Generational Clash

Asher awoke from the most comfortable sleep of his life when the sun began to rise.

At some point during the night, Olivia had decided to sleep on the edge of the bed instead of the couch she'd originally claimed, and she was now curled into the blankets, snoozing lightly and hugging a single pillow. He stood and glanced over at her, then slid into his suit jacket, observing the glorious morning scenery from the window.

Asher flashed a smile, feeling thoroughly refreshed and almost excited, just able to see two of downtown's glistening buildings on the distant horizon.

"Okay. C'mon," he said loudly, marching around the bed and planting his hands into it, bouncing it up and down right beside Olivia. "Come on—wake up—come on!"

Olivia groaned irritably, burying her face deeper into the pillow.

"You wanna go shopping again or not?" Asher asked, whipping the blankets off her. "Come 𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘯, Loonybird—let's go!"

Olivia rolled onto her back, her hairs messy, glaring up at him with a deadpan stare.

When she eventually crawled out of bed, she vanished to the bathroom, emerging a short while later in a black tank top and a pair of cargo pants, quickly brushing her hairs before heading downstairs alongside him.

"Hello, El—and goodbye," Asher said quickly, shuffling past Elliot, who had just stepped out of the kitchen with a single slice of pizza, chewing on his first bite.

"Seeya later!" Olivia beamed as she pranced past him as well.

"Wha—aahg—wai'a mi'nute," Elliot stammered and nearly choked, his mouth stuffed with pizza as he broke into a brisk stride after them.

Asher heard nothing from the room in the back of the hall, meaning the gamers were likely still asleep. He and Olivia pushed the back door open and emerged in the garage—and Elliot blundered out behind them seconds later.

"Gah… ahh," Elliot wheezed, forcibly swallowing all his food and frantically swatting for their attention. "𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 a damn minute!"

Asher and Olivia approached either side of the convertible, both of them wheeling around and eyeing him expectantly.

Elliot swallowed and cleared his throat twice more, then straightened up and jabbed his finger at the corner of the garage. "Take those with you."

Asher strolled over to him, squinting at the corner of the garage, where two large gas canisters sat on the edge of the long wooden workbench, both of them red, and both of them presumably empty.

"There's a gas station a block away from where the road lets out at the bottom of the hill," Elliot explained. "If you're gonna hit a quick place today—then that's the place to hit. In fact, fill up the car, and fill up whatever other containers you can find, too. Running out of gas isn't a problem we wanna end up having."

Asher stared at the gas cans, then turned to Elliot. "Good point. And while we're on that—if you feel like it—you can grab some gas cans when you go out today. That way, we can always fill up every time we go out."

"Ye'ap… I planned to," Elliot affirmed, grabbing the gas cans and carrying them over to the car. "Pop the trunk."

Asher leaned into the car and pulled the lever by the driver seat, making the trunk pop ajar. Elliot pulled it fully open and placed the gas cans inside before swiftly closing it again.

"Y'know what," Asher said, waving a finger at him. "You… d'you have any dud landmines?"

Elliot stopped, staring at him oddly.

"Shells… like… landmines that won't go off," Asher tried to explain. "Or maybe some dud grenades. You have anything like that?"

"I… have a few… things," Elliot replied in a slow, skeptical tone, ogling him strangely. "Whaddo you need 'em for…?"

"I have an idea," Asher said, sinking into the car and pulling the door shut. "Whenever you stop by your house, just grab whatever dud explosives you have and bring 'em back here."

"O… kay," Elliot muttered. "Happy trails…"

Asher slid the sunglasses on, starting up the engine as Olivia clicked her seatbelt into place. The car began playing music from the mix CD again, and the convertible rolled backward, cruising in a slow circle before Asher drove smoothly down the long, expansive hillside.

"Okay… hold on… before you get possessed by music again," Asher uttered, fidgeting with the stereo and switching it to FM radio. "Lemme just check on something first."

As he drove onto the back road, he used his free hand to surf the FM stations, hearing only static on each one. Then, he switched it back to CD mode, allowing the music to resume.

Asher nodded mildly, steering with one hand and leaning comfortably back in his seat, gazing into the vacant road ahead with only trees and fields surrounding.

Everything in the world was as empty and uninhabited as ever, and apparently, so were all the nearest radio stations. This meant that Knox County wasn't the only place that underwent mass evacuations. Presumably every county in east Tennessee had.

And, as he silently understood this, he wasn't even aware of his pleased little half-smile.

It was a good thing; this meant they were even less likely to encounter dangers than he initially thought. Aside from the random few stragglers, like the ones from the supercenter, Knoxville was empty—and it was practically his own personal oyster now.

"We need to hit a Sam's Club," Asher thought aloud. "Bulk stores like that would be ideal for us. But we'd have to use El's van for…"

He trailed off, noticing that Olivia was grinning and dancing madly in her seat again, thrashing her head back and forth and jutting her arms about as the music carried on.

Asher laughed, shaking his head and facing the windshield. "M'kay. Never mind."

He silently began to map out all the best places he knew to shop or loot in the Knoxville area, and while he did, Olivia started chanting the chorus of the currently song.

Before long, the isolated gas station slowly came into view on the right side of the road, sitting nestled between a wooded area and a small four-way intersection, one road leading into a neighborhood in the distance, one leading deeper into the woods, and one that led to the street connected to the city. The gas station resided on the corner, a small and rink-dink sort of place with only two gas pumps, the windows dark, the glass double-doors both closed, and no other people or cars anywhere in sight.

Asher rolled up to the double-doors and parked there, the convertible sitting between the entrance and the gas pumps, hidden in the shade of the outdoor rooftop above them. He powered the car off, and the music died, making both of them suddenly aware of the thick, heavy silence all around, not a sound stirring aside from the distant buzz of June bugs on the late summer air.

"That's weird," Olivia mumbled, popping her door open and stepping out. "You usually only hear June bugs when it's close to nighttime…"

"Yeah, well… they probably hear us, too," Asher remarked, climbing out and joining her. "Nature reacts whenever people come around."

The two of them strolled up to the glass doors, Olivia pressing her face into them and cupping her hands around her eyes, gazing into the darkened store and seeing no movement inside at all. When she stepped back, Asher tugged on the door handles, but neither of them would open, both of them locked.

It seemed whoever was running this store last decided to lock it up before they evacuated.

Asher and Olivia glanced at one another.

Then—with a curt smile—Asher whipped out his pistol and fired off an earsplitting shot.

Olivia reeled back and covered her ears, laughing gleefully as the door nearest Asher shattered and collapsed in a great, showering wave of broken glass.

A horribly deafening alarm began wailing from the store, but neither of them cared; they both sprang into action, marching inside and seizing everything they could carry.

Olivia carried numerous boxes from the shelves outside after stacking them on top of each other, crunching the glass with her tennis shoes as she placed the tower of snacks into the back of the car, mostly sweets and candies. Asher joined her a moment later, holding an alarming number of beef jerky products in his arms and shoveling them all into the car as well.

The two of them made countless more trips in and out of the store, scavenging all the junk foods they could and dumping them into the back of the car until the seats and the floors could no longer be seen. Eventually, the skull-rattling alarm finally fell silent, and they both moved on to the coolers next, grabbing everything from the small grocery cooler before snatching up several drinks—waters, juices, sodas, energy drinks, and six-packs.

Once it became clear that they could no longer fit anything into the back of the car—not without it overflowing the moment they began to drive—the two finally stopped their fun looting spree, and Asher drove the car around the gas pumps, pulling up beside one of them and filling the car's tank with gasoline.

He filled the two large canisters as well, placing them carefully back into the trunk before slamming it shut.

Then—the two of them faced each other, Asher rolling up his sleeve and checking his watch.

"Damn," he breathed, laughing and fixing his sleeve. "It's almost one. We were supposed to be back by noon."

"I think we can be an hour late," Olivia snickered, turning and smirking at the ridiculously overflowing mountain of foods and drinks in the back of the car. "He's not gonna be mad at us for prepping to the super extreme."

Asher laughed again. "Yeah, fair point…"

He sank into the driver seat while she jumped into the passenger side.

"Wait—wait," Olivia said, reaching over and clasping his arm. "Put the roof up."

Asher turned and eyed her. "There's a roof?"

"𝘠𝘦𝘴, dingus—down there," Olivia told him, reaching over his lap and pointing to the lever beside the trunk release. "It's a soft top. It'll stretch over the whole car. Then we don't have to worry about everything flying out the back whenever we go up the big hill."

"Oh, shit… I didn't even think of that," Asher mumbled, craning himself downward and hooking his fingers to the lever, giving it a hard tug. "Okay. There we go…"

At once, a long mound of black cloth began to shift and expand from the back of the vehicle, and it slowly arose, outstretching and slowly transforming into a rooftop enclosing around the car, sealing the sunlight out and covering them both.

Olivia checked to make sure it was fixed into place, then gave him a nod.

Asher shifted gears and drove out of the parking lot, coasting down the back road and making the first turn.

"You know what else I didn't think of," he uttered. "We have perishables in the back. We don't have a whole 𝘭𝘰𝘵 of them, but… I don't know if we're gonna be able to fit it all in the fridge."

"We have a deepfreeze, too."

Asher paused, turning and squinting at her. "Do we?"

"Yeah… it's in the garage, across from the workbench," Olivia remembered. "I looked in it yesterday, and it's about halfway empty. It has a bunch of meats in the bottom, but that's it. We can put some stuff in there."

"What… I don't… I don't remember seeing a deep-freezer."

"There's an old rug laying over it. You don't really notice it unless you're looking for it."

"Oh…"

"Hey… Asher," Olivia smiled, tilting her head and resting it against her seat, giving him a cute, pleading look. "I have a weird question…"

Asher glanced at her again. "What?"

"D'you think we could go to the zoo…?" she asked.

Asher spared her another look, this one considerably more confused.

"Not like… right now," Olivia clarified. "Just… sometime. Whenever we get more shopping done, and we don't have to worry as much about basic necessities anymore."

Asher glanced between her and the road a few more times, still somewhat lost.

"Ahm…" he mumbled. "Why do you wanna go to the zoo?"

"I don't know," Olivia sighed, facing forward and hugging her knees. "I just never got to go. Chris said he'd take me, and he never did. My boyfriend 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 Chris said the same thing, and 𝘩𝘦 never did. My friends promised we'd all go together when we got out of Hawthorn, but 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 definitely not gonna happen now… so…"

Asher tapped his thumb to the steering wheel, pondering on this. "I don't know what the zoo's gonna be like right now…"

"Yeah… I just figured we could see all the animals before they die, or escape, or something," Olivia murmured. "Or maybe we could set them all free. Ahhh… we should totally 𝘥𝘰 that. That'd be awesome…"

She gazed out the passenger window, dreamily smiling as she dwelled on the thought of releasing all the animals from the Knoxville Zoo.

Asher glimpsed at her again, spotting the look on her face and breathing out a laugh.

"Okay," he agreed. "We'll go there at some point. We'll find time."

Olivia punched the air victoriously, and Asher continued to drive, eventually bringing the car up the steep incline leading directly up to their new home.

Once the car was pulled into the garage, the two of them took turns escorting the grocery foods over to the rug-covered deepfreeze, flinging the rug off and popping it open before placing a few half-gallons of milk inside, along with a couple cartons of eggs and some packages of cheese.

Then, they strolled back into the house, seeing that the living room was empty—though Roman and Zach's voices were echoing from down the hallway, and this time, the sounds of their gameplay were echoing as well.

Asher and Olivia trekked down the hall and peered into the room—seeing Roman and Zach playing a two-player war game, the screen split in two, both sides depicting a rather bleak battleground setting. And—Elliot was in the room with them now, sitting on a chair near the wall, just behind the couch and watching the gameplay with intrigue.

Asher's eyes shifted between Elliot and the gameplay on the massive screen, making a strange expression. "Ah… El…"

"Hm?" Elliot straightened up in his seat, spotting Asher in the doorway. "Oh, hey… you took your time. Get anything done?"

"This is ass! This game is 𝘢𝘴𝘴!" Roman yelled, his character dying and his half of the screen fading black, Zach exploding into laughter.

Asher spared them a glance, then looked to Elliot again. "Yeah. Plenty. But if you're gonna get your stuff today, you better go now."

Elliot nodded and reached his feet, turning and watching the gameplay for a moment longer.

"I'm telling you," he remarked, leaning on the back of the couch. "You should be a medic. You won't die half as often."

"Yeah—but we already have a medic," Roman complained as he struggled to dodge gunfire in the game. "It won't let me be one—AHH!"

His character fell dead—and Roman pitched the controller to the side, slamming it into the back of the recliner and folding his arms, Zach laughing at him again.

"Okay, well… I'm off," Elliot said, making a two-fingered salute and squeezing past Asher and Olivia. "Seeya later."

"Be careful," Olivia called after him.

Elliot waved her off, striding down the hall and vanishing out the side door.

Olivia faced the gamers' room again, staring at the abandoned controller in the recliner.

"Roman… come on," Zach breathed between snickers. "Play… keep playing…!"

"No—this game sucks assholes," Roman chided. "It's fucking cheating."

"The game's not cheating—"

"Yes it is!"

"How? 𝘏𝘰𝘸?"

"Because—every time I pick up the medkit, it kills me before I can fucking use it! It's garbage! This game is 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘨𝘦!"

The two of them quipped back and forth—and Olivia quietly entered the room as they did, sliding the controller off the recliner and claiming a seat on the edge of the couch. She unpaused the game and began to play.

"Aaah—oh shit," Zach stammered, quickly lifting his controller again and steering his character to a hiding spot behind a barricade. "Oh—okay, I guess she's playing now."

"Dude—if she gets past the sniper when I couldn't do it after twenty-million tries, I will 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 kill myself," Roman griped with a laugh.

Olivia flashed a half-smile as she played, guiding the player one character toward the corner of a concrete building, the same area where Roman was repeatedly dying from an in-game sniper.

Asher remained in the doorway, his arms crossed as he leaned against it, watching the three of them in silence. He planned to do more work around the home while Elliot was gone, and he planned to unload all the goods from the car and find inconspicuous places to store it, but now, he felt hesitant to walk away from the room. Leaving Olivia alone with two strangers still didn't set right with him.

Olivia stared intently at the screen, seeing that a glowing red medkit was sitting on the ground just a few feet past the concrete wall, but if the player one character stepped out to retrieve it, then the sniper would kill him again. She sighed deeply, pausing to think.

Asher slowly meandered into the room, claiming the chair that Elliot had abandoned and sitting against the wall behind the couch now, propping one leg above the other and stroking along his face as he watched.

"I'd come be your human shield if I could figure out where the hell you are," Zach mumbled while he played.

Roman laughed, standing and pretending to act out a slow-motion dive in front of a nonexistent person. Zach chuckled and nodded, moaning out a long, deepened "𝘕𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰!" which made Roman and Olivia break into amused chortles.

Asher scoffed out a faint noise that might've been a laugh.

"Okay… I don't know," Olivia admitted, shifting the character back and forth in brief, uncertain movements. "I don't know…"

"You need the medkit before you can run for it," Roman remarked. "That's how he keeps killing me with one shot, 'cause my health is low."

"Yeah, but I can't," Olivia sniggered, shaking her head and wobbling the character around more. "I'm just gonna die if I step out."

"Yeah—𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸!" Roman exclaimed loudly and abruptly, jutting his arms outright and making Zach burst with laughter yet again. "𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘨𝘦!"

Asher continued to watch in silent, his eyes resting firmly on the left side of the screen, where the player one character was shifting about in place.

"Just straight forward and back," he murmured thoughtlessly.

Roman, still standing, wheeled around and narrowed his eyes at him. "What?"

Asher's eyes flickered up to him, sighing deeply. Zach paused the game, he and Olivia both twisting around and giving him the same look of interest.

"Just move straight forward, then straight back, fast as possible," Asher said, gesturing to the screen and looking to Olivia. "No turning, or running, or moving the camera. Just hit forward and hit back. Quick as a cat."

Olivia pondered on this, then plopped back down to the couch and unpaused the game.

Roman and Zach both watched her with rapt attentiveness.

Olivia inhaled, then jutted the joystick forward and collected the medkit, quickly shifting backward and allowing the player one character to swiftly retreat behind the concrete building again.

"Oooh my God!" Zach yelled, his brows raised and his smile wide, laughing in amazement.

"What—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬?!" Roman screamed, combing his hairs back almost violently and swatting wildly at the TV. "Are—you—𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸?!"

Zach laughed bombastically at him, chortling harder with every second as Roman paced up and down the room, motioning insanely and cursing feverishly at the game for wronging him. Olivia flopped back against the couch cushions, her cheeks fading red as she giggled beyond her control, and Asher merely watched, smirking and shaking his head.

"How—in—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬?" Roman yelled, jabbing his hands out to Asher and shaking them hard with every syllable. "How—did—you—𝘥𝘰—𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?"

Asher shrugged.

"Have you played this before?" Zach asked, peering over the back of the couch at him.

Asher shook his head.

"Then—how—𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬?!" Roman hollered, gesturing more dramatically as his face took on a dark shade of red. "How? 𝘏𝘰𝘸, witch man?! How the fuck did you do that?!"

Asher shrugged again. "That just seemed like the only possible way to do it."

"No—bullshit—no, no, no," Roman rambled, thrusting a finger rapidly at him, though his comedic anger was beginning to fracture, as he was choking out laughs between his rants. "No—no—fuck it all, dammit all, fuck my ass in half! No! You can't know how to do that if you never 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 before!"

"I've played 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 before," Asher mumbled.

"You have?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah. Just… not since…" Asher paused, scratching his chin and glancing up at the ceiling, then facing them again. "When did the PS2 come out?"

Roman's eyebrows shot upright, trading gaping looks with Zach, both of them looking suddenly stunned for some reason.

"You haven't played… anything… 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘚2 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵?" Roman breathed, hunching over Asher and ogling him with fascination, eyeballing him as if he'd never seen anything quite like him before.

Asher's eyes narrowed, thinking his reaction was rather drastic for such a minor issue.

"Well, that's… just… what we had," he uttered at a loss. "Back in the day, when me and my friends were in our late teens, the PS2 at my buddy's house was the only thing we had… so…"

Olivia, Roman, and Zach all suddenly fell silent, trading looks with one another. The three of them glanced down at the PS5, powered on and sitting on the shelf beneath the TV. Then, they all faced Asher again, wearing the same expressions of excitement.

Asher stared blankly at them.

"What…?"

-----

During the time when everyone in the cabin was soliciting Asher out of his comfort zone—Elliot spent his time alone at a run-down home in south Knoxville, the entire neighborhood seeming to be abandoned, much to his relief.

He cautiously traversed his yard, walking the clear path with no underground traps several times as he dragged countless armfuls of things back out. By the time he was done, the late afternoon was setting in, and he leaned against the back of his van, panting and clasping his heart for a moment before swinging the back doors shut.

The hardest part was wheeling the generator outside and wrestling it into the van—making it noticeably sink—but now that the back of his van was filled to the ceiling with his most needed belongings, he was ready to head back to the new home base.

Elliot made the long drive back—and, when he finally reached the long, winding driveway of the cabin, the sky was beginning to darken.

He parked in the garage, locked the van, and walked into the house, turning and squinting at the end of the hallway. Roman and Zach's voices were echoing along with the gameplay—but now, he could've sworn he heard Asher and Olivia's voices interspersed amid the noise as well.

Making a face, Elliot strode down the hall and gazed into the gamers' room, his mouth unraveling into a slow, wide grin.

All four of them were on the couch now—Roman and Zach on the sides, Asher and Olivia in the middle—and Asher and Roman were both playing the two-player war game now, on opposing teams, Roman laughing and cracking jokes while Asher wore a deadpan stare.

"Roman—he's coming—he's coming!" Zach uttered urgently. "He's gonna kill you again!"

"Shut—UP!" Roman howled, mashing his thumbs to the buttons.

The player two character suddenly appeared on the player one screen—springing out from behind a building and opening fire.

The player one character instantly died, its screen fading black.

"AAAAH FUCK!" Roman bellowed, flying off the couch and smashing his shin loudly to the coffee table. "OH—OOOOH LOOK! LOOK AT MISTER BIG MAN! NEW GUY IN A SUIT JUST WALKS IN ALL LIKE '𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘏 𝘏𝘐𝘉𝘉𝘐𝘌 𝘋𝘐𝘉𝘉𝘐𝘌 𝘋𝘖𝘉𝘉𝘠, 𝘐'𝘔 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘉𝘌𝘚𝘛 𝘎𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘙 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘓𝘋 𝘕𝘖𝘞!' FUCK! FUCK! FUCK MY ASS WITH A FUCKING CROBAR! CRESCENT WRENCH! COOKIE DOOKIE DUMB FUCKING 𝘉𝘜𝘓𝘓𝘚𝘏𝘐𝘛, DUDE!"

Zach was positively suffocating on his own laughter, reeled back against the couch and fighting to form words. "What… what're you even 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 right now…?!"

Olivia was struggling to breathe amidst her own breathless laughs, collapsing sideways into Asher's arm and repeatedly smacking against him.

Asher chuckled, shaking his head at them all.

"Why're you s…" Olivia wheezed, clearing her throat and laughing again. "Why're you so good at this…?!"

"I'unno," Asher shrugged. "I have no idea."

"OH! 𝘖𝘏…!" Roman proclaimed deafeningly, putting on drastic voices and leaping onto the coffee table, waving and gesturing madly to Asher. "OOOOH, HE HAS 𝘕𝘖 𝘐𝘋𝘌𝘈, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! GIVE IT UP! GIVE IT UP RIGHT NOW!"

He began clapping rapidly and nodding in every direction, as if addressing an invisible crowd.

"A ROOOUND OF APPLAUSE! HE'S JUST A NATURAL BORN PRODIGY! THE CHILD KING! THE FUCKING—𝘚𝘌𝘊𝘖𝘕𝘋 𝘑𝘌𝘚𝘜𝘚!"

"I don't know what you're so mad about," Asher said calmly, though his smirk seemed rather prominent. "I don't even like this game."

Zach choked and sputtered into another burst of laughter—and Roman reeled back so hard, he nearly fell from the table, lunging backward and raking his fingers harshly through his hairs, unleashing a bloodcurdling scream into the air.

"Okay, well… here," Asher said, handing his controller off to Zach. "I need to go make something to eat."

He and Olivia stood, both of them still snickering as they walked out of the room. Elliot joined them, and the three of them ventured down the hallway, breaking left and entering the kitchen.

As always, the kitchen was spacious and relatively spotless, aside from the pile of dirty dishes on one side of the sink. Across from the stove and countertops were the glass walls, showing a beautiful view of the twilight sky outside, a single booth sitting against them, and a long, deep-red bar in the center of the room, complete with a few loose stools.

Olivia sat on one of the stools, still sniggering under her breath, and Elliot collected a water from the fridge. Asher ripped open one of the pizzas and placed it on a pan before sliding it into the oven.

After closing the oven and turning it on, Asher straightened up—now face to face with Elliot, who was staring at him with a coy half-smile.

"What?" Asher barked, striding past him.

"Nothin'," Elliot smiled. "I figured you'd get along."

Asher sighed, sliding out his pack of menthols. "I need a smoke…"

He marched through the living room and opened the sliding glass door. Olivia and Elliot decided to follow him, and the three of them stood at the edge of the deck, overlooking the vast scenery as the sky darkened more.

Asher inhaled a drag, releasing a smoke cloud into the night air, his free hand resting on the balcony as he gazed out at what little he could see of downtown from here.

Olivia and Elliot were on either side of him, and for a moment, they all simply stared out at the greenery and the night sky.

"You get everything you need?" Asher asked, turning to Elliot.

"Mhm," Elliot nodded. "I didn't have time to go shopping for gas cans, so I just brought mine. I figured we'd have plenty of opportunities to get more later."

Asher nodded quietly.

Olivia turned her head, watching as he took another puff from his cigarette.

"That's bad for you," she muttered.

Asher and Elliot both stared at her.

"What?" she asked. "It is…"

Elliot laughed, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Well'p… I reckon we're all set now. We got all the basics, all the defense, and everything we need to get hunkered down real good."

"Yeah… we just have to hope the Cali twins don't pick up on what we're doing," Asher remarked. "We're gonna have to explain why we keep coming back here with a ridiculous amount of shit…"

"We've all got walk-in closets," Elliot informed. "If we all wait 'till they're asleep, then quietly bring everything upstairs… then we can stash it all out of their sight. For a while, at least."

Asher made a sideways nod, inhaling from the cigarette. "Solves one problem…"

"We have a month," Olivia murmured, folding her arms on the wooden railing and resting her chin atop them.

Asher and Elliot both shot her a quizzical look.

"They said… earlier… when you were playing the game," Olivia added, meeting Asher's eyes. "They said their convention was delayed for a month, at minimum. They're planning to stay for another month, at least. They already paid Mrs. Cooke for the extended stay, too."

"Tch." Asher shook his head and rolled his eyes, flicking ashes over the side. "They keep doing things the old way when the old way's dead and gone."

"Well… they don't need to know that right now," Elliot said softly, staring into the night sky with a thoughtful visage. "This is actually a good opportunity… to slowly ease them into the new world. When they eventually do realize that the old way's dead and gone… then… hopefully, we'll have made some kind of little friendship with them by then. And… that means… they won't be facing that world without backup. They'll already have some new-world friends. That's gonna help them more than anyone knows."

"Yeah, well…" Asher mumbled. "I don't want us taking anyone else in. This place is 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 for us five, okay? We're already taking on two people who may or may not ever be useful. No more. All right?"

Olivia and Elliot both gave him the same strange look, a caustic sort of expression complete with a snarky little smile.

"Innt that precious?" Elliot asked, leaning back and smirking at Olivia. "Look at how hard he tries not to care."

Olivia giggled and nodded.

"Oh… you can both kiss my ass," Asher grumbled into his cigarette.

"Awww… now we hurt his feelers," Olivia cackled, walking her fingers up his arm. "N'aww… don't be offended, little snowflake!"

Asher narrowed his eyes oddly at her, scoffing out a laugh. "You're weird."

"Your 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦," Olivia quipped in response.

Asher exhaled a smoke cloud, gazing into the night as his mind began to work up a storm.

"Cover story," he said seriously. "Mrs. Cooke messaged us, instructing us to keep the house stocked with food, and she wired us the money for it, too. That's what we tell the dipshits if they ever ask where all the food keeps coming from."

"Okay," Olivia agreed.

"Duly noted," Elliot nodded.

"If they ever ask when our prepping convention is, we say it's two months away," Asher continued. "And we arrived here way ahead of time because there's a lot of preparation to do."

Olivia and Elliot both nodded with affirmation.

"They shouldn't want to leave the house for a while, because they do know about the evacuations," Asher knew. "So… hopefully, we won't have to try and explain to them why Uber and Lyft drivers aren't available, or why we can't give them a ride somewhere."

Olivia and Elliot nodded again.

"So… for the next month… we just stay the course," Asher disclosed, his eyes landing on the distant city buildings once more. "And we ravage Knoxville for all it's fucking worth."

"All right! Shopping sprees every day!" Olivia beamed, hugging his arm.

"Ye'ap… pretty much," Asher confirmed.

"Sweet! Oh—El," Olivia said, wheeling around to Elliot. "Will you show me how to turn on the big TV in the living room? And is there a way we can cover the giant windows? I don't know how you're supposed to use the TV in the daytime. There's too much glare."

"Uhmm… I think there's a button for it," Elliot mumbled, scratching his jaw and walking toward the sliding glass door. "Zach said there's a button you can push that covers the windows… but I can't remember if it's on the remote, or the wall…"

Elliot and Olivia chatted as they walked back into the cabin.

Asher remained standing alone outside, gazing profoundly into the nighttime scenery and gently flicking ashes off his cigarette again, feeling at ease and inhaling a deep, calming breath.

With every second to pass, ever since it all began mere days ago, he could scarcely imagine that this was his reality now. Yet still, he felt no fear, no apprehension, no animosity, and no anger. More than anything—he felt deeply and thoroughly refreshed, more so than he ever had before.

After all, the world he hated was fading away, and a freer one was taking its place. He loved all he knew of Olivia so far, his old buddy Elliot was back in his life, and he even had a couple of dipshit gamers to pal around with, who weren't bad people at all. The two might've been a bit immature and detached from reality, but honestly, Asher almost remembered being like them, and it wasn't even very long ago. He remembered having a gang of friends who had the same bombastic and immature humor, and he remembered looking after all of them around the clock.

And now—here it all was again, his conspiracy nut of a friend, the awesome girl who was always by his side, and the other the fun-loving dipshits tagging along, all of whom would come to rely on him for survival in the near future.

If anyone knew how to manage such a scenario—it was undoubtedly Knoxville's Asher Cullen.