Apocalypse Grumps

What Once Was

"Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!" Arin called through the halls in a fake British accent.

"Arin," I asked slightly worried. "please tell me you aren't being serious."

He laughed, "You don't get that reference?" I shook my head.

"Ah well. By that I mean that it's laundry day." he took out a large plastic bin filled with a few shirts, hoodies, and some pants of various sizes and designs. I sniffed my hoodie to check to see if I needed to wash it, and the way my face crinkled up in disgust told me yes. I slipped it off and dropped it into the basket. Arin nodded his head and walked off. Now that I got a good look at him, he wasn't wearing his normal orange hoodie around his waist. I'm guessing he put it in the basket with the rest of the clothing.

"Morning, guys!" Ross stretched.

"Ross, put a shirt on, man! No one wants to see that shit!" Danny called.

He whined and called Danny a 'meanie-face' like a twelve-year-old, but Danny just rolled his eyes.

Danny had his hair tied up in a fuzzy ponytail like the first time I had seen him. It was also somewhat weird to see him without his orange jacket on and with the usual white shirt he wore underneath being the only thing on. No, don't think that. He has pants on too.

Ross, on the other hand had no shirt on. So his chest was bare, but also half cybernetic. I've recently noticed that it isn't just his face that's cybernetic, it's almost half his whole body. I want to ask what happened to him, but I don't want another Holly situation, so I try not to ask any of them any personal stuff.

I decide to follow Arin to see where he went and to try and explore this place some more. Ever since they took me to the spring, I've wondered how big this place really is.

I eventually track him down to this dark and damp place with exposed pipes everywhere. It smells like mold and mud mixed with wet dog. I see him in the distance at a small wooden bin with the basket of cloths next to him. He was aggressively washing what looked like a shirt on a washboard. I guess they have to do everything by hand here.

"Hey," I greet him. Startled, he spins around so fast it makes me jump back a little.

"How'd you...? Nevermind. What's up?"

I sit down next to him in the cold dirt, "Nothing. Just wanted to see how you guys do laundry. Guess there isn't running water down here, huh?"

"No, there is."

I gave him a confused look, he sighed while ringing out the shirt he was working on and hanging it up to dry.

"Do you want to know why we're based here? Why we're underground? Why this place looks like we didn't build it ourselves?" he asked me, sounding rather angry. "Umm... you're down here because you have to hide?" I answered. "No," he looked down, a cloud of depression filling his eyes, "it's cause, before all this started, this is where we all worked together. Me, Dan, Suzy, Ross, Barry, hell even Mark sometimes. We all worked here, hung out here. It's just filled with too many memories to let go. Too many happy memories." He wiped away a tear. "And the reason there isn't a top to this place is cause they bombed it. There's radiation everywhere up there." "I think you've told me about that." I said. He smiled a bit, "Yeah. Going to the market is a bitch." We both chuckled at the remark.

I was enjoying this. Connecting with Arin wasn't something I did normally. Especially since I got here. He's told me a couple things, and taken me to that spring along with Suzy, Barry, and Ross, but never bonded with just me. Arin was actually a pretty funny guy. I had learned that he did animation on Newgrounds before he came to YouTube. I had even seen a couple of his animations from both sites a couple times, loving them.

A little while later, we eventually came back to the main part of the base where Mark and Danny were talking at the kitchen table, Suzy and Barry were looking over something, Jack was still looking shaken up in the corner of the room, and Ross was nowhere to be seen.

I was happy that Mark and Danny were getting along, especially after what Danny did to him that one night. They both smiled and laughed together like close friends. Like how Arin and Danny act towards each other.

Jack, on the other hand, was sitting in fetal position in the corner, mumbling. I guess he's still not over betraying his superior.

"Alright guys! Listen up!" Suzy called. Everyone, including Ross, came to where she was and gave her their undivided attention.

"So, since or original plan to travel to D.C. was interrupted, we're obviously going to have to reschedule." she explained. "But, this doesn't mean that the whole plan is going to be changed. Only minor tweaks here and there. For example," she pointed to Mark and Jack. "Mark and Jack are new additions to our team and will have to be worked in. Maybe one of them driving and the other manning the machine gun on the jeep. I don't know, we're still working that out. But anyway, we'll schedule when we're going to leave in the meantime. Thank you, that is all."

The crowd dispersed back to what they were doing, and I have to get something off my chest. I walk over to Suzy and tap her lightly on the shoulder. She spins around and flashes me a smile, "What's up, Kevin?" "Can I ask you a question, Suzy?" I ask nervously. "Sure, fire away." I breath in and out slowly. 'I can't believe I'm about to ask this...'

"What exactly happened to Holly?"