"I can help you out. Shawn, go run on in and check on you sister. You take a seat on the porch and I'll go see what I have." Both of them walk away and I go to take a seat on the bench. Pyper, Clementine, and Ohm stand near the steps, all of them watching me. Well this is making me uncomfortable. Hershel comes back rather quickly, holding a bandage, and glances at the others on his way over to me. "Let's have a look." He says, delicately taking my arm and in the light, I see that the wound looks a lot worse than it probably is. "Yeah, it's swollen to hell." I don't think jumping in and out of the truck bed was helping it heal as well…
"Could be worse." I point out.
"That's what it sounds like. Seems like things got awful bad in the cities." I don't want to even imagine downtown cities, especially Los Angeles and New York, and my hometown, Phoenix. "What'd you say your name was?" He asks and I don't want to lie to anybody.
"I'm Sue Monrova." I introduce with a smile and I see Pyper holding in a laugh as I use my real name. I usually just tell people my first and middle name or my channel name, but I want Hershel to trust me as much as he can.
"Nice to meet you, Sue. I'm Hershel Greene." He introduces, staring at me directly in my eyes and I kindness radiating from them. He begins wrapping my arm and questions, "How'd this happen?"
"I was tackled to the ground," I summarize, not wanting to go in a full explanation about being in a completely different world. In a video game.
"That so." He's starting to get suspecting, "Why were you tackled? And who did it?" Well, I haven't lied so far, so I guess this is a win.
"A man, one of those monsters you've been hearing about. I'm a nurse, I saw him wounded, and tried to help him. It really scared us." I explain truthfully and I see Ohm in the back looking confused when I told Hershel that I'm a nurse. I can understand, I only told him I have a YouTube channel.
"Us? Who were you with?" Hershel questions, looking up from an almost finished bandage.
"I was with Pyper when I was attacked, she saved me." I tell him, hoping he doesn't ask where we were at; otherwise, I can't explain why we were sleeping in a forest. That reminds me, if Pyper and I woke up in the forest, then how did Ohm wake up if he's from the same world as us? I'll ask him after Clementine goes to sleep, but I'll have to keep Pyper up for the conversation as well. That's not going to be a pretty sight since she's more tired than I am.
"House is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three and a couple gentlemen sleeping in the barn. You, your friend, your boyfriend, and your sister are welcome to rest there when we're done here." Hershel offers and I'm not going to correct him about Clementine and Ohm because I'm thankful he's letting us stay here. He turns to the other three, "I didn't catch your names."
"Clem-Clementine." The little girl introduces herself first and I smile at her shyness.
"Ryan." My fellow YouTuber says simply.
"I'm Pyper." Pyper greets with a soft smile on her face and I can see how tired she is.
"Can't imagine what you three been through." Hershel comments, making all their faces go sullen from what they've seen. But not so much Ohm because he's probably been on the side of the road for the most part. Pyper the most because of what she did in the first twenty minutes of being here.
"We're taking care of Clementine until we find her parents." I inform him as I see him eyeing her the most out of them. Its perfect timing as Shawn walks out of the house to talk to his father.
"Hey dad, so I'm thinking, first thing tomorrow, we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm." Shawn tries to convince his father, but Hershel doesn't know the danger yet.
"That doesn't seem necessary," Hershel only focuses on finishing the bandage.
"I don't know what you've seen on TV, or heard on the radio, but there's some serious…" He holds his hand up, trying to block Clementine from hearing him. "SHIT hitting the fan." Well he's considerate to not speak that foul language around a child at least. "I don't think anyone knows how big it is yet."
"Shawn's right, you know. It'll be good to protect his place." Pyper chimes in, trading our main character role with me and I'm thankful for the small break. I'm not sure if I could've handle anymore of Hershel's scrutiny.
"Stuff like that doesn't happen around here, Shawn." Hershel reprimands and I feel like slapping him. It might just be the day, or the world, but I was never this violent as I was back in the real world, or thinking about violence. How can Hershel not trust his son about the news? Especially if he comes back with strangers that need saving from whatever is going on outside the farm and in the cities. Soon enough, the outside is going to come in, and Hershel will have open arms, or open fences at least.
"Dad, I'm serious. Sue, come on, tell him what you saw out there, girl." Shawn begs and I try to think of what to say that'll get the point across, but won't be too gruesome for Clementine to hear.
"There are dead people chasing the living." I summarize, making Shawn smile since I listened to him and not told his dad what he wants to hear.
"Well, do what you think you should. We've got plenty of chores as it is." Well we got permission at least, if it is permission.
"Sue and those folks in the barn can help out in the morning. We got to do it, really." Well, I don't usually do fieldwork, but I'm very grateful for Shawn and I'll do it. That's if I'm able to wake up Pyper on time in the morning.
"I already said okay." Hershel says and I can tell he is starting to get annoyed, but oh well. "Well, I'm all done here. It should start to feel better tomorrow." He says, turning back to me and ignoring his son. Shawn leaves to probably plan for the morning and I hold back a giggle as I see Hershel's serious face, and I take a deep breath.
"Thank you." I say, more for manners since I could've bandaged myself.
"If your arm gets hot or the swelling doesn't go down; you're probably dealing with an infection. But you already know this, don't you?" Hershel says with a small smile and I can see why people can like him. For the most part, he is serious, but he has a very subtle humor.
"If it's an infection, what do we do?" Ohm asks with worried eyes, and I think he will make a good friend, maybe I'll watch his videos when we get back to our world. Who knows, maybe we'll even record with him sometime. After we get out of here.
"We'll probably just have to shoot you." Hershel jokes, but I see Clementine's eyes grow wide and she starts to get scared. "We'll clean it, redress it, and she'll be fine." He tells Ohm honestly and Clementine frowns at the man and shakes her head slightly. Pyper and Ohm laugh, seeing Clementine's reactions too and Pyper is the one to speak up.
"That's better." She giggles a bit at the end and I feel the tension fading.
"There's blankets and such in the barn. We'll be seeing you bright and early." Hershel says and that's our que to leave and go rest, but for Pyper, Ohm, and me it'll be a while. He asks another question, "Come tomorrow, which way you think you're heading?" Following the storyline.
"Towards Macon." Pyper says and Hershel heads back into his house as the four of us make our way towards the barn in comfortable silence. When we open the barn door, a surprising sight welcomes us and I have to let out a laugh seeing the two new people from our world.
"Why am I stuck with the yellow blanket?" A deep voice says with a short, maniacal laugh that sounds so crazy I want to laugh with him. "It's not fair man!" I see him sitting on a sleeping bag, clutching a yellow blanket that stands out from his dark gray slim jacket.
"Keep your goddamn voice down, Kenny and his family is sleeping up there." The other man replies, but it's more in a joking manner. This one is next to his friend on a sleeping bag, bundled in a green blanket, but I see a black jacket poking out. I jump out of my skin as I hear Ohm's voice talking from right behind me and in my comfort zone.
"Delirious? Cartoonz?" Ohm calls out and the two men turn to us in shock and disbelief; well they are definitely from our world if Ohm knows them. They're probably online friends since he's calling them by nicknames, and I should get used to calling them by their nicknames.
"Holy shit! Is that you, Ohm?" The one on the right with the green blanket asks, probably freaking out from seeing the Masked Gamer in person. In this situation, I wonder if they know about being trapped in a video game and I wonder if they have come across other people. From the looks of it, these two woke up together, probably like Pyper, and me but I can't tell if they have come across the zombies yet.
"Yeah man, can't believe you two are here." Ohm says, walking over to the two men, who are now standing. They all laughing, hugging each other as the three of us stand confused in the doorway. Pyper clears her throat, catching the attention of the men and I smile awkwardly, unsure on how to act. "Oh yeah! Guys, this is Tiny, Clementine, and Sue." Ohm introduces, pointing us out the two men. "Ladies, this is…" He trails off, waiting for them to greet themselves; at least neither look shy to meet strangers.
"Hey girls, I'm Luke, but you can call me Cartoonz, and this is Jonathon, or Delirious." The one in a black leather jacket introduces with his friend by his side and they rather remind me of how Pyper and I act. I'm a bit more like Cartoonz and Pyper seems to be like Delirious.
"Nice to meet you." Pyper says as we walk completely in the barn and I shut the doors behind us. "We're going to go to sleep now though. It's been a long day." Pyper plays along, so we can get Clementine to sleep. The guys just turn on each other, talking in whispered voice, probably Ohm telling them what's going down. I follow Clementine as she gets blankets and starts making her bed, I make mine, as well as Ohm's since he's still talking. Delirious and Cartoonz give us their two extra blanket so that all of us can at least lay on a blanket. Before Clementine goes to lay down, I grab her shoulder, and gently put my poncho on her. She goes to refuse, but I shake my head and she just lays on the floor silently.
There's no light in the barn except some moonlight pouring in through the cracks, so it's hard to make out the shapes in the barn. Clementine sleeps in the middle of Pyper and I; Pyper on her left and I are on her right; and the guys are sleeping right above us, only a few feet away. Jonathon, Luke, and Ohm are talking in quiet voices, but it's nice not to be in complete silence, except for the snores of the family above us. They don't mention anything about the outside world, only small talk about movies and complaining about the barn. A few minutes' pass before Clementine breaks the silence, "It smells like…"
"Shit." Delirious finishes, laughing for a second, before Cartoonz smacks him on the head. All of us laugh at their interaction, well besides Clementine who looks a bit startled and frowns at him.
"Delirious, don't use that language in front of a little girl!" Ohm reprimands, chuckling the entire time though. After a few seconds, I feel the atmosphere become heavy and Clementine whispers so silently that only Pyper and I can hear her.
"I miss my mom and dad," Clementine says and I feel as if crying now. She'll probably never see her parents again, but she is so hopeful that she will that I don't want to ruin her spirit. This is so much worse than just watching the game.
"I know, Kiddo." Pyper comforts, keeping her voice down so the guys won't here.
"How far is Savannah?"
"It's rather far." I answer, being as quiet as they are. I cast a glance at Pyper from across Clementine and I can tell that her face reflects the same mournful expression as mine.
"Oh, okay." Pyper looks over at me and I shake my head as a signal not to answer her, because I know that if we promise anything, then it will be bad for the story. Silence sinks in once again and we wait for Clementine to fall asleep first, hopefully she doesn't have any nightmares tonight.
҉ Our Bodies Wearing Thin ҉
