LONE

Tamale

Your boy is bad to the bone

Lamar died a few hours later. Isaiah knew he wouldn't make it, the moment Ruby mentioned amputation. It didn't feel real. This boy, this boy he grew up with, was dead. Just like that. It made Isaiah realise, death can happen to anyone, at any time. It got Brody, Marlon, Lamar, Erin, his mom, the list was too long.
He was the one who made sure Lamar wouldn't come back. It was a disgusting situation, but it had to be done.

"I always thought that he'd be the one talking at my funeral, not the other way around." Isaiah starts. There's a wooden cross with Lamar's name scrawled onto it, next to Erin's. His grave is really nice, considering the fact that there isn't much to decorate anything with anymore. "Lamar is the reason I am who I am today, and the reason I think a lot of us are still here." He turns to look at the grave. "You always hated this hat," Isaiah holds his outback hat to his chest, "So this is a massive fuck you, because the hat is awesome." He laughs and places the hat on the cross. "I love you, bro." He says, softly. "And I wish you weren't so stupid and just cleaned the damn wound when you had the chance."

There was a new understanding after the funeral. It was that when people die, they're never truly gone. Not in the sense that they can come back as walkers, but in the sense that the memory of them exists within everyone who knew them. "You doing okay?" Clem asks Isaiah, sitting next to him by the fire in the yard. "I'm fine. How's AJ doing?" She smiles weakly. "He's alright. In pain, and exhausted, but he's alright." Isaiah nods. "He's a tough kid. How old is he now? Six?" "Around that age, I think." Clem says.

"Lamar was a good person." Clem looks at Isaiah. "He is the best person I know." Isaiah sighs. "I don't like talking about him in the past tense. He ain't a was. Even if he's dead, I still remember his laugh."

Two weeks on, and the dorm feels more empty than ever. He's been dead for two weeks. It doesn't feel like he's dead, it just feels like he's on a really long hunting trip. At least, that's what Isaiah is pretending. Clementine and Violet have been making plans for when the raiders attack, but everyone's getting more and more on edge by the day.

Isaiah is sitting on the steps, watching Mitch fiddle with a homemade bomb, that is failing miserably. Louis is using Marlon's crossbow to do target practice, which means that Isaiah is staying far away from that. "Because you're boring and your idea is stupid!" "Oh, I'm being stupid? You're the one who can't think Straight. If you could hear yourself-" Willy and Aasim walk into the courtyard, in the middle of an argument.
"Guys! What the fuck?" Violet intervenes. "Violet told us to work on the traps together," Willy explains to the rest of the group, who are approaching due to the commotion. "But Aasim won't listen to anything I say!"
"That doesn't mean you have to scream at each other." Louis points out. "Stay out of this." Aasim glares. "I have an idea for duffel bags filled with bricks. We drop them on the raiders, if they get to the admin building." He presents his idea to the rest of the group. "Willy here wants to use a giant, idiotic swinging log to take out one raider at most. Its completely stupid."
Willy sneers at Aasim's comment.
"You're stupid!"
"You're being childish!"
"I am not!" Willy defends himself, his voice squeaking slightly. "I'm trying to help!"
"So help! And stop arguing!" Aasim steps closer to Willy.

"Aasim is right. We should use his brick trap. It sounds more practical." Clem adds.
"Mines practical too!" Willy desperately tries to make known.
"No, it isn't! It's exactly the kind of thing a child would think up." Aasim continues the argument.
"Especially a child who has no idea what he's up against." "Dude, just calm down." Isaiah tries to interfere, but gets ignored. Willy balls up his fist, and punches Aasim right in the stomach, winding him. "What the shit?!" Violet exclaims at the attack.
Willy, overwhelmed, steps back and runs off.
"Dude, you okay?" Louis asks Aasim. "Yeah, I'm fine. Shit." Aasim clutches his stomach, wincing and walking off.

Isaiah follows Aasim to the couches and sits down next to him. Louis approaches behind, walking over and smiling. "Hey buddy, how's it hanging?" Aasim barely looks up from the ground. "Dude, fuck off." "Sulking in the corner isn't gonna help us fight off the raiders." Violet and Clem come over and sit down too. "Or turn that frown upside down." Louis continues.
"You get more annoying every day." Aasim grumbles. "Regardless, I've come up with a plan to make everybody feel better. And that plan is a game." He raises a stack of cards to show to everyone. AJ and Tenn come over too, sitting down. "We haven't played a game in weeks, since that night with Marlon." Violet points out, sighing slightly. "I mean, if you wanna go ask Ruby to come play, I don't mind waiting." Louis tells Aasim, smirking. "Shut up, dude! I swear to God-" Aasim shushes Louis in a panic. "You've got a crush on Ruby?" Violet asks, smiling. "What are we playing?" AJ asks. "Truth or dare!" Louis replies, shuffling the cards.

"I think I'll sit this one out. Y'all have fun, though." Isaiah says, standing up. "You sure you're not just trying to get out of a dare?" Louis laughs. "Yeah. I'll probably just go to bed soon." Isaiah smiles and walks towards the graveyard. He can feel eyes watching him leave, and hushed murmurs as he walks away. He doesn't care, though. He just wants to talk to Lamar.