Without Guilt

Chapter V: Keeping Time

Otis jolted awake, feeling like his heart fell into his stomach as his breath caught in his throat.

"T? You okay buddy?" Mason asked, concern knitting his brows as he set aside his sketchbook.

"What...?" Otis began to ask, confusion replacing whatever terror had woken him. There was still a fog over his mind from his restless sleep, struggling to recollect just how he ended up with his head on the other man's lap.

"You're quite the conversationalist when you're asleep." Mason remarked jokingly as Otis sat up.

Otis inhaled then exhaled slowly to clear the mist hanging over him. "I'm surprised you even know what that means." He replied, his voice raspy with dryness. His neck hurt, his hand moving under his scarf to massage it.

"I been reading." Mason claimed as he pushed out of the sofa to get some water.

Otis thanked him hoarsely, uncapping the bottle and drinking like he'd been parched for days. The water helped soothe him and push away any grogginess that lingered. "How long was I out?" He didn't think it was that long since Mason couldn't have sat there for that long.

"Been about two hours." Mason replied.

"Fuck, Mace, you should've woken me." Otis was out of the sofa a little too quickly, having to hold on to the nearest furniture to let the darkness ebb away from his vision.

"What's the rush? You looked like you could use the rest." Mason protested.

"I got a shift at the yard in an hour." He grumbled, squeezing the bridge of his nose before sprinkling some water on his face to fight away the light headedness that came over him. He hadn't eaten enough recently; it was quite likely his blood sugar was low. "Where's Kumi and Dominique?" He asked, turning to look at the other man.

"Uh, it's the third floor." It took him a moment or two to remember.

"Good, you're coming with me." Otis prompted.

"Man, do I have to? You know I don't like problems." Mason protested, lingering uncertainly behind him. "Ah man, I can't handle blood well, T…" He looked to him as he paused in the doorway.

Otis seemed to consider him for a moment before sighing. "I'm not here to cause problems, Mace. I told you I came to talk." He didn't know that for certain, but he had no clue how old the note that Kumi had left in the cupboard was.

Talking might no longer be an option.

Mason was still hesitant, maybe doubtful. He knew Otis had a temper that could flare rather unexpectedly at times and considering that Kumi and Dominique had made off with everything but his clothes, his anger would be justified. "Look, T, it's not that I don't trust you but… you got a shiv on you, man. You looked scary."

And he'd seen what Otis was capable of with just his hands. He'd gained a notorious reputation since he'd torn the throat of a FEDRA soldier out with his bare teeth, blood and gore covering his face and clothes like a runner. The only thing was how calm he'd been after.

The leader had taken a shine to him since.

Otis just turned and carried on towards the stairwell without Mason. He'd wasted enough time being nice.

"T!" Mason called after him, struggling to catch up.

Otis reached the third floor, studying the two doors on the left side of the hallway. The other side was blocked up by broken and unused furniture that hadn't been cleared out of the building.

"Otis, wait!" He heard Mason fighting to catch his breath and turned to look at him just as he reached the landing.

"Which one is it?" Otis asked, pulling off his left glove.

"Wait just a minute…" Mason half begged as he dragged himself up the last flight of stairs to reach him, keeling over to try and catch his breath. "Wait a minute." He held up his hand, taking in a deep breath before pulling his pants up and smoothing out his shirt. "I'll go first." He insisted, moving past Otis to go to the further door. "I don't have a key so I can't just let you in." He warned as he raised his hand to knock.

Otis leaned against the side wall, waiting out of the view of the door.

Mason knocked, waiting for a response as he wheezed back his breath. "K? It's me!" He called when no one answered, knocking again a little louder.

For some moments it seemed like no one would respond, but the door opened shortly after the third knock, Kumi's large figure appearing in the doorway.

"What the fuck do you want, Mason?" He demanded to know, his voice a harsh whisper. "I thought I told you to stay the fuck away. We paid you more than this shithole is worth." He reminded him.

Mason shrunk back slightly from the rebuke, his face reddening as he frowned. "If you don't like it then get out-" He began to argue back, quite a feat considering the ox-built man in front of him.

Kumi was built like a bull, his young face handsome, and a characteristic yellow bandana covering his bleached short dreads. Most shirts were too small for his stature, the front always refusing to close and showing a torso full of scars like medals. He'd broken quite a few hearts in his time no doubt.

Mason had a natural weariness for men like Kumi – perhaps out of feeling inferior since they were worlds apart in abilities and physique, but more than that he hated how these differences made Kumi entitled to bullying people like himself and Dorothy Simmons. He almost wanted to kick himself for not coming straight to Otis and telling him about Kumi's unusual approach.

"You better have a good reason for knocking this door." Kumi warned, cooling just a little at Mason's retort.

Otis came out of nowhere, his left hand swinging with enough force to knock Kumi right off his feet and sending him stumbling back over the threshold. "You better have a fucking good reason why I shouldn't string you up, you son of a bitch!" He was on him in moments, his hand twisting in his collar as he socked him in the jaw.

Mason was so startled that he just stood there, gawking as Kumi coughed, groaning in pain as he tried to reorient himself. It was like watching a dog take down a grizzly bear.

"T- wait-" Kumi protested, trying to turn his head to get the blood clear from his nose, his jaw flaring in agony from the second punch, hands rising blindly to try and protect his face from any further assaults. "I can explain- fuck!" He cursed.

"Kumi…?" A woman's voice was heard from further in the apartment, Dominique soon appearing swaddled in a large, knitted cardigan. She blinked away whatever sleep she'd been in when she'd heard the commotion.

"Dom, stay out of it!" Kumi told her, though he was grateful that he wasn't being further kicked while he was down.

"Otis?" Dominque's whole face changed when she recognised the man, quickly rushing over. "Get off him! What are you doing?" She tried to shift Otis off of Kumi, Mason having to pull her away just in case her interruption got her caught in the middle. "Otis! Please!"

Otis was exhaling his fury in hard breaths, his fist hovering with the temptation to unleash more pain. "You fucking stay down or the next thing you feel will be a bullet between your teeth." He hissed, moving off him and wiping his bloodied knuckles.

Kumi coughed, turning onto his side. "I wanted to talk to you." He insisted.

"Kumi, are you okay?" Dominique immediately rushed to his side to check on him, drying the blood with her sleeve. Once she was sure he was okay, she'd look to Otis with an admonishing glare. "What the hell, Otis? I thought I warned you to keep your temper under control." She scolded, frowning at him. "Have you lost your shit?"

"Trust me, that was my temper under control." Otis sneered, pulling his glove back on. "I had my shit, till you fucking filched it."

Kumi managed to regain his bearings after a minute or two, sitting up while holding his rapidly bruising jaw.

Otis stood over him, tilting his head as though watching a worm writhing pathetically in the dirt.

Kumi glanced to Mason before looking back to Otis and Dominique who was looking at him with concern and confusion.

"What's he talking about, K? I thought you said he gave you the supplies." Dominique questioned her boyfriend, her face searching his desperately for an indication that he hadn't lied to her.

Mason cleared his throat awkwardly before backing out the door. "Right, I'll see myself out." He took the hint, shutting the door behind him.

"We didn't have time to wait for him, Dominique." Kumi started by way of explanation, his dark eyes looking to Otis cautiously. "Look, I know I lied, I'm sorry, okay? But I thought you'd understand if you just heard me out." He said, shuffling slowly to stand up. He didn't like laying there. It made him burn with humiliation more than the whole situation already did.

"Start talking." Otis demanded, moving to perch himself in an armchair facing the two of them, the blade of his knife glinting menacingly between his hands as he ran the tip along his gloved fingers.

"Come, sit down." Dominique encouraged Kumi softly, sitting beside him on the couch opposite.

"Otis, Dominique is sick and staying in William's place… it ain't comfortable, man. William keeps coming in and out whenever he wants, he's always drunk and someone's constantly round 'cuz of the problems he's causing. It just ain't good, man." Kumi tried to explain.

"So what?" Otis cut in firmly. "She got a bit of a cold so the rest of us ain't good enough anymore? Suddenly we're all such a fucking problem, so fuck us, right?"

Dominique bit her lip, but Kumi squeezed her hand to keep her from interrupting.

"It's not like that, T. You know it ain't-" He objected.

"Like fuck it ain't." Otis snapped. "You took my shit, you left Dorothy to fucking starve for the whole week too. You need medicine? Fine, you know I could get that sorted for you. But you stole from me, you took all my years, Kumi! What fucking explanation you got for that?" He demanded to know.

"Who helped you get that shit?!" Kumi snapped back irately.

"Don't you fucking come at me with that." Otis warned. "I gave everyone their share. It ain't my fucking fault if you can't save for shit. When she got shot, I gave you more than what you asked for so you could get antibiotics." He reminded him, indicating Dominique.

"You gonna fucking hold that over my head, huh?" Kumi refused to acknowledge that.

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for Dominique." Otis pointed out.

Rather than defusing Kumi, that seemed to aggravate him more. "It's always about Dominique with you-" He accused.

Otis ignored that remark. "I trusted you with my gear 'cuz I saw you like a brother, K. I told you that if anything should happen to you or to her, you can help yourself. That's what I said, isn't it?" He reminded him.

Kumi just sharked him in silence.

Otis shifted to lean forward in his seat, his voice calmer again. "I just want to know why you fucking threw the rest of us under the bus. What the fuck happened to you to make you do something so fucking stupid? For a private place? Did you fucking hit your head on something, K?" He questioned, searching the younger man's face for an answer.

Kumi's fingers curled into his palms, his lips pressing firmly to stop him from responding with something brash. "Don't fucking talk down to me." He growled.

Otis just stared at him, his pale eyes daring Kumi to try. "You shouldn't have fucking stolen from me, K. I ain't gonna ask you to come back, I don't want to fucking see you again but you owe me everything you took. I'll be expecting to see your name on every supply run, I don't care if you have to beg the others to take you with them." He moved to stand up.

"I ain't begging no one for you." Kumi stated, halting him in his tracks.

Otis turned his head to look at him, but before he could do anything Dominique quickly stood up.

"I'm pregnant!"

The words made every inch of his skin feel cold, heat rushing to his head in the same instance.

The silence that followed drew a sob from the woman, her hands covering her mouth like she'd confessed to the worst crime.

Otis' mind blanked, his eyes shutting for a long moment as he tried to steady himself. "… What?" He asked, the blood channeling loudly in his ears.

Dominique drew in a shuddery breath, her arms coming closely around herself as she moved towards him. "I'm pregnant, Otis." She whispered.

Otis forgot how to breathe, his eyes staring at her like she was some figment of his imagination that he couldn't quite place.

She nodded as she reached to take his hand, squeezing it between her own. "We were careful, I don't know how, we just… I just…" She lowered her head to his chest as tears took over, prompting him to take her into his arms.

Otis stared past her to Kumi, his expression a mix between pain and well hidden fear.

Kumi stood up slowly, holding his head. "I couldn't leave her at Will's." He said. "That old fucker is nosey enough and you know what they'd do if they found out."

Otis felt like he'd swallowed his tongue, his mouth opening then shutting again without a word.

There were no children in Hunter settlements. They were too weak, they needed too much care - food, medicine, clothes, toys, constant monitoring. That was if the mothers could make it through the pregnancy altogether, then the birth without dying of infection.

The leader had made it clear that they were unwelcome, sometimes throwing out pregnant women and other times forcing a miscarriage. Few survived in either outcome, and the fewer who did ended up taking their own lives from the psychological trauma.

It was a cruel, cruel, practice.

In all cases, having a pregnant woman was a liability. She needed extra nutrition, couldn't perform any tasks around the camp, and couldn't go out to scout or gather supplies for herself let alone anyone else.

Otis felt the burn of a noose around his neck.

They were going to lynch every single one of them. Not just Otis' group - Mason for offering shelter, Layla for covering their supply run, Dorothy for not reporting the pregnancy, William for letting it happen, Otis for all of the above. It didn't matter if any of them had known of the deed at the time, they were all responsible.

"Please help us, Otis." Dominique begged, sobbing as she touched his face. Her hands felt cool on his burning face, her touch grounding him. "We didn't mean to hurt you or Dory, please." She whispered brokenly.

He took her hands to remove her from him, stepping back uncertainly.

"Otis, please!" She repeated, melting against Kumi when he took her in his arms.

Otis pulled his cap off, freeing his dark curls to brush them back. It was a subconscious habit when he was stressed. "Let me think for a moment…" He mumbled, trying to organise his thoughts.

He hadn't felt this scared in a very long time. He didn't even know what he was scared of - he was scared for Dominique, for everyone else too.

Kumi was looking to him with a mix of worry that he would abandon them and hope that he wouldn't. He wasn't particular about the child, but he loved Dominique and he wanted her happy and healthy.

"Who knows?" Otis asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Who else knows about this? Who did you tell?"

Kumi looked to Dominique before shaking his head. "Uh… Dorothy, we didn't tell anyone else." He reflected.

Otis nodded slowly. "You need to get her and bring her here. Right now."

"Okay-"

"Right now, Kumi. You hear me?" Otis emphasised. "We need to move you out of here as well." He rubbed his face as he tried to think of what else. It wasn't that he didn't trust Mason, but the man was already suspicious and he was easily targeted by others. "I'll speak with Pier. We need Dominique to go on the next few Supply Runs."

"She's pregnant." Kumi emphasised.

"I fucking heard you the first two times." Otis snapped unintentionally, pacing.

Kumi grabbed him firmly, forcing him to look at him. "I'm not taking her outside the walls, Otis. It's not safe. You know that."

"Get your hands off me." Otis warned in a low tone, and in that moment it dawned on Kumi that whatever connection they'd had before had died murdered by his own thieving hands.

They stared at each other until Kumi accepted this face. "Alright. But tell me what the fuck is going on in your head."

"It won't look strange if you're going on runs, you've moved into a new place so you need to pay for it. If they don't see her around camp, it won't draw questions." Otis needed to sit down. This felt like the longest day of his life and it was barely 10 AM. "There's a few safe houses that Layla and I mapped along the scavenging routes. She can stay there with Dorothy while we do the run." His head felt like it might split open with pressure.

Dominique moved to sit beside him, hesitating to touch him but setting a hand on his arm lightly in an offer of care. "I can't ask Dory to come outside, she's not combat ready. I'll be fine alone."

"Like hell you will." Kumi declined.

"Kumi, we don't have many options. Trying to drop William is going to be a nightmare in itself. Dorothy is elbows deep in this mess already." Otis pointed out. "I don't like this anymore than you do."

Kumi's lips pressed into a thin line, his distaste clear, but he couldn't argue that. "So, what then? Me and you go out alone?"

"I don't know." Otis was still shell shocked from the recent revelation.

Hunters never went out in groups of less than four. Pittsburgh had been abandoned by the military just over 10 years ago, but they still passed through Pennsylvania and sometimes they ran into Fireflies who were better organised and equipped than the average civilian-turned-Hunter.

That wasn't taking into account the hordes of Infected roaming the streets and waiting to spill out from behind doors that had been closed for far too long.

Two people had to be really lucky to survive the mess alone. It would take extremely careful route planning.

"I need Layla's head for this." Otis sighed.

"That chick that refuses to kill anyone? She'll blab. No way. We can't trust anyone with this." Kumi argued. "Why would she help us anyway?"

"Layla cares about human life, she knows how to get around without meeting any Uniforms or Fireflies." Otis pointed out. "I don't know…" He knew Layla was always willing to help him out in a tight spot, but at the same time it wasn't like she owed him anything to go out of her way and risk her life for them. "No, you're right." More than that, he didn't want to implicate her in this any further.

"I'm sorry, Otis." Dominique apologised quietly.

"No," Otis dismissed. "I know. I am too. I didn't know." He exhaled a shuddering breath. "You should have told me sooner. Leaving the way you did…"

"It was wrong." Dominique conceded.

Worse than that, Otis had a suspicion that if he hadn't found them, they would have never told him. He would have only found out when they dragged him out to the plaza to hang him.

"I need to go." He sighed.

"Where?" Kumi started up like he might abandon them.

"I have a shift in the yard." Otis replied. "Go talk to Pier about the rota, then get Dorothy. Everything needs to be normal." He warned.

Kumi nodded, not quite able to bring himself to genuinely apologise nor thank Otis. "What about Mason?"

"I'll handle him. Don't you raise your voice at him again. You're lucky he took you off the street." Otis admonished.

"We paid for this place, it wasn't charity." Kumi pointed out, following him to the door.

Otis didn't dignify that with a response. He still had half an hour to get to the yard, but first he had to deal with William before Dorothy would return from her shift.

The time for talking had run out.

Please R&R!