A/N: Sorry for a later update... Work was actually busy. I usually have enough free time to type up a chapter, but not yesterday.
Prompt: Signals
.o.o.o.
Daryl snarled as a big, burly thug tied Anna's hands behind her back and shoved her to her knees. He watched carefully as they tied the other women up. If any of them touched Anna, or any of the girls, in the wrong way...
"Well now... the gang's all here." The sly smile turned his stomach. There was nothing that Daryl wanted to do more right now than to put a bolt right between his eyes. "I'm Max."
"Well Max, what do you want?" Rick tried to act casual, like his pregnant wife wasn't tied up on the floor and armed man next to her. It infuriated Daryl even more.
"We are humble men. We didn't even eat the forbidden fruit that had landed in our laps." The way he phrased it even made Rick twitch in anger. "Ask your girls, we ain't touched them."
"Carol?" Rick looked to the most frail of them. She looked up and shook her head. "Then I will repeat. What do you want?"
"We simply want everythin' you got." Max said so smoothly and so casually, Rick almost didn't understand.
"Surely you can understand that we can't give you everything." Rick grinned smoothly back as though they were talking about sports.
"Oh but if you want your girls back, alive even, then you'll understand we want it all." He leaned towards Rick, trying to loom over the taller man.
"We'll take our women and be on our way." Rick emphasised. Max laughed and pulled out a handgun.
"You and redneck Rambo here?" He laughed harder. The two men, while untied, were unarmed and surrounded by the gang of five thugs. Most were big and burly, possibly the ranch hands from the former farm.
"We don't want to spill any blood here." Rick shifted his weight and all five thugs tensed and pulled their guns closer.
"Rick maybe we should just take 'em back to... camp." Daryl muttered, a plan half forming in his mind. Rick paused, weighing the idea, trying to guess what Daryl could have in mind.
"We'd love to see y'all's camp." Max rubbed his fat hands together and tucked his gun into the back of his pants.
"Get 'em up." Three of the thugs reached down and pulled one of the women up to her feet. Lori stood so unsteadily, she was half carried, half dragged out the door. Carol and Anna attempted to show no fear, but tears streamed down Carol's face.
"Lori, don't worry, we're going to be fine." Anna muttered, closest to the weak woman.
"Fine until we get to camp."
.o.o.o.
"Where the hell are they?" T-Dog had never been so anxious in his life, walking back and forth on the porch to the house. Hershel, Maggie, and Glenn had left to patrol the fence, looking for any sign of their missing group.
"Maybe they found something... Like more food!" Beth smiled, trying to imagine the positive out of the bleak.
"Yeah... maybe." T-Dog didn't want to crush her hopes. He was envisioning different outcomes; injuries, walkers, or... something even worse.
"Maggie!" Beth stood from the front step as her sister ran up.
"We got Rick incoming... Ya know that belt buckle trick he showed us?" Maggie attempted to catch her breath.
"Yeah, he said he'd flash that shiny buckle when he was coming, twice if trouble." T-Dog recounted, remembering the day Rick had decided to add more security measures. He was still a cop, even after the world went to shit.
"He flashed twice, then twice again, and then a total of six times." Maggie shook her head, unsure what it was supposed to mean.
"Maybe... maybe he ran into six troubles?" Beth pondered. T-Dog and Maggie shared a look.
Whatever it was, it wasn't good.
