"Jim. Digging." Dale responded. He passed the binoculars over to Athena, she peered through the object to see Jim on top of a hill digging holes. Athena did not particularly know Jim well, him being the quiet one in camp who kept to himself a lot. But, nevertheless, it was a strange sight to say the least considering he had no reasoning behind his actions. "We best tell the others before he keels over from this heat."
Athena nodded and followed Dale down the ladder, her feet hitting the ground with a thump. Immediately, she was astounded by the big pile of fish that had been caught by Andrea and Amy. She had to admit, they did an amazing job of it. As Dale made his way over to the crowd of people, Athena leaned against the side of the RV, leaving Dale to do the talking.
In the corner of her eye, Athena saw a figure sat in the doorway. She turned her head to see Shane, who was also looking back at her with an unreadable expression before she looked away and tuned into Dale's announcement. Athena just wasn't ready to speak to him after what she had witnessed, it striking a small part of fear into her that she simply couldn't shake.
"I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem." Dale twisted his body so he was looking at Jim from afar, the group all turned as Shane raised to his feet and walked past Athena to stand beside Dale. In the distance, they could see a small figure and everyone was asking themselves the exact same question — what was he up to.
In that moment, the group took it upon themselves to venture to the top of the hill where Jim was continuously digging. And by the look of things, he wasn't about to stop. Despite the initial feeling of confusion, they overall were worried about the mans mental well-being.
As they reached the top of the hill, the group walked into the clearing to see Jim drenched in multiple layers of sweat and look of pure determination. As Athena looked around, she could see many deep holes scattered all across the top of the hill, giving her an uneasy feeling.
"Hey, Jim." Shane said in attempt to bring him out of what seemed like a trance. "Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give us a second here, please?"
Jim stood upright before stabbing his shovel into the ground and glaring at Shane. "What do you want?"
"We're just a little concerned, man, that's all." Shane explained.
Athena ran her hand along the side of her arm. "You've been out here for hours, Jim. We saw you from the RV."
Jim shrugged "So?"
"So why you digging." Shane asked with a slight chuckle. "What, you heading to China?" Jim what?"
Jim smiled as a scoff escaped his lips before returning to his digging. "I'm not hurting anyone."
"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's one hundred degrees today. You can't keep this up." Dale tried to warn but Jim didn't acknowledge him. He looked almost unhinged as he stared at the dirt.
Lori folded her arms and stepped a little closer, removing herself from the group behind. "Jim, they're not gonna say it, so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter."
"They got nothing to be scared of." Jim stated raising his arms innocently "I mean come on people, I'm out here by myself. Why don't ya'll just go and leave me the hell alone?"
Athena's curious mind was overbearing as she tried to think of reasons to why he was digging holes. It seemed purposeless and meaningless but perhaps this new world was truly making the man go crazy.
"We think that you need to take a break, ok?" Shane stated as he edged closer to Jim. Athena had to admit, she was a little fearful to what Jim was capable of at this moment in time, that included potentially hurting someone who got in his way. "Why don't you go get yourself some shade, some food, maybe? I'll tell you what. Maybe in a little bit, I'll come out here, I'll help you myself, Jim. So why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel."
"Or what?" Jim argued.
"There is no what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you. Please. I don't wanna have to take it from you."
"I think you should listen to Shane." Athena interjected, surprising herself that she had jumped to Shane's defence so quickly. "Everyone's scared and you're gonna do some serious damage."
Jim shrugged "And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Pelletier aren't you. Ya'll seen his face, huh? What's left of it? See that's what happens when someone crosses you."
"You weren't there. He was protecting us, you didn't see how out of control he was. Unless you've been living under a rock, you would know that Ed was hitting his wife." Athena explained with a hard tone, her sympathy for him slowly beginning to fade.
"That is their marriage, that is not his." Jim snapped. Sophia had buried her head into Carol's arm. Athena frowned and placed a hand on Carols shoulder as a form of comfort. "Who votes you king boss, huh?"
"Jim I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel, ok?" Shane tried to reason with the man but no luck prevailed. A look of concern washed over everyone's faces as Shane reached forward to take the shovel from Jim. The man resisted, yelling no as he backed away. Shane walked closer and a second later, Jim raised the shovel and swung it towards Shane's head.
Athena stepped forward impulsively, her sub conscious urging her to move forward to help. But, before she had chance to intervene, she watched as Shane ducked before tackling Jim to ground and holding his hands behind his back. "Jim nobody is gonna hurt you." Shane shushed in attempt to comfort him.
"That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it a hundred times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of them. They just pulled them right out of my hand." Jim emotionally explained, his tone laced with sadness. Athena couldn't deny the sympathy she felt for him, she knew what it was like to have someone you care about be torn apart by the dead right in front of you. "The only reason I got away was because the dead were busy eating my family."
The brunette exhaled through her nose and looked at the ground sadly, those words were a clear example of what this world has done to many people like Jim. Athena looked over to the rest of her group to see Lori with her hands over her mouth in shock. The young woman squeezed Carol's shoulder, in reassurance, who clung to Sophia.
Seeing Jim act so recklessly and becoming slightly unhinged was a wake up call for everyone. The world was slowly making people go insane and losing people was the main source of that insanity. If they were to survive, they would have to cling on to their loved ones and brace themselves for what was to come next.
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