Breakaway {Markiplier X OC & Lisbug X OC} BOOK ONE

chapter thirty-eight | | echo

"Rise and shine Belles! We got a lot of ground to cover today!" I say marching up to her room.

"Ugh, Echo... it's 7:30 in the morning." She groaned from the other side of the door.

"That's right, we're thirty minutes behind schedule don't remind me." I walk back to my own room and double checked I packed enough water and food for two people. I did this every day, except before, I only had to worry about myself.

Grabbing my backpack and harness, I throw them on before retrieving my spear from the corner of my room. It's metal point catching the weak sunlight that filtered through the window.

Bella was dressed and already waiting for me when I got downstairs, and a small grin of amusement found its way to my face.

"I'm ready!" She squeals with excitement.

"Damn, you wake up fast." I say tying my hair back into a low ponytail. "Try to keep it down though, Luna and the others are still sleeping."

Bella nods vigorously as we step out the door. Warm air hits my face and I close my eyes, enjoying the feeling.

"Alright Belles, what do you want to get?" I glance in both directions to make sure the coast was clear.

She shrugs, "I don't know... I like chocolate."

"Chocolate it is!" I start jogging down the road heading towards a cluster of houses in the distance.

"Wait, there's chocolate in there?" She runs up beside me.

"I don't know, let's go find out." Making sure there are no walkers I continue forward.

"This is fun!" Bella says, eyes bright.

"Isn't it?" I approach the first house, "I do this every day."

Checking the door and finding it locked I sigh and remove my spear from it's harness.

"It's locked." Bella says disappointed.

"Oh no, Bella. The locked ones are always the best." Aiming, I slam the butt of my spear down on the handle and it breaks off with a sharp snap. Pushing the door open, I motion for Bella to follow me inside.

"Woah." She says quietly, "That was intense."

"Hell yeah." I breathe making my way through the building.

The house is pretty nice, equipped with a large kitchen and a crystal chandelier over the hallway.

"Gotta be chocolate in here." Bella runs towards the kitchen. I chuckle and start looking for more essential things around the house. I enter the large bathroom first and grab some of the soap that was sitting in the sink cabinet. I couldn't remember if we were running low on toilet paper either so I grabbed some of that.

I walk outside and see Bella clutching an assortment of snacks in her hands.

I laugh, "Anything healthy in there?"

She blushes.

I drop my bag on the floor, "Put 'em in here, I'm gonna go see if there's another bag."

I find some plastic grocery bags in a drawer and push some fruits and cans of food into them before heading upstairs. I grab some more towels and sheets from the linen closet as well as a stuffed cat for Bella. Or myself... I like cats. I find some tissues as well as tampons which I shove to the bottom of my bag. Bella would learn about that stuff later. Checking the room one more time, I admired the soft white bed sheets and fluffy pillows. I felt a twinge of sadness, the people who once lived here would never see it again.

"Echo!" Bella called, "Where are you?"

"Up here, I'm coming." I grab my bags and run down the stairs. Bella's waiting by the door. "Are we gonna do another house?"

"If you want to." I sling the bag over my shoulder.

"Yes yes yes yes!" Bella jumps up and down.

"Ok, lets go." I exit the house and move down the street eyeing the doors. Open, broken, scratched, looks ok but no. Finally I come to a small house on the end of the block with a fairly intact visage and a locked door. Perfect. I break the handle and walk inside, the hallways in a deep shadow under the midday sun. I check my watch: 1:30. Wow we've been out here for a while...

"Hey Echo! Do we need any flour?" Bella's voice rang from what I assumed was their kitchen. "There's t'ree big bags of it!"

"Yeah grab one, I think that'll be enough." I say making my way over.

I go through the cabinets and find some kitchen knives and a meat cleaver. While they weren't as good as combat knives, they'll do. I place two in my harness and move on. I find a phone sitting on the counter and I grab it out of habit, flipping it over, knowing it was probably dead. Still, it stirred memories from when everyone had one and never let it go. I press the home button almost as a joke and jumped as it turned on.

"Whoa! Bella! Look a phone!" I laugh nervously as I flip through the screen.

Enter password.

Oh well it was worth a shot. Maybe someone could hack into it later. Still, 95% battery was pretty awesome.

"Oh my gosh!" Bella exclaimed, "Can I play games?"

"No, we need this for communication. If I find another one though it can be yours." I shove the phone in my pocket.

"Aw, ok." Bella shuffles over to the cabinets again.

I grab the charging cord as well, just in case, and continue to poke around. Up in the room I find another digital watch, which I would probably give to Luna, and some teabags. Eh, who doesn't like tea? I score the house one more time and join Bella downstairs. She's holding a soft woven blanket in one had and a small vase of faux flowers in the other.

"For Lynne." She says.

I smile, "I'm sure she'll love them. Now let's get going before it gets too dark, yeah?"

"Ok." Bella says her eyes on the floor.

"What's up Belles?" I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Today's been so fun... I-I don't want it to end." A tear drops from her eyes.

"Bella, who said this would be the last time?" I tilt her chin up to look me in the eyes, "I'm always happy to bring you along with me when I go out."

"Really?" Hope fills the young girls eyes.

"Really." I respond solemnly.

"Yay! Let's go home then!" Bella skips out the door.

I chuckle and jog after her, casting one more glance backwards at the row of houses we just raided.

If only there were still people here...