The closer I got to him, the faster I seemed to be walking. I was furious by the time I reached him and I think that he knew that. He put down the machete and the sac of small animals that he had found and no doubt killed. There was a small part of me that wanted to kill him in that instance, we had been through so much, seen so much and had been forced to do so much I just couldn’t believe he would let Vincent experiment on walkers like that.
“Leez, you seem upset,” he said, putting his hands on his hips as he absent-mindedly kicked at the dirt in front of him.
Upset?! You’re damn right I’m upset, you big Spanish jerk! I exhale, slowly before I even try to talk to him. Since we became whatever it is that we are, we always were able to talk about things. Why was I finding it so hard to talk and not yell about this? Because it’s disgusting and I’m disappointed that we would do that shit. I shake my head.
“Is this about, Vincent?” He reaches out, running his hands over my arms. His touch is both calming and warm, but I refuse to let him win like that.
“Of course it’s about Vincent! You’re mutilating walkers? THAT’S what you two do out there?”
He draws me closer to him. Oh, he’s good. “He’s curious. I’m curious. We need to figure them out. They’re dead, it’s not like they feel it.”
“You don’t know that. Just like The Man in the Ice, we don’t know what—”
“You’re right, we don’t. But you still have been out there for the past two days staring at him. He makes you curious. It’s not like it used to be Leez, we have to teach them to be survivors not shelter them.”
“But he’s just a kid.”
“He turned eleven last month. When I was his age I was already working to help my mother. We were not all as fortunate as you were. Childhood doesn’t exist in this world, anymore.”
He kisses me on the forehead, picks up his things and starts walking back up towards the house. I watch as he goes. I look towards the lake. I am curious about The Man in the Ice. I wonder what would happen to him if we left him in there. I wonder what would happen to him if we took him out. Should we take him out?
I wonder over towards the lake and pick up Vincent’s bag. I look down at The Man in the Ice. He looks like he’s almost sleepy. His movements are pronounced and angry anymore, instead he looks like he’s just floating, minimally aware of what’s going on around him. In an eerie way, it’s almost peaceful.
Miss Burton's Class 
You DO have to do something about the Man in the Ice. Eventually, that lake will thaw. You don’t want that zombie to escape when you’re asleep or unprepared.
It’s so sad that the concept of childhood has changed–but I don’t think it has to disappear! We protect children because of an evolutionary instinct. Surely that is still present–if not stronger–in this apocalyptic new world. And you want to preserve the civilization you remember, and pass it on to the next generation! Otherwise, why struggle to survive at all?
I find him so interesting, The Man in the Ice. How does he still breath? How can water not kill them? Ugh. This world is just too strange now.
Perhaps childhood is just a fleeting illusion in this new world. Something to hope for, but in reality, never fully get.