chapter 11; survival instincts. ﾟ･*☆¸¸.•*¨*•*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: •*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟ ⚠️ content warning | talks of suicide & graphic death
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❀ SIDNEY❀
SIDNEY HARMON UNDERSTOOD DEATH. He was a frequent and rather unwelcome presence in Sidney's life since the time he was a little boy.
Death claimed his parents' lives instantaneously in one fatal car accident. Death clawed his nasty fingers into Sidney's grandmother when he was only eighteen with a stroke. And more recently, death called Oliver's name . . . twice. Despite failing to collect him both times.
When the world ended, and death came to collect dues, Sidney was no more surprised than he was when he was told by the doctor, that lung cancer came back for Gramp's a second time. Death, as morbid as the sentiment was, and Sidney were well acquainted. He wouldn't fear it.
Yet, with the group back on the road again and no destination in sight Sidney felt the all-too-familiar curing of his stomach. One he tried to ignore, to not put a damper on everyone's moods. Still high off of the endorphins from their near-death experiences the day prior.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Oliver sat down on the railing next to Sidney, who had given up on sleep in favor of watching the sun rise over the horizon. Since moving to the city, the tall buildings and never-ending nightlife made the practice more difficult than he would have liked. Now though, the morning felt peaceful. Like the ones of his youth; back when he lived in Michigan, and the world was not yet as dire.
"You think Lewis and Clarke's genius plan involved us freezing to death?" Sidney shivered as Oliver placed his long-forgotten blanket around Sidney's shoulders. Rick and Shane lead the group up to a department store roof, deeming sleeping up there safer from walkers than in the cars. Apparently, freezing to death in Atlanta's fast-approaching winter struck the cops as a better way to go.
Oliver chuckled, swinging his legs over the side to match Sidney's position. Wincing slightly when his left knee bent too quickly. "I don't suppose they have any clue what they're doing, but they stepped up, despite everything. It's gotta count for something."
"I doubt Jim and Jacqui would agree with you." A low blow. As unfair as it was to blame their deaths on either Shane or Rick, Sidney needed to blame someone other than himself, and they happened to be the easiest targets.
