The bedroom slled wrong enough that it caused my nose to wrinkle.
Not bad exactly, just different from what I was used to. Then again, four n in one room for days on end would do that to a room.
But it was getting so bad that I could pick out the individual slls if I tried hard enough... so I was desperately trying not to. You know the sll....sweat, unwashed clothes versus the hand washed clothes from the bathroom, the faint tallic tang that still clung to Yuche’s bandages.
It was just there.
Everywhere.
Constantly.
Unavoidable.
Yucky.
I reached for the candle on the nightstand and lit it with the lighter I kept nearby, letting out a very put out sigh. The fla caught and steadied, and the scent started to spread almost imdiately. I felt my shoulder drop in relief.
I was still questioning my sanity, letting them live here with ... letting them eat MY supplies. But strangely enough, the anger that I thought would be simring under my skin wasn’t there.
I breathed in the vanilla and jasmine scent again before resting against my pillows. It didn’t fix the ultimate problem, but it helped forget the four n in my room.
"I don’t think we need a candle in the middle of the day," sighed Chenghai, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Scented candles weren’t for ergency rations... they were for... not ergency rations.
"It slls too guy-ie in here," I replied with a shrug, not looking at anyone in particular as I picked up my phone. 46% battery. I would need to charge it soon.
Zhenlan glanced up from where he sat near the window, his own phone resting on his knee. "That’s not a real word," he grumbled like the walking dictionary he seed to have thought he was. I could practically hear his eye roll in those five words. Then after a mont he continued, "I hate the fact that I understood it without questions."
"That’s because you love ," I teased him as this ti I could actually see his his eyes rolling back into his head.
Yeah, we were all getting a bad case of cabin fever, but there was really nothing we could do.
He didn’t disagree. He just looked back down at his phone, his thumb moving across the screen in a slow, deliberate pattern.
Yuche was sitting on the floor near the foot of the bed, his back against the wall, his injured shoulder held carefully against his side.
Chenghai occupied the chair by the door, his posture upright despite the ribs that were still healing.
Lingyun stood near the window beside Zhenlan, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, his eyes on the sa screen Zhenlan was watching.
It was the external security feed, the only cara view we still had access to, and to the guys, it was almost a religious experience.
Technically, all the interior caras that Chenghai had put up had been removed on day one. But the outside view remained. Not one of the survivors thought to disable the doorbell cara or the one mounted above the broken front gate.
Together, they showed the front of the house, the driveway, the street beyond. Sure, they had limited perspective, but it was enough to see who was coming and going.
And people had been going.
The first group left two days ago. Maybe three.
I’d lost track of the exact timing, but I rembered the sound—raised voices in the hallway below, footsteps heavy and uneven, the front door slamming hard enough to rattle the fra.
Zhenlan had pulled up the feed on Chenghai’s phone, and we’d watched them leave.
Five people of the original twenty three. They’d argued on the front steps before scattering in different directions, so heading toward the street, others cutting across the yard and disappearing from view.
When they didn’t co back the next day, a second group left. This one was smaller, only three people. They didn’t argue like the first group did, just quick movent and the door closing with a softer thud. They didn’t look back.
The third group left this morning. Four people.
One of them had been carrying a bag while another had a weapon visible in their hand... sothing long and dark that could have been a bat or a pipe. They’d moved fast, their heads turning constantly like they were expecting sothing to follow them. The door had slamd again. The sound echoed through the house, sharp and final.
And not one of those twelve people had co back.
Don’t get wrong, there were still footsteps and voices... but now they were a lot more strained.
Whatever was going on wasn’t good, and I couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on my face. They were picking themselves off, and I was living for it.
Of course four people against eleven still wasn’t good enough odds for the n to try and take back control... not with two of them seriously hurt, but it was sothing.
I reached for the bag of chips on the nightstand and pulled one out, biting into it with a soft crunch. The sound was loud in the quiet room. Yuche glanced up briefly, his eyes moving to my face and then away again. Chenghai didn’t move. Lingyun’s attention stayed on the phone screen, his jaw tight, his expression unreadable.
The candle flickered slightly, the fla bending in a draft I couldn’t feel.
The vanilla scent was stronger now, cutting through the stale air just enough to make it tolerable. I ate another chip and settled back against the pillows, my eyes half-closed, my mind drifting without focus.
From downstairs, the sound of voices rose suddenly. The words weren’t clear, but the tone was— soone was loosing their ever loving mind, and I was putting money on either Baby or Fuck Face. Scar Face was too collected for that.
Sothing smashed against the floor, the sound of impact followed by the scatter of broken pieces across a hard surface. Then the voices got louder. Soone shouted. Soone else shouted back.
Then the gunshot.
It was imdiate and unmistakable.
A single crack that cut through the house like a physical force, sharp and final. The sound echoed briefly and then stopped, leaving behind a silence that felt heavier than the noise.
I paused mid-chew, the chip still between my teeth, my eyes opening fully.
Yuche’s head turned toward the door as Chenghai straightened in his chair. Lingyun’s hand dropped from where it had been resting against his arm, his body shifting slightly forward.
The scream ca next.
A woman’s voice. High and raw and brief. It cut off almost as soon as it started, the sound swallowed by whatever had caused it.
I finished chewing and swallowed. The chip was salty and left a faint residue on my fingers. I licked it off my fingers before reaching for another one.
"Well," I said, my voice flat and casual, "that escalated quickly."
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