Page 25 of Apricity
Wait…What the hell are we gonna decorate the tree with? We can’t do lights… no electricity and all. Just gonna have to find a butt-ton of ornaments, garlands and other Christmas crap to throw on it.
GNOMES!
That was the big thing before the virus hit. Christmas gnomes fucking everywhere. Creepy ass little shits but, hey, they’re festive!
Oh yeah… this is going to be epic.
After five more minutes of waiting and twenty minutes of walking wefinallyget to the farmhouse up the road. Sheesh, taking all damn day here.
There's another house in between this one and Jax’s place but we scoped that out when we first got here. Didn't really have much since they were snowbirds. Just some minor staples to keep throughout the year for when they finally returned every winter. I definitely don't remember them having any sort of generator, either. No, they were regular customers on the good old-fashioned power grid from what we saw. I also knew as we went past the place to not even try to look for any decorations. It would have been a waste of time since no one found any seasonal stuff stashed away during our raid. But Aly, on the other hand, lucked out and was able to nab up someladies’ thingswhile the rest of us focused on what did remain of any food and fuel on the property. It’s probably where Cole managed to find all that chocolate.
“Alright, I’m gonna go check out back to see if they have a generator. You guys head inside and see what they have left.”
I race up the steps, dancing at the top as I wait for Aly and Cole to saunter leisurely up the stairs. I give them both a hard and serious stare at their deliberate delay but that just makes Aly laugh.
“Ok, Hawk, let’s go find some decorations. Hey, maybe they’ll have some other fun stuff here, too!”
Hopefully. We could use a few more board games. I for one am sick and tired of Scrabble. Risk would be good. That game takes even more time to finish than Monopoly. It would keep us busy for days… actually never mind. Don’t want to neglect Aly cause I’m too busy conquering the world. Maybe some new books for Jax’s collection. He’d like that. Booze would be nice, too. A little bit of liquor would make our celebration extra jolly.
“It’s a pretty big house and we haven’t checked it out yet. It’ll probably have a bunch of stuff we could use,” Cole adds before lifting his gun and taking a cover position. I lift my own gun before trying the door knob. It’s surprisingly unlocked and swings in on its own.
“Hello?” I yell. There might still be living, breathing people inside and I don’t want them to accidentally shoot one of us for breaking and entering. When no one answers, I nod at Cole to ready for entry.
“Aly, take out your gun and stay against the house. We’ll be right back. Five minutes.”
Cole and I do a quick sweep of the downstairs and upstairs before calling, “CLEAR!” letting Aly know it’s safe to enter. There’s no sign of the original residents and, from the overwhelming amount of dust on everything, I doubt anyone’s been here in a while.
The place is large but cramped, filled wall to wall with furniture and collectibles. It almost looks like what my grand-parents’ house used to. There’re even doilies on the side tables and those little strawberry hard candies in a dish on top. I’m half tempted to take one, ‘cause you know those bitches last forever and taste amazing, but not now. We’ve got memories to prepare for.
Aly walks through the front door, her pistol still in one hand as she shuts the door with the other.
“Alright, be careful. The place looks to be old as fuck and in bad repair. Tread lightly and watch where you step, there are some floor boards missing in a few rooms,” Cole says as he takes her hand and directs her to the kitchen.
I point a thumb over my shoulder towards the hallway. “I’m gonna go check that back room. It had a bunch of storage boxes, might be hiding something good.” Cole and Aly nod before turning and opening the cupboards, scoping out what food stores the old residents might have left.
Turning around, I head down the hallway leading towards the back of the house. In our brief tour, Cole and I found a living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry, four bedrooms, a bathroom, a linen closet, and a padlocked door that, I’m assuming, goes to the basement.
I reach the end of the hallway and make a left into the bedroom filled to the rafters with plastic storage totes. The floor is jacked. There’re floorboards broken and even missing all together in some spots but that won’t stop me. Not when there’s treasure within reach. There must be at least thirty of them stacked on top of one another and just my fucking luck… absolutely none of them are labeled.
Alrighty, here we go.
The first box I bring down is heavier than a pregnant rhino, which makes no sense at all when it’s on the very top of the stack.
Who does that? Put that shit on the bottom, you psychos.
I open the lid, see it’s full of dishes and chuck it in the corner, wincing when the sound of breaking glass hits me immediately after.
Oh well… moving on.
The next five boxes are the same, absolutely filled to the brim with China sets, coffee mugs, all kinds of shit. How many fucking sets of dishes does a person need?
One.
The answer is one.
No one in their right mind needs seventeen different sets of fucking China and anyone who thinks so is either a psychopath or a serial killer. Probably both. Doesn’t matter, though, they all get put into the corner as well. Where the naughty kids belong.
Boxes seven, eight and nine all contain children’s toys. I shake my head at the sight and decide to hide them in the closet under a pile of clothes, just in case Aly comes in here. She doesn’t need that shit taking over her brain space again.
