I don't own any of this Loud House belongs to Nickelodeon.
In Ennard st, just west of downtown in Great Lake City stood the bowling alley. A once busily place for people that loved to bowl for championships or play in the once colorful game room, is now nothing more than a place for the Chang family to live in, at least for now.
The Chang's have been very busy ever since Mr. Chang got the medicine from Randall and Joey that saved Sid's life from a serious infection. After waking up, it took Sid a couple of days to have the strength to start walking again, during that time her parents and sister have stuck by her side, taking care of her the best they can.
When Sid finally did manage to get herself on her feet, her mother stood next to her as she took steady steps to make sure that Sid wouldn't fall on to the floor. After a couple more days of her parents escorting her, Sid had regain her strength to walk around without the worry of falling. Yet, despite her recovery the wound on her cheek is still clearly present in the form of a freshly made scar.
Over the next couple days, the Chang's had scavenged through the city for any supplies they could find, which meant that any food had to be eaten no matter how small it was. But then one day, the family had came across the bowling alley, it was actually an accident that they came in here, due to circumstances that they couldn't control.
They had been walking down the street for anything useful, when they heard voices. This stopped all of them in their tracks in surprise as through the lonely days they experienced, the family weren't expecting to encounter any more people.
The surprise quickly turned to caution as what if the people who are coming weren't so nice as Rusty and Joey. With a quick decision Mr. and Mrs. Chang ushered their children into the bowling alley, and from there they watched as three figures in yellow raincoats, carrying guns, walked passed the bowling alley.
When the figures were completely out of sight, the two felt themselves relax, but then they heard both Sid and Adelaide gasp in astonishment. Curious on what made their daughters gasp, the two turn around to see the old bowling alley that looked to be space theme as evidence by the bowling ball planets on the walls and the carpet that has colorful stars on it. The bowling alley seemed to be a really cool place when it was open to the public.
The Chang's then began to explore the building, going passed the bar that has a jukebox, a pool table, TV's on the walls, and a dart board. They also passed the food stand, restrooms, and the stand where you get your bowling shoes. There's also a room where parties could be held in and the game room with its machines and games forever off, though Adelaide was drawn over to the prize counter where all the prizes sat, waiting for lucky kids or teens to collect them.
After exploring much of the place, the Chang's decided that since they currently don't have any shelter at the moment, this will serve as their current shelter very nicely. It was honestly a good one as it's big enough to hold them, had places for them to hide in if danger comes, and honestly it would be great to finally have a place to rest their feet.
And that was how the Chang's have come to live in a bowling alley.
Today; Sid had awaken in the party room, that her family had converted into their sleeping quarters.
Since Sid is a late sleeper, she was always the last one of her family to get up, especially recently. Slowly coming out of her sleeping bag, Sid stretches a bit with a little bit of a sting from her cheek, she reached up and felt up the scar a bit with the gaze of her fingertips.
"Aw man, I don't think I'm ever going to become used to this scar." Sid touches it a bit more, before getting her hand away from it and headed for the door, where upon coming out she picked up the voice of her little sister that was coming from the game room.
"No Mr. Chimpy. You gotta finish your breakfast first, before you can get cookies."
Poking her head in from the side, Sid saw Adelaide sitting in a circle right in front of a skee ball game with three plushies of a bunny, chimpanzee, and crocodile with fake cookies in the center of the circle. Adelaide pretended to eat some eggs before regarding the crocodile in the purple jacket. "Now Crocey, I know you're hungry, but that doesn't mean you have to be eating like a pig."
Amused by her sister's imagination, Sid goes on over and sat down beside her. "Hey Adelaide, whatcha doing?"
Adelaide pretends to drink some orange juice, before turning to regard her sister. "Just having breakfast with my friends."
Sid had already suspected that Adelaide would take full advantage of having all these prizes for herself, she basically took whatever she likes, which Sid couldn't blame her, besides not like anyone else is going to take them.
Adelaide liked all the prizes, like that police siren that she had lit up during their first night here, but the plushies are of course her favorites amongst the various prizes.
"What's your friends names?"
Adelaide points from the crocodile to the bunny. "That's Crocey, Chimpy, and Bunzie. Wolfy was originally here, but he was being too naughty, so I have him sitting in the corner."
Looking over to the corner, Sid did indeed see a wolf plushie sitting there. "So how's your cheek?" Adelaide suddenly asked.
Sid shrugged. "It still stings occasionally, but it's not that bad as it was when I first got it."
"You almost look like that bad lion from the Lion King." Adelaide stated in amusement.
"What your saying that I'm going to have a hyena army, then drop you into a stampede." Sid joked.
"Your not thinking about it, are you?"
"Of course not. Besides, I'm pretty sure there aren't any wildebeests around here."
The two sisters laughed over that, as it was such a ridiculous conversation, which is honestly alright. Just then their dad entered the game room with a empty bin. "Hey girls."
"Hi dad."
"Are you ready for some foraging today?"
"Aw dad." Adelaide cried. "Do we have to?"
"Now Adelaide." He corrected. "If we want to survive, we're going have to find items that will help us, even the tiniest item."
"Alright dad." Adelaide sighed, she slowly gets herself up while looking to her friends. "Sorry to cut breakfast short guys, I'll try to find something for you three to make it up."
She and Sid quickly went over to their dad, where once they did, the three went over towards the second exit where their mom is patiently waiting for them.
Now that they were all together, the family went out to forage for some supplies in the area.
Lori exited her cave with the need to do her business, she may have converted herself to the wild and a little out of her mind, but she would be pulling a birdie if she went to the bathroom in her cave.
Lori walked some good distances away from her cave, getting up to a boulder Lori at first checked her surroundings for any danger, as it would really suck to be attacked while doing your business. Fortunately the area was clear, so Lori squats down behind the boulder and began to think as she waited for her important business to be over.
She had almost picked clean the moose, yet there was still some slabs of meat in it for her to eat, and her coat is coming along very nicely, she just needed to do a few more modifications then she'll be good.
Finishing up her business, Lori gets herself back up, but instead of going back to her cave, Lori instead went the other way in order to collect some more firewood as she had noticed that she was running low on them.
It wouldn't take that long, in fact Lori estimated that she should be done in about five minutes.
Searching through the city streets is a big hassle, especially if you're in a much smaller group of four.
The Chang's knew this well as they searched through the next block over from the bowling alley, in this area; they couldn't go much further since this section of road had collapsed into the sewers below where murky, gray water can be seen as it completely flooded that part of the sewers.
This made Mr. Chang nervous as sinkholes could form anywhere here at any time, which he greatly feared as he and his family could fall in and become trap down there. In order for that not to happen, Mr. Chang warned his family to watch their step.
Sid and Adelaide meanwhile are busy looking in an alley way, so far the two sisters have found some cans with a little bit of food left in them and some duck tape which could be use to put something back together.
"I don't think there's anything left around here." Adelaide said after shorting through some trash.
"Don't worry Adelaide, I'm sure we can find something." Sid reassured after tossing away some plastic.
Adelaide is about to respond, but only shuttered as the cold wind brushes pass her. Adelaide hugged herself for warmth, which is utterly useless as that chill went through her easily. "It sure is cold."
Sid who had also felt the chill, rubbed her hands together to warm them as she looked to her sister in agreement. "Tell me about it, it feels like the middle of December."
"I hope it'll warm up soon."
"Me to Adelaide." Sid now looked over to the her right, towards the end of the alley that's blocked by a metal fence, though what catches her eyes is the wooden door that's slightly open.
Thinking that there might be something in there, Sid walked on over and went into the building which brought her into a kitchen where rats are seen on the counters, before scattering away upon seeing her.
"Must be something in here." She meekly told herself, the first place Sid checked for food is the refrigerator, though that was a decision she quickly regretted for as soon as Sid opened it, she was immediately hit by the horrible smell of rotten and spoiled food.
Sid turned away immediately, while quickly covering her nose. "Phew, that stinks!" Slowly turning back to the fridge, Sid saw a moldy paradise, complete with mystery liquid and roaches running around, safe to say that there was nothing worth valuable in there.
Sid quickly slammed the fridge shut to cut off the stench, which didn't do much as most of the smell is lingering. Quickly, in order to get away from the stench Sid went right on over to the cabinets to search, but alas, seems like the rats have gotten to the food first as evidenced by the crumbs and torn up boxes.
"This is a bummer." She sadly told herself. Maybe there's something worth searching for in the other parts of this home. Sid was about to do so, when Adelaide came into the kitchen. "What are you doing in here Sid?" Adelaide's nose picked up the horrible stench from the fridge, which she quickly covered up her nose. "What's that smell?"
"That's the smell of rotten food." Sid replied grimly.
"It stinks." Adelaide complained.
"Tell me about it. Anyway I'm going to search around for anything we can use."
"Can I help?" Adelaide eagerly asked.
"Sure, just be careful okay. I don't think this building is one hundred percent stable."
"Don't worry, I'll be one hundred percent careful."
With that the two sisters checked around the apartment: they first looked around in the living room where they discovered that this apartment once belonged to an elderly couple, they then checked the bathroom and the bedroom where they unfortunately found the skeletal remains of the couple laying in bed together, picked clean from the rats and bugs.
The sight of the skeletons quickly made the sisters run off all the way to the front door. Opening the door they come into the hallway which is blocked off by large piles of rubble just two doors down.
"That was scary." Was all that Adelaide could say.
"At least they died together." Sid reassured for although that experience scared her, she wanted to reassure her sister as well as herself.
"How do you think they died?"
"That's a big question, but I think they either died of starvation or died from that intense heatwave." Sid was thinking more of the second suggestion. Although she and her family were safely underground at the time of the impact, they to slightly felt the heat that came with it. She can hardly imagine how horrible it was to die under that heat.
Shaking that thought out of her mind, Sid went back to focus on the task at hand. With her sister, the two tried the first door, but it was lock, then they tried the other one which was unlocked. Unfortunately they didn't get in that far as the living room and hallway is blocked by the collapsed roof, the only place they could really check is the closet which upon opening it, they saw nothing but coats, hangers, and boxes full of knick knacks.
Sid and Adelaide felt disappointed for they haven't found anything worth any use to their family. So feeling dejected they exited the building and walked back to the street where their parents weren't finding that much items either. Mr. Chang with his bin that has a few items, turned to his family. "Let's check another street, we might find something there."
They moved on towards the next street and fortunately this one didn't seem to have any danger of a sinkhole appearing, well hopefully.
Lori has collected a good portion of firewood and now she was heading back to her cave, where she'll continue work on her coat and then have some lunch.
After some walking and taking some shortcuts, the cave at last came into view. This was an advantage of living in an area for a good amount of time, you'll eventually learn all the shortcuts. Anyhow, as Lori drew nearer to the cave's entrance, Lori suddenly stopped as an unexpected surprise is inside her cave.
Five foxes are in her cave, eating her moose as if it was theirs. Two of them pull out one slab of meat at the same time, which resulted in a tug of war that lasted until the bigger one tore it out of the other one's mouth.
Lori had to get rid of these vultures, she couldn't just let them steal her food, so she drops her firewood, besides one and approached her cave. The foxes, (after hearing the wood fall) looked up in alarm, they watch Lori approached them while waving a thick stick over her head.
"Get out of my home! You dirty rats!" She shouted at them. The foxes stand their ground, raising the back of their hair as they bared their teeth. This was a fine meal they discovered and they weren't going to give it up that easily.
"Go on get!" Lori moves forward, waving the stick at them. The foxes move forward to the cave's entrance as they still bared their teeth, Lori swings the stick at the foxes who quickly dodge from the incoming swings and run around her.
Lori kept her eyes on them, but one eludes her and goes up on her left. The fox ran at her leg and inflicts a savage bite. Lori winched in pain from the bite, she immediately turned and whack the stick at the fox's face, making the animal let go, leaving behind a nasty bite mark.
The fox jumps for another attack on her leg, but Lori swings the stick and hits the fox point blank in the face, with enough force to knock the animal to the ground. Lori turned to the other foxes which snapped their jaws at her, in utter rage from the bite she received, Lori charged and swings furiously at them, hitting a few in the process. The foxes deciding to cut their chances, quickly scatter away from the angry teen, who stood there victoriously.
After the last of the foxes disappeared from sight, Lori huffs a bit to catch her breath before looking down to the bite on her leg; it was bleeding and looked deep. Lori will have to find something to cover it up, now walking with a limp in order not to apply any weight on her hurt leg, Lori slowly walked into her cave to rest.
While Lori rested up in her cave; Sid and her family returned to the bowling alley after a long day of foraging. It wasn't much a successful trip as they found only a few items, but they suppose that it was better than finding nothing.
They go over to the shoe rack, for it was the place they stored their items at. They set down their bins and then begin to place the items on the shelves: from cans to some water and band-aids.
Since they didn't have that much, the chore only took about three minutes to complete. After they were done, Adelaide went back towards the game room to rejoin her friends while Sid went off towards one of the lanes to see if she could somehow get the pins set up, so that she can have a game.
Their parents however didn't move from where they stood, they were greatly concern as the stuff they collected wouldn't last them a day, by tomorrow the food and water would be all gone. "What are we going to do Stanley?"
"I think we're going to need some help."
"Who are we going to ask for help?" Mr. Chang responds to his wife with just a glance. "You thinking of those two guys? I don't know about that Stanley?"
"They did help us on saving Sid." Mr. Chang remarked.
"But we don't know that much about them." She countered.
Mr. Chang had to agree with his wife on that, he didn't know that much about them or what they did before the impact, but they definitely needed help right now and those two were the only ones that he knew of, that could possibly help them. "They seem like good guys, from the short time I spent with them, they're really our best bet."
"Well I don't like it." She replied.
"Look, we can hold this decision for now, but if we don't have any better luck tomorrow. Then we have no choice, but to ask for those guys help. Does that sound alright?"
Mrs. Chang thought this over, although those guys did help save her daughter's life, the fact that she didn't know them very well, made it hard for her to one hundred percent trust them.
But what her husband purposed did sound fair, plus if they were going to survive out here, they are definitely going to need help. So she slowly nodded in agreement.
Mr. Chang nodded back. "It's decided then, well ask for help if our luck isn't any better tomorrow."
Lori laid against a big rock as she felt her stomach digest the slab of meat she recently ate. She hasn't been working on the fur coat, for the pain from her leg is just too much for her.
Looking to the bite mark on her leg, Lori sees that most of the blood is clotted. Lori is tempted to touch it, but held on tough restraint, instead Lori turned to her rock family. "Yeah, this does hurt a lot dad."
"Don't worry mom, I'll find something to patch it up." Lori listened to Lisa closely before replying. "Don't worry Lisa, all I need is some rest and this wound will get all better. Besides it's probably nothing to worry about."
Lori now turned to Lana. "No Lana, I won't go and bring you the fox. But anyway guys, I'm going to rest now, so I'll see you in the morning."
With that Lori rests her head on her arms while curling into a ball, though what Lori doesn't know however is that the bite mark on her leg will lead to some serious issues for the eldest Loud sibling.
For you see, the fox that bit her had recently been infected by the horrible disease known as rabies. Which meant that the fox had now infected her with the deadly disease.
For poor Lori, she is now officially on a countdown, and she is very unaware at the moment.
Meanwhile in Royal Woods; as everyone slept soundly for the night, a young girl with blond hair is going through the streets as she headed towards Flip's Food and Fuel.
Lola knew she had to be fast to get what she wanted at Flip's, she hoped that she would be back at the grocery store before any of her family members woke up. Lola also hoped that the dog pack wouldn't be around like the last time she was at Flip's.
Cutting through the empty streets, Flip's finally came into view from across the street, but Lola is hesitant to cross at the moment, she took a good look around first and when she saw nothing, Lola hurriedly went across to Flip's.
Now that she was here, Lola can get down to business and that business was getting gasoline. Now gasoline is very hard to come by these days, considering it all burnt up, but Lola thought that there might be some left underground, that's what she hoped for at least.
Pulling out a wrench she borrowed from Lana, Lola uses it to open up the hatch where the tank trucks would pour in the fuel. The next thing Lola does was pull out a long tube, slowly she puts it in the pipe and made it go down until her ears had picked up the good sound of a splash.
Now to suck it up and put it in the gas can that she brought with her, this was something that Lola was slightly dreading. Letting in a deep breath, Lola placed her mouth on the other end of the tube and sucked it like a straw, a couple seconds later Lola had the horrible taste of gasoline hit her taste buds, she immediately spits it out in disgust and then placed the flowing tube in the gas can which slowly filled up as Lola continued to spit out the horrible taste of gas.
At last the gas can is filled up, (as well as the horrible taste of gas is gone), Lola tenderly puts the tube and wrench away, then eagerly, but slowly picked up the full gas can.
With this, the first part of her plan to avenge Luna is complete, she only has a few things to do first, before she can go on with her redemption. Yes, once this whole thing is done. Her family will forgive her for all the trouble she has caused.
Wiping away a tear, Lola hurriedly raced back to the grocery store, where once she gets back, she'll hide the gas can and continue on with her plan tomorrow night. "Don't worry guys, I'll make it up to you."