Abibliophobia (SetoSolace)

ONE

Abibliophobia - Hghrules

Chapter One: And So the Current Plot Revolves Around Jason's Need for an ICEE

Jason tripped, and, for the first time since my mother's death, I prayed.

Then I came to my senses, and now I'm running back to help the boy up.

"Seto," he whimpers, as though he thinks I would let him die. Whether Notch listens to my desperate pleas or not, Jason will get out of this alive. "Seto, we aren't gonna make it," he says brokenly as I yank him up off the ground by his arm.

"Don't say that. We'll be fine." I grit my teeth and boost him up over the chain link fence before sticking the toes of my combat boots into the holes to climb after him. "All right?"

"I'm okay," he says quietly, refusing to make eye contact as I jump down to his level.

"Good. Stay that way."

"Seto, we- how long have we been running?"

"An hour, tops." I pause my walk and spin around to face him. "Why? How tired are you?"

He bites his lip and breathes in shakily. "It's just- will we ever be safe?"

"Honestly? N-" I stop myself just short of a terrible mistake. He's breathing in short breaths, fairly in shape but still not athletic enough to keep this up for long; his eyes are watering and I can't be sure whether it's because of the wind or our situation, but I'm leaning toward the latter; he is so clearly so tired, not just of running but of having to run. But he is okay, and that is only because he has hope. That hope is to him as he is to me – the only thing pushing us to finish this never-ending race.

I can't take that from him.

"Eventually," I answer after a short time. "For now, we're stopping to rest for the night."

His eyes go wide. "With the Readers so close?"

"Jason. You trust me?"

He visibly relaxes, smiling slightly. "Uh-huh." I glance behind us, hoping he's right to trust me, and am pleasantly surprised to find that he absolutely is. We lost the Readers long ago, by the looks of things, and the last building blown up by a hand grenade seems to be at least two blocks back. Yeah. We can afford to stop for a bit.

"Pick a place, little bro."

Jason scrunches up his face in distaste, and I have to laugh. He's such a cinnamon bun. Far too pure for this world. He shouldn't have to deal with this. "How about that gas station over there?" he suggests, pointing across the street to an abandoned BreakTime.

"As good a place as any," I reply with a shrug before grabbing his hand and pulling him over. "Think they'll have any Monster left?"

"Those aren't good for you," he chides, tugging me to a stop right in front of the doors. "Promise you'll only have half of one?"

A few weeks ago, he wouldn't even have approved of that, so it's fairly easy to keep the sarcastic reply from escaping my mouth. (Plus, there's very little chance of us actually finding something good in here.) "Can do, bro. What about ICEEs?" One of his favorite drinks from before the disaster – I sincerely hope we can find him some. It would certainly lift the poor boy's spirits a bit.

He flushes slightly and looks down, mumbling, "Well, they aren't so bad..."

"Mhmm. All right, come on, we'll get you something."