‘‘Right, so, if I had found a random pack abandoned in the open, I’d want to look through it so I can put the useful stuff in my own and leave all the rest behind. I wouldn’t want to do a long distance with it, because it’d probably be heavy and slow me down. So I’d find a hidden spot nearby.’’

‘‘Like here ?’’

‘‘Yeah, exactly like here. But this park is in the middle of town. Do you realise how many buildings are in or around it ? If you’re really determined to find this thing, we’re gonna have to look through the entirety of all the buildings near this park until we find something. And we’re not even sure that our thief didn’t just go home with your pack. Do you realise how much work that is ?’’

‘‘It’s very important to me. And we can split up to find it faster.’’

‘‘Okay then. And no, absolutely not. You are not leaving my sight for an instant. Understood ?’’

‘‘I am not a toddler. Stop treating me like a child when you look no older than fourteen yourself.’’

‘‘We might run into infected. Or survivors. We are not splitting up. It’s already incredibly stupid of us to be barging into random buildings to find a key ring. We will not be taking any more risks than strictly necessary. Is that understood ?’’

‘‘Yes, understood. But stop treating me like a toddler.’’

Tundra ignored his demand and sighed, getting mentally ready for this search that would possibly make him months late on rescuing his brother, just because he felt responsible for a grown man.

‘‘Heh. If we were in a show there’d be a time skip to the end of our search and we’d have some new details that are never explained.’’

‘‘Why do you keep imagining we’re in a show ?’’

‘‘I dunno…’ he shrugged.

‘‘I don’t think that’s even how an actual show would go !’’

‘‘Well I don’t care, this is my headshow about my life.’’

‘‘Hey, why isn’t it about me as well ?’’

‘‘Eh, I suppose we can co-star…’’

‘‘Good. Thank you. Now let’s go.’’

===

Tundra had a new unexplained scar next to his right eye. He stared at the backpack with disbelief. Whoever had found it had opened it so impatiently that they had ripped the zipper off. Its content was thrown all about the ground, some of it trampled. The key ring was in the pile. The plastic casing was cracked but the photo inside was intact. He whistled.

‘‘I can’t believe we actually found it. At least the last two weeks of my life weren’t a complete waste, I guess… But, uh, dude, whose blood is that on your pack ?’’

You fucking idiot ! he immediately told himself. You know whose blood that is ! Why the fuck would you ask him that ?! He didn’t need you to remind him of whatever happened ! Stupid. Stupid !

‘‘Lena’s… I think… I don’t really remember what happened that night.’’

‘‘I- I’m sorry for asking…’’

‘‘Oh, it’s okay.’’

They stood in awkward silence. David collected all the stuff that could still be useful and put it in his new pack. Tundra absentmindedly scratched his new scar, wondering what to say now. Suddenly, Notched interrupted their thoughts with a hungry meow.

‘‘Oh yeah, we need to go get some more supplies. I think we should move to a new supermarket, the usual one doesn’t have much left now… It’s further but it’s a lot bigger so it probably won’t run out for a while. I hope.’’

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

‘‘Yeah, you’re right, let’s go.’’

They both gave Noche a head scratch before leaving.

The place was dark and eerily silent. They emerged from the sewer access behind it and entered through a backdoor, before heading straight for the food they wanted. They saw two shattered windows, indicating they weren’t the first to come shopping here. David started filling his pack up with cans at random.

‘‘You do that, I just need to go get something else. I’ll be right back.’’

‘‘What is it ?’’

‘‘None of your business.’’

‘‘But you said we had to stick together.’’

‘‘Oh, I thought you were a grown man, not a toddler…’’

‘‘But what if you run into someone ? Just wait, I’ll come with you.’’

‘‘Absolutely not ! We’re clearly alone in here, David. It’ll take me less than a minute…’’

‘‘Why are you so weird about this ? You don’t judge me for the key ring, I won’t judge you for whatever it is you need… What is it, do you have to wear nappies ? I really don’t see what you could possibly be this embarrassed about…’’

Tundra ignored him and walked off, looking strangely hurt. David could hear his footsteps echoing in the dark silence, the sound fading until he was too far for it to get to his ears. He returned a few minutes later and filled al the empty spots in his pack with food. Then, they headed out, through the front this time. Only to run into other clients. Everyone froze in place.

‘‘Now this is a good day.’’ the man said.

‘‘Oh, for fuck’s sake… Not you…’’

‘‘If you just follow us willingly it’ll be easier for all of us, you know.’’

‘‘Fuck you.’’

‘‘If you don’t, we’ll shoot your friend.’’

‘‘If you shoot him, I will store your ashes in a vase made of your bones.’’

‘‘If you kill my friends, I’ll…’’ the girl started.

‘‘I will serve my victory drink in your fucking skull. Give up, I ain’t following you.’’

‘‘We really will shoot him !’’

‘‘Tundra, chill maybe. Don’t get us into a fight we can’t win…’’

‘‘I will shove an umbrella up your ass and open it.’’

‘‘Tundra, I don’t think we can…’’

‘‘You shut up !’’ the three others told David at the same time.

‘‘Hey, don’t speak to him like that !’’ Tundra shouted angrily.

‘‘Kid, you’re being a hypocrite.’’ the girl informed him.

‘‘I’m the only one who gets to speak to him like that. You show him some fucking respect.’’

David just stared at them, dumbfounded. He was starting to get tired of everyone acting like he was either a toddler or a piece of furniture. It had been a little funny when it was just the kid but now these random strangers were starting to do it too. It was getting out of hand.

‘‘Guys, stop acting like I’m a toddler, please…’’

‘‘Okay, enough. Kid, you’re coming with us. The old toddler can come as well if you want. So can the cat. The boss is really worried about you. He just wants to make sure you’re safe…’’

‘‘Oh, quit your bullshit. Listen, I’m not following you willingly. I really wanna get back to looking for a Founder, so if you could just get on with it and let me kick your asses, I would really appreciate it. Oh, and tell my father he can take his fake concern and shove it up his-’’

‘‘Okay, okay, fine, we get it !’’

The man raised his gun to point it at David. Before he could complete the movement, however, Tundra dived under his arm to tackle him. He didn’t really know how to tackle someone, so they both fell on the ground hard. Without giving the man the time to recover, he punched him in the face. The girl immediately reacted, grabbing him from behind to pull him off, but she let go when she received a punch from David. Her intervention did allow her companion to get on top and punch Tundra, who bought his knee up hard, right where it hurts. As soon as he was free and the man was lying on the ground near tears he went to help David, who was still fighting the girl. But just as he was about to throw a punch, the man got back up and pulled him back down. He felt something cold on the side of his head.

‘‘Everyone, stop ! I’ve had enough of this, I would just like to go back home but noooo, this stubborn teenager is evading us and then when we try to get him back he kicks me in the fucking balls ! So that’s it ! If either of you move, I’ll shoot ! I really will, I don’t care, I’ll tell the boss we found you dead already or something but I am not accepting this shit anymore ! Silvia, tie that guy up.’’

Silvia and David stared down at the two of them on the ground, both looking shocked by this turn of events. Tundra could feel the gun’s barrel pressed against his skin. He felt scared. Not of dying, no, he didn’t really care if he died. He was scared of leaving Oliver all alone. He tried to say something and instead just let out a pathetic squeak. He took as deep a breath as he could with a man on him before trying again.

‘‘Okay, okay, fine. I’ll come with you…’’