𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 | Beth Greene

eleven

☆
chapter eleven !

AFTER BREAKFAST, THALIA and I head outside for my first training class. Dark, grey clouds dominate the dull sky and threaten rain to pour. For now it is dry, so Lily and Adam play outside near the gates.

A group of people have formed in the same corner as before, and Thalia and I walk towards them, both of us holding one handle of a box containing machetes, which will he used in the class today.

"All right everyone," she puts the box on the ground and turns to me, "this is Beth and she will be joining us today. Be nice to her." She winks at me and I can't help but smile at my new friend.

I hand out the machetes and we begin the class.

"Now, when the blade connects don't need it right back, you'll get stuck."

"Stuck?"

Thalia nods. "Like an axe cutting into a tree. It's easier to get a blade into bone than out."

"So what should we do?"

"You should slide the machete down through the wound. One fluid motion, okay? You ease it through the bone, like this."

She demonstrates. "All right?"

We nod and repeat her demonstration.

Thalia stands next to me. "So, I want to get to know you, new girl. You got any family?"

"All of them are dead," I hesitate, "well I think so anyway."

"Think?"

"Im not sure about my sister, Maggie. Our group was living at an old prison but it got attacked, and she had told me to get everyone on the bus, but I got trapped and the bus left without me. So I got separated from her and I'm not sure if she made it out alive."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay,. What about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, one sister. Rosita is her name and, like you, I'm not sure if she is alive either. I had just had Adam, and she went out looking for formula but never came back." She sighs. "I know the chances of her being alive are slim, but I still have hope."

I take her hand and look her directly in the eye. "Same with me. But there's nothing wrong with holding onto hope. That's all you can do when you have nothing else to hold onto. I like to think she's still out there somewhere, and maybe one day we will cross paths again."