Claustrophobic | Skephalo

One More Day

Zak

When Zak found himself conscious again, he felt nothing but the freezing air swirling around him. Darryl's body remains still by his side, the only sign of life being his slow and jagged breaths escaping from his chapped and bleeding lips. The room was dark once again, and for a second, Zak was afraid that he had fallen asleep outside because of how cold he was.

He shuffled around lightly, trying his best not to make any sort of noise that could wake the other members of his group up. Sitting up straight, Zak noticed the warm glow of a candle across the room. He crawled on his hands and knees to reach it.

"You're awake," Clay whispers, his eyes reflecting the light from the fire.

"How long was I asleep?" Zak asks, bringing his face closer to the candle in attempt to steal some of its heat. He didn't remember falling asleep, but much of the past day was a blur anyways.

"Not long. Everyone else is out, too." Clay gestures to Vincent, who's head was resting in his lap.

"I could have sworn it was earlier."

"The days are shorter now, Zak. I think yesterday was the winter solstice. It doesn't matter, though."

"No, you're right. It doesn't matter. But what are you doing up all alone?"

"At the moment? Thinking."

"Thinking?"

"Vincent told me the name malic acid sounded familiar. I'm trying to figure out where he would have seen it last."

Vincent stirs at the mention of his name, causing Clay to place his hand on the side of Vincent's head and stroke along his hairline with his thumb. Zak doesn't think Clay even realizes what he's doing, so he ignores it.

"Well, what is it?" Zak asks.

"Malic acid is... How do I put this in a way you'd understand..? It's what makes apples taste like apples; it gives them that tart flavor that makes your tongue tingle."

"So, if we find apples, we find the acid?"

"They have to be fresh, but yeah. I have everything else I would need to harvest the chemical from the fruit."

Zak crinkles his nose as he thinks. The last time he had eaten an apple was way before the apocalypse had begun. He's sure he had seen Darryl eat one before, but obviously Darryl wasn't the best person to ask at the moment. Zak wasn't about to risk Darryl's life and wake him up just to ask a stupid question like that.

"Maybe Finn knows," Zak shrugs, earning a thumping sound from the other end of the room. "What was that?"

"I do know," whispers Finn from near the door to the stairwell.

"Finn? You're awake too?" Clay asks, waving him over. The flame of the candle waves with him.

Finn joins Zak and Clay by the light. "You expect me to be able to sleep when there's an infected— Sorry. I shouldn't be so harsh."

"No, you shouldn't." Zak frowns at him. "But do tell us, how do you know where we can find fresh apples?"

"An apple tree."

"Wow, thank you so much. You really saved the day there, Finn." Zak responds, crossing his arms.

Clay shushes him. "Do you know where we can find an apple tree?"

"Of course I do. The Skeleton base."

The two other boys were struck speechless as Finn finished speaking. The Skeleton base was at least days away, and probably crawling with remaining members of the broken army. They both knew that if that was their only option, Darryl was screwed.