Never Close Your Eyes

🐊 Down The Mississppi🐊 (S2/E7)

|| Chapter Eleven ||

That Night

"Addy and I will take the first shift." Warren directed the separation of the group for beneficial protection throughout the night.

I didn't think much of our departure since this was a routine we made every single moon shift. Sometimes I would even go out with one of them.

Our leader began to start with her instructions when her next sentence was interrupted by the tall, black-haired man beside me, "I'll take Addy's watch."

My eyes moved to my right, scanning the deep circles cratering under his drowsy eyelids. He seemed more exhausted than I did from today's events and no doubt in my mind told me, he really was.

It wasn't a good day, so why would he be dumb enough to volunteer for a night shift? He's being careless and that's out of his character.

Deep scowls caked his face into the meanest look I've ever laid eyes on, expressing how truly done with the world he was at this point.

I was worried, I was concerned and none of which I tried to hide from them. Sleep clawed at his chest, begging to drag him down to the floor we stood on.

His body was already scavenging what little energy it could, now it'll be pushing to make more for the position of second-in-command.

"Kid, no offense, but you don't look too alert for it tonight. What about tomorrow?" Doc voiced all of our concerns, ready to take charge over 10K.

No matter the sentence 10K wrote, we could all read between the lines. He's shoving himself to even stand up.

Doc's heavy hand clamped down on top of the weak shoulder, and just to prove how tired he was, 10K struggled to keep himself upright from the action.

If that isn't proof that 10K is not stable enough to watch out over our sleeping forms, then I don't know what could amount to a judge.

When well-rested and on his toes like a cat, nothing can break his stiff, ready-for-action posture, but tonight, it seemed like a simple touch would crumble this man.

"I'm fine." 10K lied through his teeth with a bit of an attitude towards Doc.

His dark hues glared at Warren without meaning to, but it's like his eyes were challenging her to reject his volunteer work.

It was an unspoken deal between them and we were simply the bystanders as their eyes spoke volumes.

With all of this pushing and shoving, I realized I had no excuse to keep him at my side tonight. He's an adult. He's been out in the apocalypse by himself for years.

With Vasquez in here, I truly didn't need him and it hurt me to say I didn't need my protector. We circled around a small campfire the male lead of our group has configured, in a small clothing store.

Not the safest place to have a fire, and the firetrucks should've done been called, but when you're cold, you're cold and the temperature will be dropping tonight. Luckily, this gave me a way to focus my mind on something more 'normal'.

I took the time to have a 'new clothes, new me' moment when we first found the outlets. I found a black sleeveless, tight-fitting workout shirt that was layered beneath a black jean jacket Addy had found.

The material was cut right above my ribs, in a trend that had been going a couple years back. I matched the top set with black and grey cargo pants for camouflage that actually fit my figure better than my last several outfits had done.