The World Has Died

This entire situation was costing us valuable time. Already, the sun was beginning to rise, and soon people would be able to see them, including police. Their guns wouldn't do much, but I assumed pepper spray and nightclubs still worked, and I doubted they had abandoned their posts in only two days. Then again, maybe they had; we got into the school easily enough. I glanced back into the room we were backed into, and didn't see much. It appeared to be some sort of teacher's lounge, though there was no refrigerator, only sofas and chairs, which looked rather inviting at the current moment. I stifled a yawn, and slowly came to realize that I had not slept at all, and here the sun was rising. I was tired, and ready to move on. a quick second glance of the room showed a vending machine, and I moved toward it, and called to Kale "Just shoot him. I'm ready to get the hell out of here." I said, and then proceeded to kick the class, shattering it with a few strikes. I then began to stuff the chips, cookies, and Doritos into one of the bags we took from the gym.

The duffel bag was half-filled with junk food of various kinds, from salty Ruffles chips to sweet creamy oreos. Huh...these could be very valuable in a few weeks... I mused, then pulled the strings taunt and slung the bag over my back. It wasn't much food by any stretch of the imagination, but it was better than nothing. I walked into the hallway, watching as Kale proceeded to tackle the boy holding...the door to a bathroom stall and waving around a katana. I sighed, and shook my head. It was ridiculous, really, that the boy tried to use that thing as a shield. The door was far from balanced, and katanas were meant for two hands. I approached Kale, and chuckled a bit as she tapped on the door. "Look kid, we don't want to hurt you, really we don't...but you're armed, and people are already going batshit insane...we have to be cautious..." I said, and then barely managed to stifle a yawn. "Look...how about you come with us?" I suggested, and then turned in sudden surprise as a distant banging sounded in the distance. "Lord, what now?"

The voices were familiar, and the tenseness seemed to evaporate as I recognized Chomps and Jasmine's voices. I nodded as he come around the corner and spoke, and nodded. "We did. This kid, and some snack food. There's probably more in the cafeteria, unfortunately we didn't get that far..." I said, stifling another yawn and looking out the windows as the sun flowed through the skyscrapers and began to illuminate the hall as best it could. "Well guys, it's sunrise...Guess we should grab some food and get out of here...As for Mr. Ihaveaname, tell us what it is, and whether there's still any food in the cafeteria worth taking."

I glanced over at "doorboy", registering his actual name to be Kurt, and filed it away in the back of my head. "Go grab what you're looking for, we'll just meet you in the cafeteria. I have a vague idea where it is." I said to Kurt, then turned to the others. "Its just up ahead, on the right, or at least that's where Kurt seemed to have come from. It was a bit difficult to see..." I said, slinging the bag of snack food behind my back. It wasn't heavy, but it was bulky and lumpy with the odd assortment of junk foods in it. At least they kept for a while, and peanuts and dried fruit were good things to have around. I glanced to the left as I neared where the hallway split into two directions. On the right was as I thought, the cafeteria. "Guys! I was right, over here." I said, waving to the group that I assumed was still a bit behind. On the opposite side were a few classrooms, and what seemed to be an exist to a picnic area. I tapped my chin, thinking if anything in the rooms would be useful. 'First things first...food.'I thought, then turned to go into the cafeteria.

It was dark, but other than that, it looked like any other high school cafeteria, dingy, orderly, clean...ish. A few of the windows were cracked, and there was a hole in the wall here and there, but otherwise it was rather respectable. I looked around, and saw the registers, and the doors leading back to the kitchen. They looked rather...sturdy, to say the least. Thick and made of some kind of metal, they weren't likely to come open with a beating. Of course, Kurt had had to find a way in, didn't he? I looked around, and then noticed a metal rolled covering over what appeared to be a window. I made my way over to it, and pushed it up without any resistance. "Well...that was simple enough." I said, and climbed over to the other side, and into an empty sink. I jumped down, and started poking around in the back, finding a pantry, freezer, and lots of large coolers. I opened up the one closest, and frowned. "Milk? Really? They still give high school kids milk at lunch?" The cooler was still releasing the cold air from within, so it was still safe to drink, but there was no way we could take it with us. "We'll have a nice breakfast, but I doubt we'll have much luck finding anything that won't go bad in a few days." I shouted back down the hall.

I glanced at Kale as she scolded me, and smiled a bit, amused. Then, Jaz's voice registered in my ear, and she had a point...well mostly anyway. "Jasmine, I know you mean well, but the horses are too old for milk. It'll just make them sick. As for food..." I said, glancing around, trying to find salads or carrots or something. "They're easier to feed than we are...Ah!" I said, and walked over to a basket of fruit set aside for the day that never came. "Apples will be a nice treat for Dax, eh?" I said with a genuine smile in Jaz's direction. I swung the duffel bag around and proceeded to gently place the apples, oranges, bananas and pears into the bag. They would keep, for a while, but eventually would rot like everything else. best to give them to the horses, who could eat a lot more and faster. "Apples are for the horses guys, Everything else is fair game."

I looked over at Kale and then at Chomps, and frowned in thought. They were both pretty well right. Kurt's voice then sounded from a short distance, and the frown intensified. "Lovely to know how well we were feeding out students..." I mentioned with a twinge of annoyance. I made my way to a freezer, or fridge, I really couldn't tell, and swung it open, welcoming the relief of cold air that suddenly washed over me. New York didn't have a hot climate, but concrete and steel got hot in the summer. I took a quick inventory of what was kept here. Frozen pizza packed the fridge, and it was...sad, to say the least. "Anyone want super cold pizza for breakfast?" I said, only half joking.