The Altered.

Chapter LI.

A few days passed before the group was willing to even consider going outside again.

"I say we do it tomorrow," Miles said.

After the fight with the Altered three days ago, the group had isolated themself inside the library. In that time, they'd been making do with the little food they had and other resources, like clothing and water. Clothes, thankfully, didn't get dirtied when they weren't being worn in violent weather or fights, so the group didn't have to change exceptionally frequently.

The days they spent inside had been consumed with mainly organising things and researching via the books they had access to. Percy and Lia had been especially focussed on figuring out the e-Screen, but it was hard to find books on that considering when the e-Screens had been made, books were mostly eBooks already. With eBooks out of the question, it had been a frustrating task trying to find the information they needed.

Currently, the group was seated in a neat circle on the floor, addressing the topic of when they'd next go outside. The thought of it scared Miles and he was sure it scared his friends, too. From the windows of the library every day, the streets swarming with Altered were in clear sight. It wasn't a friendly sight.

There would probably have been a more effective view of all of that from the rooftop of the library, but neither Miles or Aaron had shared that location with any other group members, and Miles was grateful. He never wanted to see the place again.

"Why tomorrow?" Eira questioned. "I'm sure we could get through another day or two with the food and water we have..."

Miles sounded dubious. "We're all hungry already. The longer we wait, the worse it'll get. There's no point putting it off."

Night shifts were meant to start soon; the sun had just set. Miles wasn't tired, though, and he technically still owed Aaron back for when he'd taken Miles' shift a few nights prior. There was a lot on Miles' mind - there seemed to always be, lately - and if they were going out tomorrow, he was sure he'd be too jittery to fall asleep, as necessary as that kind of thing was if he was going to spend a day outside.

"I agree with Miles," said Percy. "Once we've gone out tomorrow and stocked up, we won't have to do it again for another few days."

"I think it would be smart to do it tomorrow," Lia concurred, tying off the braid she'd been doing in her hair and proceeding to toss it over her shoulder. "We'll try to be quick getting resources. Then, for the next few days, we can really focus on going through this place and finding any information that we can that might help us decode the information on the e-Screen."

Eira turned to Aaron, expression doubtful, as if wordlessly prompting him to say something in favour of her argument. Aaron, who hadn't said anything yet, shrugged softly. "I think if we go much longer without food, we're going to start to really suffer."

"Who are you agreeing with?" Miles pressed.

Aaron lifted his hands. "Nobody. Just saying what I think."

"Well, Aaron's right," Percy said. "And that means it's just best if we get it over and done with tomorrow."

Miles nodded, folding his arms. His shoulder had almost completely healed from the wound it had received when grazed by a bullet almost two weeks ago, and though it hadn't been especially deep in the first place, he was worried that it was starting to seem like it would leave a scar. One thing he was grateful about, though, was that simple actions - folding his arms like now, for instance - no longer sparked pain in his shoulder. He was still a little achy from the more recent fight, but he'd grown accustomed to that now and had started managing to ignore the pain. What currently hurt most was the wound on his cheek, but there was nothing anybody could do about it.