Hide For Me

Eight

After dinner Clay walked up to me, "So George, has ant told you about the jobs everyone has to do?"
"Caroline told me about what Darryl and Niki do,"
"Yes, well we all switch jobs. Your partner will be Ant but tomorrow I will train you to kill Walkers and how to defend yourself." I nod, he starts to head out of the room then turns back around, "I would go to bed early tonight if I were you." I nodded but then begin to wonder, how long would it take to train someone for something they already know?

I wake up to the sound of a loud knocking on the door. I sit and look at Ant, he's leaning on his bed frame, rubbing his eyes. I stand up and walk to the door, opening it slowly to try and see who it was before they noticed him. It was Clay. He was already in a green t-shirt, black jeans, fingerless gloves, a leather sash and his mask. Why would he cover up his face when he looks-
"Good morning princess," I snap back into reality and look up at him, "Get ready as we shall be heading out in an hour. Also, tell ant that him and Dave will be guarding the base today" He walked down the hall and up the stairs leaving me in a confused state. I close the door and walk back into the room. Ant yawned and collapsed back into his bed whilst I begrudgingly began to change into some different clothing. I decided on navy jeans and a grey hoodie.

I walk to the large empty room to find Clay waiting there, "What time is it?" I yawn, "6:30 am, should we leave now?" I zone out, wondering why I had to wake up so early. Before I know it I'm following him up to the weapons vault. He unlocks it and leads me in, "So George, what weapon are you best at using? We all have something different. Techno is good with an axe, Schlatt likes using small, handheld guns and don't get me started Phil and his chainsaw." He walks further into the room, looking at the weapons on the wall. He then spots my crossbow. "Oh, is this yours?" I nod. He aims it at the wall and looks through the scope, "It's quite a cool little object, you make this yourself?"
"No, I found it from a hunting store near my neighbourhood, I did however change a few things. Like the scope and the cables." He nods, "cool you make your own arrows?"
"Yes,"
"Alrighty." He hands me my crossbow and then grabs a gun off the wall. "Let's head out then."

I follow him out of the building, I hadn't actually seen the city yet since we drove here in a van with no windows, apart from the ones at the front. "Have you ever killed a Walker before George?"
"Yes, a few actually,"
"Then you might need a little less training then I thought." I raise an eyebrow, "You think I can't kill a Walker?"
"That's not it..." I stop in my tracks and cross my arms, he turns around à walks back up to me, "Well, I guess it is. I just thought that with your... small frame... that it would be harder." He stares at me for a bit, I can't really tell what kind of expression he has but by the small, almost unnoticeable, head movements he makes, I presume he's looking me up and down. I feel so awkward but at the same time, it feels natural. I rub the back of my neck and look away, "Sure is hot..." he snaps out of whatever trance he was in and nods, "sure is," he mumbles before turning back around and continuing along the streets.

He leads me to a cleared out intersection and walks to the middle. "Alrighty, so there should be some walkers around here. No matter how many we kill more always appear, especially towards the centre of the city which we are currently very close to." He climbs on top of a car and spots something. "Oh, there's one!," he jumps off the car and runs towards me, "Ok, now just aim straight at its head." I bring the crossbow up to my face and look through the scope, "Wait for the perfect moment and aim directly at the centre of its forehead. That will kill it the fastest." I do as Clay says and wait, then I pull the trigger. The arrow has such force that it goes directly through the decayed skull of the hideous creature. Clay proceeded to pat me on the back, "Great shot George!" For some reason he makes me feel better about my shot then I actually should and my face begins to flare up.

Throughout the day he makes me do push-ups, burpees and other exercises, making me heat up and get tired. I should not have worn a hoodie. Sweat marks begin to form on it and I hear Clay chuckle, "If your hot, just take your jumper off," I blush. "W-why should I?"
"Because your clearly hot and sweaty. Just take it off." I try making up an excuse to not taking it off. It's not that I don't want to take it off, it's just I don't know how he would react. "C'mon, just take it off. You'll get heat exhaustion,"
"I just need water, that's it!" Clay takes out his water canister, "you can't have some till you take it off, I don't want you smelling like a wet dog!" I collapse and nod, "Fine, just hand me the water," he hands me the water and I take off the hoodie, feeling the relief from the hot, dense air that was trapped between myself and the jumper. I feel Clay's gaze on me as I drink from the canister, I look back at him and he immediately looks away. "We should head back to base, "it's getting hot..." my face begins to burn up as I nod.