Zuflucht

21

Curt's POV

I almost found myself falling asleep before I heard one of the doors to the backrooms open up. Out came Richard with something large in his hands; carrying it for all eyes to see although he and I were the only ones awake at this point.

"Hey, look wha-"

"Shh!" I intervened, so he wouldn't wake Fiona and her daughter up. Ashanti only slightly sturred in her sleep before she stopped moving again.

"Ohhh..." His eyes flicked over to the pair, and he suddenly knew why I had my intentions.
With a quick eye roll, he lifted up the silver item and motioned for me to follow him.

I looked over at Fiona's sleeping form and debated on if I should follow him. After all, I don't really know him and I'm supposed to keep watch until she wakes up. Obviously I'm gonna keep watching and not wake her up if she oversleeps, but I don't wanna walk away and have them be vulnerable.

"C'mon, it'll be quick." He whisper-yelled. With a quick sigh, I got up and went to walk away before I noticed Milly's form trying to follow me.

"Keep watch girl." I demanded and she quickly sat down and stayed in her spot. I will say, she's one hell of a dog and I would probably trust her more than another human.
Once I knew she wasn't moving, I followed the impatiently growing Richard and made my way into the small cluttered office room. As soon as I walked in I noticed the extra thick humidity and found it hard to breath compared to the main room. A rotting stench filled the air from the infected corpse Richard had to drag out previously.

"How have you been in here?" My stomach recoiled at the never ending stench and I found it hard to concentrate on what he was holding.

"Hold your horses now. This is coming from someone that smells like coyote piss all the time."

Touche.

He began setting the item down and I finally got a view of an older model looking radio.

"Don't you need power for that?"

"Nope. Solar powered." He focused on finding the antenna before he stretched it out to it's full length.

"Maybe we'll catch a signal with this bad boy." He felt around until he found the power button and switched it on; squinting his eyes to see the small dial and numbers.

"Think anyone's broadcasting anything?" I couldn't help but ask

"Who knows at this point. I mean, someone's gotta be alive right?" A static noise started illuminating the room from the speaker and I couldn't help but prefer that over the constant silence.

"Let's see what's goin' on." He quietly said as he began moving the knob to the dial. As he turned to different stations, only more static could be heard which only seemed more disappointing.

"C'mon damnit." Richard muttered as he went through all the stations one more time except with the antenna pointing a different direction.

"Wait." His eyes widened as he focused on a specific part and I strained my ears to try and hear what he was hearing. For a split second, the sound of a deep voice could be heard underneath the static noise before being muffled and washed back down.

Could it be military officials?

Are they taking in survivors?

So many thoughts were flying through my head as Richard kept moving the antenna into multiple places; desperate to try and listen to what the broadcast was saying.

"Here, let me try." I pushed Richard out of the way before trying myself, slowly moving the antenna into different directions. Once again that slight voice was heard, and althought it was noticeable it was still inaudible. I didn't dare move the antenna anymore in fear that everything would be lost.

"Why don't we try and take it somewhere with better signal." I spoke quietly. Richard flicked his eyes over at me from the radio before nodding his head.

"Might as we try it." He agreed.

As soon as I placed my hands under it to lift it, all noise immediately stopped. I placed it back down while trying to turn the volume button up, but to no avail. The constant silence we're limited to was one again forced onto us.

"The hell?"

"Must've died. It's probably been in that box for who knows how long." I could help but glace around the cluttered and messy room as Richard spoke.

"Looks like someone was fixing to leave in a hurry." I motioned towards the multiple boxes filled and stacked in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, that appears so. Tomorrow I'll make sure this radio gets some sun. You should get some sleep."

"I'm fine. Besides, I'm keeping watch while Fiona is sleeping."

"You're a lucky man. Not very many families are still together like yours." I felt my face heat up in embarrassment as soon as those words left his chapped lips.

"Sh-she isn't m-my, uh-" I couldn't help but stutter for some reason as I was quickly caught off guard.
Richard looked at me with his eyebrow furrowed in confusion at my current state before I shut my eyes and breathed in deeply.

"She's not my wife or anything; we're not together."

"Well hell could've fooled me." Richard replied as he instead picked up the radio.

"Excuse me?" I questioned.

"No offense, but there's quite a bit of chemistry between you two."

"C-chemistry? We hardly know each other."

"Look at the world dude. No one even really knows themselves anymore." I couldn't help the embarrassment that I still felt in the back of my mind. Although he was right, I couldn't even imagine dating or starting a relationship in a world like this. I have too much on my plate to even think about dating and it seems selfish to get close to someone when you're constantly looking death in the eye.

"There's too much going on in my life to even think about that stuff. I think I'll pass." I brushed it off and began making my way out of the stench filled room.

"Alright, suit yourself. I'm gonna get some shut eye. It'd be best if you did the same." I chose not to respond as he walked over to a different part of the music store, leaving me standing in the middle of it. I sat back down in my spot and petted the anxious Milly who did what I said and stayed in her spot.
I won't lie and say I wasn't tired because in reality I was. Tired of fighting to survive, creating different scenarios in my head, and tired of living. It seemed being an infected or dead was being let off easy compared to the horrors that I had seen.

As time passed I found myself fighting to stay awake again. I was more tired than I thought and the urge to fight it was beginning to feel more and more distant. Soon, I no longer had the strength to deny it, and instead welcomed it for a short amount of sanctuary...