"Find anything good?" Edilio asked as he walked in, causing Astrid to jump.
"Kind of. Most of these crates are filled with tech stuff or rotten food," Sam said. He picked up a loaf of moldy bread and dropped it, disgusted. Astrid was sitting indian-style trying to get a radio of some sorts to work.
"What's the haul from the truck?" Quinn asked while he searched through a large box.
"Some apples, water, and tech stuff," Edilio said. He tossed an apple and a water bottle to each of the three kids. Then he walked over to Astrid, handed her the technology from the car, and leaned against the wall folding his arms.
"What're you trying to do?" he asked. Astrid shrugged.
"I don't know. Anything, to be honest," she said. "I think this is the type of radio that we can talk to people through. Like what semi-truck drivers use."
"I don't think our friends have CB radios in their pockets," Quinn said distractedly as he was untangling some wires. Astrid sighed.
"You do realize we aren't the only ones that were in the FAYZ, right?" she said. "I think we should get in contact with Sanit, Howard, Orc, Dahra, Albert, and the others."
Sam looked up. "You think we can contact them with a CB radio?"
"Obviously not! Or at least not until we find Jack. But I can't just sit around here doing nothing," Astrid snapped.
"I like the idea. It's like in Potterwatch from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Edilio said with a grin. Astrid snorted.
"Yeah, exactly like that," she said sarcastically. Astrid sighed and stopped fiddling with the radio. She stood up and dusted herself off, and headed over to the last two unopened crates.
"Two left. Sam, you choose first," she said. Sam pointed to the one on the right.
"Alright, let's cross our fingers and hope for something good," she said. Quinn and Edilio pried the top off, and Sam was the first to look inside. He wrinkled his nose.
"Junk?" Astrid asked. Sam nodded.
"It's just more rotten food," he said. Astrid frowned.
"It's like whoever owned this place planned to use it as a safe house during an apocalypse. There's CB radios, food, a door with an abnormal amount of locks on it, it's in the middle of nowhere," she said. "I wonder what's in the last crate…"
Astrid trailed off, looking towards the last box. It became very ominous.
"Let's find out. Wouldn't it be great if it was filled with Nutella or Pepsi?" Quinn said as the three boys headed towards the crate.
"Or M3-MAAWS," Sam said with a half smile. They quickly opened the crate and looked in as soon as the top was off. They looked disappointed.
"More freaking rotten food," Sam said disgustedly.
"These people don't know that you're supposed to pack non-perishable foods in a safe house," Quinn said. Then he kicked the crate in anger, causing him to curse after stubbing his toe.
"We better get to sleep," Edilio said. Then he and Sam both said "I'll take first watch," at the same time.
"Why don't I take first watch, then," Astrid said. She wasn't tired anyways. Sam and Edilio protested until Astrid gave them a stern look.
"Yes, mother," Sam said as he laid down. The other two boys laid down as well, and soon they were peacefully snoring.
Until after a few hours, when Astrid heard footsteps and talking right outside the door.
"Look! There's a house!" Taylor squealed. The five kids were driving down an empty highway, trying to find some sort of town or anything. They had left as soon as they had practically stuffed half of the store into the trunk. Caine didn't feel one bit bad about robbing that place. It was either shut down or run by a moron who doesn't know what a key does. And they had a good reason; Diana needed all the food she could get.
Caine looked in the rearview mirror at her. It looked like she was around five months pregnant, already. Even though it has barely been a month. Diana noticed him looking so he quickly averted his eyes.
"Pull over at that house!" Taylor cried. Caine groaned.
"Alright, I am. Shut up now, will you?" he said. The house was very small and beaten, and there were no other buildings in sight. The five kids walked up to the front door and knocked. A little girl answered the door. She had wavy brown hair that went all the way to her butt and big brown eyes.
"Hello," she said. "I'm Lily."
"Hi, Lily," Katie said in the same voice you would talk to a baby with. "Are your parents home?"
"No, Mommy hasn't been home in a week and Daddy is still at his work and he works for the army and when one of Daddy's work friends came to visit us one day, he talked to Mommy and she started crying and then Mommy lost her job and we had to move away from our old town and then Mommy told me she was going to the grocery store. I asked her to buy Cheerios, but she isn't back yet," Lily said in one breath. The five of them looked at each other with their mouths open.
"My big brother is here, though. Mommy left him in charge. He's a big boy now, because he's 13. I'm a big girl, too. I'm six and a half years old. But Mommy said Leo is in charge because he's older. I'll show you to him. He likes playing in his room," Lily said and started skipping into the house. Caine looked at Diana and shrugged as he followed the little girl.
Lily knocked on a door with a sign that said 'KNOCK FIRST' in big, bold letters.
"Leo doesn't like it when people don't knock," Lily said. "He says, 'Lily, you have to knock, okay?'"
Caine heard footsteps and the door knob began to turn. An average height boy with the same big, brown eyes and wavy brown hair as his sister was standing in the doorway. His hair reached his eyebrows. For a second he stood in shock, looking at the strangers who had entered his house.
"Hello, strangers," he said after he put on a smile. Then he turned to Lily.
"What did I say about strangers?" he said slowly while still smiling. Lily beamed at him.
"Stranger danger. And it rhymes!" she said enthusiastically. "But I don't think they're danger. They are nice."
Caine snorted, which cause Leo to look at him suspiciously. Then the boy's eyes widened and he gasped.
"I've seen you guys on the news!" he said while pointing at them all. "You're some of the Perdido Beach Anomaly kids!"
"Yes, yes we are. Now, can you explain what you're sister here said about you two living on your own for a week?" Lana said. Leo glanced at his sister, who was humming and twirling in a circle, and groaned.
"Our dad died in the war, and our mom kind of lost it after that. She started stealing and stuff, so she made us quit school and move out here so she wouldn't get caught. Then one day she just left. Said she was going to the grocery store. It was a week ago, and social services or whatever didn't take us away because they don't know she's gone. And I didn't want to be taken away, either," Leo explained. They were all quiet after that.
"How do you get your food?" Katie asked. Leo grinned.
"There's an abandoned gas station a little ways down. I get all our food from there," he said. "Now, before I grant you permission of staying in Leo's Castle, I want you to tell me all about the FAYZ! And why you're on the run! And demonstrate your powers! Or is that just a rumor?"
Before any of them could speak, Lily fell and hit her head on the corner of the door. She started crying. Lana walked over to her and placed a hand on Lily's forehead, where it was bleeding.
"No, it's not a rumor," Lana said. She removed her hands and it looked as if nothing had happened. Lily stopped crying and Leo was staring at them in awe.
"That. Is. Amazing!" he yelled.
"You don't want to know about the FAYZ, though. And we aren't going to tell you, either," Caine said seriously. Leo looked a little disappointed, but then started smiling again. He looked at them all more carefully.
"Are you pregnant?" he blurted out to Diana. Taylor snorted.
"You aren't supposed to ask a girl that. But yes, I am," Diana huffed.
"Let's go in the living room so you guys can tell me everything that has happened since you left the FAYZ," Leo said and ran down the stairs, jumping the last four. He landed wrong and fell on his face, but he sprang up and yelled "I'm good!" and continued running into the living room. Taylor bounced down the stairs as the rest of them followed with Lily close behind, humming a song.