Today is the day we die.

That's the message Jane gathered looking at her companion Mike's face, gagged and on the verge of tears. She would be lying if she said she wasn't scared herself; it wouldn't be the first time she would have lied in recent memory, either, though.

"Whrr shh hh?" Mike mumbled, barely audible through the rag binding his mouth but apparently being enough to get the attention of the man who was watching over them. The one-armed man leaned over and tugged the rag down slightly, allowing Mike to speak.

"You got somethin' to say? Well.. say it." He said, somewhat unconfidently.

"I said, where is he?" It was obvious he was still hung up about Arvo, but Jane held her thoughts on how pointless that was, especially in the situation they were in now. Not that she had the ability to speak up on it, regardless.

"Wh.. who is he?" The man stuttered. He admittedly looked rather pathetic, whimpering at just the slightly hostile voice of a both gagged and bound man.

"Christ Almighty, Ted, you really are pathetic. The man is gagged, he can't move his limbs, and you're still a jumpy shit." The man in the driver's seat said aloud with a groan. Ted gave a whine before putting the gag back over Mike's mouth, not wanting to embarrass himself further.

"Whrr-" Mike started, but was cut off before he could continue.

"Don't you worry, pal. This'll be done real soon... there's a lot in store for the both of you, after all." The man said, giving himself an odd, low-belly laugh. Activity in the RV simmered down after that, Jane giving Mike a look that said something along the lines of , it's not worth the effort.

Regardless, whatever Mike interpreted her stare as seemed to get through to him, as the two could only sit in silence as their captors took them to whatever it was they "had in store". As they rode in silence, Jane couldn't help but slowly drift off to sleep, only disturbed once or twice by an odd bump on the outside of the vehicle, or the driver's incessant coughing.

While being kidnapped is far from ideal, it does, in this situation, provide an opportunity for one to sleep relatively comfortably. Not sure how long it'd been, Jane was only awoken when the RV came to a stop. Not too sudden, as it didn't seem to wake the man bound next to her, but perhaps he's just a heavier sleeper.

"Are we there?" Ted spoke in his wavering tone he's had the whole time. You'd think he was the one being kidnapped, Jane thought.

"That's a real stupid question, Ted. You know that?" The driver said, his tongue heavy with arrogance, "But I'm gonna let it slide just 'cause we don't got the time for it. At this rate, it'll be long past nightfall before we make it back."

"As long as we're in the RV, we should be safe, right, Artie? The walkers-" Ted said.

"Walkers ain't the problem, Ted. Pull your head outta your ass." Artie said venomously, "If we aren't back soon they're gonna think we're up to something. Just don't be such a chickenshit for once and tell me you can watch these two while I go find the key, so I can get what we're here for and we can get back."

"Um.. alright. Don't you have the key? Why not just keep it on you?" Ted asked curiously.

"Jesus, Ted, we don't have time for your twenty questions. It's gotta stay out in case someone else comes by. We're not the only ones who run this route. Just watch them, I'll be back soon. You can do that, right, Ted? Right?"

"Yeah, I'll watch them.. no problem! You can count on me." Ted said with a small, worried smile, making the effort to try and mask his lack of actual confidence.

Without talking, Artie gave Ted a bone-chilling look that said "Don't fuck this up or you're gonna pay the price," slamming the door to the RV shut as he left. That seemed to be enough to wake Mike up, if the jolt against Jane's back was any indication.

"Whrr thh hll rrr whh!?" Mike shouted, hardly legible.

"Hey! Hey, calm down! I'll.. I'm gonna take your gags off. Can I do that? I'm gonna do that, and you guys..." Ted said awkwardly, not bothering to finish his thought and instead opting to remove the gags from Jane as well as Mike's mouths.

"These things taste like ass. Where have you been keeping them?" Jane said, spitting out snark to relieve whatever stress that could help manage.

"Nevermind that! Where are we? Who are you? What do you want with us? Where-" Ted cut Mike off, shushing him with his one hand.

"Hey, calm down with the questions! I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to do any of this.. but it's how I have to survive. I'm lucky to be on this end of this whole thing and not your end..." He trailed off.

"We didn't ask for the life story of the guy who just kidnapped us." Jane snapped back.

"Look! I know! This must really suck for you guys! But I promise, where we're going, it's better than where you were before. Which was out in the middle of nowhere, in the freezing cold. I'm a nice guy... I took your gags off even though you're just gonna be ungrateful! You should be thanking me!"

"Thanking you? You have us gagged like fuckin' pigs, man. ...Are you gonna eat us!? Is that what this !?" Mike said, panicked and angry.

"If you're such a nice guy, why don't you let us go while your friend is gone? You can even come with us; I don't get the feeling that you two are on great terms at all." Jane said, hoping to persuade the man long enough to let them escape. If they had to put a knife in his back later, either metaphorically or literally, he deserves it.

"Artie's the reason I'm still here." Ted said, gesturing to his stump-arm. "He's also the reason I'm able to keep my position. Guarantee my safety. I'll let him bully me if he wants because it keeps me alive."

"Doesn't sound like a very fulfilling way to live." Mike said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, neither does starving and freezing. Like, might I remind you again, you guys were doing until just earlier. ...Oh, yeah, speaking of which, I've got stuff for you to eat. Hold on a sec, and don't tell Artie. I'm being a lot nicer than I need to, here, so keep your mouths shut!" Ted said, turning to a nearby counter and digging through the cabinets in search of something.

While his back was turned, Jane noticed something very peculiar, and Mike seemed to pick up on it as well without prompting. At the front of the RV, right above the windshield, were a pair of human arms reaching down. Slowly but surely the figure worked it's way down the windshield, until it was clear that Bonnie had just crawled off of the RV, and was now standing outside the RV's door.

Once she had vanished from view, Jane knew they would need to distract Ted to help Bonnie's rescue. Mike called out to Ted, "Hey, so uh... what have you got, exactly? I'm sorry I'm so antsy.. I guess you're right about us starving.".

"Well, look who suddenly came around." Ted put on a smile and laughed, not amusing either Mike or Jane (but the both of them faking a laugh for the man). "Don't worry about it. And here, it's not too much, but I've got some granola. I have no idea how old this thing is, but I don't think it can kill you or anything just because it's old." He said, holding the bar up to Jane's mouth. "Ladies first. I'd unbind you, but I'm scared you'll kill me or something."

"Smart thinking." Jane replied, taking a bite of the granola. It was stale as possible, Jane thought, but anything is good when you're starving.

When Mike's turn came, he tried his best to put on a happy face and appease his captor, but he could only grunt after biting the food. "Beggars... really can't be choosers, huh?" He said, followed by either a laugh or a gag.

"Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches, like-" Ted quickly shut his mouth when he heard the door to the RV open. "Artie! I didn't expect you back so fast!", he shouted, shoving the granola into his own mouth and hastily gagging Mike again to hide the scenario.

Instead of Artie's irritating, gravelly complaining, however, Ted was met with a hand to the back of his collar, and soon after the floor as he was knocked cold onto it. "Gimme one of those rags!", Bonnie yelled anxiously.

Mike spit out the gag that was shoved forcibly into his mouth seconds earlier into Bonnie's hand, Ted not having the chance to tie it at all. Bonnie tied the man's good arm to his other, and kept her foot on his back so he couldn't get up. "Need somethin' to cut these with." She said, tugging at the ropes on Jane's hands.

"My knife is in my pockets. On the left." Jane said, gesturing with a head nod to her left. Mike moved slightly out of the way so Bonnie could obtain the knife, and cut the remaining hindrances on both of her companions.

"Nice work, Bonnie! How the hell did you do it?" Mike said, excited. "Were you on the roof of this damn thing the whole ride? Is that even possible!?"

"There's a ladder to the roof on the back of the thing. I hung onto that for a while, but I had to climb on top since I was scared someone was gonna come out 'n see me. Luckily it wasn't movin' all that fast, so it was nothin' once I got the chance."

"I'm not gonna lie; I half expected you to bail on us." Jane said, taking her knife back from Bonnie. "Not that I would've blamed you, though. This whole situation is pretty fucked."

"I appreciate you havin' faith in me." Bonnie said with a flat, unamused tone. "You remember that I just saved your asses, right?"

"I.. yeah. Sorry." Jane said, regretting making the comment. "So... what are we gonna do about this guy?" She said gesturing to Ted, who lay quiet on the floor, visibly shaking with the three people above him. "I guess now the captor is the captive, huh?"

"I think he's pretty shaken up. Let's just throw him out and get moving before his friend gets back." Mike suggested.

As Mike picked up the outnumbered man by his collar off the floor and made his way to the door, Jane made her way to the driver's seat. Bonnie rummaged through the cabinets on her own as her two companions did their tasks, "There sure ain't a lot of stuff left in this hunk a' junk. Must all be wherever they were headed."

"We've got a problem." Jane said aloud, catching everyone's attention.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked from the other side of the RV, "What's the problem?"

"The problem is this thing is just about out of gas. Without a refill, we're getting a mile if we're lucky." Jane sighed.

"The place outside, it's a building of sorts. I'd wager they're usin' it as some sorta outpost, so maybe they've got some in there?"

"It would explain why we had to stop here," Mike said, "if this wasn't our last stop."

"What about him, though?" Bonnie said, gesturing to the man Mike held up against the flimsy RV door.

"...You two go in. I'll keep an eye on him." Mike decided pensively.

"Are you sure? He's only got one good arm, Mike," Bonnie said, "reminds me of Reggie. 'Cept, you know, Reggie didn't kidnap people."

Ted groaned, perhaps out of grief from her comment or from the uncomfort of his situation. Regardless, nobody payed his cry much mind, and he didn't seem to want to draw attention as he made no further noise.

"Bonnie, let's go now. Who knows how long 'til that creep gets back." Jane said, peering out the door to see the coast was clear.

"Right behind you," Bonnie said, closing the door behind her, "Be careful, Mike. If that guy comes back... well, you'll figure something out. We'll be fast, and we'll be close."

"Thanks, Bonnie." Mike said, sighing, "Hurry back..."

"Ohh, no..." Ted sighed under his breath.

"What?" Mike said, eyebrows raised.

"Uhm... Let's just hope for everyone's sake they don't get into too much trouble. I don't think they're gonna like what they find in there." Ted said nervously, "I can tell you now that that gas is the least of your worries."

(Author's Notes. This was uploaded August 30th, 2015 for future reference/so this doesn't become dated.)

I apologize for the absence of about eight months. It was a mix of laziness and lack of motivation, as well as other things. But here's the next chapter.

Not that it took me eight months, but I did put extra time into this one that I didn't previously put into the others for quality assurance/re-reading for improvements and errors fixes. I hope it's satisfying, and know that I'm already working on chapter 6. I plan to have it out sometime soon, possibly a week, but it's up to you if you want to trust me on that. I did take almost nine months after promising a weekly or so release, last I remember, so that's fair.

If you spot any errors, any oddities, or anything you appreciate, or just anything you want to say at all, feel free to leave me a review. I really appreciate them, and I also appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my fic. Merci!