The Fallout

Austin’s P.O.V

What exactly am I…going through? Sure, it wasn’t unlike me to help those in need, but what that Matt guy said a few days ago had really gotten to me. Why had I decided on a whim to take in six strangers? I guess I could pin it to the twisting gut feeling I had gotten when we passed them on our way out…but still, something didn’t sit right with me.

The last 2 days have been straight from hell, luckily, we hadn’t had to stop for anything. Tino and I had always been…paranoid, if you will. Our RV was stocked with food, gas, weapons, water, medicine, anything you could ever need; so we only really had to stop to fill our tanks again. We were currently 2,000 miles away from Washington, though I wasn’t quite sure where we were either. Over the last few days we had all gotten a bit more acquainted, telling each other a few basic things about the other and calling that enough. No sense in getting too close, not after the things we had come to witness.

City’s were in ruin, some completely burned to the ground, or abandoned all together, it was disheartening, to see the world in such a disarray; but this is what I was prepared for. My father, and Tino’s father were close friends back in the day, they were both special agents of the CIA, and despite them being part of the government, they were terrified of what it could do. They made sure Tino and I both knew how to prep, shoot, hunt, everything that was in all reality, necessary for survival, but then they both disappeared after going on a mission. Never heard another word about their whereabouts but that led me to believe that something was very, very, wrong, something corrupt.

“Austin look.” Tino pointed at an old looking hotel, one that was seemingly untouched by all the destruction around it, I nodded my head, moving the curtain from the drivers cabin out of the way and turning to face everyone in the camper,

“Up ahead is a hotel, I don’t see any signs of that gas, which leads me to believe it already made Its way through, we can set camp up there. When we get out here stay on high alert, grab anything you can carry, though we will need to make few trips. Let’s get everything inside before we start to find a room, it needs to be in the heart of the building, no windows if possible. You ready?” I grabbed my semi automatic gun, clutching it to my chest.

“What makes you an expert on all things apocalypse?” the tallest one, Jona grunted.

“Well do you have a better idea?” I seethed; frankly this was the one guy who got under my skin. Everyone else was rather nice, eager to help, save for the fact that they looked every bit of terrified. I was good at reading body language; it was something I must have picked up from my father. For instance, I could tell Lee was more of the ‘I don’t have anything to say because I don’t care,’ Kind of person. Jona was a know it all, he had an aura around him that could pass for the world’s biggest ego. Kean was a bit more reserved, not quite in the slightest but careful with the words he spoke and actions he took, like he thought everything about before doing it. Matt was a bit more…rambunctious then the others, he was often a tad too loud, and always had an opinion, but he was a great comfort to his friends when they needed it; almost like he put himself second to them. Tom, was either extremely introverted or in shock, he would only talk to Matt, Lee and his brother. Speaking of his brother, Oli, was certainly an odd character himself. He seemed a bit off putting at first, but in all reality he was a very genuine person. Whenever he wasn’t tending to his brother or friends he would make himself of use, offering me a hand at doing simple tasks such as preparing food or cleaning up, he certainly…sparked my interest. For some odd reason anyways.

“No.” Jona’s gruff voice cut me back into reality, I sighed.

“Ready?” Tino asked, pulling the van up to a large loading dock door at the back end of the hotel, I nodded.

“Grab as many bags as you can, I’ll go sweep the area, and make sure there’s a way inside.” I gripped my gun tighter, before quickly unlatching the door and going out of it into the brisk air, it smelled foul, almost like decomposing skin and blood; sadly, it probably was. I decked around the side of the vehicle, scoping out the area as well as I could in the early morning hours. No one seemed to be around, which I was thankful for; I carefully made my way to the loading dock door, trying to jiggle the handle, but just my luck; it was locked. I cursed under my breathe, before using all the strength I had to kick the door, it swung open as the wood inside splintered. I turned in time to see Alan poking his head out from the van door so I gave a thumbs up, before slipping inside.

It was dark, almost pitch black except for the small amounts of light that came in through the small windows and open door. The foul smell was even more putrid, and I could hear someone behind me gag, I couldn’t blame them.

“Austin, ugh do you see anyone?” Phil whined,

“No, I think were good. I’ll open the garage door, bring the van in and we will barricade that door.” I squinted in the dark, searching for the rope to pull the door open, after a few minutes I found it. I tugged on the chord, watching with content as the long door swung open and Tino pulled the van inside, once he was a safe distance away I shut it with ease. Tino came out, setting the lantern on the ground, and giving us some light in the dismal garage. We found a few old pieces of metal and old pallets, using those to block off the door I busted down.

“Ready to go?” Phil asked, snatching up a handful of bags, we all nodded. I took the spot at the lead, cautiously scoping out the area as we made our way inside, the lobby was pitch black, thankfully our lantern lit up a good chunk of the room. I snatched multiple room keys, eying the map and picking out an ideal place, no windows, and in the heart of the building.

“8th floor, and we have to use the stairs, try to keep up.” I muttered, opening the door to the stairwell.

“Easy for you to say, you’re not caring anything.” I heard Jona grumble, I kindly shrugged it off. After a few intense moments full of complaining we arrived at the 8th floor.

“Room 819, let’s go.” Thankfully, the hotel was empty, from what I could tell at least. Everyone probably fled at the start of the evacuation, but the putrid smell was sickening, and only growing as we had ascended the stairs. Which in itself, was peculiar.

“Here it is.” Oli whispered, stopping in front of the door, a sad smile on his lips; I laid a hand on his shoulder.

“I know It's not ideal, but this is better than facing the roads right now. We still don’t know what’s going on…but as far as this destruction has spread…I don’t know if there’s any safe zone, we need to try to find a radio.” He nodded, moving over and allowing me to unlock the door; I smirked as I stepped inside. The en suite was perfectly fine, no damage done despite the situation, oddly enough; there were still mints on the bed from when it had been cleaned.

“Well here we are. Make your selves comfy.”

I helped everyone arrange our things, keeping them all together in case we needed to bug out in a hurry, after we were finished everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“We need to set up some kind of guard duty.” Tino sat down on the sofa in the small living area, folding his hands quietly.

“I can do it first…” the room went a bit quiet as Matt raised his hand carefully, he shrugged. “You all have done so much for us, just figured I could do my part too. I’m not completely useless, ‘m a good shot too.”He grinned,

“Well…alright. Just be careful, don’t wonder to far on your own.” I sighed, making my way over to grab a rifle, before handing it off to him.

“Stay safe, yell if you need anything.” Oli inclined, shooting his friend a nervous glance, Tom fidgeted in his spot, clearly not happy with Matt’s decision.

“Alright,” Matt chided, walking towards the duo and placing a hand on the younger ones shoulder, “No worries, I’ll be ‘lright.” With that he carefully slipped out of the door; Leaving us to our own devices, and a lot of things to try to figure out.


-*-


Matt’s P.O.V

To be honest, I needed some space. That’s why I carelessly tossed out the idea of being on guard duty, carelessly being the word. I wasn’t sure If I needed to be alone, or just needed to get away; all i knew was that I needed…time. Time to process what had happened over the last few days, the thought of all these people being…dead. What happened to my friends? Family? Were they okay? Was this strictly limited to the United States, or was it everywhere? Too many possibilities were floating around in my head, too many scenarios that’s did nothing but stress me out. I aimlessly walked the halls, checking out my new surroundings. I was unbelievably thirsty, but was in no mood to return to the room and deal with people at the moment. It wasn’t like they annoyed me, I just couldn’t think straight when I was surrounded by 10 other people, it was overwhelming.

A loud clanking noise startled me as I came to a halt in front of two double doors, I cautiously opened them, sighing in relief as two large windows provided light, the room was empty, the clanking noise was emitting from a pipe, a water pipe. Hastily I opened a cupboard, looking for a glass, in hope that the water was still turned on. If it weren’t for my rash actions I would have pondered whether or not it was safe to drink, but I was severely dehydrated as I didn’t want to dwindle the others supplies much faster then was necessary, and I wasn’t even completely sure if they could be trusted. I had even told Jona to keep an eye on them before I departed, sighing, I switched the knob on, breathing in relief as a spurt of water gushed down, I slipped the glass under it. I switched it off when it was full, before putting the glass to my lips and taking a sip, regret instantly pooled in my stomach. I spit it out as fast as I could, tossing the glass in the sink as an overwhelming sense of pain came over me, I tried to scream but my mouth felt raw, and I could only pray that I didn’t swallow any of the vile liquid. Last thing I needed was my throat closing, I staggered backwards, hitting the island and sliding to the floor.

It felt like a flamethrower had been placed in my mouth, I sputtered out blood which only sent me into an even more shocked state. A sharp throb made my eyes screw shut as I once again tried to scream, but I only managed to let out a hoarse groan. Panicked, I tried to pick myself up, but from the excruciating pain I found myself unable to stand. Tears streamed from my eyes as I flipped onto my stomach, ditching the gun and desperately trying to crawl back to the room. A sob shook through me, this was by far the most horrible feeling I had ever experienced, not even a broken arm could compare to the horrifying feeling that this was. I drug my tongue across my bottom teeth, silently being thankful that it hadn’t melted off, but it did deliver a horrible pang to my stomach, I felt like I was going to puke.

I struggled to pull myself down the hall, and after making it halfway it didn’t feel like my limbs were going to pull me anymore, I cried out as best as I could, slamming my hand on the wall with the last bit of strength I could muster. Within a few seconds I could see a bright flash as a door swung open, my eyes began to grow heavy as the pain became unbearable. I could make out someone yelling for help, but my ears were beginning to warp sounds. The last thing I did was pry my eyes open in time to see everyone standing over me, their mouths moving but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying; then I gave in; allowing myself to fall into a pained unconscious state.

Notes

I feel like im much better at writing dark stuff then normal stuff. Lol, oops.
Anyways, this was fun to write XD poor Matteh, wonder if he will be okay...

please comment/sub/vote

<3

xoxo
Siren