun at Russell, "Jackie Chan here…" he pointed at Vince, "and dead-arm here," he looked at Miles and continued, "None of them are related to others, they're all friends at best." He walked back down the line and stopped in front of Becca. Her heart started racing as he crouched in front of her and their eyes levelled. His eyes were cold and lifeless, much like a walkers', but they still carried a sense of self-awareness that walkers didn't have. Through them Becca could almost see the thoughts and inner workings of his mind as he spoke. "You interest me, kiddo." He whispered, grabbing her chin with his hand and squeezing her cheeks. "You're hiding something, and it ain't your hand. You're not just missing half your hand, there; you're missing a person, too, aren't you? I said people like you always come in sets of two, and you lost your other half. But that's beside the point - you got bit, am I right? Don't worry, you ain't gonna turn. We had a pal who got bit on the leg and we amputated, but he slowed us down so we killed him. We had another pal, who one of your friends – or maybe even you – killed. Who did it?"

The man named Ivan waited for a response. Becca didn't give him the luxury, and his forehead creased as his face twisted into a mask of anger. "We could've done this the easy way," he said. "You all coulda' walked away, albeit with no supplies, but you woulda had your lives. All you had to do was tell us who it was. Who shot David in that fuckin' mall?"

Again, Becca didn't answer. She assumed Ivan had picked her out because she was the only one whose mouth wasn't covered – and truth be told, she knew the bandit had been killed, but she didn't know the culprit.

"Take off their gags." Ivan ordered, "We're gonna hear them all speak."

Brandon, Ethan and Donald moved down the line, wrenching off the duct tape that covered all of the group members' mouths. Immediately there was a rush of shouting and rage from the group until Ivan fired three shots into the air. "Shut the fuck up." He demanded. "You're in no position to scream at us." The group stopped shouting. Becca was praying that the protests and the shots hadn't attracted walkers.

Ivan looked down the group again as he reloaded his weapon, and his eyes settled on Lucia and Daniel. "We're gonna have to do this the hard way," he muttered, and moved towards those two. He got behind them, grabbed Daniel around the back of the neck and lifted him to his feet. He dragged him over to the pickup truck and slammed him down onto the bonnet. "I'm gonna ask you again nicely for the last time – who killed David?"

Daniel didn't say anything for a few seconds, so Ivan spoke up again. "We sent our friend into a mall to get some supplies, and one of you shot him dead! What do you have to say for yourself? Who did it?"

Daniel gasped and tried to speak, his hand muffled by the cold truck bonnet and the hand gripping him around the neck. "I… I didn't… I don't…" he groaned.

Ivan flipped him over, so that the back of Daniel's head was on the car bonnet and Ivan's fingers were wrapped around the soft flesh of his throat. "Again." He demanded. "Who. Did. It?"

"I don't know!" Daniel strained, "I'd tell you if I knew!"

Ivan's temperament changed as soon as the words were uttered. His entire body relaxed, he lifted his hand off of Daniel's throat and then took a few steps back. "Useless," he said calmly, "Absolutely useless." He stepped forward again, grabbed Daniel by his shirt, lifted him up and threw him to the ground, where he remained.

Becca's heart rate increased as Ivan looked over his shoulder at the group, but his gaze didn't fall on her. Donald, Brandon and Ethan took a step back as their leader walked over to the edge of the line of captives, and spoke in a tense tone. "This is why, fellas, I was asking you who you thought was related." He lifted Lucia up. "This is how you get people to talk." He withdrew a knife. For a moment Becca thought he was going to stab Lucia, but instead he cut the bindings that held her wrists together. Daniel looked up in relief from where he lay on the ground by the side of the truck, and Ivan looked down at him with a look of understanding and calmness on his face as he held Lucia in front of him.

In an instant, Ivan changed. His eyes flared and his mouth twisted into a grin as he pulled open the door of the vehicle, pushed Lucia's arm inside and slammed the truck door on her hand. Her scream of pain combined with Daniel's yell of rage as he desperately tried to reach her, his efforts futile.

Ivan stepped back and laughed, then opened the truck door. Lucia's knees buckled as she clutched her hand and looked back at Ivan.

"So, do you know who did it?" the madman asked.

"No." Lucia growled through gritted teeth. Before Ivan could reply, she shot up and attempted to grab him in a fit of rage. Brandon, Ethan and Donald all pointed guns at her, but they couldn't get a clear shot without potentially hitting Ivan. Luckily for them, they didn't need to worry. Ivan quickly tackled Lucia and pushed her back onto her knees with her back to him. "It's all right, pals," he said, stretching her good arm out with his right hand and placing his left on her shoulder, "I'll deal with this." He said.

He gritted his teeth, growled, and lifted his left foot, slamming it straight into the back of Lucia's elbow. She screamed in anguish as the bones in her arm snapped and bent the wrong way. Becca wasn't certain but she thought she saw bone tear the skin of the other side of her arm.

"Lucia! LUCIA!" Daniel cried from the ground. His girlfriend collapsed to the ground, one hand slammed into a car door, the other arm bent the wrong way, bleeding profusely with bones sticking out.

Ivan drew himself up to his full height as Lucia whimpered and Daniel screamed. He linked his fingers, pushed his hands outwards and cracked the bones in his neck before relaxing. He looked at the remaining group of Russell, Miles, Wyatt, Vince, Becca and Annie, and then said. "So, who's next?"

Becca looked to her left as Ivan's eyes fell on a target.