Red Tide² ━ FTWD

CHAPTER 19: Follow Through

RED TIDE

chapter nineteen: follow through

[ season 2, episode 5; captive ]

DAY 21

Alex's foot caught on a ledge, sending the woman stumbling forward. Katie caught her by her hair, yanking her straight with a hiss as she said under her breath, "Keep moving."

For ease of navigating the narrow halls at more than a snail's pace, Katie had shifted her position to hold the fishhook at Alex's gut rather than her larynx. A lucky thing for her hostage — if she hadn't, she would've cut her throat open when she tripped.

Lit by flickering bulbs built into the side of the ship, and patterned sunlight through intermittent grates, the passageways felt less like halls to a ship, and more like a labyrinth.

"This is it," Alex said, tone curt with tightly contained anger as the pair came across a closed door, with a spinning wheel on the front.

Katie wasn't risking opening it herself and exposing herself to an attack. Tightening her grip, she ordered, "Open it."

Alex obeyed, grunting with effort as she twisted the door open, finally pulling it open. The door was too narrow to see inside, so Katie urged her forward, stepping over the lip and inside. Glancing around, Katie saw, a cold realization dawning on her that the room was completely empty.

She hadn't taken her to the armory after all. This was a trap.

Alex, taking advantage of her momentary distraction, quickly grabbed hold of the edge of the door, side-stepping it as she slammed it against the woman.

The metal door came down on Katie, slamming hard into her shoulders and the side of her head. Knocked to the ground, she felt a rush of wet heat across her forehead, and her vision blurred.

She watched as if through someone else's eyes as Alex reached down, grabbing the fishhook out of her hand and tossing it aside before grabbing her under her arms and pulling her out of the doorway. As she did, Katie noticed the back of the door didn't have the same wheel as the front. It locked from the outside.

Satisfied she'd disabled her enemy, Alex stepped over the temporarily stunned Katie to head for the exit.

Unfocused as her thoughts were, one came screaming to the forefront of her mind — once Alex closed that door, there would be no way out.

Desperate, Katie's hand snaked out, grabbing Alex by the ankle and yanking. The woman came to the ground in the doorway, a mess of wild hair and thrashing limbs as she aimed to kick Katie again — this time, knocking her out cold. Katie took one to the gut, and dodged another that skidded by her ear, sending a burning pain across half her face. Still, she didn't relent, twisting in place to brace her feet by the side of the doorway as she pulled Alex, kicking and cursing, back over the lip.