Dream Team Zombie Apocalypse (DTZA) (SEVERELY DISCONTINUED I'M SO SORRY)

10- Dust Disturbed

Stay safe, there's a mental breakdown described in detail. I'll mark when it starts and finishes with ***

Ainslie was awake for a long time before she opened her eyes. She hadn't slept at all during the night, and opted instead to stare blankly around the dark bedroom or out of the window to the star filled sky. Hours passed and cool sunlight streamed from the window, causing a show of dust motes to dance across the room.

She rolled slowly out of bed and onto the worn carpet. The dust motes' dancing quickened at her movement, as if scared. Opening the curtains, the sky was still cloudy and the trees surrounding the clearing were swaying in the wind.

She pushed the ajar door in front of her open slowly, definitely not thinking about how she found her Aunty Steph...'s corpse? She hesitantly ambled into the hallway, which was lit from the window in the front door. Nearing the archway into the lounge revealed Hoodie, who was sat comfortably on one of the armchairs.

His leg was bouncing as he stared blankly at a picture of the family who used to live in this house. It was hanging on the wall above the archway. Ainslie figured, from the distant look on his face, that the picture either had all of his attention or none of it.

She waved at him, grinning, and he jumped. Hoodie shook his head, and blinked his train of thoughts away. He let himself smile, if only a little.

"Your phone's charged." He gestured to it, the phone lying on the side table with Ainslie's charger running from it to a socket on the wall.

"How could it possibly help, though? I don't know how anybody could get out of this mess."

Hoodie's eyes flickered to the ground when he spoke, quietly, "I was thinking we could try to contact my friends, and if that doesn't work then maybe playing mine-" he paused for a slight second, "minesweeper could keep you sane or something."

Ainslie laughed quietly, "Minesweeper?"

Hoodie tensed.

"I think minesweeper would drive me insane quicker than anything else!" Her laughter trailed off as he adjusted himself, "Hey, are... you okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I know you weren't laughing at me, I was thinking about something else..."

She adjusted her sleeves, an awkward attempt at a smile covered her face. There was a disgusting feeling that sunk to her stomach. A horribly familiar feeling.

"Well," she started, trying to ignore how her hands shook, "We can try calling your mysterious friends." Friends that she could never fill in for, she was a stranger, after all.

Her smile grew tighter, but Hoodie wasn't looking.

"If you're sure." He didn't look up, words whispered.

"Yeah, we can charge it again afterward just in case we need it." She shifted her weight from side to side on her feet.

He reached for the phone with trepidation. Ainslie hesitantly neared, rounding Hoodie's chair to watch as the screen blinked on and a logo appeared. Hoodie leaned on his spare hand and placed the phone on the side table, not taking his eyes from the screen.

Indecision crashed through Ainslie, she wrung her hands. The girl opened her mouth to speak but the words caught in her throat. What right did she have?

Every time that logo appeared and disappeared from the screen taunted the duo, millenia passed as they stared at it.

"...They'll pick up... And if they don't they're probably just busy, or have a dead phone like you."

Hoodie's shoulders didn't loosen, and his eyes remained hopeless.

Ainslie took a silent breath and tried not to let herself think before reaching out, stopping just short of his shoulder, "Hoodie," He met her eyes and she kept up a determined front, "They're fine."