Gritting his teeth, Kenny punches the guard who was holding him, managing to make him stagger a few steps away, and as a consequence, the other two guards join in and throw him rather violently into that cell.
- You fucking sons of bitches! Why don't you stop crying for help to your boyfriends and try to come at me hand to hand, huh?! Fucking cowards!
Kenny shouted, getting up and wiping the blood trickling down the side of his mouth.
- Oh, Kenny. You haven't changed a bit.
Ed stood in front of the cell, with his hands on his waist and looking at him with a cynical smile.
- You haven't either, you're still the same old son of a bitch. The difference is that now you have more boyfriends watching your back. And by the way you're close, I guess your back isn't the only part of your body they guard, huh?
Kenny said, staring at Ed angrily, and slightly doubtful that he had been thrown into a dark cell. He hadn't done anything too much to deserve punishment. But of course he had expected something like this from Ed.
He just didn't expect it to be in the middle of his "forced labor".
- Ha, ha, ha... very funny. Seriously, I almost missed your bullshit. Anyway, I guess you're wondering why I brought you here, right?
Ed said, and almost immediately, the lights in the place were turned on, and only then did Kenny realize where he was.
The cell he was thrown into was smaller than he thought, and all around it, runners were locked in mobile cells for large animals. Also, right next to it was a person he knew well.
- Molly!
He called out the woman's name, and she looked at him with startled, and even slightly relieved eyes. The woman's face was covered with bruises, blood trickling down some of her wounds. She was being held in a cell similar to the one the runners were in.
But other than that, she seemed fine...thinking in some positive way.
- Well, just as I thought of Lee, I also thought of you. You were the closest to him in the old days. And just like him, we are going to have a great time together. The runners won't be stuck for long, but, you have survived for a long time, you should be able to handle them, right? Besides having help from a friend of yours.
Ed said, watching as a guard walked up to the woman and opened the cell she was in.
- I'll watch for a while, but I have other things to do. Have fun Kenny. And don't die, we still have plenty of time to compensate.
Ed said, the cell door was closed, and Kenny could see the smile on Ed's lips before he walked away.
As soon as Ed was out of his line of sight, Kenny turned and ran to the woman. However, on the way, one of the mobile cells was abruptly opened and the runner advanced toward him.
Molly ran to it and knocked the creature down before it could catch up with Kenny, who as soon as he saw the woman on the runner, ran his eyes around the place looking for something he could use.
- I can't hold on much longer, Grandpa!
Molly shouted, gritting her teeth as she tried to keep the runner down.
Kenny grunted lightly, until his eyes focused on a pipe in the wall ahead.
He quickly ran to the pipe and began forcing it back, and the more time that passed in that attempt, the more anxious he became as he heard Molly's constant groans of effort.
Another one of the cells were opened, at the same moment Kenny managed to pull that pipe out. Turning around, he slams the object into the head of the runner that had advanced towards him, and quickly runs over to Molly, slamming the pipe a few times into the creature's skull, and helping the woman up. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The woman had been his supply-seeking partner for some time now, and while she wasn't exactly the best partner he'd ever had, she hadn't let him down once.
Gasping for breath, she sighs and runs her hand over her face, relieved.
- Didn't you want to take a little longer?
she asked, and Kenny snorted slightly.
- What happened to the others?
Kenny asked anxiously, running his eyes around the place looking for some way he could get out of there. Unfortunately, the only way out was through the locked cell door.
In other words, he would have to kill all those runners.
- Omid and Christa managed to get out. Jane returned to the community before we were captured. I saw Conrad's body dumped with the others. Prescott was destroyed, I can't tell the whereabouts of the others.
The woman said, and Kenny grumbled again, rolling his eyes.
- This shit only gets worse!
Kenny shouted as he saw another of the cells being opened from another runner, and he held the pipe tighter in his hands as he slammed into the creature.
A little farther away, Carley sighed wearily as she finished doing another supply count in that section.
It wasn't really tiring work, just... boring, besides being very uncomfortable because it was something she was forced to do.
Running her hand through her hair, she thinks about everything that happened in the last few days. An careless mistake in a routine job, and they were captured by some crazy people who attack and loot communities.
A slight slip, just a small lack of attention. She should be grateful that none of her group died... well, as far as she knew.
But in the midst of it all, there was some good, for a change.
Who knew that she would be reunited with Lee and Clementine. Jesus, they were so different, both of them.
Clementine, though still resembling that sweet little girl from before, was much changed. So grown up for her age, it was as if she was talking to an adult.
And Lee, he no longer looked anything like that friendly teacher from before, he seemed like a different man. Although she had to admit that the years had done him some good.
Chuckling nasally, the woman shakes her head at the thoughts. Hardly believing that she was still willing to think of something like that in a situation like this.
Maybe it was just the neediness, not having anyone by her side for quite a while. Or maybe it was just nostalgia, to be honest with herself, she didn't have much hope of seeing them again.
Not in a world like that.
- Am I interrupting you?
Ed's sudden voice brought Carley out of her thoughts, and the woman turned around startled. Not only at the sudden call of the disgusting man, but at the feeling of his hands running around her waist.
- What do you want?
She asked harshly, closing her face at seeing him there, and in response, Ed just smiled.
- Is this how you talk to an old companion? Come on, we survived together at one point, we starved together.
He said, walking slowly around the woman, who couldn't take her eyes off him, afraid that he was going to try to do something, plus she wanted to look into Ed's living eyes before he was nothing more than a heap of meat.
From his tone, body expression, and especially from the look Lee had gotten the day before, she had a good idea that he would not be merciful to Ed.
And although that surprised her, since he didn't remind her of the gentle professor at all, she was rooting for him to kill Ed in a horrible way.
Even though she herself knew that that thought was wrong.
- How hard is it for us to get back together? To get back to being friendly to each other like we were in that motel?
he asked, and the woman snorted, almost laughing in disdain.
- We were never close, you were always the most distant one there, the strangest one among us. And you must be crazy to think that any of us will be friendly to you after all you have done.
she said. And before Ed could do anything, she felt a hand slide up her back, and turned suddenly to face the guard standing behind her, who was staring at her with a disgusting grin.
- You see...
Ed began, and again, the woman turned as she felt a hand on her ass, and stared at Ed with murderous eyes.
- I haven't done anything that can't get worse. Let's take our dear friend Lee as an example.
He said, running his hands down Carley's body, who tried to pull away, but had her arms grabbed by the guard behind her.
- He left me with this face, he deceived my daughter. He left me on the brink of death, he punched me when we met again, he knocked out my tooth, he tried to kill me more than once, and he always tries to fight me. I warned him not to do anything stupid, but he didn't listen.
He went on to say, stopping his hands on Carley's shoulders.
- My point is, your actions have consequences. So be careful how you act with me, honey.
He reached down and kissed Carley's neck, at the same time squeezing her shoulders hard.
The woman turned her face away and closed her eyes as she felt the urge to vomit rise in her throat.
- We are going to spend a lot of time together, I don't want there to be any more intrigue between us.
He said, squeezing hard on Carley's ass, and pushing her forward forcefully.
The woman took a deep breath and turned around, looking hatefully at Ed, and with tears of anger starting to well up in her eyes.
- Well, I've come to invite you to take part in a little show tomorrow. There won't be many people, just you, me, a few guards, and of course, Clementine and Lee. They are indispensable because they will be the main attraction of the show. We have quite a day tomorrow.
He said, walking out of the room.
Carley followed him with her eyes, dying to be around when he died.
And grumbling in anger, the woman points her middle finger at the guard, who sends her a kiss before leaving after Ed.
In the prison cell, Clementine and Lee were sitting in the armchairs in the middle of the place, both trapped in their own thoughts.
Thinking about how to get out of there, the consequences of trying to escape, the things that could go wrong, the consequences of those things.
On ways to kill Ed, on how many organs a human being can withstand having removed from him before he dies. On how many bones someone can withstand being broken before they die from shock. How loud someone can scream in pain, how long it takes for screams to become just moans, and moans to become just whispers...
Where would Aj be, what they did to the boy. How they would get him back.
Anyway, they had a lot of work to do and a lot of risks to take, not that it was anything different from their everyday life, but considering that their situations were a little... different than usual, those matters should be thought about.
The cell door was suddenly opened, drawing the attention of both of them.
And as soon as they saw who was entering the prison, their expressions immediately closed, and their eyes stared angrily at Ed, who smiled as he walked a few steps towards them.
- How are my two favorite people, huh?
He asked cynically, watching as Lee stood up with a very unfriendly face. But he didn't come closer, just stood up and stared at him.
- Don't you want to talk? I gouged out your eyes, not your tongues... well, in Lee's case, a hand too.
He said teasingly, but they both just continued to stare at him without saying a word, nor did they seem affected by what he said.
- Argh, you guys are not funny today. But, I have something in mind that might cheer you up. Tomorrow we will enjoy a show, to ease the tension between us, and you will be the main stars.
He said, now seeing a small spark of doubt in their angry looks.
- I guarantee you will have a good time, and it's not that difficult, don't worry. You should be quite used to performing in front of a crowd by now. Anyway, I'll come by and pick you up tomorrow. I hope you're as excited as I am.
He said amused, taking both Clementine's eye and Lee's hand from his pocket and playing with them like toys.
- "Oh I'm so excited, of course I'm going to grab this opportunity"
Ed said, faking a different voice as he moved Lee's hand, as if a mouth was speaking those words.
"Me too, I can't wait to watch"
And just like the hand, he did the same thing with Clementine's eye, and as soon as he finished saying it, he put both of them together and put them away again.
An uncomfortable, disgusting, sickening sight, even for the guards behind him.
- Well, I guess I disturbed you enough on your day off. Tomorrow we have a big day. A big fucking day!
Ed said, somewhat excitedly, walking out of the cell, and laughing when the door was locked again.