By some miracle or cruel form of punishment, the teen wasn't sure which at this point; he was still alive in a world overrun by zombies, now living alongside his ex-babysitter and her faithful gang of assorted convicts. They wouldn't let him call them ex-cons or anything because as one of them put it days before his untimely demise, 'we were cons before this started and none of us are ashamed by it, look how handy it's made us.' Bunch of nut jobs the lot of them but each brought a useful set of skills to the group that they then shared with anyone else willing to learn, increasing the chances of the lot of them surviving in the long run substantially. If you ever have the opportunity to add someone who's been incarcerated for an extended period of time to your zombie apocalypse team know that 1) use whatever level of intelligence you possess and pick someone trying to put their past behind them and better their lives, 2) some of them are the best people you will ever meet, and 3) stay open minded about how loyalty and hierarchy works with them because it makes no sense but works pretty damn efficiently. See most of Vicky's band of colorful rap sheet bearers are buff guys thanks to a messed up prison system that thinks allowing people society has labeled dangerous daily access to workout equipment is a good idea. They again that was one of the many reasons they made nice additions to a post-apocalyptic team. But all of them could easily take the smaller woman, she might have a bit of height on a few of them but they have more muscle, an equal amount of street smarts, and none of them were inclined to fight fair. Which was why when he'd first joined he'd had a hard time understanding why one of them hadn't fought for control of the group.
The short list of the reasons he was given were as follows; people tend to see her as the most harmless member of the group, she was way better at manipulation, quick to come up with a plan under pressure, saved all of their asses multiple times, and they were all impressed by what she managed to get away with without receiving so much as a warning. There were other reasons; she was the kind of alpha that you didn't mess with, one that made other alphas submit, others didn't want the responsibility of leading the pack of idiots, and his personal favorite, "well she hasn't gotten any of us killed yet, and ya know how that saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it and all that shit." Most of it he couldn't argue with, not really anyway, it was scary how well suited she was to this new world almost as if she was born specifically to be a part of it. Still he wished Mathias would at the very least fight for shared control of the group, guy was just as good of a leader with more morality than anyone else. But loyalty with cons is weird so he quickly quit trying. Basic group dynamics had Vicky as the general, Mathias as her first lieutenant, Timmy as an unofficial second lieutenant, and the others as grunts. Big guy took the brunette under his wing after the supermarket fiasco, if it weren't for him the teen would have wasted away to nothing.
That had been a dark time, trying to keep going with all his loved ones gone. It was because the con took pity on him that he didn't let himself wither away and die. Well, Mathias said it was because the teen reminded him of a cousin who was more like a brother to him, but he didn't really believe it. Point was the big guy got him through it and convinced the redhead to let him come back with them. See once in a while Vicky sends pairs or trios out to infiltrate other groups when her own was in need of something; medicine, food in the winter, once in a while a vehicle. That time they'd been after anything they could get their hands on, something about fire from a lightning strike.
Trust is either never given or quickly earned, master manipulator plus a genuinely decent human means no trouble earning it. In the two months prior to finding the teens the duo managed to sneak half the medicine out, set a spark for a coup, and had full access to two vehicles. Sometimes the stupidity of his own species astonished him…which didn't say much about him now did it? He'd helped them load a truck with a fair amount of assorted supplies as the unsuspecting group fought one another and the rest is history. From that moment on Timmy was another of her loyal soldier.
At first she kept him busy in part to pay him back for putting a bullet in her shoulder, the other was because his self appointed guardian asked her to as a way to keep him busy while he recovered. Once he was taking care of his basic needs without prompting he was taught some skills from various group members; best places to incapacitate or kill someone, how to hold his own in a fight, bit of tracking and hunting, and his personal favorite, weapons training. His machete was fine but unless he kept it real sharp it was a shitty weapon in a pinch. Hunting knives were easier to pull out of skulls, someone gave him a switch blade for living opponents, and a lead pipe was always nice to have handy. One guy, Vasquez, taught him how to conceal an insane amount of weapons on his person, something the teen took a bit far at times. This led to bets on just how many weapons and/or tools he had on him at any time, often laughing at him for being overly prepared. Normally he kept his switch blade hidden in a functional flashlight, couple throwing knives in the sole of one boot, lock picking tools in the other, and a throwing star in the cap of his canteen, those were just the ones he kept hidden. He always had his machete and a handgun on him.
It was a nice enough life considering the dead were mobile killing machines. Two years and life was as near to routine as it ever would be. Since he was on the short side and scrawny looking Vicky started sending him out with Mathias to steal from other groups moving through, other times she sent him solo. Her group had a territory carved out, come into it and you were fair game. Troublemakers or people from neighboring groups were lucky if they were merely chased out, heaven help them if the redhead decided to earn some points with the local cannibal community by herding trespassers into their domain. She'd worked out some arrangement with them to keep everyone happy, 'don't eat mine, I won't wipe yours out' or something of that nature. Were the cons and teen comforted by this agreement? Hell no, but there hasn't been any accidents so all was well. Cannibalism falls pretty low on the 'fuck this the world's ending' list. Both groups were familiar with the others members, could at the very least recognize their faces, so Timmy had, had to go through the nerve wracking process of meeting them all to avoid ending up on the menu. Creepy part was how normal they were, no stereotypical mutated mountain men or old guy that gave off a sense of danger, just a group of ordinary people you'd walk past on the street before it all went to shit. Is it really that surprising she'd make friends with people like them? Any normal person would avoid them. And in case anyone is curious, having people who eat people over for dinner is one of the most unsettling experiences you could ever face. Honestly they were friendly, nice people but…yeah, they eat people.
Makes being teamed up with a bunch of convicts look good doesn't it? Most of them were his friends now to some degree though barely a day went by when he didn't miss his friends. Speaking of which, he was surprised Vicky never asked him what happened to her family. Sure they weren't close or anything but wasn't she even a little bit curious? Maybe she didn't want to know. Either way he didn't see it as her being heartless, not after she helped him keep his promise. Back when he was new to gang he asked if any of them wondered what became of their families, their friends, most of them said no. People were lucky to survive the first year so the chances were they were all dead or had moved on, ignorance is bliss. Same philosophy applied to their leader who didn't have many friends if any when the world was normal and found it easier to move on and 'befriend' her soldiers instead. His guardian was as close to a friend as she had, the others were friendly acquaintances while the brunette was somewhere in the middle. Guess it was harder for him to not wonder since he'd spent three years with people from his past, there was no telling what happened to Sanjay, but he could relate to them in a way. He never wanted to find out what really happened to his parents. Yeah he thought the look on Mr. McBadbats face meant he'd found their bodies, the man never confirmed it though. Shameful as it might be he hoped they were gone, that their naivety led them to their deaths that day, it was better than the alternative. As much as he hated to admit it there was a small part of him that wondered if they did what they'd done on a near daily basis for four years, left him to be someone else's problem to make their lives easier. Let's be honest kids and young teens were a liability in the beginning of all this. Adults would have a hard enough time adapting and stumbling around long enough to figure it out without the burden of keeping a child safe too. There was no telling how many parents found themselves weighing that thought, fewer would actually make the choice to abandon their progeny. Wasn't that a somewhat natural response? Better to lose offspring now than all of you perish at once. Only humans aren't driven purely by instinct, there are morals, rights and wrongs decided by the majority taught from a young age. Parents selflessly give their all to ensure their child(ren) out live them, a gross simplification but that's the basic idea. But, doesn't instinct sometimes outweigh social norms? Terrible as it was to presume they may have abandoned him to increase the likelihood of their own survival, the thought never went away. Timmy tried not to dwell on it too much.
Besides there were other things to worry about right now. Winter was fast approaching, two groups were leaving the main camp, one to scout farther out for supplies, the other would rotate everyone left to guard their territory. Outsiders would be more willing to risk taking on a large group now that food wasn't growing or to find medicine for the sick. Trading would keep raids down, help a neighbor survive and they'd help watch your back (or face the wrath of the redheaded general). Only the community of cannibals was prepared to wait out the cold, they had dried meat that they always offered to share should Vicky's people need it. An offer everyone was glad had yet to be accepted. But if the choice was starving to death or doing something repulsive, well better than dying right?
Starvation is preventable at least, getting sick isn't. Timmy made it a point every winter to make rounds to make sure everyone was healthy, someone taught him about herbs that can take care of illnesses in the early stages so he used that knowledge most this time of year. Earned him the nickname Sister, as in a nun, cause it was almost his personal goal to take care of everyone. Didn't bother him, he had a good reason to do what he was doing, he'd lost one friend to sickness in the winter, nearly lost another and his own life and he'd be damned if he let it happen again. This winter was already promising to be worse than last year. All his running around was starting to wear on him. Some of his normal responsibilities were being neglected and that was pissing the general off.
Cautiously the brunette went about his daily chores in hopes it would save him from a verbal lashing. Timmy's never been the luckiest person in the world though, didn't surprise him when he was dragged away from the others by the redhead.
She shoved him into a tree trunk, slamming the butt of her gun into his shoulder. "What makes you think you can slack off? You wanna go off and play nurse on your own time fine, but I won't tolerate you putting everyone else at risk." Another blow to his other shoulder. "Everyone does their job to earn their keep, you start slackin' and I'll kick your ass out."
"Just don't want anyone getting sick."
This time she hit his head so hard he hit the ground only to have her drag him back to his feet. "In case you forgot, we've got meds to keep everyone going, plenty to trade if we need something. Got a mother hen complex Twerp?"
"Can't lose someone again."
"Oh grow up! People die, it's a fact of life, especially now."
"She died because of me! She didn't have to die!"
Vicky's face went white as she put space between them, there weren't many 'shes' he could be referring to.
Tears threatened to spill as he spoke, "I thought we'd all be fine, people get sick all the time…I-I didn't think we needed to go find medicine. But…we all got sick and when me and Chester got back she…she was." His legs gave out as the tears started to flow. All the pain of losing Tootie came rushing back, all the guilt at being the one to make the decision that they didn't need to worry about a couple of colds. Neither of them had fought him on it, they were all so sure it would be alright, now both of them were gone. Their blood on his hands. Damn supermarket had been his idea too.
Unseen by him was how the redhead was fighting to keep her breathing normal, a few deep breaths and she fit the last piece of the puzzle together. Other group members, mainly Mathias, asked him about what he did those first three years, kid hadn't said much. What he did say sounded like her parents and his were the first to go after Baldy's family kicked them all out. Kid with the boil and an adult next, Braces was last. Never did mention Tootie which Vicky took as meaning her sister went her own way at some point. Bit of a fantasy, hoping she was in one of those walled death traps doing fine, but nope she's been dead for years. Turner here made a bad call and her sister was dead, couldn't have been too long before they crossed paths and put Braces down. Okay, it hurt knowing her entire family was dead but she had other things to worry about. Starting with getting the brunette to stop crying.
Kneeling in front of him she made him meet her eyes, "you two were dating." He nodded. "That's the thing about being a leader, moving past bad calls."
"Do you even have a heart? She was your sister."
"Yeah, but in this world moving on is the difference between life and death. Wallowing in guilt will only make you a target, quicker you move on better chance you have of seeing tomorrow."
"Miss 'em."
"Part of being human, or so everyone tells me." She stood up. "Get a grip, then get back to your work Sister, sure big brother Mathias will help you."
Timmy glared up at her, angry she'd make fun of him for this until he saw a look in her eyes similar to the day he had to shoot his best friend. She wasn't making fun of him, she was giving him the all clear.
"Hey Turner, thanks for looking after her for me."