Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

on we go

My parents didn't have friends growing up. They were strict, different sort of people. We'd moved around plenty of times from what I can remember, and we usually picked a house that didn't have immediate neighbors.

The space, my mom had claimed. It was the privacy for my dad.

Neither of them seemed particularly happy at any point, I couldn't recall a family outing that didn't have obligatory strings attached, and even most of those didn't extend to Mabel and I. I was shocked the first time I'd ever heard my dad's name.

The first time I ever used it was the first time I'd been struck. The memory was hazy, but Mabel's face in it is clear. She's looking down at me, through the banister bars of our staircase at the time. Her eyes are wide.

I'd never been a trouble-maker. Mabel did enough of that for the both of us, and I had seen the consequences more than enough times to learn any lesson I could think of through her. I'd only been testing the word. Repeating the strange name that Mom had just called him, speaking on a phone to someone I didn't know and would never meet.

His hand had come out of nowhere, his knuckles cracking across my jaw and causing me to lose my balance. Mom shifted aside as I fell over, her eyebrows wrinkled together ass he'd turned around to look at me. But she just kept talking to the phone, dismissing the scene almost before she'd even processed it.

Dad squatted down slowly, staring at me with a dark expression as he brought his face close to mine and spoke in a low voice. I don't remember his words, I'd been so scared in that moment that all I could remember was the spit that came from his mouth and hit my cheek. I remembered the red in his cheeks and the way he slammed his hand against the wall, next to my head, before rising.

Mabel was no longer at the stairs.

The memory, among others, taunt me as I manage to make myself drink myself full of water. Dad tasks us all with tearing down the camp while he himself disappears into his tent. It is only then that I'm reminded Gary exists.

He stands up and starts barking orders at us. Cody's face is a mask as he rises next, pointing to Clara and Stephanie, telling them to pack up the tents. His voice is monotone, like he didn't give a damn either way. Didn't care no matter what happened so long as it wasn't his drama.

Gary snapped at me when I didn't move further than what it took to lift my water to my mouth. When I ignored him, he jumped off the log he'd stood on for whatever reason, and stomped towards me.

Despite my angry body and tired muscles, I was on my feet the same time his shitty boots had hit the ground. My vision blurred slightly, but when he got close I swung first. I wasn't sure what his plan was. It became clear that it hadn't been to attack me when he didn't see my attack coming.

Or maybe that's how much he'd underestimated me.

I wasn't thinking straight. My mind saw a threat.

He was a threat.

I swung my canteen out, it was a metal thing that I'd acquired promptly after my father zipped his tent closed. The metal rang out melodically as it came into contact with Gary's skull. I stumbled a bit, and my arm started to swing again before Gary could recover from the shock of the first blow.

His arms came up in an attempt to block me, but the canteen smacked his face again. His hand wrapped around my wrist and my breathing quickened. I brought my leg up and kicked him hard in the groin.

My father had of course heard the scuffle, as he was only a few feet away in his tent. I heard a zipping noise, but was focused on Gary as he inhaled sharply and wobbled. There was silence for a second, as Gary took a knee, puffing as he tried to see through the pain. I'd used my knee.