The Silence (GxG)

Chapter 7 - The Plan

▂▃▅▇█▓▒░ Kenzi ░

Yesterday was a disaster.
Not at all on Grace's part, in fact she did amazingly, but on my part. I can't believe I hit her in the head! I feel so guilty... I mean, she was knocked into another realm judging by the look on her face as she came around afterwards.
I'm just glad that she seemed alright before I left her alone last night, and that she isn't mad at me. I've noticed she's usually quite quick to control her temper over these past few days of working along side her, but It seems like she's struggled with her emotions for a while. She's learned to keep them locked away for whatever reason.

I quickly got out of bed and gathered my things to get ready for the day ahead, sliding on my backpack and grabbing my wooden staff before heading for The Zoo at the crack of dawn.
I noticed along my usual journey that there was an unusual amount of infected lingering in the woods. Normally they avoid it since the brush and undergrowth is so thick in some areas... but today I've had to sneak past 4, one being a screecher which is less than ideal.

That's gonna be an issue

I pushed the thought aside for now and focused on struggling through the last of the overgrown bushes, until I eventually emerged onto the road with the main entrance in sight. A few new scratches now graced my hands from fighting the thorny brush during my little detour, but its nothing major.

Upon arrival at the gate I noticed that it was the same guard rotation as yesterday, which means I had a few words to exchange with a certain female.
I walked quickly through the opening gate and stormed toward the guards office, just off to the right hand side of the entrance. A fire in my blood began to boil as I entered the room. All conversations went silent and the air became heavy.
There's times that I'm glad I hold an unspoken authority around here, thanks to my closeness with Chester since childhood.

"You" I pointed toward the woman in question "Back office, now"

She followed my direction without another word and the others in the room avoided my gaze, as if I weren't present. I walked into the small office behind her and closed the door, taking a deep breath as I did so to ensure I keep my head before proceeding.

"No more remarks will be made toward the new recruit. You got that?" I demanded as I turned to look at Erica.

Given my tall height, I easily towered over the woman but she stood firm under my heavy gaze. Pride seemingly overshadowing her professionalism. This is an all to familiar moment between us two, we've had a lot of disagreements in the past, to say the least.

"Recruit? Her people are fucking murderers Kenzi! She'll never be one of us. Don't you remember what they did to my brother!? To half of our peoples friends and family?" She raged, the tension in the room beginning to thicken quickly.

"I know! But you can't judge her based solely on her people's actions, Erica. She didn't even know about what happened! Their leader lied to them all..." I attempted to de-escalate the situation by explaining but I could tell by her expression that she wasn't having any of it.

Her fist slammed down harsly onto the desk in the centre of the room before she met my gaze.

"Have you forgotten what they did to your parents, Kenzi?"

That changed things. My previous attempt at trying to keep the peace has grown legs and left the room. Now I'm done trying.

"Do not speak of them again, Erica... We're done here!" I seethed through gritted teeth as I fought every urge to slap the smug look off her face

"Its the truth-"

"You'll shut up now, or I'll shut you up" I cut her off sternly, narrowing my eyes and taking a step around the table to close the distance between us threateningly "It's your choice"