Rhink One Shots

Welcome to the Jungle | Part 2

Warning: description of injury, violence.

Spencer lightly grabbed Rhett's shoulder and gently shook him. Still, the other woke up and immediately grabbed the man's wrist with all the strength he had, which for that moment wasn't much. Spencer smiled and gave him a nice "good morning".

Everyone was already on their feet. Rhett let go of the other man and lay on his back, deeply sighing. He should be used to these brusque awakenings of his, yet somehow they still took his breath away and made his heart jump out of his chest. In a world like this, how is it even possible he was still afraid of dying?

Rhett sat up and made a face when a line of pain formed on his back. It hurt a little more than yesterday, just like his stomach. But nothing he couldn't handle... Still, Spencer gave him a hand and helped the blond to stand up.

- We're moving East today. – the bold man explained as he picked up the small dirty blanket from the floor and threw it on Rhett's shoulders. – Hope you know how to ride a horse. – he smiled.

- Horse?

- Yeah, our first plan was to just walk, but it will be faster by horse.

Rhett nodded, trying to think how in the hell did they get horses and where did they leave them. Must've been a very safe place since none of them seemed to think that the plan would fail and they'd arrive to a fresh meet fest where the main guests were walkers. He decided not to question them... Maybe Spencer would be kind enough to just explain it to him on their way.

Curiously, no one seemed like they got much sleep. The black lines on their faces camouflaged the tired looks a bit, yet still it was clearly visible that the group was exhausted. Or maybe it's just permanently on their faces now. It surely was on Rhett's. The blond hadn't seen himself in a mirror for days – weeks even -, and probably looked like he was 50 instead of 38. His beard itched, Rhett could feel it bushier as the days passed, his skin felt drier than usual, the bags under his eyes weighted more than usual.

Slowly, the group started walking. Everyone was silent, just like the surroundings. Except for the birds, who sang without any worries or fear, and somehow made the morning a little less stressing.

The sun was just rising, yet still very low. The sky had a baby blue color, ready to be illuminated but beautiful in the way it was now. Rhett chuckled to himself about how he still found small things like this fascinating. Maybe because if he looked up at the sky, it was just a vast space of beautiful colors, freedom and calmness. And if he looked down at the ground, it was the complete opposite – danger wherever you step, ugliness wherever you look, fear in wherever you hear.

- Did you have a good night of sleep? – Spencer interrupted the blond man's thoughts, making him look back at the ground. He rubbed one of his eyes and nodded.

- Yeah. Better than I expected. – he smiled at the other man. – Had some weird dreams, but nothing I ain't used to.

Spencer smiled back. – Yeah, that's the bad part. When all of this started, I wouldn't sleep for days. Always hiding in a corner or a hole, biting myself to keep being awake. It was hellish. Happened until I passed out from exhaustion. Had a horrible nightmare. And then the cycle continued until I understood I was going crazy. Now I'm just used to it. – he shrugged at the blond.

- Yeah, I know the feeling... - Rhett looked down again, some memories from years ago floating above his head. – Though I'm still not used to them. Sometimes I remember that my biggest problem was being uncomfortable in an airplane because I'm a tall person, now that's just laughable.