Samindi

"No..." Callie sniffs. "I don't think so."

She withdraws from the hug, slumping against the back of the bench. She looks smaller, folded into herself, eyes facing down in her lap. "In my first year of high school, I...I got addicted to meth. So fucking stupid. I got into it so I could be friends with some older kids and I didn't even like them very much.

"Of course, I didn't have any money because I have fucking fourteen, so I had to steal things and sell things and...it got so fucked up so fast. I'm so lucky my mom didn't give up on me. She should have. I would have. I couldn't even keep clean, I kept relapsing and..."

She draws her legs up to her chest and wraps her arms around them, staring out over her knees across the grass. "I was 'clean' the last time I came here. I told them that...I even believed that. But then my grandma caught me trying to steal things so I could sell them for more fucking crystal. She told me never to come back."

She buried her face in her knees. "She said I was dead to her."

"Oh."

There wasn't much more to say about the shocking revelations. Callie was, is? a drug addict. She didn't really admit to being clean but Samindi figured it was forced on her; after all is wasn't likely drug dealers were still working during the apocolypse... were they? Samindi had no experience is drugs, or any sort of illicit activities really. Strict parents and a safe upbringing kept her away from such things. Besides it wasn't like she was ever the most sociable girl, the last party she attended was serving fairy bread and orange juice.

After offering the comforting embrace Samindi kept her eyes to the ground. She didn't really know what to say so remained quiet. But it was only a few moments before a thought came to her.

"So, uh, you know how to get into houses? Know what to look for? Where things are?"

Samindi

Callie's face rises from her knees, giving Samindi a look like she's not sure whether to be offended or not.

"I didn't say I was good at it," she finally says. "If I was, I probably wouldn't have kept getting caught."

She's silently sullen for a few seconds before making eye contact with Samindi again, now from the corner of her eyes. The slightest hint of a pained smile appears at the corner of her mouth. "But I learned a few things, yeah."

Samindi raised her hands towards Callie, placating her. "No, no! I dind't mean it like that!" She sighed, she wasn't making a good beginning of this friends things. "Uh. All I'm saying is that's what Leonard does whenever he goes to look for supplies. Only much louder." She frowned at remembering the previous day.

Perhaps Samindi had forgotten about Callie's grandmother already or perhaps she was making a real attempt to distract Callie from her own thoughts. "I never knew anything like that, I still don't! Leonard had to show me stuff when we went out together." She shrugged, "All I'm saying is they're kinda handy skills to have right now... with all... this."

She grew silent and looked towards the house, trying to think about anything but what Leonard and Mattie were doing right now.

Samindi

"I know what you meant," Callie says, that tiny, pained smile growing slightly less tiny. "And I'm saying I wasn't any kind of great thief or anything. I got arrested for it, and nowadays I'd just get killed for it."

She sighs, looking away from Samindi, eyes focused on nothing at all as she slumps in the hanging bench. "But maybe I know something that can help you and Leonard if I come along."

Something occurs to her, and she glances at Samindi, alerted. "I really don't think that's how we should sell it to my mom, though."

Samindi shook her head, "Wasn't planning on it.""

She sat a moment and continued, "I mean, you don't have to come out straight away. But, uh, when you do. At least you'll know something." She gave a side-eye to Callie with a small smile, "Maybe you can show me a thing or two."

Samindi stood up and stretched. It probably wasn't a good idea to enter the house until leonard and Mattie had finished with their clean up. She didn't even want to see that, let alone get Callie to. Instead she looked around the grounds of the house before turning back to Callie. "Want to go for a walk?" She asked, "Not far, just around the yard a bit. I don't know how you've stayed in that RV for so long."

Assuming Callie agrees Samindi begins a slow walk around the yard, keeping an eye out for any walkers or other people.

Samindi

Callie is quiet for a moment, then nods. "Yeah - yeah, that's a good idea. Let's do that."

She stands up, and while she doesn't stretch like Samindi did, she looks anxious to get moving. Initially, Callie walks faster than Samindi, and has to force herself to match her slower pace. She rubs her arms despite the heat, and her eyes linger on the horizon rather than anywhere closer.

"Can I ask you something?" she asks after a couple minutes, looking at Samindi. Her eyes look sad and lost. "Your, uh...your parents. How do you deal with it?"

Samindi slows her walk, she figured she should have expected the question but it came as a surprise. "Oh. Uh... I was a mess for days. Still think about them every day. It's a bit sad but sometimes it's good. Like I know they would want me to go on, not give up. So that's why I do, I guess that's how I deal with it."

She stopped walking. "Uh, but I guess I don't really know they're dead for sure."

It probably required some explanation. She smiled sadly, "Well. It was a car crash, like I said. They hit something on the road and the car ended up in a ditch. It was dark; Dad was buckled into his seat but Mom fell out of the car. She was lying on the road with those... things... standing over her. Mom screamed. I got scared and I ran." Her eyes dropped and she winced slightly, remembering the shame of leaving her family.

"I came back in the morning and everyone was gone. Dad was gone, Mom gone. The only thing I found was Mom's pendant on the road." She was sad in recounting it but she felt it strange tears didn't come to her eyes. "I sat there for days, waiting, and when they didn't come back I moved on. They might not be dead but I know for sure they are gone."

Samindi

"Oh my god," Callie says quietly, almost a whisper. "I'm so sorry."

She looks like she wants to say more, but she can't seem to think of anything. After several seconds, she says hopefully, "Maybe they're still alive, though? And if so, maybe there's a chance you'll still meet them? There's not many people left now - if you go somewhere with a lot of people, maybe..."

She trails off. By the time she does, it's clear not even she believes what she's saying. She looks pressured, trying to think of something to say, before she changes the subject.

"I know I'm lucky I still have my parents," she says. "Or my mom, anyway. I don't know if my dad is still alive."

Her mouth quirks quizzically. "I wonder what would happen if we ran into him."

"Maybe." Samindi replied to Callie. She had given up hope of finding her parents, if they were even alive, and had focused on her own survival. Besides, it was much more likely her father would find her than she would find him. Maybe, as Callie said, she could try areas with more people; something she had been avoiding.

As Callie mentioned her father Samindi was reminded of the overheard conversation between Leonard and Mattie and their concerns about him.

"Oh? She decided against mentioning anything just yet. "You knew him?"

She frowned slightly, "Why? What do you think would happen if he found you?"

Samindi

"Yeah, I knew him," Callie says, as if it's obvious. "He's my dad! My mom got custody, but he got a weekend a month with me for a while, and he'd show up for my birthdays and holidays, um...trials, and stuff. A few years ago my mom moved away and I didn't see him as much anymore. I know there was some kind of...tension there between them, but she didn't tell me anything about it."

She pauses, thinking. "You think she'd tell me now?" After a moment, she sighs. "No, she wouldn't.

"I don't know what would happen if he found me. I mean, I know he'd take care of me, but I don't think he could get along with my mom. He said some really bad stuff about her when I was visiting him. She didn't say as much about him, but I know she doesn't like him. She didn't even like it when I visited him. You could feel it whenever they were in the same room, even during Christmas and stuff."

She is uncomfortably silent for a moment, before saying, unprompted, "He's just kind of intense."

Samindi thought on what Callie said, she guessed it kind of matched up with what she overheard between Mattie and Leonard. Although she felt the two seemed almost scared of Callie's dad, Callie certainly didn't seem that way though.

She turned to Callie as she stopped on the word 'intense'. Samindi found it interesting, "Seems like he loves you. Sounds like he would take good care of you."

She didn't want to cause trouble, but there was a thought in the back of her head. Also, if she was going to be joining the three others for a while she wanted to know more. Definitely more than Mattie would tell her, but perhaps Leonard would tell her the truth if she asked.

She nodded her head back in the direction of the RV. "So, uh, the RV? Any plans? You going some place or, uh, running from something."

Samindi

"I know he loves me," Callie says almost reflexively. "I guess I don't know if he'd take good care of me. I mean, I know he'd try. But even back before all this, he didn't know me as well as my mom and he didn't really know as much about taking care of me. Like I said, he still tried, but..."

She sighs. "I don't know. I guess he didn't get as much of a chance. Maybe I wouldn't have fucked up so much if he was taking care of me."

After a moment, she gives a very soft, very brief chuckle. "I know there wouldn't be Leonard here if my dad was."

Callie glances at the RV when Samindi mentions it. "I don't know. It wasn't my plan to take the RV anyway, you know? I don't know if we're going to keep using it. I know it's hard to get gas, Leonard complains about that almost as much as food. I kind of thought we'd be staying here once we got here, but with my grandmother...you know..."

She looks at Samindi. "What do you mean, running from something?"

Samindi listened along as Callie explained how her father was. It seemed so strange to her, so different from her own family and her own father. She did raise an eyebrow about the Leonard comment about him not being there if her father was. That would probably be a bad thing, Leonard seemed to know what he was doing and had done a good job so far.

She was surprised when Callie focused on the running part and questioned her.

"Uh. Nothing really." She shrugged, "Just you said you were always moving, always traveling and you didn't know why you couldn't settle down."

"No reason not to stop is all, especially if you don't know where you're going. " She wasn't really keen on explaining what she overheard. "Maybe your mom and Leonard have a plan, you know? They seem pretty protective of you. That's good I guess..."

She looked to the ground and kicked at the overgrown grass as she walked. It wasn't really her place to get involved, she knew as much as she needed to for her own sake and safety. If Callie's father found them then it was probably in her best interest to get as far away as possible and try not to get involved.

Samindi

"I..." Callie trails off. She puts a hand to her chin, and Samindi gets the impression she is examining her memories with a new perspective.

"I guess, when you say that..." she finally says slowly, "I mean, I know we wanted to get my grandma, so that makes sense, but what about all that time before we got the RV? We kept sleeping in different houses! I thought my mom was trying to stay ahead of the biters, but that doesn't make any sense!"

She crosses her arms, looking troubled. "What if she wants to keep running? Where are we going to go? And Leonard's always talking about how much gas the RV needs - I kinda thought it only had to get us this far, but what she wants to keep driving it?"

Over Callie's shoulder, Samindi sees Leonard and Mattie emerge from the house's front door. Mattie could not possibly look more grim, but there is a bit more energy in Leonard's body language. Seeing Samindi and Cassie, Leonard raises his hand and waves, then motions for them to come closer.

Callie does not seem to notice Mattie and Leonard. "Where can we even run?" she continues. "There's nowhere safe left in the world."

Samindi shrugged, ”I kinda always kept moving too y’know. Places didn’t have food, or ran out and I had to move.” She grimaced, ”And sometimes the people I met were, uh, creeps I guess; and the walkers too…”

She trailed off as Callie spoke, ”I dunno if it’s a bad thing to always keep moving, but I would like to find somewhere safe.” She looked at Callie and shared her concern, ”If anywhere is safe anymore.”

She noticed Mattie and Leonard leaving the house and was somewhat relieved when Leonard waved them over. She was feeling a little guilty at how she left them with the mess but it really wasn’t something she wanted to get involved in and even seeing what she did was knowing too much. She didn’t expect Leonard to give her a hard time, and perhaps Mattie wouldn’t say anything either, Samindi felt the woman had bigger issues right now.

Pointing over to the pair of adults she said to Callie, ”Looks like they’re done. Wanna head back?” She followed Callie back when she was ready to walk to the house.

Samindi

"What do you mean by 'creeps'?" Callie asks, then almost immediately corrects herself. "Actually, never mind, I think I can guess. Mom and Leonard tried to stay away from people."

She sighs and pauses for a moment, thinking, before she speaks again. "I don't think anywhere's safe anymore. Anywhere people were living before is just full of walkers now, right? Anywhere that doesn't have walkers is because no one was living there, so how are we going to? And if there is anywhere people can live that's safe, other people are just going to come and take it from us, right?"

She looks over at Leonard and Mattie. "Yeah, okay. Let's go back."

Samindi and Callie return to the house. Mattie speaks first. "Callie, we have to talk. It's - "

"I know," Callie interrupts her. "Grandma's dead."

Mattie looks slightly taken aback, then gives Leonard a look. Leonard steps forward and puts a hand on Samindi's shoulder. "Can we walk and talk, kiddo?"

As Leonard spoke Samindi looked from him to Mattie and scowled briefly. Her initial sympathies for Callie's mother passed quickly as it seemed that in the woman's eyes she had yet again done something wrong. She wasn't going to apologise for not helping them clean up a body, whatever they wanted, and she certainly wasn't going to let anyone tell her what to do. As far as she could tell they weren't in any better situation that she was, well... not now, yesterday may have been different.

She gave a small smile to Callie, " See ya." As she followed Leonard away from the pair.

When they had walked far enough to be out of earshot she started first, trying to pre-explain things. "She already knew."

Samindi

"Yeeeaahhh..." Leonard says, mixing the word with a very long, very heavy sigh. "You mentioned she guessed that before we even got into the house. I figured there wasn't any doubt once she'd heard the shotgun."

He gives a quick glance over his shoulder, but they've made significant distance from the house, and neither Mattie nor Callie are anywhere to be seen.

"Mattie already knew about her mother. I mean, you know she knew, but she didn't know that Callie knew. Or didn't want to know - I tried telling her, but, well, you know how stubborn she can be."

He shoots Samindi a sympathetic look. Though he's always treated her with respect, this is more familiar than their previous conversations: he talks to her like a peer, despite their difference in age.

While Samindi appreciated Leonards candour she still couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. Something that likely had to do with Mattie. Maybe it was just the look he gave her something was different since the two adults left the house. She didn't comment on Leonard's opinions on Mattie, even though she had only been with them a couple of days she knew very well how Mattie was and how protective she was of Callie.

"So what now?" She asked.

Samindi

"That's what we've got to figure out, isn't it?" Leonard says. "We came all this way for Mattie's mother. Without her, this place is just a house. It's got food and medicine, but that'll only last so long. Even if she were still alive, we'd probably move on soon enough. Mattie needs a goal in front of her - she's been thinking in the short term all this time. Now she - we - got nothing to do but just...live."

He brings up a hand and rubs Samindi's back. "That means they're going to have to rely on us. Mattie and Callie don't know how to survive like you and me. I know that's going to be a lot of pressure, but I trust you. You're young, but you're mature. Maybe no one else sees it, but as far as I'm concerned, you're an adult. You can make adult decisions."

His hand moves to her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. "Whatever those decisions are, I'll have your back. I'm here with you. You can trust me."

Samindi nodded, while she respected Leonard for being the one to keep Mattie and Callie alive she didn't yet know if she trusted him, or Mattie, or maybe Callie even. With the look that passed between the two earlier she was almost positive that Mattie had asked Leonard to tell her to leave. Maybe she had, but at least it seemed that Leonard and Callie wanted her to stay. She still did not like all his touching, but that was likely more her than Leonard. Some people were just like that she guessed, a bit too touchy, her grandfather was the same. She just wasn't like that, didn't really like anyone touching her. She managed not to pull away from him this time and continued nodding as he called her an adult.  Well, if she was going to remain wih the three of them, for now, and was making 'adult decisons' then there was no harm in asking something, telling Leonard what she wanted.

"Thanks." She forced a smile, "Well, uh, I guess if I'm hanging around then I still need that medicine, something for my stomach, and an aspirin too."

"I get moving on, but at least a few days in a real bed would be good." She looked up to Leonard with a bit more confidence, "I could hunt, we could go into the town and scavenge. We could stay here a while, maybe."

"And, uh, just so you know." She scrunched up her nose and grimaced a bit, "I'm not trying to upset Mattie and I can try and stay away from her but I'm not Callie, I don't have to listen to her."

Samindi

Leonard nods. "That's right - Mattie's mother was a nurse or something. She ought to have plenty of medicine around. Gonna be a lot of easier to rest now, too, that we don't have to all squeeze into that RV."

His hand slips down Samindi's side and pulls her closer to him. The hand stays there, just above her hip, fingers splayed like a tarantula clutching her. "Of course, we still have the RV. Could be useful if anyone wants to get away, have some privacy.

"And you're right, you don't have to listen to Mattie." Leonard's voice is low and oddly quiet, conspiratorial. "She needs us. That's what I've been trying to say. If there's anything you want to do - ever wanted to do - you don't have to worry about her."

Samindi was nodding as Leonard started to speak but was surprised as he grabbed her to him. She looked down to the hand grasping at her side and just froze. She had felt he was being weird around her but wasn't 100% sure if it was him or her just misinterpreting things. This was more than enough confirmation that he was not just being 'nice' but she was in a difficult position. She didn't want to offend him, he had medicine and guns and Callie was with him but she didn't like him touching her.

She gave an uneasy smile, "I, uh, won't worry about Mattie then." She felt like she was going to be sick. She was stuck with him for now, she had better just try and hand around Callie. Or even Mattie, she was better than this.

Samindi slipped out of his hands, "Still don't feel great. Might go find an aspririn or something."

She started to walk back to Callie.

Samindi

"Uh - " Leonard's face falls as Samindi slips out of his grip. He stays in place as she takes the first few steps back towards Callie, but then reacts.

"Hey, wait," he says, following after Samindi. His tone of voice is that of a command, not a plea. "Hold on! Let's talk about this!"

He's about to say something else when Samindi hear a zip, like a bee moving past at incredibly high speed. Leonard suddenly jerks and stumbles, his hand coming up to his shoulder.

A moment later, Samindi hears the crack of a gunshot. Leonard pulls the hand away from his shoulder and stares at his palm, slick and bright with crimson, in amazement.