The sound was awful, shriller than any alarm clock that he’d slammed his hand on the snooze button of at 6am when he’d only had very little sleep. He wished he had something, anything, to plug his ears and block out the sound. Instead, all he got was a headache he wished would piss off. But his headache was truly the last of his worries when he was actually a bit lost. He’s barely been in this town a week and it wasn’t exactly like Cheyenne was a tiny little town. He wasn’t even bad with directions, he’s just still getting used to this place and familiarizing himself with his surroundings. So instead of making his way back to the country club like he intended, he found himself wandering while looking looking for his new home.
He didn’t hear the woman’s shouts to him over the loud siren, but he certainly felt the hand on his shoulder. His mind automatically jumped to the worst concluding, and assuming it was a walker, he jumped back and pulled his knife out of his belt to brand in front of him. When he realized it wasn’t a walker, he let out a sigh of relief and dropped his arm. “Shit, sorry, thought you were dead.” He yelled it to her over the alarm that still had not managed to quiet down. He gave her a once over as he tucked his knife back into his belt, coming to the realization that he had seen this girl in town before, but had never actually spoken to her, nor did he know her name. He only hoped that maybe she’d point him in the right direction home.
As she described her brother, he shook his head and he felt a pain in his chest thinking about the fact that she couldn’t find her brother. He knew exactly what that felt like, worrying about someone and being unable to help, especially someone so close. “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him. But I’m guessing he looks similar to me from behind if you mistook me for him.” He yelled back to her, a half smile appearing on his face. While he most wanted to just head back to his camp and make sure his friends were safe, he had never been able to turn down someone that needed his help. Carter certainly couldn’t just look the other way and ignore the fact that there was a deaf boy somewhere around that would have no clue of the danger coming his way
“I’ll help you find him so you can warn him about the alarm. He definitely can’t be walking around with no idea.” The fact that he had to yell over the siren was definitely going to do nothing good for his vocal cords by this time tomorrow. “I’m Carter, by the way. Is there somewhere your brother would normally be this time of the day or anywhere he goes during his down time? Or any chance that he’s just headed back to where he’s set up camp?”
Estupida, Luz thought to herself. She knew better than to approach someone from behind like that. Even if it HAD been Sherman instead of this man, it was still stupid. As much as she was touted for her intellect, she still had that one weakness--the berserk button--that made her throw reason out the window every pinche time: her brother. She hadn’t been lucky like he had, to get to see their mothers one last time, his grandparents, her abuelos. All she had left of her family was Sherman and there was no Luz without family--no Luz without her big brother. Despite his journey and newfound INDEPENDENCE she still worried about him every time he left the capitol; it took great self control not to be paternalizing to him ( how could she not want to keep him safe? ). It was the same for Aiden, Adalene--anyone who meant something to her no matter their capabilities.
“You wouldn’t believe how much I get that.” Luz quipped, hands open in front of her, an uneasy smile pressing her cheeks high. “Not dead though. Not a raider and not dead.” Shifting her weight over each foot, bending at the knees only slightly in an athletic stances, she continued. “Super friendly thought and, like, not a threat.” The frown broke through her tentative smile. “I was--I thought you were...someone else.”
“Uhh, not really.” Luz laughed, letting herself relax a little, hands falling naturally to her sides. “No, just like--from behind, you know? Same build, white dude, darkish hair. He’s got bigger eyebrows and a, uh--” Different face? “He’s kind and smart and he used to be a modern dancer, you know? So he moves like one, right? All graceful and shit. And he’s sort of shy.” Luz’s face scrunched up briefly as the insinuation dawned on her. “Not that you move like--like a bull in a china shop or something. You probably move around just fine, but he’s just like turbo graceful.”
For someone who was used to speaking a lot, though she had seemed to be taking a sabbatical from chattiness since Sherman had come and gone, Luz could already feel the hoarseness rasping at the back of her throat--fatigued from the competition with the siren. “Dude, I am OVER the--” and in prediction of the invocation of its name, the siren stopped. “Wow.” The corners of her lips turned downward, the line between them making an upside down ‘u’ as she gazed around them. “That’s freaky.” As the din of the siren began to leave her ringing ears, Luz looked back at the man with concern. “I’m Luz.” She offered, holding out a hand. “And yeah, I don’t know. He wasn’t at camp, you know? So he’s probably scavenging, but like--I don’t know where. I mean, I hope the offer still stands even though--” Brows still knitted tightly together, the crease between them deepened as she gestured around them. “--you know, like, the fire drill is over.”
