Endless Recess

Eu Tu| Part 3

Everyone was uneasy.

It was a new thing, something that many if not all of them had wished for since the beginning of the outbreak.

But now that it had come true, many questions floated on their minds.

Mathew sat on a chair in his room, Hope working on the wound of his head.

It was bloody, a deep wound but gladly it didn't seem like he had broken anything, and he was glad it was the only one of his injuries.

While Hope carefully treated the wound, washing it with water, alcohol and making sure she didn't miss any spot, Mathew was trapped in his mind.

What he had almost done.

He could still feel the knife in his hand, all the thoughts from his head gone in that moment, no hesitation in his actions.

If Mason had not stopped him...

If his reflex had failed him at that moment.

If his head had been a couple of centimeters more to the right.

Today, he would have killed a man.

The door of his bedroom opened and Mason walked in.

"How is that looking?" He said at Hope.

"I'm almost done, Mason, but I think he may need stitches" She looked at him with a little concern "And I don't know how to do them"

"I'm gonna ask around, someone may" he turned around ready to leave "Let me know when you are done, I want to have a word with my brother alone" He said looking back visibly angry.

"S-sure" Hope said awkwardly.

"Thank you, Hope" he then left.

The room fell silent as Hope kept cleaning Mathew's wound.

The large cut still spilled blood at the slightest touch, and while it was just a cut, it was deep and large.

As she carefully cleaned the sides with a towel, Mathew shook in pain and squinted his eyes.

"Sorry, I know it must hurt" Hope tried to comfort him while giving him a sympathetic look "I will be done soon"

She smiled at him, but he didn't react, confusing his empty stare with fear she places a hand on top of his, resting on his leg, and squeezes it in a comforting manner.

"Don't worry, I had stitches once and it's a pain for a moment, but it's not as bad as it looks!"

"No, I- I'm not scared of the stitches-" He laughed nervously "-Kind of, I'm just, thinking about everything"

He leaned forward in an exhausting way, and let out a long sigh.

"My brother it's going to kill me"

Hope chuckled innocently and let the towel down for a moment, now grabbing his hand with both of hers.

"Mason, and everyone else, it's happy that nothing bad happened to all of you, it was all just a big misunderstanding"

"No, again, that is not the problem, I shouldn't have gotten out alone"

Now finally understanding, Hope remained silent and her smile faltered for a moment, however, she held it in place.

"What matters is that you are back, Mathew"

All this time he was looking ahead of him, to the wall, as he spoke to her.

But after a few seconds of silence, he looked at her directly in the eyes.

Hope warmth was meet, by a fierce attack of a cold so great, that it made the winter outside the concrete frame of this school feel like a mildly windy summer night.

It reminded her of Annie.

"Am I?" He asked, his grave deep voice, sending shivers down Hope's spine for the first time since she knew him.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly with a weakened voice, letting go of his hand.

"Am I back?"

The door opened again and Mason walked in once more, he looked more pissed off than before.

"Mathew, I found someone who knows how to make stitches, once you are patch up go to my room and wait for me there, I have to speak with the others"

From behind him, Annie rolled from the other side of the wall onto the door frame, her arms crossed and the smirk on her face that rarely ever left.

"You can leave mama bear" Annie said stepping forward " I will handle things in here"

Hope looked back at Mathew, who was looking away from anyone in the room, she squeezed his hand one more time to let him know that she cared and soon left with Mason.

Annie walked up to him and realized she was too tall to work standing as Hope was so she grabbed a nearby desk and pulled it close, she sat and grabbed the same utensils Hope was handling, some fabric, cotton, and a small bowl with water, a bottle of alcohol next to it.

She began where Hope left, making sure that there was not a single drop of dirt or filth inside of it.

Mathew glance at her, she looked calm and focused, with little to no interest in speaking to him.

He wondered why he felt like he wanted to tell her of it, of what he had almost done.

Eventually, she grabbed his face and forcefully turned it around, so they face each other directly, her smirk grew larger as Mathew's cheeks redden.

"It's all good" She said leaning back and releasing his face " Now for the real fun part~"

She grabbed an empty small bowl with boiled water and pulled out a needle with a string.

Mathew's heart skips a beat and quickly sinks to his stomach.

"I-its gonna-"

"Yes, it will, man up" Interrupted him.

Mathew closes his eyes as Annie grabs the nail with the string secured and leans in closer to his face, she is about to stitch the wound when she leans in closer to his ear and whispers.

"I'm proud of you"

He slowly opens his eyes and sees her smiling at him, her expression now, oddly satisfying to look at.

A loud pop sounds as Mathew feels the needle pierce his skin but realizes he felt almost no pain when it happened.

Annie then snickers joyfully.

"Should had seen your face" she says before leaning back a moment and securing her hair in a ponytail so it wouldn't bother her " Relax, usually you won't feel more pain than a usual shot for the flu"

Annie then silently began stitching the wound of Mathew, her face turning serious as she focused on getting the job well done.

Mathew now found himself incapable of looking away from her face.

It was clean and extremely pale, like the rest of her, and her jet black hair made her look, almost unreal.

With her defined facial features and dark eyes, she was truly a beautiful girl.

Soon, she pulled the string and bit it, certain that it was well placed she then pulled out a hair comb and brushed his messy hair back.

"You did well, down there with those guys"

"I did?"

"Yeah! They attacked you, so you defended yourself"

"But...they are not, bad people"

Annie pulled his hair once and looked at him.

"Why do you say that?" She asked, looking at him seriously "Because the old man knows them? because they used to part of our school?" She said as he opened his mouth " I just said I was proud of you, don't make me take that back"

"But-"

"No buts! Enough with that!" she practically yelled at him " That guy, Gabriel, do you think he would have hesitated in killing you? when you fought against him, did it gave you the impression he was holding back?"

Mathew still had the fresh memory of their encounter, and still felt the pulsating reminder of Gabriel's aggression above his right eye.

"We cannot trust them, you know what's going to happen? after apologizing like a bunch of bitches, they will beg to stay here with us, tell us about their struggle at the coliseum, how they, will die without us" She said the last with a mocking tone " None of you must have asked yourselves, How did they get out"

Her words hit him like a car crash, the last time they had looked at the coliseum, its outside was filled with the undead, so even if they were well protected, could they had forced their way out?

"And whats more important, who is to say that they were the only survivors inside the coliseum" She continued talking " They reek of bullshit"

She was right, there were a lot of important questions that had to be asked, but a part of him was convinced that someone in the group, or Mason at least, would have the same things in mind.

"They are a threat, that is what I see when I look at them"

For a moment they both remained silent, as Annie comb his hair, soon she seemed done and grabbed some bandages, immediately she began wrapping his entire forehead and right eye on them.

So many thoughts plagued Mathew's mind, that he couldn't tell what was greater, the injury, the overall pain in his body for the beating he received, or the intense headache that all of this caused him.

And from between all of them, one, in particular, stood out the most.

The image of him, on top of Gabriel, with his knife raised and ready to kill.

They should be afraid...

His thoughts attacked his entire system.

...of ME.

He closed shut his eyes with force, grabbing tightly the sides of the chair he was sitting on.

"I-" His voice was weak, and he mumbled something.

"Speak clear or don't speak at all, Mathew-" She then realized, that he was crying and shaking.

"I almost killed a man" he said in between sobs.

Annie stared at him quietly, a part of her, a great part, wished to spit on him and get out of that room.

Such weakness, it was pathetic, she hated it, and with each passing second that part grew larger.

She stood up from the chair.

And hugged him.

Because a small part of her understood.

Mathew was shocked when Annie pressed his head on her chest, gently caressing his unkempt hair.

And while for a moment he wanted to hug her and cry his eyes out, the truth was greatly different after the first few seconds had passed.

He was so pathetic, that even Annie, pitied him.

How could he be so weak, that someone like Annie instead of calling him a child and to shut up, was now comforting him?

Like if he was truly, just a kid.

The room eventually fell silent once again as Mathew stop crying.

"Nothing changes when you cry, Mathew" Annie said, a mixture of reprimand and confidence in her words " Its what keeps you from changing"

She moved his head back so they could stare at each other, he immediately tried to look away, he was ashamed and angry, but she forced him to stay in place.

"If you almost killed someone, it was because you thought it had to be done, you acted, you are adapting" her stern expression relaxed as her smirk returned.

With Mathew's hair out of his face, Annie had a clear view of his attractive features, a little feminine, and cute.

Spending time with Mathew had always felt...different for her, she was used to either vulgar and dangerous guys who wanted to ride her or egocentric jogs who felt like changing the flavor of their candy.

She felt like a tool, that's why eventually she learned to make tools of everyone else.

But with him, his naivety and shy nature, while usually disgusting and annoying, had started to rub off on her. Besides, his vulnerable expression, it felt like an intoxicating fruit she wanted to munch on all day.

Heat began rising to her face when she thought of it, his pure and innocent mind wrapped around her finger.

She smiled broadly and leaned closer to his face.

Mathew felt his heart racing at incredible speeds, hitting against his chest with furious energy, Annie's hypnotic gaze, and that smile she had never seen her done anywhere or at anyone that was not him or around him.

And when she leaned closer to his face, he wondered, if she really planned on doing what it seemed she wanted to, maybe she was just messing with him.

"You are a cutie when all that hair is not covering your face you know?" She whispered in a very sensual way.

"Y-y-you too, are very pretty, A-Annie" He mumbled, looking away.

Annie then leaned closer to his face, until they were an inch away, and at the last second, she moved his head to the side and kissed him on the cheek.

She released him and turned around, storing the medical supplies in the backpack Hope had brought them in.

"I'm done!" She said nonchalantly.

While Mathew immediately stood up and gave his back to her, too much had happened in the hour since he went out on his own.

He felt lightheaded, and somehow, all the mist in his mind had vanished, along with any thought he once had.

"Your brother wants you to wait for him right?" Annie said grabbing the backpack and going to the door " Will you be a nice child and wait for him to reprimand you?" She asked, glancing at him, the smirk on her face a challenge almost.

And while Mathew was doubtful for a moment, he smiled back at her.

Inside the dining hall, the four new students sat on one side of the room near the barricaded door that shook occasionally because of the undead, and the rest of the group seating in front of them, as if they were on trial.

And in a sense, they were.

"...I reacted in self-defense!" Gabriel said, Miss Juliet still tending to his messed up face.

Without the filth and wrappings around it, you could see a black man with bright blue eyes and dark hair in a buzz cut with long braids coming from the back of his head and over his shoulders.

His body was muscular and large, alike to Mason's, if Mathew was able to overpower him at all, it was luck and adrenaline.

"Y-yeah! Didn't you saw how he almost gutted him?!" A very nasal voice, Jonathan said sitting behind Gabriel.

He was the skinniest of the four, even more than the girl, making his bulky football gear look even funny on him, he had short hair and a pair of glasses, short and orange hair, he looks all around as his fingers play on the table where he seats.

"We are sorry, okay? you can't leave us outside with THEM anyway, right?!" A heavy-looking guy yelled.

The one Mathew had kicked in the stomach, he had a heavy complexion, with short blonde, almost white hair and fair skin, topaz eyes, and a little bit of facial hair.

He stood next to Gabriel with his arms crossed, looking menacingly at the group.

" Calm down, Owen" The girl spoke loudly " They can't throw us out"

Her face was cleaned, she was a tan girl with actually bright blonde hair, it just happened to be extremely dirty before, her eyes were dark and she had thick lips with potent purple lipstick on them, independently of her age, she was well developed.

She sat on the table where Gabriel sat, right behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders.

"Of course we won't, Audrey! We just-" Mr. Asher said but Mason interrupted him by hitting his pipe on the floor.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, he was furious.

"Of course not?!, That son of a b***h tried to KILL my brother!" He said raising his lead pipe and pointing at Gabriel.

Owen steps forward and picks up his javelin that was resting on the table.

"As if! your f*****g twisted brother almost KILLED ME! everyone saw it!" Gabriel shouted back.

"I saw you on top of him, with the knife! " Mason walked forward but Adam and Jose held him in place, they too looked at Gabriel with anger "You were trying to kill him before!"

"I had no idea of who he was! and he had sneaked up on me with his pipe raised about to HIT ME!"

"Bullshit!" Emma joined " Mat would never do something like that!"

Mathew heard the fighting as he walked down the stairs to the first floor of the dining hall, his heart was once again pumping blood at an insane speed, so he clutched his chest with one hand.

Calm down...you've got this.

As he stepped down the stairs Luca was the first one to spot him, as he was the closest one.

"Mathew!" He said rushing to him.

Everyone looked back and soon Emma and Sarah joined him at the back, the former hugging him tightly once he was within reach.

"I was so worried! are you okay? does it hurt?" She said trying to touch the side of his head where the wound was.

"N-not horribly, I will live" he said smiling a little bit.

"Damn boy! bastard got you good!" Sarah said looking at the outsiders with squint eyes.

"Mathew" Mason turned back and gave a few steps to get near his brother "I told you to wait in my room"

"Everyone is h-here, why shouldn't I?"

"Can't you even follow one simple order? go back up" Mason ordered.

"N-No" Mathew answered with some hesitation.

The small group around Mathew stepped away except Emma as Mason taking heavy steps moved closer.

"Go to my room, and wait for me there, Mathew"

"I don't want to" He looked unsure but kept going "and I won't"

"What the f**k is your problem?!" He let the anger take over " First you get out alone and then almost kill someone in the heat of the moment! What's going on in your mind?!"

"I-I'm trying to survive! I was trying to survive! isn't that what you want me to DO?"

" I already told you before! This is NOT what I meant! and going out alone is the opposite of thinking about survival!"

Mason pushed his friends away who were holding him back and walked up to Mathew, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket.

"Mason! you are taking it too far!" Sarah said walking near.

"Stop it!" Emma immediately went for Mason and grabbed his arm.

"Do you think I don't know you probably did it because of our fight? I don't know what were you thinking but if doing something so reckless and stupid was your way to prove to ME that you are not a child, you proved precisely that"

Something took over Mathew and his trembling lip and scared look changed into gritting teeth and anger.

He grabbed his brother's arm tightly, taking him off guard, with one move he forced his hand away as Ema was forced to step back.

"I can do whatever I want" He said, more firm than ever, and he rushed past Mason, bumping him with his shoulder.

As he walked up to the front even Mason's friends instinctively step away from his path, until Mathew was standing at the front of the group and facing Gabriel directly.

Both looked at each other with hatred, Owen sharing those feelings while Jonathan and Audrey looked nervously at the scene, making a little bit of distance from them.

"I don't want them in here" He said loudly, earning a few surprised gasps and looks from the group.

"What are you gonna do? throw us into the horde out there?!" Gabriel said pointing the shaking barricade behind him.

"It's not my fault you and your people wanted to kill me"

Gabriel grew furious and stood up from his seat, Miss Juliet moving away.

"Wanna end what you started?"

"I didn't start anything" Mathew gave one step forward " But I will finish it"

"Mathew!" Mason began walking forward.

"He and his group attacked me! this wound in my face is proving his intentions!" Mathew turned around and addressed the rest of the group " He was aiming to the HEAD, from the first moment we fought, he wanted me dead"

The group seems to agree with his words, nodding to each other or nervously looking at his bandages.

"but, you tried to hit me with the pipe too!" Gabriel said pointing at him.

"Then show me your face! did I break your skull? did I dislocate your jaw? No!" Mathew looked at him as Gabriel loses terrain in the discussion " I never aimed to your head, because contrary to you, I never wanted to kill you"

Gabriel felt cornered, and it started to show, meanwhile Mason stared at his brother, puzzled by this behavior he had never seen on him.

"O-okay! I panicked! I wasn't thinking straight but can you really blame me? Anyone would be on edge out there!" Gabriel scrambled to find words.

" Would anyone jump at me with a knife as I stand still? crying and looking terrified as I, bleed? " He steps forward " Would, anyone, try to finish ME, while I lay defenseless on the ground?!" He steps even closer.

And Gabriel steps back.

"There you have it!" Mathew says turning to the group " I was no longer a threat to him! they were more than I! and still, he chooses to attack me! the truth is that this person would have killed me without my brother's intervention!! and who's to say he wouldn't do it again! or to anyone else?!"

"Throw him out!" Jose said.

"All of them! We don't have food to spare!" Vanessa joined.

"They are dangerous!" Joshua raised his opinion.

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't be serious!" Gabriel said looking desperately at the group, his security and firmness gone.

"f**k this!" Owen put on his football helmet and pointed his javelin at them " And f**k THEM!"

Mr. Landon steps forward with a pipe in hand, the image of the giant quickly makes Owen think twice.

"Wait! No one is throwing away no one!" Mr. Asher said at the two groups.

"No! We can't take a risk!" Mathew spoke louder than ever " When we sleep, they may hurt us! when we need them, they may betray us! We can't do things as we would have before!" He returned his attention to Gabriel " We are living in a new world! with new rules! they have theirs and took their decision! we must take our own! and I say! THROW THEM OUT!!"

"NO!"

Everyone looked up at the second floor of the dining hall, where Annie stood, proudly staring at everything and everyone, like if it was her domain.

Mathew gave a few steps back and stared at her in confusion.

"A-Annie!" Gabriel said with a glad tone, smiling nervously as he looked at her.

"Annie!" Audrey raised her arms in excitement.

"You are alive!" Owen too looked glad or relieved.

"You know them?" Mr. Asher asked.

"Know them? they are my boys!" She said smiling with faked warmth at them.

"P-please! don't let them throw us out!" Gabriel begged.

"Everyone! Gabriel is just a twitchy nervous guy, I mean, look at him! looks like he could collapse any time soon!" She said as she walked up to the nearby stairs.

The group then looked at Gabriel, who was sweating and looked afraid, he nodded furiously.

"He just lost control of himself due to fear, despite what may seem at first glance, he is weak, pathetic even" She reached the first floor and walked calmly to the front of the group near Mathew " So much, that he will beg for forgiveness, right?"

Gabriel frowned for a moment, but then he fell on his knees and grabbed his hands in front of his head, which is touching the cold floor.

"P-please! forgive me! I swear I will never do something like that again!!" He pretty much screamed.

"See?" She said staring at the group.

Everyone remained quiet and looked at each other confused or embarrassed.

" And I'm sure Mathew was just letting his emotions get the best of him as well" She approached him and winked at him " Right?"

"...I-I suppose, yeah, I, was angry" He said, returning to his usual tone.

"There it is! there is not bad blood between them! we can't seriously consider doing something so barbaric as to throw these poor kids away right?"

The room fell silent besides for a few agreeing gestures from Hope and the teachers.

"Now, I know things are a little hot right now, so let me take these people with me so we talk" She looked at the others and gestured with her head to follow her, and like obedient dogs, they immediately walked close to her " I'm sure tomorrow things will be less awkward"

Annie began walking back to the stairs but stop for a second, looked back at Mathew, and made her message clear.

You too.

Once again, Mathew was confused, angry, and puzzled by the enigmatic behavior of Annie.

But he obeyed.

He walked next to her, as Gabriel threw daggers at him with his eyes and Mason frowned at his action.

Yet, as he walked next to her, the confidence she had, the security of her eyes.

She had something in mind, and even if he didn't know what it was.

He trusted her.