Somewhere To Run To || Lunch Club AU

if it's gone

As the sun was closing in on the horizon, Ted pulled up next to a group of buildings by the side of the road. A part of his mind was screaming at him to keep driving, to not stop until he'd reached Charlie, but he'd eventually been convinced by him to find a place to stay for the night instead of continuing to drive with no sleep. Besides, it was always good to have access to more resources.

It wasn't much of a town, really, more of a rest stop: a gas station, a diner, some homes and a tourist trap, the name of which Ted hadn't bothered to find. Normally, reading the billboards by the side of the road would have been one of his few sources of entertainment, but for the past few hours, that spot had been taken up by his increasingly ridiculous conversations with Charlie.

"So you've just been driving around aimlessly all this time?" he said as Ted stepped out of his car, radio in hand. "Doesn't sound like a very productive way to spend the apocalypse."

"What did you expect me to do then? Just sit in one place forever until I starve?" Only half paying attention to the conversation, he looked at the buildings around him, weighing his options. Maybe he'd try the diner first. Highest chance of finding food.

"I'll have you know I've done a lot more than that." As Ted rounded the corner of the building, he saw that the back half had collapsed in on itself, the roof having caved in. The whole mess was covered in a tangle of vines and plants.

"Oh, really? Like what?" Ted's response was half-hearted. This had been the site of an attack. That explained why the place was deserted.

In every zombie movie Ted had seen, the monsters' strength came from numbers, from the swarms of them that ran towards you without stopping, that attacked until there was nobody left to fight back. But not here. One elemental was more than enough to kill you.

Apparently not recognizing his change in tone, Charlie said, "Well, I've been scavenging the other houses for supplies, setting up defenses, making this place more comfortable, oh, I tried to make a self-sustaining food source, that was fun. Generally just... finding things to do, I guess. And there's plenty of food here, so I won't be starving anytime soon."

Ted tried to clear his thoughts, summoning back some of his old bravado. He'd seen ruins like this before, it shouldn't be a big deal. "Oh, I see. So that's how it is. I've been working my ass off to scrape together enough food to survive, and you've been sitting around gardening."

Charlie laughed. "What can I say, it's comfortable." The thing wouldn't have stuck around after all the people were gone, right? He should be safe for now.

Gingerly, Ted stepped into the diner, dodging the shards of glass and pieces of broken furniture littering the floor. Cobwebs and dust covered most surfaces, and there was nothing usable from what he could see. Looking into the booths and under tables, he was greeted by more dust and cobwebs.

"You see anything?" Charlie asked.

"No, nothing besides spiders. And I haven't sunk low enough to start eating those yet."

"Give it some time." Charlie paused, Ted noticing his shift in tone when he started speaking again. "Actually, now that I think about it, spiders are actually pretty good company. One of my best friends here is a spider. He's a great guy, said he works as a web designer."

Ted sighed. "I can't believe we're in the middle of an apocalypse and you're still making so many puns."

"Well, I've had a lot of time to practice."

Ted didn't admit it, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying every second of it. He'd forgotten just how much a simple interaction with a friend could brighten someone's day, and that was something he had sorely needed.