Playing For Brains

He strode into the room, bat in hand, tapping it repetitively against his palm as if to tease the individuals in front of him. Tied and gagged by cloth and rope, each had as much chance of escape as a walker had of becoming human again. In his opinion it was the teasing and torture that he enjoyed the most, he liked the blood and suffering of killing people, but hearing them beg and cry was more satisfying. Some could say that he was crazy, that the zombie apocalypse had sent him over the edge never to return, but he didn't think so. To him this was life now, this was how he and his people lived. How they defended themselves from the groups out there that want to take what they have and leave them to die. They offered people sanctuary and a group took advantage of that, that's why they do this. They don't want to risk something like that happening again. You're either the butcher or the cattle in this new world and they aimed to be the butcher, not the cattle which they were once. The groups who came didn't know any better, they had a spark of hope and taking that away was what he did. They would harvest the individuals who came for sanctuary, those who wanted to survive. It was a shame that they didn't, but that was the world now, there are no happy endings. Not anymore.

He stopped tapping the bat against his hand and lowered it to the ground, dragging it along the floor, stalking towards the people in the room. The wooden end of the bat created a screeching sound echoing throughout the room as it contacted with the floor. Their heartbeats one by one increased, beat by beat, the thought of what he would do with the bat running through their minds. He was a medium heighted man, his dark brown hair slightly covering his right eye and a smug smirk plastered onto his face. He came up to the plastic trough in which the group of people were all handcuffed to, they had a gag over their mouths, their hands were tied together and then handcuffed to the metal hooks along the trough. The only way they could get free would be with the key to their handcuffs and there was only one set which remained securely attached to the man's belt loop. The sound of them clashing together seemed to taunt the individuals whose life was in the man's hands now.

"Welcome to Terminus ladies and gentleman, your visit will be short and you can guarantee on it not being pleasant"

A small chuckle came from his mouth, echoing across the room, making the hairs on the back of Arlie's neck stand on end. She didn't like this man at all, he was the reason she didn't get involved in groups, because there was always a possibility that the leader was crazy like this guy was. On your own, you didn't need to worry about someone's temperament snapping, them turning on you when you least expected it. You only had yourself to look after and that was much easier than getting attached to people and watching them die. She made a promise to herself the day that she lost the last person she cared about all those years ago. A promise that she wouldn't let the memory of them die with her. That she would survive this new world for them. But with that death came the unwillingness to let anyone else in. She never was someone to make friends easy, but this new world made her even more distrustful. Avoid social contact where possible. Sat there listening to the greeting she began to think about how she was going to kill this man, not just for herself, but for someone else.