Zero

Chapter 13

Here's Chapter 13! Hope you love it! Sorry for any typos and errors :] 

Chapter 13

 

I’m not sure I actually sleep at all. Every snapping twig or seemingly out of place noise has me on edge. When the morning light finally begins to take away the darkness of the night and I can’t force myself to toss in turn in a half-awake, half-asleep state of mind any longer, I sit up and rub my tired eyes. I look to the pile of neatly folded clothes – clean clothes – and smile. I grab some things, caring less about a matching outfit and more about the prospect of being clean for the firs time in… longer than I’d like to admit. Quiet, so not to wake up the peacefully sleeping guy in the tent, I crawl toward the zipped shut flap.

Closing the tent shut behind me, I step out, stretching as I stand up and yawn. Braces prone figure has taken place where Atlas and Birdie were last night. He looks tired and I wonder how long he was able to sleep before he came out to watch. Sleepily, I walk over to where he is and take a seat on the log across from him. He’s doing a damn good job of ignoring me at the moment, so I nudge his foot with mine a few times until he finally looks up at me.

“You gonna explain why you’re bruised all to hell and not wearing your own clothes?”

“Jealous it's not your shirt I’m wearing?” I tease attempting to lighten the mood.

“Z.”

“What do you want me to say? Things didn’t go exactly as planned but other than a torn shirt and punch to the face, I’m ok.”

“You sure about that?”

“Would I lie to you?” I ask with an innocent smile. Braces gives me a bland look. “How’s everyone holding up here?”

“Manageable.” He sighs. “Squirrel is a pain in the ass, I don’t know how you deal with the crap she says. She needs to grow up, Zero. She’s our weakest link right now.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I promise though it’s not a conversation I’ve looking forward to. The kid cries. A lot. And telling her it’s time to learn real skills to survive, she’s not going to take it well. “If you’ll excuse me. The river is calling my name and if I don’t bathe now I might lose my mind.”

He chuckles. “Thank God, cause you are rank.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” I say walking off. “Oh, and feel free to apologize to Hunter when he wakes up. You need to.”

He doesn’t reply but we both know I’m right. Braces was out of line last night when he hit Hunter. I trust him to make things right. Though I wish I had spoken to Hunter last night about what to tell Braces. It’s not that I like keeping secrets from him, I don’t. But if Hunter decides to give him details on just how my shirt was torn… he won’t take it well.

The small makeshift table where we keep our laundry has a bottle of soap and even better, shampoo. It’s the little things in life that keep us going. Like shampooing hair that hasn’t been washed in more than a week. I grab a towel from the clothes line and gun to take, just in case I need it, but I don’t expect to run into any creeps.

When I reach the stream, I’m close to tears with excitement. I don’t even care how cold it’s going to be. After a quick look to confirm that I’m alone, I set the gun on a rock and strip off the hoodie I slept in along with Hunter’s shirt. I glance around again, just to make sure I’m still alone before wiggling free of my jeans and then step into the icy water. On a warm, summer day, this water is cold. It’s a surprisingly cool, breezy morning though and it’s more than just cold. My toes hit the water and it’s like an immediate wakeup call. I hesitate, but my need to be clean far outweighs my need to be warm