"Gone? What do you mean gone?" I ask, "Like, he's at Food City gone?"

"No, I saw....there was...." Izzy places her hands on her hips, inhaling deeply.

"There was - there was what?" Doyle urges her to continue.

"There was blood."

We all stare at each other in silence before Izzy adds, "Only drops, on the floor. But it was still blood."

"Show us," Doyle tells her.

+++++

"Open the damn door! This is a fucking emergency!" Izzy pounds on Ellie's front door as Doyle glances nervously around the street that is cloaked in evening shadows.

"All that's not necessary, Izzy," I say, forcing her arm back to her side.

"But she clearly knows what's going on! And it's all because of that stupid bitch Natalia! I'm gonna kill her!" Izzy vows, slamming her right fist into her left palm.

"If you want to stay here, you can't kill anybody, not even Natalia," I tell her, knocking on the door again for good measure.

"Well, if the people here make a sport out of abducting sick guys, then I don't know if I want to stay here, so I'll just kill her and leave!"

"You can't -" Doyle is cut off by the door opening.

Ellie stands before us, looking irritated and impatient. Before she can get a word out, Izzy lunges at her.

"Where is he?!" She screams, grabbing Ellie's shoulders. Doyle and I rush forward to pry her off, not that Ellie can't take care of herself.

"What? Where's who? Why are you here?" Ellie demands, scowling at Izzy, who insists upon shouting profanities at the top of her lungs.

"Seth -" Doyle clamps his hand over Izzy's mouth before continuing, "Seth is gone, and we think - ow!" He yanks his hand off of Izzy's mouth, and red teeth marks stand out on his palm. "Izzy, what the hell?"

"Next time I'll break the skin," she growls, shoving him.

"Just be quiet," he replies, rubbing his hand.

"Someone took him," I say to Ellie, and her face remains blank of surprise. "Was it you?" Not that I would expect her to answer truthfully if she had, but maybe blaming her will make her want to find the person who really did it to clear her own name.

"Why would I take him? He was of no danger to the community," she says.

"Tell that to the people who did this," Doyle says, pointing at his still-purple eye. "I was attacked because I was protecting a supposed 'threat to the community'."

"Why did they think he was a threat to the community?"

"Don't you know anything?!" Izzy thunders, "Natalia spread some stupid-ass rumor about a fake 'zombie plague' that he had, so everybody wanted to throw him out!"

Ellie's eyes widen slightly.

"And they hate us for keeping them from him, so they tried to kill Doyle!" Izzy concludes, "And you're in charge, so you're the one that decided to abduct him! So where is he?!"

"I had no knowledge of an abduction, or a 'zombie plague'," Ellie tells us, looking me in the eye, "I assure you, I will do everything in my power to find your friend."

"You better!" Izzy says, "And I'm pretty sure Natalia knows who took him. She's the one behind all the 'zombie plague' shit, anyway."

Ellie pulls a walkie-talkie from her pocket. Pressing the button, she says, "Samantha?" She releases the button, and a second later, a staticky "yes, ma'am?" comes through.

"Tell Fred and Silas to take the night shift on east side of the wall," Ellie orders.

"Right away, ma'am. Is everything all right?"

"It will be," Ellie says before replacing the talkie to her pocket.

She turns her attention back to us. "Don't worry about guard duty tonight, you're coming with me."

We head down the darkening street together, Izzy absently running her fingers over the handle of her katana, Doyle with his hand on the hilt of his knife, and my hand hovering over the Glock tucked into the waistband of my jeans. Ellie seemed to be telling the truth, but I won't let my guard down. She seems like the kind of person who can lie easily. And well.

We walk for a while before coming to a halt in front of an old, somewhat rundown house it's boarded up windows. Ellie steps up to the front door and bangs on it three times before it opens.

Matt stands, silhouetted by the light in the room behind him.

"Ellie," he says in surprise. He seems.....nervous. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," she replies, "May we come in?" She doesn't even wait for an answer before barging past him into the house.

He eyes us warily as we trek in behind her, Izzy glaring holes through his skull.

The room we enter is small, dusty, and the only furniture is a beat up couch and an end table with a lamp sitting atop it. There's a kitchen to the right, and a rickety staircase between it and this room, the living room.

"So," Matt says, closing the door behind us, "What is it you want to talk to me about?"

Ellie clears her throat. "These three came to me claiming that their friend, Seth, has been abducted."

Matt's eyes widen, and, clearing his throat, he begins scratching his head just behind his left ear. "Umm...that's unfortune- when did that happen?"

"Sometime today between six and seven," Doyle says.

"You were patrolling the area that Alicia's house is in....did you, by any chance, notice anything suspicious?" Ellie prods.

"Why, no," Matt clears his throat again, "I, uh, didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"You're sure?" Ellie presses further

"Well, I did see that Rogan kid with some weapons that he wasn't supposed to have."

Yeah, great. Of course he'd notice that but not somebody kidnapping a human being. But he's acting weird...he probably knows something he's not telling.

"I'll have to see about that, then," Ellie says, "Good night, Matt, and thank you for your cooperation." She nods briefly before heading toward the door.

Izzy, Doyle and I exchange a glance. Matt is clearly hiding something, and we all know it. So unless Ellie is in on it, she's blinded by her trust for Matt.

Once we're alone on Alicia's porch, the three of us discuss it.

"Clearly something shady's going on," Doyle says.

"Yeah, I agree," I reply.

"They're both lying, I guarantee it. We're on our own, people," Izzy smolders.

Doyle nods. "Exactly."