Apocalyptic Dream

5 - Pain

He woke up to the sun long gone, lanterns barley lighting the house as thick curtains were drawn over the windows, obscuring any light to the restless, groaning figures outside.

Seven groaned as pain hit his chest, though nothing seemed broken, surprisingly, just large bruises. His tent mate wouldn't be happy about that.

"Is he awake?" Seven was grounded again when he heard a newer voice next to him, realizing he was in the living room of his old house. "Are you awake?"

Seven groaned again, shakily placing a hand on his face and dragging it down. How long had he been out? It was supposed to be a quick trip, two hours at most, but judging from here, it had been longer.

"How long was I out?" His voice wasn't croaky, that was a good sign.

"Four hours at most, I think?" Seven's eyes widened. He had been our way longer. Springing up, he was immediately woozy from the pain blooming in his chest. "Woah woah woah! Calm down!"

"I have to get back to Techno." Seven coughed, pain hitting him every time he did so. "I've been gone way too long."

"You aren't going anywhere like that!" The other, who had fluffy brown hair and wore glasses shook his hands, getting the other to lay down again "How about I get you your radio? I don't know how it works, but it makes noises every once in a while."

Seven nodded gingerly as the stranger handed him a cup with water, the former downing the regular sized cup in one gulp before waiting for his radio.

It wasn't long before he was handed the device, another male, this one a bit more tan, with medium dark hair, a mustache and glasses. He seemed to study the way Seven quickly fiddled with the box, his eyes darting of the words he surly couldn't read from that far away.

The radio fizzed with static, Seven breathing a sigh of relief before clicking a button to speak "Hello?" He called softly, cringing at the small pain it was to even speak "Anyone still have their adios on?"

"SON OF A BITCH!" Seven almost dropped the radio at Phil's voice, the other two flinching "GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, SEVEN!"

"The zombies get bad here at night." The paler stranger said "They returned straight away after you got hit."

"Unfortunately I can't." Seven said, nodding in thanks to the stranger "The zombies are thick and I was hit by a log."

"Techno's gonna kill- no, fuck that, i'm gonna kill you!" Phil shouted "You're lucky we didn't leave!"

Seven's heart dropped. They thought he was dead, smart of them to assume, but what would of happened if his radio broke?

"Yeah, well, I'm not dead." Seven said, playing off his hurt with cockiness "No thanks to these two over here." he rose an eyebrow at the two strangers

"Hey! I put effort into these things!" The male with a mustache defended, his voice high pitched a bit from his defense.

"Yeah and a great job you did, too." Seven grumbled.

"Who's that?" Phil's voice came

"People in my house." Seven replied "Though I suppose it's theirs now, after all, I've been gone for four years."

"So they're the ones who made you get hit with the log?" Phil asked

"Well, it's more like a large, polished stick. Why they didn't sharpen the front is beyond me, what dumbasses." Seven chuckled as the one with a mustache sputtered

"Hey! Poke know what he's doing sometimes!" the paler said

"Poke? What kind of a name is that?" Phil chuckled

"Stands for Pokay, old man." The man in question replied

"It's a better name than Seven." The paler laughed lightly

"Says you!" Seven replied "What's your name, anyway? Steve?!"

"Beef Stew, but call me Beef." He responded

"What a loser name!" Seven said as he laid back with a thump and a groan of pain escaped his lips "Phillllll" he whined "When do you think you can come get us?"

"Woah buddy, us?" Pokay said, his eyebrow raised "We just met you."

"You're with us now. Seven has taken you in." Phil informed

"Besides, your food is running low, isn't it?" The two nodded as Seven hummed, feeling a small rattle in his chest "So you're coming, I can hunt."

"Fine." Pokay didn't let it show how happy he was at that new plan "We can go."

"To answer you, Seven, we're gonna need a few days at least if you're banged up" Phil replied "How bad is it?"

"Large, painful bruise on the center of my chest and some splotches surrounding it." The male replied "I don't suppose the others know i'm alive?"

"Techno probably knows." Phil replied "He's kept his radio on to hear any updates you promised."

Seven barked out a laugh, cringing in pain, Beef peering at the other in worry "Go check on him Phil. He's probably gonna try and get me." Seven instructed

"Will do, see ya in a few days, mate." And with that it was the three in silence.

"You're from this house?" Beef broke the silence with his strong curiosity "It's so huge! You were rich, weren't you?"

Seven shook his head "Just got lucky, I guess." he replied "Where are you two from?"

"Where are we from?" Beef mumbled "I forgot..."

"Eh, same here, it's unimportant when we've been living here for two and a half years." Pokay said

Seven chuckled softly "You wouldn't have happened to explore everywhere, have you?" he asked

"No, Only this half, there were some creepy ass noises coming from the east wing though." Beef said

Seven sighed, a heavy feeling settling in his gut "I'll go check it out in a couple of days." He said "I came here for something in the east part anyway, i'm lucky you didn't go into there, I guess." He nodded to himself "Your both kind of smart, I'd say."

Beef chuckled "That's all Poke." he replied "He's the better of us two."

Seven shook his head "Not from what I can see." he replied "You're good with medical stuff, that's more useful than many other things."

"That's what I'm saying!" Pokay said, turning to his friend "See Beef?! I told you!"

As Beef protested loudly, Seven chuckled. This would be a short few days with those two around.