It had been three months since the FAYZ began, and Lauren's new motto was 'if you can salt it, you can eat it'. Of course, this didn't exactly go for everything. She wasn't going to eat her clothes, or one of her guinea pigs. The little cavies were adorable, and she was incredibly attached to both of them.
But if it came to it, Lauren supposed she'd have to. The disappearance of the adults had left her the guardian of seven children, all of whom were getting thinner and thinner as time passed. Of the seven, only two were related to her. Two of the remaining five had been over for a playdate when the adults vanished, and the other three had come running, scared, when their parents had gone. They knew Lauren would help them. Lauren, who, before the FAYZ, had been so confident and brave. As far as they knew, she could do anything. As far as she knew, they were all going to starve. Unless she came up with a plan.
Lauren glanced at the clock. 2 am. The only ones still awake were her, her eleven-year-old sister Ivy, and Ivy's friend Anna. Ivy and Anna were playing cards. Lauren was playing scenarios in her mind, something she often did when she was stressed or upset.
Scenario One, she ran into town to search for edibles. Lauren estimated that they had about a week's worth of rations left, so something involving food had to happen. Then again, the town had probably been sifted through a hundred times already by other kids. And if she did find food, nothing would stop those other kids from taking it away. She wasn't sure anyone would stand up for her if such a thing did happen anyway. Pre-FAYZ, Lauren hadn't had much to do with the other teenagers around Perdido Beach. She didn't even go to school with them, having preferred to be homeschooled instead.
However, Lauren hadn't stayed out of town altogether. A few times, she'd gone on scouting missions, just to see what was up, or sometimes collect food. One of the earlier times had caused her to decide to just hang back from everyone else. There had been some sort of battle, and there was a kid with a tentacle for an arm, and a pack of coyotes, and kids with superpowers.
Superpowers. Like the kinds in comic books.
"Have any... Sevens?" Ivy said casually from the seat next to Lauren.
"Yeah, I- Hey! No cheating!" Anna set her cards down.
It had been weird enough knowing that strange things were happening in town. But then they started happening in Lauren's house. Brandon, one of the neighbor boys, had been the first in her care to develop powers. The nine-year-old had crashed into a wall during a game of tag and went right through. He apparently possessed a form of intangibility. Next was Ivy, Lauren's own sister. She could see through things by just touching them.
Despite the situation, Lauren was excited when she discovered her own abilities. If she timed things right, angled her hands at the ground at just the right instant, she could jump. High.
It was an exilharating experience. Being twenty feet or more in the air, seeing the ground rush up at you, it was all amazing. Landing had been tricky at first, until she learned to, once again, angle her hands at the right moment. Touching down on the ground felt less like hitting her feet with a hammer and more like landing on a pillow after that.
Movement attracted her attention, and Lauren looked up to find her other sister, Rose, at the end of the hall.
"I'm hungry."
Lauren sighed and got up. "We're all hungry, Rosie. That's the problem." She got her sister a glass of water, though she knew it wouldn't do much.
Back to the issue of food.
What did they have in abundance here? Water, she guessed, but it wasn't like she could change that into sandwiches or something. What else? What did people here overlook, or just plain abandon? Houses? But she couldn't eat those. Unless they were gingerbread.
Pets? That was more likely, but she didn't want to eat a dog, or a cat, or a... rabbit. Rabbits were a different matter entirely. Lauren had eaten rabbit before. It tasted like chicken. The thought of chicken made her mouth water.
What was it they said about rabbits, anyway? That they bred like lightning. All she had to do was find a pair. Or more. She could collect rabbits, and start a farm. Then she could trade them for other things, and they'd make it. This was brilliant.
She just had to hope that there were still some alive.