CH37 - Awkward Silence
[Lyon's POV]
"Lyon, what's up?" Ren asked which causes me to turn my attention toward the general direction of where his voice had come from, my group had decided to just forget about using lighting since it'd attract the gazes of living people which was a smart move but that didn't mean it wasn't without any sort of cons. An example of such a con was the fact that I needed to focus all my attention on each step I took down the stairs which meant I had stopped moving entirely after Ren's voice called out to me.
The lack of lighting in the room meant I had to narrow my eyes just to manage to spot his silhouette though the need to do so didn't last long as a small fire that came from what I would guess to be a match stick was used to light what appeared to be a candle, most of which had already melted down as a mere three-meter high stump were all that remained in the midst of dried and deformed wax that surrounded it.
The light that came from the match stick died as quick as it appeared but the light coming from the candle it had lit was more than enough for me to somewhat see small bits of his facial features which still retained a sort of childish joy though the recent incidents had visibly weighed down on him as he seemed to be "colder" and more mature in comparison to his pre-apocalypse self.
"Sup, I don't need any help. I can go down these stairs just fine all on my own." I answered quickly after watching him somehow pull the small stump off the table before moving closer to the base of the stairway, my words managing to stop him in his footsteps before releasing a sigh of forced acceptance to my words.
"Okay, okay, you can walk on your own so what are you doing walking around so early?" He questions while watching me slowly go down the stairs, each step breaking the silence that had previously dominated this place with light thuds caused by skin that weakly slammed against varnished wood. I stopped walking after reaching a stair that was a mere two steps away from reaching the landing before pointing a finger at the towel that I had wrapped around my lower body which was more than enough to answer his question.
"Mind telling me where the bathroom is?" I asked since I didn't really know much about the building's layout since I was forced to just rest and leave everything to my other companions which left me clueless as to what sort of loot they found or if they even found any other than those white candles. I nod in thanks after he points a finger at an opening to my left before noticing his gaze which was placed upon my neck as my eyes opened wide in realization at the speculation that he may have noticed a sort of mark left on me by Alyssa during our "bonding activity" last night.
I quickly left and made my way down the hallway he had pointed at earlier, going past the house's kitchen and dining room which had a white countertop with a white metallic coating that was placed on each corner which was connected by a gray lining made of material that seemed to be plastic. I inevitably find the bathroom and close the door behind me before turning on my phone's flashlight feature which illuminated the bathroom's flooring which was made of pale blue tiling that had the symbol of medieval France's flag at its center, the name managing to dodge me as my memories and knowledge failed to give me its name.
"Maybe I should go find a turtle neck or something that could cover my neck instead..." I whispered after leaving the clothing I had brought with me on top of the toilet lid before pointing my flashlight at the mirror which showed my messy and disheveled hair alongside the very familiar emerald-green eyes that my face sported, what was different though was the marking left on my neck by Alyssa's bites last night. The coloring around the area was a stark contrast from the rest of my neck which made it very noticeable given the right amount of light which was admittedly, not a lot since it seemed so out of place.
I stare at it for a few seconds before rubbing it with my free right hand since my left was busy carrying and pointing my phone at the mirror as memories of the events last night began to surface in my thoughts. Her warm flesh, seductive moans, and pleasurable touch were still fresh in my mind so I instead left my phone on the sink's surface before drowning those memories in the cold temperature of the working shower as I placed my hand against the bathroom wall while water began to dampen my hair.
'I don't think I'm ready to be a father just yet.' I thought to myself before I began cursing at myself for the fact that I came inside her, she had told me it was her safe day but that alone still wasn't enough to fully assure me that my actions hadn't gotten her pregnant with my seed. Don't get me wrong, I would love to start a family with Alyssa but the timing just wasn't right for that sort of thing and we were by no means in a "safe" and healthy environment for family raising.
Admittedly, I doubt such timing or a safe environment will come by anytime soon but I definitely don't think I'm ready to raise a loud baby in a situation wherein keeping noise to a minimum is very important. An image of me drinking coffee while sitting on a couch as Alyssa helps a three-year-old child with walking was a very adorable and heart-warming thought but the underlying sense of dread I felt at the thought of loss and grief only got stronger at the thought of a child of mine dying.
I closed my fist into a ball and tighten it as I began to feel my nails dig into my flesh before my thoughts were interrupted by the odd sensation I felt coming from my leg, I turned my gaze below me and made my way back to the sink after drying my hands on the towel I had left on the floor earlier. I pick my phone back up and point its flashlight at my right leg which revealed to me the square-shaped sterile adhesive dressing that Alyssa had stuck to my leg yesterday.
I scratch at one of the dressing's edges and take it off completely before mindlessly throwing it to the side while I left my phone on the sink once more just to finish the bath I had already begun after using the soap and whatever shampoo I could find placed beside each other on a rack that was hanging on a nail whose head was left unembedded. The showering area was separated from the area where the toilet and sink were so I had no fear about the possibility of the clothes and towel getting wet.
I finished bathing a few minutes later with only using mouthwash as a substitute for the act of brushing since I had forgotten to take a toothbrush with me, the sink had a cup with four distinct brushes I could've used if I wanted to though I'd still prefer to avoid using some stranger's toothbrush for now. I wear the clothes I had taken with me earlier and leave the bathroom a few seconds later only to find Ren sitting on the couch, his gaze initially turned towards the window closest to him before moving it to my general direction after possibly hearing the sound of my footsteps.
"By the way, where exactly did you put my gun, Ren?" I asked since I finally had the free time to do so, I don't exactly remember when or where I read it but I do remember how it was mentioned that Japanese WW2 rifles weren't waterproofed which was quite ironic considering how the island nation itself was surrounded by the very substance that could've destroyed their rifles with ease. The waterproof bags I had used as a protective layer for the gun was average at best but the chances of water still managing to go through small holes in the plastic or the duct tape weren't low but Ren did tell me that the gun hadn't gotten wet in my brief swim.
He shrugs his head to my right which causes me to turn my phone/glorified flashlight in its direction which illuminates the way to a door that led to one of the house's many rooms, I go inside and find Chisato wearing a mere shirt and shorts while tightly clinging to a pillow with the mark of dried saliva appearing beside her lips that barely went down before doing a sharp turn to the left due to the way she slept. The room was barely furnished as it only had a two-person bed, a small bedside table, and a small gray wooden dresser barely half my height that stuck its back to the wall of the room.
Beside the dresser laid my rifle which was vertically positioned to prop itself against the dresser's side, I take it with me and leave the room after quietly closing the door behind me before sitting back down on the living room's recliner as I removed the four unfired bullets before disassembling the gun into its various small individual parts. The gun was definitely dry to the touch though that didn't exactly mean everything was fine just yet since it could've just dried during the night.
I didn't exactly have any of those gun cleaning kits a person would see soldiers using in those military movies which forced me to just resort to patting the gun down using the clothing that lie atop the table where the candles and their remains were. I put the gun back together except for the gun's wonky tripod stand and shoved the bullets back in before turning the gun's safety back on, I wanted to actually try shooting the gun but doing so in this situation would be the moronic thing to do which meant I had to postpone it to a later date.
"You really do know your way around your gun huh Lyon." Ren tells me after a while of him just staring at how I disassembled and reassembled the gun which causes me to turn my gaze toward him just to see what exactly he was going for in the statement. He could've simply meant to state his observation though the sudden dip of volume in his voice earlier made it seem as if he wanted to say more but struggled to do so.
"I... I want you to teach me how to shoot a gun." He finishes while staring hard into my eyes as though my reply would either make or break his future, I stay silent for a few seconds before nodding in affirmation to his request. I told him to wait there before going back upstairs and making my way to the room that I and Alyssa had slept in, taking out the two sandwich zip lock bags with me before going back downstairs.
I spent the next few hours just teaching him the basics of what to do before, during, and after shooting which included turning the gun's safety off, reloading the gun, and putting the safety back on. We didn't try actually shooting the gun just yet though I did let him try shooting it without any bullets inside the chamber which caused the handgun's hammer to go back up with a click as the chamber did its routine rotation after being fired.
~Early morning - 6:23 AM~
"How far is your house from our current location Alyssa?" I asked Alyssa while all of us sat in silence on the couch of the living room, I already knew where her house lay but I couldn't exactly tell them that I did since I might as well just say I'm from a future where almost everybody present in the room dies. Alyssa needed a small bit of help with walking though it wasn't enough to really catch anybody's eye, it did seem like Chisato had an inkling or more of what had happened last night judging from the way she teased and looked at Alyssa but that was the least of my concerns right now.
"Hm, the bridge is four blocks to our east which means my house should be six blocks north and about two or three blocks to the west." Alyssa replies, her house was definitely far from our current location but that didn't matter too much considering the fact that the hospital was even further north of her house. To be fair, the hospital wasn't that far from the house though it was still somewhat distant which now raises the question of how exactly we'd go from here to there alongside our vast amount of supplies without a vehicle.
'We could try looking for a car but that might take hours or more depending on how lucky we are.' I thought to myself with my gaze shuffling from everyone here before settling on Amaya who had a despondent expression plastered on her face. We could lessen the amount of time we'd need to find a car by separating and grouping ourselves into two or three but that'd increase the risk of someone dying.
Again, time really wasn't on our side here, now we could just abandon our supplies here and only carry what we can with us but that'd mean that we'd be abandoning a majority of our supplies here, ones that we'd risked our lives for in looting. My family's cabin in Aoya forest had nine months' worth of supplies hidden inside but that didn't mean we could just throw everything away, there was also a chance that the cabin had been looted in our absence so what do we do if it does happen?
"Do you by any chance know of any business that keeps cars around like maybe a car wash, auto repair, or dealership?" I asked Alyssa, to which she replied that she knew of an auto repair shop about a block to our right of our current location and a dealership two blocks to our left and one block to the north which meant it was substantially closer to the bridge which was a bit dangerous since the explosions probably attracted quite a lot of zombies around that area. Most of the zombies had probably wandered off already but there would definitely still be a lot of stragglers left in that area's vicinity.
That knowledge came in quite handy since aimlessly wandering and just hoping to find a vehicle we could use would cost us substantial amounts of time if we were unlucky. We could end up finding an abandoned car on the side of the road with the keys still inside with doors that are left open, but luck wasn't something I was too keen to rely on, especially so when the chances of it happening in the first place are nearing impossible since people would've probably taken such a car by now. There should be a higher chance to find a usable car in structures and businesses specifically designed to house ones which meant our greatest choice lies in one of those.
In the end, we decided to just try our luck with the auto repair shop one block from here since it was closest but managing to choose which structure we'd go to didn't mean the meeting was done since it now raised another question. Who'd stay behind to guard the house and Amaya? We couldn't exactly just bring all of our supplies with us since if we could then there'd be no need for finding a car in the first place and we can't just leave them unattended which meant we'd need to leave someone behind to both guard our loot and babysit Amaya.
Finding an answer to the questions wasn't too difficult for my companions though since they easily forced me into the job using a majority vote, citing that my "wounds" would mean I'd be incapable of defending myself and, by extension, cause harm to my companions as additional distractions to worry about. To be fair, their reasoning would have made sense if my "wounds" were truly as severe as they thought they were and Alyssa isn't exactly off the hook either thanks to those somewhat wobbly legs of hers.
Still, the matter of where to go and who'd stay behind had already been decided which meant I'd be left alone inside of a house with the little sister of a person that I had left behind just yesterday to his death. We finished eating a few minutes later and I hand Alyssa my bulletproof vest which had dried overnight and waved my hand goodbye as they closed the door behind them, leaving me and Amaya to stand in silence in the living room. I turned my gaze toward her with her doing the same as our two eyes met and stared at one another unblinkingly for what seemed to be a long time even though it was probably just a few seconds in real-time.
'What did I get myself into...?' I thought to myself while wandering about how exactly I'd break this awkward and silent atmosphere that had appeared inside the house in the absence of my teammates and her cousin, Misako. It was at that moment of awkward silence that the memory of me taking out and shoving the shoe box full of dolls inside my bag surfaced and so I asked. "You like dolls?"
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AN: My Arknights fic's first chapter will be uploaded on Saturday, I'll be honest with you all, I haven't had enough motivation to really go back to writing the same way I did so in the past wherein I'd be able to pump out a new stock chapter within the matter of a few hours. Does this mean I'm giving up? No, not really, I guess I just really need something to motivate me again after all of the real-life problems I've had to go through within a single month.