The Skater (H)

“Probably wouldn’t be a good idea for both of us to leave camp.” He commented, staring into the fire. “And that was a joke. Mostly. I don’t know about you, but willingly staying in a mental hospital even in the world as it is now? I think I’d rather blow my head off.” He let out a single huff of a laugh, then moved to grab his black backpack. “I’m gonna go scouting. You good here?”

Edith simply just shrugged her shoulders. She honestly wouldn’t pass up making a mental hospital her shelter, if she felt it was safe enough. Besides, if most people thought like Keith, then she figured the chances of them finding supplies, and being secure, would probably be a lot higher. But now wasn’t the time to argue any of that, half of their group was missing, and they needed to be found soon. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she answered, nodding her head. “Go find them.”

“How about a loony bin? Not many doors in there. Maximum security. Plus, if one of us loses our minds, I’m sure we can find some little white pills lying around somewhere.” It was as though his smirk was permanent. Finishing up the border of cans, Keith found himself leaning against a tree as he watched the blonde start a small fire. That so called permanent smirk died down, however, as his thoughts drifted to the reality of their situation. “You know where Liv and Alice went off to?”

“...Maybe,” Edith replied after a bit of thought. “If we did that, it would probably be best to just like... seal off a small area of it for us. I think a place like that would be hard to keep secure with just the four of us,” she chuckled, sitting down in front of the fire once she figured it was good enough. She put her hands out in front of the fire to warm up, her shoulder shrugging at Keith’s question. “No idea. But I don’t think they would’ve gone far. At least Olivia wouldn’t have... Think we should go look for them?”

“It’s not like I’m gonna send us out on a row boat. That’s suicide.” Keith smiled back to the blonde as he began rounding the camp. The wooden spikes were one thing, but they needed just a little more warning if walkers came wandering their way. Pulling out a few empty cans from one of the bags and some wire, he went around tying it to the surrounding trees. “If the yacht idea goes to shit, we might as well try to find a building secure enough. Not too big, but big enough. Preferably with multiple stories.”

“But I think we should go for the yacht idea first,” Edith said, finishing up the fire pit. “There aren’t a lot of us, and I think a house would be harder to defend,” she admitted, now beginning to build a small pile of kindling from sticks and twigs on the ground. “Either that, or we find a place that doesn’t have a lot of doors or windows.” The blonde went over to the bags, pulling out a box of matches from one of them and taking out a match, striking it against the side of the box, and throwing it into the kindling. “Though...” she started, getting down on her knees and gently blowing into the fire to try and get it going. “I think building fires would be harder on a boat. And I don’t know about you, but sometimes I like my gross canned food warm.” she chuckled, continuing to blow until the flames her big enough for the fire to sustain itself. Edith then added some bigger sticks to the fire, letting it grow. 

“I don’t know, that tent looks pretty damn secure to me. Like the Goddamn Taj Mahal.” Keith picked up the sharpened branches he’d been working on and began shoving them into the ground. Pointed outward. “Once it starts getting dark I want everyone within the barrier. Last thing we need is an accident.” He added briefly before straying back to the yacht conversation. “…if we set anchor out about a mile, that would keep the dead away and give us good warning if anyone was trying to raid us. Someone would always have to be on watch, but that’s not much different than how things are now.”

“Right-o, boss,” Edith replied, nodding her head once. “After I finish setting up, I’ll round up the troops and We’ll get some dinner going. How’s that sound?” She asked, grabbing a couple sleeping bags and laying them down on the ground under the tarp. After that, the blonde began wandering around the area close to the tent, picking up rocks she could use to form a fire pit. “...Yeah, if we can find a sound enough boat, I think it could work. I just don’t wanna be sinking in the middle of the night, y’know?” She laughed a little, starting to make a circle from the rocks.

“Just be happy this crazy bastard is on your side,” he nudged her, that smirk not letting up until the moment passed. “Good. We should only need a few more of these. The tarp’s in the black bag, too, if you wanna set that up.” He said, gesturing over to where their bags sat in a small pile. “Wasn’t planning on staying longer than a day, but I think it’s time we consider setting up a camp somewhere secure. Maybe a house, or a yacht.” Keith grinned to himself. “Wouldn’t hurt to check the harbor.”

Edith smiled at his comment, letting out a bit of a laugh as well. Her gaze drifted to where Keith pointed and she nodded her head, putting down the stick she was trying to sharpen, and making her way over to the bag. “A yacht might not be a bad idea, actually,” she replied, opening the bag and pulling out the tarp. “If we can make sure it won’t float away, or anything, it would probably be easy to defend. And a pain in the ass for walkers to get onto.” Grabbing a long piece of rope, the blonde tied it high around the trunk of a nearby tee. “Besides,” she started as she moved to another tree nearby to tie the other end of the rope. “It might be nice to have somewhere a little more permanent. “And a roof that’s a little more solid,” she added with a laugh, tossing the tarp up and onto the rope. She then secured the edges of the tarp to the ground using some sharp wooden pegs, creating somewhat of a makeshift tent. 

“As far as I knew, you could have been one of the dead. Lesson learned, though, huh?” He smirked, lowering the weapon. “You know, guns shouldn’t make you nervous. I shouldn’t make you nervous. It’s all the other assholes out there that we have to worry about, that and… well, the zoms.” He rambled, resuming his work with sharpening the branches he’d gathered.

“Yeah, whatever.” Edith rolled her eyes, dropping her hands back down to her sides. “Guns only make me nervous when they’re pointed at me,” she said, stepping closer to Keith and taking a seat on the ground beside him. “Especially when a crazy bastard like yourself is the one pointing it.” The blonde pulled a small pocket knife out of her backpack and grabbed a branch, beginning to sharpen the end, just as Keith was doing. “The area looks alright, by the way,” she said after a moment. “We should be okay here for a day or two, but I don’t think we should stay beyond that,” she admitted. 

The sound of his pocket knife scraping against a thick stick echoed through the woods. A temporary camp, and it needed a boundary line. He’d already sharpened at least twelve of these damn things, and they were all propped up and ready to pierce of the flesh of whatever poor dead or alive asshole stumbled upon them. Still not enough to keep everyone in his group safe, however. It’d always been risky, stopping for shelter out in the middle of nature, but sometimes it was the only choice. Especially when moving between camps. The crunching of sticks behind him had him rolling his eyes, and with a quick cock of his gun, he twisted around to point it at whoever was lurking up behind him. “Might be best if you announce yourself before creeping up behind me like that.”

Edith had spent the better part of the day wandering around the area they were setting up camp, making sure there wasn’t anyone, living or otherwise, that might try to cause them problems. It seemed safe enough, at least for a night or two. Wandering back towards the camp, Edith didn’t think about announcing her presence, at least not until Keith had his gun pointed at her. “It’s just me, dude. Edith,” she answered, holding up her hands. “Can you please put that gun away? You’re making me nervous.”