Birds of a Feather (Apocalypse AU)

Chapter 14 - A Day in the Life (Stella)

TW: mention of drugs, suspense, cursing

The next morning, Carly and Stella were back on their bikes, traveling down the shimmering pathway. Despite the greenery covering the hills around them, the weather was surprisingly hot without the normal clouds hovering over the skyscrapers and surrounding hills, and both Stella and Carly had wrapped their jackets around their waists. As they rode, the air cooled their faces and the dappled sunlight smiled on their hair.

Stella had spent some time in the morning making an impromptu basket out of the broken cardboard box to attach to the front of her bike. After making sure that it was secure, she carefully put her puppy in the basket, wrapping some rope around the top and sides - the equivalent of putting on a seatbelt. As she had lowered the white fluff ball into the basket, it had licked her nose, making her giggle as its tail whipped from side to side.

Carly raised an eyebrow, "So what are you going to call it? May I suggest the most regal name I can think of: cat."

Stella rolled her eyes, but suddenly clapped her hands and gasped. "DRUG DOG. DROG. ITS NAME IS DROG."

Carly clapped, "YES STELLA DROG IS DRUG DOG. DOES DROG DEAL BAGELS?"

"DROG IS DROG I DUNNO ABOUT BAGELS."

"WELL IF YOU GET A DOG THEN I GET A PET ROCK."

Carly reached down and, after a few seconds of hesitation, picked up a small gray rock. Holding it up proudly, Carly announced, "This is my pet rock. Everyone say hi to stoner."

Stella saluted solemnly and went back to fixing the basket on her bike. Carly stuffed her pet rock into her pocket as her stomach grumbled. They had found some bottled waters that were abandoned on the side of the road, but no food. Not to mention their additional passenger, they would all need something to eat, quickly. It's much harder to keep going when there's a constant pain gnawing at your stomach and sapping your concentration and strength.

Stella patted Drog and got onto her bike. She was already starting to lose focus. It was so boring. There was nothing to do besides talk to Carly and stare at things. Not that Stella didn't enjoy chatting with Carly, but she wanted to do other things. Draw, make bracelets, watch TV, or eat. Goddamn I'm hungry.

Stella and Carly had talked during the beginning of their journey about what they should do. They had both eagerly agreed that food was their top priority, and as they approached a commercial center, they were both scanning for a grocery store or warehouse in which they could find something edible. Though it wasn't big, usually there's at least one general store or grocery store that they should be able to find.

Pedalling past store windows, Stella and Carly were surprised by the number of zombies littering the streets. It didn't seem like a big town, and yet every store and corner had someone there. Stella and Carly, both worried, biked faster, looking for a store that wasn't in visual or auditory range of any zombies and had some type of food inside.

In the interest of silence, Stella pointed at a big warehouse at the end of the street. Its gray walls stretched up into the sun, casting shadows across the entire street and parking lot. Despite its monumental appearance, the building still had glowing red signs across its front and its glass doors were untouched and unbroken. Carly nodded and they both pedalled towards the doors.

Knowing that they only had so much time, they hastily got off their bikes, with Stella patting Drog quickly before they pushed open the doors and disappeared inside. The timer began.

Stella sneezed as they set off a cloud of dust. The only light emanated from the glass at the front of the store, and the back of the warehouse faded into darkness. Stella turned on a flashlight, blinking at the pillar of light that flooded the store and illuminated shelves of goods stacked up nearly to the ceiling.

They quickly moved through the rows, only stopping at the canned foods. Using their jackets as bags, they picked rows of jars and cans from the shelves. Tick, tock. Stella saw a box of canned spaghettios on the next row of shelves above her. Poking Carly, she pointed to the box hopefully. Carly sighed, and leaned down as Stella jumped onto her back. As Carly straightened, Stella reached for the cans and grabbed around 5 of them, shoving them into her jacket pockets. Tick, tock.

She jumped off as they both began to haul their jackets out of the store. Cans were surprisingly heavy... They were almost out of the store when they heard something fall behind them. Jumping, Stella's eyes were wide as she used the flashlight to scan the floor. They both felt a cold creep through their spines as a can of corn slowly rolled across the floor towards them.

Stella and Carly started frantically dragging their jackets towards the entrance. Tick, tock. If there were zombies in there with them, they needed to leave as soon as possible. It wasn't worth the danger to get close to them.

They burst out into the light, squinting as they were temporarily blinded. As Stella and Carly adjusted, they began dragging their jackets towards their bikes. The timer hit zero. Oddly enough, there weren't any zombies nearby. Still, the movement inside the warehouse was enough evidence to get the hell out of the area.

Carly grunted as she loaded her jacket onto her bike, watching as Stella did the same. Drog wagged its tail and tried to lick Stella's hands, but Stella was already getting on her bike, putting up the kickstand and looking back at Carly.

They jumped when a loud noise sounded in the warehouse, and they immediately started pedalling away as fast as they could.

They pedalled so fast - they didn't see the figure running out of the warehouse wearing a gas mask, waving their hands frantically in the air.