Work Text:
Scout didn't understand a lot of things.
Normally, this was something that tended to be applied to any sort of reading he had to do for school, the type of thing where he'd be sat staring at the same piece of paper for hours on end. Not his father carrying him through a street filled with panic and chaos, too loud and busy for Scout to process.
It was jarring, to say the least. The day had been good up to this point, amazing even, his father had managed to get some time off of work to take him to get ice cream for his birthday and he couldn't have been happier. But then the screaming had started. It was just one person at first, and then there were more and more and m ore .
The crowd around them on the street had started to push and shove, nearly separating Scout from his dad. He had to drop his ice cream cone to catch up, but barely noticed in the midst of the panic making its way through the crowd.
He wanted to ask questions, wanted to know what was going on, to be able to understand why everyone was scared, but even before the writhing panic of the massive crowd had started, he could barely hear his father, and he doubted it'd be any easier now. So instead he stayed quiet, burying his face in his father's shoulder and clinging to his coat, ignoring as much of the screaming and the fear as was possible.
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Scout stood a distance away from where his father was sat. Silent tears rolling down his cheeks as he was forced to see his father for the last time. What else was there to do anyways? His father had been bit. They both knew what happened when people were bitten nowadays. It was either leave him behind to rot, or splatter his head on the pavement.
The pair knew both options were easier said than done.
So now Scout turned away, gripping his baseball bat tightly as he attempted to hide his tear-stained face in what had once been his father's coat.