The little show lasted until Camilla managed to regain control of herself, consequently releasing 'her friend' Alex from her deadly grip. He, a bit like a wild animal grappling with a predator, instinctively decided to stay still in the position he was in after having raised his voice, not even trying to make a move of one kind or another.

Roberto slightly huffed at seeing him not bring the result home, as this meant a hopefully temporary break in his new favorite play of the moment. Too bad too that Camilla, smart enough to realize that this was neither the time nor the place to try to start a potentially failing relationship and cowardly enough to calculate in her head that failure rate, wiped her eyes and cheeks by rubbing them firmly with her sleeve and then retreated in Sabrina's direction in silence.

Alex, on the other hand, had much more difficulty returning to the world of the living and pretending that absolutely nothing had happened, but after a kick in the ass sponsored by the kindly Mario, a grain of salt in his head seemed to return.

"Then I'd say it's time to venture into the next plan," Roberto said as soon as he finished laughing under his breath, watching and waiting for his fellow adventurers. But since there didn't seem to be any questions or complaints about the plan, he added briefly: " Good, for now let's ask as few questions as possible. In the evening, if we still have some air to burn, we'll come back to discuss it," before turning around again and starting the staircase climb.

Alex and Mario nodded and immediately began to follow him, while the girls remained a few steps behind them walking without expressing a direct opinion about it, letting for the first time only the sound of their breaths travel between one ear and the other, a welcome novelty considering everything.

For a moment even, Roberto sincerely thought this must be the kind of silence his days should be full of, a kind of tranquility that could rarely be obtained when there were too many people around. The company, however, didn't really bother him, and although he himself realized the inconsistency, it became easy for him to get bored when he found himself with too much time to think in peace.

Which is why, as soon as he reached the second floor, he ruined the potentially productive atmosphere that had been created by approaching Alex and whispering in his ear, "Weakness is only nice for women and children. You'd better grow a pair of balls, otherwise how do you expect it to end?" in a stupid, but according to him funny, attempt to incite the poor soul in pain.

Alex, however, did not react as he hoped and, gritting his teeth with enough strength to change the expression of his whole face, muttered with a voice in full tremor: "Fuck you. I know it too," resuming his march as soon as he finished and turning his back on the tempting little devil. For Roberto that was a hard blow, but also a useful surprise to hear, despite the bitterness that that brief exchange left him.

For once, he didn't feel the need to push the discussion further, following the flock without saying anything else. He had left Mario at the head, so he could take advantage of it to observe what kind of club or store he would end up proposing and, at the same time, having to pay less attention to the surroundings made him momentarily fall into his own thoughts.

Right now, in fact, the assumption that had the most votes in his mind was that there were no other people in that entire building besides them. Not only that, they most likely wouldn't have encountered any dangers for either that day or the next, but he wouldn't put his finger on that specific detail. That said, however, a similar margin of error was enough for him to pay less attention to his surroundings.

Rather, his mind was occupied by a kind of good humor that led him to smile without meaning to. In his life a constant that for better or worse had always been there was a general lack of interest in others, which from time to time could also give rise to annoying messes to handle. That didn't mean, however, that he didn't care about anyone at all. On the contrary, every now and then, he had even come to care about a handful of individuals, but even the way he expressed that kind of attention could easily be interpreted as a lack of interest, since he had almost always simply let them make their own choices without forcing his opinion on them.

In the course of time, similar experiences had led him to move away from the others and prefer more superficial relationships but, if he had to be completely honest and at the moment he was only because no one would have been able to listen to him, he slightly envied people who were able to build and maintain relationships worthy of that name. Obviously, as the great romantic he was, he knew perfectly well that somewhere an attraction of a sexual nature was hiding, as was natural even if not very poetic, yet he still found them tremendously cute. A tiny bit too adolescent at heart, but still it was a relationship that he thought wouldn't be bad to have once in a lifetime.

"Oh! Ohhhh! How about this place? Doesn't it look perfect?" Well anyway, once he got to that point with his thoughts Roberto heard Mario raise his voice and when he moved his head in his direction he saw that he was pointing with his finger at the large store they were flanking.

From what could be seen in the windows, during better days, it must have been a clothing store specializing in footwear of various types. The external glass panes of the windows had shattered along with the double glass door. Taking a closer look, however, they noticed that inside there was certainly no lack of space and, what was extremely important at the time, they also saw several couches and sofas that must have once been used by customers to sit on while they tried on shoes to buy.

"Reduced as it is..." said Mario as the rest of the gang continued to study the interior, taking a very brief pause where, in his head, he congratulated himself on his discovery. "Reduced as it is it will be quite a feat to put it back, but at least tonight we won't have to sleep on the floor. Doesn't that sound like a good improvement already?" he then resumed saying with a chuckle.

"Good call." Complimented Roberto, raising his big thumb in a flashy and unnecessary gesture, before walking towards the entrance and taking a seat inside, signaling the big man to do the honors. Looking at them from behind, Alex didn't know what to say about it and simply ended up following them, scratching his head and turning around a couple of times to make sure Sabrina and Camilla kept up.

Once they had crossed the threshold, they immediately noticed how little light could enter from outside, leaving only the areas just beyond the shop windows and part of the back lit by the sun. Most of the rest, however, remained in semi-darkness even though it was still broad daylight. Apparently, the only real drawback of the place was the lack of windows. But, indeed, in a mall maybe all stores were built that way, though none of the guys in the group could have said that for sure.

"Anybody need a new pair of shoes? I've got a 38 here, who'll make the first offer?" Roberto jokingly exclaimed as he pulled an open box of sneakers up from the ground with the intention of throwing it far away to make room. However, just as he was about to throw it all away, he noticed that the product inside the box had held up incredibly well. Granted, having been left open, a not inconsiderable amount of cement and plaster dust had made the paper wrapping the shoes almost completely whitish, but the shoes themselves inside looked almost new.

"Ah... That's interesting." He said then grabbing them and throwing the box on the ground, starting to study them as carefully as he could. Even turning them over and over, he couldn't find anything wrong with them. If they weren't a little dirty, they might as well have been brand new.

"Does anyone here know how long the fabric they make shoes out of last? Or the rubber in the soles?" He asked out of nowhere to the rest of the group, surprising them because of the unexpected topic. "Ah... dunno? I don't think I've ever asked myself questions like that?" Mario answered him, setting the crate on the ground, not understanding at all what the other was trying to achieve.

"Me neither," Alex added to the conversation, spreading his arms wide. Roberto nodded in response, moving on to question the girls in search of an answer. They, predictably, could only say, "I have no idea," and, "Why are you interested in that?" Incidentally, it was Camilla who had answered with a question, again showing some of the brusque temper he possessed when he had first met her.

Ah, at last she is beginning to recover. Thought the boy as he watched her in silence, hardly suppressing an amused grin since there were more important things at the moment. "Good," he later declared with conviction, but retraced his steps when he added, "I mean, not really good but it'll do," which came out much more hesitant instead.

"I'm not an expert but I'd say that these are cheap shoes, stuff that comes from China with the van," he continued, bringing the shoes closer to the rest of the group so that they could observe them better, resuming before they could ask him questions like: "So what?" or: "Huh?" so as not to be interrupted. Also because, he for one, found that focusing on such a junk at the time seemed really stupid but he had an interesting theory or two he wanted to prove.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I used to buy a pair every now and then to have a disposable pair of shoes. They never lasted me more than a little over a year. Of course I used them from time to time, but even just leaving them in the hallway after a while they would fall apart. Kind of like a reptile molting, you know? They were practically scaled," he added without wasting time or trying to make his speech more theatrical.

However, having already had enough news for the morning and an empty stomach, his companions around him this time did not even make too much effort to understand what the hell he was referring to or what he was getting at with all those words. On the contrary, Mario briefly observed everyone's reactions and decided to turn a deaf ear and clear out a nearby table, throwing the dust and debris to the ground with a wave of his arm, then placing on it some of the food he pulled out of the crate.

Alex and Camilla at first seemed to be thinking about something but it was very short-lived. Before he could even realize it, Mario had obtained a couple of extra helpers to prepare the meager banquet. The affectionate Roberto snorted and squinted his eyes, staring at them without commenting on any of it.

No one intended to ask any further questions, at least before lunch. He, however, had become relatively fixated on his reasoning and would have seriously preferred that at least someone else within the group could start thinking about it. Because, to be perfectly honest, he liked the idea of arguing with another person rather than forming theses and counter-theses in his own head and, more importantly, in that way if the hypothesis turned out to be correct perhaps it would be easier to accept if it was proposed by several individuals rather than just one.

Such an evolution of events would certainly have accelerated the pace and decreased the amount of time wasted, but he still threw in the towel. As he found himself forced to repeat from time to time, he couldn't ask too much of twenty-year-olds. Playing it safe would only have made the situation worse. Also because, at the end of the fair, he was the strange one, so maybe their reactions were the most logical ones and not the opposite.

However, from the very girl he expected the least from came a murmur... "Could it be that..." Her voice was so low and choppy that it was a little difficult to understand what she had just said, but it was enough to draw attention to herself considering the funeral-like silence.

Roberto immediately moved his head, but avoided opening his mouth. Silent for fear of making her close it again, he studied her facial expression and the movements of her body waiting for her to add more. She, in response, hid from his eyes and pointed her face toward the ground, lowering her back and picking up a half-open box.

Once uncovered she found a pair of bright red, almost shiny, heeled shoes inside. A little bit of white powder had managed to find its way in and had settled on the base where the shoe rested, but a whiff was enough to blow most of it away. And as for the rest, the delightful pair of shoes looked almost as if they had just come out of the factory. Quite a feat considering the amount of time that was supposed to have passed.

"Is it possible they haven't been here long? Would it be possible?" Sabrina asked as she remained crouched low, moving one of the two heeled shoes in her hands. Again, the three food workers just froze for a moment but then stopped thinking and continued their work, leaving only a delighted Roberto ready to continue a discussion that a normal person would have closed immediately considering the climate.

"Go ahead..." He said with the intention of pushing her to continue her reasoning, meanwhile taking a couple of steps towards her direction without even realizing it. Sabrina, also probably not too sharp in her social skills, raised her head for a moment and gave a quick glance to Roberto, then went back to studying the exhibit in her hands.

"We... we don't know where we are..." He began to say stuttering a little and clearing his throat at the beginning and end of sentences, later resuming by saying, "You... You didn't even think to go check outside, did you? Or maybe you did but you're trying not to think about it? I... I was already outside the mall when I woke up. There's...there's nothing out there. The first image I saw was an expanse of ruined buildings and streets where asphalt and dirt were mixed into a spider web..." As she reached that point, her eyes began to moisten and a tremor quickly took hold of her.

In an attempt to curb it, the poor soul let go of her grip on her shoe and wrapped her arms around herself in an embrace that helped her calm down slightly. Contrary to expectations, however, she did not explode into hysterics. So, in my opinion, we can already consider it an improvement.

"What I saw out there looked nothing like what I had seen when I got off the bus this morning. It didn't look like it at all. Absolutely nothing at all. And then... And then... This building looks different, didn't we talk about that before, right? It's reduced to rubble, there's no electricity, there's no cell service, and we haven't seen any signs of rescue. And yet there are no signs of flooding anywhere, not even a small pool of water. And... Even the products that were for sale look fine, almost like very little time has passed. It almost looks like it just collapsed yesterday in some places and left like that for decades in others. Doesn't that seem like a paradox? It all seems too absurd to be true..."

Sabrina's voice continued to reach the ears of the others, stopping only from time to time when a lump in her throat prevented her from continuing, but the volume gradually decreased as she continued. Even, towards the end, the noise of the moaning was enough to cover all her other sounds.

Roberto, however, was more concerned with the content of the information rather than the package with which it was covered. In fact, it hadn't even occurred to him to go outside and see the state of the outside world. Without even caring, he had prioritized the System's words over seeking help.

It's still explainable for me, but them... He thought as he put his hand on his chin and shifted his attention in the direction of the three caterers. Indeed, it made little sense that no one else had come up with such a trivial idea. For him, the fact that the stores' products were in far too perfect a condition had already become clear when he had robbed the tobacco shop. He had not found a single packet of cigarettes, a newspaper or a scratch card in poor condition. All that stuff was made of paper, so it was impossible for it to have been maintained in that manner after a long period of time. Still, the store itself was undoubtedly falling apart.

If it had only been a few days since the building had collapsed, then they should have already encountered at least a few bodies, piles of ashes and maybe even a dozen firemen still actively engaged in their work. Instead, all that had greeted them was a stony silence and a complete lack of any other human being, dead or alive. The lack of wild vegetation was also an anomaly, considering that nature was always pretty quick to cover the tracks.

Speaking plainly, what part of the whole thing even seemed possible?

So maybe I had been wrong... Or, if I wanted to put it better, I had underestimated them. The boy thought back, instinctively retreating half a step in the direction of the wall. By the looks of it, his new companions had to be a lot better, or worse, than what he had imagined until that instant. A fascinating change to be sure.

Before he could even add more, however, or instigate Sabrina to add more, Mario clenched his right fist with enough force to make the muscles in his arm tense and tremble all the way to his shoulder. Given his size, if he had punched a person in the face he probably would have easily sent them to the hospital. It was hard to say whether he was doing it to intimidate or to release personal stress; however, moments later, the second option seemed more suitable.

Still clenching his fist, in fact, he brought his entire arm down in an abrupt, stiff and unnatural movement, tearing to pieces a piece of cheap wooden furniture that he had previously moved nearby to use as a base. The noise that came out of this made everyone feel agitated, as if their hands were tied by a rope. Alex and Camilla, being the closest, only raised their eyes without risking any other obvious movement. The boy of the couple failed in his instinct of self-preservation by pushing Camilla's belly with the back of his left hand, obviously not managing to move her, in an attempt to put her in a safer position.

Sabrina was the most affected, which caused her to clam up again out of fright, while Roberto was more interested in the effects of that display of violence than anything else. Smashing a wooden cabinet, even if it wasn't of the best quality, with a blow from above was not something possible for anyone.

Fortunately, however, Mario had not completely lost his cool and, struggling a little, managed to repress most of his emotions. The expression on his face was still visibly distorted, but now it seemed that what had consumed him temporarily was more pain than anger. There were no tears as evidence of that change, so it may very well not have been the case, but perhaps the crying that happened most often was just that without any tears to wipe away.

Returning to a less unnecessarily philosophical tone anyway, considering the situation, the big fellow inhaled a couple of times large gulps of air until his chest swelled to its maximum, then released what he had accumulated through a slow and peaceful flow from his nostrils. His shoulders and arms eventually returned to their pre-pissed off elevation and his face quickly lost tension as well.

"Wasn't it said not to make such speeches on an empty stomach?" He said turning to the others without turning around, moving backwards in the direction of the destroyed nightstand in an attempt to salvage what could be saved for at least the duration of that meal. "Bashing our heads right now would be pointless. Let's take a break, I'd say we've earned it for the moment," he resumed when he heard no one answer him.

"Yeah... I'd say you're right too." Roberto said with a hint of smile on his face, approaching the table and putting his hands to finish the preparations of the meal more quickly, while saying to the others without stopping working: " Indeed it's not the case to wrap our heads before we have to," inviting Alex and Camilla with friendly manners to remove the ugly look they had on their faces and, turning his head, to make it clear that it would be time for Sabrina to join the table.