Suffering: Male Reader x TWDG (slow updates)

Chapter 61: Tag

The next morning you skipped breakfast. You had a mix of emotions; embarrassment, excitement, and fear. You were concerned with your place in the community, and worried that it might be gone soon. The chat with Violet also did little to quell your nerves. Sharing your feelings made you feel vulnerable, and you're not exactly sure you liked it. You decided to try mulling it over during your walk to grab the empty water buckets.

Your first job for the morning will be to fetch water from the nearby river. You like this job as it lets you be alone with your thoughts — and it's also nice to be outside of the walls as much as possible. Sometimes it can feel like a prison.

You walk along the heavily beaten path to the river, the occasional chirping of the birds breaking up the rhythmic crunching of your footsteps on the leafy forest floor. Winter is coming, at least, you think it is. It's hard to keep track of time these days. Maybe someone at the school will know.

You reach the river's edge and slowly fill the buckets, careful not to drop them into the water for them to be lost to the current and probably never seen again. That would not put you in people's good graces, and considering the vote is today, you need to be as helpful as possible.

"Fuck man, don't tell me we're lost again."

"Hey, it's hard to read a map when it's covered in blood okay?"

You freeze. Those are not voices you recognise. Carefully, you lower the water buckets to the ground and pull your machete from its sheath, adopting yourself into a low crouch and scanning around for the source of the talking. You believe it's coming from the other side of the river.

Carefully, and with your breath held, you make your way to a fallen down tree trunk which sits precariously over the river. You mount it and slowly make your way across it, your arms outstretched as you try your best to balance and simultaneously be sneaky. You make it to the other side and scramble up a small verge, making sure not to make too much noise. This was where your Ranger training really kicked in. You're in your element in these sorts of situations.

You peer through the foliage and see two men, both with AK47s strung on their backs, both practically nose-deep in a map. Clearly they were lost. You watch and observe, you want to kill them; but first you have to find out if there are more of them. After all, you certainly don't want to get jumped by a whole gang.

And, if there aren't more here, there could still be a big group they're a part of. If that's the case it would be wise not to attack. If they go missing their group may look for them; and that search might bring them right to the school's doorstep. 

A hand gently grabs your shoulder, making you almost jump out of your skin. You manage to stifle a gasp and turn to see Violet crouched next to you.

"You were taking too long," she whispered. "I wanted to see what you were up to. Make sure you were all good." She looked through the shrubbery and narrowed her eyes. "Ah. Are these the people we saw from before?"

"Dunno." You shrug. It was possible, but then again, it could really be anyone. There was no real way of knowing.

Violet let out a quiet huff. "So what are we going to do?"

"Observe," you reply. "Nothing else we can do . . . for now."

She nods her head and sidles closer to you. You feel her body brush against you slightly, something you try to ignore. The two men with the map are still arguing with each other over which direction is the right way. It's almost infuriating. You almost want to stride out there and tell them yourself — well — you would if you knew their destination.

You try to think back to your time fighting the Delta, and back to the time you were captured by them. You don't recognise the two men. If you're being honest with yourself, you're not sure you'd recognise them even if you'd seen them previously. They look like very average — normal looking men, one looks Asian and has a bushy beard; the other does not, he also looks younger than the bearded one too.