Kismet

Twelve - Zeke

 Konrad and Raymond went out hunting. Raymond told the other four to watch over the camp.

'Watch over the camp.' He might as well just say to sit around and glance behind your occasionally. Zeke of course complied though. What else could he do? His mind was distracted enough because of Kory's sinful choices. He didn't know if Kory had 'liked' him long before they escaped. Had he always been this way. Did God already decide he wasn't good enough to be the son of Him? He didn't not want to be Kory's friend anymore, he still wanted to be his friend, more than anything.

But Zeke didn't know if God would approve. He didn't want to anger God, no matter what.

He wanted to keep him happy, keep them both happy. He wasn't sure he could do that.

"Zeke?" Aaliyah called out to him, beckoning him to approach her. Zeke quickly lifted his head from his knees, standing up as he brushed off the dirt from his pants.

"Yes?" He asks, his stiff bones loosening at the sight of her. It always happened. 'Butterflies' in his stomach, his skin flushing, his heart pounding. Did he like her? No, he only thought of her as a good friend.

"Do you know if there's something going on with...Kory? He's been acting weird, and he hasn't left the tent since after you spoke with him." She bit the inside of her cheek. "I'm worried." She then mumbled, as a gentle frown formed on his face.

"I don't know." He lied. "He didn't tell me, he was just still shaken up about leaving the hospital." Hospital.

That's what the adults told the younger ones, that they were sick. Is that why they were always tested on? It didn't seem helpful that they 'zapped' them with a shock collar if they did something wrong. It always puzzled Zeke. He wasn't sick, he knew. He had 'powers', but they weren't much use.

Aaliyah nodded, yet it was obvious she doubted Zeke's words. "Okay." She mumbled, glancing behind her shoulder at the dark blue tent where Korey laid in for the majority of the ongoing day. "I'm sure Konrad and Raymond will be back soon." She gently smiled. "Before the sun sets, hopefully." Aaliyah encouraged, her bright mood not helping Zeke's sour mood. He weakly smiled anyway.

"Maybe." He mumbled.

Konrad and Raymond finally came back. 'It was longer than expected', Raymond said. "Sorry for the wait, kiddos. Hope you like seafood."

Zeke sat next to Aaliyah, Konrad sat next to Ophelia, and Kory sat next to Raymond, but he kept his distance for some reason.

Zeke didn't like seafood. He always refused whenever he was being served it. Unfortunately, he was a picky eater. He didn't mention his dislike towards seafood anyway.

Everyone ate their portions of fish, except for Zeke, who took reluctant small bites.

"Zeke, you have a dislike for fish or something?" Raymond asked, his voice muffled from talking while chewing, which made Zeke grimace at the sight.

"A little bit." He murmured.

"You're gonna have to get over it, kid. Only food around here that's actually edible. Mushrooms won't get you anywhere, just onto the brink of death." He says, his tone signaling he's only joking. Maybe.

"I'm a picky eater." Zeke said, his voice barely over a whisper. Kory glanced up from his food, looking at Zeke for a second, then turning his gaze to the pocket-sized Bible on the floor. His shoulders slumped.

"So, Zeke, I take it you're a religious boy?" Raymond asks, spitting out a bone of the fish out onto the campfire, which was dangerously close towards the others.

"Yes." He replies, putting his piece of barely-eaten fish onto a big rock next to him. Dirt stuck under it.

"Hmm. Catholic?" Raymond then asks, finally lifting his head up to make real eye-contact.

Zeke didn't respond for a minute, just examining the older man. He had blond hair with sprouts of brown scattered around, the palest skin Zeke had ever seen, and blue eyes. He had some stubble, which made Zeke turn to the conclusion he's older than twenty-five, at best. His features say so. Raymond wore a Hawaiian shirt with vibrant colors, and gray jorts. He also wore combat boots for some reason.

"Yes." Zeke then said, drifting his eyes up to comply with the eye contact.

Raymond looked at the others quickly after. "What about the rest of you?" He asks, as Aaliyah soon spoke.

"I'm a Baptist." She says.

"I'm still figuring that out." Konrad says, as Ophelia nodded in agreement. "Me too." Ophelia says.

"I don't believe in God." Kory says, as he finished his portion of fish, throwing the bone into the campfire after swallowing the last bits of meat.

"Of course you don't." Zeke mumbles under his breath, clearing his throat shortly afterwards.

"Why not?" Raymond asks, dismissing Zeke's passive-aggressive comment.

"It just didn't make sense to me." Kory replies, Zeke detecting that his words were a tautology. To his knowledge, it meant that 'a sentence that is uninformative but true'.

"You don't make sense to me." Zeke says, his voice satire.

Kory gave Zeke a quick glare, before clearing his own throat.

Aaliyah stopped chewing. "Is something going on between you two?" She asks, her tone slightly annoyed.

Kory tucked a sprig of hair behind his ear, the wind undoing the action though. "No." He lied. "Nothing wrong, I'm just tired."

"Mm." Zeke rolls his eyes.

"Sleep in the tent a little longer, kid, it's no big deal." Raymond says, finishing the last of his fish, throwing the remaining bones into the campfire, the fire increasing in size with the gust of a roar.

"Why do you call everyone 'kid'?" Aaliyah asks.

Ophelia shifted in her seat, fidgeting with her knitted bracelet, that was a little too loose for her wrist. She seemed uneasy.

"I call you guys 'kids' 'cause you're all younger than me. I'm thirty-two. That's old." Raymond responds, clearing his throat.

"I'm nearly an adult..." Konrad says, Ophelia nodding in agreement again. "Me too." She says.

"How old do you have to be to be a sinner? Because thirteen is certainly too young." Zeke says, evidently talking about Kory due to his harsh stare towards him.

"Zeke, stop." Kory says, his tone firm and traces of worry under it.

"I know you read the Bible, Kory. Everyone read the Bible, so why are you...like this?" He straightened his posture, as Kory's skin flushed.

"Like what?" Aaliyah asks, the worry in her tone coming back. "What sin did you commit, Kory?"

"He's a faggot." Zeke says, disgust in his young voice.

"Whoa, hey, Zeke—those are some harsh words there, don't you think?" Raymond nearly stood up, nervously smiling, poorly trying to loosen the uncomfortable mood.

"No, no it's true. He's a fairy." Zeke stands up, running a hand through his over-grown buzz cut, short locks of curls slightly visible.

"What's that mean?" Aaliyah mumbled, glancing at her unfinished piece of fish.

"Where did you hear those words, kid? You don't know what that means." Raymond says, his eyes narrowing down at Kory, who was embarrassed, and at this point kept quiet.

"He likes boys." Zeke emphasized on the word 'boys'.

"That's not a sin though, right? I thought God made us in his own image? How he saw each of us?" Aaliyah says, sounding confused.

"Yes. But do you think God would ever intend to make Kory a born-sinner?"