Discernment

Chapter 5

Jess and I had no clue what to do or say. I just slowly watched as the slim figure walked slowly down the stairs, on step spread apart by at least 5 seconds each. He reached midway and stopped, just staring at us with his gun raised. "Now, put your packs and weapons down, and I won't shoot you. Simple enough?" He demands. Jess and I look at each other, and do as the man says, though, I slipped a knife down my sleeve without him knowing. "Now, kick them away." He says, adjusting his grip on the gun and taking another step down the stairs. We then kicked our stuff across the room and awaited what he was going to do next. 

"Now, I'm not going to hurt you or take your things, I just hope y'all have to understand why I'm doing this. Y'see, I have a family up there. My wife and son. The kid is only 15.. I can't let them get hurt." He says. We back up to the wall fully as he made his way down the stairs. "D-Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you or your family.." Jess says. "Fine.. Are you guys looking for a place to stay? We can gladly keep you here. We have food and water.." He says. I nod at his offerings, heading over to our stuff that was forced off of us. I hand Jess her things and we follow the man up his stairs. I set my bag down and sit against the wall, a little ways away from them. Jess sits down next to me, and we occasionally glance at the family.

 "Washington." The man says. I look at Jess then up at the man. "What was that?" I ask, tilting my head slightly. "I'm Washington. This is my wife, Denise, and our son Craig." He replies. I look away for a second, then turning back to him. "I'm Thomas and this is J-" I start to say and get interrupted. "I'm Jess." Jess says, looking up at me. "I can talk for myself." She mutters to me. I shake my head and turn back to Washington. "So, how did you meet Jess?" Denise asks. I look over to her and Craig. "I saved her." I say softly. "Saved her? From biters?" Denise questions. "Worse.. From some asshole that kept me tied up and abused me.." Jess says for me. "I don't remember much about it, I just remember waking up, arms tied behind my back and being slapped unconscious again.." She finished. Craig looks at the floor and then out the window. "I'm going to go.. I'll be back in a while.." Craig says and gets up, walking to the door. "Stop, Craig. Where do you think you're going?" Washington says. "For a walk.. It's really stuffy in here.." Craig replies to him.  Washington gets up and stands at the doorway. "You're going nowhere.." He says. Denise then lays back, "Here we go again.." She mutters.

"What are you talking about, dad?" Craig asks, putting his hands on his hips. "I mean you're not going out. Not tonight. It's getting dark and I think even after a year and a half of this, you still don't understand what's going on out there. It's ridiculous, you're sitting down right now, and you're going nowhere." Washington demands his son. "Dad, I can handle myself. When you and mom die, I'm going to have to be on my own out there anyways, so why not train for it now?" He says quite rudely. Washington just looks at him with a depressed look on his face then just sits by Denise, not caring anymore. Then Craig just exits the building, still not giving a damn of what he just put his parents through.

"You want us to go after him? It wouldn't be a problem for neither of us." Jess says. Washington sighs and walks over to his wife and sits down next to her. "Nah, he'll be back.. He's a difficult kid, but we love him and trust him. Though he won't tell us what's going on with him. I think it's just this whole apocalypse.. It's changed us all. Hell, I held a gun near your faces and was ready to shoot you. You think that's something I'd do everyday? Definitely not.." He preaches on. I simply nod and lay down next to Jess. "Well, I'm going to get some rest.." I mutter, not caring of a reply or if they even heard me. I was tired. Really tired. I felt as if I hadn't slept in days. 

As tired as I was, I could not sleep. I kept on wondering about Craig, or it they biters were going to get in here, or if we can ever trust these people. I then just started studying the room again. It was a pale gray color, paint was peeling off. The windows cracked open, even though the gaping hole in the ceiling was making the room freezing as it was. I then look at Denise and Washington, though Washington had a blank look on his face and Denise was asleep against the wall, it was depressing, really. Jess was also asleep, not surprising to me, since she's always getting as much sleep as possible.

Washington looks up, seeing I was still awake. He then moves over next to me. "Let's talk, Thomas. I wanna get to know you." He says quietly. I chuckle and nod my head. "Alright, same with you.. So, is your name really Washington?" I ask him. He looks ahead and then looks down. "Nah.. My name is really Reynold, I personally think that name is stupid, so I go by my last name, which is Washington. So, what did you do before all of this?" He mutters.  I look at him, then I look at the hole in the roof. "I worked as a construction worker.. I hated that job." I reply, sighing a bit. "Why did you hate it?" He asks. "The fact that I had to work." I reply, laughing a bit. "Yeah, I was a train conductor, boring job, honestly." He says.

Washington then leans his head back, hitting his head on the wall a few times. I look at him, confused of what he was doing. "You alright there?" I ask him. He then stops and looks at me, shaking his head. "I just wish my boy wasn't like this. I'm close to just giving up on him, really." Washington says. "Has he always gone out this long?" I ask him. "No.. He would have usually been back by now, but I'm just going to worry about it in the morning. He's a strong kid, I trust him." Washington says.  "If he's not back by morning, we'll go look for him, alright?" I reply to him. He smiles slightly and nods. "Yeah.. That's fine by me." He says softly. The both of us then shake hands and he moves back the other side of the room with his wife.