Part 2: Casper

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All of a sudden, Logan was a lot less scared. This guy sounded like a child. He patiently waited for him to pull himself out from under the desk. As he stood up and raised hands, showing he was unarmed, Logan took the opportunity to ask him a few questions. 

"Who are you? How old are you? Are you the only one here?" Logan questioned, trying not to let a tremble of anxiety show in his voice. 

"Don't ask me questions, I'm frightened of questions!" the boy said in response. Except, he didn't really say it. He more sang it.

"Answer me!" Logan demanded, pointing the gun in the boy's direction.

"I'm sorry! I'm Casper, I'm fourteen and I'm the only one here. When I heard what was going on, I thought hiding out in my school would be a good idea, but I'll leave! I'll leave right now! Just don't shoot, please!"

Logan continued holding his gun out as he circled the boy, inspecting him. He was wearing jeans, an oversized hoodie with a large gold star logo on it, trainers, and a flower crown. Why on earth anyone would think a flower crown necessary in the apocalypse was beyond him, but whatever. He also had purple hair, which was quite unusual. It was swept into a sort of quiff, successfully keeping it out of his eyes. The guy seemed completely unprepared. No bag, no weapon, nothing. A wave of sympathy overcame Logan as he saw tears run down Casper's face. This guy needed help, and Logan needed a friend. Maybe they could help each other out. 

Logan lowered his gun and quickly unloaded it. Casper wasn't a threat to him.

"Sorry for scaring you," Logan said calmly, "I might have jumped the gun, no pun intended. I'm Logan and I'm fourteen too."

He stuck his hand out to shake Casper's, but the boy refused to reciprocate, which was fair enough. He was just almost shot, after all. He had the right to be a little wary.

"Now tell me, Casper," Logan curiously questioned, "Do you have any idea how to deal with what's going on? Any supplies? Weapons?"

"No," He responded, shaking his head, "I figured I might be able to find something here."

Logan decided to propose a deal, hoping that this boy would accept, for both their benefits.

"Actually, I want to turn this place into something liveable. I might need your help securing it and stuff, but I want to stay here, at least temporarily. I say we team up. I'll give you supplies and teach you a bit about what's happening, and you help me secure this place."

Casper tilted his head slightly, deliberating.

"Sure," he said, "But I want a weapon now."

Logan agreed to his terms and pulled the axe out of his backpack to hand over.  The guy took it gratefully then proceeded to pose with it, peering at himself in the reflection if the computer's dark screen for around ten minutes before finally moving on. 

First, the two of them checked the entire school for supplies, storage spaces and an appropriate place to sleep. Eventually, they decided to store their food supplies in the kitchen, other supplies in the gym closet and sleep on gym mats in the drama studio. After that, they took to cutting up wood they found in a shed and boarding up the gaps in the fence. A short while into working, Logan noticed that Casper was singing. It was a quiet tune, and he was singing in a whisper, but he sang it well. 

"Hey Casper, what're you singing?" Logan asked.

Casper almost jumped out of his skin. He clearly didn't know his singing was audible.

"It's just a dumb song from a musical I like," Casper mumbled, suddenly shy.

"You like musicals?" Logan asked, curious.

"Yeah. A lot. My favourite's book of mormon, but the one I was singing was Hadestown. The song's called 'Why we build the wall'"

"I've heard of book of mormon, can't say the same for the other one, though. You have a really nice voice. You'll have to sing more often, help us keep in good spirits."

Logan noticed Casper blush slightly. Clearly the kid didn't receive many compliments. He seemed a little shy to sing in front of people, but he did talk about theatre and his favourite shows for the rest of the afternoon. Logan struggled to hold back a grin. This guy was helpful, talented and talkative (Not to mention good looking), and he was exactly the sort of companion Logan was looking for. Granted, the singing may be distracting, but in a good way. Theatre kids were usually really annoying, but this guy was different. Plus, he was smarter than he looked. 

That night they sat inside the drama studio, laying on gym mats. Logan was wrapped in his blanket, and Casper was in a sort of nest made of fabrics from the design room. It probably wasn't the warmest, but he seemed happy enough. Since Casper had come with nothing, Logan wanted to give him a sort of gift. Just to keep his spirits up.

"If you could get one thing from home, what would it be?" he asked.

"That's easy," Casper responded, "My guitar."

"Why?"

"Because. It was fun to play, entertaining, and I could always learn more when I got bored. I should've grabbed it on my way out."

He looked upset, like he'd let himself down. Logan would've felt left down in his situation, but now he had a plan. But first, he reached into his bag, grabbed one of his walkie talkies and threw it to Casper. 

"Here. I have the other one. Keep it on you at all times, that way we can always stay in touch."

Casper's face lit up as he smiled. He clearly felt more included, more connected. 

They both quickly settled down and it wasn't long before the two of them had fallen asleep.

The next morning, Logan woke up first. He headed off to the kitchen and grabbed half an apple for breakfast, wrapping up the other half for Casper when he woke up. Then, he headed off to the music room, where he spent half an hour attempting to locate an acoustic guitar. He eventually found one, along with two song books for learners. Quickly, he dropped the guitar, books and apple next to the "bed" where Casper was sleeping. He wrote a note that he left on top of the guitar, "Gone scavenging. Be back soon. Walkie talkie if you wanna chat. - Logan"

He headed outside and just as he was about to step outside of the gates he heard a crackle from the walkie talkie in his pocket. As he pulled it out he heard 2 words from Casper.

"Thank you."

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