Warning: Blood, gore, language.

"It's not happening Beca. There's no way she's going to be able to get what we need." Sam and Beca were sitting by the rebar wall of the cell staring out into the darkness, looking for any sign of their furry little friend. Sam had been skeptical of using Bella to escape but Beca had been adamant that the monkey was smarter than the average primate.

"Calm down Sam. I told you if it wasn't for Bella I would have died a long time ago." Beca leaned back against the wall of the cell and tried to keep up a calm front. Truth be told she was worried about her little friend. They had sent Bella out to try and get them a tool to help them escape. Sam didn't believe that she could do it, or even understand what it was they wanted from her. Beca was of a different mind, she had been traveling with Bella for several weeks now and the little monkey had surprised her at every turn. Plus Beca had somewhat trained Bella to respond to different commands. If Beca told Bella to "grab the food" Bella would usually go to the closest piece of food and bring it back.

Only now Bella had been gone for well over three hours and had not returned. Beca was worried that someone might have found Bella and captured her. If that happened then not only would they probably lose Bella but also any chance at escape. So she sat and waited, hoping that her furry little friend was alright. She looked up and saw that the waning moon was slowly starting it's descent towards the horizon and let out an agitated huff.

"Want me to do your hair?" Sam asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Do you want me to do your hair?" Sam gestured to her own hair and gave the braided ponytail a little flip. "I don't know about you but I don't like having my hair dangling out in the open for anyone or anything to grab. Plus who knows how long we'll be waiting, it will help pass the time."

"Uh, ya sure, why not," Beca moved over and sat in front of Sam while she started running her fingers through Beca's hair to work out the knots. "Tell me about your sister. You didn't really talk about her much."

"Well despite the fact that we're twins we're complete opposites. While I was the hyperactive tomboy she usually was ok with just sitting down and reading a book." Sam adopted a small smile as she started braiding Beca's hair into two twin braids. "That's probably why she did so much better in school than I did. I got the looks she got the brains."

"Thought you said you were twins?"

"We are but we're fraternal, I ended up looking more like our mom and she basically looks like a female version of our dad." Sam's grin evolved into a full on smile as she thought about her sister. "Don't get me wrong, Maggie's got the family looks she just despises dressing up or putting makeup on. And don't even get me started on her reaction to heels. According to her, heels were designed by the devil."

"Agreed." Beca commented.

"Yes, I agree but that's besides the point. Any who after we graduated high school she went to MIT to get her masters in electrical engineering while I went into the military." Beca turned around and shot Sam an inquisitive look. "Yup, told you I like weapons and what better way to play with weapons than to join the military. So mind your manners, you're speaking to Staff Sergeant Samantha Quill."

"Ha! Guess that means I outrank you." Beca shot her a smug grin. Sam just gave Beca a confused look. "I'm captain of the Barden Bellas. And while I might not know much about the military I do know that a captain outranks a sergeant." A statement which immediately earned Beca a slap to the back of the head.

"Keep dreaming civilian." Sam said as she finished up Beca's braids. Beca whipped her head back and forth to get a feel for them. It wasn't her usual style but she had to admit her head felt cooler and there was less of a chance that someone or something could grab her.

"Can I ask you kinda a rough question?" Beca asked as she moved back to the cell wall.

"Shoot."

"What happened to the military when all this started going down?"

Sam let out a long sigh and sat back against the wall. "We wanted to do something but for whatever reason we never got the go ahead from the higher ups. Something about how the National Guard was supposed to take care of it. And by the time we were told to suit up the larger cities had already been overrun. We still got deployed but as soon as we had boots on the ground our teams got torn to shreds." Sam stopped for a minute to compose her thoughts.

"My squad and I were deployed to Norfolk in Virginia to try and establish a sort of control center to retake D.C. but that never happened. The military base in Norfolk was already overrun and my squad barely made it out alive. Over the next couple of days our numbers dwindled until eventually it was just me and my buddy James. We were literally limping across the state when we were attacked by some of those fast moving zombies. We managed to fight them off but James got bit in the process." Sam was trying to hold back tears and Beca leaned forward to lay a comforting hand on Sam's knee. "He asked me to put him down. He said he didn't want to become one of those things."

"I'm sorry." Beca couldn't imagine what that must have been like. She had lost her mom but she couldn't imagine having to be the one to kill a friend.

"It's all right. After James I ditched my army uniform and started hoofing it across the country to Tennessee where my sister was working on some fancy shmancy robot thingy. Made it to here when Cleo's goons got the jump on me." Sam lifted her head, she was about to say something else when her eyes went wide.

Beca spun around to see Bella perched on top of the rebar but that wasn't what had shocked Sam. Behind Bella was Marcus, only now he was sporting an eye-patch over his right eye.

"Oh my god! Marcus what happened!?" Beca shot to her feet and Bella leapt to her shoulder.

Marcus sat down on his knees and opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out for a second and the girls could tell he was struggling. Eventually Marcus managed to choke out a heavily slurred "Cleo."

"That bitch! I swear when I get my hands on that hag's scrawny little neck." Sam continued her rant for a good minute. Beca meanwhile sat back and took a long hard look at Marcus' face.

"Marcus, do you even want to be here?" Marcus just shook his head solemnly. "What if I told you I have a plan to get Sam and I out of here, would you want to get in on that action?"

"Beca what are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I-I want...to help." Marcus said while standing up and reaching to grab the cell wall. His words were heavily slurred and it sounded like he took careful consideration with each syllable.

"Whoa hold on there big guy. As easy as it would be to escape right now Sam and I both agree that Cleo needs to be taken down so that people like us don't get captured again." Beca said while holding out her hands to stop the giant. Marcus raised an eyebrow at her but Beca just motioned for him to sit back down. Beca turned and gave Sam a smug look. "Told you Bella would come through."

Sam just scoffed and sat across from Marcus as Beca began to go over the plan with them.

The Next morning found Beca and Sam leaning against each other asleep against the back wall. They were rudely awoken by someone beating against the rebar.

"Wake up degenerates. It's time for your penance." Cleo was standing outside their cell with Marcus behind her. The two women slowly rose to their feet and glanced at each other. Cleo was acting all too cheery, they both had the same thought that things were about to go horribly wrong. Beca glanced at Marcus but all he did was shrug, clearly he didn't know what was going on either.

"I hope you're ready Samantha, cause I got something special planned for you today." Cleo was just about radiating a crazy type of glee. "But don't worry Beca we didn't forget about you, you'll get the best seat in the house to watch your friend die." Cleo actually skipped back to the ladder and made her accent.

"Is it just me or is she getting crazier?" Beca asked.

"Ya, if we're going to do anything we need to do it now." Sam said as she made her way to the wall that Marcus was in the process of ripping off.

"But this isn't the plan. I'm supposed to go into the arena so that you and Marcus can move about." Beca complained. If their plan was going to work then the three of them had to be in precise locations at the right time and already things were getting screwed up.

"Hey, if there's one thing I learned in the army is to make a plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go wrong and then forget the plan. We just happened to skip a few steps." Sam smirked as she started making her way up the ladder.

"Somehow I don't find that comforting." Beca moved to climb the ladder when Marcus laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "Thanks big guy."

Beca made her way up the ladder with Marcus following quickly. She glanced around the area and managed to get a quick glimpse of Bella scurrying in the brush just outside of the clearing they were in. Hopefully when this would be over soon and she and Bella would be back on the road.

The four of them, along with three other guards, made their way to the area designated for the arena. The stands surrounding the hole were already filled to capacity and several people just stood around the pit gaping at whatever was inside.

"Oh good a crowd for the public humiliation. Just like in the good old days."

'There is something seriously wrong with this woman' Beca thought to herself as Marcus moved Sam towards the door to the arena. Meanwhile Beca found herself surrounded by Cleo's goons and was forced to follow Cleo over to her "throne". One of the goons forced Beca to the ground and onto her knees as Cleo took her seat.

"Yes, that is a much better position for you, you little brat." Cleo emphasized her words with a kick to Beca's back causing her to fall face first back into the dirt.

'Oh you are so going to pay for that.' Beca was already running through various acts of revenge when the announcer lady started to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have something special for you today!" Beca sat back up as the crowd started to cheer. She could just make out the forms of Sam and Marcus on the other side of the arena. Without warning the door burst open and Sam was thrown into the ring. Beca watched as the Sam she knew seemed to disappear and was replaced by someone else. Sam's shoulders straightened and her head started to move on a constant swivel, this Sam was ready for anything and any worry Beca had about Sam being in the ring disappeared. She knew what she was doing.

"We have a rare find that ought to put on a show," the MC continued, "but why tell when we can show. Open the gate!" The same guys from the day before began working to open the large door. Beca tried to lean forward to see what was there but the angle didn't work since she was directly above the door. The hinges squeaked as the gate slowly rose and Beca could see a look of confusion pass over Sam's face as the woman took a step back.

It seemed the entire crowd was leaning forward to see what could possibly be behind the door. They didn't have to wait long as a strange looking creature made its way out to the center of the arena. It moved on two legs but its movements were stiff and it seemed to jerk around a lot as it shuffled toward Sam. Beca tried to get a closer look but a hand grabbed her neck and she was jerked back.

"This zombie is special," Cleo hissed in Beca's ear, "It has a strange condition where its skin becomes as hard as stone. We don't know how it happens but the buggers are almost impossible to kill since bullets just seem to piss it off." Cleo sat back and cackled to herself.

Beca cursed quietly under her breath. If what Cleo said was true then Sam was in a lot of trouble. The trick with the bottles wouldn't work on this thing and Beca desperately tried to think of a way to fight the monster.

Sam however didn't have the luxury of waiting as she maneuvered her way around this new monster. She reached down and grabbed one of the bottles that Beca had told her about and chucked it at the beast. The bottle just shattered harmlessly against the thing's head and it kept advancing.

'Crap, crap, crap.' Was the mantra running through Sam's head as she tried to move around. There was plenty of room to move around the creature but she had to do something to cause a distraction. That was supposed to be Beca's part of the plan while Marcus snuck off to free the slaves. Only now Sam was in Beca's spot and Beca was nowhere near where Sam was supposed to be for their plan to work. She took a closer look at the thing that was trying to eat her. Its skin looked chipped and cracked but a lot tougher than what skin was supposed to be. It also looked like it had some sort of collar/leash hanging from its throat, presumably that was how the people above her moved it around.

"Strangle it!" Sam looked up to see Beca shouting at her before she was silenced by the guards.

'Ya, easier said than done.' Sam thought. The thing might be slow but its mouth was very active. It kept biting at the air like a dog trying to grab a bone just out of reach, too bad for Sam since she was the bone in that metaphor. She spun out of reach again and tried to come up with a plan when suddenly she had an idea.

Pivoting on her heel, Sam managed to get behind the thing and jumped on its shoulders, wrapping her legs under its armpits. She tried not to balk at the putrid smell coming from the monster and managed to wrestle it to the ground. With the thing's mouth safely planted in the ground Sam reached her right arm under the zombie's chin while her left wound behind its head. Then with all her might she started to pull the monster's head off. It wasn't giving easily as it thrashed underneath her but Sam's army training meant she was used to fighting bigger opponents and the zombie couldn't buck her off its back. Using her legs and back Sam pushed down on its shoulders and pulled up with her arms. The crowd was on its feet as slowly but surely Sam felt the tendons and bones give way beneath her. After a solid minute Sam felt the spine finally give and the head flew clear of its body. She quickly tossed the head away and looked down at her blood splattered clothes. She could feel some bile in the back of her throat but she managed to choke it down.

"That was pathetic! You call that a challenge!? Come on, give me more!" Sam shouted at the crowd. If her goal was to cause a distraction it certainly worked. The crowd was jeering and screaming at her, so much so that no one noticed that Beca and Marcus had slipped away to get to their positions.

"Why don't one of you assholes come down here and give me an actual workout!?" That really worked to rile up the crowd as several members of the gang moved to the door and entered the arena. 'Idiots' Sam thought as the first challenger moved towards her.

"Come on little lady show me wha-" the man who had approached her was cut off when Sam's fist met his trachea in a quick jab. The man fell over coughing and spitting into the dirt and Sam turned to the rest of the crowd, rolling her head side to side to crack her neck. Holding up her hand she flexed her fingers in the classic taunt.

"Bring it."

After shutting the door to the arena behind Sam Marcus made his way out of the spectator area and over to the large shed that held the slaves. The door to the shed was, luckily, facing away from the arena and Marcus started to fiddle with the lock on the door when a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Jack demanded. He had seen Marcus leaving the arena and had instantly been suspicious. So Jack had grabbed the same guys he had with him when they had caught Beca and surrounded the giant. The idea was to use strength in numbers but they were about to learn just how wrong they were.

"I asked what you're doing, aren't you already in enough trouble Marcus?" Jack asked again. Marcus just shrugged his shoulders, Jack's men had started closing in on him but unlike Beca Marcus preferred close quarters.

Jack drew his gun and pointed it at Marcus but he screamed out in pain when he felt a vice-like grip close around his wrist. Before the goons could make a move Marcus picked Jack up by his neck and flung him towards the nearest henchman. They both went down and the other three took a step back, they all knew that Marcus was not a guy to be messed with. But unfortunately for them Marcus could not allow them to sound the alarm. So in a turn of speed that was counter intuitive to his size Marcus reached out with his long arms and grabbed two of the hoodlums by their faces and smashed their heads together with a sickening thunk. The last goon tried to flee but Marcus caught up to him in three short strides and grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt. Marcus lifted the guy over his head and threw the henchman into the ground, hard.

Despite all appearances Marcus didn't really like to hurt anyone, the only reason he was part of Cleo's gang was because he was forced to. He looked around and nodded to himself, they would all live but with a variety of broken bones and bruises. His head snapped to the arena when a loud voice could be heard taunting the crowd. He smiled to himself, Sam was doing her part now it was time to do his.

Deciding the need to be subtle was over Marcus reached the lock on the shed door and simply ripped it off, screws and all. He entered the shed to find fifteen scared faces staring back at him in fear. He got down on one knee in front of one of the women and held out his hand. She tentatively grasped it and Marcus slowly rose back to his feet. He turned to the rest of the slaves and managed one word.

"Freedom."

Beca watched as Sam managed to get the zombie in a headlock. To say she was impressed would be an understatement but she didn't have time to be impressed. She looked around and saw that her guards were distracted by the events in the arena so Beca slowly got to her feet and backed away. She couldn't believe her luck when no one noticed her slipping away but she just shrugged, Sam was supposed to distract the crowd and she was doing a wonderful job. Beca turned her back and made a beeline to the bar that was the gang's headquarters. Once inside she immediately headed to the bar and started smashing as many liquor bottles as she could. Once the bar was thoroughly soaked she pulled out the package of matches that Marcus had given her last night, she lit a match and threw it onto the counter top. It took a second but eventually a small flame began to spread across the bar and down onto the floor.

Beca smiled to herself, Lilly had been right setting fires can be joyful. With the blaze steadily growing Beca moved to the other side of the bar and to the back room that, according to Marcus, held all of their weapons. The door was locked but Beca just kicked it in after a few attempts. She looked around the room and quickly found her stuff. A certain sense of ease came over her as her mother's jacket landed on her shoulders and her nine millimeter was back on her thigh and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had felt naked without her weapons. She looked around until she found Sam's things and stuffed them into her backpack and left the room.

She looked over to the bar and saw that the flames were starting to get out of control. She needed to leave before someone noticed the smoke so she quickly exited the building via the front door. She made her way around the building and started moving toward the pit that held her cell. The plan was to hide there until the crowd was distracted by the fire and Sam and Marcus would join her with the newly liberated slaves.

Beca made it to the pit and was about to go down the ladder when someone tackled her to the ground. "YOU STUPID WHORE! What have you done!?" Cleo screamed at her. The gang leader was trying to scratch at Beca's eyes but Beca managed to roll so that she was on top. Beca began to rain blow after blow at Cleo's head but Cleo pushed Beca off her and stood back up.

Beca stumbled dangerously close to the edge of the pit and faced Cleo. The blond was staring at her with a look that only the truly crazy could, with a wicked smile and her head twitching from side to side. Beca could see Marcus making his way over to her with Sam and the freed slaves in tow. Sam looked a little worse for wear but Beca couldn't focus on that since Cleo had started advancing on her.

A large explosion rang out over the clearing and everyone turned to look at the bar. The fire was now well and truly out of control, despite the people working to quell it. Cleo turned back to Beca and let out a hideous scream as she charged. Only before she could reach Beca Bella came flying out of nowhere screeching and grabbing onto Cleo's hair throwing her off balance Beca only just managed to dodge and stick her leg out, tripping Cleo and forcing her to fall into the pit. Cleo fell with a soft thud, the pit was only about twelve feet deep so she didn't hurt herself on impact. Beca quickly grabbed the ladder, which Bella had grabbed onto, and yanked it out of the pit, much to Cleo's annoyance.

"Get down here! I'll rip you limb from limb!"

"Ya I don't think so. You can sit down there and contemplate what you've done like a good crazy person." Beca turned to her friends as they finally made it to her. Sam had a black eye and seemed to be limping slightly, which shouldn't be a surprise since she managed to fend off most of the gang by herself. Marcus looked alright and the people behind him were looking around like they were shocked to be free.

Beca reached behind her and started handing Sam her weapons. "Come on guys, we have to deal with the rest of these dirt bags.

"Ya about that, half of them are already trapped in the arena and I think the other half went up with the bar." Sam said with a smirk. She was feeling rather proud of herself for being able to take down ten people all by herself. Sure they had been mostly drunks but hey ten to one odds is still impressive.

"Oh, well ok then." Beca started to make her way over to the line of bikes. She was glad to see her mother's bike was where she had last seen it and quickly moved to place her bag next to it. Bella was shattering excitedly on Beca's shoulder and the two turned to look at their friends. She saw that Sam had already picked a bike out, it looked like a heavily modded Harley, and was sitting astride the machine. "That looks good on you." Beca remarked.

"You think? To be honest I never really saw myself as a biker." Sam said as she dismounted and walked over to Beca. Marcus moved to join them and Beca gave them a sad smile.

"So I guess this is it."

"Yup time to get back on the road." Sam said and Marcus just nodded his head.

"What are you planning to do Marcus?" Beca asked. Even after all their planning they never discussed what the big guy would be doing after they escaped.

Marcus looked over his shoulder with a contemplative look. He thrust his thumb at the former slaves and repeated what he told them. "Freedom."
Sam and Beca smiled as Marcus made his way over to his new friends. "So hey I found this in the storage room," Beca reached into her bag and pulled out two long distance radios, offering one to Sam. "I don't know what the range is on these things but if you ever need help feel free to give me a call."

Sam took that radio and opened her arms to Beca. And despite Beca's best efforts Sam managed to wrap her in a tight hug. "Go get your girl, captain." Sam whispered as they broke apart.

"Oh don't worry about that, I think I've waited long enough." Beca watched as Sam remounted her bike and turned back to Beca.

"Hey how did you know how to handle that thing in the arena?"

Beca chuckled before answering. "My dad's an english professor at Barden, one of his favorite stories is The Twelve Labors of Hercules. The first labor was killing a lion with impenetrable fur so Hercules just strangled the thing."

Sam threw back her head and laughed. "You are full of surprises Beca Mitchell, see you around you nerd." With that Sam started up her bike, waved and drove off to the west.

Beca turned to her own bike and hopped on. She grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulders, Bella instantly jumped back into her spot in the bag. Beca started the bike and was surprised to find that it had been filled with gas, so in the end she had gotten what she needed. She turned and gave Marcus one final wave before hitting the kickstand and turning south towards Atlanta.

Sorry it's late but hey it's also longer.