epidemic ➳ payne / apocalypse a.u

two

Harry and I returned somewhere around three hours later. I'd been right, and we'd found a back room filled with food and supplies. We'd also found a journal, and the latest entry was dated a month ago mentioning that they'd return in three days for their supplies. Which made Harry and I feel a little less guilty about taking whoever's supplies it was, considering they most likely wouldn't be returning. It was just the way the world worked now. The likelihood of dying outside the zone was at the height now where people just kind of accepted it unless it was someone close to you. My knuckles struck the back of the bookcase which covered our secret tunnel to the outside of the zone three times slowly then twice quick. Rustling could be heard before the bookcase was dragged to the side to reveal Kyle, a seventeen year old whose job it was to sit in that room all day and open and close this bookcase. It seemed so boring to me, but he claimed to enjoy not doing any of the 'hard work'.

"Hey Harry, Tay. Did you find much?" He greeted cheerily as we ducked into the room. Once we were both inside he pushed the bookcase back along to where it was previously covering the entrance.

"You know that mall we found? Got into the drugstore." I confirmed, and collapsed onto one of the old, tattered sofas. The room was practically bare. Two sofas, a coffee table filled with poker chips and cards and random bottles, papers and books discarded around the room. The windows were permanently misty from the years of abandonment, and there was a constant smell of rotten wood which you got used to after a while.

Kyle's eyebrow's shot up in surprise. "No kidding."

Harry and I both threw our backpacks on the table and started to empty out the contents. Kyle's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull as he kneeled in front of the table to rummage through the supplies. He randomly picked up boxes of painkillers, energy bars, bottled water, Band-Aids, just anything we'd found. This was definitely the most we'd picked up in a long time. Chuckling at Kyle, Harry took a seat next to me on the sofa and slung his arm behind me.

"I'll take this to the store if you want. You guys got it all, and you look exhausted." Kyle suggested, starting to put everything back into the backpacks.

"Do you mind?" I questioned with a sheepish smile. Kyle shook his head and smiled softly, before zipping up both the bags and slinging them over his shoulders. He instructed us to mind the tunnel while he was gone and I thanked him before he was gone.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry broke it, "We should take some time off."

"What?" I glanced up and met his big, green like eyes.

"I know you love working. I do too. But like, we've been working nonstop for two years. It would be nice to take a month or too off. Travel West across the continent. It could be fun, just you and me. We could really do it, we could survive on our own."

His words left me wondering if we could actually do it. Obviously we'd return, but it would be nice to take a break for a while, and I'm sure my boss Alan wouldn't mind. He was a great boss, but he wasn't a complete hard ass with us. Before I could think about in any further, Kyle returned.

"Tay, Alan wants to see you." He stated, and I almost laughed at the coincidence.

"Thanks Kyle." I replied, before standing up and turning to Harry. "I'll get you back in our place, yeah?"

"I'll gather some food up for when you get back." Harry also stood up from the sofa and we left the room together, before leaving in separate directions down the hall.

There was no need to ask where Alan was, whenever he wanted to talk to one of us he was always in his office throwing darts. I don't know why, he just always was. But when I stepped into his office this time (well, it was a room with a desk which was covered in maps and old newspapers, with a chair and a dart board) he was sitting on the edge of his desk muttering to himself as he looked over a map. He was too distracted by whatever he was working out to notice I'd arrived, so I knocked on the door frame twice. His head lifted to see me and he smiled.