[draft] apoc story

unfinished chapter three

The morning came faster than I would have liked. I must have fallen asleep against the wall because my neck was sore and I awoke slumped down the wall. I sit up straight again, stretching my hands and twisting my back, hearing a satisfying crack. I sigh, letting most of the tension in my body fade.

Looking around the room, most people were out of bed, all except [mad], [soft] and [name]. I don't know how long each stayed up but I can only assume [gf] went to be first to go to bed, and [nb] and [espres] typically ran on little sleep, especially [espres] when he had more than 3 glasses of coffee.

As I get up to exit the sleep quarters, I catch a glance at [name]. He was curled into a ball, his injured arm facing the roof while he laid on his actual arm, his hair was messy but, he actually looked peaceful in his sleep. The usual snarky or overexaggerated expressions he typically wore, were gone, leaving just a regular face. I blink and look down, despite nobody seeing me, I was embarrassed to have been staring at him for so long. "I truly think of you as my best friends...". I smile, today was for change.

Stepping outside, I am greeted by [espress], his hair tied into a messy ponytail, while he wore a torn up garment. I always fail to understand how this man makes clothes from a fucking apocalypse look good. He nods when he sees me. "The kettle still has some hot water, it's warm enough if you wanted to have anything."

I felt bad for the man. Owning glasses in an apocalypse setting was difficult, yet he somehow manages (while pulling off the look). That's probably due to the fact he serves as our medic, he never really involves himself in the so-called 'needlessly reckless acts'.

I head over to the bench and pour myself a glass of water, adding a small number of coffee grounds to the mix. Before this dark event fell upon us, I'd usually have two teaspoons of coffee, with some milk. But milk was a rarity and we used the shelf milk sparingly, so I had to settle for a weak cup of black coffee.

The taste was certainly growing on me, but the things I would do for my regular glass again...

"You went to bed fairly early." [espres] comments.

I shrug. "Yeah, I got fairly bored and I suck at board games away." I take a sip of my coffee, my face only shrinking a little in disgust from the flavour.

[espress] took a sip from his coffee (a really strong black coffee, that I have no idea how he drinks). "What happened with you and [name] last night? You brought him in with your arms, did you find him asleep outside?" he pondered. If any other person had asked that, I'd have yelled at them because of their implication. [espress] was different, or rather highly indifferent, he really didn't care about much unless it got in his way.

I bit my lip, deciding whether to tell him or not. He probably won't mind, out of all the people he's the one who hated [name] the least. I sigh. He hated him the least because he knew to ignore him... most times. "I was worried about him. Like he wasn't acting like he usually was and I dunno, I guess I panicked."

[espress] hummed in reply. "Hm, I was under the assumption you disliked [name]?" he queries calmly.

I shake my head, setting my cup down. "I thought I did! But..." I trail off.

"But?" [espress] gently coaxes.

"I realised that I don't really have a good reason to hate him..." I emphasise the 'hate'. "I mean, sure he gets on my nerves, but he does that purposely and I guess I never wondered why..." I pause, [espress] sips his coffee, waiting for me to continue. "I just want to know more about the guy before I make my opinion of him, plus he said something last night that I just can't stop thinking about." my voice grows higher as I speak my thoughts.