The Wolves

The hunt for the wolves had been a bust. Early that morning, Sasha and Olivia's funerals had been held, and things around town were tense. Everyone knew that the men who raped and killed two of their women were still out there. People had been told not to go anywhere alone, and not to go anywhere unarmed. Even Deanna and her husband had started carrying weapons on them. No one was being allowed out of the walls except the groups that were going out searching for the wolves.

Derek watched the silly people. The reason why they couldn't find him, is they were looking in the wrong place. He wasn't outside the walls, his pack was hiding out in one of the empty houses, right here under their stupid piggy noses. Derek had come up with a plan. He was eventually going to bring his undead army here to take the town. But he wanted to mess with these people a little more first. And he was thinking about giving the woman he wanted one more chance to come with him willingly. He had gotten one good glimpse of her, walking down the street with the man that was missing a hand and the other one that carried the crossbow. Otherwise, she had been staying inside. Derek guessed she was scared of him, and he liked the idea that he was having such a dramatic effect on her.

"Today is the day," he told his pack. "We wait for the next big group to go out looking for us, and then I want you all in position." Jared and Jon nodded. They already knew the plan, and it was a good one. Jared was looking forward to getting some hurt in on these people. They wanted them running scared when they came back to finish them off. Jared checked his rifle again, making sure it was fully loaded and getting a feel for it. He had always been a good shot, its one of the reasons that Derek had kept him around in the first place. Jon wasn't quite as good, but he mostly going to be backup anyway.

Derek watched as a group of people came out of one of the houses. They were all geared up with guns and bows, going to try and hunt him, not knowing that they were the ones being hunted. He was sad to see that the two men that seemed to linger most around his woman were leaving with the group. Derek had been hoping they would be here when he made his move. Well, it was no matter, he would get them both in time. One sheep was as good as another.

Rick was near the gate talking to Glen and Abraham when he heard the knocking. Little pig, little pig, let me come in. It startled all of them. Their people didn't knock on the gate. The men exchanged glances. Rick and Abraham held up their guns and Glen got the gate. There was just a single man standing on the other side. And he was smiling at them. He had a gun on his hip and another strapped to his back. There were some kind of weird gloves on his hands, they looked like some kind of homemade Freddy Krueger claws. From her description of the man, Rick guessed this must be Derek, the leader of the wolves and the man that killed Sasha.

"You have something in there that belongs to me," Derek told them.

"I highly doubt that," Abraham told him, raising his gun and preparing to shoot the man.

"There are snipers with their guns trained on you," Derek told them. Glen and Abraham started looking around, trying to see if they could spot anyone. Rick kept his eyes on Derek. "I want to talk to RickyJo," Derek said.

"There is about a dick's chance in hell of that happening," Abraham told the man.

"I also have one of your people hostage," Derek said. That was a lie, but since he had kidnapped and killed that black girl, he knew they would believe him. "She is going to die unless you get RickyJo out here now." Rick looked at Abraham. There was no time to do a roll call and see if anyone was missing.

"If you have one of our people," Rick said, "tell us who." Derek smiled.

"I didn't catch her name," Derek said, "but if I don't get what I want, I guarantee she will be screaming mine later." Rick moved in with his gun. "Remember the snipers," Derek scolded him, "Whoever takes a shot at me will be the first to die." Rick was seriously considering taking the chance, but he was worried that might get whoever had been snatched up killed.

"Bring RickyJo out here," Derek said, "and I will release the woman I took." Abraham was shaking his head.

"What do you want with her?," Rick asked. As if he couldn't guess.

"Just to talk to her," Derek said in a voice that was eerily calm, "if she doesn't like what I have to say, I will release your group member and go." Rick thought about it. He didn't believe the man, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He nodded his head at Glen to go get RickyJo. The men stood at a tense standoff for a few minutes and then Rick saw Derek smile again. It seemed to be a genuine one this time. RickyJo and Glen were riding her horse at a brisk pace in their direction. When they got there, she gave Glen an arm down and then swung her leg over and landed softly on her feet. She had her gun on her leg and her bow in her hands, arrow notched and pointing at Derek.

"There's no need for that," Derek told her, "I would never hurt you." Of course not, she thought, you just want to rape me and force me to be your creepy wolf mate. Well I am no dog, I am a wildcat and you haven't even begun to feel my claws. She kept her face neutral, but she was happy to see the long red welt across his face where she had whipped him. Fucker was going to get more than that if he didn't learn to leave her alone.

"You are the one that needs to worry about getting hurt," she told him. The psycho was smiling now, coming closer so his face was almost pressed against the bars of the outer gate.

"You are so beautiful," he told her. And he meant it. Riding up on that horse with her hair flying and her face flushed. Drawing her bow, like some kind of wild amazon woman. Now she was scowling at him and she still looked good.

"Can't you take a hint?," she asked him, "I don't want anything to do with you or your wacko wolf pack. Sasha was my friend and you fucking killed her you sick prick!" Derek wondered if Sasha was the nigger or the fat ass, but he decided he would save that question for another day. Abraham could tell RickyJo was really close to losing her cool. She might put two in this guy and call it a day, let the chips fall where they would.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this," Derek said.

"Do what?," RickyJo asked him. This guy was really pissing her off. What had she fucking done to deserve this. All she wanted to do was raise her son in peace and this sick nutjob had to come along and ruin it. She had enough fucking problem without having to deal with this.

"I will give you the choice," Derek told her, "either come with me or someone you care about will die."

"What the fuck are you talking about," RickyJo said.

"He says he has one of our people," Abraham told her. She looked at him. He might have someone, but it wasn't one of their people, she had just been at the house with all of them that weren't part of the search party and she doubted he grabbed any of them without anyone knowing. He was fucking bluffing.

"I am not going anywhere with you," RickyJo told him, looking at him square in the eyes. Derek backed up from the gate. They were watching him closely in case he went for his gun. But he didn't. Instead he held his hands up over his head and clapped three times. Before any of them understood what was going on, Glen's head exploded. Rick and Abraham flattened themselves against the wall, but RickyJo was at the gate, taking aim. The tears were filling her eyes and she could feel the bile rising up in her throat but she forced herself to take a deep breath. Then she let her arrow fly. Just as Derek disappeared into the bushes, she saw it hit him in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground behind a bush and out of sight. Abraham grabbed her and held her close to him against the wall. She was looking at Glen now. His brains and blood were leaking out onto the pavement. Glen, the one she had sneaked into Atlanta with all those times to get food to feed the group at the quarry. She could see the smile on his face as they sat on top of Dale's RV, eating stale gummy bears and watching the kids pig out on the candy they gave them. Glen was the one that could always look on the other side of the coin and see the good in everyone. Glen who loved his wife more then he loved himself. RickyJo felt Abraham's arms holding her back. Then she started screaming and she didn't stop until everything turned black.