章節 22: Truth or Dare

"Nice to meet you in person Eli." (Rick)

Eli was a thirty five year old skinny white guy, he was around 5ft 9in and weighed 160lbs. He had shifty brown eyes and dark brown messy hair. His facial hair was patchy and thin. He had bad teeth, and he wore a cheap three piece plaid suit. It was obvious he had a history of hardcore drug use.

Eli was visibly nervous. He was looking around the room and noticed everyone was looking at him like he was a dead man.

"Why did you keep me alive? I won't tell you anything." (Eli)

"Oh Eli I just wanted to get to know you and be neighborly. Remember you asked for some of our southern hospitality." (Rick)

"My brother Zachariah will find me. And he will kill you in the worst ways imaginable if anything happens to me." (Eli)

"Is that right? Well how is he going to find out? I could have Merle here skin you alive and be long gone before he ever gets here." (Rick)

"Been a while since I skinned a man, might be a little rusty. Luckily my knife is real sharp." (Merle)

As Merle was talking he was dragging his blade over Eli's skin.

"See the way I see it, you're going to tell me what I want to know. If not we are going to hurt you really bad, and I do mean very bad. But if you cooperate I don't see why we cant be friends." (Rick)

Eli began to shake.

"Bring in his friends." (Rick)

Shane and Daryl walked out and came back in with two other raiders. There were tied up and gagged. One was a young black man no more then 18 years old. The other was a white man around 25 years old. Both of them looked shocked when they saw Eli tied up.

Rick had the two men and Eli sat down at a table, and them tied to their chairs. He then sat down opposite of them. Shane stood behind the black guy, Xiang Fe behind the white guy, and Merle behind Eli. Daryl pushed out a cart. On it was a tray with various tools and needles. There was even a car battery. Rick then asked everyone but the three behind the men to leave the room, and close the door.

"I am going to be upfront I need information, and one of you is going to give it to me. The question is which one of you. So we are going to play a little game of truth or dare. I am going to ask you a question, and if I don't believe your answer. Well then I am going to dare my friends behind you to do something about it. Do you understand?" (Rick)

All three of the men were sweating profusely, and were shaking. None of them moved.

"I am going to need you to nod your head or answer me." (Rick)

All three of them said yes while nodding their heads.

"Good! Let's start with something easy. What are you names? Oh and Eli this a free round for you since I already know your name. "(Rick)

Rick pointed to the black kid first.

"My name is Marcus." (Marcus)

"Good now you." (Rick)

"My name is Dennis." (Dennis)

"Great now we are all acquainted. So let us start this little game of ours. Please remember this does not need to be hard at all, quite the opposite. So lets start with you Eli, since you and I have such a good back and forth going already. Eli my new shifty friend, how many people are in your group?

Eli spit at Rick.

"Fuck you! I ain't saying shit. My brother is going to find you, and when he does you will beg for death." (Eli)

Rick wiped the spit off of his chest.

"That is the wrong answer. Merle would you please." (Rick)

Merle pulled out his knife and pushed it under Eli's first finger nail. He began to move it back and forth and pried Eli's nail off of his finger.

"AHHHHH You fucking son of a bitch. I'LL Kill all of you." (Eli)

"Not likely. Next is you Dennis. How many people are in your group?" (Rick)

"Don't you say shit. You know what will happen." (Eli)

Smack. Merle punched Eli in the jaw and knocked him out.

"I suggest you speak only when spoken too." (Merle)

Dennis sat in silence. He was visibly scared but knew it would be worse if he talked and they were somehow rescued.

"Not going to talk? Okay." (Rick)

Rick looked at Xiang Fe. Xiang Fe took a hammer and a long nail that was on the cart, and looked at Dennis.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" (Xiang Fe)

Dennis was pale and sweaty. He was breathing heavily and you could see his chest rising and lowering very quickly.

After not answer Xiang Fe said so be it. He began to hit Dennis in the knee with the hammer. He gave him five hard hits and you could hear the mans leg or knee break. Even with the screaming. Xiang Fe then took the nail and stuck it to his leg and with one strong strike drove it in.

Dennis was screaming in agony.

Rick looked at Marcus to ask him the question, but before he could begin.

"Close to four thousand." (Marcus)

"Are you sure? That is a big number, and it is a little hard to believe." (Rick)

"I'm sure. His brother convinced all the gangs in the area to join up. They also raided Fulton County Jail and got everyone in there out. There was close to 2500 inmates at that time. It was a bad scene the guards left everyone for dead." (Marcus)

"Marcus, shut the fuck up. Do you know what Zachariah will do to you if he knows you talked?" (Dennis)

"What do you think they are going to do to us if we don't talk? At least this way I have a chance." (Marcus)

"That is right Marcus. Now for my next question. How do you feed and house that many?" (Rick)

"We sleep where ever we can. There are a lot of abandoned houses, and we can sleep in our cars. There is a ton of room in the church and we have a few apartment buildings." (Marcus)

"Not another word Marcus." (Dennis)

Rick looked at Xiang Fe and signaled him to move.

Bang!

Rick shot Dennis three times once in the head and twice in the chest. Eli began to piss himself.

"Hehe he pissed himself." (Merle)

"Sorry I don't like people who interrupt. Please go on." (Rick)

Marcus was shaking and staring at the dead man.

"We hit a few stores and houses. But it is barely enough. His brother said to survive we must become gods chosen, and feast on the wicked." (Marcus said while starting to cry)

"Who are the wicked?" (Rick)

"Anyone who is brought in that doesn't accept Zachariah's words. Or anyone they just want to hurt. He likes young girls."(Marcus said while pointing to Eli.)

After hearing that Rick looked at Marcus.

"I have one more question for you. Have you feasted on anyone?" (Rick)

Marcus started to cry, and looked like he was going to puke. All he could do was shake his head yes while crying.

Rick got up and walked over to him. He put his hand on his shoulder.

"You know I can't let you go, and I don't can't or wont keep you as a prisoner. There are lines that can't be crossed. You know this right?" (Rick)

Marcus shook his head yes.

"They made me eat my brother, he was ten years old. Zachariah wanted him. He wants most of the young boys. Once they go with him they never come back. I refused so they beat the shit out of me and took him anyways. Two days later they brought me food. Told me to eat up, I was no good to anyone dead. Afterwards they told me it was my brother. I tried to kill myself but they wouldn't let me. This was the first time I had been out. I was planning on killing Eli, then myself. Please just make it quick, I don't want to be here anymore." (Marcus)

Rick stood up and walked behind him. He pointed his pistol at the back of Marcus head and pulled the trigger. Marcus dead body flew forward and hit the table head first. Rick felt bad for the boy but he knew this was the only option. He would never put his people at risk. He would not be weak and would never leave loose ends.

"Lets wake him up and get back too it." (Rick)

After several hours all four men came out of the room looking visibly older and tired. They had gotten a lot of information from Eli. Most of which was very concerning. They learned that Zachariah was a child molester and was relocated to Atlanta. They also learned that he believed himself to be God's Chosen apostle to lead people to a new world. One that could only be created through blood and carnage. They learned that the other group was heavily armed, and was made up of five main gangs. Zachariah was the de-facto leader of this group. He was able to know what people wanted, to get inside their minds and prey upon their weaknesses. And he used this advantage to bring everyone together. He let all of these men do whatever they wanted to those they enslaved.

After they were done they walked out of the room with Eli's severed head. He walked out to the field were they killed all the raiders and stuck the head on a pole in the middle of all the dead bodies. They head had turned and was now a walkers head.

On the way back to the compound Rick was talking to everyone and the group came to consensus. There could be no peace with the blood raiders. Eventually they would have to kill them all.