Don't Get Dead | TWD | Volume 1

[9] Conflict in Camp

"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui questioned.

To keep her mind off the run group going to Atlanta, Ace decided to help the women when they went to wash the clothes. She wasn't able to do many chores around camp because when she offered, she was always told that they didn't need her help.

Some noises across the quarry caught her attention, and she knew immediately what Jacqui was talking about. Shane stood up to his knees in the water, with Carl sitting on the bank with a net. They were shouting and laughing, and Ace couldn't help but grin when Shane fell forward into the water. It was nice that they were having fun because Ace knew that it didn't happen very often.

"The world ended," Amy reminded her. "Didn't you get the memo?"

Ace felt her face fall into a frown; she had never thought of it as the world ending. Shane was so adamant that the military would come and save them and fix what had happened that she just believed him. She still believed him. She couldn't bring herself to admit that the world had ended because it couldn't. Not in her mind. It couldn't just suddenly end.

In all honesty, she didn't have a clue what was going on outside of the camp, and part of her wanted to keep it that way. Then what Shane had said crossed her mind. 'We've been cut off from the outside world, and the wait kills me.' Then she realised that the wait was also tearing her apart—the wait for the military and the wait for her dad.

"It's just the way it is," Carol said quietly.

The way she glanced back at Ed did not escape Ace's attention. He just stared at them from the car he used to bring the laundry down to the quarry. Ace walked. She didn't feel comfortable being around Ed, knowing the kind of things he was doing to his family. She felt sick to her stomach knowing that he was around, and she wished that he would leave.

Ace also felt like she couldn't say anything; it wasn't her place. Shane had made it clear to her that they couldn't do anything because Ed would just leave the group, and Carol and Sophia would be out there and alone. She forced herself to look back at the washing because Ed staring at them from afar made her uneasy. She also didn't want to get him angry by looking. All she could do was try and get her job done faster, so she could leave.

"I do miss my Maytag," Carol said as she scrubbed a shirt into the board.

Ace's eyes narrowed, and she glanced at Carol. What's a Maytag?

"I miss my Benz," Andrea listed, "my sat-nav."

Jacqui kneeled, squeezing water from the shirt. "I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey."

There was a pause before Andrea stopped what she was doing and said. "I miss my vibrator."

When the women started laughing, Ace glanced up, clearly missing the joke. She had been so focused on finishing her work that she stopped listening and didn't hear what Andrea had said.

"Oh my God!" Amy exclaimed, keeling over in laughter.

There was a quiet moment as the women calmed down before Carol spoke up quietly. "Me too."

They all started wailing and hollering again, their laughter louder than how Shane and Carl were over at the other end of the lake.

Ace was still looking at them with confusion. "What are we laughing at?"

Jacqui only looked at Ace and laughed louder, and she frowned, still not knowing what was so hilarious to them. Amy glanced over and chuckled, but Ace just gave her the same confused look.