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Time Is All We Have (Scootaloo x Anon)

By RealDash
Created: 2022-06-01 07:33:36
Updated: 2024-04-03 19:21:19
Expiry: Never
scootaloonsfwanonymouseqghumanizedpost-apocalyptic

  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. >Two cans of pineapples.
  75. >One can of Corned Beef Hash.
  76. >One Steam Deck, chock full of games (how else do you think you've managed to stay sane for so long?).
  77. >One wireless charger, powered with four AAs or two Ds.
  78. >Five one-gallon jugs of water.
  79. >A shitload of bandages and disinfectant that you've lost count—never really had a reason to use any of it.
  80. >And one metal baseball bat.
  81. >A decent amount of goods for someone with zero survival skills, but would it even be enough?
  82. >Guess it was time to find out.
  83. >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.
  84. >Before leaving the dorm, you pondered the thought of either leaving for good, or trying to make it work here.
  85.  
  86. >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.
  87. >It could be a real home.
  88. >Though, you did miss Detrot.
  89. >You doubt you'd make the trip there, anyway.
  90. >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.
  91. >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.
  92. >What were the chances you'd ever find another Deck that had Prince of Persia on it? Not high, that's for sure!
  93. >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.
  94. >If you played your cards right, the trip back would be an exercise.
  95. >You took a few steps to the main entrance to your dorm. With only a shaky breath escaping you, you opened the front door.
  96. >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.
  97. >Closing the door gently behind you, you were glad it didn't squeak much.
  98. >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.
  99. >You wondered if there was any connection between that and the outbreak, but that was a thought for later.
  100. >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.
  101. >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.
  102. >You didn't dare think to touch them.
  103. >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.
  104. >Every step you took towards the main doors filled you with an ever-growing sense of... dread.
  105. >But you swallowed it. You had to do this.
  106. >Once you stood just before the main doors, you looked out its windows.
  107. >All you could see was the large courtyard in the center, and the subsequent dorms and classrooms that littered the campus.
  108. >A single newspaper dashed by the door, startling you for a moment until you realized what it was.
  109.  
  110. >You took a deep breath, held it in for just a second, then exhaled slowly, hoping it would calm your nerves.
  111. >It didn't.
  112. >Nevertheless—you pushed open the doors, and took your very first step out of this building in six months.
  113. >Immediately, you were met with a cool breeze that brushed against your body.
  114. >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.
  115. >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.
  116. >It wasn't really necessary here, being out in the open. But better safe than sorry, right?
  117. >You slowly marched forward, further and further away from the boys' dorm, keeping steadily along the concrete sidewalk.
  118. >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.
  119. >Even the trees and bushes looked much bigger, now that they weren't constantly being maintained by landscapers.
  120. >It was actually kind of cool to see how much things changed in just six months.
  121. >Finding yourself getting distracted, you fixed your focus and continued forward.
  122. >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.
  123. >You looked over to your left. Not too far away was the girls' dorm.
  124. >A sense of unease rested in the pit of your stomach.
  125. >Twilight was in there. You knew that much.
  126. >You... You can't go in there. That wasn't your focus anyway.
  127. >One day...
  128. >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.
  129. >The first thing to catch your eye was an upside-down van sitting in a grass clearing about fifty feet from the entrance.
  130. >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.
  131. >You figured it would be the former, otherwise you would've heard such a commotion at some point.
  132. >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.
  133. >Looking through the windows, however, you couldn't see anything inside that looked worth taking.
  134. >But you -did- see a pair of... diapers.
  135. >You saw the car seat immediately after.
  136. >No body, or sign of one.
  137. >Thank God.
  138. >You stepped away from the van and continued to the entrance.
  139. >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.
  140.  
  141. >The entrance has a security booth to the side. Like the van, it was empty, but you decided to check inside for anything useful.
  142. >*jiggle jiggle*
  143. >If the door wasn't locked, of course.
  144. >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.
  145. >Your curiosity was getting the better of you.
  146. >You looked to your left.
  147. >Then your right.
  148. >With a deep breath, you took one step back and closed your eyes.
  149. >You raised your bat into the air.
  150. >And with all the strength you could muster, you—
  151. >*Clunk!*
  152. >Only cracked the window, throwing you off balance, and the bat coming right back to you and nearly striking you in the face.
  153. >You recoiled just in time to avoid a nasty hit.
  154. >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.
  155. >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.
  156. >Just the hop over a waist-high window took a bit of breath out of you.
  157. >Maybe you need to lose some weight...
  158. >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.
  159. >Somehow.
  160. >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.
  161. >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.
  162. >You would've gotten a pool! Well, not that you would've used it much... but you would've!
  163. >The last drawer, however, did have something incredibly helpful: a 2022 edition map of the Canterlot metropolitan area.
  164. >With the Internet gone, you quickly realized a while back that trying to travel Canterlot without GPS was going to be a goddamn nightmare.
  165. >If only you checked here sooner; you would've had a lot more time to get an idea of the layout.
  166. >Oh well. Better late than never!
  167. >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.
  168. >Well... -was-.
  169. >You looked on the counter tops for a pen or pencil.
  170. >Finding a couple of both, you grabbed and stuffed them into your duffel bag, leaving one out to use on the map.
  171. >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.
  172.  
  173. >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."
  174. >You've only been to a couple places just outside the downtown limits, but that's it.
  175. >There was a whole city out there... and frankly, you didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
  176. >It was fine being nervous exploring an unknown place by yourself.
  177. >But exploring an unknown place by yourself -after- the end of civilization? That was completely different.
  178. >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.
  179. >Hey, until you can find a better place, might as well be home, right?
  180. >You gaze at the legend in the bottom left corner of the map, looking for one thing in particular: food shops.
  181. >Restaurants, supermarkets, mini-marts—anything that could possibly have food, you needed to start looking for them.
  182. >Said food shops were buildings marked in yellow, so you immediately began marking down the nearest yellow buildings to the campus.
  183. >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!
  184. >Another one, Woodchuck's Needs, was about a mile or so to the west, surrounded by suburban homes, it looked like.
  185. >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.
  186. >Now you wish you hadn't eaten them as fast as you did.
  187. >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.
  188. >Slowly, you poked your head up from under the counter and took a quick 180 view around the security booth.
  189. >It didn't seem like anyone, or anything, heard the window break.
  190. >Instead of climbing out the window again, you instead decided to unlock the side door and exit through it.
  191. >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.
  192. >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.
  193. >Looking to your left, then to your right, you got your first look at this street since the outbreak.
  194. >Every house's lawn was overgrown, dead leaves and dirt lay strewn all over the sidewalks and road.
  195. >You could see an abandoned car to the south, sitting in the middle of the road with its driver door opened.
  196. >It actually scared you at first, but once you realized it was abandoned, you were able to breath easy again.
  197.  
  198. >But the thing that you realized the most after stepping out here?
  199. >How quiet it was.
  200. >Sure, there were birds chirping and wind blowing past your ears.
  201. >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.
  202. >It was almost completely -dead- quiet.
  203. >You felt your heart race a bit as you realized...
  204. >You were actually alone.
  205. >You wanted to turn back.
  206. >But you couldn't go back to the dorm. Not now.
  207. >You had a job to do.
  208. >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.
  209. >Force of habit, you guessed.
  210. >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.
  211. >It made you respect landscapers a lot more.
  212. >While you marched down the street, the campus stood just to your right. You were passing the back end of the girls' dorm.
  213. >One of the windows had a large sign that read, "Class of '23!"
  214. >All you could do was smile bittersweetly.
  215. >You glanced at Twilight's window, only for a second, and you figured that was enough sightseeing.
  216. >Another breath, and you continued walking for another few minutes.
  217. >Sure enough, once you went far enough north, you reached an intersection, which was also the northwest corner of the college perimeter.
  218. >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.
  219. >Interestingly, there wasn't a single car here. But you figured most of those sick would've been at home, not in the streets.
  220. >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.
  221. >And yes, you had to reread the sign to be sure that was its actual name.
  222. >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.
  223. >It could be just as possible that... maybe there weren't that many people left.
  224. >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.
  225. >At least, that's what it says on the sign.
  226. >A few abandoned cars still stood in the parking lot. Despite the months, they looked like they were in good condition.
  227. >You haven't driven a car in a couple years, but it shouldn't take long to reacquaint yourself—assuming they have gas.
  228. >And keys.
  229.  
  230. >But you'll worry on that another time; right now, your priority is food.
  231. >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:
  232. >"OUT OF GAS."
  233. >You wondered if gas would still be any good by this point, but you didn't dwell on it for now.
  234. >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.
  235. >Once you'd opened it just enough to let yourself inside, you held the bat again, holding it up in a defensive stance.
  236. >There were a couple doors to the right of you; one was a bathroom, and the other you guessed was storage.
  237. >You slowly approached the bathroom door and put your ear up to it. You didn't hear anything behind it.
  238. >It was also unlocked.
  239. >You opened the door carefully and gently, heart beating quicker than normal.
  240. >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.
  241. >And maybe that was -before- all this.
  242. >Ugh.
  243. >You leave the door open and continue on over to the storage room door, doing the same basic procedure.
  244. >Again, you didn't hear anything behind it, so you began to open it slowly.
  245. >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.
  246. >Nevertheless, you pushed on, pulling the door open even further, and the smell only got stronger.
  247. >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.
  248. >Trying your best to ignore the stench, you reached into your duffel bag and rummaged around in the emptiness, looking for your flashlight.
  249. >After a few seconds, you felt it and pulled it out, zipping the bag back up.
  250. >You pressed the ON button, allowing the flashlight to rain a piercing bright shower of liHOLYFUCKINGSHIT—
  251. >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.
  252. >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.
  253. >Once you were able to calm down a bit and actually look, you realized you were right... technically.
  254. >It -was- a person.
  255. >Shakily, you got back up to your feet, sick to your stomach and constantly fighting the urge not to puke.
  256. >Your flashlight remained focused on the sight before you, as much as you didn't want to look.
  257.  
  258. >Looking up from the floor, you saw a damp, moldy noose hanging from the ceiling.
  259. >Once you realized what you were looking at, you grew sad, amidst the sick feeling.
  260. >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.
  261. >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.
  262. >And the closer you were to their body... the—
  263. >Fuck, you can't, you can't!
  264. >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.
  265. >But no matter how much air you took in, that smell stayed in your head. You've never smelled a body that rotted before.
  266. >And now you'll never forget it.
  267. >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.
  268. >It already felt like an eternity.
  269. >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.
  270. >The shakiness in your limbs had subsided well enough for now, and the urge to vomit was gone... for now.
  271. >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.
  272. >It was flimsy, but it would do well enough until you could find a better backpack.
  273. >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.
  274. >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.
  275. >You kept your focus onto the task at hand, and gazed over to the few aisles that the shop provided.
  276. >They weren't completely stocked like these shelves typically were, but goddamn, was there still a lot.
  277. >Some canned tuna, canned sausages, a bunch of snacks like chocolate, Twinkies, even a few jars of untouched peanut butter!
  278. >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.
  279. >Even, uh... condoms.
  280. >Not like most people need much reason for them now, right?
  281. >You set your duffel bag down on the front counter and opened it up just to see how much space it had inside.
  282. >Despite it looking on the small side, you were sure it would be able to fit a good portion of everything here.
  283. >You might have to make a trip or two.
  284. >It would take you thirty minutes to get it done, if you were fast.
  285. >Should you do it right now?
  286.  
  287. *grumble*
  288. >Your stomach answered that for you.
  289. >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.
  290. >What was the harm in a crushed Twinkie? It was still a Twinkie.
  291. >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.
  292. >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.
  293. >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.
  294. >Don't ask why you didn't bother to do it at any point in the last five or so months.
  295. >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.
  296. >Curious, you opened a small packet of peanut butter cookie and took a few bites.
  297. >It was definitely getting stale, but it was also a cookie.
  298. >You looked at the canned foods you'd collected and marked them down.
  299. >Three small cans of sausages and one of the canned tunas; those were the last couple things you could fit in your bag.
  300. >You were already looking forward to grabbing the rest, which you definitely had the space for.
  301. >Maybe a third trip for any non-food items, unless you could do a bit of micro-managing.
  302. >Wiping a bead of sweat from your forehead, you decided not to waste more time than needed.
  303. >After scarfing down the rest of your cookies, you shut the cabinet and zipped up your bag, ready to take another trip.
  304. >Just as it was on the way back, the trip back to the gas station was uneventful.
  305. >You were actually getting a little tired from just walking down the street.
  306. >You really wished you exercised more.
  307. >But hey, this is a start!
  308. >You made it back to Parsley's within about five minutes and set your bag on the counter top, ready to do more collecting.
  309. >But just as you set it down, something caught your eye.
  310. >A note that'd been placed on the counter top near the window.
  311. >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.
  312. >You picked up the note and began to read it, staying out of sight by sitting against the counter.
  313. >"My name is Autumn Parsley. I used to run this place with my husband White.
  314. >"We inherited it from my grandparents, intent on keeping their legacy alive by remaining a timeless, classic, and proud general store.
  315.  
  316. >"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.
  317. >"By the time anyone reads this note, I'll be dead. Whatever this Is, I've got it.
  318. >"I know what it does to people, and I don't want to end up like tHat. It frightens me.
  319. >"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.
  320. >"I don't wanna hURt anybody.
  321. >"Take anything you want or need. I have no need for it anymore.
  322. >"May God forgive uS alL.
  323. >"-Autumn Parsley, March 28, 2023"
  324. >You set the note back down and looked over to the storage door.
  325. >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.
  326. >Part of you wondered what was going through her mind when she did it.
  327. >Was she scared? Content? Angry? Or was her mind already going, and she'd grown numb by the end?
  328. >You noticed some of the letters looked off. But that could've been anything.
  329. >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.
  330. >It wasn't the first time you saw a dead body; some of your former neighbors can vouch for that.
  331. >But it was definitely the first time you saw one that badly rotted.
  332. >God knows what your neighbors look like now.
  333. >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.
  334. >Peanut butter can definitely go a long way, so you were gonna do your best to make them last the longest.
  335. >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 shitton of batteries, two motor oil cans—you made sure they were sealed shut beforehand—and four sticks of deodorant.
  336. >And even though you weren't gonna need them... you took the condoms, anyway.
  337. >They'll probably come in handy someday, though.
  338. >After zipping up your bag, you did one more combover of the entire shop—well, the main room, anyhow—for anything you might've missed.
  339. >Not one canned food, oil can, flashlight, or condom remained unpicked.
  340. >This place was clean.
  341. >Except...
  342. >...
  343. >You'll do it later. You saw an exit door in there, so maybe you can check it out that way.
  344. >You're definitely gonna need a mask, though.
  345. >Shouldn't be hard to find one...
  346.  
  347. _______________
  348.  
  349. >After another brief trip, you were back in your dorm.
  350. >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.
  351. >Anything bathroom related—in this case, the brushes and toothpaste—went into the mirror cabinet in the bathroom.
  352. >You were running low on toothpaste, so these were some great finds.
  353. >Though, it made you wonder how long toothpaste would last, since nobody was making anymore.
  354. >You're sure the nearest library might have some books on how to make toothpaste.
  355. >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?
  356. >You're partially hoping you'll have found other people by then, and hopefully they'll be friendly.
  357. >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.
  358. >At least, once things get to that point. For now, this you can handle.
  359. >Once everything was in the places you wanted, you returned to your corner cabinet and took inventory of all your food.
  360. >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.
  361. >The peanut butter jars, in good enough quantities, maaaaybe could stretch that out a couple extra weeks.
  362. >... You might be bad at estimating, but you'll find out when it comes to that.
  363. >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-.
  364. >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.
  365. >Plus, homemade goods can mean a better fill for you.
  366. >You can't live off Twinkies forever—fun as that sounds.
  367. >You checked your watch for the time. It was just after ten in the morning.
  368. >You'd already spent the better part of an hour going no further than a mile from the dorm.
  369. >There was still plenty of daylight to burn, but you were gonna need to be just a little faster.
  370. >Doing a few last-minute gueses in your head, you estimated you had another month's worth of food, assuming you rationed and consumed it right.
  371. >With that out of the way, you shut the cabinet, grabbed your bag, and checked the map again.
  372. >Grabbing your pencil, you crossed out Parsley's with an X.
  373. >After a moment, you decided to put a ? right next to it, reminding you to go back later.
  374.  
  375. >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.
  376. >At your pace, you'd get there in about an hour, maybe a little over that.
  377. >But luckily, once you believed you were well off enough for food, you'd be able to spend more time closer to home.
  378. >That meant going through all these untouched houses.
  379. >Who knows: You'd probably have better luck finding food that way.
  380. >But for now, you'll stick to what you know.
  381. >Woodchuck's has food, and you need food.
  382. >You like food.
  383. >Placing the map and pencil back into your bag, you fastened it around your shoulders and headed for the door.
  384. >You made your way back downstairs and out the main doors of the hall.
  385. >With the direction in your head, you set off for Woodchuck's Needs Store.
  386. >Making it back to Parsley's was just as uneventful as the last two trips.
  387. >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.
  388. >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.
  389. >For a good twenty minutes, there was absolutely -nothing- around you that prompted any caution or worry. No cars, no people, no... bodies...
  390. >It was almost like you were going for a casual stroll through town, only wihout the familiar screeching of lawnmowers or children.
  391. >These lawns sure needed a good mowing right about now.
  392. >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.
  393. >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.
  394. >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.
  395. >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.
  396. >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.
  397. >A few cars sat in the road up north, but beyond that, you noticed there wasn't much traffic on the streets.
  398. >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.
  399. >You crossed the intersection and continued west.
  400. >The later part of the journey consisted less of residential homes, and more of some commercial buildings, just as the map showed you.
  401.  
  402. >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!
  403. >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.
  404. >There was even a video game store, showing some of the last known releases on their front windows.
  405. >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.
  406. >Maybe you'll come back for a couple of each tomorrow, just to set aside. Your Deck was enough for now.
  407. >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.
  408. >The entire area was completely devoid of life, apart from an occasional bird or two eating something off the ground and then flying off.
  409. >You walk up to the front of the shop and peer in through the window.
  410. >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.
  411. >How much of it was food, though? And still edible?
  412. >Time to find out.
  413. >You jiggle the knob, hoping it's unlocked too.
  414. >No such luck.
  415. >You see a back door through the window, so you begin making your way around the side of the shop.
  416. >Unfortunately, it was also locked.
  417. >With an annoyed sigh, you began debating on whether or not you wanted to break the doorknob, or smash a window.
  418. >A window would be more obvious.
  419. >But then again, it wouldn't be the first broken window on this street.
  420. >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.
  421. >After just a few swings, you feel yourself getting tired from the motion.
  422. >Regardless, you kept swinging just a couple more times.
  423. >The last swing seemed to do just enough to dislodge the lock from its place, allowing you to open the door.
  424. >You make your way inside and shut the door behind you. It didn't stay shut, but you didn't care much for that.
  425. >After about a minute, you were able to catch your breath, and decided to get a good look at the room you were in.
  426. >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.
  427. >You never saw a wood stove in person before... but this was going to do wonders for you when winter comes.
  428. >For now, you checked the cupboards for anything useful.
  429. >Apart from cleaning supplies and some dishes, there was nothing much of use in here.
  430. >But you make a note to grab the cleaning supplies in the future.
  431.  
  432. >After finding nothing of much use in the cupboards, you leave the kitchen and make your way into the main room.
  433. >Now that you were up close, you were able to see just how much was actually left on the shelves.
  434. >Plenty was an understatement!
  435. >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-!
  436. >Not just canned, but jarred too!
  437. >And these weren't all just familiar brands, either! A lot of this looked like it was made by the owners themselves!
  438. >Guess your roommate wasn't lying about everything being made on-site.
  439. >You were certain that in any other scenario, this place would've been picked clean months ago.
  440. >But hey, you weren't gonna complain!
  441. >There was enough food here to last you months, maybe longer!
  442. >The only downside you saw?
  443. >Nowhere near enough space in your bag for all of this.
  444. >You'd be able to fill it to the brim, but that would be only a fraction of what this place had.
  445. >And it was gonna take you hours to get everything back to the college.
  446. >Your feet were already a little sore from walking just those couple miles.
  447. >It made you wish you had a car.
  448. >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.
  449. >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.
  450. >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.
  451. >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.
  452. >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.
  453. >With your luck, this place would be cleared out by four o'clock.
  454. >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.
  455. >Though, you want to at least remove all the shit bags before then.
  456. >...
  457. >You wish you were more prepared.
  458. >But nothing you can do about that now.
  459. >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.
  460. >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.
  461. >It was right next to the doorway that led into the kitchen. It didn't look like a bathroom, more like another storage room.
  462. >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.
  463. >You just hoped to Christ there wasn't going to be another body in there.
  464.  
  465. >Slowly, you walked up to the door and pressed your ear against it.
  466. >As usual, no sound behind it.
  467. >With a brief jiggle of the knob, you were glad to find that it was unlocked.
  468. >You cracked the door open just a bit and waited.
  469. >You let out a sigh of relief as the stench of death was entirely absent, but you remained cautious anyway.
  470. >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.
  471. >But once you were able to actually look inside, you weren't going to needed.
  472. >It was a decently sized storage room, fitted with a few metal shelves and some steamy looking refrigerators.
  473. >Yeah... you were keeping those shut.
  474. >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.
  475. >But that wasn't all you saw.
  476. >The shelves were all filled with food, probably even more so than the main room.
  477. "Holy shit," you said to yourself with a laugh.
  478. >All the food you bought before lasted you six months, could've lasted you at least nine.
  479. >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.
  480. >You actually found yourself just a little giddy with excitement.
  481. >So much food and water to go around, you didn't even know where to begin.
  482. >Until something caught your eye.
  483. >There was something hidden in the corner of the room, covered by sheets.
  484. >But you saw the wheels.
  485. >You hoped it was exactly what you thought it was.
  486. >You pulled off the covers.
  487. >Letting out a loud, overexaggerated, cheerful sigh and raising your hands in a victory pose, you laughed with relief as your eyes laid upon a utility cart.
  488. >It was small enough that it could fit through a door, but it was also talk, lanky, and beefy.
  489. >And for good reason too: These things can hold a thousand pounds in them.
  490. >The cart itself was incredibly spacious. You could probably fit half the store's stock in here.
  491. >Did you say done by four o'clock?
  492. >Make that done by one.
  493. >With a smile, you wasted no time in getting to work.
  494. >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.
  495. >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.
  496. >More jars of on-site peanut butter, still looking fresh as the day it was prepped, and even canned lasagna.
  497. >You actually debated if that would still taste good.
  498. >Guess you'll find out eventually!
  499. >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.
  500.  
  501. >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.
  502. >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.
  503. >Every so often, you would adjust the positioning of some of the items to make more space.
  504. >Despite that, you were still able to fill the cart incredibly fast, soon leaving no space to add anything else.
  505. >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.
  506. >But you took that as a silver lining. It meant only one more trip here and back.
  507. >If you had any space to spare on the final trip, maybe you'll grab some games and consoles from the stores nearby.
  508. >And maybe some new clothes.
  509. >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.
  510. >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.
  511. >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.
  512. >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.
  513. >... Probably would've been a good idea to check that beforehand.
  514. >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.
  515. >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.
  516. >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.
  517. >With nothing else in mind, you started for home.
  518. >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.
  519. >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.
  520. >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.
  521.  
  522. >Even if your stomach -was- crying for you to eat something.
  523. >It'll be fine.
  524. >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.
  525. >You couldn't wait to unload all this stuff and have a decent dinner tonight.
  526. >What would the macaroni and cheese taste like unheated?
  527. >Hopefully it was just as good. You've had cold food before, and it wasn't bad...
  528. >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.
  529. >Goddamn, you were getting hungry just thi—
  530. >*CRASH*
  531. >You heard a muffled crash coming from your right. The sound startled you, making you flinch and reach pitifully for your bat.
  532. >To your right, you didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Standing before you was a typical blue painted two-story house.
  533. >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.
  534. >But other than that, you didn't notice anyt—
  535. >...
  536. >You saw someone.
  537. >Just for a second, you saw a person look right back at you.
  538. >Top right window.
  539. >A woman.
  540. >She gasped and hid away into the darkness of the house.
  541. >You almost shouted 'wait' to her, but instead debated with yourself on whether or not you should go inside.
  542. >For all you knew, she was armed with something far more powerful than your flimsy baseball bat.
  543. >One wrong move, the wrong word, and...
  544. >The thought already filled you with dread.
  545. >The smart part of you knew it was a stupid idea to even try going in there.
  546. >But the lonely part of you...
  547. >...
  548. >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.
  549. >Stepping up to the front door, you try jiggling the front door.
  550. >No surprise, it was locked. And you imagine the back door was also locked, as well.
  551. >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.
  552. >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.
  553. >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.
  554. >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.
  555. >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.
  556.  
  557. >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.
  558. >More like rotting food.
  559. >But still no woman.
  560. >She must be upstairs.
  561. >This was the biggest risk of your life, but what other option was there?
  562. >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.
  563. >The smell, however, was much stronger the further into the house you walked.
  564. >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.
  565. >You entered the kitchen, where the smell was at its strongest. It wasn't long before you found the culprit.
  566. >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.
  567. >It didn't look that old, either. Maybe a couple of weeks, you guessed.
  568. >Suddenly, you heard the sound of muffled creaking up stairs, followed by... footsteps.
  569. >Slow and quiet footsteps. Well, not as much emphasis on quiet.
  570. >With a deep breath, you cleared your throat softly.
  571. "Hello?" you hollered.
  572. >The footsteps immediately stopped.
  573. >With shaky steps, you navigated back over to the living room, towards the stairs.
  574. >You tried your best to keep your breathing steady, and your subtle jittering at bay.
  575. "I'm coming up, okay?"
  576. >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.
  577. "I-I'm not here to hurt you," you stated. "I saw you in the window."
  578. >No response from the woman.
  579. "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."
  580. >Still no response.
  581. >You were getting close to the top of the stairs now.
  582. >That's when you heard it.
  583. >A clicking sound.
  584. >"S-Stop," a high pitched voice commanded. "Right there. P-Put your hands up in the air. Now."
  585. >Slowly but shakily, you raised your hands up into the air, standing on the third to last step.
  586. >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.
  587. >Maybe around your age? No way she was a teenager, but you couldn't tell looking away from her.
  588. >But all you knew was that she was undoubtedly pointing a gun at you.
  589. "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."
  590. >"The-... Then why did you break into my house?" she asked with a stutter.
  591. >Despite the situation... she kind of had a point.
  592.  
  593. "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."
  594. >"I didn't ask t-that."
  595. >You took a quick but deep breath, not wanting to make her anymore suspicious.
  596. "I-I... wanted to see if you were real. I didn't mean to look like a threat. I swear."
  597. >You kept yourself frozen in place, hands in the air, waiting for her to say something—all while fully expecting everything to go black.
  598. >But the blackness never came.
  599. >"W-Walk up to the top of the stairs," the woman said. "S-Slowly."
  600. >She still sounded totally unsure of herself. Nevertheless, you did as you were told and slowly, carefully, made your way upstairs.
  601. >You looked down subtly, enough to see your feet connecting with each stair step.
  602. >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.
  603. >"Turn around slowly towards me."
  604. >Well... here we go...
  605. >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.
  606. >And as your eyes fell upon her, you realized your suspicions about her were true.
  607. >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.
  608. >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.
  609. >"Walk towards m-me."
  610. >It made sense why she was so unsure of herself; the poor kid was probably scared out of her fucking mind.
  611. >A grown-ass man breaking into a young girl's house after the collapse of civilization, all by herself? Every child's nightmare.
  612. >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.
  613. >The closer you got to her, the more detail of her you could make out.
  614. >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.
  615. >It explained why her footsteps were so quiet compared to if she'd been wearing shoes, given the wooden floor you were walking across.
  616. >But that wasn't the thing you hyperfocused on.
  617. >What you noticed almost right away was her face; not only that, what you could see of her body.
  618. >She was skinny, skinnier than what most kids should be at her age.
  619. >Jesus... she was probably starving up here.
  620. >"Stop," she demanded, and you stopped before her.
  621. >Despite her attempts at intimidation, she seemed to be having trouble keeping her gun, a small snub-nosed revolver, stable.
  622. >You doubted she'd be able to keep a stable grip on it even if she wasn't malnourished.
  623. >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.
  624.  
  625. >You hear her zip it open, revealing the contents inside; nearly all of it was the food you couldn't put in the cart.
  626. >She even gasped quietly.
  627. "You can take all of it," you say softly to her. "You look like you need it."
  628. >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.
  629. >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.
  630. >It was full of canned beans, tuna, and even a couple cans of evaporated milk, something you haven't actually tried yet.
  631. >Every can she removed from the bag made you feel lighter and lighter, which was honestly a relief.
  632. >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.
  633. >You were actually a little impressed.
  634. >The girl cleared her throat.
  635. >"I-I'm gonna ask you some questions now. Got it?"
  636. >You nodded, stretching your fingers slightly, as they were getting sore hanging in the air like this. She took a small breath.
  637. >"Cool-uh... good. Alright... What's your name?"
  638. "Anonymous. But, uh... my friends just called me Anon."
  639. >The girl looked at the food on the table, then back to you, and nodded.
  640. "Um... what's your na—"
  641. >"Where do you live? Are you from around here?" she asked, cutting you off.
  642. "Uh... I-I was going to college here. I went to Canterlot University, just that way."
  643. >You point east with your left hand to emphasize.
  644. >"I know where Canterlot University is," the girl weakly snaps back, before clearing her throat. "I, um... I wa... are-are you alone?"
  645. >You assumed she was referring to if you had a group or not. You nodded.
  646. "I've been by myself the whole time," you tell her.
  647. >She looks you up and down, then recoils only slightly.
  648. >"I-I don't believe that," she says. "You're... you're too big to be on your own!"
  649. >...
  650. >Did this kid just call you fat?
  651. "Ouch...?"
  652. >The girl gave you a guilty look, but otherwise said nothing.
  653. >You decide to move on and reiterate your answer.
  654. "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."
  655. >You drift off somberly.
  656. "Everyone I know is gone."
  657. >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.
  658. >But she is still—understandably—cautious. She lowers the gun away from you, but continues to hold it in her grip.
  659. >"O-Okay," she said with a softer tone. "I... I trust you."
  660. >You return a warm, genuine smile at her, hoping it'll help ease her just a little more.
  661. >It isn't much, but it's better than having a scared child pointing a gun in your face.
  662. >At least, until she does it again briefly.
  663.  
  664. >"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?"
  665. >You nod without question.
  666. >With the threat delivered "effectively", the girl lowers the gun again, taking a couple steps to her right, towards the table.
  667. >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.
  668. >"S-So, um... where did you get this food?"
  669. >You pause for a second to clear your throat.
  670. "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..."
  671. >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.
  672. "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..."
  673. >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.
  674. >Should you... go...?
  675. >No... that wouldn't be right.
  676. >This girl was just a kid! You couldn't leave her all alone like this!
  677. >Or maybe her parents were away?
  678. >... In that case, you probably should get the fuck out before they come back.
  679. >But that food in the kitchen -was- on the table for quite a while...
  680. "Are you... alone?" you ask her.
  681. >She doesn't answer right away; but you can tell she's trying to come up with an answer.
  682. >"No," she answers in a quick tone. "My parents are out looking for food. And they'll be back soon."
  683. >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.
  684. "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?"
  685. >Normally, you'd think being this hungry would make you content with eating practically anything that would satiate you.
  686. >But she was a kid, after all.
  687. >"... Do you have any mac and cheese?"
  688. >How did you figure that out? You wonder...
  689.  
  690. __________
  691.  
  692. >A few minutes have passed.
  693. >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.
  694. >She wasn't taking any time to really appreciate the taste. The kid was -hongrey-.
  695. >Despite that, you couldn't help but laugh quietly to yourself at the sound of her literally going "nom nom nom" like a zombie.
  696. >The girl kept her gun close to her on the mattress to her right, and your bat to her left.
  697. >But her hands were already full; one was holding the can of food, and the other a spoon.
  698.  
  699. >The look on her face when you gave her the can, it was probably the happiest she'd been in a while.
  700. >So you decided to let her enjoy the moment while you sort of gazed around her bedroom.
  701. >You saw a couple LEGO sets sitting underneath her bed, next to an upside-down skateboard.
  702. >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.
  703. >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.
  704. >The BTS one looked so out of place, it made you snort softly.
  705. >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.
  706. >Nothing else really caught your eye; apart from the obvious, there was nothing here that really indicated this room belonged to a young girl.
  707. >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.
  708. >Assuming this all works out, of course...
  709. >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.
  710. "I'm guessing you're a big fan of mac and cheese?" you say in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
  711. >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.
  712. >"I haven't had it in a while... plus, I... haven't really had -anything- in a while..."
  713. >You actually started to feel guilty, being as... -big- as you were.
  714. "Well, eat as much as you need. Just don't choke," you tell her with a soft smile.
  715. >You weren't a Heimlich expert, but you weren't gonna let this kid choke to death on mac and cheese of all things.
  716. "So... is this your place?" you ask her.
  717. >Like the previous question, she hesitates before giving you a slow but firm nod.
  718. >"Yeah," she answered. "I actually moved into this room last year. My parents and I were gonna go visit my Aunt Lo-my Aunts a few months ago, but we ended up getting stuck here."
  719. "Why?"
  720. >The girl lowered the can from her face and rested it against her lap.
  721. >"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."
  722. >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.
  723. >You guessed you just weren't far enough downtown for that to happen.
  724. "How far did you guys get?"
  725. >"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."
  726.  
  727. >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.
  728. >It wasn't anything special to -you-, but a lot of folks around the campus always liked going there, apparently.
  729. >That was only two years ago. It felt like much longer than that...
  730. >But now you know why you haven't seen or heard the Military around here at all.
  731. "Just you and your parents, you said?" you asked her.
  732. >She nodded, but didn't say anything else, continuing to eat her food.
  733. >Still, you were curious.
  734. "When did they leave?"
  735. >As she swallowed, you saw her looking around at the floor, as if trying to think.
  736. >She gave a tiny shrug.
  737. >"M-Maybe a couple weeks ago...?"
  738. >Fuck...
  739. "And they're still not back...?"
  740. >She shook her head.
  741. >"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."
  742. >She shuffled nervously on the bed.
  743. >"Maybe it's just taking longer than they thought?" she suggested.
  744. -Two weeks is more than enough,- you thought.
  745. "Maybe," you said in a faux-reassuring manner, unwilling to suggest anything else.
  746. >But it was clear to you that waiting for her parents wasn't going to be a viable option much longer.
  747. >You doubt she's even left the house since they've been gone.
  748. >And you don't want to even know where she's been going to the bathroom.
  749. >Not that you were doing any better, but you weren't going to go telling her that.
  750. >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.
  751. >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.
  752. >You didn't know the first thing about taking care of a kid... but you couldn't just leave her alone like this.
  753. >With a sigh and a swirl of your tongue in your mouth, you look back to the girl.
  754. "Hey kid," you say to her, getting her attention just as she finishes her second can of food.
  755. >"Hmm?" she muffled, mouth still full of mac and cheese. It made you laugh a little.
  756. "Uh... since your parents are out, and you're obviously pretty hungry... how would you feel about coming back with me? To my place?"
  757. >The girl swallowed her food and just looked at you.
  758. >She fidgeted subtly on her bed.
  759. >"U-Um... well, I don't... uh... well, my parents might be home any minute, so..."
  760. >She was struggling to find a proper excuse, but you immediately interjected, hoping to ease her worries.
  761. "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—"
  762. >Wait. That probably wasn't the best example.
  763.  
  764. >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.
  765. >Slowly, you make the rest of the way up to your feet and hold your hands up half-way, slowly.
  766. "It's alright," you tell her calmly, "it's alright. I promise."
  767. >She doesn't seem deterred at all.
  768. >You try to put on a warm smile.
  769. "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."
  770. >The girl's breathing quickened, and her face started to contort into a more frightened expression. Her eyes became glassy.
  771. >Then suddenly, her fidgeting stopped, and she stared at you.
  772. >Then to the gun beside her.
  773. >It was -your- heart's turn to quicken.
  774. "Hey. Hey, hey, look at me, look at me," you tell her, trying your damndest to calm her down. "I'm not trying to do anything to you, alright? I promise I'm good."
  775. >Her hands, holding the empty air, were shaking.
  776. >She looked terrified.
  777. >She -was- terrified.
  778. "Kid..."
  779. >You took one small, soft step towards her.
  780. >In less than a second, she grabbed the gun, pointed it towards you, and pulled the trigger.
  781. >You raised your arms in front of you, closed your eyes, and shouted in terror, expecting either a searing pain or darkness.
  782. >Instead, all you heard was the sound of rapid clicking from behind your hands, and the sound of the girl panting heavily.
  783. >You could hardly hear any of that over the sound of your own heart going into overdrive.
  784. >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.
  785. >But nothing came out.
  786. >You were shaking, trying to process everything that'd just happened.
  787. >The girl didn't take as long.
  788. >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.
  789. >You only just barely dodged it, hearing it crash against the wall behind you.
  790. >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.
  791. >Quickly, you lunged at her, reaching for her hands mid-swing and stopping the bat in its tracks.
  792. >You briefly wrestled with the girl for control over the bat. The entire time, she was sobbing and screaming.
  793. >"NO!" she screamed, sucking in air before crying again. "NO!"
  794. >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.
  795.  
  796. >The motion caused both of you to lose your balance and fall onto the bed, with you landing on top of the girl.
  797. >She exploded.
  798. >"NOOOO!"
  799. >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.
  800. "KID!" you shouted. "STOP!"
  801. >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.
  802. >You kept her hands pinned to the mattress as she fidgeted, trying to punch you.
  803. >Fresh tears were running down her face.
  804. >She was hardly saying anything coherent anymore.
  805. >But you made out two words. Just two.
  806. >"MOM! MOM!"
  807. >She screamed those words over and over again, for several moments, until they too inevitably eroded into garbled sobs.
  808. >"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..."
  809. >You stopped pushing against her, but by then, there was no need to do so.
  810. >She'd grown weak and tired, but the tears continued to flow down her face as she gasped and bawled beneath you.
  811. >Eventually, tears of your own began to fall, dripping onto her neck and staining her bed sheets.
  812. >The girl didn't even seem to notice.
  813. >Her cries started to die down, but they didn't stop.
  814. >You sniffled.
  815. "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."
  816. >All you could do was just lay there, hovering over her, and hoping she would just listen to you.
  817. >It was all you wanted from her right now.
  818. >She refused to look at you, closing her eyes in a heavy wince, as if expecting you to strike her or... something else...
  819. >But you weren't going to do that.
  820. >Instead, against your better judgement... you pulled yourself off her and moved yourself to the foot of her bed.
  821. >Immediately, she scampered back and cowered into the back corner of the mattress and room, clutching herself tightly in her arms.
  822. >Her whimpers broke your heart.
  823. >Your own tears continued to run down your cheeks, and you struggled to say anything for a moment.
  824. >All you could do was watch as this starving child whimpered before you, just whispering one thing among her cries.
  825. >"Please... Please don't... Please..."
  826. >You sucked in a shaky breath, and even that was a struggle in its own.
  827. "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..."
  828. >The girl didn't answer back, instead continuing to sob softly to herself.
  829. >"I just w-want my mom and dad... Just l-leave me alone... please... please, leave me alone..."
  830. >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.
  831. >You tried reaching for her, slowly, just to put your hand out to her.
  832.  
  833. >She saw and whimpered again, recoiling even further into the corner, and you stepped back again.
  834. >You didn't know what else to do.
  835. >And you figured, in your mind, there was nothing you -could- do.
  836. >Nothing except just do what she asked.
  837. >With shaky breath and muscles, you scooted yourself off the bed and rose to your feet.
  838. >Through the tears, you walked over to the other end of the bedroom, grabbed your bat, and made your way for the door.
  839. >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.
  840. >Just before you left, you saw the revolver sitting on the floor, laying on its side with its chamber open.
  841. >Surrounded by bullets.
  842. >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.
  843. >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.
  844. >The weight of everything that'd happened in the last couple minutes began to crash down onto you all at once.
  845. >You struggled to breathe, clutching the railing of the steps tightly and trying desperately to focus, not to throw up.
  846. >Maybe it was the little food you actually had today that kept you from doing so.
  847. >Your head started to feel heavy, and you thought you were going to pass out right on the porch.
  848. >Only the cool gusts of wind brushing against your face were enough to keep you sober, sober enough to think.
  849. >Think about how lucky you were.
  850. >The gun jammed. A one in a fucking million chance.
  851. >Or maybe she just wasn't pulling the trigger hard enough.
  852. >You rested your head against one of the stair beams and wiped the sweat off your forehead with your hand.
  853. >After a couple minutes of calm, slow breathing, you were able to think much clearer than before.
  854. >And it was -clear- to you that this kid's parents weren't coming home.
  855. >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-.
  856. >She wasn't going to come back with you, and you don't know how defendable this place was.
  857. >But asking to stay here was out of the question... at least, for now.
  858. >But you weren't leaving just yet.
  859. >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.
  860. >You started grabbing a couple handfuls of cans, all of them as rich in protein and calories as you could find.
  861. >If she wasn't leaving, the least you could do was help her eat.
  862. >You took the cans and walked back to the house.
  863. >Peeking through the front door, you slowly opened it.
  864. >If the girl was scared of you, she wouldn't think to come down and get you.
  865. >A sad advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.
  866. >You entered the house and made your way into the kitchen.
  867.  
  868. >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.
  869. >You found a fresh box of them under the sink and used one to clean the table, sweeping everything into it.
  870. >They were plastic bowls and utensils, so there was no need to save anything.
  871. >Once the table was cleaned off, you grabbed the cans from the floor and set them down on the table top.
  872. >You then looked through the kitchen drawers for some paper or post-it notes.
  873. >You found a small notebook and reached into your duffel bag to grab your pencil.
  874. >Once you found it, you set the notebook down on the table and began to write.
  875. >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.
  876. >Regardless, you wrote a simple note.
  877. "Kid,
  878. "I'm sorry for what happened. I wasn't trying to hurt you at all.
  879. "I don't want you to be all by yourself.
  880. "But if you wanna stay here a little longer and wait for your mom and dad, then I'll leave these for you.
  881. "There's enough food here for a week. (a couple mac n' cheese cans too, but please eat some veggies, it'll help!)
  882. "Please eat and take care of yourself.
  883. "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.
  884. "If you need anything, come find me at the college (exit house, go right and keep going straight).
  885. "If you want to stay with me, leave a note for your parents telling them where you're going in case they come back!
  886. "I'll stop by and check on you every couple days, if that's okay?
  887. "I hope we can be friends!
  888. "Take care,
  889. "Anon"
  890. >Ended it on a bit of a corny note, but you felt you got the message across decent enough.
  891. >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.
  892. >You grabbed the trash bag and started walking back to the front door when you passed the stairs, and just listened.
  893. >She was still crying.
  894. >You opened your mouth, wanting to say something up to her, but decided against it.
  895. >It hurt to hear her cry, but there was nothing you could do that wouldn't make things worse.
  896. >And guns don't jam twice.
  897. >So you swallowed that little bit of careless pride and made your way out the front door.
  898. >Once you were outside, you walked over to the curb and placed the bag in a nearby trash bin.
  899. >It was a pointless effort, but it was better than just littering it in her yard.
  900. >You went back over to the cart and grabbed the handle.
  901. >You took one last look at the window, almost expecting to see her watching you.
  902. >But nobody was there.
  903. >With a silent snort, you made your way back onto the sidewalk, cart in tow, and began once more for the college.
  904. >The trek back home was slow and uneventful, and just a little bit sad.
  905. >Maybe it was because you met someone for the first time in six months and they almost killed you.
  906.  
  907. >She thought you were gonna...
  908. >The dread came back, even if there wasn't reason for it to be there.
  909. >The danger had passed, and yet you were thinking of what could've happened instead.
  910. >You just wanted to get this food back home, pick up the rest, and... and maybe take the rest of the day off.
  911. >You'll check out the rest of the area tomorrow.
  912. >Yeah. Tomorrow.
  913. >You got back to the campus just before one o'clock, after what must've been fifty minutes of nothing but walking.
  914. >Everything looked the same as it did when you left a couple hours ago.
  915. >Which was... not really surprising, but at the same time it was.
  916. >It was still jarring just seeing everything so empty and dead.
  917. >You were half expecting the other students to start pouring out of the buildings and getting ready to go to their next class.
  918. >As you entered the courtyard again, you looked back over to the fountain.
  919. >Twilight would've been there.
  920. >Waiting for you.
  921. >Your heart felt heavy again, but again, you sucked it down and continued forward, until you finally reached the boys' dorm.
  922. >You pulled and held the door open as you slid the cart in first, then followed behind it, shutting the door behind you.
  923. >And only after walking down the hallway and entering the stairwell, did it hit you.
  924. >You lived on the third floor.
  925. >The top floor.
  926. >In a building with no power.
  927. >A small groan left your throat.
  928. >You were gonna have to find a generator soon if this was going to be a common thing.
  929. >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.
  930. >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.
  931. >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.
  932. >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.
  933. >The cold feeling of the wooden door against your back and head felt so good, you could almost fall asleep like this.
  934. >But that unfortunately had to wait. You still had half a store to clear out.
  935. >After a few minutes of rest, you reluctantly made your way back down to the first floor, greeted with a now-empty cart.
  936. >You took the handle and pushed your way out the front entrance.
  937. >Now entirely familiar with the layout, you didn't need your map to make the return trip.
  938. >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.
  939. >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.
  940.  
  941. >You were hoping she simply cried herself to sleep.
  942. >You pushed forward.
  943. >Another ten minutes later, you were back at Woodchuck's.
  944. >Everything was exactly as it was when you'd left, not a can or anything out of place.
  945. >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.
  946. >But you weren't entirely ready to go looking for new faces just yet. Not until you were sure that kid could trust -you-.
  947. >For now, you focused on cleaning out the rest of this place.
  948. >It took about half the time as the first trip, and you were able to fill the cart almost all the way this time.
  949. >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.
  950. >Cart once again in tow, you began the long haul back to CU.
  951. >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.
  952. >With a few light knocks, you returned to your cart and continued for home.
  953. >You did turn back once though, just to see if the front door opened.
  954. >When nothing happened, you looked away.
  955. >It was just after three-thirty when you got back home.
  956. >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.
  957. >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.
  958. >It'd only been maybe six hours since you got up, and already it felt like much longer than that.
  959. >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...
  960. >All you were met with was quiet.
  961. >Fuck, did you even hear birds the whole time you were out there?
  962. >All this worrying left you shaky and breathless.
  963. >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.
  964. >And now there was this, and you hardly knew what you needed to do.
  965. >Sure, you had food now, but what happens when even that runs out? Will you know how to farm or fish by then?
  966. >You don't even know how to debone a fish.
  967. >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.
  968. >You've never taken care of kids before.
  969. >How could you ever keep her safe?
  970. >How? HOW—
  971. >You shut those thoughts down. Every single one of them, you pushed away as far as you could, and took a deep breath.
  972. >Then you exhaled.
  973. >You did this again and again for a couple minutes, sitting against the cool door and trying to keep yourself relaxed.
  974.  
  975. >You weren't going to -survive- if all you did was panic.
  976. >But you were still real with yourself: You didn't know much about surviving.
  977. >And now you had all the time in the world to start.
  978. >And if that kid was going to be any part of your life, it was better to start now than later.
  979. >But not today.
  980. >Today, you were going to put all your food away, play some video games, and then when the sun went down, go to bed.
  981. >And that's what you did.
  982. >You indiscriminately grabbed cans off the floor and began stacking them in the kitchen cabinets and cupboards, wherever they fit.
  983. >There was enough food to fill at least two cupboards to the brim.
  984. >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.
  985. >If it weren't for this charger and your batteries, this thing would've died months ago.
  986. >You'd like to find a solar charger someday.
  987. >Maybe one day, you can build it.
  988. >By the time you stopped playing, the sun had finally gone down.
  989. >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.
  990. >It looked so amazing just a week ago.
  991. >You listened closely, and could clearly hear the sound of crickets chirping in the distance.
  992. >At least it wasn't completely dead out there.
  993. >You set your Deck down on the nightstand next to your bed, then covered up in your blanket and turned to your side.
  994. >It took a while to fall asleep.
  995. >You just hope she can sleep at all tonight...
  996.  
  997. END OF PART 1
  998.  
  999. __________
  1000.  
  1001.  
  1002. PART 2: SLOW BURN
  1003.  
  1004. >You woke up the next morning to the sound of a crow shouting just outside your window.
  1005. >A thin beam of light shone on the wall of your bedroom, giving you just enough light to force you awake.
  1006. >You stretched and slowly slid out of bed, walking over to the window.
  1007. >The crow either didn't seem to notice you or refused to care. You took a gaze out the window towards the Canterlot skyline.
  1008. >A gleam of light shining on one of the skyscrapers ended your sightseeing pretty quick, but you at least felt more awake now.
  1009. >As much as you wanted to stay in and sleep, you had to remind yourself that such a luxury was over.
  1010. >It was time to get to work.
  1011. >Once you'd gotten dressed and had a drink of water, you inspected the food in your makeshift pantry.
  1012. >You weren't even going to try counting just how many cans you had, but apart from what you gave the girl yesterday, you had more than triple the amount of food you collected before the outbreak.
  1013. >That lasted you six months, or what could've been nine.
  1014. >This alone could last you a couple of -years-.
  1015. >But you knew better than to just start scarfing down meals. This needed to last until you knew everything you needed to know to survive.
  1016. >Which, right now, was almost nothing.
  1017. >You didn't know how to garden, nor generate power, nor defend yourself.
  1018. >If a group of raiders showed up right now, you were f-u-c-k-e-d without question.
  1019. >The sooner you knew how to protect and preserve your life, the sooner you could do the same for -her-.
  1020. >And the best way to learn?
  1021. >Books!
  1022. >Well, maybe not entirely, but you could at least get a jump-start on the preservation part by scoping out the library across the campus.
  1023. >After a light breakfast with some protein bars, you grabbed your duffel bag and were off.
  1024. >A few minutes of brisk walking later, you were there, peering through the dirty windows at the interior.
  1025. >It'd looked unchanged since March, but it was difficult to see beyond a certain point without the lights on.
  1026. >The main doors were locked, but with a swift swing to the windows with your bat, not anymore.
  1027. >Once inside, you darted for the DIY/Manual section, something you always wanted to check out.
  1028. >Everything was still here, not a book out of place.
  1029. >Fence-building, water collecting, solar panel setup, and... composting.
  1030. >Well... it'd be better than a trash bag, at least.
  1031. >You immediately went to work on filling your bag with all the books you deemed necessary to both immediate and "long" term survival, AKA the next couple years until everything starts to fall apart.
  1032. >Hopefully by then, you'll be someplace sturdy and secure.
  1033. >Filling your bag with the necessities took a lot less time than you expected. You still wanted to come back later for some of the more 'luxury'-based manuals, but for now you had what you needed.
  1034. >Another few minutes later, and you were back in your dorm, reading away.
  1035. >Well, trying to.
  1036.  
  1037. >As informative as these books were, it was like they went into more detail than they needed.
  1038. >Hell, the composting book spent an entire chapter just talking about all the chemical reactions, and less about how to make it get to that point without messing up.
  1039. >It eventually got to the point... two chapters later.
  1040. >Turns out it was a book about the history of composting, not just how to compost.
  1041. >Good to know some of your carrots were likely grown in shit.
  1042. >After a couple hours of nothing but reading and skimming through the generally unimportant parts, you put the book down, feeling just a little smarter than you did before.
  1043. >A joke, of course. This shit was gonna take forever to hammer in your head.
  1044. >Lucky for you, you've got plenty of time.
  1045. >And that's all you did for the rest of the day.
  1046. >Reading and more reading.
  1047. >You did take a break around two o'clock when you noticed it was raining outside.
  1048. >And as luck would have it, duty calls.
  1049. >It was easy to pee over the balcony; rain would just wash it away.
  1050. >The other thing, not so much these days.
  1051. >Hopefully, that'll change, because trash bags aren't going to cut it much longer.
  1052. >At the end of the day, just as the sun started to go down, you were halfway through a book on alternative power sources.
  1053. >They sounded simple enough... until you started reading.
  1054. >It was definitely interesting to read how just something as simple as turning some turbines with a river could generate power for a whole city... but it was clear that shit like this was way out of your scope of expertise.
  1055. >You realized you needed to better pick the ones that would fit -you-; at the very least, whatever group you find could make better use of them.
  1056. >But just before bed, you did at least read one book talking about the shelf life of various canned foods and the temperatures they could survive in.
  1057. >That was something worth knowing for next summer, once you make it through winter.
  1058. >If.
  1059. >Luckily, this building was well insulated against heat and cold.
  1060. >But you also remembered all the windows you left open at the start for your neighbors.
  1061. >So it was either close all the windows and risk the whole building stinking of death...
  1062. >Or take them outside and bury them.
  1063. >To be fair, you should've done that at the start instead, but you had no clue if it'd get you sick.
  1064. >Plus, you weren't sure if you'd be able to stomach having to bury people you saw as close friends and students.
  1065. >Just knowing they were practically next door to you creeped you out enough.
  1066. >But... at least you would only have to bury six of them.
  1067. >For now...
  1068.  
  1069. __________
  1070.  
  1071. >The next day was more of the same, reading the books you'd gathered and even grabbing a few novels from the library.
  1072. >Without the internet, books were your new best friend.
  1073. >You ended up grabbing a somewhat familiar book from the shelves; a novel called Turning Twilight.
  1074. >The only reason you knew about it was... well, Twilight.
  1075.  
  1076. >She was obsessed with the series, gushing over the main character and all the "sad" parts halfway through the book.
  1077. >She spent a whole month begging you to read it, just so she would gossip about it with you.
  1078. ...
  1079. >You, on the current hand, spent a minute holding the book in your lap as you recounted those times.
  1080. >And that's when it hit you.
  1081. >If you liked it... you'd never be able to gossip about it with her.
  1082. >It actually made you debate reading it at all.
  1083. >But would that actually be fair...?
  1084. >With a firm snort of air, you decided to at least give the first chapter a read.
  1085. >Just the one.
  1086. __________
  1087.  
  1088. >You were a fourth of the way through the book by lunchtime.
  1089. >You read three whole chapters.
  1090. >The first chapter was a bit of a slog.
  1091. >But chapters two and three?
  1092. >Goddamn. You never thought you'd read a story like this ever again.
  1093. >From the action scenes to the sad parts, and the characters... the characters...
  1094. >It was all so...
  1095. >It was alright.
  1096. >Nothing too memorable, but nothing that made you want to put the book aside for winter tinder.
  1097. >You set the book down on a small table by the window and looked at your watch.
  1098. >It was just after one-thirty.
  1099. >A quick look outside saw a cloudy sky, with darker ones in the far distance. Luckily, they seemed to be moving away from you, but that could easily change depending on the wind.
  1100. >You stood still for a minute, thinking about the next thing to do.
  1101. >It'd been two days since you last saw the girl, or even visited the area.
  1102. >Today probably wasn't going to be a -scavenging- day, but you still wanted to check her out.
  1103. >But you also needed to find a better way to travel there, especially if that storm decides to suddenly turn your way.
  1104. >You were gonna need a bike.
  1105. >Maybe one of the nearby houses has one in their garage?
  1106. >You decided to go find out. Grabbing your bag, a couple granola bars, and your bat, you were out the door once more.
  1107. >A few minutes later, you made it to the front entrance to the campus and onto the street, and began scouring the nearby homes for a garage.
  1108. >Several houses in a row seemed to have only a driveway, but no garage, so you were forced to walk down the road and look at each house one by one.
  1109. >By the time you reached the southwest edge of the campus fence, also a small intersection, you realized this entire street didn't have a single garage.
  1110. >Since the girl's house was west, you decided to head west down the road, checking the houses as you went.
  1111. >Eventually, you started to run into houses with either garages attached or separate from the structures themselves.
  1112. >Whichever of them were locked, you tried peering through their windows to get a good look inside.
  1113. >Some had their cars parked inside, but no bikes that you could see.
  1114. >You were hoping you weren't gonna have to take some kid's bike.
  1115. >By the time you reached the first intersection, you had searched every garage on the street; not a single bike to be found.
  1116.  
  1117. >And to make matters worse, the storm looked like it was finally coming down towards you.
  1118. >You decided to head north to the next intersection that would take you on the girl's path.
  1119. >After a few minutes, it was clear the storm was traveling much faster than you anticipated.
  1120. >Not wanting to get caught outside, you decided to make your way to the nearest house.
  1121. >If you couldn't get inside somehow, you could at least sit under the porch roof and wait it out.
  1122. >You walked up to the front porch and tried opening both the doors and windows and sure enough, both were locked.
  1123. >The first thing you tried was bashing the door in with your body.
  1124. >When that didn't work—and left your right arm sore and bruised—you said "screw it" and let your bat loose against one of the front windows.
  1125. >It shattered easily, splashing broken glass all over the porch and the inside.
  1126. >You swiped as much of it off the window sill as you could before climbing inside.
  1127. >Much like the college dorm and the girl's house, this place was also in fairly good condition after six months. Though, now that you broke a window, you can't imagine this place looking pretty in a few years.
  1128. >For now, it's a good shelter until the rain passes.
  1129. >You do a quick check around the house for anything useful, and it occurs to you fairly quick that almost everything that could've been useful was -gone-.
  1130. >There was no food in the cupboards, nor the fridge—not that anything in a fridge would be edible by this point.
  1131. >After finding the main bedroom, thankfully devoid of anything dead, you quickly found a closet and took a peek inside with your flashlight, only to find it hardly had any clothing.
  1132. >Certainly nothing you could wear, unless you were into wearing dresses.
  1133. >There was a box sitting on the floor in the closet, opened and donning the silhouette of some kind of handgun, a pistol of some sort.
  1134. >It became clear to you that whoever used to live here, they grabbed what they could and fled, probably closer to when everything started, before the military showed up.
  1135. >There was nothing here for you worth taking, but you still wanted to at least check around the place a bit more.
  1136. >You went into the door adjacent to the bedroom, only to find yourself in what was clearly a young child's bedroom.
  1137. >Definitely younger than the girl. This one looked like it belonged to a six year old.
  1138. >Kids' books, LEGOs, a colorful play mat sprawled on the carpet, and a bunch of small articles of clothing with all kinds of random kid show logos on the front.
  1139. >You felt a small pang of sadness in your chest as you looked at the scene.
  1140. >After glancing around at the room, you noticed on the wall a drawn-out line with a few dashes here and there, quickly realizing it was a height chart.
  1141. >There was a name at the top: COPPER MOON. A young boy, you noticed.
  1142. >Beside each dash was a number, which you assumed to be the kid's age. The last dash on the line had the number 7 next to it.
  1143. >A small, sad sigh left your lips.
  1144.  
  1145. >You wondered if this kid had any idea what was going on, or if his parents kept it from him.
  1146. >Before you could make any guesses, you heard the sound of the rain dying down outside.
  1147. >By the time you made it back out to the living room and looked out the window, the rain had become nothing more than a light drizzle.
  1148. >You decided to step out onto the porch and wait for the rain to stop.
  1149. >The smell of wet pavement filled your nostrils; it was almost a nostalgic feeling.
  1150. >It reminded you of the time you yourself were seven; your dad filled a small kiddie pool on the back porch for you to play in, and it started to rain almost right after.
  1151. >That smell just lingered in the air the whole time while you messed around sinking your toy boats in the three feet of water you had.
  1152. >Then after having to take a shower, you'd play some Sims on your PS2, and wait for your mom to make mac and cheese for lunch.
  1153. >Mac and cheese...
  1154. >You snorted audibly, returning to the present and watching as the rain finally stopped.
  1155. >It probably wasn't going to be the last storm today, so you put your nostalgia aside for now and got moving.
  1156. >Now that you were back on the right road, you continued west down the road towards the girl's house, while occasionally peeking through garages for a bike and watching the clouds in the distance.
  1157. >By the time you were just a few houses away from the girl's, you had searched more garages than you could count.
  1158. >Not a single one had a bicycle in them.
  1159. >Why is it that when you didn't need a bike, you saw students and kids riding them around like they were handing them out for free, but when you actually -fucking- need one...?
  1160. >You caressed your temple with a free hand and pushed forward.
  1161. >A couple minutes later, you reached the young girl's home, looking no different from how you found it a couple days ago, except the window where you first saw the girl now had curtains covering it.
  1162. >You looked down at the base of the front door, where you had set down the cans of food the other day.
  1163. >The cans were gone.
  1164. >You sighed with immense relief. It meant the kid read your letter, or at the very least heard you knocking when you delivered the food.
  1165. >You could only now hope she was actually -eating- it, rather than storing it for her parents.
  1166. >But as long as she was eating enough to stay alive, then... you guess that's all you really care about.
  1167. >For now, knowing your gesture had been acknowledged, you were on your way, a bit more hopeful than you were before.
  1168. >You'd be even more hopeful if you could -find a bicycle-!
  1169. >If you couldn't, then your only other option would be to get one of these cars started and hope the gas is still good enough to run them for a while.
  1170. >Or maybe if you found a horse...
  1171. >Maybe there's a farm nearby?
  1172. >But for now, you just had to rely on your own two legs and a cart.
  1173. >The sound of distant thunder caught your attention.
  1174. >Another storm was coming from the north again.
  1175.  
  1176. >You continued to walk in the direction of the college, not interested in searching any of the houses for the time being.
  1177. >The storm, for the most part, stayed away from your area, catching most of the mountain area north of the city.
  1178. >However, the rumbling of thunder only grew louder.
  1179. >It was actually kind of unnerving. Before, hearing a storm like that didn't bother you because you could just hunker down in a shop nearby or maybe knock on a stranger's door and ask to stay inside for a hot minute.
  1180. >But now, you really had to be sure you didn't get caught in the rain.
  1181. >Thankfully, you didn't this time, either. You got back to the college and inside the dorm hall a few minutes before the storm touched down in your area.
  1182. >A loud pattering roared on the rooftop and on the patio of your dorm balcony. The rain came down in a blinding torrent of grey that dipped the visibility down to as far as the library.
  1183. >Good thing you didn't plan on going outside again today.
  1184. >You spent the next few hours doing nothing but reading more of the books you'd collected, or rather, skimming through them trying to see what they were all about.
  1185. >The instruction guides for things like farming or electrical operation were, as you expected, pretty damn instructional. The book from yesterday about power sources took you six hours just to read half of it.
  1186. >It would take you weeks just to read all the books in your dorm -now-, and who knows how much of the information you would actually retain or use?
  1187. >You were curious to know how much the girl knew herself. She looked probably around thirteen, and at the very least knew how to use a gun—to some degree—but was that all she knew?
  1188. >If it turned out she was better educated to survive the apocalypse than you...
  1189. >*CRAACCK!*
  1190. >A loud clap of thunder nearby shook you to the core, but you found yourself annoyed at yourself once the fear subsided.
  1191. >It was like this for the rest of the day until the sun went down; you sat on your couch in the living room and read some more informative guides, such as gardening.
  1192. >There was a mention of rooftop farming, and it reminded you that the roof of the dorm had a fairly spacious area next to the door that would be perfect.
  1193. >You could even set up something small on the patio, if you can give it enough sunlight to grow.
  1194. >And if the kid is comfortable where she is, you could show her how to do it herself in the backyard, assuming there was a sizable area not hindered by trees.
  1195. >You preferred that she live with you... or vise-versa, just to save both of you a lot of time, but you supposed you'll cross that bridge eventually.
  1196. >Until then, you could at least attempt to make this place more livable.
  1197. >That girl could be just the start!
  1198.  
  1199. __________
  1200.  
  1201. >This was your routine for the next several days.
  1202. >You'd get up, read a bit, eat something small, poke around the neighborhood for a bike—while also pointing out the untouched cars—and then take a walk to the girl's house.
  1203. >Every three or four days, you would leave a few cans of food on the porch, but you started making a habit of leaving some bottles of water. You'd knock on the door and leave.
  1204. >The next time you returned, the food and water were gone.
  1205. >After the second trip, you started to question if she was actually the one getting the food.
  1206. >On the third trip, in the afternoon on the sixteenth, you left another batch of cans and water, knocked on the door, and left, only to hide behind the porch of the next house over.
  1207. >It took a minute, but sure enough, you saw the front door open.
  1208. >And there she was.
  1209. >You couldn't really make out all that much detail from this angle, but she was looking... better, you think, since the last time you saw her.
  1210. >Although, she seemed to be wearing the same clothes as she was when you first met her.
  1211. >At least she was wearing socks this time.
  1212. >She picked up the food, looked at the individual cans of food and bottles of water, glanced left and right down the street, and then went back inside with a crouch, shutting the door behind her.
  1213. >You waited another minute before making your way back home.
  1214. >The rest of the day was... less than uneventful.
  1215. >That day, you cleared out the rest of your neighbors from their homes.
  1216. >To your surprise, they didn't smell as bad as you feared, possibly thanks to the open windows.
  1217. >But they looked completely unrecognizable from how you last saw them. One of them, Snapple Knit, looked like a dried up piece of jerky.
  1218. >At least, that was the kind way of putting it.
  1219. >In reality, it was hard to grasp in your mind that this used to be Snapple once. A decent -friend-, an okay guy to hang around.
  1220. >Now just a rotten, ghostly husk, trapped in eternal sleep.
  1221. >To be truthful, you were extremely unnerved when you first saw his body. Now, that same unease remained, but it was more sad than anything else.
  1222. >You put on a face mask and some surgical gloves you had saved in your bathroom before touching any of the bodies. You wrapped them up in their bed sheets and carefully slid them down the stairs, sitting them outside by the main doors until all of them were accounted for.
  1223. >This single dormitory alone could house about 300 male students.
  1224. >You dragged six bodies down the stairs and through the halls.
  1225. >Add the four you buried earlier on, and that was only ten students who ended up staying just in this dorm alone, or at the very least quarantined themselves.
  1226. >You didn't know how many were in the other dorms.
  1227. >This dorm had a tool shed at the rear with a shovel, you remembered.
  1228. >You spent the rest of the day digging holes big enough to bury your neighbors.
  1229. >By the time the sun started to set over the mountains, you had just finished filling the holes.
  1230.  
  1231. >You memorized each grave in the order that you buried them, then went back to the shed and haphazardly cut some spare wood planks that were sitting on a shelf by the door.
  1232. >You grabbed a sharpie and wrote each of their names in bold lettering:
  1233. >Snapple Knit, Green Chip, Pepper Stone, White Stripe, Perigee Moon, Crystal Seed, Bud Miller, Shadow Meadow, Ray Shine, and Hawthorn.
  1234. >The world may forget them, but you'll remember.
  1235. >Once you set the wooden headstones down on the graves, you went back inside and retired for the evening.
  1236. >You tried to sleep early, going to bed around eight o'clock. But you tossed and turned until midnight.
  1237. >After that day, nothing of any real interest happened for a while.
  1238. >Even the radio, which you hadn't listened to for the first week after that barrage of disturbing transmissions, was mostly silent.
  1239. >It was like this for at least a week. By that point, you only ever went outside to deliver supplies to the kid.
  1240. >You had long since given up on looking for a bike, and spent the end of the week trying to start at least one of the cars in the area.
  1241. >Out of the almost thirty cars parked around the college, only two of them you could find keys for.
  1242. >They both showed they were half-full or just about full, but they would always make this odd rattling noise.
  1243. >You knew almost right away that it was a sign that the gas had finally started to go bad. You could probably get a car to work for a while, but then it would be only a matter of time before it sputters out on you when you need it most.
  1244. >For now, you'll only really need it to cut down your trip to the girl's house—and to ease up on your poor feet for a while!
  1245. >And given Canterlot's progressive agendas, you might be lucky enough to find an Electric Vehicle around here somewhere.
  1246. >Not that you actually know how those things work, but should you ever find one, there'd be no better time to figure out than then!
  1247. >For now, guess you were walking.
  1248. >The only upside was that it gave you some excuse to exercise and burn off some of your weight, even if it would take a while to show.
  1249. >Around the end of September, you started making it a habit to at least walk around the campus in the morning.
  1250. >There wasn't much to look at now, unfortunately, but it was still interesting to see just how big Canterlot University truly was.
  1251. >It was twice as big as you thought. It took you a good ten minutes just to get from one end of the college grounds to the next!
  1252. >On the days you'd send food to the girl, you made an effort to jog for at least a couple minutes.
  1253. >You made the mistake of jogging the first time on a hot day, but you were smart enough to have brought a water bottle with you.
  1254. >The next day, you did some light jogging around the campus, trying to set a goal for yourself.
  1255. >You lasted a bit longer, but not by much.
  1256. >While you didn't give it up, you weren't going to make it your regular habit just yet, at least not entirely.
  1257.  
  1258. >There was still a lot you needed to do before even considering jogging to be a casual hobby, or even a necessity.
  1259. >Your first priority:
  1260. >Figure out what to do with the girl...
  1261.  
  1262. __________
  1263.  
  1264. >It had now been a little over two weeks since you first left the dorm. It was nearing the end of September, and the beginning of October.
  1265. >The once green and luscious trees around the campus were beginning to turn a sickly red.
  1266. >Summer was coming to an end, and with it came the fall.
  1267. >But that wasn't on your mind.
  1268. >It'd been over two weeks since you first met the girl.
  1269. >And that now meant her parents have been gone for a month.
  1270. >Every trip you made to bring her food, you hid nearby and waited, hoping to see her walk out with a clear parental figure accompanying her.
  1271. >But it was only her. Every single time.
  1272. >You haven't talked to her since the day you first met her. You wanted to keep your distance, give her time to adjust to your presence, and eventually, let her come to you.
  1273. >Of course, there was still the part of you that was waiting, pointlessly hoping for her parents to come back. Maybe then, you could figure things out from there and your worries would subside.
  1274. >But every trip you made, that little hope you harbored began to crumble.
  1275. >After the second week, that hope was gone... and you began to realize that this girl was all alone.
  1276. >The time was coming where you were going to have to confront her face to face. You weren't going to simply throw the hard truth at her, at least not right away... but she needed to accept at least some reality.
  1277. >Especially because with October fast approaching, you realized another looming threat:
  1278. >Winter.
  1279. >The outbreak started just as winter was ending and spring was beginning, so you didn't have to worry about the fear of freezing to death in a powerless city. But with things still fucked, traveling from one street to the next alone could be treacherous, and that's not including snowstorms and blizzards.
  1280. >If you can at least find some way to get closer to the girl, whether it's staying at her house or her staying at yours, that's one big hurdle to knock off the list for then.
  1281. >And you still had enough food to last you and the girl well over a year. Hell, the cold might even help keep it fresh longer.
  1282. >You spent an hour in your bed the next morning, pondering on what to do next. But you knew the longer you waited, the more likely something was to happen.
  1283. >Something you dreaded with every visit.
  1284. >It didn't take you very long to decide.
  1285. >That day, on the 26th of September, you decided to pay the girl another visit.
  1286. >You'll bring her food, but this time... you were finally gonna say hello.
  1287. >... Again.
  1288.  
  1289. __________
  1290.  
  1291. >That morning, you packed up your typical collection of food and water: It's enough to last her a few days.
  1292. >You could always just give her enough to last a month, but this at least gives you an excuse to stop by and at least check if she's still alive.
  1293. >Seeing a girl that young look that thin... even after she looked to be getting better, that image never left your mind.
  1294. >You hope you never see it again.
  1295. >With your duffel bag on shoulder, you march out to the campus grounds.
  1296. >Immediately, a light chill travels up and down your body, giving you shivers, and ultimately reminding you of your mission.
  1297. >With a deep breath, you start for the girl's house.
  1298. >It's the same as every other rip you made over the last two weeks; a light, brisk pace down an empty street, passing by empty homes.
  1299. >You decided to bring the cart with you today; while you did want to properly introduce yourself, you also wanted to at least scope out more of the area around Woodchuck's—something you'd been neglecting for the last several days.
  1300. >According to the map, what you HAVE explored of Canterlot was pitiful. There was so much more to explore, and who knows how much more food was out there, just free for the taking?
  1301. >Though, as curious as you were... you still didn't know what was out there.
  1302. >Or more specifically, WHO.
  1303. >For now, you realized it was best to stick to the nearby shops that you hadn't yet touched.
  1304. >As you continued down the road towards the girl's home, you still had the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street.
  1305. >You kept expecting a car to be there, or someone riding their bike, or skating by.
  1306. >The more you thought about it, the more uneasy it made you.
  1307. >But you let out a snort and pushed on, dragging the cart behind you, its wheels squeaking every few turns.
  1308. >You felt the cool wind blow against your face, rustling the reddening trees around you. Already, the roads and sidewalks were becoming littered with fallen leaves.
  1309. >Many of them crinkled and crackled under your feet and the cart wheels.
  1310. >Every reminder of the approaching winter filled you with... dread.
  1311. >You almost walked past her house.
  1312. >As soon as you realized, you stopped in your tracks and shook your head to bring yourself back to reality.
  1313. >With a small turn, you stood at the end of the stone walkway leading up to the porch, and faced the familiar home of the young girl.
  1314. >It looked unchanged in the last two weeks. The curtains were still closed, and just like previous trips to here, the windows you entered through were still locked from the inside.
  1315. >She was definitely smart not exposing herself to the outside, especially at whatever age she was.
  1316. >But the fact that you couldn't see inside at all DID worry you sometimes.
  1317. >You worried that if she didn't take the food one day, you'd have to go in there.
  1318. >You'd go inside and find her.
  1319. >And she—
  1320. >*click*
  1321. >Suddenly, you saw as the front door of the house started to slowly swing open.
  1322.  
  1323. >You didn't see anything but pure blackness inside for a few seconds, until the door opened halfway.
  1324. >Then the girl emerged from behind the door; cautious, anxious, but simultaneously alert and holding the revolver in one hand, tucked against her stomach.
  1325. >She said nothing as she stood there by the door, watching you intently. She looked stiff as a board, clearly unsure of how to move or what to do other than just look at you.
  1326. >She waited for you to say something, do anything.
  1327. >You decided to give her a little smile, and you raised your hand to wave at her.
  1328. "H-Hi," you say softly.
  1329. >She stepped forward, standing in the doorway. She held her gun in one hand, while her other hand rubbed her arm.
  1330. >"H-Hello..."
  1331. >This was the first time you got to see her up close, or at least closer than the porch next door.
  1332. >You took in her form proper for the first time in two weeks.
  1333. >She was wearing different clothes this time, but they were of a similar baggy fashion.
  1334. >But the one thing that struck you the most was how much -HEALTHIER- she looked.
  1335. >The last time you saw her, she looked like she hadn't eaten in days—her cheekbones poked out slightly, her frame was thin, and she was incredibly light.
  1336. >Light enough for you to pin down with little resistance...
  1337. >But now, that thin body was replaced with the meat it needed... as weird as it was to say that.
  1338. >Her cheeks were the right amount of puffy, and her clothes, while still baggy, definitely fit her better than before.
  1339. >It was safe to say that she was absolutely eating what you gave her.
  1340. >It actually brought a smile to your face, and a sigh of relief from your throat.
  1341. "Y-You look a lot better since I last saw you," you tell her, rubbing your own arm for lack of what to do next.
  1342. >The girl seemed to "tuck her body" in slightly once she realized you'd been looking at her... but otherwise, she stood there, eyes still fixated on you.
  1343. >"Thanks..."
  1344. >Then it hit you. The food!
  1345. "Oh! U-Uh, I, um... I brought more food for you, in my bag!"
  1346. >You stammer over yourself, but you quickly reach into the duffel bag to grab the cans and bottles.
  1347. >Too quickly, it seemed, as the girl stifled a small gasp and took a step back towards the door.
  1348. "Sorry," you say with a wince before being more delicate with your movements.
  1349. >The last thing you wanted was her pointing that gun at you again.
  1350. >After a few seconds of fumbling inside your bag, you succeed in grabbing the cans of beans, roast beef, corn, and a couple water bottles. You turn to the girl and show her what you had.
  1351. >She relaxed, standing back in the doorway.
  1352. "Can I put them on the porch?"
  1353. >The girl nods after a second and steps back again to stand behind the door.
  1354. >You slowly and cautiously approach the front porch and walk up the front steps, awkwardly carrying the contents in your arms.
  1355. >Once you're up on the porch, you kneel down and carefully set everything down one at a time, lining them up for her to see.
  1356. >You look up at her apologetically.
  1357.  
  1358. "I, uh... couldn't find any mac n' cheese cans. Sorry."
  1359. >The girl actually frowned at this news. It made you feel bad, but better to let her know now than later.
  1360. >However, you do perk up with a smile.
  1361. "But I'm going down the street in a bit to look at some stores. I can try and look for some more?"
  1362. >It wasn't entirely a lie, as you definitely had plans to look for more food soon enough.
  1363. >But it did get the girl to perk up herself at the idea.
  1364. >And for the first time of ever knowing this girl... you actually saw her smile.
  1365. >You hear her let out a faint happy hum.
  1366. >"Okay."
  1367. >To see her at least a little happy, it made you all the more happier.
  1368. >You felt a flutter in your chest; you didn't know how long it'd last, but you enjoyed the feeling for now.
  1369. >As you stood slowly to your feet, you decide to take the first step forward.
  1370. >You held out your hand and looked down at the young girl.
  1371. "I'm Anonymous," you tell her, still wearing your smile. "You can call me Anon, though."
  1372. >She looked at your hand, and you gave her the time she needed to think it through.
  1373. >It was gonna take a while for her to actually warm up to you.
  1374. >But even a simple introduction was enough of a start, and she seemed to realize that too.
  1375. >After a few seconds of silence, save for the howling wind, the young girl put her gun in her pocket, lifted her hand, and shook yours in return.
  1376. >"S-Scootaloo," she said softly. "I'm Scootaloo."
  1377. >You shake her hand and grin back at her.
  1378. "It's nice to meet you, Scootaloo."
  1379. >It was good to finally know her name, at least!
  1380. >After a few seconds, you end the handshake and step back to give Scootaloo some space.
  1381. >She still seemed a little tense, but it looked like the handshake and your stepping back put her at least a little at ease.
  1382. "So..." you initiate with a hopeful smile, "how have you been lately?"
  1383. >Scootaloo opened her mouth for a moment, but shrunk back against the doorway.
  1384. >"I'm okay, I guess..."
  1385. >She definitely didn't want to talk about it.
  1386. "Parents still gone?"
  1387. >As bad as you felt asking, it was something you needed to know.
  1388. >Scootaloo looked down at the porch and nodded somberly.
  1389. >"They said they'd be back by now."
  1390. >You knew she was thinking about it now. You didn't know if you implanted that idea in her head the first time you met her, or if it came to her on its own.
  1391. >But you could see it on her face.
  1392. >You bit your inner cheek and looked over to the cart, which stood perched against the bushes.
  1393. >Then you turned back to Scootaloo with as kind a smile as you could muster.
  1394. "Hey... you wanna come with me down the street?"
  1395. >You tried to word it carefully as to not evoke a similar reaction to last time.
  1396. "Only if you want, though. I'm just going down to check on the other stores. Maybe I can get you some new clothes too?"
  1397. >You kept your distance from her and let her think it over.
  1398. >The way Scootaloo seemed to eye you up and down -subtly- did have you a little on edge.
  1399.  
  1400. >But she didn't seem to have any reason to pull out her gun again.
  1401. >At least, you hoped.
  1402. >She looked back into the dark interior of her home for a few seconds, and you heard her breathe softly, yet shakily.
  1403. >She hugged her shoulders, rubbing them beneath the sleeves of her shirt.
  1404. >Scootaloo looked back at you and faintly nodded.
  1405. >"O-Okay."
  1406. >You give her a small grin.
  1407. >"B-But can you put your bat in the cart? Please?"
  1408. >You maintained your grin and gave her an understanding nod.
  1409. >Stepping down off the porch, you slowly head back over to the cart and carefully remove the bat from its string holster. You set it down against the side of the cart and step back over to the cart handle.
  1410. >As you pick up the handle and get ready to move, you look back over to the walkway.
  1411. >Scootaloo was cautiously making her way over to you, holding her hand flat over her forehead.
  1412. >A combination of her lack of total trust, as well as the sun she'd probably spent the last nearly seven months avoiding.
  1413. "You okay?" you call out to her, wondering if you needed to help her.
  1414. >But luckily for you, she didn't seem to need anything of the sort. Apart from a light sluggish gait, she was fully capable of making her way to you.
  1415. >Slowly, but she did it.
  1416. "Ready?" you asked as you held the handle firmly.
  1417. >She nodded hesitantly, but didn't show any intention of flaking now.
  1418. >With that, you began to move forward, pulling the cart behind you, its tires creaking with every other turn before eventually settling and going silent.
  1419. >Scootaloo kept her distance, but didn't stray too far from you, walking beside the cart.
  1420. >The first several minutes of the walk were an awkward silence, only broken by the sound of the wind or the rustling of the leaves, or even the sound of the cart riding over the pavement.
  1421. >During this time, you'd see Scootaloo taking in her surroundings the further from home she got. You had no doubt that many of these empty homes were of neighbors she or her parents knew fondly or well enough.
  1422. >You crossed the intersection on Baker Road, and much like you, Scootaloo looked both ways and realized just how empty the roads were.
  1423. >"Whoa..."
  1424. >You can't help but chuckle at her reaction, trying to keep the mood light.
  1425. "Right? I was thinking the same thing the first time I came down here."
  1426. >She didn't say anything at first.
  1427. >"Where is everyone...?"
  1428. >You tried to figure out how to answer that one right. But was there any better way?
  1429. "Well... if the military came through here, I guess a lot of them maybe evacuated early on. A lot of people probably just left, and those that didn't... uh..."
  1430. >"Died...?"
  1431. >You hesitantly nodded.
  1432. "Yeah."
  1433. >"Have you seen a dead body before?"
  1434. >You glanced back to Scootaloo, who seemed genuinely curious.
  1435. >Even in spite of everything, it felt a bit off-putting.
  1436. >Maybe because it was a kid asking you this, but...
  1437. "Y-Yeah, a few. Some of my classmates at my college ended up... dying."
  1438. >"I'm sorry."
  1439.  
  1440. >You share a sympathetic glance with her before looking back to the sidewalk before you.
  1441. "It's alright."
  1442. >It gets quiet again between the two of you, and you decide to break the silence again.
  1443. "So," you start, "is that your house back there, or were you and your parents just staying there?"
  1444. >"It's mine," she answers after a couple seconds. "We moved here a few years ago from... from Detrot."
  1445. >You actually perk up.
  1446. "Oh shi-shoot, really?" you ask curiously.
  1447. >"Y-Yeah, why?"
  1448. >You can't help but laugh a little.
  1449. "I'm from Detrot too!"
  1450. >"Really...?"
  1451. "Yeah! Born and raised there! Lived closer to downtown, but it was still a little out of the way."
  1452. >Scootaloo stepped away from the cart and moved further ahead, almost walking beside you.
  1453. >"So, do YOU live here, or...?"
  1454. >You shook your head.
  1455. "No, no, I was only here for college. I went back home for Christmas last year, but... that was it."
  1456. >The happy feeling that was fluttering in your chest began to dissipate as you recalled the last time you saw your family.
  1457. >You sighed as you tugged harder on the cart.
  1458. >"Did you try going home...?"
  1459. >It was an innocent question, you realized.
  1460. "Yeah... kind of. I talked to my mom and told her I was gonna try and come back, but... then they started closing the highways and the airports, and... I was just kind of stuck here."
  1461. >You remember debating for days about wanting to risk taking a bus or train or even a plane back to Detrot, but with how quickly everything unfolded, you kept putting it off.
  1462. >One more can of food, one more water bottle, or maybe this train was safer than THAT train.
  1463. >Excuses, excuses.
  1464. >The only upside was that maybe it saved your life.
  1465. >You realized it'd gotten silent again, and looked over to Scootaloo, who seemed to be keeping to herself.
  1466. >Maybe there was a bit of guilt in her eyes.
  1467. "So, Scootaloo..."
  1468. >She looked up at you.
  1469. "How old are you, exactly...?"
  1470. >It was a question that you'd been dying to know the answer to for the last two weeks.
  1471. >She was definitely a kid, but just how young?
  1472. >"Eleven."
  1473. >You gasped quietly to yourself.
  1474. >Jesus... eleven years old, and all by herself.
  1475. >In the middle of all of this.
  1476. >You let out another sigh.
  1477. >"Why?"
  1478. >It takes you a second to answer; you have to pick up your feet to keep from getting bumped by the cart.
  1479. "You just seemed pretty young... that's all."
  1480. >It wasn't much of a convincing answer, but you didn't really know any other way to answer right now.
  1481. >"Well, how old are YOU?" she then suddenly asks.
  1482. >Now THAT, you could answer.
  1483. "I'm twenty. March baby," you answer with a humorous little snort.
  1484. >It was Scootaloo's turn to perk up.
  1485. >"Me too!"
  1486. >You look back at her with a smile.
  1487. "Really?"
  1488. >She nodded, beaming back at you.
  1489. >"I'm March 1st," she said.
  1490. "24th."
  1491. >Scootaloo seemed a little happy that the two of you were sharing at least one or two connections.
  1492. >She definitely seemed to warm up to you.
  1493. >Not entirely, but... it was starting to feel like it!
  1494.  
  1495. >A few more minutes of talking later, followed by occasional silence, you and Scootaloo eventually made it to the shopping center.
  1496. >You haven't been here since you cleared out Woodchuck's Needs two weeks ago, but to your surprise, everything looked the same as you last left it.
  1497. >Woodchuck's front door still stood open, its knob broken from your assault and lying on the curb beside it.
  1498. >You puff your cheeks as you begin walking to the left-most stores.
  1499. "So, kid," you begin, "do you know anything about these stores?"
  1500. >"Not really," Scootaloo said, shaking her head. "I never really went down here. It was always kinda boring, and there was never anything to do."
  1501. >You hummed a laugh. Looking at all of the individual shops, and a kid of her age, you couldn't blame her.
  1502. "That's fair," you said with a light snicker.
  1503. >Scootaloo looked around at the numerous shops, but nothing seemed to catch her eye.
  1504. >Except for one.
  1505. >"Ooh, that place!" Scootaloo exclaimed suddenly, pointing at a store across the street named Gamer's Gate.
  1506. >At first glance, you realized it was the video game store you noticed on your first trip.
  1507. "What about it?"
  1508. >Realizing her outburst, Scootaloo shrunk away shyly and laughed sheepishly to herself.
  1509. >"N-Nothing... it's just that my friends and I hung out there a lot. We always saw posters for this cool game called Sky Cruisers!"
  1510. "Sky Cruisers?" you repeat.
  1511. >"Yeah! It was this combat game where you could fly around in a buncha different jets and just go wherever you want! They had a demo in the store, and I spent more time just flying around than anything else."
  1512. >Scootaloo giggled to herself as she recounted the memory, and it made you smile.
  1513. >"B-But, uh... m-my mom didn't buy it for me because I was "too young" for it. And I kept spending my allowance on stuff for my scooter, so..."
  1514. >A small frown rose upon her face, and you found yourself looking in the direction of the game store.
  1515. >Clicking your cheeks, you formed a smirk as you had a fun little idea.
  1516. >Setting your cart down, you picked up your bat and began making your way in the direction of the store.
  1517. "C'mon," you say to Scootaloo, enticing her to follow you.
  1518. >"W-Why...?" she asked almost cautiously.
  1519. >You just give her a little smirk as you continue walking towards the store.
  1520. >Hesitantly, she followed behind you, being mindful of your bat.
  1521. >After crossing the road, you stood before the front glass door of Gamer's Gate and peered in.
  1522. >Much like Woodchuck's and the other stores with intact windows, the place looked spotless; they probably closed it for the night one night and never came back.
  1523. >Video games and video game consoles still sat on shelves and on displays. A large cardboard cutout of Spider-Man greeted gamers of all ages at the very front.
  1524. >Sure enough, you could make out the demo station near the darkened back corner of the store, the words "PLAY THE SKY CRUISERS DEMO TODAY!" written in bold above.
  1525.  
  1526. >You tried opening the door first, and just as you thought, it was locked.
  1527. "Here, step back for me?" you requested to Scootaloo, who then took a few steps back from you.
  1528. >Initially, you raised the bat, ready to smash the door open. But just before you did, a thought occurred to you.
  1529. >All the games here would probably be pretty valuable down the line, assuming you were able to find other people.
  1530. >But even if you didn't, there's a lot of games here to keep you and this kid plenty busy and entertained.
  1531. >Well, once you can find a way to actually play them, that is.
  1532. >Many of these games would probably be unplayable if exposed to the elements long enough.
  1533. >Regardless of the excuse, you decide to open the door the old fashioned way.
  1534. >After a few bashes to the knob, you hear a metallic snap, and the door slowly opens inward with a soft squeak.
  1535. >You hold the door open and step aside, allowing Scootaloo to go in first.
  1536. >Again, she's hesitant, but she relents and enters the store.
  1537. >It's a little warm in here; not much warmer than outside, but definitely enough to give you the shivers.
  1538. >"Wow," Scootaloo uttered as she took in the sights, her eyes sparkling with intrigue. "It's so quiet..."
  1539. >Indeed, it was. It was something you were never going to get used to... but it didn't make it any less incredible in its own merit.
  1540. >Scootaloo turned to you, this time a worried look on her face.
  1541. >"But... aren't we gonna get in trouble for breaking in like this?"
  1542. >That question definitely surprised you, considering what she already partially knew, but you simply shook your head and gave her a reasurring smile.
  1543. "Nah," you tell her, "don't worry about it."
  1544. >She seemed to get the hint and went back to looking around, taking in the sights and eyeing the still-stocked shelves.
  1545. >There were so many games here, you didn't even know where to begin.
  1546. >But as soon as that demo station caught her eye, she quickly rushed over to it.
  1547. >It was just like any other demo station, consisting of two controllers plugged into the booth, and a flat-screen television above.
  1548. >"I used to play this sooo much," Scootaloo said gleefully, talking more to herself than to you. "I wonder if my high score is still on here..."
  1549. >Scootaloo held one of the controllers in her hands and looked up at the screen, and you watched her mind drift off, no doubt thinking about the times she came here to play this.
  1550. >You could only smile sadly, sharing that feeling to some degree.
  1551. >You wondered if Twilight had been here before...
  1552. >Before sinking too far into your train of thought, you started looking at the shelves surrounding the demo station, looking for one game in particular.
  1553. >Oddly enough, it wasn't out here.
  1554. >That was when you saw the grey metal door in the door in the corner, possibly leading to the back room.
  1555. >You smirked to yourself again.
  1556. "Wait here," you tell Scootaloo as you make your way over to the door, taking out your flashlight.
  1557.  
  1558. >Scootaloo turned to look at you, but she didn't follow.
  1559. >Clicking on your flashlight, you held the cold metal knob and turned it.
  1560. >It wasn't locked, so you opened it slowly.
  1561. >You inhaled.
  1562. >There was no smell of death.
  1563. >You exhaled with pure relief.
  1564. >You opened the door all the way, being greeted to a pitch-black office area.
  1565. >Shining the flashlight forward, you began looking around for something specific.
  1566. >It looked like a typical back office, with a couple of desks and chairs scattered around.
  1567. >Everything seemed as neat as it'd been the last time anyone was in here, except maybe for the light layer of dust here and there.
  1568. >You knew -WHAT- you were looking for, but you had no idea if it was even back here.
  1569. >This was the first time you'd ever actually been in a back office like this.
  1570. >But you kept looking, going through drawers and cabinets that were unlocked.
  1571. >After enough searching, your eyes fell upon another door. Again, it was unlocked.
  1572. >Another smell test later, you opened the door and peered inside.
  1573. >Large metal shelves, containing hundreds of games, lined up from wall to wall, corner to corner.
  1574. >Bingo.
  1575. >You looked up and down each and every shelf, just taking in the sight of the vast array of video games that were readily available. A lot of these games were ones you either heard very sparsely about, or they flew completely under your radar.
  1576. >You'd come back for them later, but right now you were looking for...
  1577. >There it is!
  1578. >Sitting on one of the shelves, just what you were looking for:
  1579. >Dozens of copies of "Sky Cruisers", just "freshly" shipped in.
  1580. "Jackpot," you say quietly to yourself.
  1581. >You didn't know much about the game apart from what Scootaloo told you, other than it was also a war game where you had to kill as many enemies as possible to win.
  1582. >Seemed a bit extreme for a kid her age... but to be fair, you'd played far worse before you were even out of elementary.
  1583. >Initially, you grabbed a single copy... but you realized this game had local co-op.
  1584. >And it wouldn't hurt to try it out for yourself when you have the chance.
  1585. >You decided to grab a few extra copies, just in case.
  1586. >With that done, you begin making your way back to the front of the store.
  1587. >You'll definitely have to come back for the rest, but for now, youHOLYSHIT—
  1588. "AAH!"
  1589. >"AAAAH!"
  1590. >You and Scootaloo screamed in unison and recoiled away from each other, both of you having caught the other by surprise.
  1591. >Scootaloo shrieked with such girly fear you haven't heard before.
  1592. >Or was that you?
  1593. >Either way, Scootaloo flew back, almost crashing headfirst into the nearest shelf, but managed to retain her balance.
  1594. >You backed up against the desk facing the door.
  1595. >Both of you were left suddenly panting and catching your breath.
  1596. >Scootaloo took a bit longer, but as soon as -you- realized what happened... you found yourself letting out a small laugh.
  1597. "Y-You scared the -sh-crap- out of me, dude!" you exclaimed to Scootaloo as you righted yourself.
  1598.  
  1599. >It took a few seconds for Scootaloo to calm herself down; it looked like she scared herself more than she thought, judging from how much she was shaking.
  1600. "You alright?" you ask her, admittedly a little concerned.
  1601. >But she simply gets back up, dusts off her shirt, and glances away from you, hugging her hips.
  1602. >"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she says quickly. "I wasn't scared or anything."
  1603. "What, too cool to be scared?" you joke with a smirk.
  1604. >She doesn't respond to that; she just slightly holds herself tighter.
  1605. >Deciding not to poke the bear any further, you reach into your duffel bag and pull out a copy of the game.
  1606. >Scootaloo cranes her head only slightly, just enough to see the front cover.
  1607. >It's enough to elicit another shriek from her, this time joyful as she snags the case from your hands.
  1608. >"Dude! No fucking way!"
  1609. >... Well, shit.
  1610. >"I-I mean, no freaking way! I-I—"
  1611. >Scootaloo stammers as she realizes she just cursed in front of you, as if expecting you, an adult, to be upset.
  1612. >You just chuckle and pet her head.
  1613. "It's alright, kid," you say, trying to lighten the mood.
  1614. >However, Scootaloo wavered away from your touch and took a step back.
  1615. "Sorry," you say.
  1616. >"I-It's alright..."
  1617. >You were sure it was, but it was clear she still didn't completely trust you that well enough yet.
  1618. >That was alright, though. The look on her face as she looked over both sides of the "Sky Cruisers" case made up for it.
  1619. >She whispered to herself the information on the back side and smiled to herself.
  1620. >But then that smile dissolved a moment later.
  1621. >"Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would've loved to play this..."
  1622. >It got quiet between the two of you.
  1623. "Are they your friends...?"
  1624. >Scootaloo wordlessly nodded and frowned, never taking her eyes off the case.
  1625. >That excitement on her face just seconds ago was now gone, replaced with melancholic longing.
  1626. >You knew the feeling more than anything... but to see it on -this- kid's face...
  1627. >This kid barely got to live her life before it was all taken away.
  1628. >You reached out for her shoulder, if only to comfort her just a little, but she stepped away again.
  1629. >You didn't push it any further; you simply gave her the space she needed.
  1630. >Once you felt it was appropriate, you leaned your head towards the nearest shelf.
  1631. "You ready to go?" you ask her with a smile. "Or do you want any other games?"
  1632. >Scootaloo, having been silent for several moments, looked around at the mass collection of games surrounding her, not to mention the ones in the back room.
  1633. >"... I guess a few of these look cool..."
  1634.  
  1635. __________
  1636.  
  1637. >A few minutes later, you and Scootaloo were back across the street.
  1638. >Walking away with -FIFTY- games and a shit-load of batteries.
  1639. >Neither of you were gonna be able to play the games anytime soon, but at least you could keep her plenty busy with your Deck for now!
  1640. >You set the bag and your bat down in the cart and pulled out the map of Canterlot.
  1641. >"Where'd you get that from?" Scootaloo asked curiously.
  1642.  
  1643. "Hmm?" you hum as you look up at her. "Oh, uh, the security booth at the college has them. Here, look."
  1644. >You wave Scootaloo over, and she gets close enough to take a good look at the map as you hold it out in front of the two of you.
  1645. "You see that?" you ask her, pointing at a big, green square at the southwest part of the map. "That's the college. And over there, all the way down here? That's where we are right now. See? Woodchuck's Needs. Over to the right, that's your street, and this part of the college here is where I'm staying. Right?"
  1646. >You watch her follow your finger with her eyes and nod as you point at each individual area you've been too... which wasn't a lot, in earnest. It was a pretty long stretch of land to walk back and forth on, but it was still just a tiny piece of the vast metropolis.
  1647. >You could spend weeks walking all over the place and still not see everything.
  1648. >That was gonna be a nightmare later down the road, but you'll cross that bridge sooner or later.
  1649. >"C-Can I have the map for a second...?"
  1650. >With a smile, you hand her the still open map.
  1651. "You can keep it, if you want."
  1652. >"Really...?"
  1653. >You just shrug.
  1654. "Yeah, sure. I can always grab an extra back home."
  1655. >"T-Thanks," Scootaloo says with an awkward little smile before turning her eyes to the map.
  1656. >Meanwhile, you scouted the observable shops around you in this little shopping center.
  1657. >Apart from Woodchuck's, the rest seemed to be candle shops, perfume stores, and a couple little eateries packed in between them all.
  1658. >You wondered if you could find any canned food in the eateries, but you could imagine it wouldn't smell very pleasant on account of the rotting food in the fridges and freezers.
  1659. >And that's assuming rats didn't get to them first, but you haven't seen any of those little guys around yet, luckily.
  1660. >The only other discernable place worth checking out here was the clothing shop directly in front of you.
  1661. >"Dress 2 Impress," the sign above said.
  1662. >Cute.
  1663. >However, unlike the first few stores that were left untouched, two of the windows had been smashed inward, meaning someone broke into this place, and likely pretty early on, given the state of the entrance.
  1664. >And did someone chew on some of the clothes?
  1665. >You bite your inner cheek and click your mouth a couple times as you ponder on what to do.
  1666. "Well," you begin to yourself, "maybe the clothes further back are fine..."
  1667. >You turn to Scootaloo as if to ask for her input, but you notice she's still looking at the map.
  1668. >Or rather, one particular part of it.
  1669. "You see something?" you speak out to her.
  1670. >She just nods and swallows before pointing to a particular building to the north, closer to downtown.
  1671. >Carousel Boutique.
  1672. >The name sounded familiar, but you couldn't figure why.
  1673. "Your friend live there? Well, one of them?"
  1674. >She nods again.
  1675. >"Y-Yeah, Sweetie Belle. She and her sister kinda lived on their own."
  1676. "Kinda?"
  1677.  
  1678. >"Like, they lived there all the time, but their parents always had to leave to do stuff."
  1679. >Scootaloo lowered her head.
  1680. >"Kinda like -my- parents..."
  1681. >She sighed and closed the map, holding it close to her chest.
  1682. "Do you wanna go check it out...?"
  1683. >"... I don't know," she answered after a few seconds later, shrugging almost anxiously. "I-I don't even know if she'd still be there."
  1684. >That was definitely a good point. Of the few houses you actually had the courage of exploring, all of them were empty, with nary a corpse to be found.
  1685. >In fact, the only bodies you've found in the last two weeks were those of the six students in your building, and of Autumn Parsley.
  1686. >Only seven bodies in a span of two miles.
  1687. >Maybe Scootaloo was right. Maybe she and her sister left when they could.
  1688. >Or...
  1689. "We don't have to go if you don't want to."
  1690. >Maybe it was the inevitable reality rubbing off on you.
  1691. >Whatever the case, Scootaloo put the map back in your duffel bag and trilled her lips.
  1692. >"W-We can do it later."
  1693. >You just sighed to yourself, knowingly.
  1694. >You've heard that before.
  1695.  
  1696. __________
  1697.  
  1698. >You and Scootaloo entered Dress 2 Impress and began looking further to the back, where the clothing had been less exposed to the elements.
  1699. >Mostly because you wanted to at least see if the place was clear before letting your guard down.
  1700. >Once you were sure of it, you started picking out all kinds of new shirts, pants, and even hoodies.
  1701. >Your main focus was finding thick, long-sleeved clothing for the encroaching winter, while setting aside some casual wear for next summer.
  1702. >Some of the prices on these clothes were ludicrous. Who would ever spend $1000 on a leather jacket?
  1703. >Maybe the apocalypse wasn't so bad, after all.
  1704. >As you picked out your choice of clothing, you occasionally glanced over to Scootaloo, who'd been glossing over the girls' section and roaming about in the guys' section.
  1705. >You noticed just from her room alone that she didn't seem very girl-oriented, but then again, you weren't sure that was actually -her- house.
  1706. >Another thing of note was just how much more... comfortable she looked. The last couple weeks, coupled with your initial introduction with her, had her pegged as more of a recluse, but you chalked the latter up to everything that's happened.
  1707. >Now she didn't seem to mind just wandering around the shop like she was familiar with it.
  1708. >Maybe it was the change of scenery, or maybe it was because you were around her just long enough to leave an impression and give her some form of safety.
  1709. >Or maybe it was the gun in her pocket giving her that extra confidence.
  1710. >You didn't know what it was, but it was a welcome change from the kid who feared you at the start simply for being "too big".
  1711. >You've lost a couple pounds, y-you swear...
  1712. "Find anything?" you call out to Scootaloo, who flinched at the suddenness of your voice.
  1713. >"O-Oh, yeah. Just some cool hoodies and stuff."
  1714.  
  1715. "Nothing over there catch your eye?" you ask, pointing over to the girls' section.
  1716. >She just shook her head.
  1717. >"No way, that stuff's too frilly for me."
  1718. >You just chuckle.
  1719. "Alright. Well, there should be a changing room right down there."
  1720. >You point down towards a small dark hallway leading to three separate changing rooms on either side.
  1721. >The dark, dark hallway.
  1722. >"U-Uh... n-no, that's okay. I'll j-just try them on at home."
  1723. >With a small shrug, you went back to shopping.
  1724. >When the two of you had left roughly thirty minutes later, you had at least six bags worth of clothes, three for each of you.
  1725. >If it weren't for the size difference, you would've had trouble telling which were yours and which were hers.
  1726. >You set the bags down in the cart and did another quick look around at the shopping area.
  1727. >The only other places worth checking out were the eateries, but it looked like all their windows had been smashed in, all except for the one closest to Woodchuck's, a coffee shop called Sea Bree's.
  1728. >After bashing in the handle, you decided to check out the front of the shop.
  1729. >Apart from a few decently-sized bags of coffee grounds, there was nothing worth taking.
  1730. >You still took the bags, at least, for when you can eventually -actually- make some coffee.
  1731. >You didn't venture further towards the kitchen area, as the smell of rotting dairy almost immediately hit your nostrils, and you realized there was nothing back there of use anymore.
  1732. >To no surprise, there was nothing non-perishable inside the remaining restaurants and eateries; whatever food was there had also gone bad months before.
  1733. >You didn't want to stick around the back too long, especially since there were no windows and you wanted to use your flashlight as sparingly as possible.
  1734. >By the time you had concluded there was nothing left of value in the shopping center, it was already noon.
  1735. >And yet, the cart was hardly full, with nothing but a duffel bag full of video games and six bags of clothes.
  1736. >You take the map out of the duffel bag again and look it over.
  1737. >There was another small set of shops to the south, about half a mile down the road. A restaurant and what looked like a gas station.
  1738. >You were expecting it to be out of gas just like Parsley's, but they might still have some food lying around.
  1739. >You sure could go for a donut stick right about now...
  1740. >But before you made any decision to go any further, you turned to Scootaloo.
  1741. "Hey... do you wanna come with me down that way?" you ask her, pointing to the road leading southward. "Or do you wanna head home?"
  1742. >You figured the best way to gain her trust even further was to give her as much of a choice as you could offer her.
  1743. >Scootaloo looked over the map as you showed her where you planned to go next. She turned around, looking in the direction towards her house, then back to the south road.
  1744. >"I-I guess so... is it gonna take long?"
  1745. >With a chuckle, you just shrug.
  1746. "Not if the place is empty."
  1747.  
  1748. __________
  1749.  
  1750. >And to no surprise whatsoever, it was.
  1751. >Not only had the people who were last here sucked the place dry of its gasoline—not that it would be very useful at this point, anyway—but there was almost no food left, apart from a couple protein bars and some canned soup.
  1752. >They were still sustaining, but it was still perplexing to see.
  1753. >It made you wonder how a place like Woodchuck's could still be chock-full of food after six months, but these gas stations are left with scraps.
  1754. >Maybe it was because gas stations are the first place people visit?
  1755. >Maybe if there were more survivors, Woodchuck's would've been cleared out months ago.
  1756. >The whole thing left you feeling uneasy about traveling so far from the college, but it was a good opportunity to scope out as much of the surrounding area as possible.
  1757. >And in today's case, it was a good chance to get this kid to open up at least a little bit.
  1758. >At around twelve-thirty, you park your cart next to the gas pumps and sit down on the curb, patting a spot next to you for Scootaloo.
  1759. >After a few seconds, she relents and sits down beside you.
  1760. >You take out some of the protein bars you grabbed from inside and hand a few of them to her, wanting her to keep eating and regain whatever weight she'd lost.
  1761. >You've never seen someone take such joy in eating a peanut butter protein bar until now, you can say that much.
  1762. >Sitting under the roof of the pump station, it was definitely much chillier than being out in direct sunlight, but it was bearable.
  1763. >But it made you remember the locked-in deadline that had been taunting you since the start of September.
  1764. >As the two of you ate your "lunch", you decided to engage Scootaloo in some small talk.
  1765. "So," you start with a little smile, "how does it feel to be out of the house?"
  1766. >Scootaloo chewed on her protein bar slowly and swallowed before replying.
  1767. >"It's... weird," she said just as slow. "Like... I keep expecting to see someone driving down the road, or some kids riding their bikes, or... or just Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stopping by and wanting to hang out. Just someone, you know...?"
  1768. >You let out a small snort in agreement.
  1769. "Yeah. I know what you mean. I mean, at night, it makes sense, but you never would've seen stuff like this during the day before."
  1770. >Scootaloo looked shyly at her feet.
  1771. >"I-I don't like looking outside at night."
  1772. "Scared of the dark?" you ask her, innocently.
  1773. >"W-Wha- I-I'm not scared of the dark!" she exclaims defensively.
  1774. >You simply chuckle.
  1775. "It's nothing to be ashamed about, trust m—"
  1776. >"I'm NOT scared," she repeats, this time firmly.
  1777. >You simply raise your hands and back off, trying not to snicker at her childish insistence.
  1778. "Alright, alright, so you're not scared of the dark."
  1779. >She takes an aggressive bite of her protein bar and almost swallows the piece whole.
  1780. >Placing your hands back on your lap and look forward, observing the stretch of wooden fence that seems to go on for several hundred feet up and down the road.
  1781.  
  1782. >Speaking of roads and bikes...
  1783. "Do you know of any places nearby that has bikes? Like a neighbor or a school or something?"
  1784. >While chewing, Scootaloo shakes her head, looking down at her lap.
  1785. "Damn."
  1786. >However, after swallowing, she looks up at you.
  1787. >"Well, actually... I think I remember this one kid a few streets from me who has one. I don't remember his name, though."
  1788. >You turn to face her, your attention a little piqued now.
  1789. "Do you know what street?"
  1790. >She nods.
  1791. >"Yeah, but... why do you wanna know?"
  1792. >You nibble on your inner cheek and pat one of the tires of the cart.
  1793. "Well, if I can do it right, I'd like to hook the cart up to a bike and ride around instead of walking everywhere. It sure would save a lot of time. Plus, walking everywhere sucks."
  1794. >That last part did get a small snort out of you.
  1795. >However, Scootaloo didn't seem to be laughing.
  1796. >"Wait... are you gonna -steal- it?"
  1797. >You just looked at her and chuckled awkwardly.
  1798. "Well... it's not exactly -stealing- at this point, is it?"
  1799. >Scootaloo just scrunched her lips and hummed nervously.
  1800. >"I-I mean... I don't know, but... won't we get in trouble for that? What if he comes back and it's gone?"
  1801. >You raised a hand gently towards Scootaloo and smiled reassuringly at her.
  1802. "Don't worry, kid, we're not gonna get in trouble, I can promise you—"
  1803. >"But how do -YOU- know? What if we take it and he comes back and he calls the cops or something? There's still cops, right?"
  1804. >You couldn't help but just look at Scootaloo, almost speechless and confused.
  1805. >It was hard to really decipher exactly WHAT she knew about the state of things since she's been hunkered down, but this... this definitely blew -a- lid off; you just weren't sure how big a lid.
  1806. >With another small sigh, you rub your hands and look down to the pavement beneath your feet.
  1807. "Kid... I don't think there's any cops left, or even an army for that matter. I don't think there's gonna be cops ever again. Maybe depending on where you are in the world, but here? Have you heard a siren at all in the last few months?"
  1808. >Scootaloo shakes her head slowly.
  1809. "Have you seen any cop cars driving around at all?"
  1810. >Another shake.
  1811. "Anything? Anyone at all?"
  1812. >"... No..."
  1813. "If there was anyone still running things around here, either of us would've seen it by now. But for now... I think it's just you and me."
  1814. >You point towards the houses behind the fence.
  1815. "And the kid that owns the bike...? I don't think he's gonna come back for it. I don't think he's ever coming back. Okay?"
  1816. >You didn't want to flat-out say the kid was likely already dead, but at the end of it all, there was nothing more important than to tell this girl...
  1817. "Things are gonna be very different from now on... and eventually, you're gonna need to be ready for that. Alright?"
  1818. >It sounded more ominous than you wanted it to be, but it was the stone cold truth.
  1819. >It didn't mean Scootaloo had to like it, even if she nodded with her eyes glued to the ground beneath her.
  1820.  
  1821. >How else were you going to break such news to an eleven year old girl without her freaking out?
  1822. >You sighed again and stood to your feet, then turned to Scootaloo and held out your hand.
  1823. >She didn't reach for it at first; no doubt, she was thinking over what you just said.
  1824. >Maybe it shook her to her little core.
  1825. >Scootaloo hesitantly took your hand and you pulled her up. Compared to two weeks ago, she was a little heavier, but not by much.
  1826. >You picked up the cart handle and did a quick check to make sure you had everything.
  1827. >Then you turned to face Scootaloo, who was standing there, looking down at the pavement again.
  1828. "Hey..."
  1829. >She looked up at you.
  1830. "You want me to take you home?"
  1831. >You watched her chew on her cheek and rub her arms, her eyes glossing over the cart and the gas pumps beside you.
  1832. >She shook her head.
  1833. "You sure?"
  1834. >She nodded.
  1835. >With that, you were on the way to the nearby neighborhood in search of a bike.
  1836. >Deck Planter, the kid's name was. You expected the house to look like the other cookie-cutter homes that littered the place.
  1837. >A mansion was the last thing you expected!
  1838. >The house Scootaloo pointed out to you stood at three floors, brick and marble exterior, and even had its own fountain in the front yard.
  1839. >With such a lavish looking place, you had to wonder why anyone would want to live anywhere else.
  1840. >Well, thinking about it...
  1841. >No. Look for the bike now, and think about it later.
  1842. >You circled the house until you found the entrance to its three-door garage, then peered inside.
  1843. >Their cars were still there.
  1844. >And that meant there was a good chance they never left...
  1845. >"So? Do you see it?" Scootaloo asked, unable to peek through the windows on account of her height.
  1846. >You didn't tell her about the cars.
  1847. >But you did tell her about...
  1848. "Eeyup," you say with a smirk.
  1849. >Sitting in the corner of the garage, you could see a golden, bulky bicycle that definitely belonged to an older kid.
  1850. >You wasted no time in trying to open the door.
  1851. >Yet again, locked.
  1852. >The door handle never stood a chance against your bat.
  1853. >You entered the garage, Scootaloo in tow, and took a closer look at the bike in question.
  1854. >It was definitely as bulky as you thought, sporting a thick golden body and big tires that made the whole thing feel heavy just trying to hold it level to you.
  1855. >But from initial inspections, it looked to be in peak condition. No holes in the tires, said tires weren't deflated, the brake pads weren't worn out, and there didn't seem to be anything broken or needing fixing.
  1856. >If anything, all it needed was a fresh coat of oil for its chains, but it was ready!
  1857. >But while you grabbed the extra bottles of oil...
  1858. >"Eww... what's that smell?"
  1859. >Scootaloo covered her nose as a faint, but rancid odor invaded her nostrils.
  1860. >You, however, immediately recognized the smell.
  1861. "I guess they never took out their garbage," you calmly lied.
  1862. >"I've never smelled garbage like THAT before."
  1863. "Yeah... you get used to it."
  1864.  
  1865. >You silently hoped she wouldn't have to.
  1866. >You were quick to get you and Scootaloo out of the garage as quick as possible, walking the bike by your side.
  1867. >It was only when you got back out to the driveway that you remembered... you also came here with your cart.
  1868. "Hey," you call to Scootaloo, "do you think you can pull the cart for me? Don't worry, it's not too heavy."
  1869. >The cart itself really wasn't all that heavy; but trying to drag both a bike and cart on your own didn't sound like a fun idea.
  1870. >"S-Sure."
  1871. >Luckily for you, Scootaloo had no problems dragging the cart. Her size did make pulling it a bit more of a slog, but it didn't seem to bother her at all.
  1872. >Maybe it was because she was zoning out and wasn't exactly paying attention to where she was walking.
  1873. >No more than fifty feet from the driveway, and she was slowly drifting to the curb. She almost tripped over it when she remembered what she was doing and looked back ahead.
  1874. >You stopped her.
  1875. "Are you okay...?"
  1876. >Scootaloo looked behind her, looking down at the cart. Then she looked back to the rich kid's house and stared at it for longer than she meant to.
  1877. >But you didn't dare rush her.
  1878. >So you waited for her to look back up to you, and she did.
  1879. >Her eyes seemed so unsure.
  1880. >"I-I think I wanna go home."
  1881. >But that, you knew she was sure of.
  1882. >With a soft sigh, you smile at Scootaloo.
  1883. "Alright. C'mon, I'll walk you home."
  1884. >The walk back to her home wasn't long, but it was definitely quiet. You did try initiating at least a little conversation, but Scootaloo didn't seem interested in talking.
  1885. >She'd drag the cart behind her and look around at what was likely familiar neighborhoods to her. Houses that used to belong to friends and maybe even family.
  1886. >Maybe she was wondering where they'd gone.
  1887. >Maybe she was wondering if they were still there.
  1888. >Whether she was willing to talk about it at all with you, it was her choice.
  1889. >Well... mostly.
  1890. >The talk about her parents, as well as where she was going to be when winter came around, was going to happen.
  1891. >Soon...
  1892.  
  1893. __________
  1894.  
  1895. >You and Scootaloo returned to her place just before 1:30. The porch, which had earlier been bathed in sunlight, was now shaded by the roof hanging over it.
  1896. >Already, you missed the warmth of the sun as you entered the large body of shade on the front yard.
  1897. >Scootaloo took the handle of the cart and handed back over to you.
  1898. >Oh yeah, that's right... now you need to bring it home.
  1899. >Alone.
  1900. "Let's get your stuff out first," you suggest kindly, referring to the stack of games and clothes she'd grabbed from the shopping center.
  1901. >"O-Oh! Right, yeah," Scootaloo said, laughing awkwardly to herself as she also remembered the haul.
  1902. >You looked through the individual bags of clothes, and it didn't take long to identify which ones belonged to her.
  1903. >Hoodies, baggy jeans, baggy shorts, and nothing but.
  1904. >Though, you don't think she bought them for the weather...
  1905.  
  1906. >You took the bags and handed them over to Scootaloo, then cleared out one of your own bags into the cart and began filling it with the video games from your duffel bag.
  1907. >"Don't you want any of them?" Scootaloo asked you as she realized what you were doing.
  1908. >You shrug.
  1909. "Nah, not right now. Besides, I can't play any of them."
  1910. >"Neither can I..."
  1911. "True, but I'll need the extra space if I go looking for anything else today. I've still got a whole day to look around!"
  1912. >The bag now full of game cases, you pawn it off to her.
  1913. "Besides, I trust you better with them than me," you say with a small wink.
  1914. >Scootaloo blushes lightly and takes the bag from your hands.
  1915. >"Alright..."
  1916. >With the extra space in the cart, you try lifting the bike and setting it down inside.
  1917. >It was an arduous effort that left you breaking a sweat—in all fairness, it's heavy as fuck!—but you succeed in getting the bike in the cart, laying down on its side, with the duffel bag and your clothes snug in the corner.
  1918. >Sure beats trying to drag both of them all the way back home!
  1919. >You look up from the cart, and Scootaloo is still standing there a few feet away, watching and keeping to herself, her bags held closely to her.
  1920. "Are you gonna be fine on your own?"
  1921. >Scootaloo nodded.
  1922. >"Yeah... I think so... just till my parents get back."
  1923. >You simply decided to play along and nod.
  1924. "Alright... well, you know where I am if you need me, okay?"
  1925. >"Mm-hmm," she replied with a nod.
  1926. >Realizing your map was still in the duffel bag, you take it out and write down a line from the area of her house to the specific part of the college you were staying; you then hand her the map.
  1927. "If anything happens, or if you change your mind, just follow that and you'll be able to find me. Got it?"
  1928. >"Got it," she said, nodding again.
  1929. "Okay... good."
  1930. >With a glint of hope, you hold out your hand.
  1931. "See you later?"
  1932. >Scootaloo eyed your hand and thought about it for a few moments.
  1933. >Slowly, she reached out and grabbed it loosely, a small but genuine smile forming on her face.
  1934. >"S-Sure. See you later."
  1935. >You smile and pull your hand away, then reach for the handle of your cart and give Scootaloo a small wave with your other hand.
  1936. >She waves back almost awkwardly and watches as you walk away, beginning your slow journey back to Canterlot University.
  1937. >Once you were a couple houses away, she went back inside, taking her new clothes, video games, and the cans of food on the porch with her.
  1938. >You, on the other hand, lugged your now-heavy cart behind you as you pondered on your first proper day with Scootaloo.
  1939. >It was... okay.
  1940. >It wasn't the best introduction, you don't think, but it was better than nothing.
  1941. >Better than her still being afraid of you.
  1942. >Maybe she still didn't entirely trust you, but that was okay. It was gonna take a while.
  1943. >But it made you realize just how much more you were going to need to do in order to keep this kid both friendly AND alive.
  1944.  
  1945. >Sure, you knew that already, but purely based off what she told you -today-, it was clear you were gonna need to double your efforts.
  1946. >Even after six months... the kid thought there were still cops patrolling the place, keeping what little order left there was in check.
  1947. >And she still thinks her parents are coming home soon...
  1948. >You had no clue how you were gonna break the reality to her.
  1949. >Or again... maybe she already figured it out.
  1950. >All you could really hope for at this point was that you were wrong, that one of these days, her parents were just gonna walk up to you out of nowhere, pull a gun on you, and ask why you were hanging out with their eleven year old daughter.
  1951. >You'd take that over any other option.
  1952. >Sure, you didn't feel entirely hopeless, but you had to be realistic here.
  1953. >Every blast of cool air against your face reminded you that the clock was still ticking.
  1954. >But in spite of it all...
  1955. >In spite of your goal...
  1956. >And in spite of the impending responsibility that had been bestowed upon you...
  1957. >Today was a good start.
  1958.  
  1959. END OF PART 2
  1960. __________
  1961.  
  1962. PART 3: GIMME SHELTER
  1963.  
  1964. >October came as quickly as you predicted.
  1965. >It'd been five days since you formally reintroduced yourself to Scootaloo, and vise versa.
  1966. >Five days come and gone.
  1967. >Five days closer to winter.
  1968. >As you woke up early on the first day of the month, you marked down another X on your 2023 calendar, and checked your phone after wirelessly charging it.
  1969. >You still weren't sure if the time was right, but you were confident about the day.
  1970. >The last five days were spent stress-testing your new bike, trying to figure out how fast it could go with the wagon in tow.
  1971. >Of course, you spent all of September 27 trying to get it attached in the first place...
  1972. >A whole round of duct tape later, you had the most ghetto setup you could've ever had, which included taping the handle of the wagon to the base of your bike seat.
  1973. >Surprisingly, it worked, and you were NOT going to question it.
  1974. >You rode the bike a few blocks from the college, all the way to Scootaloo's house and back.
  1975. >Thanks to the flat terrain, what was a 40 minute walk was cut down to a ten minute bike ride. And that was WITH the wagon!
  1976. >Well, an empty wagon, but now you were gonna be able to cover a much greater distance than on foot.
  1977. >You paid Scootaloo a visit a couple days later on the 29th, sending her more food as promised. The two of you engaged in small talk, but she didn't seem as interested as before.
  1978. >It was best not to push it. You figured she was still trying to take in the reality of it all.
  1979. >But at least your shoddy craftsmanship made her giggle just a bit.
  1980. >After waking up in the morning on the first of October, you decided to take inventory of your supplies again.
  1981. >You still had plenty of food to last you quite a while, but it felt like you were starting to burn through it now that Scootaloo was getting a share.
  1982. >And the fact that you went through two cans of sausage the other day didn't exactly help the matter.
  1983. >You were getting greedy.
  1984. >You weren't going to ration Scootaloo's portions, but you were going to limit yourself from now on if you wanted this stock to last the both of you the next couple years.
  1985. >Food aside, you were good on batteries after the haul from Gamer's Gate with Scootaloo.
  1986. >However, at best, your current supply would keep your gadgets alive for another couple months. Your phone was the only way to tell the date apart from your calendar, and your Steam Deck was a great way to make things feel normal a little while longer.
  1987. >But they ate up those fuckers like they were candy.
  1988. >Maybe not playing games would be a great incentive to get to work, but you still wanted to have a supply on hand, if only for your flashlight.
  1989. >Having grabbed a new map from the security booth when you got home on Tuesday, you spent a few minutes in the morning marking all the nearest shops that could sell batteries.
  1990. >You deduced that the closest place to the college that you hadn't yet visited was a gas station half a mile north.
  1991.  
  1992. >That was inching precariously close to downtown.
  1993. >But the second-closest shop was Zap Trap which, based off the limited description alone, was a Dollar Store Geek Squad which also sold some relatively cheap electronics.
  1994. >That store was smack dab in the middle of Canterlot.
  1995. >You had no idea how bad things could've been in the city, but you opted not to find out anytime soon unless you were desperate.
  1996. >For now, you'll hit up the gas station, then maybe head west back towards the shopping center.
  1997. >Maybe even see how Scootaloo is doing...
  1998. >After loading up your usual supplies, you grab your wagon-bike and began north.
  1999. >It took you the first day or so after bringing it home to relearn how to ride a bike, but you got the hang of it pretty fast.
  2000. >But the wagon -did- make it feel bulkier than normal.
  2001. >Still, it was your only mode of transportation and mobile storage for now.
  2002. >The trip to the gas station was hardly five minutes by bike.
  2003. >Every reminder of how much time you were saving now made you a very happy man.
  2004. >Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for when you approached the front of the store.
  2005. >Just like the previous one, the front doors had been busted open, and the place had very clearly been looted.
  2006. >Luckily, there didn't appear to be as much missing. The shelves still had enough food to fill up your duffel bag at least a couple of times—and a surprise for Scoot, to boot—but unfortunately, there were no batteries to spare.
  2007. >And as luck would have it, what would've been their next shipment was due to arrive on the day after things began to fall apart. So the storage room in the back had nothing more than a couple boxes of chips and Twinkies.
  2008. >You still took them, but you couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be an increasingly recurring theme the closer to downtown you were.
  2009. >It wouldn't surprise you if there was nothing left in the city worth taking.
  2010. >But for now, you decided to stick to the outskirts, and began the trip over to Scootaloo's neighborhood.
  2011. >You made it to her house in just fifteen minutes with hardly a breath lost.
  2012. >After evenly dividing the haul of snacks between you and her, you walked up to her front door, set the box down in front of it, and knocked a few times.
  2013. >You then went back to your wagon-bike and continued west.
  2014. >But just before you rode too far, you looked back.
  2015. >And sure enough, there she was, standing at the front door, box in hand, looking over to you.
  2016. >You just smiled and waved to her.
  2017. >After a moment, she—albeit awkwardly—waved back with a small smile of her own, before retreating back into her home.
  2018. >It was a promising sign, at least...!
  2019.  
  2020. __________
  2021.  
  2022. >The next day, October 2, was time to deliver more food to Scootaloo, more than the snacks you brought her the day before. You settled on a three-day schedule.
  2023. >It became a great excuse to stick around a little longer and keep her company if she felt comfortable with it.
  2024. >Which, with each passing day, seemed more and more to be the case.
  2025. >Not only that, but she had slowly been regaining the color in her complexion, and gradually rebuilding her weight, thanks to the food you'd been giving her.
  2026. >She seemed far healthier now compared to even last week.
  2027. >She even looked happier, in spite of the circumstances.
  2028. >When she first answered the door in the early morning hours, she was wearing some of her new clothes. And given her incredibly deep yawn, it was obvious she slept in them too.
  2029. >"I-It was chilly last night, that's all..."
  2030. >She wasn't wrong. It was getting cold lately.
  2031. >Sooner than you thought.
  2032. >But for now, you pushed the worry aside and handed her a plastic bag containing more food.
  2033. >She looked inside the bag, which contained a couple canned beans, canned corn, and...
  2034. >"Awesome!" she exclaimed as she pulled out not one, but two cans of macaroni and cheese.
  2035. >It was a different brand than the one you gave her the first time, but it was equally as good, you reckoned.
  2036. "Surprise~" you say in a sing-song tone, before petting her head.
  2037. >Like before, Scootaloo recoils from your touch.
  2038. >But this time, not for lack of trust.
  2039. >"Hey, quit it!" she giggles softly before "readjusting" her hair.
  2040. >However, you couldn't help but notice how greasy her hair had felt just from the second of contact alone.
  2041. >You didn't say anything about it right now, but you made a mental note to look for some shampoo for her later, maybe even collect some water strictly for washing.
  2042. >Or maybe there's a river nearby...?
  2043. >"... Thanks, though."
  2044. >You smile.
  2045. "You're welcome. Sorry I couldn't find the same kind."
  2046. >Scootaloo just shrugged.
  2047. >"Eh, I'm sure it tastes the same, right?"
  2048. >You chuckled.
  2049. "True."
  2050. >Suddenly, the cool wind brushed against you, and you let out a shiver as you rubbed your hands together.
  2051. >"Mind if I come in?" you ask politely. "Just wanna warm up a little."
  2052. >The one downside to biking in these cooler temperatures was that you got cold much faster than on foot.
  2053. >Luckily for you, Scootaloo seemed to understand your current predicament, and actually stepped to the side.
  2054. >"A-Alright..."
  2055. >Gifting her a warm smile of your own, you walk past her and entered her house for the first time in three weeks.
  2056. >You heard Scootaloo close the door slowly behind you, and almost right away, you felt yourself begin to warm up.
  2057. >It definitely felt cool in here, but the difference between in here and the morning chill outside was blatant.
  2058. >Taking a gander around the living room, it appeared no different from the last time you were here.
  2059.  
  2060. >The light coming in was minimal thanks to the cloth covering the windows, but the windows in the kitchen had nothing covering them, allowing some natural light to shine through.
  2061. >You walked up to the window and almost asked Scootaloo why the back windows weren't covered, but it didn't take long to see why; the fence surrounding her backyard was tall, easily preventing anyone from simply looking over.
  2062. >Speaking of the kitchen, the smell of rotting food permeated throughout the room, growing in intensity the closer you were to the trash bin.
  2063. >A quick look inside revealed most of the empty cans of food that you'd given Scootaloo over the last few weeks, their scraps of contents beginning to reek with decay.
  2064. >The strength of the smell just from opening the trash bin made you shut it immediately.
  2065. >You'll throw out the bag when you leave.
  2066. >"What?" you hear Scootaloo say behind you. "It doesn't smell THAT bad."
  2067. >You simply raise an eyebrow at her...
  2068. >Then immediately lower it because you realize she's right.
  2069. >You've smelled far worse...
  2070. >"Well, at least you're eating your veggies..." you mutter to yourself before sitting down at the table.
  2071. >Not too quiet, evidently enough, as Scootaloo just crosses her arms.
  2072. >"Well, yeah... I'm not a baby."
  2073. >Good, because then you'd have much bigger problems.
  2074. >You were smart enough not to say that aloud; instead, you simply smiled and placed your hands in your pockets to warm them faster.
  2075. "You sleep okay?" you ask her.
  2076. >Scootaloo, still crossing her arms, paces slowly around the table.
  2077. >"A little, yeah... it's just been super cold lately, for some reason."
  2078. >With another shiver from the cool ambient air, you shift in your seat and tighten your new hoodie.
  2079. "Yeah... I didn't expect fall to get this cold this fast," you tell her as you continue warming up.
  2080. >However, Scootaloo seemed to look at you almost quizzically.
  2081. >"What? It's not fall yet."
  2082. >It was your turn to be confused.
  2083. "Yeah, it is...?"
  2084. >"No...? Isn't it still August or something?"
  2085. "... It's October."
  2086. >That seemed to throw Scootaloo for a loop, who simply told you to hang on before running up the stairs, presumably to her bedroom.
  2087. >When she returned, she had in her hands a school planner. She opened the planner to you, showing you the contents inside.
  2088. >"See? Isn't today the 17th?"
  2089. >You tilt your head to the young girl curiously.
  2090. "Here, let me see that for a sec?"
  2091. >Scootaloo hands you the book, crossing her arms again as she watches your eyes comb through her planner, looking at all the dates she had crossed off.
  2092. >Well, most of them. Many of the days between late March up to early May were either missing or crossed in with pencil.
  2093. >It was pretty evident that she hadn't been keeping track of time at the start, and you pointed the squares out to her.
  2094. >She just scrunched her lips and blushed lightly.
  2095. >"Well, I-I kept forgetting to write down the days, so... I tried doing the math in my head and just kinda wrote what I got."
  2096.  
  2097. >She glanced coyly back down to the planner in your hands.
  2098. >"I guess I was off by a lot, huh...?"
  2099. >You simply smiled at her.
  2100. "Well, at least you were trying. Got a pencil?"
  2101. >With a nod, Scootaloo walked over to the small drawer you grabbed a notebook from a few weeks back, and gave you a spare sharpie pen.
  2102. >You then started marking every single square up to October 1.
  2103. "As far as I know, today's the 2nd," you tell her before handing the planner back to her.
  2104. >She flipped through the pages slowly before closing it and gazing at the cover, which read "SCHOOL PLANNER 2023".
  2105. >"... Thanks," she said faintly, before sitting down opposite of you at the table.
  2106. >You watched as she traced her thumb over the "SCHOOL" of the title.
  2107. "You okay?" you ask her.
  2108. >"Yeah..." she answers slowly, as if she herself wasn't convinced.
  2109. >You glance down to the planner, then back up to her as you put your hands back in your pockets.
  2110. "Miss school...?" you ask with a little smirk.
  2111. >"Pfft, what? No!"
  2112. >Scootaloo looks down to the planner.
  2113. >"I mean, maybe... I mean, like... I just miss everyone FROM school, but that's all."
  2114. >You figured that was the case.
  2115. "Like who?" you decide to ask, curious.
  2116. >Scootaloo shrugs.
  2117. >"Well... I always thought Miss Cheerilee was a pretty cool teacher."
  2118. "Really? What was she like?"
  2119. >Scootaloo shifted in her seat and set the planner down on the table, trilling her lips.
  2120. >"Well, she was more of a librarian than a teacher, but she used to teach history sometimes."
  2121. >She smiles.
  2122. >"I always liked when she taught us about the Wayne Brothers or those Spitfire planes."
  2123. "You mean the Wright Brothers?"
  2124. >"Yeah, those guys! The ones who made the first airplane. I must've asked Miss Cheerilee to teach us that part like six times back in fifth grade."
  2125. >You find yourself chuckling at the idea of this Cheerilee woman teaching the same thing over and over for one kid.
  2126. "So is that why you wanted that Sky Cruisers game? Just to fly the planes?"
  2127. >Scootaloo nodded and grinned at you.
  2128. >"It's so cool, though. The full game has, like, a hundred planes and you can just go wherever you want, how fast you want, and it was just so fun... you know? The employees let me stay late sometimes just to play, but my friends had to drag me out so my parents didn't ground me."
  2129. >That got a laugh out of you.
  2130. "I'm surprised they didn't just give you the game for free at that point."
  2131. >"Pfft, I wish."
  2132. >Scootaloo giggled to herself, caressing the planner again.
  2133. >"But... yeah... I miss Miss Cheerilee. I hope she's okay."
  2134. >You give her a sympathetic smile and rest your elbows on the table.
  2135. "Who else did you like from school?"
  2136. >You then give her a smirk.
  2137. "Any boys...?"
  2138. >Scootaloo quickly knew what you were getting at and peered down at her lap, a blush forming on her cheeks.
  2139. >"What? No! I mean... I don't know...!"
  2140. >You laugh and wave a hand.
  2141. "Relax, I'm f-I'm messing with you."
  2142. >Scootaloo seemed to relax, but the blush didn't fade from her cheeks.
  2143.  
  2144. >"I mean... there was this kid named Rumble in my class. I kinda thought he was cute, I guess. But he already had a crush on someone else, so..."
  2145. >You give her another sad smile.
  2146. "Ah... sorry. I know that feeling."
  2147. >"Really?" Scootaloo asked you curiously.
  2148. "Yeah, there was this girl I liked back in high school. She was way out of my league, but she was fun to talk to. I asked her out to prom, but... well, her boyfriend didn't like that."
  2149. >"Ouch... Did he beat the crap out of you?"
  2150. >You chuckled softly.
  2151. "He almost did, yeah, but she stopped him. I don't know what she saw in him, but last I heard, they were still together."
  2152. >"Do you... think they're dead...?"
  2153. >You felt your breath quietly hike in your throat as you tried to answer. You said to yourself that you already knew the answer.
  2154. "I hope not."
  2155. >You took your hands out of your pocket and crossed your arms as you gazed out the kitchen window, into the backyard.
  2156. >There was a small above-ground pool in the center of the yard. It appeared only half-full, with the water looking murky and green after having not been cleaned out for months.
  2157. >If you could find a way to get it cleaned out and running again, it could be a pretty nice bath for the two of you.
  2158. >But until then...
  2159. "Hey," you say, turning back to Scootaloo, "is there a river near here?"
  2160. >Scootaloo raised her eyebrow then let out a soft hum.
  2161. >"I think there's one near the movie studio, but... that's pretty far out from here. Why?"
  2162. >Clicking your inner cheek, you pull out your copy of the Canterlot map and spread it out on the table. Scootaloo gets up and walks over to see for herself.
  2163. >Sure enough, there's a movie studio near the edge of town, about a mile south of the college. Just south of that, however, looked to be a pretty wide river, about fifty feet across and spanning for miles until the map cuts it off.
  2164. >A smile slowly crept upon your face, and you turned back to Scootaloo.
  2165. "You wanna go for a swim?"
  2166. >Scootaloo tilted her head.
  2167. >"Wait... like, right now...?"
  2168. "Yeah, why not? At least while it's still a little warm?"
  2169. >Scootaloo looked down to the map, then back to you.
  2170. >Then you watched her comb her hands through her hair, and immediately stop.
  2171. >And you knew that was all the motivation she needed.
  2172.  
  2173. __________
  2174.  
  2175. >A few minutes later, you and Scootaloo were cruising down the street on the way to the Galloping Gail River.
  2176. >And by you and Scootaloo, you meant you rode the bike while Scootaloo sat snug in the cart.
  2177. >Thanks to her small figure, she was just able to fit inside.
  2178. >Thank God she was still at least a little skinny...
  2179. >... A thought you will forever keep to yourself.
  2180. >As you pedaled east, you felt the cool breeze blowing against your face and through your hair, and though it definitely felt chilly, you would take it over the blistering summer heat any day of the year.
  2181. >At least it kept you from sweating too much as you pushed down on the pedals with more emphasis compared to an empty cart.
  2182.  
  2183. >Eventually, you made it back to the college and then turned south, passing by the metal fence that separated the campus from the road.
  2184. >"Whoa..." Scootaloo gawked slightly, gazing at the fancy architecture of the college dorms and classrooms.
  2185. >You chortled to yourself and continued moving.
  2186. >Before long, you and Scootaloo arrived at the movie studio, and it was your turn to gawk.
  2187. "Wow..." you said to yourself as you stared at the massive warehouses that filled the complex.
  2188. >It astonished you to know that some of the movies you've watched, loved, or hated were probably made right here.
  2189. >You rolled by the security booth that welcomed tourists and workers alike. Behind it were empty parking lots and trailers sitting untouched.
  2190. >You wondered what the last movie was that they finished here, or what the last movie was that made it to the big screen.
  2191. >But you didn't come here to find that out. Maybe another time.
  2192. >Continuing past the studio, you eventually came across a dirt path that led into the woods.
  2193. >You didn't know if this bike, or the cart for that matter, was capable of off-road terrain, but you were not going to try and risk it.
  2194. >After hiding the bike and cart behind some bushes, away from sight of the road, you and Scootaloo continued down the path on foot, carrying towels and, in your own bag, soap and shampoo.
  2195. >The further from the road you were, the more wood-like the terrain became. Every step seemed to echo, and every so often there was a crow crying out into the vast abyss of green and red.
  2196. >You heard Scootaloo shiver, then watched her step just a little closer to you than normal.
  2197. "You good?" you asked her.
  2198. >"Yep," she said quickly.
  2199. >A little -too- quickly, you might add...
  2200. >But you said nothing of it and continued forward, keeping Scootaloo close to you.
  2201. >After a few minutes of walking, the dirt path gradually began to dissipate.
  2202. >And just as it did, you could hear the sound of rushing water nearby.
  2203. >Another fifty feet of walking through bushes and past tall trees, and the two of you made it to your destination.
  2204. >Galloping Gail didn't look -that- big on a map, but in person, it was a completely different story!
  2205. >The river spanned at least sixty feet in width, and you figured it was at least ten feet deep in the middle, if not deeper.
  2206. >Its current appeared slow and calm, but you could easily see a series of angled waterfalls roughly two-hundred feet upstream that the water roared through, and was now at the mercy of inertia.
  2207. >At least, that's probably what Twilight would've said.
  2208. >You found a spot nearby to put down your duffel bag, then began to take off your shirt.
  2209. >You didn't think to return to the campus to grab another set of clothes, and your current outfit was still freshly worn, so you decided you were going to strip to just your boxers and dry them out later.
  2210. >As you started to unbutton and remove your jeans, you heard Scootaloo let out a soft, awkward hum.
  2211. >"Um..."
  2212.  
  2213. >You turned around to see her standing nearby, arms wrapped around her stomach, gazing out at the river almost skittishly.
  2214. "What's wrong?" you call out to her.
  2215. >She scrunches her lips and glances in your direction.
  2216. >"I... didn't bring a swimsuit," she says meekly.
  2217. >Oh. Right.
  2218. >You didn't think about that.
  2219. >You looked her up and down, taking a gander at her clothes—a plain black hoodie and some brown cargo shorts.
  2220. "Well... if you want, you can just do what I'm doing," you suggest slowly... a little too slowly.
  2221. >Let's be honest, there's no right way to tell an eleven-year old girl to take off her clothes.
  2222. >"W-What? I'm not doing that! Or like, not in front of you! I... like, I mean—"
  2223. >And at least Scootaloo seemed to agree.
  2224. "I mean, you don't -have- to. You can just wear that," you also suggest, motioning a hand towards her getup.
  2225. >Scootaloo seems unconvinced, looking back to the water as she feels her hoodie, no doubt contemplating her next choice.
  2226. "You wanna head back to the house?" you suggest with a smile. "Grab a swimsuit?"
  2227. >She snorts softly, her eyes unmoving.
  2228. >"No... I mean, we're already here, so... that'd be kinda sh... crappy to you."
  2229. "I don't mind," you say, waving off her concern as you pull your pants back up, button in your hand.
  2230. >You didn't push Scootaloo any further than that; instead, you stood patiently and waited for whatever ideas she had in her head to finish cooking.
  2231. >After a few silent moments, save for the trickling of the river beside you, Scootaloo took a deep breath and shakily reached for the hem of her hoodie.
  2232. >"Can you turn around?" Scootaloo asked.
  2233. "Alright," you say with a smile before turning around, your back facing her.
  2234. >You heard the sound of rustling behind you as Scootaloo undoubtedly began removing her hoodie, followed by the sound of a button being undone.
  2235. >A few seconds later, you heard footsteps to your left, fading out slightly as they approached the river.
  2236. >"Brr..." Scootaloo said with a shiver, and although you expected her to jump right back out, you heard her move further and deeper into the water.
  2237. >Still, you chose not to look until she told you to.
  2238. >After a minute of staring at the raging waterfalls upstream, you heard Scootaloo clear her throat.
  2239. >"A-Alright, you can look now!" she called out to you.
  2240. >You turned back around, facing the river. Scootaloo stood shoulder-deep in the water, sporting a black t-shirt, but the rest of her body was concealed underneath the hazy water.
  2241. >The spot next to you where she stood instead had her hoodie and shorts sitting on the gravel, but you didn't look at it for too long.
  2242. "How's the water?" you ask her with a little smile.
  2243. >She shivers again, but she smiles as she does some light paddles, not straying too far from the shore.
  2244. >"I-It's a little cold! But it's not bad, once you get used to it!"
  2245. >With a little chuckle, you once again take off your jeans and set them aside with your shirt, standing in nothing but your boxers.
  2246.  
  2247. >With a sigh of your own, you approach the water and lightly dip your toe in.
  2248. >"Ooh," you utter as you briefly pull back.
  2249. >It's definitely more than "a little cold."
  2250. >"C'mon! What are you waiting for? Don't tell me you're scared of a little water!" Scootaloo shouts with a smirk, splashing water in your direction.
  2251. >... Where was -this- kid sixty seconds ago?
  2252. >Fuck it, YOLO.
  2253. >With a confident huff, you quickly step into the water, attempting to brave it.
  2254. "Oh, shit! Shit! Cold! Cold! Shit!" you shout repeatedly with every step you take, feeling the cold river gradually creep up your legs, then your crotch, and everything else above it.
  2255. >Nothing mattered but the crotch.
  2256. >You heard Scootaloo giggling her little ass off, trying to stifle her laughter as she paddled.
  2257. >Amidst your current woe, even you couldn't help but shakily laugh as you got deeper and deeper into the water.
  2258. >After what felt like agonizingly forever, you finally got shoulder-deep. Being a couple feet taller than Scootaloo, you were slightly further out from her, but still close enough to the shore to touch the bottom.
  2259. >"Took you long enough," Scootaloo said to you, grinning as she swam over to you.
  2260. "Yeah, "a little cold" my ass," you say in a faux-mocking tone, but can't help but chuckle shakily.
  2261. >With a smirk, Scootaloo splashes you, smacking you in the face with cold, yet refreshing water.
  2262. >You sputter and cough, while gasping from the sudden intrusion of cold on your formerly dry face.
  2263. "Oh yeah?" you say with an equally wide smirk as you splash her back. "Like that? Huh?"
  2264. >It's not as effective, given Scootaloo had apparently dipped her head underwater when she first entered.
  2265. >But she too was left sputtering and coughing, so you still win.
  2266. >Once she was able to spit out the water, Scootaloo giggled and splashed you again, before paddling to get away from you.
  2267. >You tried splashing her back, but as soon as she started swimming, the chase was on.
  2268. >The water was absolutely teeth-chattering at first; even after being in the water for a few minutes and moving about, the current constantly pushing against you always left you feeling cold on one side, ever changing with your direction.
  2269. >But Scootaloo was right: Eventually, you did start to get used to it. You could feel the water gradually warm up the more you swam around.
  2270. >The cold of the moving current was still there, but as you swam with Scootaloo, you eventually forgot it was even there.
  2271. >You were honestly working up a sweat just trying to catch this kid.
  2272. >A sweat.
  2273. >In the water.
  2274. >Scootaloo, on the other hand, was having the time of her life.
  2275. >Cutting through the water like butter, paddling her feet and splashing at you with her hands, and giggling like a child on Christmas day.
  2276. >Honest to God, this is probably the happiest you'd ever seen her.
  2277. >And honest to God... that made you happy too.
  2278. >Eventually, however, Scootaloo—so young and energetic as she'd proven to be—began to make her way back to the shore.
  2279.  
  2280. >Even though she was left exhausted from playing and only had enough energy to crawl onto dry land, the smile never left her face.
  2281. >You kept your eye on her until she was safely out of the water, and it was only then that you saw what she was still wearing.
  2282. >Apart from her black t-shirt, the only other thing she had on was a pair of dark purple panties. As she crawled up to the shore briefly on her knees, her panties wedged slightly, and—
  2283. >And you looked away.
  2284. >She was back on the shore, and you looked away. That was it.
  2285. >After a few minutes, you too started to feel the onset of exhaustion, so you swam back to the shore and sat down on the gravel next to Scootaloo, catching your breath.
  2286. >And the only reason it took you longer than her was because you weren't moving around as much as she was. It didn't make catching your breath anymore fun.
  2287. >You glance over to Scootaloo, who sat on the hem of her shirt, resting her arms on her knees. She was still smiling even as she was still recovering from the exercise.
  2288. "Having fun?" you ask her with a chuckle and a sigh.
  2289. >Scootaloo giggled weakly in between breaths, fidgeting with her shirt.
  2290. >"Y-Yeah... I've never swam in a river before. It's kinda cool!"
  2291. >You smile and nod, peering out to the other side of the river.
  2292. "Yeah," you answer, running your hand through your wet hair. "I haven't swam in one since I was, like, six or seven."
  2293. >"Really?"
  2294. "Yeah! You know that big river that kinda runs through Detrot?"
  2295. >Scootaloo hums and scrunches her lips as she tries to remember.
  2296. >"Cantina or something...?"
  2297. "Catalina," you correct her with a chuckle, "but yeah, that one. It was pretty much in our backyard, so I used to swim in it all the time as a kid. It was awesome."
  2298. >"Man... that sounds so cool," Scootaloo snorts and grins, glancing back over to the river and hugging her legs closer to her body. "I've always wanted to swim in here... but the last time I tried that, a cop saw me and took me home, and my parents grounded me for like a week."
  2299. >You look at her with bewilderment.
  2300. "Wh- For swimming in a river...?" you sputter.
  2301. >"I mean... it was at night, so..."
  2302. "Ah... makes sense, I guess..."
  2303. ...
  2304. >"... And I might've been naked, too."
  2305. >If you were drinking, you would've spit-taked then and there.
  2306. >Instead, you try—and fail—to cover your mouth as you chortle loudly.
  2307. >"What?" Scootaloo asked, trying to hide a giggle of her own.
  2308. >You laughed uncontrollably behind your hand for several moments before taking a few short breaths.
  2309. "I'm sorry, that just came out of nowhere, that's all," you say, still laughing.
  2310. >Scootaloo looks sheepishly at you before looking back to the river.
  2311. >"S-Sorry."
  2312. >You wave your hand with a chuckle.
  2313. "It's fine, it's fine. It's just funny."
  2314. >After a few more seconds of laughter, you're able to get yourself under control. You let out a deep sigh and watch the river pass you by, a few additional titters escaping you.
  2315. "Well... look on the bright side."
  2316. >"What?"
  2317.  
  2318. >You turn to Scootaloo and give her a smirk.
  2319. "No more cops," you say, looking back to the water. "Nobody to stop you doing it again."
  2320. >Scootaloo snorted and giggled, then let out a quiet hum.
  2321. >You saw her fidget with the hem of her shirt again, her cheek bulging as she twirled her tongue in her mouth.
  2322. >Then it hit you.
  2323. "Oh!" you exclaim as you get up and walk over to your duffel bag. "Almost forgot."
  2324. >"Forgot what?"
  2325. >After rummaging through the bag for a few seconds, you turn back to Scootaloo and hold up two 3-in-1 bottles.
  2326. "Ready for a bath?" you ask her with a cheeky grin and toss her one of the bottles.
  2327. >She flinches and nearly fumbles, but she's quick to grab it mid-air and inspect it up close.
  2328. >It's the same as yours: 3-in-1 shampoo, body soap, and conditioner.
  2329. >You had plenty to spare, thanks to your former neighbors, but you were unable to actually put any of it to use with the water shut off.
  2330. >"So, do I just... do it here, or...?"
  2331. "Yeah, it'll be easier here," you tell her simply.
  2332. >Opening your bottle, you spew a sizable dab of it in your hand and proceed to lather it through your hair.
  2333. >Your greasy, greasy hair.
  2334. >While you had washed your hair over the months, it was starting to dig into your already limited water supply. After August, you saved whatever you had left solely to drink.
  2335. >So to say it was actually a pain in the ass to run your hands through your hair and apply some long needed shampoo...
  2336. >That was putting it lightly.
  2337. >Your hair wasn't all too matted, but it wasn't seamless, either. You could feel your fingers getting caught on loose strands and wincing every time.
  2338. >And it looked like Scootaloo wasn't faring any better than you.
  2339. >The poor kid's hair looked like it hadn't had a good wash since March. Just feeling it earlier in the morning, it was greasier than even yours had been in the last two months.
  2340. >Not to mention the mats that were now clearly visible thanks to the swim. She clearly wanted to wince as she ran her fingers through the clumped strands, but she tried to brave it every chance she had.
  2341. >But eventually, like all good things, you and Scootaloo were able to get your hair fully lathered with the bubbly suds, then began to run it down your bodies.
  2342. >At least, -you- did at first.
  2343. >"Uh..."
  2344. >Then it hits you again.
  2345. "Oh, right, sorry."
  2346. >You turn around, facing in the direction of upstream again, and soon after, you heard the sound of Scootaloo running her hands across her body, and the squelching of her wet shirt as she presumably lifted it, no doubt to wash her body underneath.
  2347. >Speaking of underneath, you tried your best to make washing "down there" as discreet as possible.
  2348. >"It's okay... I'm not looking."
  2349. >Apparently, discreet was not your strong suit.
  2350. >But there was nothing you could do about it now; with a quick glance, you saw that Scootaloo indeed had her back turned to you.
  2351. >Her hands were drifting down to her butt and...
  2352. >Washing her body.
  2353. >Her hands were washing her body. That was it.
  2354.  
  2355. >You turned away and continued tending to your own body thoroughly.
  2356. >With every crevice you scrubbed, you felt more disgusted with yourself that you hadn't been putting in more of an effort to stay clean.
  2357. >But then again, you weren't expecting the world to end.
  2358. >After a few minutes of silence between the two of you, you finally had most of your body covered in the 3-in-1 wash, as did Scootaloo; the liquid dripped down both your bodies, pooling and seeping into the gravel beneath you.
  2359. >Without wasting more time, you set down the bottle and returned to the water.
  2360. >It was already a little cold again after being out for only a few minutes, but your body quickly readjusted.
  2361. >The body wash quickly dissolved into the river stream, and with that, you dove under the water and let the current pummel you, even if it wasn't that strong.
  2362. >You ruffled your hair and flailed your body however you could, making sure the water reached every nook and cranny it otherwise couldn't.
  2363. >When you emerged, you were no longer covered in the stuff, the lukewarm water washing down your face and weighing down your shirt.
  2364. >You ran your fingers through your long hair with ease—for the first time in two months.
  2365. >A few seconds later, Scootaloo resurfaced beside you and began to do the very same thing as she caught her breath.
  2366. >You saw her smile only grow as she no doubt felt just how much smoother her hair was now.
  2367. "Feels good, huh?" you say with a grin.
  2368. >Scootaloo doesn't say anything back, but she giggles and nods as she plays with her hair.
  2369. >Her hair was long, trailing down to her shoulders, but with the way she played with it, you could tell she was used to it being shorter.
  2370. >It didn't stop her from combing it with her hands and basking in its newfound smoothness.
  2371. >Suddenly, Scootaloo looked up to the sky and let out a girlish squeal.
  2372. >"Woo! I'm bathing in a river!"
  2373. >You burst into laughter at the antic.
  2374. >This kid was enjoying herself a little too much.
  2375. >And you know what? That was perfectly fine with you.
  2376. >Before long, she was swimming around with newfound vigor and splashing you with equally newfound force.
  2377. >And the chase was on once again.
  2378. >The entire time you swam after her, she was just dashing through the water with ease, twisting and turning her body at will, then diving underneath the murky layer in an effort to flank you.
  2379. >Nine out of ten times, it worked.
  2380. >It was really hard to believe that this was the same kid that, just three weeks before, was nothing but a pale, bony husk of a child that could hardly stand up straight.
  2381. >Now she was out-swimming you and hardly breaking a sweat doing it.
  2382. >"C'mon, slowpoke! I'm not even trying this time!"
  2383. >And again with the sass...!
  2384. "Oh, it's like that, huh?" you holler with a wide grin on your face.
  2385. >She stuck her tongue out at you.
  2386. >"Nyeh!"
  2387. >Oh, so it -WAS- like that!
  2388. >With all the strength your plus-sized body could muster, you dove forward, arms stretched outward and pushing through the water.
  2389.  
  2390. >To no one's surprise, you missed her, striking nothing but more water where she used to be.
  2391. >Scootaloo disappeared beneath you, and by the time you righted yourself, she was already behind you, holding her arms out triumphantly.
  2392. >You couldn't help but laugh again amid sputtering the water that had accumulated in your lungs.
  2393. >"Give up yet?" she asked with a smirk, rearing her legs up in front of her, ready to paddle away at a moment's notice.
  2394. >This kid...
  2395. >With a stick of your tongue, and with no warning whatsoever, you skimmed your hands on the surface, splashing her in the face.
  2396. >You leapt for her again.
  2397. >And yet, when the water settled, she was gone.
  2398. >Already, she was swimming away, paddling with her feet and looking back at you, her grin ever wider, her giggles ever louder.
  2399. >"Oh, come on! You can do better than that!" she teased and tittered.
  2400. >This kid is restless...!
  2401. >But you weren't one to give up so easily.
  2402. >Once again, you chased her.
  2403. >And once again, she was ready.
  2404.  
  2405. __________
  2406.  
  2407. >An hour later, exhausted and sore, you and Scootaloo were back on shore.
  2408. >You turned away again as Scootaloo put her shorts and hoodie back on, while you got back into your jeans.
  2409. >Your fingers were pruned to hell as you rubbed them together.
  2410. >It was definitely worth it to feel this clean again.
  2411. >Once she was dressed again, you turned back to Scootaloo as you started putting on your shirt, and you saw her playing with her hair again.
  2412. >It was still wet, but now also frazzled from her efforts to dry it.
  2413. >Or maybe that was just all her...?
  2414. >Scootaloo looked back to the river and beamed.
  2415. >"Man... that was so cool," she said softly as she tightened the straps on her hoodie, before turning back to you. "Can we do that again tomorrow?"
  2416. >Tomorrow...
  2417. >You'd become so accustomed to the old schedule, seeing this kid every few days.
  2418. >But now you could be seeing her every day.
  2419. >Chatting, keeping her company, keeping YOURSELF company, keeping her happy.
  2420. >You zipped up your pants and grinned.
  2421. "Yeah, sure! As long as the water doesn't get too cold, at least."
  2422. >Though, you imagine with it already being fall, that might not last too long...
  2423. >Still, it's good to take advantage of this while you've got it!
  2424. >Scootaloo's smile only grew, no doubt already excited for the chance to swim again tomorrow.

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