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Time is All We Have (Scootaloo x Anon) [12/1/2024]

By RealDash
Created: 2024-12-01 22:03:10
Expiry: Never
scootalooanonymouseqglolipost-apocalypticapocalypse

  1. PART 1: THE OUTSIDE
  2.  
  3. >[DO NOT CO- *BZZT* NOT SAFE. OV-]
  4. >[WE NEED- *BZZT* RAIDERS ARE-]
  5. >[CAMP HARVEY IS GONE-]
  6. >[WE'RE ALL SICK. STAY AWAY.]
  7. >[*BZZT*]
  8. >There it is. That familiar feeling.
  9. >Dread.
  10. >You want to stop listening, but you're afraid of missing something.
  11. >Something that isn't someone dying.
  12. >But just as the thought runs through your head, you come across the broadcast of a woman being hacked to death; her screams quickly turn to gargles... then silence, until you hear somebody say to grab as much shit as they can carry.
  13. >It makes you sick, scared even.
  14. >But what can you do?
  15. >Well... try not to be on the receiving end, that's for sure.
  16. >But with the food you have left, it looks like that's less of a fear, and more of a theoretical inevitability.
  17. >Jesus, you sound like Twilight...
  18. >...
  19. >You miss her.
  20. >You miss them all.
  21.  
  22. __________
  23.  
  24. >It's been six months now since it all happened.
  25. >Your phone may be off-sync by at least an hour, but you've been counting the days.
  26. >Six months, ten days.
  27. >You never thought it would happen; it sounded like the stupidest fucking thing in the world, even when you were doing the most basic of prepping on the side.
  28. >Then it happened. Airborne Rabies, and all it did was speed things up.
  29. >Two weeks instead of months or years, and you were dead in the most painful way imaginable. Maybe you took a few others with you when you lost your fucking mind at the end, but...
  30. >Well, an awful way to go, either way.
  31. >You first heard about it on the news, something that started in China, no surprise. Most people dismissed it as something that would snuff itself out in due time.
  32. >Then it just kept spreading.
  33. >By the time you spent enough money for basic supplies, it was already raging across Europe.
  34. >Didn't take long to reach the States.
  35. >You'd been attending Canterlot University at the time: a fairly large, but easy-to-navigate college in the suburban district of the city of Canterlot.
  36. >You had your own dorm, fitted with a small kitchen, private bathroom, and a couple bedrooms for you and your roommates.
  37. >Within a week, that kitchen had enough food to last you almost five months. You planned on getting enough for a year.
  38. >For obvious reasons, that didn't happen.
  39. >Cut to now, six months later, and all of that precious food—veggies, meats, fruits, all in a can!—was now gone, leaving you nothing more than a couple cans that might last you another... three days, you reckon.
  40. >You were able to stretch your meager four month supply another two months, thanks to whatever was left in your neighbors' dorms when they left.
  41. >A part of you was hoping things would've cleared up by now, that the government would be rolling in any day.
  42. >Every day that passed made that seem less and less likely.
  43. >After month five, you gave up and tried to make what you had last as long as possible.
  44.  
  45. >You spent every day counting down your cans, your water, and playing your Steam games on your Deck, with chargers run by batteries.
  46. >On the days you couldn't ignore reality, you tuned into the radio, listening in for anyone who might've been on the other end.
  47. >It wasn't until now that you realized just how shit you were at rationing fucking anything.
  48. >Your food, under proper circumstances, could've lasted you nine, maybe ten months.
  49. >You didn't even make it to seven.
  50. >It was no surprise; you weren't exactly the fittest guy at the college.
  51. >But you should've known better.
  52. >But you didn't, and now you're reaching Fucked territory unless...
  53. >... Unless you go outside.
  54. >You haven't left the dorm since it all went down. You'd look out the windows every now and again, but other than a few pieces of trash blowing in the wind, there hasn't been anything worth catching your eye.
  55. >No survivors, no bodies, no fires... nothing.
  56. >Without the end of the world in mind, it looked like a perfectly normal day outside. Only thing missing was the people.
  57. >It all started just as winter was coming to an end, so you never had to worry about the cold; for the summer, whenever it got too hot, you just opened the windows.
  58. >And bathroom breaks?
  59. >Well, the water lasted around a month longer than the power... and even then, there are plenty of toilets in here.
  60. >Even if they did stop working after a while.
  61. >Eventually, you resorted to using some trash bags and throwing them out the window of a neighboring room, leaving them to splatter against the paved sidewalk below.
  62. >... Yeah, you're not exactly the most creative guy when it came to that.
  63. >But you're not living in your own shit.
  64. >But now, it looks like you can't live here much longer... unless you do something to change that.
  65. >You are Anonymous, and you have managed to avoid the apocalypse long enough.
  66. >It's time to go.
  67.  
  68. __________
  69.  
  70. >On a sunny morning, on the tenth of September, you took the ultimate inventory of what you had left in your "cache" of supplies.
  71. >Twelve AA batteries.
  72. >One emergency flashlight.
  73. >One emergency electric lantern.
  74. >One battery-powered radio.
  75. >Two cans of pineapples.
  76. >One can of Corned Beef Hash.
  77. >One Steam Deck, chock full of games (how else do you think you've managed to stay sane for so long?).
  78. >One wireless charger, powered with four AAs or two Ds.
  79. >Five one-gallon jugs of water.
  80. >Two packs of water bottles.
  81. >A shitload of bandages and disinfectant that you've lost count—never really had a reason to use any of it.
  82. >And one metal baseball bat.
  83. >A decent amount of goods for someone with zero survival skills, but would it even be enough?
  84. >Guess it was time to find out.
  85. >You set the jugs of water, your food, and your other basic goods on the kitchen counter. You weren't gonna need them going out there.
  86. >Before leaving the dorm, you pondered the thought of either leaving for good, or trying to make it work here.
  87.  
  88. >You settled on the latter, at least until you had a better scope of Canterlot past the campus. If you could find other ways to get or make food, and keep a steady supply of clean drinking/bath water, maybe even get the lights on... this place could be more than just some squatting hut for you.
  89. >It could be a real home.
  90. >Though, you did miss Detrot.
  91. >You doubt you'd make the trip there, anyway.
  92. >While the thought rummaged through your mind, you decided that if you were going to be living here longer, you might as well be smart about where you put your things.
  93. >You grabbed everything you set on the counter, and instead pushed them into the corner of a hidden cabinet in the corner. You noticed it when you first moved in, and never told anyone of it.
  94. >What were the chances you'd ever find another Deck that had Prince of Persia on it? Not high, that's for sure!
  95. >After doing a few more last-minute checks and triple-checks, you grabbed your duffel bag and wrapped it around you. It was light at the moment, practically weightless.
  96. >If you played your cards right, the trip back would be an exercise.
  97. >You took a few steps to the main entrance to your dorm. With only a shaky breath escaping you, you opened the front door.
  98. >You peered out slowly into the hallway, looking left and right down each corridor. Thanks to the windows at the far end, it wasn't totally dark, but it still gave you the creeps.
  99. >Closing the door gently behind you, you were glad it didn't squeak much.
  100. >A small breeze whisked its way down the hall, giving you a light but welcoming shiver. You haven't felt such a cool breeze in a few weeks; this recent heatwave has been the worst you ever felt.
  101. >You wondered if there was any connection between that and the outbreak, but that was a thought for later.
  102. >As you walked down the hallway, keeping your footsteps as muffled as possible on the carpeted floor, you passed numerous doors, all of them leading to the dorms of your former neighbors and classmates. Most of them went home when the outbreak got bad, but the few that didn't leave were still in their beds... or tried to leave and couldn't remember how.
  103. >You only ever went into those rooms once, and that was to open the windows to keep the place from smelling when such time would come.
  104. >You didn't dare think to touch them.
  105. >Finally, after walking for a minute, you reached the west side stairwell which, thankfully, had a series of windows illuminating the whole area. You made it downstairs with ease.
  106. >Every step you took towards the main doors filled you with an ever-growing sense of... dread.
  107. >But you swallowed it. You had to do this.
  108. >Once you stood just before the main doors, you looked out its windows.
  109. >All you could see was the large courtyard in the center, and the subsequent dorms and classrooms that littered the campus.
  110. >A single newspaper dashed by the door, startling you for a moment until you realized what it was.
  111.  
  112. >You took a deep breath, held it in for just a second, then exhaled slowly, hoping it would calm your nerves.
  113. >It didn't.
  114. >Nevertheless—you pushed open the doors, and took your very first step out of this building in six months.
  115. >Immediately, you were met with a cool breeze that brushed against your body.
  116. >You were wearing a basic shirt and jeans, nothing too heavy and nothing you didn't need. That would have to change in the next month or two, but for now, you were comfortable.
  117. >With the baseball bat gripped tightly in your hand, you looked to your left, then to your right, checking every blind spot you could think of.
  118. >It wasn't really necessary here, being out in the open. But better safe than sorry, right?
  119. >You slowly marched forward, further and further away from the boys' dorm, keeping steadily along the concrete sidewalk.
  120. >Now that you were actually down here, you realized just how unkempt the yard had become: Grass growing wildly, through the cracks of the sidewalk.
  121. >Even the trees and bushes looked much bigger, now that they weren't constantly being maintained by landscapers.
  122. >It was actually kind of cool to see how much things changed in just six months.
  123. >Finding yourself getting distracted, you fixed your focus and continued forward.
  124. >Directly in front of you was the main courtyard, looking almost the same except for the aforementioned grass, and even the central fountain that stopped working about four months back, now filled with dirty water and a bit of algae to boot.
  125. >You looked over to your left. Not too far away was the girls' dorm.
  126. >A sense of unease rested in the pit of your stomach.
  127. >Twilight was in there. You knew that much.
  128. >You... You can't go in there. That wasn't your focus anyway.
  129. >One day...
  130. >Taking another deep breath, you held your bat tightly again and continued onto the left pathway, past the girls' dorm, where it would ultimately lead you to the campus' main entrance.
  131. >The first thing to catch your eye was an upside-down van sitting in a grass clearing about fifty feet from the entrance.
  132. >Upon a closer look, you were relieved not to see any bodies, or remains of one. Both the driver and passenger windows were smashed, so either they got out on their own... or someone dragged them out.
  133. >You figured it would be the former, otherwise you would've heard such a commotion at some point.
  134. >Deciding it would be best to at least check for anything, you tried to open the back door of the van. No surprise, it was locked.
  135. >Looking through the windows, however, you couldn't see anything inside that looked worth taking.
  136. >But you -did- see a pair of... diapers.
  137. >You saw the car seat immediately after.
  138. >No body, or sign of one.
  139. >Thank God.
  140. >You stepped away from the van and continued to the entrance.
  141. >As you approached the arch marking the entrance, you saw inscribed on it the words "WELCOME TO CANTERLOT UNIVERSITY" or "COME BACK SOON" depending on what direction you were coming from.
  142.  
  143. >The entrance has a security booth to the side. Like the van, it was empty, but you decided to check inside for anything useful.
  144. *jiggle jiggle*
  145. >If the door wasn't locked, of course.
  146. >You peeked through the windows of the booth. You didn't see anything of value at first glance, but the main desk seemed to have a lot of closed drawers, with a set of keys hanging on the wall, presumably for said drawers.
  147. >Your curiosity was getting the better of you.
  148. >You looked to your left.
  149. >Then your right.
  150. >With a deep breath, you took one step back and closed your eyes.
  151. >You raised your bat into the air.
  152. >And with all the strength you could muster, you—
  153. >*Clunk!*
  154. >Only cracked the window, throwing you off balance, and the bat coming right back to you and nearly striking you in the face.
  155. >You recoiled just in time to avoid a nasty hit.
  156. >You didn't give your heart time to relax before, in a brief fit of embarrassed anger, you struck the window again as if you were hitting a baseball.
  157. >That seemed to do the trick; the window shattered into several thick shards that rained down onto the marble floor. You wiped away as much of the glass on the window sill as you could before hopping up.
  158. >Just the hop over a waist-high window took a bit of breath out of you.
  159. >Maybe you need to lose some weight...
  160. >Once you were inside, you lightly kicked as much of the glass to the corner as you could, lest you wanted one going through your foot.
  161. >Somehow.
  162. >You walked over to the wall and grabbed the key ring, then immediately went to work opening each and every cupboard. Of the twelve closed cupboards, four of them you couldn't open; their keys were missing—possibly scattered in the grass, but you weren't going to go on a scavenger hunt for them.
  163. >The ones you did open, however, had nothing worth taking, just a bunch of documents and papers talking about changes coming for the new school year.
  164. >You would've gotten a pool! Well, not that you would've used it much... but you would've!
  165. >The last drawer, however, did have something incredibly helpful: a 2022 edition map of the Canterlot metropolitan area.
  166. >With the Internet gone, you quickly realized a while back that trying to travel Canterlot without GPS was going to be a goddamn nightmare.
  167. >If only you checked here sooner; you would've had a lot more time to get an idea of the layout.
  168. >Oh well. Better late than never!
  169. >Still, you wondered at first why a college security booth had a map of the whole city, rather than the campus. Then you remembered that the University is undoubtedly a popular spot for tourists.
  170. >Well... -was-.
  171. >You looked on the counter tops for a pen or pencil.
  172. >Finding a couple of both, you grabbed and stuffed them into your duffel bag, leaving one out to use on the map.
  173. >Sitting down on the floor, out of sight just in case, you opened the map and began looking at just how large Canterlot truly was.
  174.  
  175. >Even though you'd been attending CU for what would've been your third year this past August, you still neglected actually taking any time to explore the area around it. You always told yourself, "I'll do it tomorrow," or "Maybe after exams."
  176. >You've only been to a couple places just outside the downtown limits, but that's it.
  177. >There was a whole city out there... and frankly, you didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
  178. >It was fine being nervous exploring an unknown place by yourself.
  179. >But exploring an unknown place by yourself -after- the end of civilization? That was completely different.
  180. >Taking a breath, you're able to find the location of the college on the map, and circle it with a "house" symbol in the center.
  181. >Hey, until you can find a better place, might as well be home, right?
  182. >You gaze at the legend in the bottom left corner of the map, looking for one thing in particular: food shops.
  183. >Restaurants, supermarkets, mini-marts—anything that could possibly have food, you needed to start looking for them.
  184. >Said food shops were buildings marked in yellow, so you immediately began marking down the nearest yellow buildings to the campus.
  185. >To your surprise, the closest one—what seemed to be a convenience store named Parsley's—was just to the north and around the corner; maybe a less than ten minute walk from where you were now!
  186. >Another one, Woodchuck's Needs, was about a mile or so to the west, surrounded by suburban homes, it looked like.
  187. >You heard about Woodchuck's: Your old roommate actually got you a couple canned macaroni and cheese meals from there; they were all made on-site.
  188. >Now you wish you hadn't eaten them as fast as you did.
  189. >You decided you'd make a trip to both Parsley's and Woodchuck's today, just for some food, even if it was a couple snacks. Anything would help.
  190. >Slowly, you poked your head up from under the counter and took a quick 180 view around the security booth.
  191. >It didn't seem like anyone, or anything, heard the window break.
  192. >Instead of climbing out the window again, you instead decided to unlock the side door and exit through it.
  193. >Now with a general idea of where the shops were, you shoved the map and pencil into your bag and held your bat in your hands again, as you walked past the main entrance and under the arch.
  194. >With a step onto the concrete sidewalk next to the road, you were no longer on campus grounds, and instead on Sugar Street, a residential neighborhood with a series of houses just adjacent to the campus.
  195. >Looking to your left, then to your right, you got your first look at this street since the outbreak.
  196. >Every house's lawn was overgrown, dead leaves and dirt lay strewn all over the sidewalks and road.
  197. >You could see an abandoned car to the south, sitting in the middle of the road with its driver door opened.
  198. >It actually scared you at first, but once you realized it was abandoned, you were able to breath easy again.
  199.  
  200. >But the thing that you realized the most after stepping out here?
  201. >How quiet it was.
  202. >Sure, there were birds chirping and wind blowing past your ears.
  203. >But you didn't hear any cars, no planes flying overhead, no people talking, not even a hint of music from the campus speakers, not even the sound of heavy traffic.
  204. >It was almost completely -dead- quiet.
  205. >You felt your heart race a bit as you realized...
  206. >You were actually alone.
  207. >You wanted to turn back.
  208. >But you couldn't go back to the dorm. Not now.
  209. >You had a job to do.
  210. >Swallowing the dread in your stomach, you turned north and began to walk in the direction of Canterlot. Even though the streets were empty, you still stuck to the sidewalk.
  211. >Force of habit, you guessed.
  212. >From this distance, the skyline of Canterlot looked completely unchanged. You were sure that if the grass around you was cut, the leaves were raked, and the dirt washed away, the street would look good as new.
  213. >It made you respect landscapers a lot more.
  214. >While you marched down the street, the campus stood just to your right. You were passing the back end of the girls' dorm.
  215. >One of the windows had a large sign that read, "Class of '23!"
  216. >All you could do was smile bittersweetly.
  217. >You glanced at Twilight's window, only for a second, and you figured that was enough sightseeing.
  218. >Another breath, and you continued walking for another few minutes.
  219. >Sure enough, once you went far enough north, you reached an intersection, which was also the northwest corner of the college perimeter.
  220. >Much like Sugar Street, the intersection—and the subsequent streets connected to it—all had the same worn down, overgrown look to it. The traffic lights above were pitch black.
  221. >Interestingly, there wasn't a single car here. But you figured most of those sick would've been at home, not in the streets.
  222. >The map said to turn the corner to the west until you reach Parsley's. Checking both ways, you cross the street, beginning the second leg of your first trip on Bellbottom Avenue.
  223. >And yes, you had to reread the sign to be sure that was its actual name.
  224. >The farther along you walked down the street, the quicker you noticed—and the more surprised you were—that not many of the houses looked like they were broken into. A couple of them had broken windows, with one of them having had its front door busted down, but they looked more like weather-based incidents than anything caused by people.
  225. >It could be just as possible that... maybe there weren't that many people left.
  226. >Before you had any time to really think about it, you reached your destination: Parsley's, a small family-owned convenience store/gas station, open since 1926.
  227. >At least, that's what it says on the sign.
  228. >A few abandoned cars still stood in the parking lot. Despite the months, they looked like they were in good condition.
  229. >You haven't driven a car in almost a year, but it shouldn't take long to reacquaint yourself—assuming they have gas.
  230. >And keys.
  231.  
  232. >But you'll worry on that another time; right now, your priority is food.
  233. >As you head over to the front door of the gas station, you pass by the fuel pumps; all four pumps have signs hanging over them, each sign reading the same thing:
  234. >"OUT OF GAS."
  235. >You wondered if gas would still be any good by this point, but you didn't dwell on it for now.
  236. >The front door was surprisingly, but thankfully, unlocked. With a twist of the knob, you gently opened the door, careful not to let it squeak.
  237. >Once you'd opened it just enough to let yourself inside, you held the bat again, holding it up in a defensive stance.
  238. >There were a couple doors to the right of you; one was a bathroom, and the other you guessed was storage.
  239. >You slowly approached the bathroom door and put your ear up to it. You didn't hear anything behind it.
  240. >It was also unlocked.
  241. >You opened the door carefully and gently, heart beating quicker than normal.
  242. >To your relief, there was nothing inside but a toilet and sink. The toilet still had water inside it, but it definitely hadn't been cleaned in a while.
  243. >And maybe that was -before- all this.
  244. >Ugh.
  245. >You leave the door open and continue on over to the storage room door, doing the same basic procedure.
  246. >Again, you didn't hear anything behind it, so you began to open it slowly.
  247. >Within the first inch of opening it, a foul smell unlike anything you'd ever smelled in your life invaded your nostrils and left you on the verge of throwing up.
  248. >Nevertheless, you pushed on, pulling the door open even further, and the smell only got stronger.
  249. >When you finally did open the door, you could hardly see anything inside; there weren't any windows, and the door was far from any windows in the main room, so it was almost completely pitch black.
  250. >Trying your best to ignore the stench, you reached into your duffel bag and rummaged around in the emptiness, looking for your flashlight.
  251. >After a few seconds, you felt it and pulled it out, zipping the bag back up.
  252. >You pressed the ON button, allowing the flashlight to rain a piercing bright shower of liHOLYFUCKINGSHIT—
  253. >You were greeted with a set of two milky eyes staring up at you from the floor, and in that instance you practically jumped back and fell to the floor, almost falling into one of the aisle shelves behind you. You screamed and began to hyperventilate for a moment, feeling around on the floor for the bat you'd somehow lost.
  254. >It was in your other hand the whole time, but you didn't even notice; you were too focused on the sight in front of you, thinking it was a person or maybe someone who was sick.
  255. >Once you were able to calm down a bit and actually look, you realized you were right... technically.
  256. >It -was- a person.
  257. >Shakily, you got back up to your feet, sick to your stomach and constantly fighting the urge not to puke.
  258. >Your flashlight remained focused on the sight before you, as much as you didn't want to look.
  259.  
  260. >Looking up from the floor, you saw a damp, moldy noose hanging from the ceiling.
  261. >Once you realized what you were looking at, you grew sad, amidst the sick feeling.
  262. >This must've been the owner. You couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman—the stage of decomposition was so bad that nearly all of their distinguishable features were gone.
  263. >Their body was just rotting meat, sloppy muscles, and bones at this point. Their eyes, while still there for the most part, were milky white and resembled almost chewed gum.
  264. >And the closer you were to their body... the—
  265. >Fuck, you can't, you can't!
  266. >Quickly, you slammed the door shut and sucked in a deep, panicked breath. You hurriedly marched outside and tried desperately to breathe in fresh air.
  267. >But no matter how much air you took in, that smell stayed in your head. You've never smelled a body that rotted before.
  268. >And now you'll never forget it.
  269. >You sat just outside the gas station for a few minutes, taking some time to recollect yourself. Glancing at your watch, you noticed you only left the dorm about forty minutes ago.
  270. >It already felt like an eternity.
  271. >Closing your eyes, you breathed in slowly and deeply, held it in for a moment, then let it out just as slow and deep. You repeated this motion for about a minute.
  272. >The shakiness in your limbs had subsided well enough for now, and the urge to vomit was gone... for now.
  273. >With somewhat newfound strength, you rose back up to your feet, shoved your flashlight back into your bag, and strapped your bat to one of the bag's strings, trying well enough to hold it in place.
  274. >It was flimsy, but it would do well enough until you could find a better backpack.
  275. >As nervous as you were, you were sure you wouldn't need to use it. Such a sight was... probably gonna be more common than you thought.
  276. >You stepped back into the gas station. The stench returned to your nose, but it was nowhere near as pungent or invasive as it was with the door open.
  277. >You kept your focus onto the task at hand, and gazed over to the few aisles that the shop provided.
  278. >They weren't completely stocked like these shelves typically were, but goddamn, was there still a lot.
  279. >Some canned tuna, canned sausages, a bunch of snacks like chocolate, Twinkies, even a few jars of untouched peanut butter!
  280. >And that's just a few of the many things you found around here, and not just food items, either; batteries of all types, flashlights, matches, some winter hats and gloves, motor oil, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, and so much more.
  281. >Even, uh... condoms.
  282. >Not like most people need much reason for them now, right?
  283. >You set your duffel bag down on the front counter and opened it up just to see how much space it had inside.
  284. >Despite it looking on the small side, you were sure it would be able to fit a good portion of everything here.
  285. >You might have to make a trip or two.
  286. >It would take you thirty minutes to get it done, if you were fast.
  287. >Should you do it right now?
  288.  
  289. *grumble*
  290. >Your stomach answered that for you.
  291. >Without any time to waste, you began grabbing every single packaged snack, canned food, and non-perishable box of junk food that hadn't been exposed to time, and stuffed it all into your duffel bag. You didn't stop until the damn thing was filled to the brim, to the point where you almost couldn't completely close it.
  292. >What was the harm in a crushed Twinkie? It was still a Twinkie.
  293. >Carrying at least a few extra pounds on your back, you lugged the now-full duffel bag onto your back and began your walk back to the college. The trip itself was pretty uneventful, as nothing really changed in the ten minutes you'd been gone.
  294. >You still remained at least a little bit cautious, but you'd gained just enough confidence to cut your trip by a third of the time it took to get there.
  295. >It still sucked navigating through the dark hallway in the dorm building, so you opened a few of the empty dorms nearby in order to let light flood through. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
  296. >Don't ask why you didn't bother to do it at any point in the last five or so months.
  297. >Once you got back to your dorm, you went over to the kitchen, opened the secret cabinet, and stuffed all the food from your bag into it. To your surprise, nothing had been crushed or smushed.
  298. >Curious, you opened a small packet of peanut butter cookie and took a few bites.
  299. >It was definitely getting stale, but it was also a cookie.
  300. >You looked at the canned foods you'd collected and marked them down.
  301. >Three small cans of sausages and one of the canned tunas; those were the last couple things you could fit in your bag.
  302. >You were already looking forward to grabbing the rest, which you definitely had the space for.
  303. >Maybe a third trip for any non-food items, unless you could do a bit of micro-managing.
  304. >Wiping a bead of sweat from your forehead, you decided not to waste more time than needed.
  305. >After scarfing down the rest of your cookies, you shut the cabinet and zipped up your bag, ready to take another trip.
  306. >Just as it was on the way back, the trip back to the gas station was uneventful.
  307. >You were actually getting a little tired from just walking down the street.
  308. >You really wished you exercised more.
  309. >But hey, this is a start!
  310. >You made it back to Parsley's within about five minutes and set your bag on the counter top, ready to do more collecting.
  311. >But just as you set it down, something caught your eye.
  312. >A note that'd been placed on the counter top near the window.
  313. >It looked like it hadn't moved from there since the start, judging by how clean it was underneath compared to the dust around it.
  314. >You picked up the note and began to read it, staying out of sight by sitting against the counter.
  315. >"My name is Autumn Parsley. I used to run this place with my husband White.
  316. >"We inherited it from my grandparents, intent on keeping their legacy alive by remaining a timeless, classic, and proud general store.
  317.  
  318. >"I don't think my nana would be proud of what the shop turned into in the last few years, but I think she would understand, with the way the world was heading.
  319. >"By the time anyone reads this note, I'll be dead. Whatever this Is, I've got it.
  320. >"I know what it does to people, and I don't want to end up like tHat. It frightens me.
  321. >"I saw it take my husband. He was the sweetest man I ever met... and he BIT me. Tried to kIll me liKE he didn't know me.
  322. >"I don't wanna hURt anybody.
  323. >"Take anything you want or need. I have no need for it anymore.
  324. >"May God forgive uS alL.
  325. >"-Autumn Parsley, March 28, 2023"
  326. >You set the note back down and looked over to the storage door.
  327. >A great sadness washed over you, realizing you'd just read the last written words of the very person rotting just a few feet away from you.
  328. >Part of you wondered what was going through her mind when she did it.
  329. >Was she scared? Content? Angry? Or was her mind already going, and she'd grown numb by the end?
  330. >You noticed some of the letters looked off. But that could've been anything.
  331. >With a shaky hand, you pushed the note away, back into the spot it was previously sitting, accidentally tracking a bit of dust in the process.
  332. >It wasn't the first time you saw a dead body; some of your former neighbors can vouch for that.
  333. >But it was definitely the first time you saw one that badly rotted.
  334. >God knows what your neighbors look like now.
  335. >Trying your best to keep focused, you redirected your attention to the remaining supplies and began loading them into your duffel bag. You counted four jars of unopened peanut butter that, from the outside, looked pristine.
  336. >Peanut butter can definitely go a long way, so you were gonna do your best to make them last the longest.
  337. >Once all the food was able to fit inside, you realized you still had at least half a bag to fill. So you grabbed all the non-food items you could stuff, such as the eight toothbrushes, five sticks of toothpaste, three flashlights, a shit ton of batteries, two motor oil cans—you made sure they were sealed shut beforehand—and four sticks of deodorant.
  338. >And even though you weren't gonna need them... you took the condoms, anyway.
  339. >They'll probably come in handy someday, though.
  340. >After zipping up your bag, you did one more comb over of the entire shop—well, the main room, anyhow—for anything you might've missed.
  341. >Not one canned food, oil can, flashlight, or condom remained unpicked.
  342. >This place was clean.
  343. >Except...
  344. >...
  345. >You'll do it later. You saw an exit door in there, so maybe you can check it out that way.
  346. >You're definitely gonna need a mask, though.
  347. >Shouldn't be hard to find one...
  348.  
  349. _______________
  350.  
  351. >After another brief trip, you were back in your dorm.
  352. >You set all the food in your corner pile, while using the other empty counters for anything utility-related. The only thing you really had were the flashlights and oil cans, so there wasn't much space to take up.
  353. >Anything bathroom related—in this case, the brushes and toothpaste—went into the mirror cabinet in the bathroom.
  354. >You were running low on toothpaste, so these were some great finds.
  355. >Though, it made you wonder how long toothpaste would last, since nobody was making anymore.
  356. >You're sure the nearest library might have some books on how to make toothpaste.
  357. >Speaking of which... you're definitely gonna need to learn a few things soon. Surviving now might be decent, but what is it going to be like in five years? Or ten?
  358. >You're partially hoping you'll have found other people by then, and hopefully they'll be friendly.
  359. >Of course, you're gonna be doing basic chores and tasks every single day to contribute, but you're more than okay with that if it means you never have to face out here ever again.
  360. >At least, once things get to that point. For now, this you can handle.
  361. >Once everything was in the places you wanted, you returned to your corner cabinet and took inventory of all your food.
  362. >Adding the three small cans of sausage and the canned tuna on top of the corn hash and pineapples, you now had seven total cans of food. If you're smart enough to ration it properly, that could last you a week.
  363. >The peanut butter jars, in good enough quantities, maaaaybe could stretch that out a couple extra weeks.
  364. >... You might be bad at estimating, but you'll find out when it comes to that.
  365. >The rest of the food were all snacks; a couple energy bars, some cookies, a few twinkies, and a lot of sweets. It would get you through the day, maybe keep you a little fat for a while, but probably nothing that would keep you -fed-.
  366. >You might have similar or even better luck at Woodchuck's. With everything there supposedly being made on-site, there was a good chance they'd keep it fresh as long as possible.
  367. >Plus, homemade goods can mean a better fill for you.
  368. >You can't live off Twinkies forever—fun as that sounds.
  369. >You checked your watch for the time. It was just after ten in the morning.
  370. >You'd already spent the better part of an hour going no further than a mile from the dorm.
  371. >There was still plenty of daylight to burn, but you were gonna need to be just a little faster.
  372. >Doing a few last-minute guesses in your head, you estimated you had another month's worth of food, assuming you rationed and consumed it right.
  373. >With that out of the way, you shut the cabinet, grabbed your bag, and checked the map again.
  374. >Grabbing your pencil, you crossed out Parsley's with an X.
  375. >After a moment, you decided to put a ? right next to it, reminding you to go back later.
  376.  
  377. >It didn't take long for you to find Woodchuck's on the map, and did a bit of cross-referencing from Parsley's. It was just two miles to the west of the store, once you got your scaling right.
  378. >At your pace, you'd get there in about an hour, maybe a little over that.
  379. >But luckily, once you believed you were well off enough for food, you'd be able to spend more time closer to home.
  380. >That meant going through all these untouched houses.
  381. >Who knows: You'd probably have better luck finding food that way.
  382. >But for now, you'll stick to what you know.
  383. >Woodchuck's has food, and you need food.
  384. >You like food.
  385. >Placing the map and pencil back into your bag, you fastened it around your shoulders and headed for the door.
  386. >You made your way back downstairs and out the main doors of the hall.
  387. >With the direction in your head, you set off for Woodchuck's Needs Store.
  388. >Making it back to Parsley's was just as uneventful as the last two trips.
  389. >But this time, you were going past that store, continuing down the road to the west. The road was mostly flat, so you didn't have to worry about tiring yourself out just going up or down a hill.
  390. >Apart from a mechanic shop next to Parsley's, separated only by a flurry of trees, most of Bellbottom Avenue was residential. As you saw earlier, most of the houses were left untouched, with maybe one or two broken windows every other tenth house.
  391. >For a good twenty minutes, there was absolutely -nothing- around you that prompted any caution or worry. No cars, no people, no... bodies...
  392. >It was almost like you were going for a casual stroll through town, only without the familiar screeching of lawnmowers or children.
  393. >These lawns sure needed a good mowing right about now.
  394. >It was actually kind of sad, now that you thought about it: A lot of these houses looked really nice; it reminded you of your own neighborhood in Detrot.
  395. >You remember playing in the front lawn with a kiddie pool and a hose as a kid while your dad whipped up some burgers for the Fourth of July.
  396. >And sure enough, you eventually passed an abandoned home with a kiddie pool in the front yard, almost completely hidden beneath thick, tall blades of grass.
  397. >It was pretty warm at the beginning of March, so it didn't surprise you that some people—and children, it seemed—were making good use of the weather, at least until summer rolled around.
  398. >Moving forward, you approached another intersection, this time crossing onto Baker Road. Baker, it seemed, ran all the way into the city, or very well close to it.
  399. >A few cars sat in the road up north, but beyond that, you noticed there wasn't much traffic on the streets.
  400. >A lot of the houses you came across had cars parked in their driveways and possibly even their garages, at least some that you could see from the sidewalk.
  401. >You crossed the intersection and continued west.
  402. >The later part of the journey consisted less of residential homes, and more of some commercial buildings, just as the map showed you.
  403.  
  404. >They weren't food stores, but at least two of the stores you saw were clothing shops and maybe even a phone store. That one might have some more wireless chargers!
  405. >Far enough down the road, the street began to open up into a large shopping center to your left, filled with a variety of stores, anywhere from music and artwork, to jewelry and soap.
  406. >There was even a video game store, showing some of the last known releases on their front windows.
  407. >As tempting as it was to snag a free PS5 or Xbox, it's not like you were going to be able to play them anytime soon.
  408. >Maybe you'll come back for a couple of each tomorrow, just to set aside. Your Deck was enough for now.
  409. >Finally, just under an hour of walking later, you reached Woodchuck's Needs Store, nestled in the corner of the shopping center, and sharing a distinct look from the rest of the stores around it, looking like a cozy wood cabin, and certainly welcoming.
  410. >The entire area was completely devoid of life, apart from an occasional bird or two eating something off the ground and then flying off.
  411. >You walk up to the front of the shop and peer in through the window.
  412. >The shelves were definitely not full, but they certainly weren't empty, either. Definitely a lot more goods here than what you found at Parsley's.
  413. >How much of it was food, though? And still edible?
  414. >Time to find out.
  415. >You jiggle the knob, hoping it's unlocked too.
  416. >No such luck.
  417. >You see a back door through the window, so you begin making your way around the side of the shop.
  418. >Unfortunately, it was also locked.
  419. >With an annoyed sigh, you began debating on whether or not you wanted to break the doorknob, or smash a window.
  420. >A window would be more obvious.
  421. >But then again, it wouldn't be the first broken window on this street.
  422. >You try your shot first with the door. You remove your bat from its makeshift holster, hold it tightly in your hands, and begin striking the knob as hard as you could.
  423. >After just a few swings, you feel yourself getting tired from the motion.
  424. >Regardless, you kept swinging just a couple more times.
  425. >The last swing seemed to do just enough to dislodge the lock from its place, allowing you to open the door.
  426. >You make your way inside and shut the door behind you. It didn't stay shut, but you didn't care much for that.
  427. >After about a minute, you were able to catch your breath, and decided to get a good look at the room you were in.
  428. >You were in what seemed to be the store's kitchen, fitted with a bunch of cupboards and what seemed to be an old-fashioned wood stove in the corner.
  429. >You never saw a wood stove in person before... but this was going to do wonders for you when winter comes.
  430. >For now, you checked the cupboards for anything useful.
  431. >Apart from cleaning supplies and some dishes, there was nothing much of use in here.
  432. >But you make a note to grab the cleaning supplies in the future.
  433.  
  434. >After finding nothing of much use in the cupboards, you leave the kitchen and make your way into the main room.
  435. >Now that you were up close, you were able to see just how much was actually left on the shelves.
  436. >Plenty was an understatement!
  437. >Sure, there were a few empty clumps here and there, but the place looked practically untouched since the start. Canned fruits, canned veggies, canned meat, crackers, fruit bars, -cereal-!
  438. >Not just canned, but jarred too!
  439. >And these weren't all just familiar brands, either! A lot of this looked like it was made by the owners themselves!
  440. >Guess your roommate wasn't lying about everything being made on-site.
  441. >You were certain that in any other scenario, this place would've been picked clean months ago.
  442. >But hey, you weren't gonna complain!
  443. >There was enough food here to last you months, maybe longer!
  444. >The only downside you saw?
  445. >Nowhere near enough space in your bag for all of this.
  446. >You'd be able to fill it to the brim, but that would be only a fraction of what this place had.
  447. >And it was gonna take you hours to get everything back to the college.
  448. >Your feet were already a little sore from walking just those couple miles.
  449. >It made you wish you had a car.
  450. >You could probably try and see if any of the cars nearby have keys or gas, but that would be a great waste of time if they didn't.
  451. >For now, you made the stubborn decision to instead look around the shop, and the immediate area, for any baskets or even a shopping cart.
  452. >To your lack of surprise, there was no cart to be found. However, you did find a set of six baskets by the front door.
  453. >They were all around the same size as your duffel bag, meaning you could carry at least three times as much food if you were to take a basket in each hand.
  454. >As much as you didn't want to make multiple trips back and forth, you were at least grateful you could cut the number of trips at least in half.
  455. >With your luck, this place would be cleared out by four o'clock.
  456. >Then you'd be set on food for a while, and be able to put your focus into either finding other people, or turning your dorm into a suitable shelter.
  457. >Though, you want to at least remove all the shit bags before then.
  458. >...
  459. >You wish you were more prepared.
  460. >But nothing you can do about that now.
  461. >You take two of the baskets and set them down on the front counter, side-by-side. You place your duffel bag next to them and zip it open.
  462. >However, before actually getting ready to load anything in them, you instead grab your flashlight and your bat, then turn around to face a door in the back.
  463. >It was right next to the doorway that led into the kitchen. It didn't look like a bathroom, more like another storage room.
  464. >You saw some windows on the outside before you broke in, so at the very least it was going to be illuminated, but took your flashlight in case you were wrong.
  465. >You just hoped to Christ there wasn't going to be another body in there.
  466.  
  467. >Slowly, you walked up to the door and pressed your ear against it.
  468. >As usual, no sound behind it.
  469. >With a brief jiggle of the knob, you were glad to find that it was unlocked.
  470. >You cracked the door open just a bit and waited.
  471. >You let out a sigh of relief as the stench of death was entirely absent, but you remained cautious anyway.
  472. >The door creaked slightly as you pulled it open, but held your bat firmly in your other hand, ready to swing it if you needed to.
  473. >But once you were able to actually look inside, you weren't going to needed.
  474. >It was a decently sized storage room, fitted with a few metal shelves and some steamy looking refrigerators.
  475. >Yeah... you were keeping those shut.
  476. >As you guessed, the windows out back were up the wall closer to the ceiling, letting plenty of light in and allowing you to actually see.
  477. >But that wasn't all you saw.
  478. >The shelves were all filled with food, probably even more so than the main room.
  479. "Holy shit," you said to yourself with a laugh.
  480. >All the food you bought before lasted you six months, could've lasted you at least nine.
  481. >You were certain all the food in just this one store alone could last you -years-, and you could probably stretch that out with decent rationing.
  482. >You actually found yourself just a little giddy with excitement.
  483. >So much food and water to go around, you didn't even know where to begin.
  484. >Until something caught your eye.
  485. >There was something hidden in the corner of the room, covered by sheets.
  486. >But you saw the wheels.
  487. >You hoped it was exactly what you thought it was.
  488. >You pulled off the covers.
  489. >Letting out a loud, over-exaggerated, cheerful sigh and raising your hands in a victory pose, you laughed with relief as your eyes laid upon a utility cart.
  490. >It was small enough that it could fit through a door, but it was also talk, lanky, and beefy.
  491. >And for good reason too: These things can hold a thousand pounds in them.
  492. >The cart itself was incredibly spacious. You could probably fit half the store's stock in here.
  493. >Did you say done by four o'clock?
  494. >Make that done by one.
  495. >With a smile, you wasted no time in getting to work.
  496. >The first thing you did was clear out as much of the storage shelves as possible. Most of it was the same general items you found in the main room, so you grabbed everything indiscriminately.
  497. >You were happy to find a few canned peaches sitting here. You came to like those, and was honestly pretty bummed when you found out you finished the last one in your stock a couple months back.
  498. >More jars of on-site peanut butter, still looking fresh as the day it was prepped, and even canned lasagna.
  499. >You actually debated if that would still taste good.
  500. >Guess you'll find out eventually!
  501. >It didn't all that much time for you to clear out the storage shelves. The cart was already mostly full, but you were sure you could spare a little more space if you moved some things around.
  502.  
  503. >Once the last few cans were loaded up, you began pulling the cart out into the main room. There was definitely some resistance from the weight inside, but you weren't having any trouble yet pulling it.
  504. >After setting the cart down in the middle of one of the aisles, you resumed the routine of grabbing cans and other foods from the shelves and placing them into the cart.
  505. >Every so often, you would adjust the positioning of some of the items to make more space.
  506. >Despite that, you were still able to fill the cart incredibly fast, soon leaving no space to add anything else.
  507. >You took inventory of the remaining things on the shelves. You only managed to clear out not even a fourth of the items in here.
  508. >But you took that as a silver lining. It meant only one more trip here and back.
  509. >If you had any space to spare on the final trip, maybe you'll grab some games and consoles from the stores nearby.
  510. >And maybe some new clothes.
  511. >Before leaving the shop, you went back into the storage room and grabbed the large sheet that had been covering the cart when you first came in here.
  512. >You went back over to the cart and placed the sheet over it, doing your best to cover everything inside to minimize the risk of anything falling out. You couldn't fasten it to anything, as it lacked strings, but with how calm the wind had been today, you had no need to worry.
  513. >Once you checked and triple-checked to make sure you had everything you needed and could carry, you grabbed the handle of the cart and made your way to the front entrance.
  514. >Unlocking and opening the front door, you exited the shop, cart and tow, and were relieved that the cart could also fit through the doorway.
  515. >... Probably would've been a good idea to check that beforehand.
  516. >The sun was now much higher in the sky, almost at its peak. A glance at your watch told you it was eleven thirty-five in the morning, almost noon.
  517. >Assuming it took around an hour for you to get home at your pace, another hour to get back, and then another hour to take home the rest of the food, you'd be done closer to three.
  518. >Thankfully, the cart was still incredibly light, despite its load. It was still definitely tough to drag behind you, but nowhere near as bad as you initially feared.
  519. >With nothing else in mind, you started for home.
  520. >Now that you were actually facing in the direction of the college, you realized just how straight this road was; you thought you could see the clock tower spire all the way from here, but once you got close enough, you realized it was only the top of a tall tree.
  521. >On the way back, it was easily apparent that the road was not as straight as you thought, curving just a slight bit. Whether that was intentional or not, you didn't know.
  522. >As you walked, you debated sneaking a snack from the cart, but decided against it, as that would just suck up time, and you needed as much time as you could get to clear out the rest of that shop.
  523.  
  524. >Even if your stomach -was- crying for you to eat something.
  525. >It'll be fine.
  526. >You reached and crossed the first of four intersections between you and the college. It was a good "checkpoint" system that helped you know how close you were.
  527. >You couldn't wait to unload all this stuff and have a decent dinner tonight.
  528. >What would the macaroni and cheese taste like unheated?
  529. >Hopefully it was just as good. You've had cold food before, and it wasn't bad...
  530. >But there was just something about Woodchuck's hot and fresh mac and cheese, the way it melted in your mouth, its gooey-ness, and the feeling as it just warmed up your throat as it slid down.
  531. >Goddamn, you were getting hungry just thi—
  532. >*CRASH*
  533. >You heard a muffled crash coming from your right. The sound startled you, making you flinch and reach pitifully for your bat.
  534. >To your right, you didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Standing before you was a typical blue painted two-story house.
  535. >It was only in slight disrepair on the roof, missing a few shingles here and there, and weeds and vines were starting to make their way up its base, but only slightly.
  536. >But other than that, you didn't notice anyt—
  537. >...
  538. >You saw someone.
  539. >Just for a second, you saw a person look right back at you.
  540. >Top right window.
  541. >A woman.
  542. >She gasped and hid away into the darkness of the house.
  543. >You almost shouted 'wait' to her, but instead debated with yourself on whether or not you should go inside.
  544. >For all you knew, she was armed with something far more powerful than your flimsy baseball bat.
  545. >One wrong move, the wrong word, and...
  546. >The thought already filled you with dread.
  547. >The smart part of you knew it was a stupid idea to even try going in there.
  548. >But the lonely part of you...
  549. >...
  550. >With a small grumble, you said to yourself, "Fuck it," and snuck your way over to the front door, leaving the cart hidden in a nearby overgrown hedge bush, just in case.
  551. >Stepping up to the front door, you try jiggling the front door.
  552. >No surprise, it was locked. And you imagine the back door was also locked, as well.
  553. >You didn't want to break it open, especially if someone was living here. So you resorted to scoping out every window on the first floor to see if any of them were unlocked or could be opened.
  554. >They were also locked. However, you noticed on one of the windows on the front porch that if you shook it left and right, the latches keeping it locked would shimmy themselves slowly inward.
  555. >Huddled against the wall, you left yourself as little exposed to the interior as you could, then proceeded to gently shake the window back and forth.
  556. >With every movement, the latches would slide further and further in, allowing you to lift the window just a little bit more, but you didn't want to risk breaking them.
  557. >After about a minute of doing this, the latches finally retracted just enough to allow you to slide the window open. You pulled it up with ease, leaving the window and its locks intact.
  558.  
  559. >Carefully, you leaned to the side and peaked your head in through the window. A smell hit your nostrils, but to your relief, it smelled nothing like a dead body.
  560. >More like rotting food.
  561. >But still no woman.
  562. >She must be upstairs.
  563. >This was the biggest risk of your life, but what other option was there?
  564. >After crawling in through the window, you set yourself down on the floor of what looked like the house's living room. Immediately, you noticed just how untouched everything appeared to be, apart from sets of sheets and curtains covering the windows.
  565. >The smell, however, was much stronger the further into the house you walked.
  566. >Passing by the stairs at the end of the living room, you kept your steps as quiet as possible, but there was the occasional creak... hopefully one that would be taken as the house settling.
  567. >You entered the kitchen, where the smell was at its strongest. It wasn't long before you found the culprit.
  568. >Old, opened tin cans of rotting meat, vegetables, and what looks like ravioli. Most of it was eaten, but there was still just enough at the bottom to rot.
  569. >It didn't look that old, either. Maybe a couple of weeks, you guessed.
  570. >Suddenly, you heard the sound of muffled creaking up stairs, followed by... footsteps.
  571. >Slow and quiet footsteps. Well, not as much emphasis on quiet.
  572. >With a deep breath, you cleared your throat softly.
  573. "Hello?" you hollered.
  574. >The footsteps immediately stopped.
  575. >With shaky steps, you navigated back over to the living room, towards the stairs.
  576. >You tried your best to keep your breathing steady, and your subtle jittering at bay.
  577. "I'm coming up, okay?"
  578. >Probably not the best choice of first words, you thought as you began climbing up the stairs slowly and delicately, each step creaking beneath you.
  579. "I-I'm not here to hurt you," you stated. "I saw you in the window."
  580. >No response from the woman.
  581. "I live down the street, about a... forty minute walk from here? I went to the college nearby. I'm not armed. I mean, I don't have a -gun-, just a bat, but... I'm friendly, I promise."
  582. >Still no response.
  583. >You were getting close to the top of the stairs now.
  584. >That's when you heard it.
  585. >A clicking sound.
  586. >"S-Stop," a high pitched voice commanded. "Right there. P-Put your hands up in the air. Now."
  587. >Slowly but shakily, you raised your hands up into the air, standing on the third to last step.
  588. >You honestly weren't sure who was more nervous or scared, you or the woman who, judging from her voice alone, definitely sounded much younger than you were expecting.
  589. >Maybe around your age? No way she was a teenager, but you couldn't tell looking away from her.
  590. >But all you knew was that she was undoubtedly pointing a gun at you.
  591. "Don't shoot," you say in a way that hopefully didn't sound as scared as it sounded in your head. "I'm not here to hurt you."
  592. >"The-... Then why did you break into my house?" she asked with a stutter.
  593. >Despite the situation... she kind of had a point.
  594.  
  595. "The doors and windows were locked. I, uh... was able to shake one of them open, b-but it's not broken. I-I promise."
  596. >"I didn't ask t-that."
  597. >You took a quick but deep breath, not wanting to make her anymore suspicious.
  598. "I-I... wanted to see if you were real. I didn't mean to look like a threat. I swear."
  599. >You kept yourself frozen in place, hands in the air, waiting for her to say something—all while fully expecting everything to go black.
  600. >But the blackness never came.
  601. >"W-Walk up to the top of the stairs," the woman said. "S-Slowly."
  602. >She still sounded totally unsure of herself. Nevertheless, you did as you were told and slowly, carefully, made your way upstairs.
  603. >You looked down subtly, enough to see your feet connecting with each stair step.
  604. >After a few tense seconds, you reached the landing of the second floor, now directly facing a wall with a window just to your right, covered with a thick blanket.
  605. >"Turn around slowly towards me."
  606. >Well... here we go...
  607. >As slowly as you walked, you turned yourself around in the small corner of what now opened up to be a hallway, and faced the woman at the other end, huddled underneath an open window.
  608. >And as your eyes fell upon her, you realized your suspicions about her were true.
  609. >The woman at the end of the hallway wasn't a woman at all... but a child—didn't even look old enough to be a teenager.
  610. >The fact that such a young child was pointing a gun at you honestly felt a little more intimidating than if it were a full-grown woman... if not sadder.
  611. >"Walk towards m-me."
  612. >It made sense why she was so unsure of herself; the poor kid was probably scared out of her fucking mind.
  613. >A grown-ass man breaking into a young girl's house after the collapse of civilization, all by herself? Every child's nightmare.
  614. >But it also meant she was far more unpredictable than if she was older, so you decided to play it safe and approached her carefully, keeping your hands raised.
  615. >The closer you got to her, the more detail of her you could make out.
  616. >You were able to get a scope of just how young she was; she looked to be no older than twelve, sporting a typical t-shirt and shorts, but standing barefoot.
  617. >It explained why her footsteps were so quiet compared to if she'd been wearing shoes, given the wooden floor you were walking across.
  618. >But that wasn't the thing you hyper-focused on.
  619. >What you noticed almost right away was her face; not only that, what you could see of her body.
  620. >She was skinny, skinnier than what most kids should be at her age.
  621. >Jesus... she was probably starving up here.
  622. >"Stop," she demanded, and you stopped before her.
  623. >Despite her attempts at intimidation, she seemed to be having trouble keeping her gun, a small snub-nosed revolver, stable.
  624. >You doubted she'd be able to keep a stable grip on it even if she wasn't malnourished.
  625. >The young girl took a few steps towards you, gun still aimed at your head, and then slowly made her way behind you to your duffel bag.
  626.  
  627. >You hear her zip it open, revealing the contents inside; nearly all of it was the food you couldn't put in the cart.
  628. >She even gasped quietly.
  629. "You can take all of it," you say softly to her. "You look like you need it."
  630. >There was enough food in the bag to last a month, maybe two via rationing. The kid would probably scarf it down in a week, but you were fine with that if it helped her out.
  631. >She didn't answer you; instead, she began to clear out the contents of your bag, placing them on a table top just under the unblinded window.
  632. >It was full of canned beans, tuna, and even a couple cans of evaporated milk, something you haven't actually tried yet.
  633. >Every can she removed from the bag made you feel lighter and lighter, which was honestly a relief.
  634. >Once everything was set down on the table, you heard the girl zip up the bag and then return over to the corner of the hallway, gun still pointed at you... and your bat in her other hand.
  635. >You were actually a little impressed.
  636. >The girl cleared her throat.
  637. >"I-I'm gonna ask you some questions now. Got it?"
  638. >You nodded, stretching your fingers slightly, as they were getting sore hanging in the air like this. She took a small breath.
  639. >"Cool-uh... good. Alright... What's your name?"
  640. "Anonymous. But, uh... my friends just called me Anon."
  641. >The girl looked at the food on the table, then back to you, and nodded.
  642. "Um... what's your na—"
  643. >"Where do you live? Are you from around here?" she asked, cutting you off.
  644. "Uh... I-I was going to college here. I went to Canterlot University, just that way."
  645. >You point east with your left hand to emphasize.
  646. >"I know where Canterlot University is," the girl weakly snaps back, before clearing her throat. "I, um... I wa... are-are you alone?"
  647. >You assumed she was referring to if you had a group or not. You nodded.
  648. "I've been by myself the whole time," you tell her.
  649. >She looks you up and down, then recoils only slightly.
  650. >"I-I don't believe that," she says. "You're... you're too big to be on your own!"
  651. >...
  652. >Did this kid just call you fat?
  653. "Ouch...?"
  654. >The girl gave you a guilty look, but otherwise said nothing.
  655. >You decide to move on and reiterate your answer.
  656. "I'm not with any group, I promise. I've been hiding out in my dorm the whole time. This is... actually the first time I've been out here since this started."
  657. >You drift off somberly.
  658. "Everyone I know is gone."
  659. >Her posture softens for a few moments, and the girl exchanges glances with you for a few moments, but ultimately decides that you're telling the truth.
  660. >But she is still—understandably—cautious. She lowers the gun away from you, but continues to hold it in her grip.
  661. >"O-Okay," she said with a softer tone. "I... I trust you."
  662. >You return a warm, genuine smile at her, hoping it'll help ease her just a little more.
  663. >It isn't much, but it's better than having a scared child pointing a gun in your face.
  664. >At least, until she does it again briefly.
  665.  
  666. >"B-But I'm warning you!" she continues with a slightly louder tone, carrying the same faux-intimidation she delivered before. "If you try anything, I'll... I'll shoot you! Got it?"
  667. >You nod without question.
  668. >With the threat delivered "effectively", the girl lowers the gun again, taking a couple steps to her right, towards the table.
  669. >You figured it was okay for you to lower your hands, so you do so slowly, even as the girl gives you a quick glance. Once she realizes what you're doing, she looks back to the food.
  670. >"S-So, um... where did you get this food?"
  671. >You pause for a second to clear your throat.
  672. "Uh... Woodchuck's Needs. It's down the road, maybe... ten minutes from here on foot? It took me an hour to get there from campus. But I'm slow, so uh..."
  673. >The girl holds one of the cans in her hand, some canned beans. She's inspecting the top especially, and you realize she's checking to see if it's been opened yet.
  674. "I didn't open anything yet," you tell her. "I was actually on my way back to campus. But, uh... everything should be untouched, so like... yeah..."
  675. >You were honestly not sure how to proceed beyond this. The kid seemed pretty unwilling to introduce herself to you, and even more unwilling to talk.
  676. >Should you... go...?
  677. >No... that wouldn't be right.
  678. >This girl was just a kid! You couldn't leave her all alone like this!
  679. >Or maybe her parents were away?
  680. >... In that case, you probably should get the fuck out before they come back.
  681. >But that food in the kitchen -was- on the table for quite a while...
  682. "Are you... alone?" you ask her.
  683. >She doesn't answer right away; but you can tell she's trying to come up with an answer.
  684. >"No," she answers in a quick tone. "My parents are out looking for food. And they'll be back soon."
  685. >That last part, she didn't say quite as fast. It at least gives your guess some credibility... as much as you didn't want it to.
  686. "Well... um... feel free to eat whatever looks good to you. I got plenty of stuff in the cart too, if you wanna, like... check any of that out?"
  687. >Normally, you'd think being this hungry would make you content with eating practically anything that would satiate you.
  688. >But she was a kid, after all.
  689. >"... Do you have any mac and cheese?"
  690. >How did you figure that out? You wonder...
  691.  
  692. __________
  693.  
  694. >A few minutes have passed.
  695. >Now, you're sitting in what looks like the girl's bedroom, on her floor, while she sits on her bed—practically scarfing down a pretty wealthy-sized can of macaroni and cheese that you grabbed from the cart outside.
  696. >She wasn't taking any time to really appreciate the taste. The kid was -hongrey-.
  697. >Despite that, you couldn't help but laugh quietly to yourself at the sound of her literally going "nom nom nom" like a zombie.
  698. >The girl kept her gun close to her on the mattress to her right, and your bat to her left.
  699. >But her hands were already full; one was holding the can of food, and the other a spoon.
  700.  
  701. >The look on her face when you gave her the can, it was probably the happiest she'd been in a while.
  702. >So you decided to let her enjoy the moment while you sort of gazed around her bedroom.
  703. >You saw a couple LEGO sets sitting underneath her bed, next to an upside-down skateboard.
  704. >They weren't anything too fancy, and for all you knew, they were more just clumps of random pieces by now than any actual set.
  705. >There were a few posters scattered on the wall above the girl's bed. What you found funny was that only one of them was of the Korean band BTS, while the rest were a mix of punk and rock bands like Muse and Blink-182, clearly from their earlier years, but still easily recognizable.
  706. >The BTS one looked so out of place, it made you snort softly.
  707. >The color scheme was also very un-girly, if that was even a word. The walls were an orange tan, and the carpet beneath you was a shade of brown.
  708. >Nothing else really caught your eye; apart from the obvious, there was nothing here that really indicated this room belonged to a young girl.
  709. >The kid's unwillingness to tell you anything about her was understandable, apart from what she's already told you, but getting anywhere going forward was gonna be a pain in the ass if she kept it up.
  710. >Assuming this all works out, of course...
  711. >After a few minutes of semi-loud chewing, the girl's already finished her can of mac and cheese... and immediately is digging into another.
  712. "I'm guessing you're a big fan of mac and cheese?" you say in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
  713. >She stops eating for just a second, enough to swallow the contents in her mouth, and lets out a hesitant nod—almost like she's embarrassed.
  714. >"I haven't had it in a while... plus, I... haven't really had -anything- in a while..."
  715. >You actually started to feel guilty, being as... -big- as you were.
  716. "Well, eat as much as you need. Just don't choke," you tell her with a soft smile.
  717. >You weren't a Heimlich expert, but you weren't gonna let this kid choke to death on mac and cheese of all things.
  718. "So... is this your place?" you ask her.
  719. >Like the previous question, she hesitates before giving you a slow but firm nod.
  720. >"Yeah," she answered. "My parents and I were gonna go visit my Aunt Lo-my Aunts a few months ago, but we got stuck here."
  721. "Why?"
  722. >The girl lowered the can from her face and rested it against her lap.
  723. >"A bunch of Army guys stopped us on the road and told us to go home. We haven't really left the house since then."
  724. >That was something that piqued your interest; in the six months you were cooped up in your dorm, you never once saw any hint of Military presence. No flying helicopters, no soldiers marching through campus with their guns.
  725. >You guessed you just weren't far enough downtown for that to happen.
  726. "How far did you guys get?"
  727. >"Um... Well, I remember we passed by Moon Burger right before they told us to go home. And that's pretty far out, I think."
  728.  
  729. >Indeed it was. When you first came to town a couple years back for your first year, it was one of the first sights you made out, just at the edge of the city limits.
  730. >It wasn't anything special to -you-, but a lot of folks around the campus always liked going there, apparently.
  731. >That was only two years ago. It felt like much longer than that...
  732. >But now you know why you haven't seen or heard the Military around here at all.
  733. "Just you and your parents, you said?" you asked her.
  734. >She nodded, but didn't say anything else, continuing to eat her food.
  735. >Still, you were curious.
  736. "When did they leave?"
  737. >As she swallowed, you saw her looking around at the floor, as if trying to think.
  738. >She gave a tiny shrug.
  739. >"M-Maybe a couple weeks ago...?"
  740. >Fuck...
  741. "And they're still not back...?"
  742. >She shook her head.
  743. >"They went out a couple times before... but they usually were only gone a few hours. One time, they were gone all day. They said they'd only be gone a couple days this time."
  744. >She shuffled nervously on the bed.
  745. >"Maybe it's just taking longer than they thought?" she suggested.
  746. -Two weeks is more than enough,- you thought.
  747. "Maybe," you said in a faux-reassuring manner, unwilling to suggest anything else.
  748. >But it was clear to you that waiting for her parents wasn't going to be a viable option much longer.
  749. >You doubt she's even left the house since they've been gone.
  750. >And you don't want to even know where she's been going to the bathroom.
  751. >Not that you were doing any better, but you weren't going to go telling her that.
  752. >You glanced over to one of the windows to your right. The sunbeams were only shining through just a small sliver in the blinds, mostly due to it being a little after noon now.
  753. >There was still plenty of time in the day to gather the rest of the food from the store, but now you found yourself faced with a bit of a dilemma.
  754. >You didn't know the first thing about taking care of a kid... but you couldn't just leave her alone like this.
  755. >With a sigh and a swirl of your tongue in your mouth, you look back to the girl.
  756. "Hey kid," you say to her, getting her attention just as she finishes her second can of food.
  757. >"Hmm?" she muffled, mouth still full of mac and cheese. It made you laugh a little.
  758. "Uh... since your parents are out, and you're obviously pretty hungry... how would you feel about coming back with me? To my place?"
  759. >The girl swallowed her food and just looked at you.
  760. >She fidgeted subtly on her bed.
  761. >"U-Um... well, I don't... uh... well, my parents might be home any minute, so..."
  762. >She was struggling to find a proper excuse, but you immediately interjected, hoping to ease her worries.
  763. "Look, kid, I'm not gonna tell you that you -have- to come with me or anything. But you're clearly starving up here. And being on your own for two weeks, I can imagine that can drive anyone crazy. I mean, look at me, I've been on my own for -six months-, and I—"
  764. >Wait. That probably wasn't the best example.
  765.  
  766. >You reach to push yourself up off the floor. Too fast, it seemed, as the girl let out a small, scared gasp and recoiled, dropping her now-almost-empty can of food onto the floor.
  767. >Slowly, you make the rest of the way up to your feet and hold your hands up half-way, slowly.
  768. "It's alright," you tell her calmly, "it's alright. I promise."
  769. >She doesn't seem deterred at all.
  770. >You try to put on a warm smile.
  771. "Look," you begin, "why don't we head back to the college together? We can go back, I can get you some more mac and cheese, or maybe some vegetables, and... if you want, you can play some video games. I got GTA, Rimworld, maybe a couple skating games... I'll keep you safe, okay? And as soon as your folks come home, I'll take you right back here. I promise."
  772. >The girl's breathing quickened, and her face started to contort into a more frightened expression. Her eyes became glassy.
  773. >Then suddenly, her fidgeting stopped, and she stared at you.
  774. >Then to the gun beside her.
  775. >It was -your- heart's turn to quicken.
  776. "Hey. Hey, hey, look at me, look at me," you tell her, trying your damnedest to calm her down. "I'm not trying to do anything to you, alright? I promise I'm good."
  777. >Her hands, holding the empty air, were shaking.
  778. >She looked terrified.
  779. >She -was- terrified.
  780. "Kid..."
  781. >You took one small, soft step towards her.
  782. >In less than a second, she grabbed the gun, pointed it towards you, and pulled the trigger.
  783. >You raised your arms in front of you, closed your eyes, and shouted in terror, expecting either a searing pain or darkness.
  784. >Instead, all you heard was the sound of rapid clicking from behind your hands, and the sound of the girl panting heavily.
  785. >You could hardly hear any of that over the sound of your own heart going into overdrive.
  786. >When you pulled your hands away, you saw the gun still pointed at you, and the girl's head turned away, eyes closed, as she tried relentlessly to pull the trigger of the gun.
  787. >But nothing came out.
  788. >You were shaking, trying to process everything that'd just happened.
  789. >The girl didn't take as long.
  790. >Once she realized the gun wasn't firing anything, she looked at you, shuddered with fear, and then let out a sob, taking the gun in one hand and throwing it straight at you.
  791. >You only just barely dodged it, hearing it crash against the wall behind you.
  792. >As you turned to see where it fell, you heard the girl get up off the bed and grab something else. When you turned back, she'd raised her hands up, holding in them your baseball bat, ready to strike you down.
  793. >Quickly, you lunged at her, reaching for her hands mid-swing and stopping the bat in its tracks.
  794. >You briefly wrestled with the girl for control over the bat. The entire time, she was sobbing and screaming.
  795. >"NO!" she screamed, sucking in air before crying again. "NO!"
  796. >In such a weakened state, on top of her being young and smaller than you, the struggle ended with you shoving her hands to the side, forcing her to drop the bat.
  797.  
  798. >The motion caused both of you to lose your balance and fall onto the bed, with you landing on top of the girl.
  799. >She exploded.
  800. >"NOOOO!"
  801. >Her screams returned with newfound trepidation, becoming shrill, piercing wails that shook the walls of her bedroom as she tried in vain to push you off her.
  802. "KID!" you shouted. "STOP!"
  803. >The girl wasn't listening. She was flailing beneath you, kicking her feet into the air behind you as if to kick you in the back.
  804. >You kept her hands pinned to the mattress as she fidgeted, trying to punch you.
  805. >Fresh tears were running down her face.
  806. >She was hardly saying anything coherent anymore.
  807. >But you made out one word. Just one.
  808. >"MOM! MOM!"
  809. >She screamed that word over and over again, for several moments, until they too inevitably eroded into garbled sobs.
  810. >"PLEASE! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE...! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT... I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT..."
  811. >You stopped pushing against her, but by then, there was no need to do so.
  812. >She'd grown weak and tired, but the tears continued to flow down her face as she gasped and bawled beneath you.
  813. >Eventually, tears of your own began to fall, dripping onto her neck and staining her bed sheets.
  814. >The girl didn't even seem to notice.
  815. >Her cries started to die down, but they didn't stop.
  816. >You sniffled.
  817. "Kid," you croaked, just loud enough that she could be able to hear. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not gonna hurt you. I swear."
  818. >All you could do was just lay there, hovering over her, and hoping she would just listen to you.
  819. >It was all you wanted from her right now.
  820. >She refused to look at you, closing her eyes in a heavy wince, as if expecting you to strike her or... something else...
  821. >But you weren't going to do that.
  822. >Instead, against your better judgement... you pulled yourself off her and moved yourself to the foot of her bed.
  823. >Immediately, she scampered back and cowered into the back corner of the mattress and room, clutching herself tightly in her arms.
  824. >Her whimpers broke your heart.
  825. >Your own tears continued to run down your cheeks, and you struggled to say anything for a moment.
  826. >All you could do was watch as this starving child whimpered before you, just whispering one thing among her cries.
  827. >"Please... Please don't... Please..."
  828. >You sucked in a shaky breath, and even that was a struggle in its own.
  829. "I-I'm not gonna hurt you, kid, I... I just wanna help you. I don't wanna leave you alone like this. I swear, I just wanna help you..."
  830. >The girl didn't answer back, instead continuing to sob softly to herself.
  831. >"I just w-want my mom and dad... Just l-leave me alone... please... please, leave me alone..."
  832. >You swallowed the building saliva in your throat and tried to hold back the tears, but only just barely, as the girl mumbled those words over and over again.
  833. >You tried reaching for her, slowly, just to put your hand out to her.
  834.  
  835. >She saw and whimpered again, recoiling even further into the corner, and you stepped back again.
  836. >You didn't know what else to do.
  837. >And you figured, in your mind, there was nothing you -could- do.
  838. >Nothing except just do what she asked.
  839. >With shaky breath and muscles, you scooted yourself off the bed and rose to your feet.
  840. >Through the tears, you walked over to the other end of the bedroom, grabbed your bat, and made your way for the door.
  841. >You saw the girl flinch again once she saw you holding the bat, but didn't move when she saw you heading towards the bedroom door.
  842. >Just before you left, you saw the revolver sitting on the floor, laying on its side with its chamber open.
  843. >Surrounded by bullets.
  844. >With a soft, wet gasp, you opened the bedroom door and left. You practically ran down the stairs, through the living room, and out the front door within seconds.
  845. >It took you a moment to realize you were outside, but once you did, you fell to your ass and sat down on the front steps of the porch, dropping your bat in front of you and holding your head in your hands.
  846. >The weight of everything that'd happened in the last couple minutes began to crash down onto you all at once.
  847. >You struggled to breathe, clutching the railing of the steps tightly and trying desperately to focus, not to throw up.
  848. >Maybe it was the little food you actually had today that kept you from doing so.
  849. >Your head started to feel heavy, and you thought you were going to pass out right on the porch.
  850. >Only the cool gusts of wind brushing against your face were enough to keep you sober, sober enough to think.
  851. >Think about how lucky you were.
  852. >The gun jammed. A one in a fucking million chance.
  853. >Or maybe she just wasn't pulling the trigger hard enough.
  854. >You rested your head against one of the stair beams and wiped the sweat off your forehead with your hand.
  855. >After a couple minutes of calm, slow breathing, you were able to think much clearer than before.
  856. >And it was -clear- to you that this kid's parents weren't coming home.
  857. >You don't know what would've happened to her if she went with them, but you damn well know what's going to happen if you don't do anything -now-.
  858. >She wasn't going to come back with you, and you don't know how defensible this place was.
  859. >But asking to stay here was out of the question... at least, for now.
  860. >But you weren't leaving just yet.
  861. >With a deep sigh, you got up to your feet and began walking down the front path, towards the bushes where you hid the cart.
  862. >You started grabbing a couple handfuls of cans, all of them as rich in protein and calories as you could find.
  863. >If she wasn't leaving, the least you could do was help her eat.
  864. >You took the cans and walked back to the house.
  865. >Peeking through the front door, you slowly opened it.
  866. >If the girl was scared of you, she wouldn't think to come down and get you.
  867. >A sad advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.
  868. >You entered the house and made your way into the kitchen.
  869.  
  870. >Remembering the table was covered in rotten food and used bowls, you set the cans down nearby and began looking for a trash bag to put everything in.
  871. >You found a fresh box of them under the sink and used one to clean the table, sweeping everything into it.
  872. >They were plastic bowls and utensils, so there was no need to save anything.
  873. >Once the table was cleaned off, you grabbed the cans from the floor and set them down on the table top.
  874. >You then looked through the kitchen drawers for some paper or post-it notes.
  875. >You found a small notebook and reached into your duffel bag to grab your pencil.
  876. >Once you found it, you set the notebook down on the table and began to write.
  877. >It occurred to you again that you still didn't know the kid's name, but you weren't going to try finding out now.
  878. >Regardless, you wrote a simple note.
  879. "Kid,
  880. "I'm sorry for what happened. I wasn't trying to hurt you at all.
  881. "I don't want you to be all by yourself.
  882. "But if you wanna stay here a little longer and wait for your mom and dad, then I'll leave these for you.
  883. "There's enough food here for a week. (a couple mac n' cheese cans too, but please eat some veggies, it'll help!)
  884. "Please eat and take care of yourself.
  885. "I'll be coming by again later to clear out the rest of Woodchuck's. I'll put some more food on the porch in case you lock the door.
  886. "If you need anything, come find me at the college (exit house, go right and keep going straight).
  887. "If you want to stay with me, leave a note for your parents telling them where you're going in case they come back!
  888. "I'll stop by and check on you every couple days, if that's okay?
  889. "I hope we can be friends!
  890. "Take care,
  891. "Anon"
  892. >Ended it on a bit of a corny note, but you felt you got the message across decent enough.
  893. >You set the note down on the table, grabbed a few spare sheets of paper from the notebook for yourself, and placed your things back into your bag.
  894. >You grabbed the trash bag and started walking back to the front door when you passed the stairs, and just listened.
  895. >She was still crying.
  896. >You opened your mouth, wanting to say something up to her, but decided against it.
  897. >It hurt to hear her cry, but there was nothing you could do that wouldn't make things worse.
  898. >And guns don't jam twice.
  899. >So you swallowed that little bit of careless pride and made your way out the front door.
  900. >Once you were outside, you walked over to the curb and placed the bag in a nearby trash bin.
  901. >It was a pointless effort, but it was better than just littering it in her yard.
  902. >You went back over to the cart and grabbed the handle.
  903. >You took one last look at the window, almost expecting to see her watching you.
  904. >But nobody was there.
  905. >With a silent snort, you made your way back onto the sidewalk, cart in tow, and began once more for the college.
  906. >The trek back home was slow and uneventful, and just a little bit sad.
  907. >Maybe it was because you met someone for the first time in six months and they almost killed you.
  908.  
  909. >She thought you were gonna...
  910. >The dread came back, even if there wasn't reason for it to be there.
  911. >The danger had passed, and yet you were thinking of what could've happened instead.
  912. >You just wanted to get this food back home, pick up the rest, and... and maybe take the rest of the day off.
  913. >You'll check out the rest of the area tomorrow.
  914. >Yeah. Tomorrow.
  915. >You got back to the campus just before one o'clock, after what must've been fifty minutes of nothing but walking.
  916. >Everything looked the same as it did when you left a couple hours ago.
  917. >Which was... not really surprising, but at the same time it was.
  918. >It was still jarring just seeing everything so empty and dead.
  919. >You were half expecting the other students to start pouring out of the buildings and getting ready to go to their next class.
  920. >As you entered the courtyard again, you looked back over to the fountain.
  921. >Twilight would've been there.
  922. >Waiting for you.
  923. >Your heart felt heavy again, but again, you sucked it down and continued forward, until you finally reached the boys' dorm.
  924. >You pulled and held the door open as you slid the cart in first, then followed behind it, shutting the door behind you.
  925. >And only after walking down the hallway and entering the stairwell, did it hit you.
  926. >You lived on the third floor.
  927. >The top floor.
  928. >In a building with no power.
  929. >A small groan left your throat.
  930. >You were gonna have to find a generator soon if this was going to be a common thing.
  931. >Until then, you were left to fill your bag with as much food as you could, then lugged the thing upstairs. It wasn't as difficult as you made it out to be, but it was definitely an exercise.
  932. >Once you made it back to your dorm, you simply set the food down on the floor for now, then went back downstairs to grab another bagful.
  933. >This went on for at least twenty minutes. You made around eight trips before you were able to just barely fit the last of the cart's food into your bag and bring it upstairs.
  934. >When you finally set the last of it down on the floor, you shut the door and sat up against it, having to rest for at least a few minutes.
  935. >The cold feeling of the wooden door against your back and head felt so good, you could almost fall asleep like this.
  936. >But that unfortunately had to wait. You still had half a store to clear out.
  937. >After a few minutes of rest, you reluctantly made your way back down to the first floor, greeted with a now-empty cart.
  938. >You took the handle and pushed your way out the front entrance.
  939. >Now entirely familiar with the layout, you didn't need your map to make the return trip.
  940. >Your feet were a little sore from the walking you already made, but you'd spent the last couple months slowly and mentally preparing yourself for the fact that you were going to be doing -a lot- of walking from now on.
  941. >Before long, you were already passing by the girl's home again. You watched the windows for any movement, but there was nothing you could see.
  942.  
  943. >You were hoping she simply cried herself to sleep.
  944. >You pushed forward.
  945. >Another ten minutes later, you were back at Woodchuck's.
  946. >Everything was exactly as it was when you'd left, not a can or anything out of place.
  947. >It really made you wonder just how many people were actually still alive. You and that girl can't be the only ones left in Canterlot.
  948. >But you weren't entirely ready to go looking for new faces just yet. Not until you were sure that kid could trust -you-.
  949. >For now, you focused on cleaning out the rest of this place.
  950. >It took about half the time as the first trip, and you were able to fill the cart almost all the way this time.
  951. >After a few more quick searches in the storage room, bathroom, and underneath the checkout counter, you declared the place completely empty, and crossed it off your map.
  952. >Cart once again in tow, you began the long haul back to CU.
  953. >When you passed by the girl's house again, you stuck to your promise and set down another week's worth of food on the porch, just in front of the door.
  954. >With a few light knocks, you returned to your cart and continued for home.
  955. >You did turn back once though, just to see if the front door opened.
  956. >When nothing happened, you looked away.
  957. >It was just after three-thirty when you got back home.
  958. >Like before, you filled your bag with as much food as you could and brought it all upstairs, dropped it on the floor, and then went back down.
  959. >You were able to clear out the cart in about half the time, but once you'd dumped the last of the food on the floor, you were exhausted.
  960. >It'd only been maybe six hours since you got up, and already it felt like much longer than that.
  961. >The weight of it all just left you nervous the whole time. Every time you expected a car to roll by or some kids to skate down the sidewalk, just anything to indicate everything was fine...
  962. >All you were met with was quiet.
  963. >Fuck, did you even hear birds the whole time you were out there?
  964. >All this worrying left you shaky and breathless.
  965. >By now, it should've been pretty clear that this was the first time you'd ever been in a real survival situation, certainly not anything that would prompt you to think on your feet.
  966. >And now there was this, and you hardly knew what you needed to do.
  967. >Sure, you had food now, but what happens when even that runs out? Will you know how to farm or fish by then?
  968. >You don't even know how to de-bone a fish.
  969. >And now you're thinking about possibly trying to befriend some kid who's scared out of her mind and, if she comes to trust you, will no doubt be relying on you to keep her safe and alive.
  970. >You've never taken care of kids before.
  971. >How could you ever keep her safe?
  972. >How? HOW—
  973. >You shut those thoughts down. Every single one of them, you pushed away as far as you could, and took a deep breath.
  974. >Then you exhaled.
  975. >You did this again and again for a couple minutes, sitting against the cool door and trying to keep yourself relaxed.
  976.  
  977. >You weren't going to -survive- if all you did was panic.
  978. >But you were still real with yourself: You didn't know much about surviving.
  979. >And now you had all the time in the world to start.
  980. >And if that kid was going to be any part of your life, it was better to start now than later.
  981. >But not today.
  982. >Today, you were going to put all your food away, play some video games, and then when the sun went down, go to bed.
  983. >And that's what you did.
  984. >You indiscriminately grabbed cans off the floor and began stacking them in the kitchen cabinets and cupboards, wherever they fit.
  985. >There was enough food to fill at least two cupboards to the brim.
  986. >Once that was over, you drank some water, used some of it to wash yourself off, and spent the rest of the day in some more comfortable clothing, sitting in your bed and playing on your Deck.
  987. >If it weren't for this charger and your batteries, this thing would've died months ago.
  988. >You'd like to find a solar charger someday.
  989. >Maybe one day, you can build it.
  990. >By the time you stopped playing, the sun had finally gone down.
  991. >It was incredibly dark in your room. Looking out the window, there was very little moon left to shine down on the blackened skyline of Canterlot.
  992. >It looked so amazing just a week ago.
  993. >You listened closely, and could clearly hear the sound of crickets chirping in the distance.
  994. >At least it wasn't completely dead out there.
  995. >You set your Deck down on the nightstand next to your bed, then covered up in your blanket and turned to your side.
  996. >It took a while to fall asleep.
  997. >You just hope she can sleep at all tonight...
  998.  
  999. END OF PART 1

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