The "Z" Word

Daryl was sitting by himself on the dock fishing. Slater had ignored him all day. She avoided being left in a room alone with him, and when they were around each other, she wouldn't look at him. And if for some reason she did, she wouldn't make eye contact with him. Daryl heard footsteps on the wooden planks behind him, but didn't bother to turn to see who it was. He noticed the large shadow on the water's surface and waited for his brother to sit down next to him. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Merle spoke, "I would've expected you to be hunting...not fishing."

Absentmindedly, Daryl said, "I don't really want to be in the woods right now. Not after last night."

"What happened last night?" Everyone knew roughly what had happened, but they didn't know the details. Daryl and Slater had shared just enough to not be interrogated later.

Daryl shrugged, "Nothing."

Merle raised on eyebrow, looking suspiciously at his brother. He may not be the smartest person, but he wasn't that stupid either. And he knew his brother too well to know when Daryl was lying. "You're keeping something from me."

"Nothing happened," he emphasized the first word of his sentence, "besides, even if something had of happened, it wouldn't be any of your business."

Merle was aggravated. Not by what Daryl had said, but by the fact that he was acting as if Merle were one of the others. "Whatever," he finally said. "If you don't want to talk about it, fine. If I had been kidnapped by cannibals, I probably wouldn't want to talk about it either." Merle knew it was something more than Daryl being captured, but he also knew Daryl had a temper, they both did, and there was no reason to push him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Slater was in her room again, finishing her book. There was a knock on the door. Her eyes didn't leave the words printed on the page as she said, "Come in," not even thinking about who it could be.

The door opened and Andrea appeared. She looked around the room in awe. Numerous trophies lined the shelves and the top of a small bookcase. Some where for soccer, others were pageant trophies. There were even a few tiaras scattered throughout the trophies. The walls were lined with James Dean posters, and a James Dean calendar was tacked to the front of the closet door. "Whoa," Andrea breathed, taking everything in.

Slater looked up at her. "What?"

Andrea regained her senses and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why?"

Andrea shrugged, "I just....I..." she was trailing off, unsure of exactly why she was checking on Slater. "You and Daryl have just seemed so...distant today. It's as if your minds are somewhere else. I didn't know if maybe you wanted someone to talk to."

Slater sighed, she didn't really want to talk to anyone, but if she was going to talk to anyone at all about anything that had happened before, she'd rather it be Andrea. "I really am fine, I'm just not....completely over....ya know...the whole cannibal thing."

Andrea nodded, "I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like. I mean, I knew there were going to be hostiles. You know, survival of the fittest and everything. Trying to do whatever you can to survive. I just didn't expect there to be people that would resort to eating other people." Andrea paused while she thought, "I thought that was reserved only for the movies."

Slater didn't reply at first. When she finally spoke, she said, "Well, I guess not." There was more silence while Slater thought. "I just feel so stupid. I should have paid more attention and seen the traps."

Andrea smiled in a reassuring manner, "How could you have known there would be cannibals out there? And this close at that." Slater smiled in response and the two girls sat in silence. Then Andrea spoke again, "So...all these trophies are yours?"

Slater nodded, "When I started playing soccer, my mom insisted that I do pageants as well. She said it was to keep me 'balanced' and prevent me from turning into too much of a tom-boy." She chuckled at the memory, then said, "This is only half of them. I have -had- tons more back home."

"Oh. And all the James Dean posters?"

Slater smiled, "He was my grandpa's favorite actor. We would watch 'Rebel Without a Cause' all the time. I thought James Dean was soooo cute, and my mom wouldn't let me hang posters at home, so I hung them here."

Andrea smiled and there was more silence. Then she spoke again, "I think dinner's almost ready. Are you going to join us?"

Slater nodded and put down her book.