the ruins of the day painted with a scar [TOH AU]

a heart that's full up like a landfill

TW: typical TWD violence (such as gore and violence, will vary chapter to chapter), mentioned/implied child abuse & neglect, mentioned/implied suicide attempt, weaponry, near death, mentioned/implied drug use (pills), mentioned/implied alcoholism

He can feel the sweat forming on his face. Living in Georgia, there seemed to be no spring, straight from winter to blazing summer days. He longed to crack open a window, maybe get some fresh air, but he couldn't. Uncle didn't allow windows to be open for stupid reasons such as that. He tried hard to study. He wasn't going to get anywhere without studying. He had just finished training for the day outside. Uncle wanted him to join the military one day, maybe be as good as him someday. Today was one of his longer training days. Although exercising is much simpler than it was when he was younger, he still felt sore quite a lot.

When he was younger, his Uncle would drive him blindfolded and take him deep into the woods. The objective was to find his way home without help. It's been only a few months since the last time he's done it, but it doesn't count since he failed it. He fell down a twenty-foot-high tree and dislocated his shoulder. Although he fixed it independently, he blacked out due to the lack of food. It was embarrassing.

After finishing his daily work, the boy waited impatiently for Uncle to arrive home. He paced around his room nervously, hoping he had done enough to please him. He pushed back his blonde waves from his forehead and waited. The familiar click of the front door made his head snap up. He immediately went to greet his Uncle after a long day of work. Although he was unsure of what his Uncle’s career was, he knew it was important.

“Good evening, Uncle,” the boy greeted with a small smile. The man gave a sly smile back.

“Good evening to you, Hunter,” he gave a sly smile to the boy. “Is dinner ready?”

“Yes sir,” Hunter responded as he grasped his Uncle’s work bags and put them away in their small closet. The man went down to the table.

“You may eat today, nephew,” the man held out a plate for the boy.  Hunter quickly got ahold of the plate.

“Thank you.”

He tossed the grain meal onto his plate and began to chew. It was flavorless, but he hadn’t eaten in nearly three days. The growling pain in his stomach started to calm down as he ate spoonfuls of the food. Although he was fairly strong from practically living outside, able to live off the wild plants outside, he was still relatively skinny.  Now and then, he could count his ribs, but most days he was okay. Strong with a good amount of muscles.

Hours later, Hunter was in his room. He usually spent the mornings outside training and the afternoons studying. His evenings were spent planning for working on his prayers to the Lord. Sometimes it took him hours, but he usually got it done by the time it was two o’clock in the morning. He didn’t need much sleep anyway.

A sudden burst of yelling startled him, and Hunter dropped the pencil. As the yelling escalated, Hunter realized his hands, covered with brown leather gloves, were shaking. He held his hand with the other and tried to breathe. He didn’t want his Uncle to see him this way. The shouting stopped. Hunter stayed quiet and heard footsteps coming toward his room. He quickly stood up.

“ Shit, ” Hunter thought, knowing exactly what was going to happen. All of a sudden, his door slammed open, making a dent in his wall, the awful scent of alcohol spreading into the small room.

“Do you know who the fuck just came to the door right now?” Philip hissed as he tossed Hunter’s few belongings out of the way.

“No sir,” Hunter’s voice quivered. Philip was standing right in front of him, towering over him.