S1E20 - Interrogation

[Penny POV]

"Ugh…"

I slowly open my eyes, feeling incredibly nauseous and woozy. As I'm recovering, I hear a male voice,

"Damn, up already?"

I see someone stand up and walk over to me, but can't make out their features due to the dark room. He kneels down to me, revealing a Latino man with a short beard. He sighs and scratches his head,

"Well, this makes it easier I guess. Alright. Lemme go get the others."

As he leaves, I notice that my arms and legs are zip-tied, with my arms being secured to a metal pipe. I go to try and store the ties in my inventory, but nothing happens. It's then that a screen pops up in front of me,

[Emergency Quest!]

[Escape captivity by any means necessary.]

[Rewards: 500p, 5 stat points, Survivor Box (Bronze)]

I see. That's why I can't store them. Well, let's try to break them. I put my hands together, interlocking my fingers and trying to push my wrists apart. This, however, does nothing but hurt my wrists. He used some thick ties. I shiver as I feel a slight breeze go across my naked body.

I hear voices outside the door and make sure to keep my eyes on the group as they enter. One of them flicks a light switch as they enter the room, causing me to close my eyes before getting a good look at them.

There's a lanky redhead, a dumb-looking blonde, Vanessa, and that Latino guy from earlier. Vanessa is the one that speaks up,

"Sorry, Penny. But we gotta survive somehow."

Ricardo comes over to me and kneels in front of me,

"Alright. First things first, where's your group at?"

I look him in the eyes and say,

"Up your ass, bitch."

Vanessa chuckles at this, but the Latino dude scrunches his nose,

"Alright, bitch. Lemme make one thing clear, we don't wanna hurt anybody. What we do want, is to use you as a hostage to get your group to give us half their shit, then we'll let you go. Alright?"

I laugh slightly,

"Man. Must be tough living like rats, huh? Well, that's an insult to rats. At least they can find their own shit. I ain't telling you shit."

I suddenly feel something hit the front of my head, causing the back of my head to slam against the metal pole behind me. I hear Vanessa say,

"Ricardo, don't."

Ricardo, who apparently just hit me, says,

"Nah. She wants to be a stubborn bitch, she's gonna get hit. I said we'd keep you alive, but I never said we won't make it painful. Now, tell me where your group is."

I recover from the punch and look him dead in the eyes speaking almost in a whisper,

"Nunya…"

He looks at me with confusion,

"What?"

I chuckle,

"Nunya business, bitch."

Ricardo sighs and says,

"Alright, then. Hard way it is."

He then grabs me by the scalp and punches me straight in the gut, nearly making me vomit. I don't have time to breathe, though, as he punches me square in the face, again. I feel another punch hit me in the nose, causing a warm liquid to start running down my face. I hear some yelling and feel that the punches have stopped. I open my eyes, seeing Vanessa and the blond holding Ricardo back as Vanessa yells,

"Jesus, Ricardo, what the fuck's gotten into you?!"

He pulls away from them and walks to the other side of the room while saying,

"Nothing! Nothing, dude. I'm just trying to get her to talk already. I don't feel like waiting a fucking week for her to speak up."

It's then that I notice that he's slightly covered in sweat. He sighs and says,

"Fuck it. Let's just leave her here to starve. After a few days with no food, she'll be begging us to let her go."

Vanessa says,

"Dude, I think you need some sleep. George, take over the watch for him."

Ricardo stomps to the door and shoves it open, disappearing into the stairwell. Vanessa and the blonde girl give each other a look as George walks over to his seat. He speaks to them in a deep voice,

"I dunno what's got him so riled up. I mean, he's always been impulsive, but not like this. Maybe he's jealous of her?"

I chuckle,

"Jealous that I fucked a loose bitch like her? He's got some low standards, then."

George speaks sternly,

"Shut up. We may not be as impulsive as him, but I swear if you keep running that mouth, I will shut you up."

I chuckle again,

"Aye aye, captain."

Vanessa sighs and walks over to me, squatting down in front of me. She speaks in a soft tone,

"I know that probably didn't give you the best impression, but we honestly don't wanna hurt you. When we shot at you, we were just trying to lead you here. We've done this before, all we're gonna do is trade you for supplies. Nobody will get hurt, alright?"

I look down at the ground, and stop scowling,

"Alright… fine…"

I look up, staring into her eyes as I feel the area around my right eye starting to swell. I feel blood pooling in my mouth, coming from my check which was torn by my teeth. I gather it into the front of my mouth and spit it out into Vanessa's face before saying,

"Fuck you. Leave me here to starve."

Her cheeks grow red with anger as she stands up slowly,

"Alright then. We'll check back in in a couple days. George, five hours starting now. Don't speak to her, don't look at her. Just let her stew with her thoughts."

And with that, blonde and Vanessa leave. George gets up from his chair and walks over to the door, flicking the light switch. And so starts my days as a captive.

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AN: I'm gonna be stretching the amount of time that Rick was at the camp before Daryl comes back and the group leaves for Merle. Just a heads up.

AN: Read 10+ chapters in advance over on my Pat.reon.

https://www.pat.reon.com/sorrestwriting (Remove the .)