After Death

Chapter 21 (Making Changes)

Chapter 21: Making Changes

Ethan Warren

Estimated, August 2024

About 27 months after outbreak

California, The Circus

Season 3

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It had been a few weeks after the attacks. Thomas was trying desperately to make up for what he did to his people. Unfortunately, he was using us to do that. He sent my people on more supply runs than usual, he gave them more food than he gave us. He was trying to gain the trust of one group over again but in the process, destroying the trust in another.

I know I talk about trust a lot but in all honesty, it was all anyone could rely on anymore. There were to many blind spots in the world now, too many chances that couldn't be taken, I just wanted to be careful and I had ever reason to be. Trust was rare and I wanted to change that.

The people of The Circus don't follow Thomas' rules anymore. For the most part, they do their own thing. They know that they can't destroy this place, I know it's not in their intentions because there would be no point in doing so.

They started to turn to me when the had questions. A hundred or so people asked me about the important stuff now instead of Thomas. I knew that bothered him, I had only arrived here a few months ago and now I was practically the leader. I knew it upset him but we both knew it was for the best, at least for now.

Leah was happy that I was finally taking charge. She said it was necessary for our survival. We needed someone who would keep us alive and I needed to become that. I still wanted a break from all this but I knew that would never be possible.

We have been rebuilding the community because of all the fire damage. One of the houses had been burned down but it was almost standing yet again. I wanted to start thinking about changes that could be made to the buildings but it was too soon to think about that.

The idea of building a second community had crossed my mind more times than I would have liked. I knew it would be risky but it could be good for us if we did it correctly.

Gas was only used to run the generators now, our only means of transportation was walking now and that was going to be the case for the next few years. The plants weren't growing, we were going through a drought and it was going to cause our deaths if we didn't do something about it soon. Water was a resources and we couldn't waste it on anything. There was no way in hell we would start something new right now, it would fail embarrassingly.

I tried to work with Thomas but i needed to take the opportunity to do my own thing too, that was the whole point of all this, right? I worked with Rudi and Leah as much as I could. Leah wanted this place to be more and Rudi wanted it to be safe. They both were in the right mindset and it rubbed off on me. It was time to make this place live up to it's full potential and we would be the start.

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Rudolph Alinsky

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Now that Ethan was leading this place finally was starting to make sense. The theatrics were suspended and reality was the main focus point. I didn't mind how Thomas was leading but Ethan made it feel more natural, he was made for this and it showed.

Airianna worked with me in helping Ethan make some of the important decisions. She was the future of this place so it was necessary to know what she wanted this place to become. During every meeting, every dinner, Thomas sat in the corner, listening to every word. I wish I could tell what he was thinking, he didn't look happy but he looked understanding, he knew taking a break was something he needed to do. The only thing he didn't know was that the break would never stop, Ethan was in control now and Thomas would have to live on the sidelines.

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Leah Souixer

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It had become more quiet inside the walls now that Ethan was the "Ringmaster". I decided to quit from taking inventory because it was just exhausting. I took supply runs whenever I could. I had been out of the community for a few days now. Somehow, I managed to pick up a herd behind me. The were slow but they were there, their groans constantly reminded me. I killed a few whenever I felt like it. It could probably qualify as some sort of therapy, God knows we all needed it.

I wanted us to be able to not worry about stupid shit. I wanted the world to be like how it was, the world was a bitch before all of this too but at least we were living.