Meridian | The Second Life III [COMPLETED]

14 - Calm

- E A G L E -

"It's... really good to see you, Peake," Catey states calmly as I sit beside her. It catches me off guard for a moment; I seldom hear my actual name, Chesapeake Summers. Four people, now just three, know it.

"Same here," I smile, leaning against the wall. I shoot a quick glance at her, meeting eye contact before I look away. I catch her smile from the corner of my sight before she looks out the window as well. "This has been home base, huh? Looks cozy."

"That's right," she mutters, looking around the room as I follow suit. I'm sure this place was once a lovely apartment before all hell broke loose. It's obvious why she chose this place: observing the horde is a cakewalk from this room. The glass wall separates a balcony from the bedroom, which acts as a great shield from any unwanted spectators outside. "My little home away from home."

"I'm glad it does the job," I smile, sitting in a chair. "Dude, it's so nice to know you're alright."

"So you doubted me," she smirks, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh-no," I stammer, laughing a bit. "You're a total badass. I don't think a single person thought you had actually died."

"Oh, thanks!" Catey stutters, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I appreciate it, but you're the badass. I'm just good with a bow."

"If only you were humble," I tease. She and I both laugh at that, glancing at each other. "Hear me out... we could both be badasses?"

"Hey, I'll take that offer," she accepts, nodding slightly. I lose my train of thought as I realize I'm blushing-

"You okay?" She asks, derailing my overthinking momentarily. She doesn't look concerned at all; in fact, her eyes are locked on my face.

"Yeah!" I respond peppily, breaking eye contact. "I'm, uh- I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."

"What's on your mind?"

Come on, dude, say it. "The... horde," I stutter. No, why? Why did I say that?

"Oh, the horde," Catey repeats quietly, standing up to look out the window. Damn. "Weird, right?"

"Yeah," I support, standing up and looking out with her. It's okay.

"It's unnerving," Catey tells me, getting a bit more serious in her tone. "They've been like this since I got here. Right next to where I see those guys go into the Apollo."

"Maybe they know something about it," I suggest, shrugging my shoulders.

"I've wanted to get answers for some time now," she agrees, nodding. "It was just one of me, though. I've only seen one guy, but there could always be more. You guys are here now, though."

"We'll have a chat with them, huh?" I follow with a smile.

"Sounds like a swell idea," she agrees, walking towards the door. I follow her out into the living room. Evan and Zach are eating granola bars while Rivian wipes down his machete. "Guys, let's make a plan."

"For what?" Zach questions, balling up the wrapper.

"We're going to investigate the horde," Catey responds, catching Evan's attention. "I've seen a guy that's frequenting the Apollo Theater right next to the horde. If we can get him to talk, we could figure out what's really happening."

"How long did you say that horde has been stationary, again?" Rivian asks, glancing out at the snowfall outside. We had got out gloves and coats, ready for winter weather.

"The whole time I've been here," Catey answers. "So, a week or so."

"Let's do it," Evan agrees. I walk around, handing everyone one of my alarm clock traps. I couldn't have enough of these. "That'll help us protect everyone better."

"We'll need to be careful," I add, looking at the snow as well. "There could always be more people in the Apollo. Let's play it safe; get in, get info, and get out."

"We'll leave when the snow lets up," Catey says. "Be ready."

- N I C K -

"This is a welcome change," I laugh, walking around with Caden as the scavenging teams trade goods.

"Wait, what?" He asks, looking at me like I'm crazy. "Walking around the Sanctuary?"

"No!" I exclaim, surprised. I guess it could've been interpreted that way. "No. Having a bunch of stuff to trade."

"Oh," Caden laughs, breathing a sigh of relief. "Yeah, that makes more sense."

The Sanctuary still elicits bad memories for me. I watched a longtime friend get brainwashed here for three entire months, and I didn't do enough to stop it. I'm glad he's okay now, but... maybe if things had gone differently, JP would be here too. It's not Evan's fault, though.

"I'm glad the scavenging runs are more productive, yeah," Caden comments, leaning against a light pole. "Keeps people fed. It also lessens the risk. Riko and I found a jackpot recently; it was beautiful."

"Good stuff," I state, stretching my arms. I'm pretty tired right now; I woke up early today to get a solid morning run. Now, it's late evening, and a light snowfall rests over the city. I think it's about twenty-five degrees or so, though the snow won't last long. I can already see the edge of the clouds, with the eventual sunset right behind.

"That's gonna look really cool," Caden claims, looking out towards the west like me.

"The sunset?" I ask, popping my knuckles.

"Yeah," he replies, his eyes latching onto something behind me. Turning around, I see what he's looking at; there's a guard standing on top of the gate, and he looks terrified. He's pointing out something while looking at us. He's not saying anything, though. "What's going on?"

The guard gulps before looking at us. "There's a horde coming."

"Horde!" I yell, getting the scavenging team's attention. Caden rushes to ring the bell in the center of the Sanctuary as I climb the stairs to the top of the wall. I look out past the snowfall and...

Oh fuck.