Chapter 9 - Bubblegum, sunglasses and bottles of water...

After walking for hours through the night, we reached a small town called Remington. It took way longer then we intended to, because Terry’s leg was wounded. Once we arrived at the suburbs of the city, there was not a living soul in the wide area. Walking through that little town in search of people turned out to be a disappointment… The whole city was abandoned… At some point, we gave up searching… We stopped at a playground that was surrounded by houses… I sat on a swing and stared blankly into space as I swayed a little…



Terry: *sighs* I could have sworn this would work… We wasted a whole day…
Nicole: It’s not your fault Terry. You couldn’t have known…
Terry: Yeah I know but… Still… I’m out of supplies…
Mahabi: … Then we raid the houses…
Terry: What?
Mahabi: It’s not like we never raided or something…
Lattei: Yeah, and besides, everything is deserted…
Terry: We should only take the necessary stuff.
Lattei: What you need?

Terry opened up his backpack and got all sorts of stuff out. But it wasn’t much…



Terry: Water… We need water the most. A lighter that works. Mine doesn’t work no more. Eeh… Rope could be useful. Medical supplies. Food… Ehm… Just about anything that can be useful. Take as much as you can, but only the necessary stuff.

Lattei: Mahabi and I will go west.
Terry: Nicole and I will look around the east side. Don’t wander off too far. We’ll meet up here in an hour.

Lattei: M’kay. Let’s go.
Terry: You know how to handle weapons?
Mahabi: I do!
Terry: … I don’t trust you with weapons.
Lattei: He’s the only one who knows how to handle one.
Terry: … Catch. *tosses sidearm to Mahabi*
Mahabi: Sweet! A SigSauer M9!!
Terry: I want that back though.
Mahabi: Aww…

So we set out to look for stuff. Terry and I moved around the houses and looked through the windows to see if anything was left standing. Most of the houses were somewhat empty, but I noticed in one of the houses that the TV was static… So that means there is still electricity. And maybe we could find out what’s been happening out there… We went inside the house as Terry looked upstairs for stuff. And I just looked at the TV being static. I switched channel but it was all static… Just when I wanted to give up, it changed to a channel that was deformed and the sound wasn’t really that bright either. But that wasn’t the reason that got me worried. It was the message that it was bringing…



TV: What appears-…- Explosions in epic proportions -………- So far, estimated casualties -……- 241 million -…- 2 missiles with 6 nuclear warheads -…-

Nicole: Terry!! You gotta see this!!!

Then Terry ran downstairs and peeked through the door.



Terry: What?!! What’s wrong?!!
Nicole: Look…

The image was very vague, but you say a map of the world where the nuclear warheads impacted. Two hit Buthainah… The rest hit the eastern border and the west… It’s known that most of the MNAF troops were stationed there, guiding civilians to safer ground. A so called extraction point to get them to Buthainah… We didn’t know what to say really… Their all dead…



Terry: That’s…
Nicole: Unbelievable… If… If I stayed in Buthainah, I’d be dead…
Terry: Aah… So that explains you’re funny accent…
Nicole: Terry I’m serious…
Terry: Sorry luv.
Nicole: … *sighs* Le-Let’s just go…

Then we continued our way… We noticed some grocery store, which meant food. Terry got behind the counter and looked underneath it as I explored the aisles of the small shop. Crisps, deep fried section, bread… I stuffed myself until I couldn’t eat no more, and believe me, that took a while. I was starved… I grabbed 4 large bottles of water off the shell and took it with me. As I came back, Terry was still busy underneath the counter…



Nicole: Just what are you doing…?
Terry: Store owners got the nasty habit to keep weapons under the counter. Since the owner is gone, I think it’s more useful to me.

Nicole: … Right.
Terry: Except this frackin’ vault won’t budge. *punches it*
Nicole: No, that’s gonna work.
Terry: Could always try.

Then I noticed a small note on the cash register. It had four digits…



Nicole: Try 4978.

I could hear he was turning the lock, and at some point, I heard a “click”.



Terry: Hot damn! How’d you know?!
Nicole: … It says right here.
Terry: Oh… Right… I knew that…
Nicole: Sure you did.
Terry: Alright, let’s see… Aha!! Niiiiiiiiice…
Nicole: What?
Terry: Glock 21. Nine millimetres. Even an extra clip! And the dude’s weapon license!

He took a look at the license…



Terry: “Frederik Reef”… What kind of a shootty name is that?
Nicole: It’s a human’s name.
Terry: So is yours.
Nicole: I know.
Terry: … So is mine, actually, but I like your name.

Nicole: … Right…
Terry: Alright, Glock’s mine now.

Then I noticed a rack filled with sweets. Packs of bubblegum and all sorts.



Nicole: Gimme one of those, please.
Terry: What? These?
Nicole: No the bubblegum.
Terry: *places bubblegum on counter* That’ll be 50 cents please.
Nicole: Cut it out Terry…
Terry: Alright then, 25 cents. You get a discount because you’re so pretty.
Nicole: Damn it Terry!! Is everything just a joke to you?!!

Terry: Why?! What’s you’re problem?!

Nicole: My problem?!! Every day, people are dieing out there!! My boyfriend died out there as well!! I don’t know where my friends are!! I don’t know where my little brother is!! So could you just stop trying to be funny?!! Because you’re not helping me!!

In that sudden burst of anger, I smacked the cash register off the counter. I didn’t know I was that strong, because that thing weights a lot. But it did impressed Terry… He closed his eyes and sighed…



Terry: … Look… Nicole… I’ve seen friends of me dieing as well… And… Of course it’s a hard thing to deal with but… It’s something you just gotta accept… The sooner you’ll accept that he’s not here anymore… The better… So that you can leave it behind and move on… Just because there is a nuclear post-apocalyptic war being waged outside doesn’t mean you can’t have fun anymore… It’s the only thing that got me through…

Nicole: Yeah but… I… I just miss him y-you know…?
Terry: I know…
Nicole: Few hours before he died, he called me… He… He said he loved me… And I said I loved him too… I just don’t understand Terry… Just… Why is this happening…? It’s just not fair…

Terry: I know… C’mere dudette…

He got from behind the counter and stretched his arms. I doubted for a moment but then I hugged him. And although it didn’t really made me feel better, I was relieved. And I know he was right. But accepting the fact that the person you truly love from the bottom of your heart is being taken away from you so all of a sudden is a very hard thing to accept… But I have to… I started to cry as I hugged Terry and placed my chin on his shoulder... And we stood there for at least 15 minutes…



Terry: Alright, alright, dude, enough. You’re soaking my jacket.

I couldn’t resist a little smile…



Terry: You ok?
Nicole: Yeah… I am now…
Terry: Good… Alright, let’s see what we got here.

Then he got behind the counter again and was messing around in the vault…



Terry: Alright, I got a pistol, and two clips. And some shotgun ammo as well. You see a shotgun here somewhere?

Nicole: … No…
Terry: Figures. I’ll take it anyway.

Then he got up and turned to a rack with sunglasses. Well, those cheap plastic ones anyway. He tries on a few and looked in the small mirror that was attached to it…



Terry: How do I look?
Nicole: You look dope…
Terry: Dope?? Dude, from which rock you crawled out from?! Dope isn’t being said for years now!

Nicole: … Guess I’m a little behind with slang…
Terry: A little? About twenty years behind!
Nicole: … Well I’m forty one years old so that might explain...
Terry: … Wait, what? Did my ears deceive me?
Nicole: Nope…
Terry: … Forty one years old…?? Holy shoot… Say that again…
Nicole: … Forty one years old…
Terry: Brrr…. *shivers*
Nicole: Then what did you think?
Terry: I don’t know… Twenty two, twenty six years old… Twenty nine tops…
Nicole: Is that a compliment?
Terry: Hell yeah it is…
Nicole: … Thanks…
Terry: … You’re not pulling my leg are you?
Nicole: No…
Terry: … Well, I would have felt that if you pulled my right leg…
Nicole: …
Terry: You serious…?
Nicole: Dead serious…
Terry: … Damn!! You look good for a fossil…
Nicole: … *weak smile* Gee, thanks.
Terry: … Forty one years old… Damn…

Then he picked up the bubblegum that fell along with the cash register I smacked off earlier. He grabs a few other packs of bubblegum and placed it on the counter.



Terry: So… Paper or plastic?

Not long after that, we looked around the city again. We went into a hospital to get bandages and stuff and Terry just kept on joking. You know those plastic skeletons doctors have in their quarters? Well, he moved it around and made it stick up the finger as he moved its jaw and talked in a high pitched voice. For the very first time since Blain died, I started to laugh again. Terry made me forget all the sorrow I felt…



As soon as we were done, we returned to the playground where we were at first and noticed Lattei and Mahabi were already waiting…



Terry: ‘Sup guys! Ya found anything?!
Lattei: We did. A flashlight, bandages, bottles of water, food.
Mahabi: Money… *grins*
Terry: You do realize money is worthless right now right?
Mahabi: Maybe for us, but it can be used to bribe people… Or to buy equipment…

Terry: How much ya got?
Mahabi: Five hundred dinar…
Terry: Hehehe, jackpot…
Mahabi: Oh, which reminds me, I got something for you.

He searches his bag and got out some box and throws it to Terry. Terry catches it and looked at it surprised…



Mahabi: We ran into a pet shop.
Terry: Doggy biscuits??
Mahabi: Yeah… *chuckles*
Terry: … *tastes one*
Mahabi: And?
Terry: *spits it out* How the hell are they able to feed this shoot to their dogs?!!
Mahabi: The advertisement in the window said it was delicious.
Terry: Then they obviously never tasted it before.


Then it stayed quiet for a while… We all sat down on something… I sat down on that swing again as Mahabi and Lattei kicked back on a bench and Terry sits on a fence…



Lattei: I wonder how the others are doing…
Nicole: Who?
Lattei: Everyone… Would they be as lucky as us…?
Nicole: Well I hope so…
Lattei: *sighs*

We stayed outside until dawn broke. Looking at the sunset above the deserted town with Terry, Mahabi and Lattei was an experience I won’t forget very soon. It reminded me of the sunsets and sunrises I’ve seen together with Blain, and I still remember what he said back then…



” The sun rises and falls… And with it, goes another day… As soon as you saw the sun rising again, you know you’re still alive and made it through the night…”



I never truly understood what he meant with that, but I do now. I felt I was gonna cry again… But this isn’t the moment for me to shed my tears… Instead, I should be thankful that I was given the chance to have known a hedgehog named Blain… And I think it was then I accepted it… That Blain died… But… The fact that I accepted it didn’t mean I will forget… He lives on in my heart as I struggle to survive…



At some point, we went towards one of the houses that were still intact. Terry and I dragged mattresses downstairs and found pillows and blankets as Mahabi and Lattei are gonna sleep upstairs. A little privacy wouldn’t hurt so… Heh…



Terry: You’re comfortable? *fluffs up Nicole’s pillow*
Nicole: Yeah…

Terry: Hehe… I used to tug my little sister in like this…
Nicole: You’re little sister?
Terry: Yeah… She’s 9 years old…
Nicole: Ooh… Where is she now…?
Terry: She died… My whole family is dead…
Nicole: Ooh… I’m sorry to hear that…
Terry: … Maybe it’s best for them… So that they don’t have to experience what we’re experiencing…

Nicole: Maybe…
Terry: Heh…
Nicole: Truth be told…
Terry: What…?
Nicole: I’m glad that my daughter isn’t witnessing this…
Terry: You’re daughter…?
Nicole: Yeah…
Terry: You were a mommy…?
Nicole: *nods* I still am…
Terry: Can I ask what happened…?
Nicole: I had a miscarriage… I only held her for 10 minutes before she got taken away again… That was the first and last time I held her… The next day, she died…

Terry: I’m sorry to hear that…
Nicole: Don’t be…
Terry: *sighs*

Terry and I talked about all sorts of things. About the war… What we did before the war… About his girlfriend and my Blain… At some point, we fell asleep in the middle of a conversation… And I wished I could’ve seen Blain that night. Just one more time to say farewell… He never had the chance to say goodbye, but I still had… So I said goodbye to him…

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