A blindfolded, gagged, and bound raider

A/N: And the winner of the previous chapter's contest was orifalcon89. We will be in touch soon so that I can explain the details of the prize.

To everyone else, thanks for participating and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

After that concerning radio message, Amelia, Garcia and you started climbing your way up the stairs as fast as you could, Garcia in particular looked armed and ready, both literally and figuratively as she raced to help her Lieutenant with a determined expression on her face. Once they reached the floor though, you blinked rapidly.

Amelia was the first to speak though. "We are taking prisoners now?" She asked in a confused tone.

You did not respond to her question yourself, as your mind was still trying to catch up with the situation you just walked into.

And with the sexy, Latina-looking woman with the big breasts and the torn blue jeans that was in the middle of being currently bound, gagged, and blindfolded by LT Mills and, right before your eyes, she also removed her shoes for good measure.

You **** yourself to stop looking at the lower and exposed parts of her body and turned to your second-in-command.

"Lieutenant, report as soon as you have restrained her," You ordered her.

After a quick reply of "sir, yes. sir" the commander of your personal guard finished binding the gagged bombshell with some of the useful paracord they had found in the supply crates and made their apparent prisoner sit down on one of the chairs that were kept near the entrance of the building.

Then she turned back to look at her team and you blinked in alarm.

"You are hurt!" You said, getting worried on the spot.

Mills grimaced as she slowly wiped away the blood from the left side of her head but nodded. "True, sir, but believe me, it looks much worse than it actually is. Even minor injuries on the head make you bleed a lot. I will be able to take care of it easily when we get back to base."

That was good to know but you were suddenly struck by anger as you stared at the likely suspect, both because she had dared attack someone under your care and because it was starting to hit you that you were getting more and more emotionally attached to these women you had claimed. You didn't want them to get hurt and this brand-new dangerous world was making such risks bigger than ever.

You clenched your fists and made the silent decision that you needed to up your game to protect your group on the long-term. Then you looked back at the LT.

"We will have our resident combat medic patch you up when we return," You told her. "But for now, tell me, what happened?"

Mills took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak. "I found a couple of zombies approach the striker, so I went to stab them in the head as silently as possible before their noise could attract other bitters. But just as I finished up the last one, I was ambushed from behind by her," She explained, a touch of disdain in her tone as she looked at her prisoner. "I managed to dodge the rock she tried to hit me with, but I dropped my axe when she punched me in the head. Then she tried to take the weapon from me so that she could kill me with but by the time she looked up with the axe, I was aiming at her with my sniper rifle. She froze and surrendered after that but warned me that her gang was not too far away and that if I killed her, they would follow. So, I decided to restrain her and bring her to the building since we were too exposed outside until we decided what to do."

You nodded slowly as you processed her words, not liking what you heard. But Garcia beat you to the punch when she opened her mouth.

"Gang? Not group?" She pressed. "That's a very specific choice of words."

"I know," LT Mills said with a frown. "That's what worries me."

"How do we know she was telling the truth, though?" Amelia pointed out. "She could have been bluffing and..."

"Are you willing to bet our lives on that assumption?" Garcia replied, her question silencing whatever the policeman's daughter was planning to say next.

There was a moment of silence at that and then all three women turned to look at you and then you remembered that you had final say when it came to these types of life-or-**** decisions.

You sighed in discomfort, wondering yet again how things could have changed so much in just over a week.

"But now it's not the time for doubt," You thought to yourself. "For good or ill, you are their leader and that means you have to step up."

So, you scratched your chin, thinking. While you would have understood the need for it if it came to self-defense, you really didn't want to kill your prisoner now that she was bound and helpless. Mainly because the mere idea made your stomach rebel in disgust, but you had to admit it was also partially because being responsible for killing such an attractive woman made the crime even worse in your mind than it already was.

Still, you also couldn't just let her walk away and inform her gang about them. Now that she had entered the classified building, it would be too much of a risk to expect her not to figure out how many valuable resources were to be found within. And just hoping for the best in this situation simply wouldn't do.

"No, I need to find out if she was telling the truth and if so, then more details would be useful," You realized. "Now, how do I get her to do just that after her fight with..."

Abruptly, your eyes widened as the answer came to your head. You placed your hand inside your pocket on reflex and felt the strange marker on your fingers. The one that had allowed you to claim the other 3 women around you and so much more. Still, you hesitated, the idea of forcibly claiming this helpless prisoner not sitting entirely right with you either, given the circumstances. But then you turned to look at your second-in-command and the sight of the injury on her head stopped the words you were going to say before they left your throat.

Soon, you remembered your silent oath to up your game so that you could do your best to protect your group and nodded to yourself.

"I have an idea," You finally said. "But could you three please go to the one-way widows and watch out for more zombies or potential gang members of her group? This won't take long."

They clearly didn't like the idea of leaving you alone with their prisoner even if she was restrained but their hesitation didn't last long, and they headed to the windows before dutifully looking outside to be on the lookout.

Thus, you took a deep breath and approached the blindfolded woman with your marker in hand. She whimper in fear when she felt you write your name on her hand but that was understandable given the circumstances. You had finished writing your claim, you just needed her to see it to complete the process, so, you put yourself on eye level to her covered gaze and spoke softly but clearly.

"I am not going to hurt you as long as you cooperate," You declared. "So, for your sake, I hope you do. Now, I am going to remove your gag and your blindfold before undoing the binding for one of your arms so that you can get more comfortable. But remember that we outnumber you and that we are armed so, don't make me regret it."

And with that, you kept your word. She looked indignant when you could see again though.

"What did you do to my hand you sick..." But her words trailed off when she read your claim of ownership, her eyes glossing over for a moment.

A/N: We will see a more complete picture of my casting choice for this character in the next chapter. For now, I hope you liked it, and if you have any preference to how exactly you would like her to react next, feel free to let me know and I will see if I can align it with my current plans. Thanks for reading everyone and until next time.