Aer II

48

'I signed us up for a supply run this morning,' Nix says as he gets dressed.

It's early in the morning, the sun has just began to rise, it's going to be another hot day. Daisy sits up in the bed and frowns 'why would you do that?'.
'Because it felt like a good idea in the moment,' he shrugs.

Daisy sighs and gets out of bed, she dresses herself and brushes her hair. It's been awhile since she had a hairbrush, and hasn't stopped brushing her hair since she's seen it.

'Who's coming with us?' She comes into the kitchen.
'Just me and you, there's a small town, not far from here with a few shops. Joe said to check it out while we're out collecting animals from the traps,' Nix says 'me and Joe are going to head out later too'.

'Why?'.
'These people need some gym equipment, apparently there's a gym about three kilometres out the road, we're going to take the truck,' he says as he ties up his boots.
'James would be proud,' Daisy says 'making some buff farmers'.
'Well some of them look like they'll be rolling to war,' Nix says.
'Not everyone can be as perfect as you,' Daisy rolls her eyes.

'You ready?' Nix asks.
'As ready as I can be on such short notice,' she says.
'It slipped my mind,' Nix says 'Heaven forbid I forgot to tell you'.
'Yeah, well I was expecting a bit more sleep,' she puts her arms around his neck 'Heaven forbid I want sleep'.
Nix kisses her 'well I'd be bored by myself out there so get over it'.

There's a few people up, tending to the crops and animals. Eilish sits on the steps of the house.
'Oh for fuck sake,' Nix says as she begins walking towards them.
'She might just be saying hello,' Daisy says, understanding Nix's annoyance.

'Where ye off too?' She asks.
'Collecting our hunt,' Daisy says.
Eilish looks around at everyone working 'is it alright if I tag along? I don't really feel like doing farm work'.
'Yeah, of course,' Daisy can feel Nix throwing daggers at her but she ignores his looks of disapproval.

'We're going to look around a small town before we collect the food,' Nix says to Eilish while they walk along a trail.
'Sounds good,' she says.

It's like getting blood from a stone trying to make conversation with Eilish. Daisy's not sure if Eilish still hates them or she's just not bothered. She understands why Eilish would still hate them but she wouldn't be here right now if she still hated them.

'You miss the town?' Daisy asks.
'I thought I would but no, I don't,' Eilish says 'it's not the same anymore, you know why'.

'Listen Eilish,' Daisy stops 'I am sorry for what I did to you, not Sam, he took your home, he took my friend. He destroyed so many lives. Yes, we didn't need to kill Mikey and yes, we were brutal about it but you killed all of Nix's friends, people I had become friends with. You're just as bad as us'.
'I stabbed them, you tortured Sam,' Eilish says.
'Oh sorry, you only stabbed them and stuck their Polaroids on their bodies,' Daisy says 'we found Ciaran's body, we know what you did to him'.

Eilish shakes her head 'I knew this was a bad idea'.
'We've no problem with you coming with us but these sly digs every five seconds is unnecessary,' Daisy says 'do you think by you mentioning it to me all of the time that it'd make me feel guilty or regret what I done? Because it won't'.

Daisy walks off ahead of them, she's not dealing with all of it today, it's not worth it. She's tired, and mentally she's moved so far past all of it. She doesn't like to be stuck on the same thought anymore, four years of her life were taken from her obsessing.

'I knew Sam, before he met you,' Nix walks alongside Eilish 'he was a bad man Eilish, and I know he might have changed his ways once you met you but we don't know that version of him, you can't blame her'.

'I know, it's just hard,' Eilish sighs 'I don't want to accept the person he was, my sister died the day he burnt our camp, she was ripped apart by Freaks. I ran as fast as I could like she had told me to and that's when I found Sam, I never even questioned why he may have been there'.

'Look,' Nix says 'surviving outside of walls you just have to leave the past in the past, you took four people from me, but I can't hold that against you, not when we're a team, whether we like each other or not we've to get on with it'.
'Yeah...I don't really like you,' she chuckles.
'I'm not your biggest fan either,' Nix says.

'I'll speak to Daisy though,' Eilish says 'you're right, we're a team, we have to have some kind of trust and respect'.
'Thank you,' he smiles 'your town is a nice place'.
'Yeah, we got lucky,' she says 'it was normal, we used to have parties and everything'.

'I can't remember the last time I'd a party,' Nix says 'you and James are close'.
'We done a lot of patrols together, got to know each other that way,' she says 'he kept to himself apart from that, especially when Ryan was born'.
'Yeah he seems like a quiet guy'.
Eilish laughs 'he's far from it'.
'Well you strike me as an incredibly boring person so I can't imagine he's much more fun,' Nix shrugs.

Eilish looks at him 'I am fun'.
'Someone that has to say it, is not fun,' he says.
'No, I had fun at the town,' she says.
'I do wholeheartedly believe you, I promise'.
'Whatever,' she shakes her head 'you and Daisy have a nice cabin'.
'It's a change from the ground,' he says.
'Does the job,' she smirks.
'Mind yourself,' he smiles 'you have any girlfriend waiting for you in the town?'.
'No,' she says 'I don't like to get attached'.
'That's fair,' he says.

'The town's just in front,' Daisy says.