They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 8

When Cassie awoke, Jason was gone. She felt around blindly to begin with in the space he'd been then lifted her head to look round the room. Tate was still asleep as she swung her legs off the side and went over to the bathroom door, she knocked gently as it was closed and waited for a response, there was no reply and after a second knock she opened the door to reveal that it was empty. Her eyes searched the room frantically, Jason's shoes were gone and his bag had disappeared from the arm chair. Fear started to rise inside of her as she contemplated what to do.

Meanwhile, Jason found himself wandering further into town, he clutched the straps of his bag with his hands, giving himself more support and scanned the names of the shops that he saw. Most towns were like this now, a row of abandoned businesses on the main street with the houses further back. He picked one he thought would be useful, trampling over a patch of dead grass to get to it, then went inside. Just like the motel a bell went off but nothing stirred and Jason set off to find what he wanted. He dug around on the shelves first, collecting a mix of gauze, surgical tape and any sort of ointment he could find then pushed further back and found an assortment of other things: a compass, a guidebook to the area and a packet of sanitary napkins. He took the first and last item, squirrelling them away into his bag then stepped over the weeds growing up from between the floor tiles and exited the store. The next shop he tried had a big sign of a comical fish on the front and the name was written in a language he didn't understand, he went inside, this time no bell rung and silently made his way through the isles. He came to a stop by the tinned food, evaluating them purely by the pictures on the label and taking the ones he thought looked ok then as he got further back he found a packet of noodles, each individually packaged in a styrofoam cup. The instructions weren't in English but from the photos he could decipher that they needed to add hot water and it would make a meal, he flipped it, staring at the expiration date and discovered that they were only a few weeks out of date. Intrigued by the idea of a full meal in a cup he tucked them under his arm and moved on. Not once in the whole time he was in town did he encounter a joyous or any other creature for a matter of fact. He wandered slowly back down the main road when he had collected what he needed then sauntered into the drive of the motel.

By this point Cassie had frantically woken up Tate, insisting that Jason had been taken. They had put their shoes on, grabbed their things and were walking out to the car when he appeared at the entrance to the parking lot. "Taken?" Tate muttered, "My ass." Cassie ran over to meet him, dropping her satchel bag and slamming into him. The force knocked him off balance and he stumbled backwards as she clung to his waist, relief flooding her senses. "Where did you go? I thought." She looked up at him while Tate watched from the side of the car.
"I went to get supplies, like food and things." He looked between the two of them, "but I'm telling you, there's something wrong here."

They decided to go back inside the motel room after the panic so that they could reorganise their things and collect themselves, ready to travel on. "Oh, the water's good by the way." Jason chimed as he unpacked his bag onto the bed, "it's not warm but it's clear." Cassie nodded whilst Tate sat on the edge of his bed, "I think I'm gonna go in the shower then." Cassie mumbled, placing her bag on the bed then heading down to the bathroom, "Can you watch my bag for me?" She asked, peeking her head back round the door and Jason nodded as he counted how many tins of food he had now.

Cassie stood in front of the mirror, holding the edge of the sink with one hand and peeling the gauze from her shoulder with the other, it pulled at the wound as it peeled back and Cassie gritted her teeth, trembling as she freed herself from it. She threw the bloody gauze into the sink, closing her eyes and breathing through the pain then climbed into the shower and turned on the water. She cried out as it stung and the water flowed a bloody pink colour into the drain, luckily the boys didn't hear her because of the water pressure but she drew a hand to her mouth to try and silence herself anyway. She couldn't face them asking any questions, not when it looked worse each time she unwrapped it. Eventually, the stinging faded to an ache and she had the chance to wash herself down, slicking her hair back and massaging her scalp. She let the water run down her face and over her body, taking in every second of this luxury.

"Have you noticed there's no joyous?" Jason asked as he scribbled down the new medical supplies in his notebook. He looked up at Tate, who frowned then flopped backwards onto the bed. "No dude, I just thought they were in hiding." He smirked over at Jason. Shaking his head and replying while packing the medical things into his bag he replied, "Seriously though, don't you think that's a little weird?" Tate adjusted his arms, spreading them out as far as he could reach. "How would I know." Jason marked down the map and folded it softly, placing it into his bag in a place where it could be easily reached, "I don't know what's going on with this town but whatever it is can't be good."

Cassie turned off the water stream and reached for a towel, wrapping it around her body then dabbing tenderly at her shoulder, she swallowed hard at the scratches of pain then pulled the towel away to see it covered in blood. She fished the old piece of gauze from the sink then bit her lip nervously, it was soaked in blood and dirt, placing it back on her wound was more likely to give her tetanus than anything else. Swiping her clothes off the floor and out of the way she unlocked the door and pulled it open a little. "Hey Jason?" She called and his attention switched from the inventory to Cassie's voice, his head looking round at the bathroom door. "Yes?" He asked, wondering why she wasn't just coming out of the bathroom. "Do you have any gauze left?" She called, hitching her towel up higher and over her shoulders, it was big enough to hang down like a dress and stopped just above her knees. "Uhh, sure, I'll bring you some." He dug through his bag until he found the familiar packet and the roll of surgical tape then crossed the room, handing it to her backwards through the gap in the door. He tried not to look, averting his eyes but he caught a glimpse of her long wet hair trailing down her throat and his breath caught in his own throat. "Thanks." She muttered, slamming the door shut and Jason stood outside for a moment, trying to get that image out of his head.
"See something you like?" Tate teased and Jason stormed back over to his bag, glaring at Tate defensively.
"Ha ha shut up." He grumbled, kneeling back on the floor and finishing up his inventory.

Cassie trembled as she placed the fresh gauze over her wound and secured the tape around it, she wasn't particularly cold but the shock of how much pain her wound was causing her made her shake. Once the tape was in place and stuck down, she set to work getting dressed again into the clothes she'd been wearing before, then wrapped her hair up in the towel. She emerged from the bathroom, feeling fresher than before and hooked her bag up from the bed. She stood by the door as Jason and Tate watched her expectantly. "Come on, let's go." She chimed and Jason got to his feet, zipped his bag up and slung it over his shoulder, pocketing the notebook and pen as he did. Tate begrudgingly got to his feet then followed them out onto the landing.

They took the steps rapidly with Tate falling behind then reached the car, it was already unlocked when Cassie pulled the door handle and climbed in. Jason rounded the car and got into the passenger seat with no arguments and Tate slightly dazed by the sunlight slid into the drivers seat. He pushed the keys into the ignition and turned them, nothing happened. He tried again and the engine didn't so much as sputter. His eyes glided down the dashboard to the fuel gage and he sighed. "What's the matter Tate?" Jason asked, almost smugly.
"We're out of gas." He replied flatly.
"What a surprise." Jason laughed, opening his door and climbing out, "Well, looks like we'll be walking from now on because this dingus forgot to refuel." Cassie climbed out the opposite side to where she'd gotten in and stood beside Jason waiting for Tate to get out. "I'd like to see you find a gas station in the middle of the apocalypse..." he muttered to himself then used the door handle to pull himself to his feet. He crossed round to the back of the car and undid the boot, gesturing to the mass of guns then smiling sarcastically back at Jason. "And what do you expect me to do with all of these? Carry them?" Tate sneered, glaring at him.
"No, I expect you to leave them behind. You can't carry those." Tate shook his head, plucking a shot gun from the top of the pile and stuffing his pockets with bullets from the boxes of rounds he also kept in there. "Fine, but if we die because I don't have enough shotgun specific bullets, don't blame me." He grumbled then stomped ahead, pushing past Cassie and heading for the exit of the parking lot. Cassie looked at Jason then limped after Tate. Jason sighed and marched after the others, "You're gonna hurt your feet if you walk like that." He called after Tate, who stomped louder in response.