Matthew
"You sure you're ok?" Matthew shook his brothers shoulder and asked the question for about the hundredth time. Harry shrugged his hand off impatiently.
"I'm fine. It was just a cat." He reached out and placed a card on the pile in the middle of the table. He didn't seem upset at all, and that worried Matthew. Harry loved animals, and had often been reduced to tears at the sight of an injured animal on the side of the road. When Andrea had told him about the incident and pointed him in the direction of Glenns house, Matthew had expected to find Harry red eyed and almost in mourning. Instead, he was calm and playing a game of cards with Carl, Sophie and a few of the other children in the neighbourhood. Matthew knew he shouldn't be surprised, after everything they had been through, of course Harry would be harder. He just wished he was doing something to show he was upset. He sighed, and leaned against the wall of the house, absent mindly scratching his scarred cheek.
The nurse in the town had given him some eyedrops and now not only did his eye not burn, it didn't look as gross either. He still couldn't see out of it, but at least he knew he looked more normal. Not that it seemed to have put anyone in town off him. All the kids looked at him like he was a superhero. The story of how he had ended up with one eye had spread-and escalated-like a wild fire amongst them. The last he had heard, he had not been tied to a chair as a result of miscalculating his attempts to get medical equipment for Daryl, but had had acid thrown in his face by a super mutated zombie, which had been leading a horde of fighter zombies that he had been battling single handedly. He couldn't decide if he thought this was funny or pathetic. If he was honest with himself, he swung towards pathetic.
None of the people here knew what it was like outside the walls surrounding the town. Most of them had been inside the walls since the start of the epidemic and therefore treated him like a wondering storyteller. He could tell, that whilst they believed his stories about the zombies, they were more sceptical about his tales of the boys in the hospital, the cannibals, and T-Dogs story of the Governor. They didn't want to believe that people could turn the way they had. After a year, they were still in denial. And now someone was chopping up animals and leaving them scattered around their town.
He looked up from watching Harry and caught Bethany staring at him. Before he could look away, she gave him a small smile. He briefly returned it before looking out of the window at T-Dogs house. Andrea had dashed in to confer with T-Dog, closely followed by Dale. He didn't know why he was trying to see in the window. Andrea had asked if he wanted to join in, and he had considered it, honoured to be considered an adult. But his brotherly instinct had taken over, and now he was stuck babysitting. He turned back to observe the card game and jumped slightly. Bethany had made her way from the other side of the table and was now stood next to him, her hands behind her back, and a coy look on her face.
"Er...hey Bethany. How's it going?" Matthew stuttered, not sure what to say. He'd never spoken to Bethany before, and he took the chance to check her out properly. She was really very pretty. Her hair wasn't quite ginger, more of a strawberry blonde. She had freckles all over her nose, and her eyes were a pale sky blue. Even with the lack of consistent electricity and hot water, she always looked groomed and styled-almost preppy. Matthew could see her being one of the cheerleaders at his Middle school. Ever since he had arrived at Alexandria, she had started to, as Dale called it, make eyes at him. She wasn't subtle either. These actions reminded Matthew of Katie, the woman who had had her mind set on Daryl when they first met him at the hotel, which made him even more uncomfortable.
"That must have been horrible for poor Harry, seeing that cat. I mean, after all you've been through." She sounded sincere, and Matthew shrugged.
"He's kind of just shrugging it off. I think he's immune to this sort of stuff now." He shuffled his feet and glanced at Harry. "It's not really ideal, but what can you expect." Bethany nodded, and looked down at her feet. There was an awkward pause. Suddenly, Bethany put her hand on his arm and leaned into him. Matthew went to push her away from him, but her grip was surprisingly strong.
"Doug doesn't like you or Rick. He's going to try to make out you cut up that cat. He doesn't trust you," she half blurted, half whispered into his ear. She made to move away, but now it was Matthews turn to grab her arm.
"What are you talking about?" She looked around furtively, and shook her head, pulling away from him and slipping through the crowd of children. He watched her glide through the living room door and frowned. He was going to have to talk to Rick about this. Rick would know what to do.