(That is Supposed to be Little Mason)
Dale and I walked up to where Jim was. He was digging holes. I had my back pack on still.
"Jim? You okay?" Dale asks. Jim ignores him and keeps digging. "You keep this up, you're gonna keel over out here." No awnser. "Drink some water at least." Dale tries and hands him a bottle of water." Dale gives me the water and leaves. I stay with Jim. He didn't need to be alone but he didn't need grown ups telling him what to do.
"Did you know I am not from Georgia? My Mama and Daddy met in New York City. We had a nice apartment there. You could see the water and the sunset. It was pretty. But then Daddy's boss said we had to move to Georgia. My Daddy was a business man. He Would sell things to people. Mama wrote stories on her computer. She would stay with me at home." I looked to see if Jim was listening, but he was still digging. I started tugging at my fingers.
"Are you like me Jim? I Don't know how to talk to people. Mama says I ramble and to stay quiet. Is that what you do? Cause It is really lonely when you have no one. But Im making friends withDaryl. Last night He let me hold his crossbow, but I thought it was a bow gun. We talked and drew pictures. I drew one of him and his brother and gave it to him for good luck." Jim smiled and stopped for a second. He seemed nice, Like he did care.
"What about everyone else?" He asked then continued to dig.
"Amy is nice, I was with her and the girls. They were doing laundry and talking about what they missed. Andrea and Coral said they missed their vibrators do you know what that is?" This made Jim laugh.
"What else happened?" Jim said avoiding my question.
"Mr. Ed came over, he is scary and mean. He slapped Carol and that wasn't nice. Then Shane came over and hit him. It was scary so I ran to Dale and came up here with you."
"Ed okay?"
"He was hit a lot." I paused whether or not I should ask the question. "Do you like Shane? I see him get angry and violent a lot he doesn't seem nice." Before Jim could awnser, everyone came up. Amy pulled me behind her as Shane began to question Jim.
"Hey, Jim. Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please." Shane said in a calm voice.
" What do you want?" Jim grumbled. He just wanted to be left alone, besides me He liked me.
"We're all just a little concerned, that's all." Shane said and then the spanish guy jumped in too.
"Dale says you've been out here for hours."
"So?" Jim said back, he was still digging.
" So why are you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?"
"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone."
"Yeah, Me and Jim are just talking leave him alone." I said making Shane glare at me and Amy push me back more.
"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today. You can't keep this up." Shane said, but Jim was still digging.
"Sure I can. Watch me."
"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter." The brown haired lady jumped in. She was Carl's Mama and Rick's Wife.
"They got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Mason has been here and she is fine. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Jim said loudly.
"We think that you need to take a break, okay? Why don't you go and get yourself in the shade? Some food maybe. I'll tell you what... maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself. Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?" Shane said and got close to Jim.
"or What?"
"There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you."
" And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you? Mason told me what happened. Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it. See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you." Jim yelled, people then looked at me like I did something wrong.
"That was different, Jim."
" You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife." Amy said while making sure I stayed behind her.
" That is their marriage. That is not his. He is not judge and jury. Who voted you king boss, huh?" Jim was just yelling a lot now. He was angry.
" Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel." Shane said and came closer to Jim making Jim back up.
"No, no, no."
"Just give me the... Jim!" Shane goes for the shovel but Jim moves back and lunges at him with it. Shane then tackles him to the ground and holds his hand behind his back.
"You got no right!" Jim yells, but it is hard to hear cause his face is in the ground.
"Jim. Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me? Shh. Jim, nobody is gonna hurt you, okay?" Shane says, trying to calm him down.
" That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands. You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family." Jim said. Carl's mom and Carol held sophia and Carl tight. Amy hugged me but I just moved to Jim and hugged him the best I could, Shane was still on top of him. Then Shane brings him to camp and ties him to a tree. The kids are doing work with their moms but I sit with Jim again and start to draw. Shane gives him water to drink and pours some on his head.
" Yeah. How long you gonna keep me like this?" Jim asked.
" Well, yeah. Until I don't think that you're a danger to yourself or others." Shane said,and poured more water on his head.
"Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl." Jim said loudly so they could hear him.
"You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you." Carl's mom said. I really need to learn her name, and the asian and the big black guy and the spanish family.
"You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asked Sophia. She looked at him and shook her head.
"No sir." She said making Jim Smile.
"This one hear ain't afraid at all, aint that right Mason." Shane said and I nodded.
"Jim is my friend and he was alone so I sat and talked with him." I then leaned over to Shane and whispered. "What is Carl's mom's name?" He chuckled.
"Lori." "And The asian boy?"
"Glenn." "And the big Black guy?" He started laughing as well as Jim.
"T-dog." "And The Spanish Family?"
"You know anyones names?" I pouted and he rolled his eyes.
"Morales and his wife Miranda and his kids, Ezta and Lucas." I nodded and went back to drawing.
"Jim, do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Dale asked, he liked Jim too, he was just worried.
"I had a reason. Don't remember. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?" Jim asked Carl.
"They're not back yet." Then Lori rubbed Carls back to comfort him. I remember when my Mama would do that what I had a panic Attack.
"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but... I could see it in him. Am I right?" Jim said to ease Carl's mind.
"Oh yeah." Shane said. Him and Rick were close, they had the same symbol on their clothes so I guess they worked together.
"There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that." Jim said making Carl smile.
" All right. Who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane says as he gets up. Sophia, Carol and Carl follow Shane and Lori comes towards us.
"Mason, why don't you go with the other kids?" Lori said.
"But I wanna stay with Jim, He my friend." I said, Lori looked at Jim then back at me.
"Go on now Mason, we will talk later. Go clean some fish for me okay?" Jim said. I nodded and put my stuff back in my bag an head to go clean fish.
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Everyone came to Eat fish except for Mr. Ed. Amy and Andrea fished for them, their Daddy taught them. We passed around the fish. I sat in between Dale and Andrea, and had Ika in my lap.
"I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy." Morales said to Dale. "That watch. I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass."
"I've wondered this myself." Jacqui said with a grin.
"I'm missing the point." Dale said.
"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." She said, still smiling.
"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch." Morales laughed, we all leaned towards Dale to hear the story.
"Time... it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here." Andrea Rolled her eyes and continued to drink her beer. "I like... I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it."
It was quiet for awhile till I broke the silence.
"You are so weird." Making everyone laugh, it was nice to see smiling faces again.
" It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." Dale defended himself which made us laugh harder. Amy then got up and head to the RV.
"Where are you going?" Andrea asked.
"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here..." Amy said making everyone chuckled. I leaned against Dale's leg. It was a nice night.
"Mama said that if you have smiling faces around, nothing could go wrong, because you have everything you need right here." I said and everyone smiled again.
"We're out of toilet paper?" Then We heard a scream. A monster was eating Amy, and more were head our way. Everyone started to run but I froze. I didn't know what to do. I started tugging on my fingers. I snapped out of it when Dale yelled my name. I got up to run to him when a monster cut me off. I started crying and tugging harder on my fingers. The monster grabbed me and i fell. I kicked it again and again. It almost got me till and arrow went straight through it's head. Daryl then picked me up and started shooting. I was shaking a lot. I was scared. I almost died again. I sobbed into Daryl's neck. I shook even harder and wrapped my arms around Daryl's neck. I felt a hand go on my back, but I wasn't sure who. I guess Mama was wrong.