The Day the World Ended

Chapter 17

~Three Days Later~

"Now, what is this color?" I held up a yellow textbook and showed it to Lynn.

She put her finger to her chin and thought, then said, "Yellow. But, Ash, I already know my colors and letters. Why am I learning them again?"

I smiled at her confusion, "Oh sweetie, I wasn't going to ask you just to tell me what color it was. Now, how do you spell yellow?"

"Um, Y-E-L-O-W?"

I shook my head, "You missed a letter. It's Y-E-L-L-O-W."

"Oh. I'm sorry, let's do the next one."

This time I held up a blue pencil, "What color is this?"

"Blue!"

I nodded, "Yes! Now, how do you spell it?"

A determined smile spread across her face, "B-L-U-E!"

I clapped and smiled, "Good job Lynn! Would you like to continue the last two or take a break?"

She stuck her tongue out and shook her head, "Im pooped, rest time!"

"Alrighty," I said happily as I put the pencil and textbooks off to the side, "What're you going to do now?"

She shrugged and walked over to sleeping Lila. "Maybe take a nap with Lila."

I smiled and opened my book and started to read silently, as Lynn fell asleep on the floor. Daryl was out building the cages with the other students for walkers. We decided that now was the time, and I offered to go out and help, but he wanted me to stay in and teach Lynn. I guess I was helping more than I thought. Without me teaching her, she couldn't read. She also didn't know how to shoot, stab, or tell the difference between danger and safety. Of course, she wouldn't be able to learn that right now. Maybe in a year or two.

It was now June, and now would be the time to start making improvements on the school before fall. Of course, we still had a long time until fall, but adjustments would take awhile to build.

I heard a knock at the door and then Misty popped in, "Sorry for bothering you Ash," she looked around and saw the dog and Lynn asleep and her voice turned into a hushed whisper, "we need your assistance outside with the cages."

I nodded and set my book down on the arm of the couch and stood, "What exactly does he need help with?"

Misty shrugged, "I have no idea, wouldn't say."

"Oh," I said as I took one last look at the girls and walked out of the door.

When we got out there, I saw Daryl and a few other students surrounding a table with blueprints on it. I walked up and looked over his shoulder, and saw an idea for what seemed to be a trap. It looked like a cage, with some type of meat hanging from the top of it. The bottom was sort've like a trap door. When the walker stepped on it, the weight would make it fall into a pit underneath. From there, someone would open a door leading to the pit, grab one when needed, and cut off its arms and jaw for when it's needed.

"Hey, babe," said Daryl as he turned and threw an arm around me, "Like our idea?"

I shrugged, "Yea, it's pretty good. But what if someone falls in?"

He considered it and removed his arm from me, then returned to talking to the others about changes. I giggled and looked around at students boarding windows and other students carrying firearms and knives while walking around the school. This honestly wasn't so hard. I thought it would be so much harder to survive one of these. But the walkers seem to be too dumb to save themselves from us.

Chris was telling a group of students how to board the windows by the pool, and Joe was quietly hammering down a board. The teachers were inside, making things more homey, and trying to set up a system of questions to ask new people should they want to join our group. I walked around to the back of the school, to see just as much activity in the parking lot. Kathy was helping other students carry a two by four over to a kid on a ladder. Julie was leaning against the cool brick wall with her hands crossed over her chest. As always, she had a smirk on her face, as if she was better than everyone, or she was too good to help out. As I passed by her, she glared at me, and I smiled and waved hello. Not because I wanted to be kind and all, more like because I knew it would piss her off.

After conversing with Kathy about the safety of the kid on the ladder I made my way around the other side of the school and back to the front where we started. I really wanted to help build, but Daryl was right about teaching Lynn the basics. And I kept telling myself that I was helping more than I thought I was. But the nagging feeling of not helping out like I should tugged at my brain in anticipation.

Once I made my way towards the table, I leaned on Daryl and kissed his cheek.

He gave a soft smile but continued discussing about the safety of the trap, "No, that wouldn't work. We now have a dog and a little one to watch out for. We need to think of that as well as the easiness of getting a walker out safely."

I smiled and listened to the proposals and denials. It was so relaxing to see everyone talking like walkers weren't anything new. I could tell no one was exactly was afraid, being that some were making jokes about them, and laughing about their recent kills. Although, it didn't feel right about now they weren't worried. Actually, none of this felt right. It's too easy. Too easy.