TWDG//

SEVENTEEN

"Maybe it would've been smart if you took a weapon." Lawson muttered, thrusting a rifle into Louis's hand. "To protect yourself if any dead come near."
Louis nods.
"You don't say a lot, do ya?"
"He can't." I say. "He...doesn't have a tongue."
Lawson stares at Louis, and chuckles. "I'll believe that when I see it."
Without another moment, Louis opens his mouth wide. Lawson steps back.
"Poor kid." He says. "Well, I guess talking isn't natural to you."
"It was." I said. Lawson stares at me.
"Wasn't talking to you." He said.
"You were talking to Louis?" I ask, crossing my arms. "I thought I just told you he can't talk back."
Louis laughs.
Lawson eyes me up and down. "You know, Gunner didn't deserve what you gave him."
I shrug. "What happened is none of your business."
"Well I'm the one picking the shits so he doesn't fucking hurt you, kid, so be nice." Lawson says, picking up hugs own hand gun.
"Whatever, let's go, Louis." I said, moving out of the room, the dead rabbit still in my hand.
"Yeah, fucking leave." Lawson laughs.
"Wasn't talking to you." I say.

Louis pats me in the back as we walk to the front kitchen, which only ever involves a small bench with chairs, and an old pot stove. I smile at Louis.
"He's just an idiot." I say, as I sit down. Louis nods, and takes his knife out of his sheath. He begins to place it on the inside of the rabbit, and skin it. "You know, besides being hit, and threatened, I kind of like it here."
Louis nods. "Ee a oo pwa"
"What?" I ask, frowning as I clean the rabbit skin.
Louis shakes his head.
"You need to learn some kind of sign language." I say. "I mean, others won't understand, but we can."
Louis nods.
"It must suck, not being able to talk." I said.
"Ya" Louis says, without using his tongue. I take the rest of the fluff from the rabbit, and place it into the woven basket nearby.
"Do you miss it?" I ask.
Louis sighs.
"-Omttimees." He says.
"Sometimes?" I ask, wanting to confirm.
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah. I mean, I don't really like the quiet anymore." I say.
"Oh?" Louis asks.
"Oh. Do they have prosthetic tongues?" I ask, and Louis laughs, and shakes his head.
"Do they even exist?" I ask. Louis shakes his head. I sigh. "Nice."
...
I take the rabbit up to Omar, who, as of today, has been officially a chef, or something. Omar jumps when I walk in.
"Oh, hey." He says. "Thought you were someone else."
"Who did you expect?" I ask, setting down the naked skins of the rabbit.
"Lawson, Gunner, Gavin, Jesus...anyone." Omar says, taking the rabbit in his hands and feeling the weight. "They all fucking scare me."
"Jesus seems nice. And I know Gavin is for sure." I say. "Gunner is an ass."
"And Lawson?"
"I don't think he likes us being here."
"I figured." Omar muttered. I walked out, and went downstairs.
It was deserted; It seems as if everyone had their own job, and they probably did. All I know, is that it is stifling. I wipe the sweat off my forehead, and slide my jacket off. I hand it up at the front, and as I do, I can see Gunner, pulling an axe through a tall, thin tree. He seems exhausted, his shirt drenched, and stopping every few minutes to wipe his palms on his pants. I look around. Sure, I Gunners an ass, but there's something in my heart that tells me I'm not a complete monster. I get a plastic cup from below the sink in the kitchen, and get a little bit of the water. The water here is filtered from a steam, and it heated up to go as a bath or boiling water. I sigh, and take the full cup outside. Gunner stops immediately. And I'm immediately scared.
"Well, wanna fucking brag that you're allowed water, and I'm not." Gunner laughs. But it's not really a laugh, because this one is tortured. I walk closer to him, and hold the cup out, unsure. Gunner looks at the cup, then at me, still panting. He takes it from me, and drinks it thirstily. He stops, and puts the cup back in my hands.
"I would say thanks, but you're the one who got me here." Gunner said, picking up his axe to continue working.
"Fair." I shrug, and go back into the house. As I shut the door, I watch as Gunner smashes the axe into the tree, bits of wood splintering around. I turn, and smack right into Javi.
"You scared me!" I exclaimed. Javi puts his hand on his hips.
"You gave him water?" He asks. I gulp.
"Was that not allowed?"
"Well, we refused to give him any, but it doesn't matter." Javi pats my shoulder. "And, by the way, if you were really a psycho, you wouldn't have done that." He opens the glass door, and steps outside, letting more of the heat flush in. I sigh.
Today was going to be a long day.
...
It really was a long day.
Gavin found me soon after, and asked why I was inside, and not doing work. I shrugged, and said I had nothing to work on. He sighed, and told me Violet needed help fighting off the zombies around the barrier, which was planks of random wood that depicted as a wall. I obliged, even though there were barely any to fight off; About three or four creeping further into the woods.
After that, it was a hotter afternoon. I didn't know where Clem was, but I began to feel like everything was pounding on my head, and whenever I did these jobs, I often leant against whatever I could to prevent falling over. I felt very heavy. As time went on, I just couldn't be bothered to wipe the sweat dripping down my face. My shirt, especially near my armpits got affected by this too. As Violet and I went inside, I flopped down on the main couch with a sigh.
"You...okay?" She asks. I didn't answer, I just wiped my face on my shirt and panted.
"...yeah..." I said, between breaths.
"It's getting hotter." Gabe said. "Just think; Today was just the start of it."
"Will there be more slack since it's Summer?" Violet asks.
"Because its Summer, we need more work." Gabe said. "It's gonna suck."