Nicotine

Stella POV
Present
I stand in the far corner of the living room with my arms crossed over my chest and my bandana hanging lowly around my pale neck. Bullet sits up straight beside me. He can feel the tension in the room.

Everyone has now formed one big group, the farmers family and the weary travelllers. They both sit and stand around the small living space in some sort of a circle as the early morning sun spills in to light up the room from the old single-paned windows. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room is all that can be heard.

'So how do we do this? Just take a vote?' Glenn asks, breaking the silence. I scrunch my eyes and role them at the ludicrous suggestions thrown about the room, as if we are in a courthouse.

'Well, let's see where everyone stands and then we can talk through the options', Rick says and I lock eyes with Crossbow who is standing right behind him. Like me he is standing outside the circle, observing until our viewpoints are absolutly nessesary.

'Why even bother takin' a vote,'Dale says,'It's clear which way the winds blowin'.'

I stifle a laugh and everyone turns their head in my direction. The sound of the old walls creaking fills the room as everyone becomes silent again.

'Somethin' funny?' Rick asks as he tilts his head in my direction.

'Yeah,'I answer,'It's funny this is even being negotiated. That little brat should be dead already.'

'This isn't a dictatorship. If people believe we should spare him, I wanna know,' Rick says.

'It's a small group, maybe just me and Glenn,' Dale says and the tension in the room grows as Glenn looks up at him, his big brown eyes conveying two words without him having to speak them. I'm sorry.

I look at Dale and see the look on his face, one of just being betrayed. I'm very observant and five things were made very clear to me from the moment I arrived here

One, this group is broken.

Two, Shane is a lier.

Three, Lori and Rick have tension.

Four, Andrea is a pick me bitch.

And five, Glenn is like a son to Dale.

I could tell all this just by looking at the surface so you can only imagine what I've discovered upon looking deeper. And upon looking deeper into Glenn and Dales relationship I've realised that they are two lonely soles looking for something that they didn't find until the whole world fell apart. For Glenn, it's the family he regrets leaving behind;someone who loves him unconditionaly and genuinly cares about his wellbeing. And for Dale? He found the son he never had in Glenn and the daughter he never had in Andrea.

The difference between Glenn and Andrea is Glenn welcomes this kind of fatherly affection he's missed so much. Andrea squashes it like a bug.

Seeing the only child he's welcomed in with loving arms that still actually welcomes his affection turn him down is crushing for him.

But Glenn has bigger priorities now. A girl he loves dearly and may God try and stop him from trying to protect her.

'How about you, do you agree with this?' Dale asks Maggie who stands with her arms crossed and lips pursed on the other side of the room beside her father. She huffs and looks between me and Glenn.

'Can't we continue keepin' him prisoner?' She asks.

'Just another mouth to feed,' Crossbow mutters from behind Rick. Exactly what I was about to say. His feet shift as he leans against the wall, causing the floorboards to creak.