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The sun was blinding and scorching as the four kids sat comfortably against the chain link fence. Trickles of sweat glistened, running along the tops of their foreheads and down the bridges of their nose. Vincent's perspiring roots were drenched, pushed back into a greasy, slicked back hairdo. Aaron and Alex slumped aside him, legs sprawled, backs supported by the metal fence.
Vada faced south, the sun directly in front of her. She could feel her skin burning. Her left shoulder was beginning to show spots of redness and it even hurt when she scratched at it. She wasn't sure if the sanctuary had sunscreen. It wasn't exactly a priority, the sun being the least of one's problems in the apocalypse. But Negan did enforce everybody to scavenge whatever they could find, even if they assumed it was of no use. Deciding to ignore it, she wiped a bead of sweat from the line of her jaw and sniffed.
Vincent sat in sheer exhaustion, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. Drowsily, he lifted his arm and took the stick between his two fingers, blowing a puff of smoke from his puckered lips. Negan wasn't around to hassle him, and Vada had convinced him that he was just playing around with the cigarette thing. Although she knew he wasn't.
"You're an idiot." Vincent shut his eyes and hitched his chin, wiping a bead of sweat from his neck. Vada let out a choppy huff of laughter and hung her head low, strands of hair clinging to her cheeks. She took the elastic around her wrist and tied her hair up into a high bun.
"I know. I know." She tilted her head so that she had a good view of the yard behind her. It was the time of day where children would run around carefree, their mothers and fathers watching from afar. Whoever was scavenging that day was already out and about. Negan was nowhere in sight, much to her luck. She wasn't ready to face whatever he had in store for her.
"I mean it." He started, blowing a puff of smoke from his lips. "Like, how stupid do you have to be?"
"Alright, I get it," she hissed. Raising his eyebrows, Vincent shook his head side to side. But he didn't stop.
"What were you thinking?" He clutched the bottoms of his shirt and raised it to his forehead. "He could've had you dead by now. Who knows?"
"Okay, alright, I get it. I wanted to see my family. Will he cut a limb off? Probably. Was it worth it? Yes."
"You're crazy," he mumbled, snorting gently. Aaron laughed beside him and raised his arms, linking his fingers through the chain fence. He had faint sweat stains down the sides of his white shirt which clung to his tanned skin.
"Understandable. If I had a family I'd want to see them too." He grinned, snatching Vincent's cigarette. He took a puff from it and then handed it to his brother, who sat on the opposite side of Vincent. Alex took it and inhaled the smoke, releasing it through his nose, and then passed it back to Vincent.
