We Three

Back to Base(ics)

Backup, it turned out, was just West. Not that Roone had needed any more than him, he noted with relief. The threat disabled, West and Roone retreated to meet with their replacements. As they arrived at the Switch house, both his own and his brother's replacements (along with an extra guard) greeted them stiffly. Their replacements, Tim and Allie, seemed to have been minimally debriefed about the situation.

The switching house was a moderately sized one story building with a basement. The main level's walls were covered in cubbies from floor to ceiling, leaving only two small and high up windows to let in any natural light. A single door, the one that came with the place, was the only way out to the beach. The rest of the light was gathered from two lamps and a ceiling bulb powered by solar energy. They had been lucky to stumble upon the self-sustained island years ago- otherwise they might not have had such a nice setup. A few nice wooden chairs and a table sat off to the right-- nearly blocking another, recently added door to their main base. In short, the Switch house had been the beginning of the heavily apocalypse-edited buildings on New Apriga-- though most referred to the island as just that; the island.

Roone and West had entered from the main door. Their packs were shoved unceremoniously into their 2x1 cubbies closest to the door, along with their, now empty, canteens. Both kept their favored weapons on their person, more for a sense of stability than anything else- the armory, located in the small basement of the Switch house, simply held extra rounds for multiple weapons. Roone had also added a few alternative weapons for dire situations.

Through the duration of their unpacking, West remained uncharacteristically quiet, only offering a weak smile to Hal, the extra guard, when he handed him his walkie talkie. They all had smaller communicators that worked wonderfully in shorter distances- borrowed (i.e. stolen) from some downed agents on the mainland. They didn't take risks, choosing instead to use larger walkie talkies that guaranteed an established line of communication to the bases' hub. Roone had edited the smaller coms with Grei, their "official" scientist, with some extra solar parts to keep them relatively well charged and always available. It had taken them a while to rig them up, but ultimately made everyone feel a little more comfortable.

Usually, the space would be quietly buzzing with greetings and light hearted jokes between friends. Instead, the silence was punctuated only by the shuffling of packs and footsteps of the five people that milled about in various states of readiness for a watch shift. Today was an unusual day, one that left Roone with an uncomfortable pit of unease in his stomach.

Nothing ever went well with those.

With packs off and deposited- Roone nodded to Hal, Tim, and Allie and murmured a farewell before ushering West towards the wooden table and chairs door. This door led to an open outdoor hallway, with an exception to the whole open part. It had been constructed in the beginning to protect anyone from possible attacks from the undead, but when the island had been thoroughly cleaned up, it became a great protection from any particularly nasty storms.

Nothing was said between the two brothers as they walked, silently processing the events that had happened a mere ten minutes before. The walk from the Switch house to the main base only took about three minutes, and another few seconds as West fumbled with the key to the door before they returned to the safety of the main base, but the silence made it feel longer. They shuffled through the door, and no sooner had it been slammed and locked than the atmosphere shifted. It was as if they'd both been holding their breath, and the physical separation of the outside and inside became the air they needed.

The room they'd entered wasn't furnished with much, because who really cared about furnishing when you're in the middle of the apocalypse? Though lacking in comfort, each piece of furniture was sturdy enough to be used in a barricade. Regardless of how many years their group had gone without an attack from the Infected, the furniture remained unmoved-- a testament to the ever present vigilance of the occupants. Roone found slight comfort in the fact that they still had something semi-permanent to ensure some small amount of protection, now more than ever before.

From there, two doorways- the right leading to the kitchen and sleeping areas; left was medical. The part of Roone's brain that was still functioning forced his body to push both himself and West through the left doorway. They were met by Gull, a taller boy with mousy brown hair and deep brown eyes that at the moment were full of confusion and a touch of fear. He stood from his desk, his hands already holding a full needle, self- made sanitizing wipes, and bandages. Gull's eyes moved from West, to Roone, then back to West.

"West. Sit." The order was followed with West promptly claiming the empty bed that sat in the corner with relief. In the light of the room, Roone could see just how beaten down West actually looked. He was covered in sand and blood that only seemed to enhance the dark circles under his own eyes; constant reminder of their current situation. The needle contained a vaccine boost for the Strain. The vaccine itself was something they'd managed to test once before the Strain just stopped. It remained experimental, but still better than nothing.

"We'll do your thigh." Gull said "Due to the zombie guts and all." 

And so, West's pants were off in a matter of moments for full access. Gull wiped the area, then abruptly plunged the needle into his leg and pushed down to inject the fluid into West's body. West let out a short gasp, as he had been busy wiping his face off with an extra sanitizing wipe to distract himself. It was easier this way, to catch West off guard; it was the only way both he and Roone allowed their muscles to be relaxed anymore. West pulled his pants up over his newly bandaged thigh, and Gull turned toward Roone with a new needle.

"Is that really necessary?" Roone asked, slowly inching away from the advancing needle. "The Infected didn't even have a chance with me." Okay, so he was exaggerating a bit- but he was sure he had managed to end his fights without any bites or scratches.

Gull rolled his eyes.

"Aw, come on Roone- it's only this big!" West grinned, holding up his hands to measure just outside his own shoulders. West's terrible joke making skills, unfortunately, were always the first thing to return to him after a stressful situation.

"Get out of here West." Gull sighed, throwing some soap at him. "Go wash up, dude. You can wait for Roone somewhere else."

"Fine, fine. Exiting stage left." West let out a strained laugh as he caught the projectile.

"See you."