Chapter three: a normal conversation

“....bazooka! You came.” Gloria happily said before jumping on him to take him in a bear hug, causing Crystal to relax her body and come from under the desk, they were hiding in earlier.

“I’d never betray a friend, and you are early,” Bazooka said while hugging Gloria back and before letting her go and doing a weird handshake with her, picking the interest of everyone in the room.

“Well, you are always early for some reasons so we decided to surprise you.” Gloria said while pointing at herself and Crystal.

“Certainly an eye candy, but better two eyes candies.” Rellik whispered to Adrian while looking the two girls up and down.

“It would be nicer if you introduced us Gloria.” Bazooka said with a deadpan expression before Gloria realised her mistake.

“Oh sorry, this is Crystal. I just met her two days ago.” Gloria said while pointing at Crystal walked up to him and put her hand out for a handshake.

“Great to meet you Crystal, you can call me Bazooka. By the way I too have some company.” he said while shaking Crystal’s hand before pointing at both Rellik and Adrian. “Rellik and Adrian. I’m certain you will not like them.”

“Yo, Rellik in your service” Rellik said with a smirk before taking Crystal's hand and kissing the top of it. He didn’t bother going near Gloria after Bazooka sharp glares. “Always in your service.” He emphasised.

“Stop trying to bang any girl you find Rellik.” Bazooka said before hitting Rellik on the back of his head and sighing.

“That’s what I have been doing for the last two years Bazooka **** off.” Rellik said while letting Crystal’s hand go before he started a new staring contest with Bazooka. “I can’t help it if I am just too sweet with ladies.”

“And your new friend Adrian,” Adrian said with a sweet smile, ignoring both Bazooka and Rellik’s glaring contest behind him.

“Oh god, so charming.” Crystal commented. “I’m Crystal by the way.” She said with a smile.

“I agree, I’m Gloria.” Gloria added while rolling her eyes at the eye fighting in the back.

“I appreciate all the heart warming meetings but we have plans to discuss.” Bazooka commented after ignoring Rellik and turning around which caused everyone to sit under the counter.

“For now, we have a limited supply of food. We only have food to go to the nearest town on foot.” Bazooka started with a serious expression.

“We have a lot of two minute noodles that we couldn’t eat because we didn’t have boiled water,” Gloria started. “We have 25 cup noodles and 10 water bottles. In addition we have some equipment I stole from a garage.”

“Very good, we have three big camping bags that contain 12 water bottles, 9 cups of noodles, 29 can of vegetables and also some equipment like a lighter, kitchen stuff and garage equipment too.” Adrian added, pointing at the three bags behind them.

“For today we are going to have a campfire to cook some noodles and then sleep inside the store while we take turns to watch.” Bazooka explained.

“What about the weapons we need?” Rellik asked while pointing at all the weapons around the store.

“We can’t use guns anymore, they bring a lot of attention and need a lot of bullets. that leaves us with knives, bats, matches, axes, and crossbows.” Crystal explained with a raised finger to point at the aid kit at the back of the store. “We also need a first aid kit for any injuries”.

“She is right, these are more ideal than guns,” Bazooka started explaining, “but we will take some renegade and guns for the absolute worst scenarios.”

“Seems reasonable, but what's our next goal?” Gloria asked after nodding her head to agree with the weapons plan.

“The military base.” Bazooka said with a straight expression while everyone looked at him, deadpanned which caused silence for a few minutes.

“The military base, that’s 300 km from Sydney.” Adrian said to break the silence while everyone still looked shocked with their stupid open mouths.

“Yes, it will take us a week on foot, that’s why we need to move as soon as dawn cracks tomorrow.” Bazooka said with a neutral tone, not like they would have to walk for a week to go to the military base.

“And what is the way that we will take?” Gloria asked, giving up to Bazooka’s idea and getting everyone back to reality.

“We will pass at least three towns while travelling which is where we will take supplies from.” Bazooka started explaining, “I also plan on crossing a small forest.”

“Why? Is not that going to take longer?” Rellik asked, complaining while rolling his eyes, walking for days was already annoying for him but walking for a whole week was hell.

“I know, but think about it. Do you think everyone went to the useless camps the government made?” Bazooka asked.

“The annoying camps were camps made by the government when the virus started, a lot of people actually packed their belongings and went there but one of the soldiers had the virus and infected everyone else which ended up with a whole group of dead roaming around in Perth, which is where the camp was held. Nobody had any information about the camp. The news didn’t get around because the news reporters got infected too.

“He is right, some people might have gone to the forest where the dead won’t see them or reach them.” Gloria explained with a hand on her chin. “The dead didn’t spread in forests; they mainly spread around cities, big cities.”

“That means there is a chance we can see another group of people who survived until now.” Crystal excitedly added with a bright smile.

“But what do you think happened to the people who went to that camp?” Gloria asked with a curious tone, nor the news channels nor the people who lived there gave them any news.

“They are probably dead by now, the government doesn’t have that many people to protect a whole population, which means that the dead broke into the camp and fed on everyone there.” Rellik answered with a straight face, not really caring about the dead people but giving his own theory.

Everyone, except Rellik, who didn’t really care, sat down in silence thinking about the poor people and families who couldn’t survive, they felt lucky to survive and have a chance to live longer than nearly the entire earth population.

“So… why don’t we have dinner now, I am excited to get to know you guys.” Adrian said breaking the awkward silence while pulling the caps out of his bag. “I’m a big fan of noodles.”

“sure why not? I haven’t eaten anything other than candies for a while.” Crystal said, trying to hide her enthusiasm to eat anything other than candy.

The group of five stood up and went outside and sat in the nearest spot to the store. Rellik pulled out burnt wood, a bottle of oil and a lighter to start a fire while everyone else sat down next to the not-so-ready fire and pulled some kitchen equipment to start boiling the water.

“Why don’t we play a game?” Crystal asked after everyone settled down and started eating their noodles while she herself took a bite and melted into the taste of noodles.

“A game, like what? Jump the rope?” Rellik said sarcastically with a raised eyebrow while mixing his noodles for some weird reason and throwing all the water out, they all looked at him with questionable stares but didn’t bother asking anything about his way of eating noodles.

“No, it is a game I played when I was in kindergarten. For example I am gonna ask a question and everyone is gonna answer it then someone else will ask another question, the game finishes when everyone asks a question then we can ask individual questions for a specific person.” Crystal explained before taking a deep breath and blowing on her noodles.

“Cool, it is a good game to get to know each other, I will start” Gloria started, “what’s your hobby?” Gloria asked to start the game with an easy question and get everyone in the mood.

“I used to play a lot of video games in my free time,” Bazooka boardly answered while looking down at his noodles, not really interested in the questions.

“Fucking chicks.” Rellik simply answered which made everyone look at him with raised eyebrows, except Crystal who didn’t know what ‘fucking chicks’ was.

“What does ‘fucking chicks’ mean?” Crystal asked innocently before Gloria leaned in to whisper something in her ear causing her to make a dumbfounded expression and look at Rellik with a raised eyebrow. “That’s not a hobby,” Crystal added seriously with a weirded out expression.

“Killing the dead.” Rellik answered, looking at Crystal with a ‘are you happy now?’ While she nodded in satisfaction.

“That’s better, my hobby is watching anime,” Crystal said confidently with a smile while going back to eating her noodles.

“Me too, I liked watching anime,” Gloria excitedly added with a smile, Crystal also smiled back at Gloria.

“I used to watch hentai too,” Rellik boldly said before both Gloria and Crystal turned around to look at him Gloria was just staring at him with an open mouth while Crystal didn’t really know what ‘hentai’ was .

“What’s hen-“ Crystal innocently asked with questionable stares before getting cut off by Gloria.

“Why don’t we skip this question, Adrian, what's your hobby?” Gloria quickly asked to avoid answering Crystal’s question.

“Sure, I am in love with computer hacking” Adrian answered while patting the computer in his bag.

“Is that why you always carry that computer? And does it actually work?” Rellik asked curiously.

“Yes, I am glad you asked. I made that computer myself and it works with solar energy so it doesn’t need a battery and it has wifi that I added my s-“ Adrian explained.

“Spare the details. Let me ask the next question,” Rellik said, getting bored of the explanation. “When did you lose your virginity?”

“I am still a ******, I wasn’t allowed to date” Crystal innocently replied with a straight face.

“Me too, I wasn’t interested in dating.” Gloria answered. “What the **** is even wrong with your question?” She asked after realising the stupid question.

“Me three, I needed time to figure out my sexuality” Adrian said while pointing at himself. “And yeah your question is fucked up.”

“I was seventeen” bazooka answered while rolling his eyes interested in the conversation.

“You guys are pathetic, I lost it when I was fifteen” Rellik said proudly showing off his virginity loss.

“Is he flexing now, I can’t believe he is flexing about sex.” Adrian said disgustingly before facepalming himself and ignoring Rellik’s proud looks.

“Ok next question, what’s your skill?” Bazooka asked, finally interested in the game, he was thinking of the best question and this seemed like the best one.

“Computer hacking.” Adrian answered without a second thought.

“Material arts.” Gloria answered.

“Medical care.” Crystal replied.

“Killing bastards, but you guys are off the list.” Rellik answered with a smug smile.

“Oh thank god Rellik, we are such lucky bastards.” Bazooka started with wide eyes before his expression went back to the straight face. “Guns.”

“Next question, what do you plan on getting tomorrow?” Crystal questioned the group.

“A blade and one of the bats I saw in the back, man that shit is strong and full of blades.” Rellik answered with an almost impressed expression.

“Yeah the store has a lot of strong weapons that the owner himself made,” Bazooka explained. “I plan on getting a gun with a lot of bullets to keep with grandes for difficult situations and some forearm sword blade.”

“Oh badass, I am planning to get an axe and a sword. I have been taught how to use them.” Gloria replied with smile.

“I plan on getting a first aid kit that I found in the back of the store and a pocket knife for protection.” Crystal answered. “I’m not really good with weapons.” She said while rubbing the back of her head with a smile.

“The killing is not my job so I will have something for self defence to use when I am alone.” Adrian told the group with a nod.

“Last question,” Adrian started while slurping the last of his noodles. “Do you think we will survive in this apocalypse?”

“It is possible,” Gloria started. “ We have a lot of different people with different skills, we will survive.”

“Yeah she is right, the only right thing to do now is be positive and have hope, that’s what they told us in training as soldiers.” bazooka added while Gloria nodded to agree.

“I think you guys are amazing and fearless, so I am sure we will make it through this together.” crystal hopefully answered.

“You guys are not completely useless, so what would stop us from surviving?” Rellik replied to the question asked with a ‘duh’ tone.

“Ouch but thank you. I think that too but I can’t help and not think about dying. It is not an easy task to survive a whole *** apocalypse with five people.” Adrian sadly said to bring the group to the bad situation they are in.

“That’s what hope is for, humans made hope to mentally survive difficult situations.” Crystal explained. “Ok let’s go to the individual question, I will start with Adrian. Why did you learn computer hacking?”

“To take revenge on some assholes who were against the government.” Adrian answered. “And for a bit of personal reasons.” He said with a shrug.

“Did you take revenge?” Crystal asked curiously.

“Yes, I hacked into their facebook account and posted some gay porn on their profile because I knew they were very religious so I wanted to embarrass them infront of everyone they knew.” Adrian said evilly while everyone looked at him before cracking in laughter.

“Tell them the truth,” Bazooka said while rolling his eyes.

“Well that didn’t exactly happen, I hacked into their devices to find their locations then I worked with the government to arrest them, and that’s how I met Bazooka because we worked together then became friends and when the apocalypse started he asked to meet me somewhere in Malborne to start travelling together.” Adrian said, explaining everything in a rushed tone so Rellik wouldn’t interrupt him like always.

“What about you Rellik, is that your real name?” Bazooka asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I got this name when I was in jail, I used to have a lot of fights where I ended up killing different people who were rapists or did anything wrong to children so they gave me the nickname Rellik and if you flipped it, you get killer.” Rellik explained. “And don’t ask about my real name because I am not going to answer that question.”

“Can you believe that some people loved him because he took revenge on people who raped them or their families?” bazooka said, amazed.

“Cool, but how did you guys meet?” Gloria asked.

“Rellik was in a forgotten prison where the guards ran away leaving the prisoners in their cells, and when I was passing by, I heard someone screaming so I went to check and I found the only person who survived for a week.” Bazooka answered, holding a finger up. “Turned out a guard who Rellik killed his sister’s rapists gave him a bit of supplies before leaving as a thank you.”

“Yeah, I was pretty lucky everyone else died in their cells on the third or fourth day and I was screaming for the last time before giving up when he heard me.” Rellik added.

“Pure luck, let me ask everyone a question,” Adrian started. “How broke were you before the apocalypse?”

“I was studying and living off my parents' money.” Crystal answered.

“I was so broke that I was looking for a part time job to pay my college fees.” Gloria replied as she nodded her head.

“I was a drug dealer so I earned a lot of money before going to prison, I don’t know where the **** my money is now.” Rellik stated angrily.

“Well I earned a lot of money for locating those guys as some of their names were on the most wanted list.” Adrian stated proudly with a smug face.

“I was already working with my old man, and they did pay me a lot for doing crazy secret jobs for the government.” Bazooka answered.

“Jobs? Like what?” Crystal asked with a puzzled expression.

“Like killing some crazy dude who is trying to start a civil war with an army of cows because he doesn’t like Queen Elizabeth.” Bazooka explained.

“That’s some crazy shit.” Adrian commented with a surprised expression.

“I agree,” Crystal and Gloria added together.

“Did you guys ever use *******?” Crystal asked out of the blue.

“What’s that?” Bazooka asked.

“It is an app where people write stories and other people read it,” Gloria explained. “I did use it for a while when I was thirteen.”

“Yes I did too, man this shit is all about celebrities, vampires, werewolves, ceo and mafia which is exciting for thirteen year olds.” Adrian answered.

“That’s my first time hearing this, but I prefer not having an experience if that’s the case.” Rellik told the group.

“Me too, I totally agree with the daddy and mommy issues guy.” Bazooka added referring to Rellik who didn’t seem impressed.

“Whatever,” Rellik said uninterested while rolling his eyes in annoyance.

“Crystal, your name and features seem very familiar. Do I know you by any chance?” Adrian questioned her.

“Well my family used to have a big fancy restaurant chain, so you probably know the name Crystal anderson.” Crystal explained.

“Very interesting,” Adrian said.

“Bazooka, why don’t you use your real name?” Rellik asked, targeting Bazooka’s most secretive thing.

“I will never use the name that my so-called father gave him,” Bazooka said harshly. “And he will never deserve to be called a father.”

An awkward silence fell on the group causing everyone to look at their empty noodles cup uncomfortably while stealing some glances at their friend who seemed very distracted by the question Rellik asked.

“Why don’t we all go to bed? We have a long trip tomorrow and the fire is going to be out in a few minutes. I don’t think anyone wants to stay outside in the cold weather.” Adrian said breaking the ice cold silence.

“Yeah, that's a good idea and we need to wake up early for tomorrow. Come on Crystal, we are sleeping at the back.” gloria added to further break the awkward silence.

“Yeah, sure” Crystal replied while getting up.

Everyone went to sleep that night not caring about what’s gonna happen to them tomorrow or the day after but only caring enough to enjoy their sleep.

The next day……………..

End of chapter.

To be continued…………………..

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