Decrepit///Ben Parish

Chapter 9

The air is filled with silence.

The only sounds are our shoes hitting the gray concrete. Well, Zombie's shoes hitting the floor, mine are shuffling. I'm not very happy that Zombie decided to accompany me on the walk to the barracks. I know, I was the one who agreed to let him come, but I only said yes so he'd get off my back.

I'm trying to get him to realize that I don't appreciate his presence. I cross my arms over my chest, and I see Zombie glance at me through my peripheral vision. I huff and roll my eyes at him.

"Please stop pouting," He entreats.

"I'm not pouting." You bet your ass I'm pouting. I'm trying to irritate him and I believe it's working by the look on his face.

"Enigma, I'm trying to be a good squad leader and make sure you're okay, but you're making it harder than it needs to be. Can you not be in a foul mood for five minutes?" Zombie snaps.

"I didn't ask you to come with me and I sure as hell don't need a babysitter! Nugget does, not me. So why don't you just go back to pet sitting him and fucking leave me alone!" I yell. Zombie's face contorts for a second, but he recovers his composure.

"Hey! Nugget is a part of this squad too! I've tried to deal with you and help you in any way I can, but I can't anymore, you're making it too hard and you've only been here for a week! Look at all the problems you've caused! You know what? I should just ask Reznik to switch you to another squad!" Ouch, am I that unbearable?

I've tried so hard to free of Scarlett, that I've become an appalling person in the process. I'm so bad that my own squad leader wants me to reassign squads.

It doesn't matter, my inner voice tries to tell me. I suppose it doesn't. the world ended, it doesn't matter if Zombie doesn't want me in this squad. It doesn't matter.

I must be taking too long to answer, because Zombie tries to back track.

"Enigma, I didn't m-," I hold up my hand up to stop him from answering.

"You know what Zombie," I say his name with aversion, "I don't give a flying fuck if you don't want me in this squad. Maybe if you transfer me, I'll actually have a shot at graduating." I do care, but I'm not supposed to.

"Enigma, please," Zombie attempts to plead.

"Save it, Zombie. So much for not leaving people behind." My voice almost catches at the end. Hurt flashes across his face, and he lets me walk away. I fell his eyes burning holes into my back until I turn the corner.

----

My teeth chatter in the cold.

Instead of going back to the barracks, I chose to go outside. I don't think I'm supposed to do this, but I don't really care. What's the worst thing they're going to do to me? Give me twenty-five knuckle push-ups? A n extra lap around the base? Another beating? I don't give a damn. I already have a black eye.

I just needed some time to think. Maybe I should try to just be emotionless instead of being so unpleasant. I shouldn't say some of the things I did to Zombie. He doesn't deserve it.

I can't seem to shake the image of Zombie's hurt look from my mind. I thought the cold might help.

I wonder how Zombie reacted when he got back to the barracks? He must have lost his shit when he couldn't find me. He may even assume that I went to Vosch to ask for a squad transfer. If I did do that, they might even open an investigation into squad 53.

Who am I kidding? They don't care enough, just look at how we get treated.

Judging by the sun, the squad is just about to finish hand-to-hand combat training and will be on their way to lunch.

I've been out here for a couple of hours. It makes sense considering my throat is aching. It's warmed up since this morning, but it's still too cold to be out here for this period of time. At least it stopped raining.

I guess there's not much of a difference than being out here for training.

I stand up with the assistance of the wall, and almost every joint in my body pops. I stretch out, and do a few jumping-jacks to get my blood flowing.

I throw the rock a solid twenty feet that I used to prop open the door. It's warm inside and it makes my cheeks flush, but the warmth feels good.

I walk towards the barracks, keeping my eyes on the dull, gray concrete floor. They should add a little character to this place.

I stop in front of the door with a 10 spray painted on it, I must make sure the squad isn't there. I put my ear against the door and listen in.

"Do you need something miss?" I jump at the sudden voice. I turn around and I'm met with a soldier. The first thing I notice is the sergeant stripes on his uniform.

"No sir. Thank you." I say politely. He smiles at me and I nod at him. That was a little embarrassing.

I jerk open the door, and walk to my bunk. I change out of the damn jumpsuit and put on my clothes that I usually wear during personal time. I freeze when I hear voices and laughter that belongs to my squad. I think fast, and I dive into my bed. I situate myself to lay on my side and make it appear I'm sleeping. No one typically comes into the barracks before lunch, but occasionally, someone will need to go to the bathroom or something, and I can't take any chances.

The door swings open, and quick footsteps approach my bed.

"Enigma?" Of course. It's the damn squad leader.

I almost flinch when the pads of his pointer and middle fingers skim over my black eye.

"Enigma, I know you're not asleep. You left your damn boots on. Nice try though." I can hear the smile in his voice.

I open my eyes, "Damn it! I forgot about them." He laughs at me. Zombie's smile drops, and I know it's about to get serious. He sits on the edge of the bed.

"Enigma, you have no idea how bad I feel for the things I said to you earlier. I was mad, but not at you. I enjoy having you in the squad and I'm glad you're not anywhere else. And I'm not tired of dealing with your attitude," he chuckles, "I'll deal with it if I have to. I'm so sorry, please forgive me?"

I let out a purposely exaggerated sigh, "It's okay I guess. I'm-I-I said some things I probably shouldn't have." Normally I would stay mad at him for a few more days, but his apology was so sincere, no one has ever apologized to me like that before. Maybe Dr. Pam is right about him.

"Are we good?" Zombie asks.

"Yeah we're good," I give him a small smirk.

"Let's go eat lunch." He stands up and I get out of bed.

"Nice outfit," he states referring to my black long-sleeved shirt tucked into my khaki colored cargo pants, oppose to the usual blue jumpsuit . I laugh a little in response.

"By the way, where did you go after we got in that fight? I came in here a little while after to check on you and you weren't in here. To be honest, I thought you went to try to put in a request to change squads."

I was sitting outside," I answer honestly. He just shakes his head at me, but a smile is on his face,

He gives my back a gentle push, "Come on, let's go eat lunch."

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GUYS DECREPIT HIT 100 READS. I'm so happy that people are actually reading this.

Anyways, I really like this chapter. What do you think about Enigma and Zombie's fight? Do you think she should have forgiven him so fast?

Talk to you guys next week.

(My laptop wouldn't let me put the author's note in bold idk why)