APOCALYPSE

Chapter Three

We walked in the woods for quite some time before making it to a small city filled with broken buildings and glass shattered everywhere that I tried my best to avoid. "Where is your place exactly?" I questioned, I was unsure whether these were real people or aliens in disguise. "it should be this way" Cleo replied, gesturing to a small building with a tiled sign that said 'Arcade' in large, bold words. Great, they lived in an arcade.  

"You live inside an arcade? Do you guys play video games in there? Pretending aliens aren't taking over the world?" I questioned. I couldn't imagine my hideout being an arcade; it would be too chaotic with the loud blaring video game music. My type of hideout would be a quiet yet clean place where you could focus on keeping yourself safe. "why are you such a bitch?" Leo walked beside me, on my right side. "Am I the only one whose life has been turned upside down by these green creatures?" I countered loudly  as we were close to the arcade "We all have our lives taken away from us, Ella." Shawn chimed in, his clear glasses in his hand as he cleaned them with his flannel shirt. 

"Say hi to The Danger Zone!" Cleo turned around with her hands spread out, as if she was presenting the most impressive thing. Instead, the arcade appeared dirty from the outside, with the light from the sign on the building tilting with blue and red wires poking out. On the brick walls were graffiti with drawings of swear words and various random things.  "looks like shit" I commented with my arms across my chest, unimpressed with the place.

"Wait till you go inside" Cleo said, pulling out the keys from her pockets, she unlocked the door with a soft click. As we entered, darkness was the only thing you could see. Santiago walked to the light switch and flipped it upwards, the light lit up with dazzling LED lights that flashed rainbow colors, I closed my eyes shut from the bright lights as they stung my eyes. Once I opened my eyes, I analyzed the arcade. On the left side of the room there were a row of at least 10 old vintage arcade games plugged in, you could see the pixel characters dancing in the glass screen. "see those awesome games over there? Keep your hands off of them." Leo nudged my shoulder harshly "Good, I don't need any distractions getting in my way" I glared at Leo as he walked away.

"Over here is where we keep the cooler," Shawn pointed to a brown door "cool" I replied, I started to wander around the arcade once more. The dark carpet had bright designs of neon triangles and circles that got your attention. "Are you hungry" Cleo inquired "I'm good" I replied to her before I walked away to a desk on the right that had a collection of books "Those are for me.... Unless you're a nerd, feel free to read them" Shawn said from behind, I nod in response. 

The arcade had a lot of space that if you wanted to, you could fit 10 cars inside. "Jealous Ella?" Leo taunted while he and Santiago were focused on their game "yeah totally" A sigh came out from my throat while I looked around the arcade, it was bright and loud, I prefer to live in the old cabin. "The bathrooms are over there, if you need anything let me know" Cleo pointed to the direction where the bathroom doors were located "Shawn will make the food" Cleo said before she headed back to the door where the food was stored. 

"Ugh this game is so stupid!" Leo yelled in frustration, causing him to bang, shake and kick the arcade game hard. "What's wrong?" I asked Santiago when he walked away from Leo "The game won't start. It's broken or something" Santiago calmly said, he went to the orange bean bag and sat on it.  I sigh as I approached the angered teen "I told you, you are forbidden here" He declared with his arms crossed and his teeth biting his lips. I ignored him a knelt down to see what had happened, my eyes brightened when it appeared to have a loose screw, "Do you have any screwdrivers around?" I asked Santiago when I got up from the carpet. Santiago gestured his hand to a cardboard box that had 'tools' written on with a black sharpie.