Apocalypse Wow, Pt. 03

I felt kind of bad asking her. She didn't look in any condition to be answering questions and she'd obviously been traumatized, but I couldn't stop myself. The need to know was just too much, you know.

"I... I don't know really..." she said and she finally dropped the two by four. She leaned back against the wall and just let herself slide down to sit on the floor. And her eyes just kind of wandered to the middle distance, like I wasn't even there.

"My dad..." she said, "he owns... owned I guess, this place. I come to work with him sometimes, just... you know... help out around the office and whatever. We saw the explosions... saw what was happening on the TV and then... I don't know... people just... just..." She drifted off I guess and I could see her lower her head into her hands.

I didn't want to spook her, right, so I didn't make any move to get any closer to her. I just sank my body down to the floor too, you know, to be on the same level as her.

"I'm sorry Chloe," I said. I mean, I really didn't want to press her so I didn't say anything else. Honestly, I had no fucking clue what to do, but, well... I guess more or less everything about her reminded me of one of my students, you know? No one student in particular, just... my students in general and so I guess I kind of felt that natural teacher's instinct to help a young person in trouble.

"They went... crazy..." she said, eventually, and she finally looked back at me. "They seemed to get a really bad headache for a second and then... then their eyes were... different... and they... they went... wild... attacking each other and... k...killing each other."

"I'm so sorry Chloe," I said, "that must have been really terrifying for you... How... how did you...?"

"I ran..." she said, "I hid. There's a strong room in the basement, you can lock it from the inside, most people don't know about it. I stayed there until... until it got quiet, maybe an hour, I don't know... and when I came out they were all... they were all dead." She lowered her head again and just... sobbed. Heavily, fucking desperately.

And I guess the urge to go to her, you know, to put my arms around her and tell her she was safe now, that she'd be OK, was almost overwhelming but I was still afraid of scaring her. And actually, I think even then I was starting to get the feeling that this tiny girl, I mean, she looked like a breeze would blow her over, was, well, was maybe a lot stronger than she appeared. If she'd made it this far, survived this long on her own, you know?

So anyway, I guess she eventually sniffled a little and raised her head again and she wiped the tears from her eyes. And she just kept talking and I kept listening.

We'd had pretty similar experiences for the next part I think. She'd seen the broadcasts on the TV, seen it happening everywhere, like we had. She'd heard them talking about the end of everything. And she'd heard the emergency broadcast. And so she'd stayed where she was, same as us.

There was plenty of water in the building, in big drums for the water cooler and she'd got food by breaking the glass on the vending machines. It didn't provide much of a diet, but it did keep her alive, although I definitely thought she could use a good meal from the look of her.

"That's an amazing story Chloe," I said, when she was finished. "You're an incredibly brave person, surviving this long on your own." And she sniffled again and really looked at me this time, really hard.

"Have you found... anyone else?" she said.

"No," I said, "we, ah, we went into Old Sal for supplies a couple of days ago but..."

"They were all dead," she said. And, well, I guess I noted that it wasn't a question.

"Yeah," I said. I didn't say any more than that though. There'd be another time for that conversation. And you know what? I mean, already, even then, I was assuming I was going to take her with me. I mean, come on, of course I was - I couldn't fucking leave her there, could I?

"Chloe," I said, and I got up slowly and put my arms out again, "I want you to come back to my parents' house with me. It's... it's safe there, at least, we've been safe, my friend Simone and I, and it's comfortable. We have plenty of food and... and beds to sleep in, I even managed to get the hot water working."

Now, she'd been eyeing me pretty suspiciously while I spoke, but I'm pretty sure the mention of hot water really piqued her interest.

"Please Chloe," I said, "you've been on your own so long, please come and stay with us, even for just a day or two. You can have a hot shower, sleep in a warm bed. Please, I don't want to leave you here like this."

And she looked at me with that hard stare but I knew she really wanted to believe it was safe to come with me, you know? I mean, I'm sure every instinct she had was telling her not to trust this stranger, but then if you were in her situation, what would you have done? If you were that desperate. If you'd been on your own that long.

"Do you... do you have any... food?" she said, "I mean... with you now?" And I was sure I could see just a sliver of hope come into her eyes.

"Yes!" I said, "In the... in the car... Simone made me... in case I got delayed... she made me take some stuff. Come on, you must be starving." And I went to move towards her, to help her up, you know, but I could see her kind of recoil back against the wall.

"I'm... I'm sorry Chloe..." I said, "it's OK... let me..." And I didn't stop. I kept moving towards her. No guts, no glory, right? I needed her to know I wasn't going to hurt her. I just held out my hand and smiled down to her. "It's OK Chloe, I promise," I said and I could see the indecision, the fear in her face. But slowly, really slowly she finally reached out for my hand and took it and gently as I could I pulled her to her feet.

And then... well... she was... on me... her arms just wrapped really tightly around me and her face was buried in my chest. I guess it was one of those things that was completely unexpected and yet not that surprising at the same time, you know what I mean? Anyway, I didn't really think about it, I just wrapped my arms around her too and just held her.

I don't know how long we stood like that but, honestly, I didn't care. It just felt good to be helping someone, or at least to be a comfort to someone.

"S...Sorry..." she said when she loosened her grip on me a little. "I just... I..." She stepped back from me and her head was down so I couldn't see her eyes.

"It's OK Chloe," I said, "if I'd been through what you have I'd need a hug too, I can tell you that. Now come on, let's get that food."

And as expected, she ate fucking ravenously. I hadn't brought much with me, just a couple of protein bars and some cold noodles but there was nothing left when she was done and she actually smiled for the first time since I'd met her.

So we started back for the house. Now, I was a little nervous about what Simone would make of Chloe, you know, but I guess I was pretty confident her instincts would be the same as mine. Honestly, helping her, bringing her with me was really the only possible thing I could have done as far as I was concerned.

And Chloe was opening up pretty quickly. I guess it's amazing what a solid hug and some food can do! She had lots of questions and I did my best to give her the gist of the story of Simone and me since the First Day although, obviously... I mean, of course I left out the sex stuff.

That said, it was a pretty short journey so I didn't have time to get through much details before we were pulling onto the drive up to the house.

And as I knew she would be, Simone was outside waiting for us, although of course, she still didn't know there was an 'us' yet.

"It's OK Chloe," I said, "Simone is... she's my friend. She's a kind person, she'll look after you." She nodded a little, nervously I thought, and stepped out of the car.

"Jim? What...?" Simone didn't even try to hide her surprise. I mean, I'd gone to see about logs for the fire and come back with a young woman, right? Still though, she wasn't shocked enough not to put her arms around me and hug me really tightly.

"Simone," I said, "this is... Chloe... she ah, she was at the lumber yard on the First Day and she's survived there on her own since then. I, ah, I thought she'd be safer here... you know, with us." And then I looked from Chloe to Simone and I could see that she was doing the same. I guess I was trying to read the reaction in her face, you know.

"Oh my god," she said and she moved towards Chloe. "Chloe... I... I'm so glad we found you..." and she just wrapped her up in her arms. I mean, Chloe might have hesitated for a second, but it was only a second. And then her arms were wrapped around Simone too. And I just stood there, grinning like a fool.

Eventually, Simone let her go and kind of held her at arm's length, you know, looked her up and down. She looked over to me again and I thought there were tears in her eyes... There were tears in mine, I can tell you that.

"Let's... let's get you inside..." she said, "you must be dying for a hot shower. Are you hungry?" They started talking on the way towards the steps that led to the front door and I followed behind. I think I even heard Chloe laugh out loud when they crossed the threshold.

"Jim," Simone said, "I'm going to show Chloe upstairs, why don't you..." But she didn't need to finish.

"Why don't I get started on some food," I said, "On it."

So I went into the kitchen and starting gathering some supplies. I mean, there wasn't much that we could make that was going to be restaurant quality or anything but I figured she probably hadn't had anything hot in a few weeks, so I was about to head out towards the gas stove in the garage when Simone came in.

"Jim..." she said and she came right up to me and hugged me again and kissed me. "I just can't believe it..." she said, "how did you...?"

So I gave her the gist of the story, of finding Chloe and what she'd told me. Now, it might be a strange detail to mention, but I noticed that she didn't let go of me the whole time I was talking. I mean, we were standing in the kitchen, right, I was leaning against the counter and Simone was standing in front of me, actually pressed against me, the whole time. It only took a couple of minutes to tell her what happened, but, still, I was conscious of it, you know.

"The poor kid..." she said when I'd finished. "Jim, this is incredible. If there was someone here, so close, then maybe... maybe there's hope." She had this wide smile across her face and I knew she was feeling the same spark that I was.

"That's incredible Simone," I said.

"What?" she said

"That's literally exactly what I said to myself when I was going up the stairs, when I found her. Verbatim. Maybe there's hope," I said.

And she just smiled even wider and she wrapped her arms around me and... I guess we just stood like that for a while, you know, together.

Now, OK, so, finding Chloe did feel pretty good, right? I mean, apart from the fact that it just felt good to find someone in trouble and help them, Simone and I obviously both felt that, well, just as important as that was the fact that if Chloe was alive, then there must be others. And maybe a great many others. But, honestly, in that moment, with Simone's arms wrapped around me, the thing that felt best about this for me was that I was able to share it with her. You know? Like, good news is always so much better when you can share it, especially when it makes the person you're sharing it with so happy. And Simone was... she was glowing.

"She was so excited to have a shower," she said. I could hear the water running upstairs.

"I'll bet," I said. "What about clothes?"

"She's pretty tiny," she said, "I don't think Danielle's stuff will really fit her, but I don't think that's going to bother her too much. Better it be too big than too small anyway. I left some stuff out for her, on the bed in Danielle's room - is that OK?"

"Sure, good idea," I said. But something else occurred to me.

Some context here first though. So, the house had three bedrooms upstairs, well, four, kind of, but one was kind of out of action as a bedroom at that point. So the one I'd been sleeping in was, kind of, mine. I mean, like I said before, I'd never actually lived in this house, but my parents still felt it was important when they moved here that I had a room that I felt was 'mine', you know. I always thought that was really nice of them actually. And it was definitely convenient that there were some of my clothes here. Anyway, Simone had been staying in Danielle's old room and my parents' room was empty.

So, I guess I hadn't had any time to consider where Chloe might sleep but I thought it was interesting that Simone had mentioned Danielle's room. That was, kind of, her room, right?

"So," I said, "does this mean you're, ah, you're going to be moving to my room... you know... full time?" I kind of looked down at her, pretty sheepishly I guess.

"Hmm, I hadn't thought about that," she said and smirked back up at me. "I guess... well... I don't know Jim," she said, and her smile kind of faded. "Do you think we should tell her about... about us? Who did you tell I was?"

"I told her you were... my friend," I said, "I mean, she knows we only just met on the First Day. I didn't tell her anything about... you know..."

"You mean you didn't tell her that you've been fucking my brains out and making me cum all over the place for the last two days?" she said, and there was more smirking.

"No," I said, "I, ah, I didn't think that would have been appropriate."

"You were probably right," she said, but her smile faded again. "Still... maybe it's better..." She drifted off.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"Jim," she said, "I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't been able to keep my hands off you since you got back..."

"I have actually," I said. "Not that I'm objecting to it mind you," and I felt her arms tighten around me a little.

"Yeah," she said, "well, what I'm saying is, I don't think we're going to be able to keep... this... us I guess, a secret for very long. Anyway, I don't think we should. I mean, we've said to each other how important it is to be honest and I think it's just as important... if we want to get her to trust us..."

"I think you're right Simone," I said, "absolutely. She's obviously been traumatized. I think we can help her, but it's definitely not a good idea to start off our relationship with her by... trying to hide something from her. And besides, I'm a terrible liar."

"OK," she said, and kind of laughed a little, "so... I mean, we don't need to come right out and announce it or anything, we'll just... you know, be... open with her I guess."

"Right," I said, "like if she came in right now and saw us like this, she'd figure it out for herself."

"Exactly," she said.

Now, I wasn't conscious that I'd heard it stop, but I think I became aware in that moment that the shower wasn't running upstairs anymore.

"Shit," I said, "I better get back to the..."

"Yeah, of course," she said, "I'll... I'll check on Chloe."

So off I went to get Chloe's first hot meal in two weeks ready. Now obviously, like I said, we weren't capable of Michelin star cuisine or anything but in the circumstances I was pretty happy with what I could make: tagliatelle with tomato sauce and little chunks of canned hot dogs. I know, right? Food of the gods.

Still, honestly, it was pretty heart warming to see Chloe's face just light up when I came in the back door with the pot in my arms. She and Simone were sitting at the table chatting and Simone got up when she heard me and started to collect plates and glasses and whatever.

"I'm sorry in advance Chloe," I said and I set the pot on the table, "this isn't exactly haute cuisine, but it's hot and it's good."

"Oh my god, are you kidding?" she said, and she had this kind of look of wonder on her face, you know. "It smells so good, I'm literally drooling here."

Simone and I both laughed, Chloe did too. Simone was standing next to me, putting down a plate in front of Chloe and she kind of draped a hand on my shoulder. I mean, it was just a simple absent-minded gesture of affection, you know, but I definitely noticed it and I guess I was feeling a little bit nervous of what Chloe would think of Simone and me.

Now, I have to tell you at this point, although it would become much clearer as time went by, and I'd probably got a couple of insights into it in our short interactions even up to that point, but it turns out Chloe is a pretty forthright person. I mean, I'm sure other people could think of more pejorative words to describe this aspect of her personality I guess, but I'll stick with forthright for now.

Anyway, the reason I mention this now is that, no sooner had the food been served out and Simone and I had sat down to eat too, she said something that nearly made me choke on a little chunk of canned hot dog.

"So," she said, "are you guys, like, a couple or something?"

Now, I'm pretty sure my face went instantly red, and not from choking on the fucking hot dog. I already knew Simone was a lot less easy to embarrass than I was so I was seriously hoping she'd field the answer to this.

In fact, swear to god, rather than answer, she fucking laughed. Laughed out loud. And I could see Chloe was smirking a little too and I guess I was anxious not to let her question go unanswered, you know, so I decided to speak up. Now, I mean, obviously I made this decision without actually thinking of what I'd say. Had I, I probably would have come up against the problem that... well... I didn't actually know the answer, right?

I mean, I know our situation was unique and all, but... I just wasn't sure that having sex four or five times and telling each other that we loved each other did, in fact, mean that we were a couple. And I do try not to be presumptuous.

"Well... ah... Chloe..." I started, and then the facts I just mentioned jumped to the front of my mind and I guess I drifted off pretty fast and totally involuntarily, like automatically looked over at Simone. Honestly, I'm not sure if I did it because I thought I'd find the answer I was looking for in her face or because I wanted her to take over the answer. Anyway, either way, she rescued me.

"Yes Chloe," she said, "we are." When she'd stopped laughing I mean. And, well, that settled that I guess. Honestly, it kind of took me aback for a second and then I was like, you know what? Of course we are.

"Jim and I..." she said and draped her hand on my shoulder again, "well, I guess Jim and I realized recently... that we had feelings for each other. I know it's kind of odd to start a relationship in these circumstances, end of the world and everything but, well, the heart wants what it wants, you know?"

I think I probably expected Chloe to be embarrassed or something but I got no sign of that when I looked at her. She was kind of looking at both of us, Simone and I, but was also still putting food in her mouth.

"Sure," she said, "I get it. That's cool." And she just looked totally unaffected, as if her question and Simone's answer had been about something totally innocuous, you know, like, I don't know, our favorite color or something.

"Yes it is," Simone said and I was conscious that she was looking at me. I really fucking liked it when she looked at me like that. Like she loved me. So I guess I was looking at her too with the same expression. In any case, I guess I was conscious of Chloe again, you know, smirking at us.

"Sorry Chloe," Simone said, "I guess we're still pretty new at being a couple, I hope we haven't made you feel uncomfortable."

"Not at all," she said, "I have no problem with public displays of affection."