The Apocalypse Adversaries

Part 15: Home

The rest of the journey took two days. Logan was eating, but still not a lot. Not enough to make him strong enough to walk all day without a break. He was trying his best, though, and the others appreciated that.

Violet was mostly on directions, using the map to figure out their distance and location at any given time, telling them where to head and where was safe to stop and rest.

Casper was definitely the most cheerful of them all. He tried to keep their moral up with his voice. He sang constantly, mostly musical theatre songs neither of his companions had ever heard. But he was successful. His voice was beautiful, and listening to him made walking seem much less tedious. Plus, it was much less awkward than trying to make conversation. He was also the slowest, but no one could blame him for that. As well as carrying Audrey, he'd insisted on lugging a supply bag, which was most certainly not an easy task.

A few days later, they arrived at a huge gate. Someone in a watchtower spotted them quickly and came to greet them. Her name was Amy, and she was only around their age. They answered some questions for her and the gate was opened. Amy gave them a short tour. Castle town really was everything they had dreamed it would be.

"We're actually doing really well here. We have solar panels for electricity, farms and cattle, people making clothes, we even set up a school! It opened just last week. It's mostly for younger kids, though. We're working on a secondary school now, but by the time it's done you'll probably be too old. We're looking for entertainers, so if any of you have any sort of talent in that sort of area then I'm sure we could figure something out! Anyway, here's your house!"

She pointed towards an ordinary, two-storey building. The door was the colour of butter and there were flowers growing in pots either side of the doorstep. The windows were covered by cream coloured curtains. The whole place looked remarkably normal. The three of them waved goodbye to Amy and stepped inside. There was a large living room, with a brown leather sofa and a television. They'd even put in a cat basket for Audrey, who dove out of Casper's arms and into her bed quickly. She had clearly missed the luxury.

The kitchen was enormous, and stocked full of plenty of food. Then they headed upstairs. There was a master bedroom with a double bed, a room with two single beds, and a room with just one single bed. Sleeping arrangements were decided on quickly, they boys would share the double bed while Violet took the single room. The master bedroom had an en suite bathroom, and there was another bathroom in the hallway. The smaller bathroom had a shower, whereas the large one had a jacuzzi bathtub. They decided the first luxury they should enjoy in their new home was a wash, so Violet went off into the bathtub, Logan went to the shower, and Casper went to give Audrey a quick wash in the kitchen sink. He then took a shower when Logan had gotten out.

They then tried on the clothes that had been left for them. Clean clothes. Comfortable, too. Everything here felt so much better, like the apocalypse hadn't happened at all. When they looked out the window, they saw young children playing in the street. They felt safe, all of them.

That night, Violet cooked some chicken from their fridge to celebrate their safety, and they all tucked into the meal hungrily. They were even given quality cat food, so Audrey could also enjoy her meal.

As they all sat there, stuffed with food, watching the TV that night, they all felt safer than they had in forever, and they finally had hope for the future again.