Alright...I dunno what to write for the A/N this time xDD So I'll answer all your reviews, which I have gotten into the habit of not doing...I'm such a bad author...
Anyway, enjoy! xD
CHAPTER 7: TAKE THESE CHANCES, WE'LL MAKE IT SOMEHOW
March 1, 2013
A Subway Stop in Battery City, California
4:27 PM
Before the apocalypse, Hayley's parents had been very religious. She'd been a good little Christian daughter, going to church on Sunday mornings and saying her prayers every night. You'd think that she would stop believing in God after witnessing such disaster and trauma in her new life, but she continued to say her prayers before she slept. She thanked God, first and foremost, for Jeremy and Taylor, who by now she considered her brothers even more than if they were related by blood. She then thanked Him for food, if she had eaten that day, or to ask for some the next day if she hadn't. She thanked Him for the boys at the mall, especially the tall, handsome brunette one who would smile at her every day and even give her things he'd found at his hideout that might help her. But mostly, she thanked Him for keeping her alive.
Because although she was starving, malnourished, freezing and struggling to get through each day intact and still with some semblance of happiness, she was alive. Which was more than most of the pre-December 21st population could say.
Really, they weren't any worse off than most of the people in the city nowadays. Hardly anyone had an actual permanent residence, save Better Living employees, the people with the new apartment buildings, and those lucky few whose homes had survived the disaster at least partly intact and inhabitable. They and a few other orphans from different schools had met up a few a few days afterwards in the rushed aftermath where everyone was trying to find out what had happened to family, friends and homes. The group—eight boys and two girls, including Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy—had wandered around like lost puppies looking for guidance before setting up camp in the mouth of an abandoned subway station (the underground portion had collapsed, presumably due to the aftershock of earthquakes elsewhere along the coast.) Then, about a month later, they had come home from one of their near-daily food scavenging trips to find their home had been buried under a mountain of rubble. The structure apparently hadn't been as sturdy as it had seemed.
So they had moved onto the street front a few feet away, with no desire to lug the items they had scavenged any farther. Hayley was aware of how closely their small community resembled that of a group of hobos—but essentially, that's what they were. Starving hobo orphans.
Despite it all, everyone in their group maintained an unusually high amount of cheer. The other girl, Sierra, and her two best friends Blake and Nick weren't even seven years old yet, but were adorable and hopeful kids with surprising resilience. As for the other four boys, Alex, Jack, Rian and Zack, they were savvy, thrifty and optimistic, the exact kind of person you'd want with you if you were living on the streets and scavenging or stealing food to stay alive.
But still, Hayley was the most thankful for Taylor and Jeremy. They were the brothers she had grown up without, but had always wanted. They were the ones she had spent both her days and her nights with, who she had grown to know better than anyone else, who, in turn, protected her from everybody else in this crazy world that they had suddenly found themselves thrown into. She would never be able to thank them enough.
At the moment, it was just the three of them, as it often was these days. The older boys had dragged Sierra, Blake and Nick to watch the opening for Hawthorne Towers, the new construction project that BL/ind had completed abnormally quickly. Hayley didn't trust BL/ind, and she knew that Taylor and Jeremy didn't, either. Nevertheless, Jack had heard a rumor that they would be giving out food at the rally, and once Jack got an idea into his head, it was hard to get him to give up on it. So they had all gone, leaving Hayley and her two boys alone at their dirty home base.
They weren't having a particularly good day, although Hayley's had been made incrementally better by a visit from mister Tall, Dark and Nameless from the mall. He didn't seem to be in a particularly good mood, either. The young girl wondered if it had been something she said. Difficult to tell, though—she hadn't said much at all. She was sure her day was worse than his had been, though. He, at least, had food and somewhere with a kind of roof over his head. He and his friends must have been some of the quicker ones to nab one of the inhabitable buildings straight away. All of the suburban houses' basements, famed for being the best place to live right now, had been commandeered by Better Living as soon as they had taken over California.
It was a shame, too. The ten of them would have shared a basement just fine and had room left over. The roof, the shelter from weather, and the possible promise of a heater would have made all the difference to them. Hayley even would have settled for a coat at this point. Surprisingly, she hadn't been able to find one un-mangled by the disaster yet.
"Hayley?" Taylor called out softly, breaking the slight daze she had been in as she watched Jeremy continue to try (and fail) to light a fire in a tin can stuffed with newspaper.
"Hmm?" she answered absently.
"You okay?" he asked.
She turned to look him in his eyes, which she had slowly watched lose their spark and vitality over the torturous months they had been without a home. "Are any of us really okay?" she asked bitterly.
He let out a sound that was somewhat of a cross between a laugh and a half-choked sob. "Alright, stupid question," he amended. "I guess I should ask what you're thinking about so intently."
Hayley had to avert her eyes back to the fire. She couldn't look at Taylor any more without being consumed with sadness for their condition.
"Is there a point?" she asked finally.
"Point to what?"
"To this." She spread her arms expansively, encompassing the three of them and their makeshift camp with the gesture. "To living like this."
He sighed, frowning. "I don't know, Hay. I really don't know. And I've been wondering the same thing."
"Is it really worth it?" she muttered, watching as a spark flared at the end of a match for a moment before burning out.
"Hey, hey, hey." Jeremy dropped the match into the can where it joined twenty of its' failed comrades. "Stop thinking like that, both of you. Of course this is worth it—what other options are there?"
Neither of them wanted to say it, but they were both thinking the same word and Jeremy knew it.
"We've got to believe that it's going to get better someday," he said, more softly this time. "This isn't permanent. Soon the weather's going to warm up—that'll make things a bit better, won't it? And we'll get a home someday, once this world gets itself organized again. We can live together. I'll be old enough to apply for a government job soon enough, and we can share an apartment."
Hayley's eyes widened at the last sentence. "No! Jeremy, you can't work for BL/ind, we all know that!"
"If that's what's going to keep us safe, then I'll have to," he responded grimly.
"But…" To her horror, Hayley's eyes began to fog with tears. She hadn't had a clue that Jeremy was planning something like this. To give into the government that they all badmouthed daily? To actually work for them? It was unthinkable.
"You two aren't going to work," he continued. "I'm sure they'll set up some kind of school soon, and you have to finish your education. I can support us all just fine."
"But we don't want you to!" Taylor interjected.
"It doesn't matter is you want me to, it's what's best for the group," Jeremy said firmly.
"Jeremy!" Hayley and Taylor cried in unison.
"This is not up for discussion." The older boy struck another match and threw it into the can angrily, where it lit the newspaper aflame. He smiled triumphantly.
"Look." He turned to the two of them and spoke more gently, placing one hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm the oldest out of the three of us, so it's my responsibility to take care of the two of you. Only one of us should have to screw up our lives so severely, and it's going to be me, no matter how much you two protest."
Hayley smiled up at him from under damp lashes. Her eyes swam with unshed tears. Nobody had ever tried to protect her like that before—she had never had a sibling to look out for her, and her parents were never home and didn't spend time with her even when they were. He had gone from being a total stranger to willing to give up his freedom for her in under three months.
The younger girl leaped at him, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her face into the crook of his shoulder. "Love you, Jeremy," she whispered. She felt the weight of Taylor's arms around her back and added, "You too, Tay."
"Love you guys, too," Jeremy answered huskily.
Is this what a family really feels like? Hayley wondered. It was more real, more emotional and supportive, than her parents had ever been for her. She absolutely considered Taylor and Jeremy more of her real family than any blood relations had ever been. Maybe there was a reason all this shit had happened to them—maybe it was to bring them together. Maybe it was to make them into a family.
The touching moment was broken by heavy footfalls and shadows thrown across the weak sunlight shining on them. Hayley looked up to see a very winded Alex and Jack, the latter of whom was holding Sierra's tiny hand. All three were scratched up and breathing hard as if they'd just run a marathon, and Alex's shirtsleeve was soaked with blood.
The three on the ground leapt to their feet and rushed over to their friends, a flurry of questions and words flying between the six. Sierra winced and covered her ears. Finally, Jeremy, Hayley and Taylor quieted down enough to hear Jack say, "It was the rally. It was a disaster."
"What happened?" Hayley demanded.
He sighed wearily. "The seven of us were near the edge of the crowd, on the left side, and some group of boys started a protest. Everything got really messed up and violent. Some guy knocked Blake down, so Zack punched him, and Alex and Rian and me were cheering so I guess the police thought we were cheering for the rebellion. They started chasing us. I grabbed Sierra and ran. I think Rian and Blake were with us till a few streets back when we almost ran into one of those creepy special agents, so we split up. I don't know where they got to, but we ran all the way here from Battery Square."
"Alex's arm is all bloody—when was that?" Taylor commented.
"Those police are pretty trigger-happy," Alex moaned. "They were firing shots all over the place. I have no idea how many people got hit, but one got my shoulder. I can't move it."
"What about the others?" Jeremy asked gruffly.
"We lost track of Nick in the crowd," Jack said grimly. "I wouldn't worry too much about him, though—that kid's tiny and pretty sneaky, out of any one of us, he'd most likely survive."
"And Zack," the older boy pressed. He had a feeling he already knew the answer to his question, but he didn't want to believe it or make assumptions without proof—especially for something like this.
"Zack—he's—" Jack choked back a sob, his eyes watering. When he could speak again, he spit out, "The guards shot him. He's dead."
Hayley gasped, horrified, and blood rushed to her face. For the second time that day, she felt tears pool in her eyes, but this time she let them flow. Beside her, Taylor yelped in shock and Jeremy sat down against a wall, putting his head in his hands. His shoulders shook. The young girl buried her face in Taylor's jacket as she cried.
"Are Nicky and Blake coming back?" Sierra asked innocently, obviously aware that something was wrong but not sure what.
"We don't know, honey," Alex murmured, groaning in pain but managing to kneel in front of her. He pulled the child into a one-armed embrace, making sure to keep his blood off of her.
"They killed Zack," Hayley sobbed, clinging to Taylor with all her might. "Why would they kill Zack?"
"Because BL/ind is evil and can't be trusted," Jeremy bit out.
"So you're not going to work for them after all?" Taylor shot back, smoothing down Hayley's hair comfortingly.
"Hey, I never said that—"
"Are you crazy?" Jack nearly yelled. "When did you make plans to work for them?"
"I'm just trying to keep us safe!" Jeremy shouted back, jumping up from his sitting position.
"No, you're trying to get yourself killed! Do you want to end up like Zack, lasered by a special agent because of somebody else's mistake?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Jeremy responded angrily. He shook with tension, looking almost as if he wanted to punch the other boy.
"It's the one that you should be asking yourself if you're thinking for even a second about joining them!" Jack screamed.
Jeremy's shoulders heaved with each breath and he stared Jack down, his eyes filled with anger. "Fuck you, Jack," he said unsteadily. "You can't tell me what to do." And he stormed away down the street.
"Ally, what does 'fuck you' mean?" Sierra asked Alex innocently. "And why is Jeremy mad?"
"He's fine, honey, don't worry about it," Alex soothed.
But the little girl could obviously tell that everything was not fine, because Hayley was sobbing her head off, Jack had slumped against a wall with his eyes closed, and Alex couldn't suppress the little moans of pain he was emitting each time he moved his injured arm.
"Don't be sad, Hay," she said, wrapping her arms around both Hayley and Taylor.
"I'm okay, dear," Hayley choked out, smiling waterily at her. But Sierra was young, not stupid, and she kept asking questions until she understood what was going on.
"Where is Zacky?" she asked, tugging on the older girl's shirt hem. This sent Hayley into another round of sobs.
"Zacky isn't going to come home," Taylor told her quietly as he comforted his friend.
"Just like Mommy and Daddy?"
"Yes," he sighed. "Zacky is with your mommy and daddy and God now."
"I miss them." The six-year-old's bottom lip began to tremble.
"Aww, Sierra…" Hayley murmured tearily, kneeling down to embrace her.
Sierra hugged back with a surprising amount of strength for such a little girl. Her fingers curled into Hayley's red hair, and she whispered into her ear, "Will you be my mommy, Hay?"
Hayley nodded wordlessly, too choked up with emotions to answer her properly. Then she stood up, making sure to keep a hold of the little girl's hand.
"Look, you guys," she said fiercely, making sure to look each boy in the eye. "The six of us, we have to stick together. We are each other's family now. No more fighting and no more running off. Yes, our group just shrunk a crazy lot and we'll miss everyone very much—but we've got to look past that is we want to survive!"
Alex, Taylor and Jack stared at her, wondering where her sudden determination had come from, but agreed all the same, nodding and smiling at the girl.
"And for God's sake, someone go get Jeremy!" she exclaimed. Jack set off down the street in the direction that the oldest boy had run off in, Alex trailing behind to make sure his apology was peaceful.
"Jeremy can be granddaddy, and Taylor is my daddy," Sierra babbled, clutching at his hand so that she was sandwiched between Hayley and Taylor. "Nicky and Blake can be my brothers when they get back, and Ally and Jack and Rian are the uncles, and we'll be a real family!"
"So Hayley's your mom and I'm your dad?" Taylor clarified, laughing.
"Yep!" She nodded happily. "And you're married!"
Taylor and Hayley shared an amused look over the top of the young girl's head. As much as they loved each other, it was a very definite sibling type of love. Dating each other would be akin to dating a brother or sister.
"You're adorable, Sierra," Hayley giggled, ruffling her hair affectionately. Sierra beamed and ducked down to avoid her but refused to relinquish her grip on either one's hand. "Come on, let's go try and find something to eat."
"We're out of food," Taylor reminded her gently.
Hayley's happy expression fell. "I forgot," she moaned. Her stomach growled angrily in agreement. Sierra giggled and poked it, which brought back at least part of the red haired girl's smile.
"Maybe we can go look for something when the others get back," he reassured her.
"Ooh, exploring!" Sierra exclaimed excitedly. She loved to go on 'explores,' as she called the trips they often went on to scavenge for edible food. She would always run ahead through the empty buildings despite the reprimands of her older friends about how dangerous it might be.
About ten minutes later, Jeremy and Jack reappeared, Alex following slowly and clutching his arm. The heads of the two boys were bent in conversation. They looked serious, but not angry, and as the three others watched, Jeremy cracked a smile and slugged Jack in the arm jokingly.
"We're back," Jack called out as they came back in earshot.
"Are you guys friends again?" Hayley answered, half-joking and halfway dead serious.
The boys exchanged a glance. "I think we're fine," Jeremy said. "Jack convinced me not to work for BL/ind right now."
"Oh, good." She shot a wide, grateful smile at the brown-haired boy, who was paused behind Jeremy to wait for Alex to catch up.
"It was a ridiculous idea, anyway." Jeremy brushed past Taylor to the fire, poking it with a stick to make sure it didn't go out. Taylor shrugged at Hayley, but grinned all the same, thankful that they were a family again.
Their optimism didn't last the rest of the day, though. By eight o'clock at night, it felt as if the group had checked every store un a walking distance of their street and still hadn't found any food. Even Sierra had stopped chattering and was instead shivering on Taylor's back as he gave her a piggyback ride home. It was the third day that they had gone without food, and they were growing desperate.
"Sleepy," Sierra murmured, clinging to Taylor like a monkey.
"We'll be home soon," the brunette boy promised. "You can sleep then."
They were all sleepy and cold and most definitely hungry, but they were admirably refusing to complain. It was mostly for Sierra's benefit, because nobody wanted to worry her, but partly for themselves as well—if they kept telling themselves that it would get better, then maybe they would start believing it, too.
Alex had stayed behind at the camp, partly because of his wounded arm and partly so that he could keep an eye on the sparse pile of clothes and blankets that were their only possessions. Hayley had found a couple bottles of painkillers and bandages for him at one of the abandoned stores they had explored. She hoped that, even though it wasn't food or warmth, it might aid in the healing process at least a little bit.
"Find anything?" Alex yelled as soon as he came into sight of the group. His voice was tinged with hope. It nearly broke Hayley's heart to call out "No, sorry," in response.
As they neared their home, they could see the figure of a lone boy hunched over with his head resting on his hand, illuminated by the tiny tin-can fire. He lifted his head to look up at them.
"I did get you there, though," Hayley told him, setting the Ibuprofen bottles down in front of him.
"Oh, thank God," he moaned. He popped the bottle off one of the bottles and shook three pills into his hand, gulping them down in relief. "I needed those, thanks, Hayley."
"Anything that will make this situation a bit more bearable," she responded. Taylor set Sierra down gently atop the group's only mattress, and she snuggled into the dirty, threadbare sheets happily. She was asleep in seconds.
Taylor found himself yawning, too, against his will. He was supposed to take first shift tonight, but he was exhausted. The group had divided the night into three shifts—evening, late-night and morning—and would take turns staying awake to make sure everyone stayed safe, the fire didn't get out of hand, police didn't come investigating, or any of a slew of other catastrophes that could alter their already majorly screwed-up lives.
The young boy wasn't sure he could keep his eyes open for the next five minutes, much less the four hours his shift required. He stifled another yawn, hoping nobody had noticed. He thought he had gotten away with it—Alex was tucking Sierra in properly, Jack was already curled up in his fraying sleeping bad, and Jeremy had his back turned towards the fire.
But Hayley's voice broke the silence. "You look tired," she observed.
"No, I'm—" Taylor paused to stretch, closing his eyes gratefully for a second—"absolutely fine," he yawned.
"Oh really," Hayley smirked.
"Yep!" He flashed her a smile and a thumbs-up to further enforce his statement.
She rolled her eyes. "I've got second shift. Why don't we trade, that way you can get at least a bit of rest before you have to stay up?"
"Aw, Hay, are you sure?" He could tell that she was tired, too—the redhead, like him, was yawning, albeit more infrequently—but he really was tired…
"One hundred percent," she agreed. "Now go get some sleep—you look like you need it."
Taylor gratefully loped away, shrouding himself in a comforter and almost immediately passing out. One by one, the rest of the camp followed, Jeremy stopping to wish Hayley a good night and wrap a blanket around her frail shoulders, until she remained the only one still conscious, watching the street by the light of the fire.
She wasn't aware of time passing, only checking her watch very occasionally. Mostly she sat and stared out into the darkness, thinking.
If this was going to be her new life, her new role in society, she almost didn't want to live it. She had gone from elite—a goddess among royalty—to something lower than low, unspeakable of, forgotten. It had taken only twenty-four hours for her life to turn around completely. Of course, this new life was not without its' benefits (namely Jeremy, Taylor, Sierra, Alex and Jack) but Hayley still found herself reminiscing about the days when she had a home and parents and regular meals. She would give anything to go back to those easy, carefree days.
Hayley felt her eyelids begin to flutter shut as she thought about her big, warm bed and all the food her maid used to make, neither of which she'd had in nearly three months. Somewhere along the line, her memories shifted into dreams as the young girl succumbed to slumber, still sitting up as if guarding the camp.
She was startled awake nearly two hours later by a heavy thump, followed by a muttered curse from somewhere out in the darkness. She sat up, clutching her blanket around her defensively, and peered out beyond the circle of light the fire gave with no success.
"Who's there?" she called tentatively, working to keep the quaver of fear out of her voice.
There was a pause in which she grabbed for the stick they used to stoke the fire, fearing the worst, before a male voice called out "a friend."
"Really?" she asked, standing slowly. "Because I'm armed, and I can f-fight." She was painfully aware of how young and scared she sounded in that moment.
"Whoa, there." The figure stepped into the edge of the circle of light so that his silhouette was visible. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Then who are you?" she asked again.
"I think you might know me," he said, stepping forward again. Hayley gasped.
It was the boy from the mall, the one who passed by her every day as he went out and back home. His hands were raised in a signal of peace, and at his feet was a pile of something dark and fluffy.
"I don't want to hurt you," he repeated, mistaking the reason for her gasp.
"I believe you," Hayley answered softly. She dropped the poker at her feet and walked towards him slowly, wrapping her arms around her torso and shedding the blanket. "What are you doing here?" sje whispered once she reached him. "Shouldn't you be back in your safe, semi-warm home?"
He ignored her question, instead reaching out and placing a hand on her upper arm. His face flickered before her in the firelight. "You're shivering," he murmured.
"It's c-cold out," she responded, her teeth chattering quietly.
"Here." He bent down and pulled something from the bottom of the pile, causing a cascade of items to dislodge. He draped the black, puffy parka around Hayley's shoulders. "I found it for you today. Does it fit?"
Hayley gawked at him, her jaw dropping. She threaded her arms through the sleeves of the coat and snuggled into it. It was just her size, and the warmest, most comfortable thing she had ever felt in her life.
"There's more," he continued. "Two jackets for your other friends, and as much food as I could convince the guys to give up."
Both their eyes dropped to the pile at his feet. The girl wasn't able to make out shapes, but she believed his words. Still, she couldn't get her mouth to work quite properly. It seemed to be frozen in the open, drop-jawed position.
"I'm sorry if I'm being intrusive," he said softly. "I'll go now, if you want."
Hayley forced her eyes to look up into his deep brown ones. "Why?" she asked, the word so quiet it was almost impossible to hear.
"You just looked so miserable today when I saw you. I couldn't stop thinking about it…" the boy shook his head slightly. "I had to help."
She lifted a hand tentatively, not sure what she was about to do. He waited. There was a moment of stillness, and then Hayley embraced him lightly, lifting herself onto her toes so she could reach around his neck. "Thank you," she whispered quietly in his ear.
Before he could say another word, she had broken away from him, smiling gently. He could tell wordlessly that this was his cue to leave. He turned on one foot, about to leave the circle of firelight.
"Wait," Hayley called softly. "What's your name?"
He turned back to her slowly. Their eyes met once again. "Mikey Way," he answered.
"Hayley Williams," she called back. And as he walked off into the darkness, she murmured, "Thank you, Mikey Way."