ALIVE: The Aftermath Chronicles (Book 1)

Chapter 3 - F*cking Tea

Present Day

"You know what they say about you?"

The irritating, incessant voice of the girl in the jail cell worked on Ana Maria's last nerve.
A tense line to her shoulders she never quite found the skill to shake, the sheriff of the colony ignored the incessant questions coming from her prisoner.

This girl was all alone now. Her little boyfriend and nephew to their leader, Ethan, only spent the night here after breaking curfew. The two of them had a nasty little habit of breaking the rules set down by Ethan's uncle. Last night, Russell finally decided to have his nephew finally pay the price, no matter how marked down it was in comparison to anyone else who'd dare break a Richmond Hill commandment.

This little bitch, Hannah, however, was still under the sheriff's mercy until further notice. However, she acted like a bratty teenager being grounded rather than having the possibility of exile looming over her pretty little head.

Hannah blabbered on, "They say you were a crooked cop. That's what Russell says, anyways. He says that you told him you chased down and killed an unarmed man back in L.A. Said you went all the way to Atlanta on the run, but how'd ya end up here?"

"It's true," Ana Maria replied with an eerie calm as she toyed with a pistol she slowly loaded, with her back half turned to Hannah, "I killed a man in L.A. I killed a lot more men after that. Women too..." Ana Maria glares at her over her shoulder, "That's how I ended up in Georgia during the fall. Been a while since I got my kicks in. Little white Susans are the most gratifying to kill, really. I'd give anything to shut up an annoying fresh mouth permanently."

An implication, not lost on Hannah played between the two females and it irked Ana that it didn't seem to rattle her much. The colony's own little loud-mouth, Hannah made it a point to counter anything she could, to push the limits. Ana Maria noticed she got off on it. Ana would look for any opportunity she could to shoot the little bitch.

They've banished people from the colony for far less than what Hannah pulled tonight...and killed them too behind closed doors...then dumped them over the walls for the zeds to have.
Holstering the weapon into the back of her jeans, where the handle stuck out over her shirt, Ana Maria rolled her eyes when Hannah nagged behind her, "I'm hungry."

"Tell you what..." Ana Maria pulls up a folding chair with chipped paint and takes her seat in front of the cell. Her boots rest flat on the seat meant for her ass, and her ass rests on the back support with ease. "You tell me how you helped in the farms this week for the food and I'll get you something from there. Anything at all. You milk the cows? Feed them? Kill a chicken? Plant some seeds?"

Hannah's hands clasp around the rusted bars of her tiny cage. She leans through as much as she can and replies, "You tell me what you did there this week and I'll try and make up something too."

Ana Maria stands, taking her time in approaching the girl as she asks, "How long do you think you're going to get away with fucking your way to the top, hmm? Is that your strategy for staying comfy, Hannah?!"

She stops before her, mere inches from her jailed opponent's face. With just them here now, it's Hannah's word against her own. Now that she was falling out of favor with Russell, Ana felt she could get away with a little punching bag session before her boyfriend got her out of here.
Hannah smiles, in that square, fake way Ana Maria noticed she revealed often in Russell's presence.

The prisoner says, "You're definitely the last person who should be judging me for that, Sheriff. Look at you, brand new, only a couple months in and walking around here with a gun full time, talking about shit you know nothing about. I've seen the way you look at him, Russell. I've seen the way you look at Kate, too, and if you think she hasn't noticed what you're thinking, then you've misread a bunch of us. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into and where this road leads...so much for being street smart."