⤷ ゛𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭!⊹ ࣪ ˖🥀
♡´ˎ˗ 𑣲 The Walking Dead Game oneshot/casual writing
♡´ˎ˗ 𑣲 Troy (TWDG S2) x oc
𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔 / 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 ˖❤️
⤷ "A quiet morning in the inventory, where rations almost cause trouble and Troy, as usual, is impossible to figure out."
The storage cabin was almost entirely still.
Yana jolts awake from an unpleasant dream. Not that this was anything new. Ever since the apocalypse began, the terrors came every night. Waking up only ever felt like a temporary relief.
She wasn't sure what time it was, but judging by the quiet murmurs and slow shuffling on the outside, everyone was already awake.
She gets up involuntarily, slips into her dirty flannel, then opens the door.
The morning was eerily pleasant for an apocalypse setting. The birds were chirping loudly, the sun bathing the world in its warm rays. Howe's never seemed this tranquil. Carver's presence alone left this mark of intensity brewing inside of everyone.
Everyone was already gathered up in the inventory, waiting for the breakfast rations. The garage doors were opened wide, fresh air filling up the space. Vera was already waiting for Yana at one of the empty tables. No one ever really touched the inventory without Yana being there. It wasn't out of fear or authority. Almost all members of Howe's honored her hard work to keep the community supplied.
"Good morning, Yana.", she greeted her sweetly.
Vera was the only one Yana trusted to help with the food rations. Ever since the Howes community was founded, the two of them had been in charge of food preparation and rationing. It was much easier to do it together than to stress about it alone.
"Hi Vera. Sorry I overslept..", Yana steps behind the table, glancing up at the shelves.
Memories come flooding back. Of course. Breakfast. She blinks at the shelves, still half asleep. The routine kicks in almost instantly: her hands find the familiar boxes and crates before her mind does, and somewhere in the motion of it she finally wakes up.
Yana pulls out one box, carrying it over to the table.
"Dried fruits… sounds good.", Vera leans over, glancing inside the box.
"Didn't give those out in a while. Why not today?"
She slides the box full of packaged dried fruits over to Vera, letting her ration the food.
The two of them were working quickly. Everyone was starving after all.
While Yana is looking through the boxes, debating on what else to plate the workers for breakfast, her eyes glance up towards the garage entrance.
Troy's boots were painfully familiar against the inventory floor, firm, breaking through the morning peace like a knife through softened butter.
Despite the pleasant morning his expression never faltered. Ever so tense no matter the circumstances.
He always looked annoyed, like even breakfast was an inconvenience in his routine. He always looked like he wanted to go back to work as quickly as possible, to retreat back into his own safe zone where he had the upper hand. But among others he felt like he stood out way too much. He hated the chatter and hated the casual small talk.
He swings his rifle over his shoulders, letting himself sink down onto a crate.
Yana peels her eyes away from him, focusing on the food rationing again. She feels her boot stub against a box under the shelves.
When she ducks down she finds a box full of juice cans. Odd. She forgot she put them there after Johnny, Bonnie and Lowell picked them up on a scavenger hunt.
With a soft grunt she ducks down, picking the box up onto the table. Vera's curiosity peaks, leaning over as Yana brings the box up.
Before Yana could answer she picked up the slightly dented can, twisting it around and looking at the expiration date.
Of course it was long past the expiration date, but such minor details were almost unimportant in the apocalypse. As long as it wouldn't get anyone sick this was valuable food. And Carver was strict about wasting food.
Heavy shuffling approached the table, stopping just a few feet away. Troy crosses his arms, clearly uneasy about what Yana had dug up from under the shelves.
"Ain't you gon keep that for folk who deserve it?", he huffs, coming off particularly stingy about giving away juice for breakfast.
Of course, right now juice was almost like liquid gold. Water was the only drink anyone could afford to have. But Yana had this nagging feeling that the juice wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. The cans were aluminum, less sturdy than the tin of the food cans.
Since the outside of the cans had already started to rust she didn't want to risk missing out on the chance to taste something other than boiled rainwater again.
"Well, it's gonna go bad soon anyway… why waste it?"
Troy didn't seem pleased. When was he ever?
Yana cracks open one can, a soft hiss sounding out in the room. She leans down to smell it and to her utter luck it was fresh as ever.
"Carver won't be happy you're handing juice out to commoners.", he nags again.
Even Vera seemed to get annoyed with Troy's attitude. It was the main reason he was alone. He just couldn't get along with anyone, always poking around and scolding when things didn't fit into Carver's idea of discipline and order. She turns away from him, looking around the shelves.
"Crackers will be fine, right?", Vera asks, shifting the uncomfortable tone skillfully.
"Oh, sweet! Is that juice?", Johnny approaches the table, just about done fixing his beanie.
People gather around the table as the word about the sweet nectar spreads. The atmosphere shifts, anticipation growing. A flush crept up Yana's cheeks. Whenever people would get overly excited at good food rations she would feel flustered. Like she actually did good for once.
Vera returns with a box of raisin crackers, placing them down onto the table. Yana turns towards the crowd, calling out just a shy of loud:
The crowd at the back of the inventory seemed to be too busy with their own conversations, not paying attention to Yana's call. She frowned a little, feeling even more embarrassed. She starts helping Vera give away the fruits, crackers and juice, hoping the others would come eventually.
Troy takes his food, then turns sharp toward the group in the back.
"Grab your food, you fuckin' dickheads!" His voice hits the walls of the inventory like a slap.
He gives Yana one final glance before retreating from the chaos at the table, sitting back on the crate.
Once he leaves Vera turns to Yana.
"He can be such a brute, can't he?", she sighs.
Yana stays silent for a moment. There was something almost pathetic about it, feeling grateful that he'd done what she couldn't. She knew better than to read into it. Troy was still Troy after all.
Everyone picks up their food, then settles into their own little group. Vera and Yana settle down onto some boxes near the garage, slowly starting to eat their own food.
Yana's eyes are still on Troy. She couldn't seem to get him out of her head.
His own attention was focused on nothing in particular. He was always a bit moodier in the mornings. The lack of sleep was really starting to gnaw at his patience, making him more irritable than ever.
"You think he can change?", Yana breaks the small silence between them.
Vera looked taken aback and confused. She looked behind herself, checking what Yana was looking at. Troy seemed to notice, snapping his head toward the both of them. He looked almost embarrassed that they were staring at him.
"You mean Troy?", Vera asks, lowering her voice to an almost-whisper. She shakes her head, her brows pulling into a small scowl.
"People like Troy don't change. It's just… in his nature I suppose."
Yana didn't move for a while. She knew Vera was more than right. Troy was like a solid brick of ice that couldn't be melted no matter how much warmth you gave him.
He was born to be a brute, to enforce order and law inside the establishment. And yet there were rare moments where he felt like more than just that.
It was often only when they were alone. Without anyone around.
Yana had noticed how Troy would always retreat into the inventory after others got on his nerves, sometimes just sitting on the crates and dozing off, sometimes even napping there while she worked on the side. She would notice how he always shooed her to bed, talking her ear off about how she'd eventually get sick if she didn't sleep.
It was strange. Especially for a man who couldn't care less when his colleagues slept.
He didn't care about Bonnie. He didn't care about Johnny.
He only ever seemed to get on Yana's case when she exhausted herself too much.
The peacefulness inside the inventory only lasts so long.
When the familiar footsteps approach the room everyone goes tense. The chatter dies down almost instantly. Everyone seemed to start eating carefully and silently.
Carver enters the room, a contained smile on his face.
It wasn't the smile of someone kind. It was the expression of someone who knew how oppressive he was. Someone who knew that his presence alone was enough to make everyone tense.
"Awfully quiet, huh?", he calls out into the room, approaching Yana and Vera.
"Good morning you two.", Carver smiles even bigger now, glancing towards the table. He looked inside the boxes curiously.
Yana felt an uncomfortable knot tighten in her chest. Almost like she felt the urge to explain herself, to justify why she had handed out precious juice for breakfast. She opens her lips, a shaky breath escaping. But she gets quickly interrupted.
Troy's hand grabs onto her shoulder, stepping in front of her in a shielding manner. He knew she was about to confess, but he knew it was best to keep her mouth shut so that Carver wouldn't even think about the juice.
"Mornin' Bill. Saw some folk roaming round the perimeter last night. Thought I'd let you know.", Troy shifts the conversation, almost gracefully for his nature.
Carver wasn't blind enough to believe Troy's distraction, but he let it pass.
"Guess we have to make sure it's nothing grave, don't we?", Carver finally sighs, distancing himself from the table.
"You guys eat your food. Make sure you're done by eight. We have work to do.", he starts walking away, checking up on another group in the corner.
Yana finally exhales. Like a stone had been lifted from her shoulder. But when she looked to her side his hand was still on her, almost like he had forgotten to take it away.
He didn't speak, looked almost conflicted.
It seemed like Troy wanted to scold her for almost getting herself into trouble. Something that was so easily avoided if she just didn't open her mouth.
But then he sighed, letting his own tension pass with it.
"Thanks for the food.", he said simply, letting his hand drop from her shoulder before distancing himself again.
He places the empty can neatly into the box, crumples the plastic into the trashcan, then slings his rifle over his back and heads outside.
Yana watched the door for a moment after it closed. Vera didn't say anything, which was probably the kindest thing she could've done. The room carried on around her, the murmur of breakfast conversation blurring in the background. Yana pulled the juice can closer, trying her best to quiet the pounding in her chest. It was easier that way.
🥀´ˎ˗✎ mmm dunno Yall not so confident about my writing but I was yearning some peaceful Howe's stuff soooo
⤷ ゛𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬!⊹ ࣪ ˖🥀
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