SOULS INTERTWINED | m. fishbach

four

You felt like shit.

Warmth enveloped you entirely, soaking into your skin and clothes. The mattress beneath you was consuming you; your body sunken deep into the foam. Coming to was difficult, like your mind had been underwater for weeks and was just now coming to the surface, taking in air. Your eyelids were weighted down, protesting your efforts to open them. Briefly, you succeeded, finding a bright light greeting you, screwing your eyes shut instead.

When the stiff, heaviness of your muscles finally gave way, you peeled your eyes open and used the little energy in your body to push yourself up by the arms. When did you find an RV? Though the bed you were in was huge and comfortable, this was definitely an RV. At the end of the bed was a built-in veneer wardrobe, and a washer/dryer unit to the left with a shelf on top of it to hold one of the smallest flat screen TVs you've ever seen.

There were doors to both your left and your right, but the one to your right was thinner, and you only realized it was the one that led to the common area when you checked the door on the left, only to find a large bathroom - larger than average for an RV. Then again, not many RVs or campers carried washer/dryer units.

You were struggling to keep on your feet, and your clothes were different. They weren't caked with dirt, mud, or sweat, but clean and definitely not your own. Whoever this belonged to, you had to admit, had good style - as good of a style you can have at the end of the world. Still, the clothes were comfortable, and you were grateful to feel truly clean clothes against your skin again. Though you were grateful for the clothes, it didn't change how shaky your legs were as you propped against whatever you could grab onto just to make it to the other side of the room. Straining your ears, you could hear a hushed conversation happening on the other side of the door. Taking a deep breath, you reached for the slot in the door and pulled it aside, hoping that whoever was on the other side of the door wouldn't kill you.

When you finally pulled the door aside, the talking stopped. Just off to the right sat Seàn, who stood immediately upon seeing you. He rushed toward you, enveloping you in a warm, comforting hug. He didn't let go for a while, and neither did you, but it was okay. You still had no clue what had happened, but it must've been intense for him to act like this. When he finally did let go, he led you to the couch just past the table.

As you were sitting down, you noticed two more figures sitting at the table. Ethan and... Mark. Looking between them, you cleared your throat and tried to use your voice. "What happened?"

"We don't know," Seàn shrugged.

"You just hunched over, and you looked like you were in a hell of a lot of pain, and then you just... passed out." Ethan said.

You mulled over his words for a moment. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three days." Seàn told you. "We couldn't wake you up. Like, at all. We tried everything. Even had a nurse come in. She said you were just sleeping, so we figured we'd just wait for you to wake up."

"You guys have a nurse?"

"And solar power." Mark nodded. "We got lucky. Air conditioning, working laundry, warm-ish water. It's a lot more than most people have now."

"It's a lot more than I've had since this all started." You mentioned. "How long have you guys been here, anyway?"

"Since everything started." Mark shrugged. "We - me, Ethan, and Tyler - were camping when everything broke out. There were more than double the people here at the time, a lot of them left to go find their families. A lot of them left their stuff behind, too. After our first attack a few months in, we expanded, cut trees down, built the walls."