Humanity Forsaken

Scum

The community has filled up since finding the girls. We are now up to twenty two people. Jade, Aysa, Jed, Audrey, Tanner, William, Taylor, Leanne, Marcus, Travis, Lucas, Devin, Cymon, Elyas, Nick, Tyler, Khalil, Stef, Kayla, and Lily. Those who weren't here when the guys and I showed up we ran into during our supply runs. They all passed the test Ziggles gave them. She always poked fun at how I didn't like to sit still for too long but it was the reason we could grow the community. As with any group we clashed but for the most part it was relatively calm and friendly. 

"Man, I really want to play airsoft." I chuckle talking to Khalil who is smoking a cig. 

"Same bro." he exhales blowing smoke.

"But then the world had to go and end!" we both laugh and turn to start walking around the community. I hear a shuffle of feet behind the rec center and I see the young Lily being towered over by Lucas. He has her by her throat and his hand down her pants. I raise my weapon and yell. 

"Hey, fuckface!" he turns toward me and Lily squeezes away. Lucas panics. You can see him unsure of whether to run away or stay. "You run and you know I will find your ass..." Khalil places his hand on my shoulder and I stay focused on Lucas. "Go get Jade. . ." Without saying a word he turns and runs toward Jade's place. She comes back with her sledgehammer in tow. 

"What seems to be the problem here, Wisconsin?" she props her weapon her on shoulder and smirks.

"You wanna tell her?" I inch toward the shivering Lucas, "Or should I?" by now the rest of the community who noticed the commotion has crowded around.

"Wisconsin, let's put the gun down..." I feel notice Jade's hand on my rifle and she gently pushes it toward the ground. Jade looks toward Lucas. Her gaze could cut stone.

"Now... why don't you tell me why I was told I needed to get off my goddamn couch to attend to this? This better be pretty fucking important."

"Jade, let me just put a bullet in-" She holds up her hand and I don't finish my sentence.

"I wanna hear what he has to say," Jade steps up to a clearly shaken Lucas, "Now, Lucas, I don't know what happened. But you have 5 fucking seconds to talk before I take this sledgehammer to your goddamn kneecap." Lucas doesn't say a word so Jade lifts her sledgehammer.

"Wait! No!" He yelps while backing away quickly.

"Then speak!" Jade's voice booms.

"In front of all them?" He whispers to Jade. 

"Oh yes. We're all a family here. A Community. There are no secret," she looks toward me, "What happened?"

"He tried to rape me." the young Lily steps out from behind me. Jade looks at her then back toward Lucas. 

"Lily... I want you to know that those are some serious accusations. We all know that neither accusation nor doing that is allowed here," she pans around the crowd, "Who is Lily's roommate?"

"We are." I hear from Stefanie and Kayla to my right. 

"Did you see anything?" Jade asked. I haven't heard her this serious in a while. Stefanie and Kayla shake their heads. Jade looks back toward Lily, "Where did this happen?" 

"Behind the Rec." Lily points. 

"Of course. Where no one can see," Jade exhales and looks around at us, "Lamar, Khalil, Jed, Audrey. With me. Nick keep an eye on Lucas. Kayla, keep an eye on Lily." Jade leads us toward her house. Inside Jade looks toward us. I slide my rifle on her dining table and sit down, my head in my hands. 

"You should've let me kill that motherfucker." I groan. 

"I want you to tell me exactly what the fuck happened out there." she says, a hint of impatience in her voice.