Provisions

Part 5

Cain:

The pounding at the door was almost as loud as the pounding in my head. I got up swiftly, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, slipped into some clothes, and answered the door.

"Mr. Beckright, what a pleasure to see you up so early..."

I looked down at my watch to see 9:15; I was 15 minutes late. I opened the door wide enough to allow the two guards to grab my stuff and help escort me out. I led the way out of my house and that was that. I gave it one last final look and got into the car waiting out front for me.

The car drove down the winding road, out the gated community that used to be a sanctuary for people like... like me. Just like that, it was gone. I stared out the window and watched the trees, old road signs, and dry sun speed past me. I wondered a lot of things. Why can't I live at home? Why was I not allowed to gather more from my house? Was this even legal? What if this wasn't even the government, maybe just scammers! At this point, I was too numb to actually question anything. I just sat there, unlifelike, until 40 minutes had passed and we reached the destination. Massive 50 story apartment complexes surrounded a part of the city I couldn't even recognize.

The car parked outside of one of the buildings and I was greeted with another team of government workers, about 4 in total, not including the 2 who rode with me. 3 of them grabbed my things while the other 3 led me into the building. As soon as I got in there, they forced me to remove my clothes. I was reluctant at first but what was the point of fighting? They led me into a chamber and sprayed me down with a potent chemical. They took my clothes and washed them, giving me a new, government sanctioned change of clothes for the time being. Apparently, they were trying to rid me of any residual effects or contaminants. All of my other clothes I bought were to go through the same procedure, so they took them to get washed as well. After I was hosed down, they took me into an office and they sat me down, facing a hologram of, I presume our new president. The message went like this:

"Hello, I am President Vincent Baxter, I gained office the night the Everdeen ended. My main purpose is to restore our grief-stricken country and return it to its once beautiful and high-achieving standards. That is where you come along. Out of the hundreds of millions dead, you are one of the few survivors. You are stronger than the Everdeen and for your courageousness and strong-will to survive, you have been chosen to help rebuild our country. Your hard work does not go unnoticed so, as a reward, we will provide you a beautiful penthouse suite with all your basic amenities. Here, you will be reintroduced to society and help make the United States one of the most powerful nations once again. Remember, without you, we can not flourish. Make us proud."

Basically, I get a free place to live as I "adapt" and take over my father's business... eventually. I mean, they didn't tell me when I actually had to get to work. After the hologram thing, they ran down a few guidelines, handed me my new ID and key and showed me to my suite. Room G6. I opened the door and was amazed at what I saw. White walls, head to toe, an entire wall of windows facing downtown LA, fully furnished, a chef's kitchen, and the master bedroom was incredible. It had a huge walk-in closet and master bathroom. Life couldn't get any better? Well... maybe if I had someone here to share it with me. They brought in my things and I decided to get situated in the suite. I had an odd feeling though. How could the government afford this? And why would they just give it to people for free? It didn't make any sense but I didn't really care. I was just happy to get a fresh start.

Farah:

One week. Seven days. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes. It's been a long week. One where I haven't seen Cain. It confused me. I was never the type of girl to cling to a guy but he was so different. I couldn't get his smile out of my head. It was weird, I know I just met him but I feel like I had a real connection with him. Was he okay? God, I hope he's okay. My mind spun for an entire week, thinking about the blonde-haired boy who I coincidentally met. In the meantime, I guess I've been spending more time with my family. I took Liam to the boardwalk Sunday. He seemed to really enjoy the fresh air and the sound of the ocean. It made me realize that I had been neglecting my family. I mean, I leave the house all the time to go outside and hang out with Cain, but when do I ever offer to go out with my family. Geez, it's like they're still stuck in the outbreak and I'm out here living it up. Damn it, I'm such a bitch.

I tried to spend the week hanging out with my family, trying to make up for all the times I've run out. It was nice spending time with them but it gave me horrible flashbacks to the outbreak. I don't want to sound rude, but during the outbreak we spent all of our time together, and they haven't really gone out and done much. I know everything there is to know about them and it's like we're frozen in time again. My parents don't want to leave, who would watch over the house. In all honesty, I think they're afraid of going out. But at this point, they're too tired to fight with me. They've always been very laid back and I think they're also afraid to restrict their kids because it would go against everything they've taught us. I don't know what to do at this point.

I go on runs every morning, walks on the pier, hang out in the front yard. I do as much as possible to avoid staying confined in that little house, but nothing can satisfy the loneliness. One week after Cain had "gone missing" I came back home from my morning run, walked in the front door, and there on my couch was the blonde-haired mystery boy, surrounded by my entire family.

"Hi!" he said. My little sister was standing on the couch, playing with his blonde locks.

"H-h-hi! Wha-what have you been up to?" He opened his mouth to say something but I looked down, saw that I was covered in sweat, and ran to the bathroom before he could say anything. Within 20 minutes, I scrubbed myself head to toe and walked out into the living room with wet, stringy hair. What a great impression.

"Honey, why have you been keeping Cain from us?" Mom asked.

"I wasn't keeping him from you guys, it was more like he just didn't come over."

"Well I like him!" Ara yelled.

"Me too!" said Liam.

Everyone seemed to like him, everyone except Ezra and Dad. But, I mean, that's to be expected. He's a boy and brothers and dads get protective, right? I'm very new to this whole boy concept if I'm being honest. And, I don't know what we are. Are we just friends or are we more than friends. I'm hoping the second one cause, damn...