"𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐊, why don't we just take the lead on this one? Noah's probably bleeding out right now and I haven't heard anything about my sister." West tutted. He stood with Mack, Murphy and Kenji. They were waiting outside the dungeon for Noah to arrive so that they could begin the interrogation on the intruder.

Murphy looked clearly disinterested and just wanted to get back to Sasha. It was hard to ignore Mackenzie's impatience. He kept tousling his dusty, blonde hair and it almost looked as though his left eye was twitching.

"This guy doesn't care about a thing, and now he's wasting time when there are other things to plan." Mack muttered, West hummed with agreement.

Murphy turned away as he shook his head at Mack's discreet disgust, having had to deal with that for a while made it tedious when it was brought up repeatedly. He went to lean against the wall beside Kenji, as he said, "He'll be here, calm your tits, bruv."

"Well, it feels like it's been forty-five minutes already." West retorted.

"Well, you wouldn't know that, would you? Are you fucking Father Time? I know you ain't, so stop giving me a headache." he contended. West didn't reply, much to Murphy's relief.

"They're definitely on edge for no reason, and forgetting that Noah almost just died." Kenji mumbled, Murphy glanced at him.

"I get why West is moving mad, but Mack is moving like he's been eating fucking shrooms," he grumbled.

"For real," Kenji chuckled.

They didn't have to wait much longer, because Mack tutted loudly, turning and muttering curses. "He's taking too fucking long! West, come on." The two of them walked into the cellar.

Few minutes had passed, and the man was screaming in pain.

Murphy rolled his eyes, "Noah can be temperamental but Mack is definitely way worse, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up killing that guy. Watch for when Noah gets here." Kenji nodded and Murphy walked inside.

As Murphy quietly stepped in, he caught a few words that Mackenzie grunted past his punches, "Angelo promised you'd be able to kill him, now he's gonna find out everything." Murphy halted, puzzled at what he'd just heard, did Mack know that man?

Instantaneously, West acknowledged his presence. Murphy sighed and acted correctly, "Oi, that's not needed, fam!"

The streets of Everwinter were quiet, as the day was ending. It was around seven p.m, the sky was dimming and it was getting harder to see. The approaching footsteps made Kenji apprehensive, almost swinging at Noah when he arrived.

"Woah, mate," Noah painfully chuckled, trying not to irritate his aching jaw.

"Sorry, bro, it's just hella quiet," he sighed.

"This is the quietest the streets have ever been," Noah muttered, softly smiling from the peace it held, Kenji humming in reply to the small talk.

"Well, the rest of the guys are in there, and Mack and West were moving like ticking time bombs because you took so long." Almost instantly, his smile fell.

"Great." he kissed his teeth and walked ahead, fixing his mask onto his face. Kenji followed.

Screams of agony echoed through the cellar, as Mack grunted with his hits. Noah and Kenji followed the sound, past all the empty cells and reached the one that the man was being beaten in. The man was already bleeding and bruised.

"That's enough!" Noah shouted, his voice boomed across the stone walls, stopping Mackenzie in his tracks.

"About time you got here," he tutted, "he won't talk." He shook off the pain that pulsated through his knuckles. The plan had failed, he felt that Angelo had to indirectly suffer somehow.

   "No shit. He can barely breathe past his own blood."

"I tried to stop him," Murphy interjected, with an apathetic shrug.

"You're going to kill him before he even says anything valuable." Noah scolded, he stepped forward to take lead of the situation and West intervened.

"Mack has got this, you don't do shit to be having all of this power." West argued.

"Oh, clearly he does, the man is going to die before you get any information. Before your loud mouth chats anymore shit about me 'not doing shit', there's a search for your sister being led by the girls right now. So watch your fucking tone.

"You've already walked in the cell without your masks and he was surrounded by walkers, how do you know he's not infected? You lots aren't being any help, so get out." Noah replied firmly, he tried his hardest not to shout.

Kenji watched as West unwillingly cowered to Noah's dominance. Even though West looked like he wanted to kill him, he walked out of the cell and stood beside Murphy who was watching from a safe distance.

Kenji noticed that West did have a lot to say, especially about his own best friend, and wasn't ever able to keep the fight. What a pussy, he thought.

Mack kissed his teeth at West's weakness and walked out as well. Their anger was similar, West and Mack both liked to have power, even if it wasn't theirs. It was a recurring trait from West, he would notoriously "go rogue" behind Noah's back and often needed him to save him. Kenji knew West couldn't be trusted. Mack was more discreet, being on Noah's opposition but still seemingly able to sly avoid any blame. So much so that that was precisely what Kenji missed, when studying the two.

Noah slightly glanced over his shoulder to catch the bitterness that crept onto the two men's faces, unfazed, even though he would've liked to knock them clean off. He looked down at the man who also stared at him menacingly.

"You look like you want to say something?" Noah's brow rose. The man weakly spat blood-speckled saliva at his feet. Noah remained expressionless.

"I should've killed you, Noah," he growled.

"Ah, so you know who I am. And who told you that?" The man didn't reply. Noah crouched and held his stare. "Who told you that?"

The man didn't answer for a while. Noah scoffed and straightened.

"You still have your revolver?" he pointed to Murphy, refraining from disclosing any names, he had a slight inclination as to where this person came from. Murphy handed it to Noah. He emptied the bullets and placed five into Murphy's hands, leaving the last one to put back into the chamber.

He closed the cell gate and walked back to the man, as he slipped the bullet into the cylinder. The silence in the cold, confined cellar was filled temporarily with the sinister spin and sharp click of the chamber.

Noah cocked the gun as he pointed it at the man's chest from a distance. The man's face lost all colour, he terrifyingly stared into the muzzle. "You seem to have swallowed your tongue, so I hope you like Russian Roulette. You have five chances to tell me what I need to know, the sixth will kill you; but who's to say it won't be my first shot? You'd better start talking. You have a name?"

The man nodded. Noah raised his brow, waiting for him to say it. The man inhaled to speak and choked on his blood. Noah turned his head, "Get him some water." Murphy moved to get it and handed the bottle to Noah through the bars.

He opened it and held it by the man's lips. The man looked weary. "It's clean, if that's what you're wondering," Noah rolled his eyes. As reluctant he was to take anything from him, the man eagerly took the water. It poured down the sides of his mouth from how fast he drank. He pulled the bottle away before he choked.

"Can you speak now?" Noah questioned. The man unwillingly nodded. "Name?"

He swallowed hard and exhaled with his answer, "Travis."

"Alright, Travis, why were you in the horde?" Travis then fell silent again, causing Noah to lift the gun and made him flinch.

While Noah was focused with the man, Murphy curiously whispered to the guys, "Ay, when you lots brought him here, did he have anything on him?"

He knew that Noah was more preoccupied at the time and failed to ask about anything about the man's person. If he was so suspicious of the man from the beginning, then there just had to be something to prove that suspicion.

"Few knives, a burner phone and a semi-automatic." West responded.

"A burner phone?" he leaned in.

"Yeah. Like a fuckin'... a Nokia, was that what it was called?" Kenji interjected.

"Did it have anything on it?"

"A few numbers, didn't look very important." West shrugged. Mack's eyes soon widened. Murphy facepalmed, their stupidity was incomprehensible.

"Where is it? You better not have destroyed it." he asked.

"Nah, nah, its over there on that table near the door." He turned and walked hastily for it, stopping at the table with a raggedy jacket that they probably took off the man. He searched the pockets and found the burner phone, he sighed with relief.

Murphy jogged back to the cell and leaned on the bars, "Noah," he looked back and he shook the phone, "ask about this. Think it might give us a lead."

Noah squinted at the sight of the burner phone, he'd forgotten they even existed. When Travis noticed what Murphy was holding, he gasped. Noah took it off of him, the gasp was enough confirmation that it had some significance.

"What's this?" Noah asked, Travis whimpered, he'd lost the hard exterior almost immediately. He tried to remain silent and Noah easily held the gun to his chest as he crouched closer.

"A phone! A phone." Travis babbled with fear.

"Of course it's a phone." he scoffed sarcastically, "But man said a whole trap phone, haven't seen these for years. Who are you calling?"

"It's dead!"

"Is it now?" Noah switched it on and the screen lit up. "Don't look dead to me." Everyone watched Noah as he silently went through the phone. He checked messages, recent calls and contacts. There were two different numbers in the recent calls but no contacts.

Noah raised his menacing eyes, "You've talked to these numbers recently, who are you calling?" Travis still held his tongue. "You're really moving like I'm not just going to shoot you, maybe in the head and kill you instantly, or in the chest and you die slowly. But I'm not going to do that, if you talk."

Noah was growing impatient, even if his face didn't show it. He took it into his own hands to dial the first number. The phone rang in the suspenseful silence of the cellar.

"Stop! Stop! Okay." Letting the phone continue to ring, Noah looked at Travis expectantly. "My partner, we were together and I lost him when the horde started splitting up. He's been calling me non-stop since."

"Okay. Where have you two come from and why were you in the horde?" Noah asked.

"We wanted to move around here safely, we've heard about your community." It was actually common for people to disguise themselves as walkers to get around, Noah just never expected it to be ever used against him.

"From who?" Noah squinted.

"My family. They've seen how you are and I swore that I'd kill you when I saw you." Travis glared at him like he wanted to watch Noah bleed. He'd seen that look so many times that it didn't faze him.

He was smiling behind his mask, even. "Seems you failed." Travis growled.

The phone stopped ringing as there was no answer. Noah discreetly dialed the second one, "Who's the other number?"

"Uh... I-I'm not sure. It was there when I got—"

"Travis? Travis! Can you hear me? Where the fuck are you? Amir made it back to Holloway and called. Answer, bruv!" someone shouted on the line. Noah recognised the voice, enough to prove his speculations.

He moved the phone closer to Travis's mouth, motioning for him to speak as he pressed the muzzle of the revolver into his forehead. Travis held back tears as he spoke, "Joseph, I-I-I'm fine, just —"

The name confirmation was enough for Noah to take the lead. "Joseph, it's been time since I last spoke to you, innit."

"Noah..." he muttered with terror.

"So he's one of yours. I had a feeling. I knew Angelo and you lots would be back soon."

"Let Travis go, he wasn't going to do anything." he pleaded.

"'He wasn't going to do anything', but he was leading the horde towards Everwinter, you must think I'm skunked to think I'd believe that." Noah scoffed. Joseph heaved on the other end of the phone, then it fell silent.

"You don't wanna do anything stupid, Noah." The voice changed and deepened, and Noah grinned to the sound of Angelo.

"Might have to fuck around still, since you wanted to pull this stupid move. What were you planning on doing, infiltrating and destroying from the inside out? Smart, but it wouldn't get past me." he replied smugly.

"Maybe, maybe not." Angelo plainly answered.

"Well. Tough that your man failed to kill me. A stab wound would've been sick as well." Noah grimly joked, shunning the fact that he was afraid of being so close to death again.

"Just let Travis go." Angelo sighed.

"And why should I just listen to you, considering your plans?" Noah shrugged, fixing his grip on the trigger and pushing harder into Travis's forehead.

"Because this girl won't be so pretty when I use her for target practice." Noah's brows furrowed discreetly; while West dramatically shouted.

"Monet? That has to be her," he soon hushed once Murphy quietened him, "Noah," West desperately whispered through the bars.

Noah sighed coolly, "Let me hear her,"

There were faint mumbles for a moment before... "Noah?" she shakily whispered.

His aim of the revolver wavered.

"Let her go." he demanded strictly.

"Ah, I figured you'd want her back, even though she's way too peng for you."

"You can have him back, I'll chuck him at the London Bridge intersection for you to collect. He's useless to me."

"Well, she might not be so useless to me," he wryly teased.

"Don't touch her. You push your luck and, mum's life, I will fucking kill you," he immediately swore. Angelo momentarily chuckled, seeming amused by his incredibly protective manner for this girl.

"Tomorrow, midday."

"Two p.m."

"You can't even tell when that is."

"You not having a working clock is not my problem." Noah said, Angelo attempted to mask his heave but failed.

"When the sun begins to set, that's at around five. And keep your distance, I know how you get." he stated.

"You don't know me, Angelo."

"I know you well enough." Before Noah could reply, the line was cut.

He looked down at the small screen, his genuine fear for Monet's safety finally settling in, and then glanced up at Travis. He was anticipating his reaction to what Noah was going to do. Noah lifted the gun from his head and straightened, letting Travis exhale deeply.

"I'm keeping this for now. Make sure Ray keeps him fed, get Monty in here to help with the mess that Mack made, and tell the girls that we've found her." Noah instructed and exited the cell, he locked it, and looked back at Travis. "We'll take care of you for the meanwhile, don't worry."

Without another word to anyone, Noah left, craving a glass of whiskey.