"Who?"
"Carter."
"Does this Carter benefit me in anyway whatsoever?"
"Well, an addition to our family is-"
Yahtzee groaned, cutting off a disgruntled Micah, "Listen, I've got shit to do. Things to prepare. People to keep alive?" Yahtzee now put the axe that he was sharpening down to finally look Micah in the eyes. "You know, you could stand to be less of an asshole." Micah glared at the blonde who was now rubbing his eyes. To be fair, Yahtzee looked bad. He has bags that TSA would have to overcharge for. He looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks. Micah sighed, "Listen, Yahtzee, I just think you should take a load off. Stop worrying so much, drink with us. Celebrate life instead of worrying about your guaranteed death. We don't know how much time we have left.."
Yahtzee stared back at him, not saying a word, instead he pressed his lips together in a line shape before picking the axe back up. Micah turned to leave, "I appreciate that. Maybe I'll join you guys later." and with that Micah smiled sadly before continuing on with his walk. Shots went off in the east corner of the camp, the things were out tonight. A whole bunch of them. Yahtzee shook his head. He could see Renny, Sam, and Al seated next to this "Carter". If it were up to him, he wouldn't have taken in another person- there's only so much resources to go around. Yahtzee paused, he guessed he could understand doing anything for the person you love the most. Instinctively his eyes darted to his cabin. He could almost feel the weight of the dread that washed over him.
"Wait! Hopefully this isn't rude, but what happened to your eye?" Carter tilted his head to the side, since he'd been in quarantine for the past 12 hours he'd had a lot of questions fresh on his mind. "This ole thing? Ain't it pretty?" Sam tussled her hair a bit, "When the fallout happened, I was unlucky enough to catch a mean shard of glass to my eye." She answered, gesturing to the patch that she wore over her eye. "Yeah, we found that thing at a CVS pretty early on." Al nodded, "Her eye was horrific though, before seeing one of those things that was probably the most disgusting thing I have had to heal!" "Hey! You were literally a field nurse?" Sam shoved Al playfully, gaining a laugh from her friend.
Nephi watched the trio with a raised brow, his hands in his pockets. It was a nice evening, bit chilly but he's seen worse. "You know, it's rude to stare!" Sam hassled after noticing his presence, "My fault, it's just been a while since I've heard this much laughter." He stated, heading for the drink cooler and tossing a beer to Carter before grabbing one for himself. Carter smiled and quickly bowed his head in a "thank you" gesture. "Cold night, hopefully that warms you up good." Nephi nodded back at him, bringing the can to his lips.
Micah walked over to Al and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before sticking his hands straight into the pockets of his puffer. "Any luck?" Sam questioned, only to receive a quick shake of the head, "Not surprised. He hasn't been the same since.. well since.. you know.." Al trailed off. Carter furrowed his brows, "Since what?"
They all looked at each other. "Heyy! How's everything going?" Demarcus asked, smiling brighter than ever. "Great. Thanks for everything." Carter gleamed up at him.
"Hey don't thank him for everything, I'm the one who's been monitoring your bowel movements." Jules rolled her eyes, emerging from beside Demarcus. Carter laughed, "Another year. Carter? 1 IBS? 2. But I won this year." Sam pushed around the wood in the fireplace with a metal stick "Yeah. Makes one of us." She huffed under her breath. "Hopefully you'll have a chance to adjust well, maybe meet the others?" Micah said raising his beer while doing so. "Others? Wait- Just how many of you are there?" Carter asked after swallowing what he thought was the equivalent to horse piss.
"Well," Demarcus started, "There's Me, Ren, Nephi, Micah, Al, Sam, and Jules, whom you've all met- then there's Yahtzee, Justin, Mars, Tabi and.." He paused "well, actually no. That's all of us." Carter looked around. The place looked impenetrable, watchtowers at every corner. How they were able to do all of this in eight months? He'll never know. "Everyone here plays a part in keeping us all safe." Nephi added, noticing Carter looking around with.. amusement. "Right! Al, Sam and I go into town and gather medical supplies, food, the occasional recreational activity." Micah pointed out. "I manage and distribute the food in ways that last us weeks, Yahtzee and I have even got a farm up and running." Ren added with a little smile of confidence.
"Man, I can't wait to meet this "Yahtzee" character. He sounds cool." Carter replied, met with nervous smiles all around. "Yeah, for sure, it's just we aren't sure when that'll be. He's got a lot on his plate. He keeps the generators up, you know?" Micah chuckled nervously. "Forget Yahtzee, Al and I do a lot too." Jules rolled her eyes, "without us you'd all be dead" She snorted. "Hey Jules, how's your cure going?" Sam retorted and was met with a piercing glare, "Hey Sam, how's your left eye going?" Jules shot back, causing Sam to mutter something "What was that?" Jules snapped, Sam said nothing - instead laughed. Carter looked from one woman to another while laughing nervously. Nephi stared at him with clouded eyes. Nephi sensed something was off about Carter but he wasn't sure what. He was going to figure it out.
Hours passed and the fire was dying. Some exchanged watch shifts, others had gone to bed. "Wait!" Al hiccuped, "You have a tattoo of who?" She covered her cackles with a hand "Danny. DeVito." Carter answered, clearly hammered. Nephi smirked, "prove it." Carter shrugged and pulled his pullover up enough to show his mid drift. Al burst out laughing and Nephi stared agape. Just then Micah walked over holding a candle lamp and adorning a nightgown and cap. "Al" he managed to yawn out, "come to bed" he pleaded, knowing she'd have the worst hangover tomorrow. Al groaned "my bitch is barking" she giggled "I bid you a goodnight!" She got up and almost tripped, causing Micah to rush over and help her to her feet.
Nephi and Carter watched the couple retreat to their shared cabin. Just then they heard footsteps. Carter and Nephi jumped, turning their attention to the source. Nephi flashed his flashlight in the direction. Carter jumped, it was a thing! "Yahtzee!" Nephi placed his hand over his chest, "don't sneak up on me you scared the shit out of me, man!" Carter's heart rate slowed, "Ohhhhhhh! So YOUR'E the famous Yahtzee" He giggled out. "And you're shitfaced" Yahtzee sighed, "Well, nice to meet you kid." he looked around. He was too late, everyone had gone to bed. Yahtzee grabbed a beer from the cooler and sat on a lawn chair across from the boy.
Another hour had passed, Nephi and Carter hadn't stopped drinking. Yahtzee started at the two of them as they screwed around with each other. "Hey, all i'm saying is if the things can eat people - why can't we?" Carter laughed out, he sounded so.. conflicting. Like he was joking but not quite. Nephi giggled along, Yahtzee started at the two with a mixture of disgust, confusion, and mostly confusion. Carter caught the stare and quickly put his hands up in defence, "I'm joking, but if you ever wanna consider it- let me know!" He looked around at the two, Nephi laughed a bit. There were more hints of seriousness.
Yahtzee pursed his lips before excusing himself to bed. No one fought him on that. Yahtzee looked like he needed it. Eventually, Carter found himself in his cabin, as did Nephi.
That night Yahtzee found it hard to sleep, but he did. While Carter received a knock at the door. "Nephi?" Carter asked in confusion. Nephi leaned on the door frame. "You know, I think you've got a point. If they can, why can't we?" He raised an eyebrow. Carter took a step back. Holy shit, was he.. actually being serious? "You know, I'm on rescue mission duty. Everyone plays a part. Maybe your parts belong with mine"
Carter raised an eyebrow, "Hey man.." Carter trailed off his eyes wide and frozen, "No, you know what I mean!" Carter stared back at him, pursing his lips and looking away. After a moment of silence "Tomorrow. 12 Pm. That's when my radio shift starts. If you're down, come by my place?" and with that he was gone.
Carter stared at his figure, getting smaller and blurrier as he disappeared into the haze of blur that Carter's sights couldn't reach. "12 pm." he muttered before closing his door.
