The World has Died

"Got it." Chomps took the bag of chips and put it with the rest of the supplies. Making sure it was secured, even the smallest bag of chips was still important to have. Food was food, and they would need every little bit they could get. Chomps wasn't sure about what Stephen said though, followed by what Jazz said shortly after. Sure, they handled the muggers now, but there would be more of them where that came from. People were bound to crazy things just to survive, even if it meant stealing from sleeping folks. As for their next destination, anywhere other than here was considerable in his head. "Maybe somewhere nicer...Yes..Like..Wide open so we could least see anyone coming towards us and there is no chance of someone lurking around a corner, ready to stab us."
 
After sniffing her jacket prize cautiously, Kale scrunched up her nose. It could use a good dousing in some water, preferably with soap. She considered how washers and dryers would no longer work, but it shouldn't be too hard to find a stream. Plus, if they found a house to loot, they could get a jug of detergent or some bar soaps. That would have to wait until morning, but all homes should be searched if nobody was residing in them. She tossed the jacket onto the back of the carriage and moved up to the front, taking Stephen's hand and climbing up. Once she was seated next to him, she laughed at Jasmine's comment and nodded at Chomps'.


"A suite is impossible, but a field is not. We're going to have to set up a watch - somebody awake and alert at all times to make sure we aren't ambushed. We'll do two hour shifts each through the night and get up early to get a move on once the sun is up," she said, pulling out her map after glancing at a road sign. She traced a road with her finger, pondered, then nodded. "If we go up this road about a mile and take Dixon road on the right, we'll hit a high school. They have a football field. It's not the best situation, but it could be worse.." she said, glancing at Stephen.


"You guys learned how to tell time without clocks in school like I did, right?"
 
"Well, today is day...two of no more electricity. Food should be starting to become more scarce, and people are starting to panic. All the more reason to get the hell out of the city before people resort to cannibalism."I shook my head, chuckled a bit, and suppressed a yawn. I rummaged around in my pocket, and fished out a golden watch, intricately carved into the shape of an angel hanging grapevines, or at least that was how I always interpreted it. I flicked it open, and held the glowstick close to it. "Well guys...right now its exactly 2:16 in the morning." I said, and then flipped the watch closed. I smiled then, and held it up to show everyone. "It's was my dad's. And my granddad's. And my great granddad's. It's actually been in my family since we came over here from England. It was long before they used electricity to power clocks, so it keeps time with a winding up every few days. We can use this to keep time, right?" I said, glancing over at Kale. I then whipped the horses one again, and headed down the street Kale had indicated. The buildings still looked ominous and dead, and the night sky gradually became darker as clouds hid the stars behind them. I caught the school in the distance, Just barely. I could make out the looming bleachers and the fence, and pointed to it. "Well ladies and Chomps, there's out home for the night."
 
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Somehow, Jasmine managed to remain completely silent at Stephen's cannibalism talk. She knew a great deal about it (hell, she knew a great deal about a lot of things), but talking about it openly was not going to do her any good. I was going to scare the living hell out of her. There was a difference with reading a text about a certain thing, person, problem, than experiencing it in reality. This day...the world could very much be hinging on the edge of cannibalism, and there would be nothing wrong with it. With food becoming scarce, humans were going to have to eat something, weren't they? Still, with it only being the second day, as Stephen said, no one would be that desperate for human flesh. There was still plenty of food in shops, stores, and houses.

Depending on how long the chaos was going to last, cannibalism would come slowly.

Jasmine's train of thought was ruined when Kale asked her inquiry about the time, accompanying the question with a scoff. Duh. Who didn't know how to tell time without a clock or a watch? It was the simplest thing in the world to do! She looked over the faces of the three in front of her before internally face palming herself. She bet these three didn't know a sundial from a raisin. Her thought was confirmed when Stephen took out a golden watch, relaying the time for them.

"Not the best thing to take on a trip like this. A prized possession lost is the worst feeling ever,"she whispered, blinking a couple of times before bringing her head back up and wheeling Dox to trot next to Chomps and Kale once the three of them arrived at the stadium. if they wanted open, they got open and a lot of it. Jasmine's nose scrunched at the thought of sleeping in such a wide ranged place such as that, but with Kale's sleeping plans, she had to put her trust in whoever duty it was to watch. Putting her trust in the hands of a bunch of strangers. Typical.

"...Who watches first?"she asked, following them into the school while looking down into the eerie green of her glow stick.
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Chomps followed closed to the group, shuffling around his hands. He still was feeling the after effect of punching that man with the gun. How good it felt to actually connect a hit and not have to snap it. Maybe it was that sense of pride and strength that was shining through. When Kale and Stephen mentioned the upcoming High School, it made Chomps a bit uneasy..He never liked High Schools..Not even the stadiums. There were always kids who bothered Chomps when he was growing up and this was where most of the bullying took place. Stupid jocks..They can all get their asses kicked..He grumbled under his breath. "I'll do it..I'll watch all night.."Chomps making sure to say that loud and also stand out so they would see he was more than willing to do it. "I..never liked High Schools..And I'm not about to sleep on these grounds..I'll be fine. You guys sleep."
 
"That's definitely easier," Kale said, nodding a bit as Stephen showed her his watch. It would become extremely valuable - and things of value were going to be worth fighting over. A watch like that could be seen as nearly as important as their food, to those who needed to time anything or were clock-watchers as many of her friends had been. For that, she was thankful she could tell time without it. If it was lost or stolen, she would be fine. Jasmine's comment made her nod a little. The girl was right. Losing something sentimental value would be worse than the actual feeling of being robbed at this point. What else did they have but memories now?


"All night?" she repeated, glancing at Chomps in surprise. He seemed serious, but if he stayed up all night, he was going to have to sleep during the day tomorrow. There was room on the back of the carriage, but then he wouldn't be able to sleep the next night. They couldn't afford to have somebody disabled by exhaustion or sleep for an entire day.


"No," she said, shaking her head. "Even if you don't sleep, you should lay down and be able to relax rather than keeping watch all night. Staying wide awake all night isn't something I really think we should be doing at this point - you'll ruin yourself for tomorrow, and we might be doing tough work like looting houses or moving cars. You can take a longer shift if you want, but.." she said, trailing off as she realized she sounded like she was giving orders.
 
I shrugged at Jasmine's comment. "Well, its all we've got...guess we'll just have to be careful not to be robbed, right?" I said, then looked over at Chomps, shaking my head. "Don't be crazy, Chomps. Its better for everyone to get some sleep rather than one person getting none at all and the rest getting a lot. Kale's right, we'll need your strength tomorrow. I'll take the first watch. Two hours a piece, right? No worries. I can do that. Besides...I have a few things I want to try." I said, turning back to grab one of the kitchen knives we had taken from Kale's apartment. I imagined whoever was on watch would be given the crossbow, but I was told, it would take a while to reload it, and I was pretty sure none of us were trained to do it quickly. "I'll wake you up in a few hours Chomps, you can take second watch." I said, leaping down from the carriage and opening the gate that lead to the foot ball field. It was simple chain link, about six feet high, and it would be at least a small obstacle for people to have to get past. If nothing else, opening the gate or climbing it would release a sound for the watcher to be alerted by. I lead the carriage into the field, and then tossed the reigns to Kale. I waited for Jasmine and Chomps to ride their horses through, and then I shut the gate as quietly as possible. "Welcome to Fort High School, ladies and Chomps..." I said, trying my best to muster a joke.
 
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That Chomps sure did know how to bite off a whole lot more than he could chew, thinking that he was really going to stay and watch over the group for the entire night. Jasmine quickly dismissed the thought as insane, of course, when it came to Chomps. The fact of the matter was that he probably hadn't eaten a full course meal in the span of 14 hours which meant that his metabolism and carbs were at an all time low for the moment. There was no way, no matter how big, his body was going to stay up and attentive for that long period of time without the proper nourishment. Of course, she wasn't going to tell him that. The guy liked to think with his muscles first, then use his head for anything else that didn't have to do with his muscles. Jasmine said nothing while Kale quickly dismantled that idea, coming up with some pretty good facts but not the ones she was thinking of.

Oh well. Not all of them could be dangerously intellectual, she supposed.

"Stephen first, then Chomps, then me? I don't sleep long at all...I just can't seem to, you know? Well, no, you don't know, but you do now. Yeah, I don't sleep long." Jasmine wheeled Dox after Stephen and Kale, still keeping sure that she was next to Chomps. He was the Brawn of the group, and though they may have not been able to see it, she wasn't exactly the most subtle person in the group. It was going to be a nice thing to have a pair of bone crushing arms by her side. Kale was the Brains, Stephen was...what...Spirit? She mused over that thought, lips slightly perking into a wandering look of discernment before his voice broke her trance.

"Hey...Hey, I used to go here!"she exclaimed, taking one look around the stadium before her excited revelation fell into a frown. "The football team sucked."
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Chomps didn't take to well to what they were saying. Sure it seemed like he was straining his body by wanting to stay up all night, but he just had no intention of sleeping..Not here at least. His stomach rumbled slightly, as he looked up to Kale, Stephen, and finally Jazz. Chomps growled and turned around not saying a word as he walked by the bleachers in the football field. Raising his left arm up over the first row, as it quickly came slamming down connecting with the metal, leaving a now noticeable dent. As he walked by, he looked up at the top row of the bleachers. He remembered that moment very clearly..His first kiss was right there. It was the best kiss ever..Only to be ruined by having everyone notice and causing his lady to well..Run off, leaving him there to face the majority of..Chomps quickly shook his head.
 
Kale was still brooding on the fact that she had denied Chomps' request like that. It wasn't like he was asking permission, he was telling - which was only right. She wasn't in charge of these people or anything. Yet Stephen was piping up his agreement with her words already and volunteering to take the first watch. She felt strange, as if she was in a position of power that she didn't really want or know how to handle. It was bizarre. Never had she been in charge of anything, really. She frowned at the thought and glanced over at Jasmine as she took up the third watch. That placed herself last, meaning she'd be awake from the start of her shift and into the day. She had no problem with that - seeing the sunrise sounded peaceful.


"Chomps-" she started to say, wanting to apologize for acting like a leader when she didn't feel like one. Before she could say anything else, though, he had walked off and started beating up the bleachers.


Well, it was good that he was in a cheerful mood.


"I don't get it. Why didn't he argue? It's not like he's taking orders," she said, more thinking out loud to herself than anything. It wasn't that she wanted him to argue and fight and refuse to see reason, but she was just disoriented by everything. She was as lost as everybody else in this disaster.
 
I glanced over at Chomps, then back at Kale, and shrugged. "Well...maybe he just saw the sense it what we were saying? I don't know. Still, it doesn't look like he's sleeping. You guys should get to bed though." I said, and glanced at Jasmine as she spoke about the foot ball team, and then snapped my head over to Chomps as he attacked the bleachers. It seemed as if I was the only one with no emotional connections to New York, but at least that meant no hard memories to leave behind. I sighed, and poked around the back of the carriage as Kale and Jasmine went to sleep. I looked over at Chomps one last time, and then started digging around in the back of the carriage. I came back with a wooden broom stick, the broom long since broken off, but there seemed to be a slit down the center, going maybe two inches into the end of the broom. I glanced between it and the knife, and smiled with an idea. I took a kitchen knife, and examined it closely. The handle...I glanced over to see Chomps still awake, and figured I could take the time to fiddle with the knife. I shook it, jiggled it, and attacked it with other knives until the handle came off, leaving only the blade. I smiled triumphantly, and grabbed the broomstick. I quickly wiggled the blade into the slit, and then looked around once again for something to secure it. I saw the shoes from one of the guys, and quickly pulled out one of the shoelaces. I then wrapped it around the end, and tied it as tightly as possible. I then jumped from the carriage and spun the weapon, doing a spear-form for Tae-Kwon-Do, and smiled in victory as the weapon cleaved the air.

I then waited, looking around, keeping my ears and eyes open, but nothing was seen or heard. Eventually, I felt sleep beginning to overtake me, and I glanced at my watch, flipping it open. Two and a half hours had passed, so with a sight, I walked over to Chomps, and held out the spear to him. "You're up to take watch. You can use the crossbow, or this afro-engineered naginata. Either way, it's better than just a knife right?"
 
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"You know, there's a video game character that does that. Donkey Kong, I think. He gets all mad or whatever and starts pounding the ground like crazy,"she murmured, looking over to where Chomps was when another clang from the bleachers popped in her head. "I think I'll call him DK from now on." The pounding eventually grew down and so did the voices. Kale and Stephen didn't say much else, Stephen being busy constructing something while Kale went to sleep. She was going to stay up too but she knew it would ruin the entire schedule if she did. Jasmine was going to need as much energy as possible for the following days ahead. Defeated, she curled herself on a bleacher, not wrapping up in anything before fatigue finally came to her.

Somewhere in her 4 hours of sleep, a dream came to her in little bits of light. It had something to do with books, of course. Books of all different varieties: small, large, children's, encyclopedias. Jasmine watched all of these books unfold in first person, every front covering turning to reval a college of letters, sentences, pictures, colors. It was knowledge, a surplus of knowledge that amplified by the second. Book after book opened, its contents spilling out of the pages and hovering in the air around her. It wasn't until those words, pictures, and colors turned into a crossbow did the dream suddenly turn into a nightmare.

The crossbow shot towards her but the adrenaline was already fueling her steps before the arrow of words could impale her. Jazz was on a run, sprinting away from what she loved the most: words, knowledge, information. Her body jerked in her sleep, causing her to shift on the bleacher and change her position. She whimpered much like a little child having a nightmare, one of those things being true. The nightmare faded into a black nothingness and then she felt safe. She felt safe in the darkness more than she did with her knowledge being shot at her.

Jasmine did not have a good sleep.
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He could hear Kale and Stephen talking before he was out range. Not really taking what they said to mind, just focused on his own thoughts.Chomps came to the other side of the bleachers, this was his spot for the night. It wasn't much, but enough to keep him comfortable. Since he wasn't going to sleep, he would be surrounded by the darkness of the night, and possible looming danger. This would mean his mind would be wandering, looming on past experiences at this damn school. Chomps had to do something to get his mind off it..Remembering he had not worked out in a good number of hours, that might be just what he will do to keep himself up.

Chomps began to do push ups rapidly. He didn't even stop for a break, pushing himself to keep going until he couldn't do it anymore. His mind wasn't entirely clear though, he was thinking too much on the current situation. Getting out of this city, to find somewhere better. Chomps wasn't a man for change, but when it couldn't be avoided he was going to have to live with it. He sighed and finished his push ups, having come out to about 50 or so without a break. He sat up and placed his hands on his head...Too much was floating around..He just needed to..Relax..Chomps folded his legs and placed his hands on his knees, breathing in deeply and exhaling heavily. Meditating was what he did after long matches. To restore his frame of mind and be able to think and function those long nights where he didn't get much sleep.

After hours of concentration, he heard footsteps approaching, yet he didn't react to them right away. Then when he heard the familiar voice of Stephen, asking which weapon he wanted to use for his watch. Chomp smirked and shook his head. "My hands."
 
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