Dead Bxdies in the Lake Part II

[MurderWeasel]

For what felt like a long time after Arizona went quiet, Darlene just stayed still, holding the girl's hand. It was probably only actually a minute or two, though. Time was something Darlene had a complicated relationship with. It was so very easy for her to close her eyes or get absorbed in an article online only to find out that an hour or more had slipped through her fingers, and yet her few attempts to just sit and do actually nothing, to have an empty mind as she watched the clock do even just one single entire revolution, had been agonizing.

She wished she had an empty mind now, but she didn't. Only one of them did, and not by choice. Darlene had felt the hand in hers loosen, and she swore she could pinpoint the exact moment that vitality had drained away. And still, she took long, slow breaths, and knelt in the dirt as the tears trickled down her cheeks, even though nobody was left to appreciate it.

To the very end, Arizona had been confident and strong in a way Darlene never could. But where had it gotten either of them? Here, this moment that neither of them would have ever chosen.

It finally dawned on Darlene that she should probably get moving.

She'd made a promise, after all, or if she hadn't uttered specific solemn words she had at least resolved that she would follow Arizona's wishes. She had to. She owed the girl so much more, but this was all she could do. But all the same, there had been gunfire, and that was five, ten, who knew how many minutes ago. She was not far from Abe and Christina, and maybe they'd fled the sounds of violence but maybe instead they'd be along any moment to check out what had happened, and that would become awkward.

It wasn't that Darlene was afraid they would abandon her if they found out what she'd done to Arizona. She was, kind of, but that was coming no matter what and she resolved to herself she would tell them herself, right away. No secrets, no hiding, no excuses, no surprises tomorrow morning. They and Arizona both deserved that much.

It wasn't that she didn't trust them either, not exactly. In most ways she trusted them, or Abe at least, more than anybody left standing. She trusted them with her life. But she did not trust them with Arizona's guns—or more specifically, she did not trust them to be alright disposing of the weapons. Darlene had seen how Christina looked when she was sharpening sticks and glancing at Abe. And Abe himself guarded his arsenal jealously. It was smart. Throwing away these guns, these tools, whatever they were, that was not a good move from a survival perspective. But of course, that didn't matter at all.

Darlene let her hand slip free from Arizona's, and she turned, glancing around the woods in case of unseen company, but there was none. Then she gathered up her own revolver from its spot on the floor, reloaded it (just to be safe, because, because despite this horrible accident she had to at the very least carry out this one last duty and nobody was going to stop her), tucked Jonah's gun into the back of her skirt, and heaped the rest of Arizona's weaponry into the girl's bag, which she slung over her shoulder.

She gave one last look at the fallen form against the tree, hoping, wishing that she was somehow wrong, that Arizona would open her eyes again and tell her to get on with it, stop waiting around and get rid of those guns and come back for another round of bandaging and some more memories. But no such thing happened.

The bags were very very heavy.

Darlene was still wheezing some as she took off deeper into the woods.

((Darlene Silva continued in Danya Baby))