The Apocalypse Adversaries

Part 13: The announcement

The next morning, everyone was awoken by a loud crackling. Violet had found a radio in one of the bags and was trying to connect it to a station. Everyone seemed happy to see Logan awake, although it was clear he still wasn't doing well. He'd only missed one night of sleep, but he looked exhausted. He was ghostly pale, with huge dark bags underneath his eyes. He hadn't eaten either, so he looked weak and frail, but he was more or less alright.

The bags that Quill had given them were kicked into a corner, shielded from Logan's view. It was as if they were trying to remove all memory of him for fear that Logan could break at any moment. The supplies were transferred into the bags that Casper had brought. They all tried to move past the fact that Logan had just watched his last living family member fade before his very eyes.

Then a voice broke through the static. I sounded like the voice of a young person, someone around their age.

"Anyone out there, can you hear me? Come to castle town! It's safe, we're rebuilding society inside our walls. Please, get here if you can. I don't know if anyone's listening, but I hope there's someone out there. We're finding less and less survivors. If you're still struggling, please, follow my instructions. Do you have a map?"

They did.

"Try and figure out where you are, and mark our coordinates. So long as we don't reach maximum capacity before you get here, we will welcome you with open arms. Our coordinates are..."

She read out a long list of numbers. Violet pulled out the map and marked them down, then marked their current location. It was only 4 miles away.

The radio crackled and cut out, but that didn't matter. They had somewhere to go.

Violet started gathering all the supplies she could.

"Did you guys hear that? We could find a society! We could be safe!"

Cassie grabbed a bag, jumped up and ran out of the cave, closely followed by Cece.

"What're we waiting for? Let's go!!!"

Logan shook his head.

"It could be a trap, people trying to steal supplies. It's best not to risk it."

But then he looked at Casper. He saw the hope in his eyes start to fade. He felt awful, so he stood up and stepped out of the cave too.

"Actually, fuck it. It's worth a try!"

Casper grinned and grabbed a bag. They were running low on weapons. Logan and Cece had their guns, Violet had her knife, and Cassie had obtained a bat somewhere along the line. Casper's axe and knife had been left behind with Quill. There was a gun in one of the bags that Quill had left behind, but no one was too willing to take it. Violet eventually grabbed it and gave it to Casper, who didn't have too much gun knowledge, but could probably use one in case of emergency. The gun was hidden in Casper's pocket quickly, shielding it from Logan's view. He then grabbed Audrey and it was time to go.

All of them started moving. It took them all day just to walk one mile. They had to keep stopping. Logan could barely walk, and although he accepted help from the others, he was still slowing them down a lot. He still couldn't bring himself to eat, and he was looking extremely frail. Violet was the only one who actually understood why he couldn't stomach any food, so she just encouraged him to drink as much as possible. Casper was sympathetic and tried gentle encouragement, which was unsuccessful but it was at least better than Cassie and Cece, who got frustrated very quickly.

Eventually, they all decided to settle down for the night in a clearing surrounded by trees. They lit a fire for warmth, then Cece and Cassie went off to one part of the clearing, muttering angrily. Cece could get frustrated easily, but Cassie's attitude shift was a surprise. She was usually so happy and loving and bubbly. Now, she seemed to join Cece in her irritation and frustration. They didn't understand why Logan wasn't eating, and were pretty pissed off that he was slowing them down. After a few minutes, the mutters stopped. Violet lay down in a corner and it didn't take long for her to fall silent too.

As soon as they were alone, Casper went back to encouraging Logan to eat. He pulled a can of soup out of a bag and started heating it over the fire. After it had heated up, he set it down to cool.

"Please, Logan. You're scaring me. It doesn't have to be a lot, just something. Anything. I'm really worried about you."

It had only been two days since Logan last ate, but he looked so weak. He sighed deeply.

"If I drink some soup, will you stop worrying?"

"Nope. I love you, I'm always going to worry about you."

Logan paused and looked at Casper blankly. Casper looked back at him and smiled awkwardly.

"That was a weird time for me to say it, but yeah. I love you, Logan. That's what I was trying to say before the walkie talkie cut out the other day."

"Oh. Well, I love you too, Casper."

The both smiled softly at each other for a moment, then Casper reached over and grabbed the soup can. He held it to Logan's lips, although Logan was perfectly capable of feeding himself. He drank the whole thing with no complaints as Casper encouraged him kindly.

The two of them curled up together, and as Logan watched the last dying ember of the fire, one thought swirled around his mind.

Can love really survive an apocalypse?