Relapsing Withdrawal
First Arc: Act Three
The air seemed more humid than it had the day before. Wonderful. Of course, that went without mentally noting that the whole stinkin' place reeked of dirty animals and cowpies. Was she being picky at this point? Of course, but the whole deal with talking about death plus the bonus of a new addition to the group wasn't putting her in a great mood.
Damn mood swings.
Heather watched as Shawn made a beeline for the back of the house where most of the farm equipment was located, or so she assumed. She'd be with him in a second, the matter of this new guy and girl coming to the group was something that needed to be addressed. Plus checking up on Rye couldn't hurt. And if the sisters had a moment to themselves, then she could sneak her older sibling her morning dosage of medication without the others catching on.
Breaking her way from the doorway, she turned right where the sound of Kenny's loud voice paved the way for her to follow. Turning the last corners she made her way toward the semi-familiar group of adults (plus two children) stopped mid-sentence to stop and gawk at her.
Geez, she knew she didn't have any hair gel to contain her crazy locks but damn! They didn't need to stare at her like she was some kind of Walker! Rye was first of the gang to shoot her a smile and dash to her side.
"Hea, I thought I'd let you sleep in. What got you up?"
"Ah," The focus of the group allowed her eyes to move away from her sis and over to the two strange faces. "I got too warm."
"You okay?" Rye's voice took on a sudden tone of urgency; did she have something stuck on her face or something? "You look…"
"Pissed." Kenny answered, his arms bound to his wide chest.
Did she really? Sure she wasn't in the greatest of moods but she wasn't pissed off. She must have looked downright terrible to have her sister/best friend concerned. And to have Kenny notice it too? Damn. She'd been told on many occasions that she looked mean when life was normal without zombies walking about but to think that she looked that mad right now. Must have been a bit…dare she think, intimidating?
"Nah, my face's just stuck that way." She managed to joke, her eyes still glued to the unfamiliar male and child at his side.
"Hea! Hea!" Before she could even think twice about who was calling her by her beloved nickname, a slam to her back made her release a rather loud 'oomph'.
"Duck!" Katjaa's voice came next.
"Did you see Shawn yet?" Completely ignoring the calls from his mother, Duck tightened the grip he held around her hips. "Is he awake? Did he say we could eat breakfast yet?"
"Duck," Although the pleas from his mom went unnoticed, the demanding tone coming from his father made the boy flinch. "Tone it down about three notches."
The hands on her body faded away, "Yes sir."
"Believe it or not, I'm pretty used to this." Heather looked down to the small boy behind her. "I happened to be all the rage at the elementary school I worked at. Kids adored me."
"Is that right?" Katjaa opened her arms to her only son, encouraging him to return to her side.
"Nah, not really." She slumped forward. "Most of them told me off, but I had a couple that really liked me. Some suck-ups too, so it wasn't a complete lie." She joked, giving the group a playful roll of her eyes.
"Anyway," Kenny cleared his throat; obviously her chosen subject was too boring for his tastes. "Heather, this is Lee and Clementine."
"Hello Heather," The tallest male called out with a rather positive look on his mug.
Could it be time for another lame joke? She could always approach the man who she assumed to be Lee and call him Clementine. Ah but that'd be too much, right? It didn't seem, by the way her last joke went, like anyone was in the mood to play around.
First you're sad then mad; now you're trying to crack a joke? What's wrong with you?!
"Hey," Said female lifted her right hand into the air and sent the two in question a smile. "Shawn filled me in on what's going on, so yes," She turned to the left, sending Duck a wink. "He is awake. He mentioned something about building a fence, might wanna check that out."
"Cool!"
"That's not a bad idea," Lee said. "Building a fence might actually keep out a few Walkers. But it's gonna take a lot of maintenance to keep it up."
"So just how long are we going to stay here?" Rye spoke in a soft voice, her question making Kenny break from his spot and move closer. "Do we stay here indefinitely?"
"Well, you know our plan is to make it to Florida," The man in the cap answered, only stopping when he arrived at Rye's left. "But I think we should all make the best of this place while we can."
"What are you suggesting?" Lee pouted his lip. "Take advantage of these people?"
"Well when you say it like that, it sounds terrible." Kenny's voice dropped several octaves. "What I'm saying is that if there's anything we can take with us that'd be of use, we should do so. Meds, guns, food, things that we could use on the journey out of here."
Not a bad idea, hell she'd thought of that herself. Although the destined trip to the bathroom hadn't happened yet, hopefully the old farmer hadn't hidden away any of his good drugs.
"We can't do that," Lee's brows dropped low on his face. "These people have gone out of their way to help us so far, if we need something I think asking wouldn't be out of the question. Lying never got anyone anywhere." He stilled, "Nowhere good anyway."
"I'm just looking out for my family, Lee." The wannabe alpha male stood his ground, back straight and head held high. "You have Clementine to look after too, we need to think about the long haul. We both still have a long way to go."
"I agree with you there," The darker man nodded a single time. "But we need to go about this the right way."
So Katjaa was going to stay quiet about this one? Heather lifted her chin, amongst the chatter going on between the men, and moved her attention to the oldest woman of the group. She remained seated on the porch, eyes glued to the child at her lap. Didn't she have anything to say about this? This was her husband running his mouth about stealing from the Greene's. And although she could agree with him to a degree, Lee's ways of things weren't the worst either. Lying would only get them in deeper shit, right?
"Rye, you got my back with this one, right?" Kenny's voice and sudden mention of her sister forced both Matthews' girls to stiffen and look his way.
He was going with Rye to break the tie with Lee? Ugh, what an asshole. Why did he have to pick on Rye when he was pretty much aware that she was the shyest of the pack? It wasn't like she would out right disagree with him unless he was suggesting something completely crazy. Did he know and single her out for that or was this about something else?
"I can see both sides, honestly." Rye muttered tone small and stressed. "But I see it like this, we be honest with Hershel for now. And if we happen to find something that we really need, I don't think he'd miss it if we took it. Like painkillers or bottled water."
"Speaking of painkillers," Lee chimed in, a lopsided smile spreading over his handsome features. "Heather?"
He was talking to her? What the fuck for? "Yeah?"
"Rye mentioned that you had some spare Motrin in your bag? Would you mind sharing it with me? I ran into a bit of trouble on the way out of the neighborhood and ended up with a cut."
"I wouldn't say it was 'spare', we do have a limited supply." Heather felt her brows furrow. Why was she getting so agitated over something so small?
"Lee wouldn't use much," A small female voice caught her off guard. Her eyes darted down to see the girl at Lee's right speaking. "Maybe just one? It was my fault he got hurt after all. I'll try to make it up to you later."
Ah shit. Now the girl was gonna ask her? How was she supposed to say no when the tiny thing was asking in such a nice tone? And she even promised to return the favor! Ugh!
Heather felt her eyes move away from anyone in the group, "Yeah, yeah. I wasn't gonna say 'no', I was just…you know saying that we don't have much. But sure, Lee can have a small dose."
"Thanks." Lee's deep, soothing voice made her cheeks swell.
"Come on then," Heather turned around, giving her back to the others. "I left my backpack in the living room. I'm pretty sure I have some water, let's take care of you."
"That'd be really helpful." The sound of footsteps behind her reassured her that she was being followed and listened to.
"Sure, but you owe me." Heather lifted her right hand without looking backward to see the older man, "Just remember that."
"O-okay."
Following the same path that led her outside in the first place, she took the lead and made her way to the Greene's home almost as if she owned it. After all, if it came down to it, she and Rye might be staying longer than anticipated. If this whole fence thing worked out, like Shawn thought it would, staying might not be the worst idea. Did that mean that she and Rye would separate from Kenny and his family? If it meant a safer living on the farm, fuck yeah! But, that was to be seen.
For now.
Just before entering the large house she caught sight of Shawn bringing the required tools to his desired work space. Oh man, she promised she'd help out, didn't she? Ugh, lame. Then again if she wanted to stay, pulling her weight was inevitable. Especially with that hardass Hershel around.
"Hey Shawn, I'll be right out okay?" She called, cupping her right hand to the side of her lips.
"No worries," He responded without having to look up from his duties. "Take your time. Work will always be here for you."
"This is a farm after all," Lee said in a volume just loud enough for her to hear.
She stepped up to the home without trouble and cracked open the door, the heat of the building hitting her cheeks hard. With a quick shake of her head, she proceeded inward, Lee hot on her heels. (Well, as fast as he could be with his injured leg and all.) Seeing her large, probably overstuffed, bag in the same place she'd left it minutes before she made a beeline for it.
"Now, you're probably gonna want to eat something along with the pills." She said, kneeling down on a single leg. "You know how Motrin will mess with your stomach."
"How high is the dosage?" He asked arriving beside her, all of his weight leaned on his good leg.
"Six hundred, not much so I'm gonna give you two pills."
"Are you sure? You did say you had a limited supply." His voice dropped.
Shit, did she really worry him with what she'd said before? Damn. She didn't want to upset anyone. "Forget it. Your injury is worth two pills at least." She said, her eyes wandering to the blooded bandage wrapped around his weak limb.
"How much food do you have in that pack? I'd hate to use your medicine and food if you're that short." Ugh why did this guy have to be so considerate? So unlike Kenny!
"I got enough," She moved her vision back to the hands that worked on the zipper of her heavy-duty backpack. "Just be sure to actually eat this okay?"
"You're insistent." The way his last statement came out more as a question rather than a sentence. "Why?"
"Like I said, the Motrin will fuck up your stomach." Her fingers reached deep into the bag and she began to grab at the many pill bottles she had stored away. "All I need is for you to throw up and waste the pills. Believe me; it's happened with Rye before. Can't tell you how bad she felt about it after she was sick."
"Ah, I see." Lee's voice lifted in tone. "Rye seems pretty quiet. Is she naturally shy?"
"You could say that."
"Hm."
What was with the murmur for? It wasn't like what she said was suspicious or anything! It was true that Rye was naturally shy; he just didn't need to know that she had a bad case of social anxiety. No one did, not just yet anyway. After all, she and her sister had made a promise to keep their problems to themselves until or if it became necessary to say anything about them. Why worry the group about something no one had any control over?
Being very careful not to flash just how many pill bottles she had in the pack, Heather moved slowly with her eyes flickering in Lee's direction ever so often. Once the plastic case came into view she pulled it out and set it on the floor beside her bent knee.
"You don't mind granola bars, do you?" She asked, moving her hands back into the bag.
"Not at all, love 'em in fact." He even sounded like he had a smile on his face. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra, would you?"
Another one? Geez, was this guy really hungry or just checking to see how much she had? "Sure. Hungry?"
"Nah," He shook his head once, "I wanted to make sure Clem had something to eat too. She's gone all night without anything."
"Ah, no problem."
"Thanks again."
At least this guy was worth something or so it seemed. Hopefully it would stay that way. The world needed less jerks and more gentlemen. And so far Kenny was more of a jerk than a gentleman, although she'd never say that to his face. Not after he saved her and Rye anyway.
She had to be thankful. For the moment.
Act End.
