The Walking Dead

Chapter 4

Rays of sun pierced my eyelids, waking me from my shallow sleep. I blinked sleepily untying myself before dropping to the ground. I stood up and stretched my arms, my shirt reviling a strip of my stomach, before yawning and rubbing sleep from my eyes. I scanned the camp, seeing wisps of smoke escape from a banked fire, clothes swaying softly in the slight breeze. I walked out from under the shadows of the tree and walked around, hearing voices I soon pinpointed them down by the river. 

That reminded me that I should wash my clothes. I quickly scaled the tree and grabbed my dirty clothes before climbing back down and walking to the river. I knelt by the cool water, dipping a pair of jeans into the crystal clear water and rubbing them together to get the dirt out. I looked to my right, hearing the voices from earlier. Carol, Amy, Andrea, and Lauri a couple yards away from me washing the clothes of everyone from camp. They were talking and laughing, acting like girls. I turned my attention back on my clothes and continued to wash them in silence. 

"What are you doing?" Ed's voice carried down to me. I stopped washing, turning to watch the confrontation when I heard the anger in Ed's voice. 

"W-we're washing the clothes you sent me to do." Carol stuttered. I winced at the fear in her voice. 

"I sent you here alone, to earn our keep so that we don't owe them anything for their hospitality. And what do you do, you invite your little friends to help you. I never said you could ask them to join you." Ed spat, his voice rising as his temper got out of control. His hands clenched by his sides.

Lori stepped forward. "What are you going to do to her huh? You gonna hit her again, send her down to do more of your work, send her back with more bruises?" She asked. I raised my eyebrows. Carol gets abused by her husband? I scanned her arms carefully, noticing that her arms had slight bruises. 

"Lori, please don't do this. You'll just make him angrier." Carol's weak whisper barely reached my ears as she tugged on Lori's arm. "I'll send them away, I promise. I'll get right back to work." 

Ed raised his hand, intending to slap her across her face in his fury. Anger sparked through me, sending my body flying into action as his hand came down. My body moved so fast, I don't even remember the feeling of the smooth riverbed rocks digging into my feet. Instead of Ed slapping Carol, his intended target, his hand left a red mark on my cheek, my head snapping to the left as the burn of his hand stung my cheek, his hand print a beacon of red against my cheek.

"What was that for you idiot?" Ed snarled at me.

I brought my head to his slowly, letting my rage fill my gaze. "You are never supposed to hit a woman, especally if that woman is your wife." I bit at him. "You are supposed to love her. Not hit her. You should be washing these clothes with her, not laying on your ass." 

"What do you know about any of this? Maybe she likes doing what I order her to do. Maybe she likes my roughness." He leered.

I clenched my hands. "She is not your slave. She would rather have you helping her than having to do it herself with no thank you. She does not like the fact that you hit her. She loaths it." I gritted.

"And how would you know that?" He asked, his hands mimicking mine, anger lacing every word he spoke. 

I glanced back at Carol, my eyes softening at the fear etched onto her face, so similar to my mothers'. "It's written all over her face." I whispered facing Ed again.

Fury etched every curve of his face, showed in every  spark of his eyes, flared with every inhale he took. He looked so much like Don, the only diffrence was he wasn't drunk; he was as sober as he could get. "You better back down woman, before you make me do something you wouln't appreciate."