Piggy's Misfortune

1: COLETTE - Golden Fist

Colette looked up, staring at the picture on her wall. Her eyes softened as they traced over the smiling girls in the picture, their arms around each other. "Piper..."
She muttered, taking a deep breath and shaking her head. She had more important things to do than reminisce about the past. She needed to get the group ready for a supply run. They were nearly out of everything, and the infection was not letting up anytime soon. She flicked off the light as she exited her room. She wasted no time, walking quickly over to another room and knocking. "Come in!"
Colette opened the door, leaning against the door frame. Tia, a ginger haired girl with green eyes and pale skin, looked up at her, before looking back down at Winter's - a young albino girl with red eyes - shoelaces as her fingers intertwined them, helping the girl tie her shoes. "You're in a hurry."
She commented, smiling at Colette as Winter hopped off the bed. Colette laughed. "Meet outside in five? I need to get the boys up, and god only knows how long that'll take."
Colette joked. Tia's smile widened. "It varies. Either five minutes or an hour."

Colette laughed, walking out of the room and down the hallway to the next room, knocking on the door. "Parker?"
A groan came from behind the door. "It's too early, Cole!"
Colette rolled her eyes. "Parker Phillips, get up and outside in five minutes, or I'll drag you out myself."
Just as Colette finished her threat, the next door swung open, and Damian stepped out. "Do you always have to be so noisy?"
He snapped. Colette smiled sarcastically. "At least you're up. Unlike someone."
She kicked Parker's door, before turning to head out of the building.

A few minutes later, the group began to file out of the building. Winter rested herself against Tia's leg tiredly. "Good, you're all here."

Colette smiled. "Parker, you're with me, okay? Damian, look after Winter and Tia, please. Meet back here in two hours, and for the love of the Gods, be careful."

Damian sighed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."

As Parker and Colette walked deeper into the shaded woods, the sunlight filtering through the trees in patterns, Parker fidgeted. He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to think better of it, his eyes scanning around the ancient trees and overgrown underbrush as if searching for the right words, or perhaps, a reason not to speak them at all. Colette, used to Parker's sometimes-awkward nature, raised an eyebrow, a silent question in her gaze. "Hey, Cole?"

He stopped walking so abruptly that she nearly tripped. He instinctively reached out and grabbed her wrist, his fingers wrapping around her skin with a surprising firmness. Colette turned to him, confusion etched onto her face, her brow furrowed as she took in his troubled expression. Parker sighed. "Nevermind."
He mumbled, his gaze dropping to the path beneath them. Colette's face softened. She knew him too well. "No, Parker, what is it?"
She insisted, her voice laced with concern. "You clearly have something you want to say...?"

Parker looked at the floor, kicking at a loose pebble with the toe of his boot. He seemed to be gathering his courage. "I... I don't want to intrude, and it's probably nothing, but uh... Who's Piper?" he finally blurted out.

Colette froze. The happy atmosphere that had once been with them on their walk vanished, replaced by a thick, heavy silence. She stared at him, speechless. "I..."