Alice Munroe (ex_barebones985) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-12-19 18:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 23, alice munroe, louisa may smith, | alice and louisa may |
Week 23: Saturday
Characters: Alice Munroe and Louisa May Smith
Location: The Farmstead.
Summary: Alice gives Louisa May the guard shift walkabout, and they talk briefly of the misconceptions about Leo.
Rating: PG-13
Alice waited by the gun cabinet just off the side hallway between the living room and the stairs leading to the second floor, fiddling absently with the keys as she waited up for Louisa May. Tom had left the job of getting the good doctor up to speed on the guard shifts in her care, which she didn’t take lightly given the fact that she hardly called herself a strong guard. Sure, she knew her way around a gun and had no problem shooting someone, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing in Alice’s perspective anymore, given her past. It was why she preferred raiding or staying at home those days.
It was quickly becoming obvious to her that she wasn’t emotionally coping with everything that had happened in the move from Vegas. Everyone else around her was handling it all well, but perhaps that had more to do with the fact that they’d already had their upheavals; she had stayed in Vegas until the very end, and almost had to be dragged away from it. Even after they’d arrived at their new home, things still hadn’t settled down. She couldn’t find solace anymore, and it affected everything she did.
The sudden rush of cold air from the front door opening derailed her train of thought however, and she turned toward Louisa May’s advancing form, giving a polite smile.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” Louisa May replied, wincing. She’d pulled her knit cap over her ears, but that didn’t stop her cheeks and nose from immediately feeling the cold as soon as she’d stepped out of her trailer. “So... you ready to go? If I get warmed up again, it’s just gonna be twice as hard to get back out there.”
“Yeah, sure,” Alice said with a nod, slipping the key into the lock on the cabinet and pulling out two guns for each of them. “These keys are typically kept in Tom’s room. The guns are kept locked up at all times, except for personal weapons. That’ll be your own responsibility.” She gave the other woman a weary expression; the words were obviously somewhat rehearsed, and Alice felt a little stupid saying them. “You don’t have to use your own weapon during duty, though. We’ve got plenty here to work with, and most are better for long-range anyway, since the goal is to stop people from getting too close.”
Louisa May pointed the gun at the ground, checking the chamber to see if it was loaded and making sure the safety was on. She looked up at Alice. “We keep it out at all times, or on our backs, or what?”
Alice cracked a more genuine smile. It seemed obvious that the whole speech was a bit pointless. “It’s a two-hour daylight shift. I’d say work within your comfort level.”
“Right. Good thing this has got a strap. My daddy’s shotgun is heavy as shit, and I was not lookin’ forward to carrying that thing around for two hours a pop.” She swung the gun strap around her shoulder, letting it hang solidly down her back and nodding her head. It was cold as hell outside, but the sun was shining and she was looking forward to stretching her legs a little. “Let’s do this thang.”
****
It didn’t take much time at all for Alice to show Louisa May the routes the guards walked as they watched the house. It really did suck that they weren’t able to set up a camera system so everyone could stay warm within the confines of the house rather than trudge through the cold for two straight hours, but it couldn’t be helped. Once they’d made a full circuit around the house and walking paths, they stopped near the back entrance through the parlor.
“Daylight shifts are pretty standard. We don’t really need to use the walkies on the property, since a gunshot is pretty damn loud and would probably get everyone in the area running if they weren’t expecting it,” Alice explained. “We’re still planning on how to make this more efficient by springtime. Possibly some sort of alarm system, probably some sort of watchtower. Depends on if we have enough manpower and materials.”
Louisa May nodded. “Makes sense to me,” she said, her face hurting a little as she talked. “You think I’ll be close enough to the trailer in case an emergency happens, or should I carry a walkie with me? Seems like we’d be in shoutin’ distance as well, but you’d probably know better than me.” In emergencies, real ones, time was of the essence -- but she couldn’t stay chained to her trailer day in and day out.
Given the fact that Louisa May’s number one job was keeping them all from falling apart, Alice had a moment of conflict. She chewed her lip viciously in thought, her eyes darting to the doors on the house as she shifted on her feet.
“I’ll have to see what Tom thinks,” she said slowly. “But... I think we could probably allow for a walkie in the kitchen for emergency-use only to get a hold of you while you’re on guard shift.”
“Those extra thirty seconds can sometimes make all the difference,” Louisa May replied. She’d certainly seen enough of that in her time in the ER, and the thought sobered her. “Molly caught a lucky break, and it’s because I could talk Ana through what needed to be done.” She didn’t want to claim full responsibility for Molly’s recovery, of course, but time was certainly a factor there.
Mentioning Molly was sobering, and Alice nodded in agreement. It was almost terrifying to think how easy it was to still die, after all they’d all been through. Alice’s hand drifted up to hang loosely over her shoulder, her palm resting over the four layers that hid her own brush with death. She’d been lucky, too.
“I’ll make sure it’s done.”
“Okay, thanks,” Louisa May replied, nodding. “That’d make me feel better, I know that much.”
Alice nodded again, hesitating for only a moment. She needed to get back in the house and do her own chores, and definitely touch base with Tom about the walkie-talkie thing, but she felt strange just dumping all the information on Louisa May about how to be a guard and then just... leaving her to it. Capable or not, it felt too much like putting water wings on a little kid and then throwing them into the deep end of the pool with hopes that all would be well. Should I walk with her a bit? Just for the first day? she asked herself.
There was something Louisa May had been meaning to say to Alice since Christmas -- and she figured this was an opportunity to say it. When she wasn’t Alice’s doctor, or therapist, just... a fellow guard.
“Before you go in...” She bit her lip, and then put on her big-girl pants and just plowed right into it, awkward or no. “I just wanted to say that I’m the first to admit when I’ve made a mistake about somebody. And I wanted to let you know... that I jumped to conclusions about Leo. And I was wrong.” She paused. “I could tell when I was checkin’ out Walker on Christmas, and he... well... I’ve handled my fair share of people that take issue with me bein’ their doctor. And he wasn’t one of them.”
The way she phrased it made Alice’s brow furrow with confusion. “Take issue how, exactly?” she asked, her eyes scanning the doctor’s face for some sort of clue as to why she was being so cryptic.
Louisa May felt incredibly awkward at having to be more explicit. “Let’s just say that some idiots don’t like the idea of being treated by a black woman.” She lowered her eyes, looking at the snow covering the tops of her boots.
Alice’s eyes widened. “What?” she blurted, still floored by the statement. “Wh-- Leo’s-- Why would Leo care?” She started to say something more, about how he’d wasted no time mixing up with her and she most certainly wasn’t a white girl by any means, but she bit the words back. In the history of her short four years in public school and then onward in her adult life, there was no denying that her ‘color’ issue didn’t have the same weight and merit. She didn’t want to touch that argument with a five-foot pole.
“Because he’s a Seven? Like the ones that tried to lynch Derek?” Louisa May paused, her cheeks flooding with sudden heat. “I mean... he’s not like the ones that did that, but I thought he would be.”
It took all Alice’s effort not to scowl. So Derek’s the one behind all this crap. Why am I not surprised, she found herself thinking. “He’s not a racist,” she said slowly. “It would’ve come up. And we wouldn’t’ve let someone like that stay with us. I’m not exactly white bread myself; if he was that extremist, I’d’ve been picked off, too. I saw what some of those assholes did to the Latinos on the news, killin’ and blaming ‘em for bringing the flu here.”
“Yeah, well, Derek told me that the Sevens that tried to string him up were goin’ on and on about KKK shit, and that they were targeting black people, so I ought to watch my back.” She paused, knowing that Alice had mentioned she didn’t trust Derek or believe his story -- which had been quite a sore point for Louisa May at the time. “So when you said that a Seven was gonna be living with y’all...” she shrugged. Alice knew the rest of what had happened.
Alice ran the back of her gloved hand over her forehead, her eyes drifting off over Louisa May’s shoulder. It was easier than having to look her in the eye. “Derek’s been shouting about the Sevens since we first met him in Vegas. I never knew the details.” And with his attitude, I wonder if it really had anything to do with his skin, she found herself thinking, just barely holding back the words. “I’m not sayin’ he doesn’t have a right to be paranoid, considering Leo showing up, but I was almost killed once myself. Twice, if you wanna get technical. I’m not looking over my shoulder expecting to be followed. Leo didn’t follow us because he wanted to kill us; he wanted his friends back. We were his friends.”
“I know you don’t care for him very much,” Louisa May replied quietly, “Or believe his story. But I do. And he does have the right to be scared, and angry and uncomfortable too.” She bit her lip. “Look. I don’t want to get into it with you when I’m trying to correct a misunderstanding on my part. I’m just sayin’ I’ve had a chance to talk with Leo, and I don’t think he’s like the ones that gave Derek trouble. That’s all, really.”
The younger woman’s eyes resettled on Louisa May after a moment, her face suddenly flushed with the realization of what just happened: Louisa May had apologized to her about jumping to conclusions about Leo, but why should she have had to in the first place? Shouldn’t she have been apologizing to Leo directly?
“You don’t have to apologize to me,” Alice said, the words a little rushed. “I’m glad you guys cleared the air, though.” I wish Derek would, the jerk, she added inwardly.
“Okay,” Louisa May replied. She hadn’t wanted Alice to think she was still scared of Leo, and even though they might not ever see eye to eye about how seriously to take Derek’s experience, Louisa May figured that was something the other woman might not ever fully understand, and it certainly wasn’t her fault. She nodded her head. “Okay. Thanks for showing me the ropes, Alice.”
Alice nodded in answer, her smile hesitant as she headed up the steps to the parlor door. The whole thing had been extremely awkward and uncomfortable, and she had no idea how to handle what had just happened.
“I’ll see you after, maybe,” she said over her shoulder once she’d hit the top of the steps. Probably not to talk more about her own issues, but at least to check on her healing progress or whatever else.
“Sure, yeah, I’ll see you around.” Louisa May adjusted her shoulder strap and began to make the rounds for a second time.