Vagabonds

Chapter 15

Chapter Song: Plastic Hearts by Fort Frances

ALEX'S POV

"Hey Alex, we found some scrap metals and solar panels at the pool house two streets over. We might be able to patch 'em up to the cars and do some upgrades." John tells me as they carry the equipment into the garage.

"We also got some engineering and medical books. You can add it to your collection." Zack hands me the books, not looking at me. Yeah, we're still in a rough patch.

"Thanks." I take the books and give the engineering ones to Beth and the medical ones to Matteo. "Study up and tell us when y'all are ready to teach us."

I head my way to the kitchen. "How's inventory going?" I ask Sarah while grabbing a piece of bread.

"We're honestly good for a year. But I think we should spread our stocks. Like store them separately. In case something happens, at least we've got a back up."

I nod at this. "Right. I can't believe I never thought of that. Curse my hoarder ass."

Sarah laughs. "I'll talk to Connor about where would be the best for our second HQ."

I give her a thumbs up then head upstairs.

"How are my eyes?"

"Very pretty." Lisa winks at me. I chuckle lightly. "All's good. No movement on my side. These new binocs are the bomb."

I go to Greg next. "All good here, bud?"

"Bud? I'm not ten you know?" He complains to me.

I ruffle his hair. "You are to me."

He swats my hand away and fixes his air while giving a quick glance at Lisa's direction. I smirk at this and give him a look but walk away before he says anything else.

I go back down to the dining room where Riley has papers scattered all over the table. I approach her from behind and snake my arms around her waist then kiss her cheek.

"How's my beautiful brain doing?"

She frowns. "Bad. I just can't figure out where or how this all started. I mean obviously the previous pandemic plays a factor but the vaccines were working really well for two years so why the sudden outbreak? Unless this is a whole other virus..."

I nod my head slowly. She's been working on this for days so I know how frustrated she's been feeling lately. "Maybe it's the same virus. Maybe it's a new one. Or maybe this is a whole other thing."

"Are you trying to make me feel better or worse?" She turns around in my arms and scowls at me.

I kiss her forehead. "What I'm trying to say is... I don't think we'll be able to find out until we have more information. Beth and I are working on the radio. The moment we hear something, you'll be the first to ask your questions."

Riley sighs and rests her head on my chest. "I just want to help. Everyone else has their own thing going..."

"Hey, you have your own thing too." I tell her softly. "Me. You're in charge of keeping me together. I don't know if you've noticed but I've literally just been winging it from the start. If it weren't for you I'd be pulling my hair out and panicking already."

"You would be overthinking already." She laughs softly.

"Exactly. You're the rock of this group, Riley. You keep everyone calm and collected and doing their jobs. But most importantly you always make sure that we know why we're doing all these. You're literally trying to figure out why the world ended without the internet! And not so we get some closure or whatever. But so that we know what we can do next. You make us look forward to the future. You make me look forward to the future."

We stare into each other's eyes.

"You're the rock that's keeping this boulder from hurtling down a cliff." I tell her.

She leans forward and places a soft kiss on my lips. "Thank you."

A/N: The mention of the pandemic is absolutely a coincidence. I simply did not have enough brain power to think of a more elaborate reason for a zombie apocalypse to happen. To be real though, that is how a zombie apocalypse would happen. Just hopefully not this particular pandemic.