Day 1: Holly Molly! Part lll

Jason finally woken up after a few hours of rest. He rubbed his eyes and tried to remember why he was in a room that wasn't his apartment and why everything was so quiet. As he stood over the edge of the bed and saw his sneakers, lying on the floor, he kept thinking about how he got there.

Then he remembered.

—Oh, shit.

He walked barefoot through the halls. He took off his makeshift armor as he took awkward steps through the shelter. He could see that Mia was still asleep, plus in another room was a woman he didn't seen before.

—Uh...

He tried to go to the security room, only to find Megan asleep in front of the monitors. He didn't want to wake her up as she looked too peaceful. He opted to go to the cafeteria, as he was thirsty and needed a good glass of water. When he entered the place, he saw a young woman charging her cell phone on one of the site's jacks.

—Good morning —Jason greeted, approaching the carafe to grab a glass of water.

—Good morning! I bet you must be another one of the civilians rescued by Nikolai, right? —The young girl nodded, glad to see more people alive.

—I'm actually a friend of Nikolai. Between the two of us we have promised Megan to bring people to the shelter and together we will find a way out of the city. Did Nikolai rescued you?

—That's right, my mother and I were barricaded in a children's clothing store, believe me... it was crazy shit. He drove a car into the store and smashed the windows. I'm Molly, by the way, Molly Jones.

Molly Jones—Nice to meet you, Molly. I'm Jason Slater. I think I heard something about you... Megan, the worker, saw you on the cameras. I went to sleep shortly after... I wished Nikolai luck on your rescue. Congratulations on making it this far. Take advantage of the silence... when more people arrive, things will be a bit more hectic.

—Believe me! I wish there was some noise in this place. My mother is asleep right now, that Nikolai guy looks like he's talking to someone... this... Ashley girl? And I'm still awake... I'm not that sleepy.

—Oh, well. Would you like something to eat? We have... instant soups and coffee.

—I still don't have an appetite. Yesterday my asshole dad died and now it's just me and my mom.  The pig got eaten.

—I've never seen a girl express herself like that about her dead father....

—I'm not going to cry for an obese bastard who all he ever did in his life was getting women pregnant and not take care of his kids. If there is a hell, I hope the demons pierce his ass with a pitchfork.

—From your expressions and way of speaking, I would say that you don't resent his passing very much....

—Well, I have to tell you that if God ever existed, the death of my idiot father is the best proof of his existence. The bastard died and with it my mother and I have gained freedom. I hope that idiot has met his god.

—And what's the story, Molly? Beyond the repudiation of your father figure whom I'm sure you won't miss.

—Well, I'm Molly Jones. I like really heavy music, I have a peculiar taste for horror movies. Now I was studying at the high school level and well... I consider myself a free spirit. Thanks to this experience I think I'll give up cocaine. I've hurt myself enough, and I've hurt my mother too.

—Sounds like a good time to start looking on the bright side of life, doesn't it?

—Some shit like that. I guess after this I don't know what I'll do... Vallimorth is my town, and it's what I've known my whole life. I don't know what the world is like out there, or if the government will help us with this...

—I don't think anyone will come to help us. In situations like this I'm sure the police would have done something by now, or we'd already have the military... I can tell you that as we got here, the streets were empty... too empty.

—Empty?

—There were a few lights on in some buildings, but there was nothing beyond that on the streets. You could say I didn't see the chaos I expected, unless we arrived as soon as the epidemic started.

—I can't tell you for sure what you're talking about... I haven't been out of this place for a long time and I don't know how things are outside. This is complete bullshit...I think staring at cow shit is starting to be more of a dream come true than this. Just look at us... wrapped up in this fucking mess....

—I'd highly recommend you go get some rest. Look, some of them will be awake by the time you're resting, and this place is completely safe. Believe me, there will be no danger. Those bastards don't know how to climb, and I doubt very much that they'll be able to get through the corridor that connects to the second floor plaza.

—Well, at least I'll be able to sleep peacefully knowing that no idiot will bury their teeth in my neck. Excellent.

—There's still not much to do in this place... maybe you could talk to the other civilians and come up with something to keep the atmosphere in this place. Mia commented to me that it gets very lonely, and some noise would come in handy.

—Noise to attract those things?

—No! Hehehe... no. Conversations, chats, talks about life, about the situation... some contact wouldn't hurt.

—I could use it. Now I have to talk to my mother, well, when she wakes up. We have to figure out together how to keep moving. My father was the only one working and bringing in income...I feel like a real liability because I'm good for nothing. I have no experience in anything and I barely worked in a store selling junk at a dollar store....

—I frequent dollar stores a lot...

—Really? I wonder who the idiot is that buys pencils with badly cut out pictures around them and buys the "Dolphin", "Koala" or "Penguin" collections consisting of school supplies with stuff that will end up in the trash,

Jason raised his hand, smiling somewhat ruefully.

—God, not you!

Molly came out of the room, with a big smile.

—You know, I think you're right about talking to people. Look! It's been fun to at least chat a little. Maybe we should talk later... Jason?

—Jason. Jason Slater. Go get some rest, Molly. It'll do you good.

Jason watched her go.

By then his coffee had cooled a bit.