Day 1075

Vince

Vince sat up in his bed. Glancing over at the watch that lay on his makeshift bedside table (which in truth was an upturned cardboard box) he read the time as being 11:47. It took him a while to register why he was awake so late but as he looked across the room he saw that Annie was fast asleep as well, her nose whistling as she did so.

Cole's mother hadn't exactly made a decision regarding whether or not Cole was allowed to play with Annie again but Annie had been grateful that Vince had bothered to try, and from what he saw of the other kid, Cole was probably a little happy about it too.

Still unsure why they had been left for so long considering Maya came to pick Annie up at 9am, Vince got to his feet and glanced outside the store they called home. People were still milling around the mall, but less than usual. Catching sight of Anders about to make a trip down the broken escalator nearby, Vince summoned the man over.

"Hey!" he called, catching the Swede's attention. "What's going on?"

"Whaddya mean?" Anders asked, scratching his balding head as he slung his crossbow over his shoulder. "Nudding is going on."

"I mean... why did Annie and I sleep in for so long?" Vince pressed. "Maya and Lucia are supposed to come round earlier than that."

"Oh..." Anders exhaled, providing an open-mouthed smile. "I get you now. Idd's Sadurday. Lie-in day."

Vince was confused. "We didn't do this last Saturday." He muttered bluntly.

"Furst Sadurday of every month." Anders told him. "Helps keep track of time. Anyway, I have to meet Bohnnie so we can go hunting again – I'll see you around."

"Okay." Vince nodded, waving the man off but still slightly confused. Letting people have a lie-in wasn't exactly the best way of keeping track of time but he certainly wasn't going to argue with it.

Hoping that his discussion with Anders hadn't woken Annie, he turned around to find the child sitting up in her bed. It took him a moment to realise but Annie was wearing pyjamas – Maya clearly took care of her whenever he was absent.

"Hey," Vince called awkwardly. "Did I wake you up or..?"

"Yeah." Annie admitted without a shadow of a doubt. "What were you talking about?"

"Just wondering why we were allowed to sleep in so long. It's nearly midday." Vince explained. "You can go back to sleep for however long you want."

"It's the first saturday of the month..." Annie yawned, rubbing her closed eyelids. "Lie-in-day. And I'm hungry so I can't sleep."

Vince nodded. "All right, then. You go and sort yourself out and I'll wait for you down in the food court." Once Annie got up out of her bed and headed to the back room, he turned and walked in the direction of the escalator.

As he reached the bottom of the steps he looped back around behind them and strolled to the food court, which was only a hundred metres or so from his room. On the way he sensed someone staring at him, likely because of the whole 'Donald' thing which some people still had not dropped despite the man himself telling them it was paved over, but he didn't allow it to faze him.

The food court was filled with tables sporting red and yellow umbrellas along with mismatched benches and seats. Vince strolled past them, making eye contact with Maya – who was sitting at one of the tables – but continued walking towards a man behind a counter.

"What's on the menu today, Sal?" he asked. The self-proclaimed 'chef' turned around to face him, a kind grin on his face.

"Nothing much, unfortunately," the moustached man replied. "Dry cereal again, I'm afraid. Get this, though. Anders stumbled across a pig the other day. If he finds any more we'll be able to start farming more than just my awful attempts at crops. Should've seen the Swede struggle with it has he herded it back."

Vince nodded. "Sounds good." he agreed, albeit distantly. "Anyway, can I have two bowls? Annie's coming down in a second."

"Coming right up." Sal nodded. "I've got some frosted flakes to keep the kid's energy up if you'd like. They're in short supply but I can afford to spend it on a little girl."

Vince shrugged, not bothered. "If you want to, then sure. She'll appreciate it."

"From what I've seen of her, she's a very appreciative child." Sal replied, passing him two bowls. "You raised a good one, there."

As he turned away Vince was almost tempted to blurt "I didn't raise her." That honour belonged to Wyatt and her parents, whoever they were.

Vince took a seat at Maya's table. "Haven't seen you in a while." he exclaimed. "Looks like you're taking good care of Annie, though."

"Can't help it." Maya replied, locking her eyes on the bowl she was eating from. "I don't think any living person could bring themselves not to."

"That piece of work 'Carla' begs to differ." Vince retorted, referring to Cole's mother and downing a spoonful of crunchy, dry cereal. "Seems to have a thing against Annie and I... even though Donald's told everyone to leave us be. Called Annie 'evil' from what I've heard."

Maya shrugged. "She's very argumentative; I guess she's just trying to protect Cole. I can have a word with her if you want."

"No need," Vince replied. "I've already sorted things."

"Hopefully not as violently as you 'sorted things' with Don when you first saw him," Maya chuckled, then caught sight of Vince's expression. "I'm messing with you. Anyway, here comes our little 'demon' now."

Vince looked over his shoulder, placing his elbow on the back of his seat as he twisted around. Annie was approaching them hastily, half strolling, half running. Taking the seat next to Vince she smiled at the two adults and then tucked into her first meal of the day.

Stifling a chuckle, Vince glanced at Maya to make sure she had caught sight of the same thing he had. Her expression told him that she most definitely had. Their strangled laughter caught the eight-year-old's attention and she looked at them, confused. "What happened?" she asked.

Vince paused his laughter and looked at the crown of her head. "Kid, you've got this huge bit of hair sticking up." he said, trying to mat the lock down. "It makes you look a whole foot taller."

"Oh." Annie muttered, trying to wipe her hair down.

"And your shirt is on inside out." Maya told her.

"Oh." Annie leaned forward, self-conscious. "I don't understand..." she mumbled. "I've been putting my clothes on for a long time."

"Don't worry about it, no one will notice." Vince said. "Nobody's perfect."

"It's an innocent mistake." Maya added. "Just eat, then go back to your room and sort it out, okay?"

Annie nodded and continued eating her food ravenously. Vince followed suit and soon enough all three of them were munching relentlessly.

Once their bowls were empty Vince collected them up and passed them back to Sal who put them in a pile to be washed. As he turned to guide Annie back to their room so she could fix her wardrobe malfunction, Maya halted them as her walkie talkie buzzed into life.

"Hold up." she called, raising a hand, then directed her words at the radio. "Yep? All right... be right there. Just one second." She reached behind her back and withdrew her pistol. "Vince, I'm gonna need some help. Something's about to go down."