Dead Girl Walking | (rewriting in new book)

Tell It to the Frogs - No Man's Law

11.07.2017

Chapter Fourteen | No Man's Law

 Ten minutes seemed like an awfully long time now that laughter had been banned by the man watching them as he loomed like them like a guardsman keeping slaves in tow. Silence had now infected them and the women worked quietly under the gaze, unaware of what was happening across the lake now that they'd all been whipped into such a controlling and uncomfortable stilling of their tongues. 

 In those ten minutes, Andrea's attention was focused on her partner in crime beside her, watching scarred hands shake as they worked, but it'd taken less than a few seconds to realise it was not exhaustion that was getting to her. Having come from such a traumatising situation and then thrown into this hell, Andrea wondered how a woman like Cathrine could brave such an emotional rollercoaster and survived so long in this hell. 

 It was only then that Andrea had noticed that her eyes were focused towards the water bend nearby, somewhere the commotion of their voices could not be heard. Just behind them, Lori had caught up to her son and August, now marching the pair back up towards the main camp with a look of disappointment on her face. A mothers wrath these days were as deadly as the things out there trying to kill them. 

 By the bend of the water, giving Rudolph a well deserved soak in the water to scrape off the grime and the dried blood was Joesph, who seemed to be having more luck with the animal than any of them had earlier on in the day trying to keep her from running around, acting as if it were playtime. Now, perched proudly in the water, though somewhat wriggling like an impatient child to get her bath over and done with, Rudolph allowed the human to wash her clean even though he seemed to be taking his time. 

 The bond between boy and dog seemed to allow a small smile to linger on Cathrine's face as she watched, carefully. It had been some time since she had been even remotely near the boy and seen him so content with his life. Andrea scrubbed at the shirt on her knee once again when, from the corner of her eye, she saw Cathrine shift uncomfortably; no matter what position she took, under Ed's watchful gaze, nothing seemed satisfying. 

 Andrea wanted to say a couple of words, until their eyes met when Cathrine handed her the shirt she had been working on. The look they shared said it all; both of them wanted to say something to the guard overlooking them, but with the situation at hand and knowing the consequences that could become of their actions, neither of them knew quite what to say to the other without provoking an irritating conversation -

 Until Andrea finally stood up and turned towards Ed calmly, "Tell you what," she said approaching him with the shirt in hand, "you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself," and tossing that shirt to him, she added, "Here."

 Sucking in a long breath of his cigarette, Ed's beady orbs fell on the blonde before him and it took everything not to stand right there and knock the girl flat on her educated ass for being so rude to him. Dislodging himself from the back of the car, he now stood, towering above them all; even from the slight dip of the hill they were on, he was intimidating and Andrea knew better than to poke the bear but enough was enough. 

 "Not my job, missy."

 With the shirt in hand, he launched it back at her, listening to the wet fabric slap against the exposed flesh of her chest. The look on his face spoke of a man who thought he was above them all, regardless of the situation in the camp. He was better than them, he was a King in his household and deserved respect from everybody, no matter who they thought they were or whether his actions were wrong or not. 

 The look of horror on Andrea's face as she gripped the damp shirt so that it didn't fall to the dirt spoke everything he needed to see. The surprise that he would even do something like that, the disconcern for the hierarchy in the camp and his position on the feeding list - none of that mattered to him. Ed didn't care where they placed him because right now, they were nothing but foolish little girls who hadn't learned their place in this world.