“The chance of them surviving is nearly impossible. Surely Adan must realize that.”

Ilian's words were spoken to Aura across the dining room table following breakfast. Adan had gone to take his shower, leaving the two of them to clean up after the meal.

“The black seeds haven't had enough time to spread. I still have to introduce more of them into the environment if they're going to be able to fully overtake the blue. The air out there is still toxic to them. And that's not even taking into account the possibility of more or my--”

Ilian stopped mid-sentence upon realizing that Aura appeared to not even be listening to his words, as she instead stared unblinking down at the phone Adan had left behind on the table next to his plate.

“Aura? Have you heard anything I've said?” he asked her more loudly to hopefully pull her out of her current distraction.

“Yes, seeds, air, aliens, general badness. I know all these things already, Ilian,” Aura mumbled, her eyes still on the phone.

“Then why is Adan even entertaining the thought of having these other two survivors ever try to make their way here on their own? It's practically guaranteed failure,” Ilian pressed.

“Believe me, I know that. Pretty sure Adan does too. But...” her voice trailed off, as she just continued watching the phone.

Before the conversation could continue, both of them startled at the unfamiliar sound of the cell phone ringing once more. Aura took a shaky breath upon lifting the phone to look down at the screen and moved to answer the call.

“Micah?” Aura's voice was hoarse as it left her throat.

“No, he's out 'scouting' or something, he said. This is Cleo. Who are you?”

Aura tried to hide the way she couldn't help flinching at the girl's voice. “Aura,” was her simple answer.

“Aura? Do I know you? How come you're answering Adan's phone?” she asked in her usual bubbly manner, which seemed so out of place in the middle of the end of the world.

So much for best friends, was Aura's first, rather bitter thought, which she quickly attempted to brush away. “You said your brother's out scouting? As in outside? That can't be safe. Why aren't you two together?”

“Oh he does all that stuff. He'll be fine. He's like a certifiable genius or something. His IQ was like two, three hundred. What does it go up to?” she then allowed a small giggle, seeming more than eager to just continue chatting about anything that sprung into her head. Perhaps the solitude of the apocalypse was getting to her after all. “But don't tell him I said that. He may be a genius, but he's also a complete asshole,” Cleo finished with another small laugh.

Aura just shook her head at the voice that rambled on at the other side of the call. She wasn't sure what was more shocking: The girl's words, her demeanor, her familiarity with a complete stranger, her painfully shrill voice, the thought that her brother, the genius, was out there alone? Or the fact that Adan had actually dated this girl? Chosen her... out of all the options that he had back in the real world.

Aura tried once more to shake away those thoughts, before she allowed any of them to slip through her lips, as she so often did when upset.

“So, if Micah is still out scouting, what were you calling about?” Aura replied, trying to keep her roiling emotions buried underneath a guise of politeness.

“Oh, I was just gonna see if the vid call thing still worked on this. Gah, I haven't seen Ade' since lock down started you know. How did you end up there with his phone again?” Cleo asked conversationally.

Aura found herself painfully biting back her emotions at this point as she attempted to force an answer. Despite the fact that she had only spoken to two other people in the last three months, she still was somehow not eager to continue to chat with this girl at all.

“I was with him when the quarantine started,” was the only response she could make herself give the other girl.

“Oh wait! Were you his little friend with the birthday on the weekend that everything started? Man, I was so pissed when Adan said we couldn't hang out that weekend. And then no one could hang out at all anymore for ages after that. It sucked so bad!” she continued on.

“Yes, having to cancel plans... Definitely the one thing that really sucked about the alien virus trying to kill us all,” Aura retorted, not even trying to veil her sarcasm at this point.

“I know, right!” Cleo agreed wholeheartedly, Aura's obvious bitterness towards her somehow going right over her head. Which she supposed she should be thankful for. Meanwhile Ilian just gave Aura a look of disbelief at the side of the conversation he was able to hear.

That was when Adan finally returned the the dining area. He gave Aura a questioning look as he noted his phone to her ear.

“It's for you,” was all Aura said as she stood, shoved the phone into his good hand, and left the room without another word.

“Uh, hi?” he asked as he awkwardly put the phone to his ear despite his dripping locks, his dark eyes moving to worriedly follow Aura as she left the room.

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“Adey! Man I've missed you so hard! Can't believe we've both somehow survived this shit storm! It's like fate or something!” she giggled happily into her brother's phone.

“Cleo?” he asked, not able to come up with many more words right then as he cast another look after Aura's retreating form, then glanced back at the questioning, and somewhat unamused look Ilian was giving him then as well.

“Hey, do you think the video call thing still works on this? I mean, I probably look absolutely horrible right now, but I still kinda really miss seein you,” she told him hopefully.

“Cleo, where's your brother? Are you guys OK?”

“He's scouting for some way to get to you guys or something. I'm just stuck here waiting for him, as usual. So I figured I'd chat with you, now that I finally can again,” she continued on.

“Scouting? Alone? Outside? That doesn't really sound safe, Cleo,” Adan continued as he moved down the hall toward the bedroom, and away from the somewhat judgmental look of disapproval on Ilian's face at that moment.

“Pfft. He does it all the time. Hacker geek finally gets to live his super hero dreams or something I guess. Lame, right?” she went on in her continuously carefree manner.

The world had ended. She and her only remaining family could die at any moment. Micah could have been out there dying right that second. And she seemed completely unbothered by it all. Adan's first thought was that she was the literal polar opposite of Aura. He swallowed hard as that thought occurred to him. If Aura thought Adan's ability to remain calm in the midst of a crisis was ludicrous, she would absolutely hate Cleo. Likely for more than just that reason now too, if he were being honest with himself.

With Adan having moved his call to the bedroom, Ilian let out a perturbed sigh as he went to the living room in search of Aura.

“Is Adan still having his little chat with his ex?” was Aura's greeting as Ilian entered the room.

“Ex?” he asked as he took the seat next to her.

“Never mind,” she mumbled.

“You don't seem thrilled with these others' plans to come here either,” he stated knowingly.

“I know. It's ridiculous. I should be thrilled that there are any other survivors at all, right? But...” another shake of her head. “And if you knew all the real reasons for my lack of thrill... you'd probably think I'm just being a jealous, insecure bitch too,” she sniffled slightly.

“I'm not even sure I understood most of what you just said. But I know this is a bad plan. I understand that much. And you seem to agree with me. So, can't you help me talk some sense into Adan as well?” Ilian pleaded with her.

Aura just scoffed, “I don't even know if that's possible at this point. I doubt anything I say would really make a difference, honestly.”

“But the things you say always make a difference to him,” Ilian told her quietly.

“Maybe they used to. But now...” With that, Aura's voice just trailed off sadly again. She looked away, trying in vain to hide the tears that once again were trying to escape the corners of her eyes.

~2 nights later~

Only two more days had passed before Micah put whatever kind of crazy plan he had come up with into action. And it had almost succeeded. The masks he and Cleo had salvaged and been forced to wear just to survive outside now had managed to keep them alive long enough to get to a working car. And that car had gotten them to within three miles of the bunker before one of the incredibly rare remaining alien patrols was alerted.

And the fact that they had gotten that close to the bunker before seeing any of earth's unwanted visitors still doing patrols; well, that was disturbing on a few different levels.

Knowing an actual moving car would immediately attract the patrol's attention, they replaced the masks and abandoned the car. Though with there only being a few remaining empty, out of the way rural homes anywhere near the sprawling woods the bunker was hidden within, it did limit their options for hiding places. Let alone, ones that would keep them safe from the air for long.

It was around ten that warm July night that Adan and Aura received another text from Micah's phone, rather than a call this time. They both had turned their phones back on now since making contact with Micah that week.

Micah: “had to ditch car. Cleo ran opposite direction. I Found old cabin, but uglies are sniffing around nearby. If she ain't ded yet, she'll be soon. We're only 3 mls away now tho. Anything helpful?”

They each swallowed hard before Aura began typing, as Adan was still relegated to only being able to comfortably and accurately text with one hand still.

Aura: “how do u kno u'r only 3 mls away?”

Micah: “only need 1 working sat 4 GPS 2 still work”

Adan: “no idea where cleo is tho?”

Micah: “she lost her phone ages ago, then freaked when she saw those things 2nite, ofc. But limited options 4 where 2 hide out here, so...”

Though it was always difficult to determine emotions through text, it was still pretty hard to determine if Micah was upset over the unknown whereabouts of his sister or not, all things considered.

Aura: “consulting”

Micah: “b fast babe”

“What can we do?” Aura asked Ilian, as Adan had gone both pale and silent. Ilian had been worriedly following along with the texts over Aura's shoulder throughout the conversation.

“I said this wouldn't work,” Ilian reiterated with a mix of annoyance and fear. “But if they've actually gotten that close, and the location tracking that he mentioned still works on his phone, I could maybe find them before the toxins, or the patrol, gets them. Or I could at least get to one of them... depending on where they're each hiding.”

That was when Adan finally spoke up again, “One of them?”

“I could probably find the boy with the phone, but I'd have to use... other methods to find the girl, so...”

“As in the methods that that fucking patrol are using to find her too?” Adan replied with a pointed look at the other man. Ilian's look downward was the only answer needed.

“So, we actually have to choose who you should risk your life to save?” Aura gasped, the fear and apprehension clear on all three of their faces in that moment.