147 - The Walking Dead: Warlord of the Apocalypse (Patreon)

Carrying the Misunderstanding Through

Seeing her fear, Isaac offered a deceptively friendly smile. "Now, woman, are you ready to answer my questions honestly?"

"Y-yes..."

It had come to this. Maggie saw no way out. She nodded and agreed to cooperate.

Isaac smiled in satisfaction. "Then tell me how many of you came here."

If he had to kill, Isaac needed to know how many enemies there were.

Leaving even one alive could invite a counterattack.

Isaac would not allow himself to make such a basic mistake.

Maggie could not understand how a man so handsome could be so vicious.

But now, if she wanted to live, her only choices were compromise and obedience.

Maggie answered honestly. "One." She had come alone and had not imagined that the people outside the farm had become like this.

What confused her even more was why Isaac was doing any of this to her.

Humiliation and helplessness welled inside Maggie. She did not even know what she had supposedly done to deserve the abuse.

"You dare lie to me?"

Isaac seized Maggie's face and tightened his grip.

"I... I'm not!"

Pain shot through her cheeks under his fingers, making it difficult even to form the words.

Isaac bent over her, menace in his eyes. "I'll give you one more chance. Tell me how many of you are here."

Maggie pleaded with him. "I... I'm telling the truth."

She was. The farm had limited manpower, and few people there knew the surrounding land well.

That was why she had gone alone to find the wounded boy's companions.

She never imagined she would be attacked without cause, with no one to turn to.

Do you really think I'm that easy to fool?

Isaac sneered. He refused to accept information whose truth he could not verify.

"What are you doing?"

Maggie cried out as Isaac rolled her onto her stomach.

"Shut up."

He yanked off his belt and bound Maggie's wrists behind her back.

Then he dropped her onto the ground.

Isaac looked down at Maggie, drew the dagger strapped to his calf, and held it to her throat. "Tell me how many of you came."

Maggie felt the cold edge of the blade against her throat.

Every pore tightened, and for an instant her heart seemed to stop.

"I... I really did come alone!"

She was telling the truth. Staring at Isaac, Maggie cried, "I've told you the truth. What else do you want from me?"

A group launches a search, and they send only one person? At least make your lie believable.

Isaac narrowed his eyes in anger, convinced she was deceiving him.

Shhk.

"Ah..."

"Nnnh!"

With a swift motion, Isaac drew the dagger down from Maggie's throat.

Cold swept across her chest.

Maggie looked down.

Her dark crew-neck shirt and the white bra beneath it had both been cut open, leaving her exposed.

Maggie's face flushed, then went pale as she instinctively tried to scream.

Isaac clamped her cheeks in his left hand again, pain cutting off the cry.

The cold dagger rested against her exposed chest.

Even a slight movement could maim her.

Without changing expression, Isaac pressed the dagger's point lightly against her skin. "Tell me how many of you are here," he demanded.

Tears streamed down her face. Her voice broke as she said, "It really is... just me."

Could she be telling the truth?

Maggie's stricken expression finally shook Isaac's certainty.

After a moment's thought, he asked, "Why did you come here?"

Maggie no longer dared resist. "To find someone."

"Who?"

"A man named Rick."

Isaac's expression shifted, and his grip on the dagger tightened.

"Nnh..."

Maggie's face changed too. Pain at her nipple sharpened her fear.

"You captured them."

If these people knew Rick's name, Isaac reasoned, Logan's group must have found Lori and the others first.

"We didn't capture anyone," Maggie said. "She asked me to find the boy's people. Her son was shot."

Did I get this wrong?

Isaac's heart jolted. Seeking confirmation, he asked, "Is there a man named Logan in your group?"

"Who's Logan?"

Maggie stared at him blankly, and Isaac began to believe her.

He tried another question. "How was the boy wounded?"

"Philip was hunting a deer and accidentally shot Carl."

This was all a mistake.

The pieces came together in Isaac's mind.

"What are you doing?"

Terrified, Maggie recoiled when Isaac pulled off his shirt, pushing herself backward with her heels.

His powerful upper body, tattooed with nine ferocious black dragons, was exposed.

Isaac tossed the shirt over Maggie, then stepped behind her and unfastened the belt around her wrists.

Watching his every movement, Maggie clutched the shirt and stood.

She hurried several steps away and studied him uncertainly.

Isaac smiled. "Sorry. I made a mistake."

A mistake...

A mistake?

When Maggie heard him, she could only stare in stunned disbelief.