"What have you found?"
"Nothing yet, I just wanted to let you know I was planning on getting this door open and heading upstairs to the staff area and storeroom. I know you don't like being left alone out here so I didn't want to head up without asking you what you'd like to do first. Would you like to come up with me, or would you rather have a few more minutes down here looking through the isles?"
Virgil paused for a moment, briefly looking through what Cygnus had grabbed. There were a few bottles of some kind of sports drink, the sort that Sterling would chug down after playing football, as well as what looked like an entire box of teabags. Well, at least they won't be wasted. Our apartment must get through a box of those things every week. Apart from that there were a half-dozen tins of tomato and basil soup, as well as four tins of baked beans. Simple food, not overly unhealthy, and easy to cook with. If nothing else it would make sure none of them starved for the next few days.
Oh, and there was a bottle of red wine at the bottom of the bag. Because of course there was. For someone who had spent a good portion of his adolescence turning his nose up at any kind of alcohol it was almost surprising to see how readily he'd taken to it now. Well, not all alcohol, but he was quite happy with a glass of red wine on a night.
Anything else... oh, of course, there was a small pile of batteries in the pocket of his bag. Why his boyfriend was obsessed with taking the batteries out of every smoke alarm, metal detector, and staff door he came across was beyond Virgil, but he assumed his boyfriend had a reason for it. Cygnus wasn't the type to just do something on a whim, after all.
There were a few other bits and pieces in there, mostly just small amounts of food they'd been getting low on, but that seemed to be about all. They'd not been here too long, and it seemed it had already been a relatively successful day.
"So, are you willing to come up to the staff area then?"
Virgil gave him a thumbs up and nodded.
"Sure thing Cyg, if you reckon we'll find the good stuff up there. I'd rather stick with you than risk it alone down here by myself, if you don't mind me tagging along with you."
The last part of his sentence was not a question, but a mild joke. Both of them knew that Cygnus would take just about any excuse to get Virgil to go somewhere with him, no matter where or how or why.
"Of course not," Cygnus replied, a light dusting of pink on his cheeks that seemed to fall away even as he spoke, "and might I just compliment you on your new ring? The diamond really does bring out the blue in your eyes, it's most enchanting. Now come along, I'll have this door opened in but a moment."
Virgil blushed at the compliment and held the ring up so he could look at it again whilst Cygnus took out a screwdriver and began to fiddle around with... something, Virgil still didn't know how these things worked, until the door was open without so much as a peep from the alarm.
"Okay Cyg, I know I've said it before, but I don't know whether to be proud or worried of how good you are at disabling those alarms. Why did you call me here to ask for my opinion anyway? You're much better at this than I am, and you probably could have gotten up there without me realising you weren't on the ground floor anymore."
Cygnus nodded, as though considering what he was saying with due thought, then shook his head a little.
"Well, I suppose that much is true, however you have shown significant growth when it comes to the application of your skills in a field environment such as this. All of that aside, I asked you not for your opinion, but your permission."
Virgil blinked, confused.
"Permission?"
Cygnus nodded.
"Yes, your permission. I know how anxious you feel when left alone, especially outside the apartment, and I would not wish to leave you alone here without your consent and risk you feeling like that from that point onwards. I would have you as comfortable as possible, even in places like this."
Virgil smiled at his boyfriend and fluttered his eyelashes a little, dramatically raising a hand to his head and mock-sighing dreamily.
"Oh, my gallant hero. How your concern has swept me off my feet. Carry on like this and I fear I may fall for you in utter totality."
"Well, I suppose I'll just have to hope I continue to sweep you off your feet then, won't I?"
With that he leaned down and kissed Virgil's ring, and Jesus if that didn't make him blush more than he previously would have thought possible. Like, come on! When did Cygnus get this smooth! In Virgil's opinion that just wasn't fair. What had he done to deserve this fate of eternal flustered-ness and being loved? Oh, the horror of it all.
"Fuck you, Cyg. Stop being so good at this, it isn't fair."
His boyfriend gave him a mock frown, feigning concern.
"Oh dear, you're right! How inconsiderate of me! If that truly is what you want then fret not, I shall cease my flirtatious advances from now on and merely remain in a state of threnody as I mourn the loss of my ability to verbalise my affections for you in a witty manner."
Virgil played along, his voice in a fake panic.
"Wait no I take it back don't stop, I don't even know what threnody means so you're not allowed to go into it."
Cygnus smiled warmly at him again, which was usually about as much enjoyment as he was physically able to show through his facial features, and the sight of it sent flutters through Virgil's stomach. Oh, how lucky he'd been with how his life had ended up turning out. If you'd have told him five years ago that all of this would have happened to him, even if you left out the part about the end of the world, he would never have believed you. Actually if a stranger had come up to him about five years ago for whatever reason he'd probably have had desperately tried to leave right then and there, but his point still stood; having so loving a boyfriend, so wonderful a circle of friends, and most of all the fact that he had been able to leave behind the name he'd been born with and take one of his own choice with people who accepted him for who he was, well...
Yeah. He'd never have believed anyone that told him any of that. Things had never seemed to get better for him, but then all at once everything had just... fallen into place. He was safe, he was cared for, he was himself, and he was happy. How could he be anything but happy with how his life had ended up going? The disappearance of the rest of the world had put a little bit of a wrench in all of their plans, yes, but even if you included that part he'd say that his life was going pretty fucking well at the moment.
The door came open with a slight 'click', breaking Virgil from his thoughts, and Cygnus began to slowly walk up the stairs behind it. Virgil followed close behind, making sure he left enough room for his boyfriend to beat a hasty retreat if he needed to. Virgil counted himself lucky to have someone that was at least somewhat good with urban exploration in their group, for it made excursions like this far easier, but it had never felt right to just let Cygnus do all of this by himself. That was why Virgil had overcome his fears and offered to help originally. Well, it wasn't the only reason, but it was one of of the reasons for his step forwards outside of safety and into the unknown. He'd been doing this with Cygnus for four months now, and he was comfortable enough in his skills to admit that whilst he was far from an expert he was getting pretty good at this sort of thing. He liked being useful, he liked helping out their small group, and he liked making sure that Cygnus had another pair of eyes and set of hands to help him when he was out here.
Yeah, the others had made a lot of jokes about Virgil only going out on expeditions with Cygnus so that they could make out, but truth be told both of them were more concerned with ensuring they weren't about to get caught out by a strange and terrifying creature they'd never seen before. They weren't like the teenagers in those crappy horror films after all; they were real people, and they had at least four braincells between them on a good day. If nothing else they were not at risk of deciding to throw away their lives anytime soon so they could fuck in an abandoned and run-down building in the city that probably had some sort of weird monster a few streets over at the very most. No. They were much more concerned with doing their jobs properly and getting home safe.
Which is precisely why when Cygnus held up his hand to signal 'stop talking', Virgil did it without even thinking. As fun as talking and bantering with each other was it was far more fun when they weren't at risk of being killed by... by whatever creature it was that they'd stumbled into this time.
His boyfriend had reached the top of the stairs and had, for just a moment, peeked around a corner. With one hand Cygnus stabilised himself on the wall, and with the other he waved back down the stairs, signalling that they needed to leave. Not in a little while, not after a little more looting, but now. Virgil fingered the grip of the pistol in his belt, but Cygnus quickly turned around and shook his head, his movements a little more frantic as he carried on waving down the stairs and began to move. Virgil nodded and did as he was bid. He didn't know what Cygnus had seen up there, but he didn't need to. Cygnus loved nicking shit from the storage areas of shops, since he was adamant that all the best stuff was back there, so if he was skipping out on that and getting him to move on out then there was definitely something else up there with him.
Virgil quickly, and yet silently, moved back down the stairs and rounded the corner, out of sight. Cygnus came out close behind him, and as Virgil opened his mouth to speak Cygnus cut him off with a shake of the head. Instead he gestured back towards the door they'd come in through, and Virgil nodded before making to leave the store as calmly as he could. A panic would never do in this situation, not at all.
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He wasn't sure what caused it, for looking back neither of them had so much as made a noise since creeping hurriedly back down the stairs, but at that moment there was a shrill noise that sounded like something almost similar to an animal mimicking the sounds of a human in pain, followed quickly by fast and heavy footfalls. Cygnus, obviously having realised that stealth was a non-factor at this point, hurriedly pushed Virgil forwards and whisper-shouted at him to "Go, we need to leave right now, get out of here!". He was more than happy to oblige on that particular point, and all but bolted towards the door.
He didn't turn around to look at whatever it was that was chasing them, but as he got back towards the front of the store he caught its reflection in the glass. It was a fuck-ugly creature, too many limbs and not enough facial features for his liking, not to mention the fact that it seemed to know exactly where they were despite the complete lack of any sensory organs as he understood it. Unless you count the skin, he corrected himself. Then it's got one sensory organ that's way too big.
The creature had what looked almost like a cape of loose skin trailing behind it as though it were some form of cannibal's wedding gown, and despite its lack of a mouth it screeched out at them like an animal mimicking human screams. That was arguably more unsettling than if it had sounded human; if it sounded human then yeah, that was definitely creepy, but this was almost like it was trying to sound human but didn't know how to. Of course, though all of this speculation was terribly interesting, this really wasn't the place for this sort of thing.
After another moment he bolted out the door, and as Cygnus followed he slammed it shut behind him and tore off back down the street they'd originally come from.
"Cyg, you there?"
"Yeah," came the reply, "but don't look back. Keep running, and take the next left. We'll give it the slip one way or the other."
"Alright," Virgil responded, "just try to keep up with me. After the left I'll take the lead, I've always been faster than you. Tell me if I'm going too fast and you're going to lose me."
"Will do, V. Now keep moving!"
----------------------------------------
The two of them ran for somewhere around twenty minutes, being careful not to take a direct route back to their apartment. They didn't know whether or not any of the creatures they'd encountered so far would actually try and follow them outside of whatever region it was that it considered its territory, but they weren't willing to take the risk of one of those things actually following them back and putting their apartment and friends in danger. Survival was built on little things like that nowadays.
Virgil put his hands on his knees as he and Cygnus came to a stop somewhere two blocks away from the store, damn near doubled over from exhilaration. Christ, that had been a tough run.
"Are you-" Cygnus started, only to be cut off by his own coughing as he held out a bottle of water for Virgil, "Are you alright, Virgil?"
"Yeah, I think I—God, thanks, I needed that—I think I'm all good. Christ, what was that thing?"
"Fuck knows," came the uncharacteristically vitriolic response from his partner, "but I should have seen it coming a mile away. Fuck, that was too close. Far too close. Still, it can't have been stranger than some of the other things we've seen so far. I mean, remember the zoo?"
Virgil shuddered. As if he could possibly have forgotten the thing they'd seen at the zoo. Well, the majority of the zoo had been empty, but when they'd gone into the central building there was a... there was a thing, looking like it was growing down from the ceiling. It looked and felt like it was made entirely of half-solid congealed blood, and despite the fact it must have been there since the disappearance it was still dripping and fresh. Twenty, thirty metres towards the ground it must have grown, stopping just above head hight with what looked like a skinless and featureless human face. That had stuck with him for a while, not least because the face had tracked them as they walked cautiously around the outskirts of the room.
It wasn't until they made a hasty yet cautious exit that they noticed the red tendrils snaking their way across the outside of the dome-shaped building. Were they tendrils? Veins? Something else? Maybe they were even some sort of feeler, or a different sensory organ. Virgil had no way of knowing, but that didn't mean he hadn't made a few sketches of the creature when they'd gotten back home.
He'd probably make a couple of whatever the thing that had chased them this time was as well, because having an illustration to go with the list of information they knew about what set off this creature would make it easier to place faces to tics, so to speak.
"Yeah," he said, still panting, "I remember. At least that think never tried to chase us though."
Cygnus shrugged.
"That one looked strange, but we never needed to worry about it trying to chase us. It had no locomotory appendages to speak of, none that we could see at least, and it seemed rather more content than most of the creatures were to leave us be."
Virgil scoffed.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't wanna be back in a room with it again, would you?"
The two of them were silent for a moment, and Virgil drank in that silence whilst it lasted, before Cygnus spoke again.
"You know," Cygnus started in a quiet voice, one that suggested he was worried or anxious about something, "I think I've seen other ones like that before. You remember when I went out to the primary school? Before you joined me on these excursions, I mean. I remember there being... there was something that looked like the thing in the Administrative Centre of the zoo in one of the classrooms. I think it was in the room for the year one class? Regardless, it looked remarkably similar to whatever the thing in the zoo was. Smaller, much smaller, but pretty much the same look. Didn't see any tendrils on this one though. Maybe it was some sort of immature version? If so, then that raises all sorts of questions. For one, we would need to ask whether or not these creatures actually do age. Beyond that, if they do age and new ones are able too be made, then how are they made? Is there some form of procreation that takes place between these monsters? Can any monster copulate with any other monster and produce viable offspring? After all, most of the monsters vary wildly from each other in size, looks, and behaviour. If they do reproduce and mature as other animals do, or rather did when there were any other animals around here, then how were those that appeared overnight when all else disappeared already matured?
"Maybe it's something else entirely. Maybe there's something we're missing. I am loathe to give credit to such an unscientific theory, but perhaps Sterling's theory about angels and demons does actually hold some weight. If that were to be true then it would certainly explain how the world was so radically upended overnight, though I still find it difficult to believe that so baseless a theory can be anything more than an ill-informed guess.
"Though I suppose it doesn't really matter what I think, does it? I hardly have any more information than anyone else at the moment, not when it comes to determining why any of this happened or what caused it. Actually that reminds me of something I read about before: did you know that one of the earliest major splits in Christianity occurred over whether or not Jesus was the same as God or not the same? It was called Arianism, well, at least by outsiders it was, and I thought it rather interesting that what might appear to be something so minor to an outsider could have caused so much debate and strife before becoming less than a footnote in terms of what's considered 'common knowledge' in the modern day, especially given how prominent Christianity became over the course of the next millennia-and-a-half."
"Huh," Virgil replied, barely keeping up with his boyfriend's words but used to it at this point with how passionate Cygnus was about sharing things he knew that he thought others might find interesting, "I figured the splits were all because the pope was corrupt. Like Martin Luther."
As soon as Virgil finished speaking his boyfriend raced to continue talking, an excited twinkling in his eyes as he was able to talk to someone about something he enjoyed.
"There have been many splits in Christianity through history, though you're probably right in assuming that the Catholic-Lutheran split is the most famous one. Even still, there were plenty of other schisms in the church both before and at the same time as that. The Calvinists, Hussites, Lollards, Waldensians; all those groups split because of perceived injustices committed by the pope or the catholic church at large. Honestly, I could talk about the politics of religion through history for hours and not get bored, especially not when it's you I'm talking to."
His boyfriend looked at him, a sheepish grin on his face as he fixed his glasses and tried unsuccessfully to hide his reddening cheeks.
"Sorry, I'm rambling again. Am I being annoying?"
Virgil shook his head vigorously. His boyfriend's seemingly unending knowledge on niche parts of history that, as far as Virgil was aware, they'd never been taught in any classes, was just one of the many things that he loved about his partner. There was nothing he wanted less than for Cygnus to start suppressing his wish to talk about his interests because he was worried about being 'annoying'.
"Cygnus my heart is actively trying to crawl out of my chest to get closer to you, please never stop talking."
The words had tumbled out of his mouth almost without though, for Virgil was adamant that he reassure his boyfriend as soon as possible, but before he could immediately recant and save face he realised that Cygnus was actually blushing at what was probably the weirdest compliment the young man had ever been given.
"Well, I- thank you, Virgil. I think."
Virgil gave his boyfriend a wide grin and two thumbs up.
"Hey man, it might have been weird but it was still a compliment. I'd take it if I were you; how often do you get compliments from me?"
"You've given me more than two dozen in the last three hours, which does somewhat undermine your point, but I'm thankful nonetheless."
"I can't help it! You're so easy to compliment!"
Cygnus blushed a little more, but still turned to him with a look of incredulity on his face.
"Okay, now who's being a 'smooth bastard'?"
Virgil just smiled.
"Hey, I had to have learned something in all the time I spent being flirted with by you. Glad to see more of it rubbed off than I thought."
His boyfriend rolled his eyes, but Virgil couldn't possibly miss the fond and almost smitten look on his partners face as he did so.
"I still maintain that I'm far from 'smooth' with my words and actions. Regardless, you seem to think I'm doing well enough, so I'll accept that as being as good as I need to be at that sort of thing going forwards. After all, if I was able to ramble at you like I did just now and still somehow manage to end up in a romantic relationship with you then I must have been doing something right."
"You're damn right you did!"
The two of them stared at each other for a little while, silent, before Virgil found that he was giggling and couldn't stop it. Maybe it was the humour of the situation despite the fact that they were still in dangerous territory, or maybe it was something to do with how unintentionally funny his boyfriend could be. Whatever it was, his giggling made Cygnus smile warmly once more, so he counted that as a win.
After a short while he was able to stop, and straightened himself out so that he was ready to move.
"Right," he said, "are we gonna stand here and flirt all day, or are we gonna head back to the apartment? Because we've got what we left for, and if I'm being honest I'd rather flirt with you in the one place I know is actually safe for us."
Cygnus looked at him, still smiling, then nodded.
His boyfriend held out a hand, and Virgil took it with great satisfaction. Their fingers entwined and warm smiles almost permanently placed on both their faces, they started off on the walk back across the city to the apartment.
Maybe it would be a good idea to bring some of the others with them soon? If two of them could bring back this much, surely it would be even better to have three of four?
Something to bring up when they returned, perhaps.