Melt With You

Chapter 2

I don't remember falling asleep until I'm awoken abruptly by the scumbag guard jabbing his large gun into my ribs. He makes this atrocious oinking noise and yells, "get up, Piggy. Time for work!" I take a deep breath as I reluctantly sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. I look around and am reminded of where I am- Bill Carver's "camp." My new group starts getting up and moving around- going through the motions as if they've done this a million times before. They probably have. I start to stand up and squish my face up, crinkling my nose and eyes. The pain in my leg is still hurting pretty bad but it's getting better thanks to Carlos. I am so thankful. Wandering aimlessly, I finally sit down in one of the aforementioned chairs. A man with a thick middle-eastern accent comes up to me and greets me, already knowing my name despite the fact that I did not meet him yesterday.

"I am Reggie," he explains. I nod my head in acknowledgment and recognition. "It is very nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Likewise." I raise an eyebrow and lean back in my chair. "What do they mean by 'working'?" I assume he knows.

"Some of us work in the greenhouse," he begins, "others load magazines, and some help build up the wall- there's plenty of stuff to do." I nod again. I am not a morning person. Luke soon joins us at the chairs, his lengthy hair now more tamed than yesterday.

"I think they have you on watch with me today, kiddo."

"My name is Mackenzie," I reply.

"I know, kiddo."

"Are you always an asshole?" I ask, rather nicely if I do say so myself. He chuckles at me, which in turn pisses me the fuck off, and tugs on my long brown ponytail.

"Yes, princess, I am always an asshole."

"We could either really get along or really hate each other," I explain.

"Works for me." His accent thick, tasting of the south.

Dick Hole, or Troy as I come to find out, strolls right on into our 'pen' and shouts orders at everybody.

"Sarah, you're filling magazines with Bonnie again, Luke and Mackenzie- you guys are guarding the wall, Rebecca- Bill says to rest today." I see Rebecca mutter something under her breath while Troy continues. "Reggie and Alvin, you guys are in the greenhouse today- and everyone else is going where they've been going. Now move it!"

Everyone moves to where they're told and I am left with Luke and an ample African-American woman. She, without saying a word, leads the two of us to a part of the fence with holes in it. Basically, we were told to watch- just in case a herd makes their way to us. The PA system beeps on and William Carver's voice booms throughout the whole place. "Good morning, all. We have a new member of the flock joining us today so make sure you all give her a warm Carver welcome." His voice gives me chills and I feel dirty listening to him. "Pretty young things deserve a nice group of people. And remember people- being a follower will make you happier than being a leader. Get working."

I make a disgusting guttural sound in the back of my throat. "He's gross," I mention to Luke.

"Wait till you see him, darlin', he's quite the charmer." I shake my head and roll my eyes.

"How long have you guys even been here? Why don't you just leave?" I ask, "I know you've got food and nice shelter but that guy is a nazi. He's insane."

"You know," he sighs, "I ask myself that same question but some of the group thinks it'd be better to stay here all together- they think it's safer. Especially with Bec bein' pregnant and all. It's just not worth gettin' caught."

"Well," I say putting my gun back in my pants and placing both my hands on the fence, looking out. "I'm gonna get myself outta here sometime soon. This is just a rest stop." He looks down and shakes his head, spitting on the concrete before looking at me again.

"You're quite the little spit-fire, ain't ya?"

"I like to think so."

"It's good," he sighs, "to be sure of yourself, you know? A lot of the people in the group are straying- I think it's hard for some of 'em to stay strong."

"You gotta be." He nods- agreeing and stays quiet for a while.

After a while of doing pretty much nothing- the door opens and Carver strolls his white ass into our post. "Hello, Lady. I came to personally welcome you to the flock." I snarl at him and roll my eyes. "Oooh, a feisty one," he mentions. He gets closer to me and Luke becomes defensive.

"Hey man- watch it," Luke warns. Carver laughs and spits on Luke's boot.

"Be a follower, Luke, I'm the leader." His laugh echoes and his scruffy beard is off-putting. "You better watch yourself- remember what happened to Julia? Do you want that to happen to your new friend, here?" That must've brought back memories because Luke shut right up. Honestly, I don't want to find out what happened. "Anyway," Bill begins again. He smiles and reveals his awful teeth. "Hope you enjoy your stay." He winks at me and stalks off as if what he just said wasn't creepy as hell. Luke and I go back to standing beside one another.

"Yep," I sigh, "definitely getting the hell out of here."

The next day, after work, we're gathered around the infamous chairs and Sarah is sitting on her bottom, cross legged, in front of me. I took the extra hair tie off of my wrist and put it on her finished French braid. Everyone is off in their own conversations as Sarah thanks me excessively. It's as if no one's been nice to her before. Nick was the first to speak out, directed toward everyone.

"We gotta get outta here," he explains.

"Shush up, son," Pete warns, "don't say that too loud. There are ears everywhere."

"Seriously," Nick continues, "I can't take it anymore."

"I agree with Nick," I speak up, "eventually, Carver's just gonna kill us. We have to be smart about this." Rebecca shakes her head and grabs Alvin's hand. Solemnly, Carlos wraps a paternal arm around his daughter's shoulders. I can tell everybody knows it has to happen. I can tell that everybody is apprehensive. If I can find a way to calm everyone down and make them realize this is a sound idea, it might actually work.

"Okay, then," Luke takes a deep breath, "let's see what we can do here."