Chapter Text
Day 14
The first two weeks went so fast Stella had trouble recalling what day it was. Her grandmother told her that everything flew by because they were in great need of rest.
It is indeed hard to go from barely surviving on an enormous island to eating pancakes in a farm surrounded by wheat.
Things haven't changed much since day 1. Stella did note that some relationships were improving. The ones who were on the right track were definitely Flux and Thomas. The latter was back to follow the older one like a duckling. Flux doesn’t seem to mind as he regularly hands some tasks to Thomas. Other than that, days passed without anything happening.
Today however was a big and somehow scary day. They were heading out into the nearest town to get some groceries that the farm couldn’t provide. Stella was sure the farm was feeding them 80% of the food they were consuming. Unfortunately some things just didn’t grow on trees, popped out of the earth or were given by farm animals. Such as, hygenetic products.
“Guys we don’t have to all go. The village near us is pretty empty. I don't think any zombies will hang around.” Stella tried to rationalize the group that was gathering around her. They were putting on their shoes and bringing their bags. The redhead is pretty sure she saw Flux put a small pistol in his back pocket.
“Please let me come, I think I’ll go crazy if I have to harvest one more melon.” Augustus begged in a whisper as if her grandma would ever scold him.
Magic scoffed “I think melons need a break from you, the way you rip them off from their roots”
Augustus turned around looking offended but before he could get a word back Flux interrupted the start of their bickering match.
“You shouldn’t go alone, zombies are indeed still a thing.” Stella could see his determination burning in his eyes. What was she supposed to say? No?
“Well some of you can come…I don’t think we should be 6 is all I’m saying”
“I’d like to help your grandma. She did so much for us” said Thomas sheepishly.
Magic didn’t speak up, just looked at Stella with such intensity the redhead knew she wasn’t gonna budge and come anyway. Her eyes reminded her of Flux’s.
“Stella” Saps puts his hand on her shoulder. Stella shuddered, he was so, so cold. “Rely on me more please.”
Oh.
Her heart immediately sank. Relying. She did rely on him. Back in the city. She relied on him and on Flux so much it ended up blowing up in her face.
She’d like to lie to herself and say she doesn’t hold some kind of resentment towards Saps’ and Flux’s behavior in the city. How they fiercely hated each other so much, Thomas Magic and her were left stranded. She couldn’t forget the way Thomas was blindly following Flux. He admitted to her how Flux begged him to help him kill Saps. She couldn’t forget Magic’s codependency on Saps, the vial that made everything crumble. They considered them like some kind of reliable figures in some fucked up sense.
It wasn’t something she could unpack now. She couldn’t afford to spiral because he just uttered the word “rely”.
She exaggerately sighed “Fine. Let’s all go.”
The walk to the village was simultaneously long and short. Long because it was summer and the sun made Stella feel like her muscles were made of jelly. Short because the town wasn’t that far from her farm. Saparata would occasionally drop information about some plants they would encounter on the way. Thomas would nod and write them in his notebook.
When they arrived the town was mostly empty, safe from some scavengers running around trying to steal valuables from buildings. The group stayed closely together, a silent agreement in case of zombie attacks. Flux was leading the group, his hand firmly on his pistol while the second eldest, Saps, was behind. They took this formation instantly, and Stella got reminded again of how they automatically took the role of “parents” in the city. Both of them are trying hard to protect the youngests.
Stella led them through narrow streets, to finally get to the store. Obviously, nobody was inside. The shelves were fortunately filled with products. Thank god this town was basically in the middle of nowhere. The team separated quickly through the aisles, Stella and Thomas headed towards the back of the store.
The both of them naturally stuck with each other since day 1. Stella knew deep down it was some sort of trauma bonding. Flux and Augustus leaving them behind, Magic and Saps going absolutely crazy. They like to call themselves the “normal ones”. She also knew that they were far from normal. Thomas was after all the only one who was supposed to come back with her to her grandmother’s house. She developed some kind of protective feelings over him, the same way Lyra would act towards her. His sad eyes, his shy smile. Stella couldn’t help but feel responsible for the way his abandonment issues were expressing themselves. After all, he was just like her, he desperately needed this made up family to work.
Thomas grabbed some soap from the top shelf
“Man the one thing I don’t miss from Paradise City is the lack of soap.”
Stella scoffed, “This implies you miss some things from Paradise City.”
Thomas froze but the moment was quickly gone as he put on a smile “Hey, ice cream was pretty good out there”
She rolled her eyes, endeared by Thomas’ answer.
They continued to rummage through shelves silently when Magic came around a corner. She looked bored. Stella did notice her plastic bag was empty.
“Magic, you do realize we need to take as much as we can right? We won’t make this trip again until a few months.”
“I want to go home, this place gives me the creeps”
Stella frowned, growing irritated at her best friend's childish behavior. Thomas however always the savior happily sighed.
“Magic, did you see ? There’s some board games in the far back of the store. Maybe we could take them home to not get bored”
“Thomas I’m not a kid you don’t have to cheer me—”
The sound of a gunshot cuts through their conversation. Everyone moved quickly. Magic took a defensive stance as Thomas immediately reached to get Stella behind him. The silence that followed the sound made the redhead’s blood run cold. Thomas was putting his whole body in front of her but she could still make out his shaking hands in the dark. In parallel, Magic strikes a confident pose. Her body tense but with practiced caution, almost like she knew how to perfectly handle stressful situations.
“What was that?” Stella whispered
“Mr.Flux, it had to be him. He was the only one with a gun.” Thomas answered without missing a beat
“Augustus had one too he just hid it well” Magic replied, her voice laced with soft aggression
“No, that was Mr Flux. It was the sound of his bullets, Augustus had a different kind of gun.”
Stella wondered for a brief moment how Thomas could tell the difference, but mostly why did he let Augustus bring his own weapon. The question went away as Magic scoffed.
“Do you think he killed Saps? We aren’t with them, it might be his only chance to end him.”
Stella turned around, horrified by her friend’ suggestion
“Magic, don't say that!”
The sound of rapid footsteps echoed in the aisles. Some type of physical fight must be going on if Stella could trust the sound of grunts and objects hitting the floor. The team wordlessly followed the sounds. Thomas was leading the group with Stella closely behind and Magic on their tail.
They find themselves in front of Flux fighting some type of zombie. The zombie was desperately trying to plunge his decayed teeth on the man’s thigh as Flux kept the creature away by hitting his already damaged head.
Stella found herself frozen, she didn’t have the strength to help him. Thomas and Magic however were fast and immediately started to get to the creature. The smaller one grabbed a nearby beer bottle and violently smashes it on the zombie’s head in tandem with Thomas who put his arms under Flux’s armpits and pulls him out of danger.
The zombie was dizzy for a moment but quickly recovered as it launches towards Magic’s body.
“Let go of me Thomas, I’ll be fine!” Flux got away from the boy so fast it made Thoma fall on his ass. Stella never saw Flux move like that, like he was desperate to get bit by the zombie. He pushed aside Magic as the zombie lodged his teeth perfectly on Flux’s arm.
Time stopped for a brief moment. Stella gasped, Thomas looked pale while Magic looked even more enraged. Time didn’t stop for Flux it seemed, he merely smirked through the pain that shot in his arm. His other arm worked fast as he pulled his gun and took advantage of the situation. The zombie’s head was close and unmoving as the teeth were still deep into Flux’s defensive arm. He lodges a bullet in the creature’s forehead so fast, Stella thought she was dreaming when the zombie fell limply on the floor.
“What happened?! We heard gunshots-” Saps came running from behind Stella, he was being followed closely by Augustus. The scientist stopped in his tracks as his eyes began rapidly observing the scene.
“Oh, Doctor. Everything’s fine”
No. No it wasn’t fine she wanted to scream at Flux’s nonchalant reply. Stella saw Flux getting hit by zombies in Paradise City, but this? This was a direct bite. A deep one.
She was still frozen but Magic wasn’t.
“What the hell is wrong with you ? I was handling that !” She was furious. Her eyebrows were so closely knitted together, Stella had to resist the urge to smooth it off.
Thomas’ voice came trembling “Mr.Flux we need to treat that. Let-Let me take a closer look-”
“Hands off. Both of you” Flux snarled, but his face quickly turned into some sort of indifferent expression. “I’m perfectly fine. Next time let me handle all this alone.” Nobody was moving, nobody was convinced. “Please” the last word came in a soft manner, almost begging.
Fluixon didn’t really wait for any more complaints, Stella observed him with wide eyes as he grabbed the plastic bags and left the aisle saying “If we’re done here we should consider leaving. More zombies will come.”
The silence lasts approximately 5 seconds before Thomas sighs.
“He wants to keep us safe but he insists on putting himself in danger. It’s not like we’re useless, we all survived in Paradise City.”
The sentence sits with them for a moment, nobody really knows how to react.
“Saps, can you inspect him when we get home? Just to check if he didn't actually get infected.” Stella asked
The scientist numbly nodded. After that everyone chose that it was wiser to leave the city. They found Flux sitting on the ground carefully putting a bandage on where the bite would be. The walk back was silent, gone was any type of bickering or taunting.
Stella wanted to head out to the shower as soon as they crossed the threshold of the house. She didn’t though, as she silently nods to Saps.
Flux wasn’t going to listen to any of them worry about his health, but he might let the scientist inspect him. They don’t necessarily like each other but they have a mutual understanding of protecting the youngests. Stella was sure he could use those sentiments in order to make Flux less wary of someone tending to his wounds.
In the meantime, Stella, Magic, Thomas and Augustus stayed back to help her grandmother unload the plastic bags.
In the corner of her eyes, Stella sees Saps wordlessly following Flux towards the bathroom. She gave him the products he needed to safely clear Flux’s wounds back during their walk back to the farm. The redhead prayed that their conversation wouldn't end badly.
Magic opens an especially heavy bag.
“Augustus. Did you seriously bring 10 cans of RedBull.” She said baffled
“I need those if you want me to stay and help while having to listen to Saps snore every night bro.”
Thomas snorts as he picks one of the cans up.
“I thought those were discontinued? Lotus flower? What kind of flavor is that?”
Stella, amused , starts to read one of the cans cursive names “ This one is ridiculous, why would a RedBull taste like Blue summer? That’s not even something you can taste.”
“Okay well you guys can make fun of me if you want but those were the only ones I found. If there were any normal ones I would’ve taken it” Augustus crossed his arms as he decidedly stopped helping put the groceries in the cupboards.
Stella loved when Augustus’ dark persona slipped, how he would entertain some jokes. He looked younger when he didn’t have to put on this mean mask of his.
Stella doesn’t know exactly when Saps and Flux reamerged from the bathroom. However as soon as they come out her focus is directed towards the arm. He seemingly had a brand new bandage, way less sloppy than the one Flux clumsily put on in front of the shop.
Stella feels a presence near her the same moment Magic whispers to her “Looks like everything’s fine.”
Stella followed Magic's eyes. She was pointedly looking at their expressions, Saps looked deep in thought while Flux was a bit more relaxed.
She needed to isolate the scientist to ask further explanations, which didn’t make itself a hard task as Flux immediately went upstairs while Saps sat on the couch.
Like crows, they all gathered and sat on the floor in front of him.
“So? Is Mr.Flux going to tragically die?”
“Don’t say it like that, Augustus…”
“What, Thomas ? Should I perhaps ask if he’s going to grow into a mouldy version of himself that wants to snack on our flesh really badly?”
“He has bites all over.”
That statement stunned them into silence. The scientist continued, still deeply in his thoughts.
“Most of them are healed though, just scars of bites. I find it hard to believe not one of them infected him…” He readjusted his glasses as he demonstrates on his own body some places where the bites were. Most of them were in his arms seemingly.
“Did he get naked in front of you wha—” That comment immediately earned Augustus an elbow slap from Stella
Thomas, still focused hesitantly, asked “ Is this one infected?”
Saps lights up as he whispers to the group “That’s the thing, obviously we should wait to observe symptoms but the bite doesn’t seem to fester the characteristic green ooze that an infected bite has. To put it simply, he doesn’t seem infected.” Thomas sighed of relief loudly at the last sentence, immediately draping himself all over the carpet. He reaches to hold Stella’s hand and squeezes it hard.
“Why should we trust you, I mean you lost all your memories. Do you even know how to be a scientist anymore?” Magic was still defensive about all this. She confessed to Stella one night how scared she was that Saps was slowly getting back all his memories.
“You don’t have to trust me on this. Like I said we have to wait and see.”
“I trust you doct— I mean Saps. Mr.Flux got bitten in front of me plenty of times and he was fine each time.” Thomas softly spoke up from his place, his head resting now on Stella’s lap. She didn’t even register that he moved.
The scientist seemed to appreciate the sentiment. That didn’t wipe away the pained expression he now had since Magic spoke up. Stella knew that even if he didn’t remember everything, his codependency that formed when Magic got infected still lingered unconsciously. He needed her validation.
“I mean either way it’s fine, no? We already cured Magic right before she turned and Saps too when he used his last cure.” Augustus plainly said
Saps suddenly seemed uncomfortable, squirming on his seat on the couch.
“I’d rather not use this cure again. It drove Magic crazy right? My memory is blurry but something like that happened if I’m not wrong. Plus I don’t have all the materials gathered here. Let’s count on the fact that Flux may be—”
“Immune?” Stella meant to say that in her head. When she heard the deafening silence around her, she knew it came out of her mouth.
Magic scoffed, “It’s ridiculous.” She buried her face in her knees, clearly unhappy with the outcome of his whole conversation.
Stella couldn’t blame her, this whole situation is hardly believable.