by Maya Riley
I lifted the top shirt up and looked at it. A teal, V-neck t-shirt that looked like it hugged. It was so plain and simple, yet perfect. After checking the size, I draped it across one of my shoulders while I dug into the jean shorts and pulled out a pair in my size. I added them on top of the t-shirt and opened the next box. This one had capri pants, and I picked out a couple for me and a couple in Maura’s size.
Moving on to the next box, I opened it to find various tops and light fabric jackets. I grabbed some black tanks and a couple jackets, then opened a few more boxes until I could pick out a few pairs of underwear and a couple sports bras, plus one lacy pair of each. I shoved them into the pockets of the hoodie and walked over to join Mateo.
It looked like the guys had picked out some clothing too. “Are all these boxes filled with clothes, or did this place believe in food and weapons?” Mateo asked, before moving farther down the hallway and slicing open another box. He paused for a moment, before reaching in and grabbing a few knives that were still in their plastic packages. “Now this is a little more useful. We’ll take the lot.”
He tossed a few over to me, and then began ripping open each one of the packages, shoving the new knives into every pocket space he could find. When he ran out of space, he shoved some into Lincoln’s pockets, then moved the box to the middle of the walkway. “We’ll take that with us and have the others load up too.”
“Why don’t we go tell them to come down and help us go through these boxes?” I suggested, curious as to why we were doing all the work and making them wait on us.
“Because,” Mateo replied, “we need a lookout. Always be on guard. Thinking you’re safe just because you don’t see an immediate threat is one of the most dangerous mistakes you can make.”
“Okay, we need a lookout. Got it,” I grumbled, as I turned back to the boxes in front of me.
We continued opening boxes, tossing aside the ones that were of no use to us, and rummaging through some that were. We picked out new backpacks, which I placed my new clothing in, and moved over to where Mateo was rummaging through multiple boxes filled with canned goods, crackers, and more. I shoved cracker boxes, peanut butter, beef jerky, and a couple cans into my pack until it was full, and then slung it onto my back. I picked up a smaller bag that hung over the shoulder and across my body, and began filling that with first aid supplies.
It could’ve been a good idea to head back to the cabin we were in before, but we’d become lost and turned around. Rather than stumble across a vast area without food or water for however long it would take to find the shelter again, we’d take our chances with the unknown and start over. I must admit, we weren’t doing too badly, especially after stumbling onto this hidden area full of supplies. This was probably the luckiest we would get.
“Jackpot.”
I turned around to Mateo, who was lifting up bottles of water. He tossed one to me and I grabbed it out of the air, took the cap off, and chugged the whole thing in one go. I didn’t necessarily mean to, and it wasn’t the best way to rehydrate, but I’d been so parched that I could barely help myself. “Let’s get all these waters back to the others.”
“There’s a lot. Too many for the six of us to carry,” Lincoln noted, as we both moved to the bottled water. He was right, there were so many packages of bottled water it would be impossible to carry all of it, no matter how many packs we had.
I ran back to the box of backpacks and felt around until I could grab a few more. “Here, let’s fill these up. They’ll weigh us down when we head out, but they’ll deplete as we use them up. Better to be over prepared than under.”
Jonah
The darkness below remained unchanging, no matter how long I kept staring at it. There was no movement that I could see, and sitting up here, waiting, wouldn’t help anything. There must be something else I could do.
I looked around for Maura and waved for her attention. You and I walk around the store? I signed. Maybe we could find some missed supplies that could be of use to us.
She nodded and stood up. I glanced at Adam, but he shook his head, wanting to stay and wait, so I got up and followed Maura out the door and back into the main store.
It was nearly impossible to avoid the mess the floor had been turned into. Our shoes left marks in the grime, mixing in with all the other dirty footprints.
Maura tugged on the side of my shirt, and I followed her gaze. There was a bag sitting on the floor all by itself. Either someone else was here, or it’d been accidentally left behind.
We walked over, bent down, and looked inside. There were several food items that were far too valuable to have been carelessly left behind. I looked up and noticed Maura’s face light up when she saw the little tin of coffee. Our girl, or Lighthouse, as I called her, loved coffee and would be overjoyed, even if it was the powdered, instant stuff. This would be the perfect thing to lift her spirits after the hell she recently went through.
The expression on Maura’s face instantly turned from glowing to fear and I spun around.
Blyss
When we got back up the ladder, with the more useful boxes left right next to the bottom rung, no one was anywhere to be seen, not even Puppy. An uneasy feeling hung in the air—something wasn’t right.
I heaved myself up the last step and onto the floor, rolling out of the way so the other two could get up. A sinking feeling of dread took place in my stomach, something definitely wasn’t right. I took off the packs, wanting to be able to move as quickly as needed, and brandished a knife in each hand. I had no idea what we were about to face, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be good.
Mateo was by my side in seconds with a knife in each of his hands as well. His voice was gruff, also sensing something was off here. “Something’s not right. Where are the others?”
A moment later, Lincoln was on his other side with a knife in only one hand. I guess when you could throw fireballs, a free hand was your best defense.
All was quiet as we listened for any hint as to what might be going on. Slowly, I began to move toward the door we’d originally come in from and back out into the hallway. We moved in a line, slowly and quietly down the hallway, peering into each room on the way as we headed back out into the main store.
The sound of metal hitting the floor and muffled shouts reached us from the direction of the main store area and I broke into a run. My footsteps pounded the tiled floor, echoing down the empty halls.
I reached the end of the hall in moments and burst through the double doors. My entrance must have interrupted whatever had just been going on.
Five heads and five pairs of eyes turned my direction. The only one who didn’t budge was Puppy, who stood between my people, and two unknown individuals. A guy and a girl, who looked to be quite human and alive, were braced in a fighting stance.
Had they already been fighting? Did I interrupt a battle already in progress?
I looked the new people up and down. The girl had short brown hair and was about a foot shorter than me. Where her face was set in a practiced stern expression, her eyes held a hint of worry each time they flicked over to Puppy. I could easily take her if needed, no problem. The guy too. He was of average build, but even his slight body movements were somewhat sluggish. They weren’t scavers, only regular survivors, and my immediate panic lessened with the realization, but I wasn’t going to let my guard down.
The low rumbling that reverberated from Puppy was the only sound that filled the space. They looked at me, and I looked back at them. Maura was trying to hide behind Jonah, her hands fisted into the back of his shirt in a death grip. Once she clung on that tight, there was no hope in getting her to let go before she felt safe enough to.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Mateo demanded, as he burst through the doors and stepped up beside me.
“You know these people?” the unknown girl countered with a stern look, as she tilted her head back in our direction. Her light brown hair framed her face, which would look lovely on her if
the lines in her expression weren’t creasing in such hostility. It was the kind that was forced into place in order to seem more tough than you really were. These two were obviously outnumbered and had no chance at getting away with whatever trouble they were causing.
“What do you want?” I shot the question at her, annoyed that she ignored Mateo’s question and asked her own instead.
Her eyebrows creased even more as her eyes shot daggers in my direction, surprising me with the look of increasing aggression. For a moment, I wasn’t sure how feigned the emotion was. How anyone could show that much dislike for someone they didn’t know, even during a rotter-pocalypse, was beyond me.
“I said, what the fuck is going on here?” Mateo repeated, his anger drifting to the surface as his patience thinned. Seeing his friends in danger was one thing that set him off, and this wasn’t looking too great. Especially since both the newcomers had large knives in their hands, raising the threat level.
“Your bitch was stealing from us,” the unknown man answered. I quirked a brow at his roughness. While they may not be scavers, they were apparently not ones to turn your back on.
“I-I didn’t know,” Maura began. “It was just lying there, I thought it’d been left behind.”
I walked closer, putting my knives in my pockets, and lifted my hands in a sign of peace. I wasn’t worried about them injuring me, they were heavily outnumbered and any one of my guys could easily disable them before they’d get very far, then I could self-heal whatever wound they managed to cause if they got through them.
I walked up to Maura and tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “What happened?”
Her eyes went wide, terror still coursing through her.
“It’s okay, you can tell me,” I cooed, as I lowered my voice.
She quickly glanced at the other two, and the girl’s upper lip lifted in a sneer. The guy placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Stacy,” easing her some.
“Don’t look at them, M. Look at me.”
She turned back to face me.
“What happened?” I asked again.
Her face scrunched up slightly, as though she didn’t want to actually tell me. I hated that she was put in this position. Back when we were at Mama G’s, poor Maura was always getting yelled at for something. This situation would, of course, bring up all sorts of memories.
“I saw a bag on the floor, all by itself, so I opened it up. Inside was some food, plus powdered coffee. I was mostly focused on the powdered coffee.” Her eyes lowered. “I know how much you always loved your coffee. I thought I lucked out and could bring it to you.”
Her eyes found the floor and I looked to the two newcomers, who only nodded at her story. “Are you kidding me?” My voice started low, but slowly began to rise. “All of this is because you left your bag of food unattended? What the hell? What else do you think someone would do in this situation? Do you really expect people to ignore food when they find it?” I moved through Adam and Jonah, coming to a stop next to Puppy, who was practically vibrating with her growl, ready for the slightest hint of action. “That was the whole story, wasn’t it?” I stated through my clenched teeth. “You were an idiot to leave your food out in the open. You never know who you’ll have to fight to get it back.” My fists tightened around the blades at my side.
The girl chimed in, “She was stealing—”
“Yeah, food that you left on the ground out in the open,” I interrupted her. “That’s not called stealing. It’s called survival. If it was abandoned with no known owners around, that’s not stealing.”
The girl stepped forward slightly, and the growls coming from Puppy grew louder. If this girl was brave enough to test the limits of Puppy’s growl, then it’d be her own throat on the line.
“She was taking what didn’t belong to her,” she spat out in a nasally tone.
“So tell me, what did you do when you found this out? Did you see her and say something nicely, did she give it back?” I questioned, getting bored with this argument.
“She dropped it and ran,” she answered.
I raised an eyebrow. “She ran?” I confirmed, and the girl nodded. “And you what… chased her?” The skin on the back of my neck began to heat up as this conversation went on.
“She ran for her friend and yelled, then these two,” she waved a hand at Puppy and Adam, “came running. And now we’re here.”
“So let me get this straight. You left your food out in the middle of a fucking grocery store, then chased a girl who had tried to take it, but then gave it back once she realized it had already been claimed by someone, and now you’re waving knives around?”
The girl shrugged, clearly not caring about the situation.
My head fell back as I let out a laugh, then I stood up straight and turned around. Giving your back to an unknown person was probably the most dangerous thing you could do, but I didn’t do it for long. Not wanting to waste another moment and craving to get some anger out, I cocked an arm, spun around, and swung.
A crack echoed off the walls and blood began to trickle down her mouth.
“You bitch!” she gurgled, as she held on to her nose with both hands. “You broke my nose!”
“Stacey!” the guy called out, as he turned his full focus to her.
“Get them!” she shouted, and the guy turned toward me and lifted his hand. Before he could make another move, Puppy’s jaw latched around his arm, and she dragged him down to the ground. He raised a fist and I panicked. I began to lunge at him myself, but the world around me moved faster.
Adam moved past me so fast, I barely felt the air stir as he went by. He had the guy in a headlock in no time, subduing him before he could do any harm. He cooed at Puppy, urging her to let go and letting her know he had it under control. It took a minute, but Puppy finally unhooked her teeth and backed away with her nose bunched up in a snarl.
“If I were you, I’d be very careful with your next move,” Lincoln warned. I hadn’t even realized he and Mateo had moved so close.
“You all are monsters,” she sputtered through her hands, which were still cupping her nose. Her voice was muffled and difficult to make out. She kicked a bag toward me and backed away. “This shit isn’t worth it. Come on, Ben.”
Adam let go of the guy, and we watched as the two of them scurried away toward the front of the store, and hopefully away for good.
I turned around and Maura stepped out from behind Jonah. “I’m so sorry,” she said in a rush.
“Why are you apologizing?” I asked.
“Because I caused all this.” Her face dropped, weighed down with the guilt she didn’t need to carry.
“You didn’t cause this. It was those two idiots who share a single brain cell, and that brain cell does not include people skills.”
She smiled at that. “Well, at least one thing came out of this.”
“What?”
She walked over, reached inside the bag, and produced a tin. The label on the front showed that it was indeed powdered coffee. She handed it to me. “You get some coffee again.”
I laughed and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. “Oh, Maura. Promise me one thing though.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t ever purposely put yourself in danger just for coffee.”
She pulled back and looked up at me. “But before the Void Virus got out, you used to say that coffee was worth everything.”
“I joked, that was all, but nowadays, it’s really not worth it. You are though.”
“Why do you have to make things awkward. Can we just say ‘yay coffee’ and that’s that? Can we go somewhere else now?” she mumbled.
“Actually, we’re not going anywhere for a little bit,” Mateo replied.
Why? What’d you find? Jonah signed.
“Follow me. We have something to show you guys.”
Blyss
“This could make all the difference,” Adam declared as he played with the dials. The l
ooks of awe on their faces when we showed them the radio was pretty huge. I hadn’t seen a working radio since I left the diner a few months after the outbreak, when all electricity went out and TV’s no longer had use, and apparently, none of them had seen one for about as long. I never even thought of looking for a radio when I would go out scavenging, it simply never occurred to me.
Various static noises were the only sounds that came through the speakers, but he wasn’t ready to give up. Despite how impatient I was feeling, I had to admire his perseverance. He refused to give up on something that could potentially help us all.
“We could just take it with us and try it again later. Doesn’t seem like anything is going to happen with it,” I suggested, ready to get out of this place and find a better shelter to stay in. I didn’t feel very comfortable here and wanted to get out as soon as possible.
I paced back and forth across the room, the little bubble of impatience growing to a solid ball inside me. I’d be surprised if I didn’t wear tracks in the floor.
I didn’t care what anyone said, pacing was productive.
As I reached them again after another lap of pacing, I opened my mouth to complain once more, but was interrupted by a break in the static. Every bit of attention in that room was now on the radio, except for Jonah who was looking around at our expressions to tell him what was going on.
“Did you hear that?” Adam asked, and I could practically feel the waves of excitement flowing out of him.
“Yeah,” I replied. “What was that?”
“It had to have been something. Something... I’ll try and find it again.” He continued to play with the knobs again, but even more carefully than before. Finally, after a few seconds of holding our breaths, we heard it.
We… survivors of the… salvaged… south… safe haven…
“A safe haven?” Adam echoed, once the transmission was lost.
“Is that even possible?” Lincoln inquired.
