Kelvin chuckled lightly, looking out across the notorious Stonebridge estate. He was standing atop one of the condemned tower blocks, giving him a view of the entire estate. From here he could see the fence that'd been put up around the block, the fence they'd fortified in the first month, and the communal gardens that they'd churned up, using what little space they had to grow vegetables. It wasn't enough to sustain them on it's own, but with what they scavenged, it helped. Beside him was his child-hood friend, Steven, who was finishing off his cigarette, grinning as he recalled the days events.
"Fam, I'm telling you, they tore off when we busted the 'ting at 'um."
Steven was referring to one of their groups guns, they rarely used them anymore, ammunition had been scarce before the disaster. A year down the line? The odds of them finding more bullets were slim, so they only used them when they had to. At first, it was the only way they'd fight back against adults, who were commonly known as "mothers" or "fathers" around the estate. They'd later seen how the adults were slow, clumsy and stupid, and quickly took up whatever they could find to clear out the adult infestation. That had been, what, eleven months ago'? Kelvin found it hard to recall, so much had happened in that time, the fighting, the dying, the hunger... It was those times that Kelvin had shone through, taking control of the YSG, or the young suspect gang as many of the other kids called themselves. He sighed, why did the gang culture that haunted his home end up surviving the apocalypse, when so much good hadn't?
"Anyway, K', I'm telling you, Saif's boys won't be rolling around here anymore, we dealt with 'um. We couldn't have them looking for food on our turf, cuz'.
Kelvin turned to face him, nodding as he headed out of the flat, towards the blocks stairwell. He made his way down in silence, Steven speeling useless babble he wasn't interested in. He was fed up of hearing who was "linking" who, or who was "beefing" with who. There were sixty-two kids living in the block, Kelvin being one of the oldest, was looked up to and respected. He hated leading, it wasn't his thing. He was tall and dark skinned, with a shaven head. His limbs were spindly, longer than they should have been, almost disproportionate to the rest of his body. Why anyone would look to him as a figure to look up to simply confused him. He reached the ground floor, bumping fists with Steven as he headed off to check on their supplies. He was greeted with a slight nod by a short kid dressed in sports gear. In comparison to Kelvin, he was a tank, spending his time lifting weights instead of drinking, sleeping or reading like Kelvin.
"How we doin', Callum?" Kelvin muttered, glancing around the room quickly. Unlike the majority of the other rooms in the block, this one was packed from floor to ceiling with boxes, cans and other things the kids in the block used. Clothes, bats, knives, tampons and alcohol were just as essential to some of the kids as their food and water was, so they kept a plentiful supply.
"It's not too bad, we could do with more protein to be honest. Canned meat, beef jerky, stuff like that."
Kelvin smiled, choosing to collapse in to a bean bag in the corner of the room. "Finally."
Callum merely looked over, raising an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to speak, yet before he could, Kelvin cut him off. "A year, fam. A whole year. I've been getting us food, keeping us safe, reading about growing vegetables!" He stopped briefly, closing his eyes, they felt so heavy. He was so tired. "The kids here don't appreciate it, though, they don't give two shits."
Callum simply nodded, not too sure as to why Kelvin was telling him this. The two weren't close, he'd have expected Steven to be having a conversation like this. He cleared his throat before speaking, his voice coming out strained.
"We'd be dead without you, man, I mean. The guns, you were the one that knew where to find 'um!"
It was only now, Callum realized that Kelvin wasn't listening. He was asleep.