The Wayward Two

Asher and Olivia stared at one another for nearly a full minute in silence.

Olivia was still panting after running such a long way, her hospital gown slightly crooked, her bare feet cold from the puddles she'd sprinted through, hairs slightly askew as she gave a nervous glance out the window beside her.

Then—she gasped and ducked down, scrambling under the table and vanishing from sight.

Asher raised his brows, stiffening in his seat as she wormed into the corner down below, hiding behind his legs and curling up there, her back against the wall, hugging her knees and making herself as small as possible.

He eyed the corner of his booth, where he was just able to see a bit of her blonde hair—then the diner door swung open again with another ching-a-ling.

The burly security guard from Hawthorn stormed into the diner, gasping and wiping his sweaty brow, surveying the entire interior of the diner, though it was mostly empty.

Asher glimpsed up at him, setting his newspaper down on the corner of his table, letting the comics drape over the edge of the table as he did, ensuring the girl would remain fully out of the man's sight.

The security guard leaned on the front counter for a moment, catching his breath, then turned to Asher and gave him a quizzical look.

"You seen a girl come by here?" he wheezed. "Lil' blonde girl in a hospital gown…?"

Asher shook his head nonchalantly. "Nope. Nobody here but me."

The guard let out a groaning sigh, his gaze venturing to the windows, eyeing the street outside.

"Aaah… fuck," he grumbled, moving briskly out the door and leaving the diner.

Asher turned, staring out his window and watching as the security guard stormed across the street in the distance, speed-walking onto the opposite sidewalk and soon vanishing around the nearest corner.

Then, he gently shifted his foot to the side, tapping the girl lightly on her shin.

"He's gone now," Asher said.

Olivia gulped, glancing up at the bottom of the table, where a few mounds of ancient gum were stuck to the edges. Then, she slowly crawled out of her hiding spot, emerging in the leathery bench across from him and settling in the seat.

Asher gave her a peculiar stare.

Olivia sighed heavily, totally exhausted and lying over the table, resting on one of her arms and closing her eyes.

When she eventually opened her eyes again, she raised her head, looking to the suited man across from her.

Asher perked his brow, lifting his little plastic basket of French fries and giving it a shake, offering it to her.

Olivia smirked, but her eyes wandered over to the iced tea, gazing into it longingly.

Asher caught her lingering stare, then pulled the paper off his straw, sank it into the iced tea, and scooted it over to her.

Olivia beamed, taking the drink and sucking down gulp after gulp through the straw, closing her eyes and savoring the cold, refreshing beverage. Nearly the entire glass was empty before she thought to stop and scoot it back to him. Then, she took the fries and began snacking on them hungrily, swiping her bangs from her eyes and feeling much better all the sudden.

Asher's eyes narrowed, sitting leaned back in his bench and tapping thoughtfully along his chin.

"M'kay," he uttered. "This would be the part where you tell me where you came from."

Olivia instantly stopped, freezing in her seat and giving him a skeptical look.

"I'm not gonna take you back there," Asher clarified. "I just wanna know."

Olivia slowly swallowed her mouthful of fry, lifting another one and staring down at the rest of them. "Hawthorn…"

As she kept eating, Asher continued to observe her.

"Why'd you run away?" he asked.

"Didn't wanna be there anymore," she mumbled into the fry basket.

Asher leaned forward, intertwining his fingers and resting his chin on his hands. "Okay. Well… you need a ride somewhere?"

Olivia slowly stopped her chewing, looking up and glancing to the side, pondering on this and absentmindedly twirling one of the French fries around her fingers.

"Huh," she uttered, cracking a childlike smile. "I didn't think that far…"

Asher stared at her. "Do you have anywhere to go…?"

Olivia met his eyes, smiling wider and shaking her head. "Nope. Hahah… I didn't really care."

She ate the fry in her hand, and he surveyed her even more intently.

"You ran away when you had nowhere to go," Asher muttered vacantly.

"Mhm," Olivia shrugged. "Only place I can think of is my ex's… but he's kind of a jackass."

Asher gave her an odd look. "How much of a jackass?"

Olivia chewed on another fry, extending her free hand and revealing her arm, where a thin, jagged scar was shining dimly in the diner's fluorescence, crookedly wrapped around her forearm and just reaching the edge of her wrist.

Asher stared down at the scar, his expression hardening, pressing his intertwined hands to his mouth and thinking of nothing to say.

"Damn," he breathed without forethought.

"His scar's bigger," Olivia laughed, plucking another fry from the basket.

Asher met her gaze again, eyeing her strangely. "What?"

"Well… it's not 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 his fault, 'cause he was on drugs," Olivia said with an odd nonchalance, making a sideways nod. "But he flipped out on me for coming home like half an hour late, and he cut my arm open. That's why I stabbed his wiener."

Asher had just started drinking what was left of his tea, suddenly choking on it and setting it back down, giving her another bizarre once-over.

Olivia giggled, combing her bangs aside and biting her lip as her grin began to widen. "Sorry. I'm a psycho. You helped a psycho."

Asher stared, his fingers stroking mindlessly along the base of his glass.

Then, he sighed and made a halfhearted shrug, the presence of his bulky metal firearm seeming oddly more noticeable to him now, as he felt it pressing into his back while he readjusted in his bench. He leaned onto the table, crossing his arms and releasing another breath before he looked to her again.

"Honestly," Asher exhaled, his expression seeming to soften. "You don't sound like one."

Olivia stopped eating again, shooting him a strange sort of look.

Of all the ways she might've expected someone to react to her stories of the past, this certainly wasn't one of them. Most of the time, people wore shocked expressions whenever she told these stories, and it happened so often, she'd long since gotten used to it, being ogled by others as if she was from another world entirely.

But, the man across from her didn't seem terribly perturbed like all the rest.

Asher had a calm, distant look about him now, sliding his fingers together again and making another loose shrug.

"You sound like you just got pushed too far," he mumbled into his hands, thumping them lightly to his mouth, gazing thoughtfully down at the edge of the table. "It happens…"

Olivia read him, feeling as if he must've understood it all, at least to come degree.

Asher's eyes flickered back over to her. "You don't have 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 to go?"

Olivia gulped, shaking her head.

Asher stifled another sigh, leaning back in his seat and running a hand down his face.

This had certainly complicated things. Initially, he'd simply planned to stroll about the city, doing whatever he pleased until his consequences eventually caught up with him. But now—this girl sat across from him, a girl who was on the run from a mental hospital, who had nowhere to go, no home, and no one else to turn to.

He didn't plan to leave her to her own devices, of course—but he couldn't think of where to go from here.

"What're you gonna do now?" Asher inquired, lowering his hands and leaning on the table again. "You have any idea…?"

Olivia glanced down, staring into the half-gone fries and drawing a blank.

"I don't know," she uttered at a loss. "I guess I could go to my old friend's places, and see if any of them would let me…"

"No… no, you can't do that," Asher mumbled, shaking his head and looking away, dwelling deeply on the situation.

Olivia squinted at him. "Why not?"

Asher narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you not seen what's going on outside?"

Olivia paused to think, looking down and shrugging. "I was just running. I didn't really… I wasn't really… paying attention to anything else…"

"Well… there's some end-of-the-world shit going on all across the city," Asher informed. "You can't go wandering around knocking on people's doors. Not alone. And definitely not unarmed."

"End of the… 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵?" Olivia breathed, giving him a wild look. "What happened…?"

"I don't know… something big," Asher replied. "Big enough to scare the living hell out of the entire population. There're riots, and looters, and some storm-trooper-looking fuckers dragging people off in trucks. I don't know anything beyond that."

Olivia made a face, then slid out of the booth and marched across the empty diner, reaching up to the TV in the corner and pressing the buttons. She flipped the channel several times until it landed on a news station, then began turning the volume up.

Asher stood, pocketing his hands and sauntering over to her, both of them staring up at the screen in silence.

"… from the attack on Oak Ridge this morning," a news reporter woman was saying, sitting in a studio and motioning to the screen behind her, which depicted a catastrophic scene of ruins and debris. "Numerous reports from all over the United States have landed the country in panic. Experts are saying that this, a widespread series of devastating attacks, was all that was needed to push the economic decline completely over the edge."

Olivia frowned as she watched, grasping her gown and fidgeting absentmindedly with it.

Asher wore a thoughtful visage, feeling no fear or worry, merely absorbing the information before walking calmly back to his booth.

Olivia continued watching the TV for a moment before she joined him.

The two were quiet for a minute, and Asher lifted the knife from beside his plate, beginning to cut the large bacon cheeseburger in half. Then, he placed one of the halves into the fry basket and slid it over to her.

Olivia stared down at it, then at him.

"Go ahead," Asher urged, swatting the air. "I don't need the whole thing."

Olivia nodded, thanking him before taking a large bite of her burger, smirking at the delicious taste. Asher began to eat his as well, and neither of them spoke again until they were finished.

Once the burger was gone, Olivia licked her fingers, turning and gazing back at the TV, then facing Asher.

"Are we crazy?" she asked.

Asher finished polishing off his fingers with his napkin, scoffing out a laugh. "Why?"

"Well, we just…" Olivia mumbled, shrugging and twirling her hairs. "We're acting like none of that is a big deal. I mean… I don't feel like I… even care."

Asher met her gaze, raising his brows and nodding sideways. "Well, neither do I. The world's been a fucked-up place for a long damn time. That hasn't changed just because some of it got kicked into higher gear today."

They fell silent again, Olivia nodding and finishing the last few fries.

"Okay, Loonybird…" Asher sighed, hunching on the table. "What're you gonna do?"

Olivia swallowed, resting back against the bench and folding her arms, gazing out the window.

"Wander," she mumbled.

Asher's eyes narrowed. "Wander?"

Olivia nodded vacantly. "There's nothing else to do."

Asher studied her closely for a moment, then followed her trail of vision out the window, his mind working up a storm.

Honestly, he felt freer than he ever had today, and he knew that this caution-to-the-wind demeanor might land him in serious trouble eventually. He planned to carry on, to just keep doing whatever he wanted until someone managed to stop him, or until he felt like finally stopping himself—but now, as his eyes wandered back over to her, staring into her profoundly, sunlight glistening against his hazel-gold stare, he couldn't ignore the obvious new facts that had suddenly found their way to him.

One fact was—this girl would be safer with him than anywhere else she could go right now.

Another fact was—he'd been alone for far too long now, and the idea of some form of companionship was, admittedly, alluring.

But the biggest and most blatant fact was this; Asher had no purpose in life, and now, some small hint of a purpose had suddenly found him, a girl who needed his help.

Here he sat, Asher Cullen, someone who once led a stupid little street gang on these very streets, someone who knew every road and alley, every nook and cranny, every useful store, and everything else about Knoxville—and he was armed, having thrown all care for his old life out the window before meeting this girl right after. He didn't have to worry about any of his own life plans being compromised by anything he did anymore, and he was certainly capable of protecting someone.

He was, logically, exactly what she needed right now.

"Wander…" Asher exhaled, tapping the table and looking to her, cracking his signature smirk from the old days. "That's exactly what I was gonna do."

Olivia turned and stared at him.

"And… I don't know how you feel about 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, but… I did plan on going on a shopping spree, too," Asher told her coyly. "I don't have any real plans, either. My life ambitions all kinda fell through today, so wandering around sounds just fine… and you look like you might want something new to wear. Or at least shoes."

Olivia paused, slowly revealing a wide, beaming smile.

Asher chuckled at the delighted look on her face, extending his hand over the table. "What's your name?"

"Olivia," she grinned, giving his hand a firm shake.

"Well'p… I'm Asher," Asher replied, withdrawing his hand and making a two-fingered salute. "Nice to meetcha. And, seeing as how neither of us has anywhere to go, or anything to do… you wanna go have some fun?"

"Yeah!" Olivia rejoiced, punching the air with glee. "Oh—dude, I 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 you! You're awesome!"

Asher laughed, reaching his feet and flipping out his wallet, placing the usual amount of cash on the table and pinning it there with his empty glass. Then, he collected his cigarettes and wine bottle, turning to Olivia and joining her side before they both sauntered out of the diner.

They emerged beneath the early afternoon sunlight and strolled out onto the sidewalk, Asher turning his head and surveying the entire strip up and down, seeing that only five of the parked vehicles remained on the sidelines now.

"We're gonna need a ride," he mumbled, his eyes landing on the dark blue convertible, which was parked just outside the convenient store. "Oooh… I know who's 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 is…"

Asher broke into a brisk stride down the walkway, Olivia grinning broadly as she followed.

He tossed his belongings into the back seat of the convertible, then turned to the convenient store and pulled the glass door open.

Karl—who was struggling to sweep all the broken glass from the floor—gasped and dropped his broom, staggering back and raising his hands the moment he spotted Asher again.

Asher leaned halfway into the store, his gun trained on the manager, wearing his sly half-smile.

"Keys?" he asked, jabbing a thumb outside, where the convertible sat.

Karl gaped at him, shakily reaching to his side and pulling his keys from his pocket. He tossed them across the store—and Asher caught them swiftly, making a wink and a click of the tongue before he stepped outside again.

"Holy crap… did you just 𝘳𝘰𝘣 that guy?!" Olivia gasped, following him to the car.

"Yeah… but he's an asshole," Asher replied dismissively, grabbing the driver door and leaping briskly over it, landing smoothly in the driver seat. "C'mon."

Olivia laughed, hurrying around the car and jumping into the passenger seat.

Asher started the engine, spotting a pair of blue reflective sunglasses hanging from the rearview mirror. He took the sunglasses and slid them onto his face, then shifted gears and sped out down the road with haste, Olivia turning the radio up as he did.

And just as the shining blue convertible raced away—another vehicle appeared at the opposite end of the road, just arriving on the strip and screeching to a halt on top of the sidewalk in front of the diner.

It was a huge old van, a dark navy blue with chipped and peeling paint—and its driver door popped open, a man leaning out and surveying the nearest building rather closely.

The man was older than Asher, with a careworn visage and a head of wild brown hairs, scraggly, blown back, and relatively unkempt. He wore an old jean jacket, and he had a pair of wild brown eyes, his brow bone wrinkling as he glared into the windows of the diner, seeing nobody inside.

"Damn," Elliot rasped, smacking his driver door. "Damn, damn, 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 all to hell… Asher…"

-----

The supercenter on the edge of the city was different from most. It was a tall, elongated building attached to a parking garage, and it seemed to be—thankfully—uninhabited now.

Asher cruised into the enormous parking garage, the convertible vanishing into the shade as Olivia continued to dance in her seat, jamming to the music that played from one of Karl's mix CDs, jutting her arms outright and tossing her hairs about.

Asher glanced over at her, scoffing out a laugh before slowing to a stop in a parking space, one near the glass doors that led into the supercenter. The parking garage was mostly empty, and everything was still and quiet once he powered the car off, which was a good sign, though he still scanned vigilantly up and down the interior or the parking garage, searching for movement and seeing none so far.

He couldn't know what to expect, or how many insane people he might run into, but he'd have to keep an eye out regardless.

When he removed the keys from the ignition, the music suddenly vanished. Olivia stopped her dancing, sighing and dropping her arms.

"Awww," she moaned.

"It'll be here when we get back," Asher told her, popping the driver door open and stepping out of the car. "C'mon."

"Oooh… I remember this place," Olivia mumbled, flipping over the passenger door and landing swiftly on the pavement. "First it was a WalMart, then it was a Publix…"

"Now it's something else," Asher nodded, eyeing the glass doors across from him. "Can't remember what it's called now. I haven't been here in a long time."

"How long?" Olivia wondered, joining his side.

Asher pocketed his hands as the two of them marched forward. "Since it was a WalMart."

"Ohh. Then it 𝘸𝘢𝘴 a long time ago," Olivia knew. "How old are you?"

Asher turned and squinted at her. "How old are 𝘺𝘰𝘶?"

"Twenty-nine," she said.

"Ah." Asher stopped at the doors and pulled one open. "Well, I'm thirty-three. Now shhh. Be quiet for a second."

He inched into the building, pausing and glancing around, listening for any sounds and hearing nothing. Then, he stepped fully inside, motioning for her to follow.

The two of them found themselves in a tall, narrow enclosure. To the left were two elevators, and in front of them were two sets of escalators, though they didn't seem to be turned on now. The mechanical stairs were as immobile as any regular staircase.

"The store is upstairs," Asher told her, marching up the stairs. "Let's go. Stay close."

Olivia trailed after him, following him up to the second floor and gazing up at the enormous windows, sunlight beaming inside. She grinned up at the light, feeling suddenly more at peace.

Asher clutched his gun tightly, holding it low by his side as they reached the top of the stairs. The entrance to the supercenter was directly left, as well as a long row of grocery carts. The second set of glass doors had been propped open, one by a gumball machine, the other by an overturned soda machine.

Asher's hand shot out, halting Olivia mid-step.

He narrowed his eyes at the doors, hearing a series of loud, obnoxious noises inside. Some of the noises were voices, shouting and laughing, and the strangers were causing one hell of a ruckus inside. It sounded like they were breaking whatever they came into contact with.

Asher held a finger to his lips, motioning for Olivia to keep quiet.

He moved cautiously toward the doors and peeked inside, seeing three young men jumping on the counters. They leaped from one to another, kicking the cash registers until they shattered apart. They were scrambling to grab the money, stuffing their pockets full of cash before moving onto the next cash register and repeating their barbaric routine.

"Idiots," Asher whispered.

"What do we do?" Olivia murmured.

"Let them have the cash," Asher told her, leading her inside. "That's not what we came for."

One of the young men—a Caucasian twenty-something with shaved blond hair—suddenly whirled around, standing on a nearby checkout counter and meeting Asher's eyes.

Asher simply stared at him.

The young man returned the stare for a moment, then resumed his task of mindlessly attacking the cash registers, acting as if the newcomers simply weren't there.

"C'mon," Asher said, waving Olivia onward. "They're minding their own business. Let's mind ours. Grab a cart."

Olivia pulled a grocery cart from the outside and pushed it into the store. Asher took it, pushing it toward the produce section, his eyes lingering on the trio of young men.

None of them were armed, and they weren't paying Asher or Olivia any mind. Hopefully, it would stay that way.

They both moved past the produce section—Olivia grabbing several cantaloupes and watermelons and placing them loudly in the cart as they ventured past—and then, they found themselves wandering into the frozen food section.

"College kids from UT… and they're out here playing raider now," Asher mumbled as he pushed the cart along, still able to hear the distant echoing of the boys' voices from across the store. "They're gonna be dead before anyone else out here."

Olivia, who had been surveying the coolers of frozen foods, whirled around and gave him a curious look. "Why do you say that…?"

"Because… they think cash is gonna solve all their problems," Asher told her grimly. "But I think we're past that point now…"

"Basic 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 is what we need," Olivia figured, smiling and slapping the side of the cart. "Yup. I hear you. Hey—can I go get a new outfit?"

"Yeah… but food and water first," Asher replied. "And then we need to hit the hunting section."

"What kind of food do you want?" Olivia wondered. "Ohmigod—I have a 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 craving for some frozen pizzas!"

"Where are we gonna cook those?" Asher asked her pointedly.

"I don't know. Don't you have a house?" Olivia responded.

"Well, yeah, but I wasn't planning on going 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 there…"

"Why not?"

"Because… I don't…"

Asher sighed, gnawing his lip and thinking of his neighbors, the insufferable Mrs. Farber and the loud, obnoxious college jocks who lived further down the hall. He couldn't imagine how any of them were handing this nationwide emergency, but it couldn't have been well—and the last thing he wanted was to deal with another confrontation with them.

"I really didn't think that far ahead," Asher mumbled.

"How far ahead?" Olivia wondered.

"About where to go for the night."

"What…? Why wouldn't you think about that…?"

"Because, I didn't think I'd… get that far…"

Olivia stopped, grasping the side of the cart and eyeing him strangely.

Asher shook his head and pushed the cart onward, and she continued glaring at him from behind as he did.

"But… new scenario… new rules," Asher said as he carried on. "So… yeah… we're gonna have to go back there. Especially if there's nowhere else for you to go. Just hoping my damn neighbors aren't still there…"

"Why?" Olivia said, rejoining his side. "Are they assholes…?"

"Oh yeah," Asher laughed. "But… I can deal with that now…"

Olivia shrugged and vanished around the corner, returning moments later with an overflowing armful of frozen pizzas, a couple bags of pizza rolls dangling loosely from her curled fingers. Asher breathed out a laugh at the sight of her lumbering back into the aisle, working to shovel all of the frozen goods into the cart without dropping any of them.

All the sudden—he heard a distant shattering noise, scoffing and rolling his eyes.

Those young boys were destroying everything in the store, sounded like.

Then—Asher slowly looked up from the cart, a grim realization suddenly striking him.

Those boys had shattered something—something made of glass, from the sound of it, meaning they weren't just destroying the cash registers up front anymore.

What could they have broken this time? The commercial mini-fridges? No, they wouldn't break those. The mini-fridges weren't locked, and unlike the cash registers, they wouldn't need to be broken in order to be opened.

There was another possibility, Asher realized. There was one other container in the store that was made of glass, one the boys wouldn't be able to open without breaking.

"Gun case," Asher uttered.

"Hm?" Olivia mumbled.

"Shit." Asher jabbed a finger at her. "Stay here. Don't move."

At once—Asher jogged out of the aisle, holding his gun high and sprinting through the store, heading straight for the hunting section as his heart began to race.

He couldn't let those kids arm themselves. God only knew what they'd do if they got their hands on those guns.

There'd be armed dipshit college kids running amok throughout the store before Asher and Olivia could hope to leave, and that situation presented far too much risk to their safety—no, he had to stop them. Now.

The boys were standing in the hunting section, surrounded by knives, hunting clothes, and boxes of ammunition.

Two of them were on top of the counter, using a couple of bb guns to shatter the glass of the gun cases. The third boy—a young Caucasian wearing a beanie—was holding a machete he'd claimed from the knife selection.

Asher staggered to a stop in the hunting section—aiming his gun at the two boys on the counter.