CHAPTER 5

"We're not going to make it, are we?"

The question was whispered softly as if it hadn't even been meant to be verbalized, and yet Beau caught it and turned around. Nicholas was leaning on the railing, looking down at the rest of the team who were either loafing around or half-heartedly passing each other a volleyball. The slackness in their movements betrayed the exhaustion that had resulted from their day and the accumulation of all the others before that, and Nicholas wondered if playing volleyball in that fashion was lowering their morale rather than boosting it.

None of them had properly indulged in their favorite pass time since, two months ago, the country went to war and the world went to hell. Even bright, energetic Hikaru looked too tired for a kid his age, even if all of his visible injuries had healed in the past three weeks he'd spent in their safe house.

"I feel like we're just pretending to keep it together," he added after a moment's thought and sighed. "What do we know about survival? Most of us are not even legal yet. We don't have a single adult amongst us to help us through this. The authorities aren't coming for us. We're doing a rush job of patching up all the holes in our fragile plans and I know it's going to come falling apart sooner or later."

Beau thought about these things, too. A lot, in fact. As the third oldest person in their group, he felt responsible for the others and feared every single day for their safety. But the fear of loss was something he'd learned to cope with after they'd received Esme amongst them, four days after the destruction of the town. Then, he'd taught himself that fear of loss was not an obstacle, but something to motivate him to work harder.

"We'll be fine," he mumbled in reply, getting up from his chair and slowly walking towards Nicholas. The words sounded like lies, but not entirely. That had to count for something, at least. "We've made it this far, haven't we? It's almost been a month since the Forty Fireworks, and we're all still alive. Roughed up, tired, maybe a little bit hopeless, but we're alive." Beau leaned over the railing, his arm just barely touching Daichi's in a silent gesture of comfort. "We're alive, and... we're still together," he added as an afterthought, and a small smile tugged at his lips. It suddenly felt more important not to be alone than not to be dead.

"You've always read the atmosphere so well. You should lead us instead," Nicholas murmured, his lips answering Beau's smile with a smile of his own. And yet, he was sad as he watched Ethan purposely miss a ball, too exhausted to dive for it. "I'm not fit to lead. One day, I'll make the wrong choice and the consequences might kill you and the guilt might just kill me."

"You've always been our pillar of strength, Nic." Beau waved down at Hikaru, who was waving up at them with the tired smile he always seemed to wear these days. "And you've never let us down. I don't think you ever would, no matter what you did."

"Captain!" Hikaru yelled. "Beau! Do you want to play a 3 versus 3 with us?"

"I hardly think any of us have energy for something like that, Hikaru," Beau laughed but leaned away from the railing. "How about we just do some light drills?"

"Yeah!" Hikaru nodded fervently, and Nicholas admired his energy and optimism despite all that had happened. Hikaru seemed to have recovered fully from his traumatizing ordeal, even though anyone could guess that he would never forget the nightmarish days he passed by his family's grave, and the captain wondered if perhaps he, too, could muster that kind of optimism to motivate his team.

His team. His people. His family.

"I'm coming," Beau called down to Hikaru, and then turned to pat Nicholas' arm comfortingly. "Don't put yourself down. You know everybody looks up to you and believes in you entirely. This isn't pressure put on you. On the contrary, it's a load off your shoulders, because we'll definitely have your back, no matter what."

And he started walking away.

"I suppose I shouldn't disappoint, then," Nicholas muttered softly, more to himself than anybody else, and whether Beau heard him or not, he still did turn to read the flickering hope in his eyes.

"We all believe in you. When things go wrong, you always tell us it's going to be fine, and everybody believes you because if our captain said so, then it must be so."

For a second and a half, Nicholas believed him entirely.

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Nicholas had never ever in his entire 19-year-old life been at a loss of what to do like he was at a loss now.

But then again, never in the span of his 19-year-old life had he had the lives of 9 other people quite literally in the palm of his hands.

He wanted to say that he was too old for this shit, but in reality, he was too young. Too damn young. All of them were.

"Find the near-sssssshhhh... basemen-shhhh... hide and pray-shhhhhhh-"

"Damn this useless piece of junk!" Ethan raged once more, thumping the battery-powered radio that was currently reading off their collective death warrant.

"To all survivi-sshhhhhhhhhh... There is-sssshhhhhhh... no hope-"

"That's enough," Nicholas turned the radio off completely, and he'd be lying if he said that his trembling fingers didn't fumble with the knob for a second before all sound filtered out of the gigantic room.

The team hardly even breathed at this point.

"We're all going to die," Ethan finally stated as if it was something inevitable. And the fact that nobody answered proved that they believed it, too.

"It's probably some dumb announcement from some guy thinking he's like in a video game, broadcasting on an AM station during the apocalypse," Esme growled, but there was no bite to his words.

"He's been our rare source of information so far, and it's all been correct until now." Beau's eyes were on the radio, his eyes dull as he lost himself to his thoughts.

"But he's based in Oriaridge. Maybe it doesn't concern us?" Hikaru tried meekly, and it was so incredibly obvious that he didn't even believe himself.

"Oriaridge isn't that far from here. A nuclear explosion that would affect Oriaridge in any way would affect us here, too," Ivan murmured, eyes downcast.

"W-Well, they didn't specify that Oriaridge was the target! Maybe they're way off. Maybe the bombing is going to happen somewhere on Chago, even, so we won't even be bothered by it," Lucien tried again, and Nicholas dimly noted that it was the most the boy had spoken in days. Shame it had to be about a topic like this.

"We don't know anything, though. Better safe than sorry," Elon butted in, strangely level-headed and focused, his gaze scouring the map of Wiland that was stuck on the wall next to the command center with duct tape. "We don't even know what kind of weapon they're planning to use."

"What if it's a huge explosion that'll destroy the entire island?" Hikaru blanched suddenly. "We'll sink into the sea if that happens!"

A round of chuckles flitted across the small crowd, but it was uncomfortable, and the tension withstood the small relief brought by the silver-haired boy's antics.

"So... What's the plan, Captain?" Hassan asked, and all eyes turned to Nicholas, who suddenly felt sick from all the attention he was getting. He didn't want the burden of leading these people, who meant so much to him, into the jaws of death.

"I... I think... We should pack up supplies for a few days and hide in the maintenance hallways under the school. At least until we're cleared." His voice was fighting a war against the ball in his throat, but somehow, he managed to choke that out. "We're better safe than sorry, like Lucien said."

"That doesn't make any sense," Esme objected. "The maintenance hallways aren't meant for use over an hour or so, much less for living in!"

"This entire world isn't meant for living in anymore, Esme," Hassan grunted. "Dunno if you've looked outside the window lately."

"I know exactly where we stand."

"Please, Es. Don't fight!" Lucien set a hand softly on Esme's arm, only to have it pushed off.

"I'm just trying to say that I went there once to hold the ladder for the janitor while he checked for a leaking pipe and I couldn't stand being in there for fifteen minutes." His lip curled in disgust.

"Esme is right." To everyone's surprise, it was Elon who spoke up, although the familiar sight of anger etched into his features was a reassuring constant. "Just this once. Those hallways are dark, tight, moldy, humid, dusty, full of spider webs, and just generally in really bad shape. We wouldn't be able to survive in there."

"What else are we supposed to do!?" Ethan bit back. "Just sit here and wait to die?"

"Well... if that place is as unsanitary as they describe... We'll all get sick and wreck our lungs and it won't help us any more than being, well..." Ivan trailed off quietly, his stomach roiling at the thought of what awaited them on the surface, or below it. Both options were highly unpleasant.

"Alright, so we'll sit here and die," Ethan clicked his tongue, glaring at Ivan as if he was the one at fault. "Best plan I've heard yet."

"What is wrong with you?" Esme raised a brow. "You're so stubborn, it's annoying. I'm being logical here-"

"Logical!? That's funny!"

"Beau!" Hikaru suddenly cut through the argument that was slowly escalating. All eyes went to him, and then to Beau, who hadn't spoken at all.

"What is it?"Beau asked as calmly as ever.

"What's your opinion?" Hikaru asked, and suddenly his voice hushed, as if he was afraid, and hanging onto the next words with an almost religious fervor.

"Well..." Beau closed his eyes, and everyone was surprised to see him smile softly. "I suppose we'll have to trust our captain one more time. He's never made any bad decisions before and I don't believe he'll start now, when it matters the most. I trust that we will be safe if our captain says it will be so."

There was a silence again, and people shifted awkwardly. And slowly, as the tension that was so palpable in the air began to dissipate, Nicholas finally breathed a sigh of relief and thanked whatever god still existed out there for Beau's existence.

"Alright, so let's get some basic stuff for a few days down there," he began talking and was glad to see that all eyes were on him, though there was nothing but defeat in all the gazes upon him. "Beau, bring our most needed medical supplies down there. Elon described the place as moldy and damp, so let's take the environment into consideration."

"Of course. I'll definitely pack some vitamins for while we're down there," Beau nodded.

"Alright then. Hassan, take Lucien and pack non-perishable food for all of us for... 3 days."

"Yes, captain," Hassan nodded, then motioned to Lucien. "Come on, Luci! Let's see what we can dig up."

"Alright, so Ivan, start bringing down some of the smaller beddings. I'm thinking of sleeping bags and futons. Leave the mattresses."

"Alright," the gentle giant nodded, and vacated to his task.

"Ethan, please gather some stuff we'll need down there, like flashlights and batteries, toilet paper, entertainment... Maybe grab some clothes, but not too many."

"Got it, captain," the smallest team member nodded, determination in his eyes, and left to gather his stuff.

"Hikaru, Elon, grab a baseball bat or a crowbar and patrol the perimeter. We have a lot of things to get across to the school and we can't have anybody sneaking up on us to steal our supplies."

"Yeah," the duo exclaimed at the same time, visibly serious about their important task, and left to pick their weapon of choice.

"Esme, you and I are going to go get access to those halls," Nicholas finished with a sigh, looking at the tall blonde. "Do you know if there are any keys?"

"Probably in the principal's office, or maybe the security office," Esme pondered out loud. "Although those are pretty far out in the school. I don't think we should be venturing too deep. This school is the biggest place for miles around and it's a possibility that other groups have taken refuge somewhere in there. Let's be discreet and quiet-"

"And bust open the lock?" Nicholas finished, and then laughed. "Right. I suppose you're right. Sounds like you've played a lot of zombie apocalypse games in your free time to know all this."

"Enough to know that there's probably something worth surviving for, out there," Esme shrugged and Nicholas held his breath. His eyes went to the violent red scar that drew a jagged line from the side of the blonde's neck into his hairline, and he knew at that moment that the first year knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Captain! We're ready!"

And he turned around, eyes on Hikaru and Elon with their baseball bats and binoculars, and then surveyed the buzzing scene behind them, and realized that these were worth surviving for.

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Yeah you're probably confused on what this island are or where they are. I am too but imagine Oriaridge as Tokyo City. I guess since in my my mind, it's bustling city filled with workers an entertainers.

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