Love's Conquer

Triggerfinger

They introduced themselves as Dave and Tony. The Strafford shark guy being Dave and the joggers guy being Tony. Rick had poured them some drinks as Hershel and I perched ourselves on the bar stools. Tony had positioned himself on a bar stool closer to Hershel, leaving me to teeth with anger, while Dave made himself comfortable around one of the tables in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes focused the entire time, resting my right hand on my thigh knowing that if it came down to it, I would be able to pull out my handgun, release the safety and fire at them both in less than one second. I'm precise and I'm quick and I will never allow anything to harm the people I care about. Although sometimes it is out of your control, Sophia proved that to us all. She showed us that no matter how hard you try, sometimes your best isn't enough and that's just something you have to learn to live with.

The two men seemed very content with offering their life stories to us and they tried their best to come across friendly, but I could see in their eyes that there was an ulterior motive. They were hungry. Hungry for power. You would expect a world like this to change people, I mean it has, we've seen that already. Look at Shane. The difference is that I suspect these two men in front of us weren't that good to begin with. Yes, this world changes you but for some, it allows them to thrive in an environment where they can unleash any evil they want to.

Rick did most of the talking on our side, not that he got much of an opportunity to. Dave owned the stage, or at least that's what he wanted to think. As his friend Tony watched from the sidelines, a smirk planted on his face the entire time. They didn't seem to take to our hostility very well since their demeanour changed darkly when we refused to give out the location of where we were staying. Rick's responses were good, they were short and simple, but these guys had a plan from the beginning. Sweet talk us enough and they'll be able to find out anything they want to; only we weren't taking the bait. Ironic, given the choice of animal on Dave's tank.

My rage spiked even more when Tony moved to the other side of the bar to relieve himself against the wall, all while singing 'Old McDonald Had A Farm'. I stretched out my back, sitting upright as I felt my hand itch closer to the gun in my waistband. Rick sat down on the stool in between Hershel and I as Dave continued to make presumptions over our current accommodation, feeling all too confident that we must be staying at a farm. Hershel and Rick soon caught onto my own feeling, their postures stiffening in discomfort.

"You got food, water?" Dave continued to rally through his questions.

"You got cooze?" Tony laughed to my utter disgust. "I ain't had a piece of ass in weeks."

"Well they got this one don't they?" Dave laughed with his friend as he pointed towards me with his bottle of beer, earning a glare from me. Their words making me feel like an object of their control. Dave soon caught onto my stiff upper lip and stood up from his chair. "Listen, pardon my friend. City kids, they got no tact. No disrespect."

I watched Dave eye me up, causing me to shift on my seat. "I think we've listened to this bullcrap long enough."

"Well, hang on a second. We didn't mean no disrespect. This, this farm sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet, Tony?" Dave continued desperately.

"Yeah, real sweet." Tony agreed, moving closer to me. I kept my eyes set on Dave, watching Tony through my peripheral vision.

"Yeah, how about a little southern hospitality?" Dave questioned. "We've got some buddies back in camp? They've been havin' a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more? We could pool our resources an manpower."

"Look, I'm sorry. That's not an option." Rick cut him off, asserting his own authority.

His words stung Dave and Tony as Dave began to move around to the other side of the bar. "Doesn't sound like it would be a problem?"