Law and Tara were plunged into an awkward silence after Margaret took her leave, the only sound was the occasional creak of the trailer and the noise of people talking outside. The redhead stood with crossed arms, leg bouncing nervously as she tried to think of something to say, anything to break the tense air that sat between them. He really wasn't one to start off conversations, and he wasn't about to start now. Though, he was still interested in the supplies they had available.
Instead of partaking in the awkward glances that Tara seemed to be sending in his direction, all the while tucking her hair over and over again behind her ear, Law let his gaze mingle over the counters again, then past the redhead to the curtained room where the medications apparently were. He pushed off from the counter and began walking back there, which apparently brought Tara from her silent funk as she hurried to grab his arm.
"Hey, you're not supposed to go back there." She warned, though her words slowly became quieter until the last word was little more than a mutter. When he stopped to turn back and look at her curiously, she let go of his arm quickly, wringing her hands out of nerves. "I'm uh…I'm the only one who's allowed behind there." She finished with a stutter.
"Says who?" Law challenged, raising a brow.
"Margaret. She doesn't want people stealing the medication, so I'm the only one allowed…back there." Tara explained, shrugging with an embarrassed laugh. "But, I guess that rule was more for the people who weren't 'medically trained'…like me." She air quoted, mocking her own self-description. Not once did her brown eyes meet his for more than a split second.
Law could practically see the woman sweating where she stood. This girl's nerves certainly ruled her, perhaps more than was healthy. By the looks of it, she knew it too, but didn't quite know how to combat it.
Had he trusted her more, he would have felt a bit more sympathy. But he didn't. Shrugging at the given explanation, he continued closer to the curtain. "I'd say I'm the exception to that rule."
"D-did Margaret say you could?" She asked, watching as he pulled the curtain aside and stepped into what had once been a bedroom area.
His eyes took on a mischievous glint, but he didn't turn to look her way. "Well, she didn't specifically say I couldn't."
Law stepped further in, inspecting the walls with interest. It was obvious the trailer had been customized with the walls of shelves that were installed in the side, holding bottles and bottles of medications and creams. They were crude, and somewhat uneven, but they were sturdy and did the job.
The bed had been taken out, leaving a wide open space where he could walk into. Covering the floor was a dirty rug, probably just to fill the space and covering where the rivets had held the bed in place. As he stepped over the brown, shag material, he could feel a raised bump here and there where one of the bolts had been.
Stepping closer to the shelves, he could feel Tara hovering close behind him, no doubt fretting over what he was doing. With a minute shake of his head, he ignored her for the moment and reached out for the closest bottle on the shelf.
"I just…organized those, if you don't remember." Tara mentioned, silently asking him not to touch it.
"Relax." Law said, sighing deeply as he turned the bottle over to see the back. Where they'd gotten intense probiotics and some of the more specific medications was beyond him, but he was undoubtedly impressed by their stock of medicine. His fingers drifted lazily over the bottles, recognizing some brands names and others being unfamiliar to him. All the while Tara stood behind him, fretting constantly. He could almost feel her uneasiness, the thick awkwardness in the air, it was stifling.
"Don't…steal the medication." The words themselves were decisive, but the way her voice wobbled, hesitating halfway through, told him that even if his intentions were to take it for himself, there wasn't a god damn thing she'd do about it. Besides maybe scream. Or cry. Or both. He couldn't quite tell.
Setting the bottle in his hand back on the shelf, he turned to glance her way. "If I were stealing things, trust me, you wouldn't know about it."
Tara opened, then closed, then opened her mouth again, searching for some kind of response to that. She wasn't sure if that was a joke, or if he were being serious. Law's expression gave nothing away, and he went back to inspecting the labels again.
"Some of these…are specialty name drugs." He discovered, picking up and replacing bottles as he moved down the shelf, his opinion of the makeshift infirmary growing as he looked over their stock. "How in the hell did you find them?"
It took a moment for her to recover from his last disclosure, frowning at his sudden change in topic, but explained anyways. "The men bring them back from scavenging trips. Most came from the old hospital in town…but you'd have to ask them." Tara admitted, rubbing at the sides of her arms in discomfort. She teetered back and forth on her heels, watching him peruse their inventory.
"Um…" She started again, biting at her lower lip uncertainly. Law resisted the strong urge to roll his eyes, quickly losing patience with her personality already.
"What?" He asked, none too gently. The outburst practically made her flinch.
"What kind of doctor were you?" She asked in a rush, as if getting the question out quicker would somehow ease the tension. "Like, a dermatologist? Or, a dentist? Wait, are dentists called doctors at all?"
"Cardiothroacic Surgeon." He repeated for the second time that morning. Ah, that's right. She was only slightly medically trained. And by slightly, he really meant barely. Seeing the confusion at the medical terminology, and the upcoming question, he added, "Chest and heart surgeon."
Laymen's terms seemed to be the only way to speak to her, as the confusion immediately clear away. "Ah, right."
Then, feeling frustrated, he shook his head slowly. "What medical student doesn't know what those terms mean?"
Tara's face flushed, and she proceeded to bite her lip again. "Um…it's been several years since I took that class…I don't remember a whole lot, honestly."
"Maybe you should have asked them to try finding you a medical book to study from." He muttered, wondering just how many people had died due to her negligence in the past. If she didn't even know what cardiothoracic meant, how would she have known how to treat something involving it?
"Yeah, I tried that. They did find one, awhile back…" She frowned, thinking hard as she walked over to the counter, pulling out a drawer and producing a thick, stout book of folding, bending, and creased pages. "But it's almost unreadable to me. I can't understand most of what it's saying."
Tara brought the book over to the medication room again, opening to the middle so Law could see for himself. He read a few sentences, skipping over the page to get the gist of what it contained. It was a coding book, used for reimbursement purposes. While it didn't explain what the procedures were, it occasionally had diagrams for certain codes that were more common than others.
"Take away some of the specific terminology and these are pretty basic words." He raised a brow in her direction. "Do you know what a stent is? Or a tourniquet?"
Wordlessly, she shook her head, her cheeks growing a bit red from embarrassment.
He couldn't resist rolling his eyes this time. "How have you managed to keep anyone alive this far without knowing the easiest of medical concepts?" His words were hurtful, he knew, and she must have taken them that way, because she seemed to retreat even further into herself than she already had been. If that were even possible. Any smaller and she'd implode.
"Well, they seem easy to you because you learned them for years!" Tara shrugged, sighing as she closed the book with a snap and replaced it back in the drawer. "Look, I'm not a doctor, ok? And I never will be. I get that. But if I had a teacher or some way to learn the stuff, I could actually start using those skills…somewhat…"
Law noticed the opportunity she subtly presented him with, to offer to teach her the terms since he was a doctor, but he didn't feel that inclined to help her. He felt no obligation to Tara, nor to the group, besides feeding them and giving them a place to stay they hadn't done anything to gain his favor.
He nodded silently, as if agreeing with her statement, but didn't indicate that he was the answer to her problems. She looked disappointed, but said nothing more. She said nothing about the insult to her before, shying away from him to put some distance between the two of them. Law almost felt the inclination to say something, before there was a knock at the door and a man stepped through the trailer door, peeking inside in search of Tara.
"Hey, Tara? Think you could look over those stitches you did a few days ago? Just want to make sure I haven't popped them or anything."
Law sighed quietly, knowing that now was the time his skills would be critiqued, whether he wanted them to or not. Tara, taking a moment to gather herself once more in front of her companion, sent a small smile his way, gesturing to the man as she took a step back, calling to the man who approached the two of them.
"Law's an actual doctor, so I'll let him look it over for you."
The day passed by slowly, and Law found that the encampment was much too small for his liking. He felt cramped, despite having much more room to wander around in than they normally had while on the road. Small apartment bedrooms were a favorite of his, since they had little else in terms of choices for places to stay sometimes. But they were small, and Law had almost become accustomed to the tight spaces.
Still, the throng of people wandering about, doing their jobs, was still a bit dizzying. While he himself had nothing to do, and he'd spent most of the day doing just that, nothing, the hours ticked by at a snail's pace as he watched other go about their business from his spot by the fire pit. Seeing so many in one place…still amazed and alarmed him.
While he wasn't specifically a psychologist, or a neurologist, or dealt exclusively with mental health issues, he'd seen plenty of patients with such afflictions, he knew the symptoms, the signs. It suddenly occurred to Law that he was exhibiting similar behaviors. PTSD-stricken soldiers, once they returned to the normal life back on the home front, would often still feel as though they were at war, despite knowing they were already home. Perhaps his extreme distrust of others was something akin to the patients he'd seen as a doctor.
Someone passed close behind him, and he had to resist the urge not to round on them with his sword drawn, feeling a sharp shiver run down his back. Then, clenching his fist as he realized where he was, and that his sword was nowhere near his person, he forced his muscles to relax back into the chair. Now was not the time to flip out in front of a crowd of strangers. The person looked at him curiously, raising a brow as they dropped a few more logs onto the unlit fire, before walking away and leaving him be.
He'd officially run out of things to look at a few hours after Law had left the infirmary, tired of being both hounded and annoyed by the resident 'medic,' if he could even call her that. The constant shadow behind him, coupled with a multitude of medical-related questions, combined with her wishy-washy attitude, had him grinding his teeth in silence after only half an hour. And all he'd been doing was redoing a man's stitches. If her stitch work was anything to go by, she had a lot to learn about helping to bring people back to good health, that, and how to properly talk to other people.
The sky was darkening by the time Shachi and Penguin returned from meeting the repair crew, and they both had these huge smiles on their faces, talking quietly between themselves as they waltzed up to their leader.
"Law! Did you know that they have a garden further up the hill?" Shachi stuck a thumb out over his shoulder, gesturing in the general direction of where the supposed garden was. "It's got a pretty big fence surrounding it, so they don't have to worry about zombies wandering inside."
"Garden, huh?" He nodded absentmindedly, somehow unable to tear his eyes away from the cold fire pit. There was nothing amusing or interesting about the cold pile of ashes, but the urge too look away was trumped by some strange pull to stare in the exact same spot just a bit longer.
Penguin sat beside him on the next chair over, letting out a sigh, as if they'd been working all day and this was their first rest so far. "Ah, yeah, it's pretty cool. You should see it sometime. And the girls working over there are pretty hot too-"
"Not like they'd be interested in you or anything." Shachi teased, taking the chair on the opposite side.
"Oh, shut up! You were the one freaking them out."
"Was not."
Law sighed deeply, letting his thin patience with that whole string of conversation be known, and the two of them knew better than to keep bugging him about it. Chances were he'd just get up and walk away to find some peace and quiet, so they both stopped talking about it.
"So, where did Margaret take you?" Penguin asked curiously, crossing his legs at the ankles, leaning back in his chair. "We haven't seen you all day."
"The infirmary." He answered shortly, feeling a fatigue he hadn't known he'd been experiencing. Maybe the darkening sky was lulling him into a sleep he desperately needed.
"They have one?"
At Shachi's question, he nodded his head. "It's in that trailer." He said, pointing to the vehicle in particular that he'd rather not visit again if he had to. "They have quite a bit of medicine stocked up. Even I was impressed." There was no denying that.
"Nice, maybe they can take a look at this rash I've got between my legs…" Shachi itched between his thighs obtrusively.
"Aw, come on man! No one wants to see that!" Penguin cried, kicking at his friend's leg in playful disgust. Shachi laughed mischievously. Law ignored them for the most part, his mind elsewhere.
Once the sky had set, casting the sky into a deep orange, then red, until it faded into a dull blue, and finally the black night hue, someone wandered up to the fire pit and lit the logs that were there. People began to naturally congregate around the center of the camp, sitting on the dirt and talking amongst themselves, laughing and humming songs that Law didn't know the name of.
It was a quick dinner amongst the camp that night, nothing more than some vegetable from the garden, and a slice of stale, homemade bread that was more chewy than fluffy. The meat from the night before was gone, the carcass of a deer the hunters had managed to take down; a rarity. It seemed they were back to the basic, just-getting-by meal of survivors on the brink. Being used to the meager rations, Law didn't complain, but he knew that Shachi and Penguin weren't too happy with the sparse serving.
Margaret appeared sometime later, once most of the camp had already taken their place around the fire. With every group that she passed by, she'd crouch down and share a few words, making them laugh or just patting them gently on the shoulder, before moving onto the next person. Law watched her carefully, but saw nothing more than a leader encouraging her group. Though, whether this was a normal occurrence, or it was merely for his benefit if he'd happened to be watching, just to get his guard down, he couldn't tell.
Eventually, she reached the center of the camp, just behind the fire and clapped her hands together loudly, drawing everyone's attention. People quieted down enough to hear her speak, and all that could be heard after a moment was the wind and the crackling of the fire.
"Everyone!" She called, loud enough for even those in the back to hear. "Some great work you all did today, really. We've made a lot of progress on our goals."
There were a few whistles and cheers of agreement, before the black-haired woman smiled and continued speaking.
"The walls have been fully repaired from the last horde that came through, thanks to our construction team. We've also got to thank our two new recruits, Shachi and Penguin, for helping think up some new defensive ideas." She gestured to the boys up front, and the crowd began to clap enthusiastically in appreciation. They both sort of blushed and squirmed from the attention, but looked overall pleased to be singled out and praised. Law narrowed his eyes at Margaret but said nothing, holding his tongue. The clapping slowly died away, and she spoke again.
"Not only that, but our scavengers brought in a pretty good haul today. There was some extra cans and boxes of food hidden away in some apartments further east, but we'll save those for another day." She explained, crossing her arms.
"Now, there are a few other things to report. I don't like to say them, but I want you all to be aware of where we stand in terms of resources." The lighthearted mood turned a bit more solemn, and Margaret's smile lost some of it's pep. She paused for a beat, letting the attention fully sink in.
"We are still critically low on food, as you all may know. Water is still an issue too, but we've made do so far with boiling the water from the lake. I've gotten with our cooks, we counted out our stock a dozen times just to be sure." She paused, biting her lip. "We only have enough rationed out for another week or so, then we have to really start to think about what our next move will be."
There were murmurs all around him, and Law was willing to bet that even if the camp knew that things were bad, they hadn't thought it was this dire. The whispers continued, and Margaret let them, as if waiting for someone to begin yelling or cursing, something Law was half expecting to happen, but nothing did.
"I wanted to make you all aware, so we can plan accordingly. I'll be planning more scavenge missions, and I may send some people out who aren't used to this sort of thing. We need as many people as we can searching for food, seeing as our garden can only produce so much at a time."
The murmurs began to die away, replaced instead by nodding heads and shrugs of noncommittal agreement. No one was opposed with anything Margaret said, and there were no outbursts of rage or fear.
She surveyed her people, sighing as her smile reluctantly returned into something warmer than before. "I'd really appreciate all of you to work your hardest, to bring the most you can for the benefit of our group. We aren't going to be able to go on unless we all do our part. But for tonight, enjoy your meal, get some sleep, and get ready for a busy day tomorrow!"
And with that she nodded mutely and began to walk in his direction. He narrowed his eyes but watched as she approached.
"I heard from Tara today. She said that while you can be a bit of an ass," Law raised a brow at that one, "your medical expertise is invaluable and that we should try to keep you around." Then, she turned to the other two with a wide grin. "Same with you two! We could use minds like yours."
"So…" Shachi started, waiting hopefully for her to go on. She placed a hand on her hip and leaned on one leg, her smile widening once more.
"You're free to stay! All I need is the go ahead from you boys and we'll get you set up in your own little trailer. There's a few empty ones that don't have residents yet."
"Sweet!" Penguin said, fist bumping his friend in excitement. Law said nothing, a fact that Margaret didn't overlook, but she said nothing and walked off towards one of the trailers as conversation resumed amongst the people. Law's eyes followed the black-haired woman until she disappeared behind the closing door of the trailer, supposedly turning in for the night. He sat thinking about her words, frowning slightly out of habit. It was his tendency, something Shachi and Penguin were always quick to point out, that he always scowled when in deep thought, as if to dissuade others from disturbing him.
Either way, judging from the words of their gracious host, it seemed that their miracle of a 'new home' wasn't as remarkable and steadfast as they'd first come to believe. Regardless if they'd been accepted to stay.
As soon as they returned to the guest trailer, Law returned to the bedroom in the back, where his pack of stuff was still mostly packed. Rarely was it ever completely or even mostly unpacked, given that most places they crashed were very temporary and there was always a good chance they'd have to leave in a hurry. He stuffed the few items that had been taken out back in with the others, zipping it closed with a sigh.
He could hear Shachi and Penguin talking quietly in the trailer behind him, seemingly oblivious to what he was doing. He knew they wouldn't like what he was about to say, but it needed to be said. It needed to be heard. Still, he couldn't help the unenthusiastic sigh that escaped his lips.
When he turned back and slung the bag over his shoulder, Shachi and Penguin were already lounging on their beds, obviously tired from a long day of exploring the camp. He stopped just outside the curtained bedroom, letting them have just another second of peace. He truly didn't want to do this, to crush their hopes for something good, but his cautious nature prevented him from just accepting things the way they were.
Penguin must have felt him standing there, because he turned and saw their leader standing in the doorway with the bag in hand. "What's up, Law? Going somewhere?"
Shachi looked his way as well, curious, and Law sighed again as he glanced between them both in turn.
He didn't necessarily have to do this, either. He could turn around right there and then, put his bag down, pretend nothing was wrong, and let them sleep. He could say nothing, go against his better judgement and ignore the screaming in his head for once. Ignore the urge for them to keep moving.
But the desire to stay one step ahead was too much, and the words were out before he could stop them.
"I don't think we should stay here."
Silence.
Even more silence.
It was difficult to read their expressions from beneath their hats, but their uncharacteristic lack of words was more than enough to tell him what they must be thinking. The seconds stretched into dozens as he waited for some sort of response, until finally Shachi turned to his friend, and they shared a silent look of their own.
"Why?" Shachi's sudden question pierced the thick air, and just from that one word alone Law could hear the despair and disappointment that he tried to hide in his voice, trying and failing to hide from him, their friend. The hurt he was trying to keep at bay for Law's benefit.
"No matter how much I've tried, or wanted to, I can't trust these people." He explained, shaking his head slowly, looking away in what was closest to shame or disappointment in himself. "There's this feeling of dread and…I can't shake it."
More silence, and Penguin pursed his lips before taking a deep breath. "We just got here, Law. Of course we're going to feel suspicious. We don't know who they are yet, it just needs time."
"We were watching them the whole day, just to make sure nothing was fishy." Shachi supplied, crossing his arms with a shrug as he leaned back against the trailer wall. "Not once did they seem like they were hiding something. Not once."
"That doesn't mean they aren't."
"But it is a pretty good indication that they're good people." Penguin frowned now, holding up his hands incredulously. "Good people don't have secrets. Good people don't have to act like everything alright, because it actually is."
"You said you can't trust them?" Shachi started, shrugging with a small shake of his head. "Fine. But that doesn't mean that we can't. They have yet to give me reason to distrust them, honestly."
"Do you actually feel safe here?" Law gestured towards the camp, glancing back and forth between them, willing them to understand where he was coming from. "You've known these people for a day and suddenly you owe them your loyalty? Your lives?"
"They saved our lives. We were starving not 24 hours ago." Penguin reminded dully, his mood gradually worsening as the conversation continued. "What makes you so sure they're dangerous anyways?"
With pursed lips, Law paused a moment. "I have a bad feeling about this place. I can't explain it much more than that. It's just…a feeling." Apparently, this wasn't the answer he'd been wanting to hear, because he stood to confront their leader.
"You want to uproot and leave on a hunch?" Penguin's volume rose in conjuncture with his anger. "You want us to go back out into the outside, where we are never actually safe, where we almost starved, because you had a bad feeling!? When do you ever have a good feeling about anything, huh?"
Shachi tried to interject, looking decidedly uncomfortable with the tense atmosphere. "Maybe we should at least hear what he has to say, you know?"
Without even looking his way, Penguin scoffed. "Like hell!"
Now Law frowned, frustrated that they didn't seem to be understanding his concern. Why was he getting so angry about this? He cocked his head with a petty sneer, retaliating to the mocking tone his friend had adopted. "We were never rooted here in the first place. What, a few pretty girls are around and suddenly logic goes out the window?"
"That's fucking bullshit and you know it."
Law growled, fed up with having to argue about this, throwing an arm out to gesture to the entire area around them. "This isn't our home!"
"It damn well could be!" Penguin practically shouted, uncaring that others may be able to hear them outside.
"Hey! Guys, enough!" Shachi stood now, standing between his two friends to try to cool the situation down a notch. He held his hands out to either side, stopping them from tearing at each other's throats, as if they actually would, and scoffed. "What the hell's with all the fighting? What happened to being friends, huh?"
"I'll tell you what happened." Penguin dropped his voice low in a menacing manner, sticking an accusing finger in Law's direction. "I've put up with his bullshit for too long. I'm sick and tired of having to follow wherever he leads us! When have we ever gotten a say in what our next move was? When did he ever ask us, 'do you want to keep wandering around the country for two fucking years searching for absolutely nothing!?'"
"Penguin-" Shachi started, but he just kept talking like his friend hadn't said anything at all.
"Now, we find other survivors, good people, and the first thing you want to do is leave?" He let out a harsh breath, his anger getting the better of him. "Are you trying to get us killed?"
"I'm trying to keep us alive!"
"Well, a great job you've done so far!" Penguin tossed up his arms, turning and walking a few steps away from Law, too fed up with his reasoning to continue looking at him. "If it hadn't been for them, we'd already be dead!"
Law said nothing, seething but growing gradually more saddened with every second that passed, every accusation that Penguin sent his way. Each one stung like a physical stab to the chest, a kick to the stomach.
Was this really how they felt? Like he'd dragged them along for the ride, all those two years of being out on the road? Even in his frustration, he knew that Penguin had a point. Throughout the entire time, he'd always had the mindset of the collective good of the group, not taking into account what the both of them would want. Had they ever been really content surviving alongside him? Was he the only one who thought things had been fine, just the three of them?
How disillusioned was he?
Law looked to Shachi, noticing he'd been relatively quiet throughout the exchange, and he seemed to be directly in the middle in terms of opinion. At least, that's how it appeared.
"What do you think, Shachi?" He asked quietly, controlling his tone carefully, to come off as neutral as possible. Still, Penguin couldn't help but bite back one last dig.
"Oh, now you ask what we want."
Besides a narrowing of eyes, Law had no other reaction, still looking to Shachi to hear what he had to say. The redhead chewed his lip uncertainly, but Law waited patiently. It was the least he owed him.
"I…" He started, glancing between his two friends with dread. Penguin's expression held nothing but the bottled up frustration finally being let loose, while Law was unnaturally neutral, intentionally keeping the emotions from his face so as not to sway his opinion. That was almost worse, really. "I think…we can't keep going on forever by ourselves. This is an opportunity we can't waste. We can make this our home, with other people, rebuild what we used to have before the world fucked itself up." Shachi eventually reasoned, pleading with his eyes for Law to understand, but the leader couldn't hold his gaze for more than a moment. "Isn't that what we've been looking for this whole time? A way to fix things? Some way to make things normal again, if even just a little?"
"…" Law said nothing. He wasn't used to them fighting back against a decision, against what he'd already decided was the best plan of action to keep them safe and alive, and it wasn't easy, especially when he had half a mind to let them have this victory. He wanted them to have a place to call home, just as much as he secretly craved something of the same sort. Traveling from one place to the next, to the next, and to the next, had left him missing the steadfast walls and comfort of his old townhouse back in the city. A place to go back to every night and relax, a place he felt safe in, despite the circumstances or stresses of the day.
And yet that nagging feeling of unease remained, despite his every inclination to ignore it and turn back into that bedroom and unpack his bag. So much time had passed since that time, since he'd felt safe for more than a few hours behind the newly barricaded walls of a temporary safe house. He'd changed. They'd all changed. But perhaps not all in the same way.
"We can make this work." Shachi tried one last time, practically begging for him to understand. Penguin took a step forward, arms crossed. His anger remained, but at least it had cooled down significantly since his initial outburst.
"You know, there's always another option that we haven't put on the table yet." His words drew both of their attentions, and he glared at Law as he spoke next. "You can always leave…and we can stay here."
The silence from before returned, possibly thicker and more uncomfortable than the first. The pain in Law's chest hardened into something closer to guilt, to fear, in the face of the possibility of losing his family. Nothing in Penguin's eyes portrayed any sort of joke or uncertainty. He was deadly serious. This was not a joke.
This was the outcome that Law had feared most, had dreaded coming to. He supposed it was a partial reason for having them move around as they had those two years. Maybe the fear of having nothing left drove him to force them to stay, force them to endure the roughest way to live all that time just so Law himself wouldn't have to go it alone.
Law was not meant for groups. That much he'd gathered from being in one for a single day. His psyche was not compatible, not with a collective group mindset. But Shachi and Penguin, they would easily fit right in, having so much to bring to the table. So much they could draw from having others besides just himself…
Leaving him alone again, to take care of himself for the second time in his life. The pit in his stomach grew at just the thought.
Shachi's eyes widened, and he turned to his friend. "Are you really suggesting-"
"Yes." Penguin cut off, staring at Law to wait for his decision. "It's not like he hasn't thought of only himself this entire time. It'll make things easier this way. We've decided for ourselves, Law. We're staying." Then, he turned and stalked back to his bed, flopping onto the comforter with a thump, facing the wall so he didn't have to look at either of them anymore.
For several seconds, Law and Shachi just stood there, staring at the floor. Eventually, Law felt courageous enough to look up at his friend, wanting to know what he was thinking, but Shachi refused to look in his direction either, finally giving a loud sigh and settling back down on his own bed, facing the opposite direction as well.
Which left Law standing, bag still slung over his shoulder, as he was faced with a remarkably tough decision. His eyes gazed back and forth over his friend's resting forms, seeing the anger still pent-up in Penguin's shoulders, and the resigned slump of Shachi's. This was his decision to make now. Only for himself. He couldn't decide this for them, as they'd already mentioned.
Closing his eyes a brief moment, he willed the sorrow and the dread back into the deepest part of his mind and walked slowly towards the door of the trailer. The grip on his strap tightened as he reached for the handle, opening the door as he stepped out onto the grass, closing it softly behind him.
There was only one option, really. As much as he hated to do it…
His mind was made up.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
