To Be A Rebel

Chapter 8: Open Your Eyes

"And look! Here's the coms room. It's actually bigger than the coms shack. I mean, it's kind of dusty, and the tech looks a bit... old, but it's something, right?"

Sam tilts his head at my hopeful smile, amusement a clear feature on his face. "Right... You know, I haven't seen you this happy since I remembered where the white fingers were."

"We have running water. I can have a proper shower, or a bath." I can just barely refrain from squealing in excitement. "I've already talked to Nicole. She's trying to think if she remembers any recipes to make some soap, since most stores have been cleared out. If we don't have any made in like, an hour, I'm taking a bath using that powered milk that we found and everyone's too afraid to actually use in a food recipe."

"Everyone's too afraid to use it in a recipe for food, but you want to bathe in it?"

I shrug. "If it makes me smell better, I really don't care. And we can drag one of the beds from the other room in here. And I'm going to see if I can build a crib for Adora. I mean, I'm shit at building stuff, but I think with some practice I can make something decent for her. Runner Twenty-one said he'd try to help me, but I don't really know how good he is at building things and... what?"

Sam just smiles and shakes his head. "Nothing. Just you."

I nod. "Just me. Actually, now that I think about it, it is just me, and you, that is. Where did Peter go? He's been stuck to my side for the last two hours we've been checking out this place, looking for any zombies. I mean, we've only cleared five levels but I don't think we'll be checking any more, since we have more than enough room now."

Sam shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe Janine wanted to talk to him about that radio documentary he mentioned. He seems rather... attached to you though."

"I'm the only one who appears to trust him. Everyone else is wary."

"Everyone else is normal and doesn't have visions of the future," He says, and while I know Sam doesn't mean it in any mean way, I still feel a bit of a sting when he talks about normal, and how I'm not it.

But I force a close lipped smile and shrug once more. "Well, at least you know that I know that he's not going to kill or harm us anytime soon. I wouldn't be his friend if he were. Now, I've already set my stuff on the bed I chose for us. It's not super big, but it's kind of comfortable, and it doesn't squeak!"

"Wow. That's a find."

"I know. Come on, come help me move it." I grab his hand and pull him from the coms shack, grinning madly. I'm just so happy to have a home! We have a kitchen and a coms room and bedrooms and bathrooms and some more rooms that we can use for whatever we want. This place is amazing.

Sam just smiles at me as I lead him down the corridor, giggling like a child over the fact that we have a home. Paula was right earlier. We do take Abel for granted. We did. It wasn't the best place, but it was there, but now we have Noah Base. Now we have beds and a proper place to store our food and equipment, and we have showers and bathtubs which I honestly think are the best things about this place because it means no more river baths!

We reach the dorm room, and I start to lead Sam towards the bed I picked out, but I stop short.

I see my trinkets haphazardly thrown at the end of the bed, where I always place my items, but it looks familiar. I didn't realize it because the beds on the top floor were bunk beds, but these are not. These...

"Sorry, Five, but I already called dibs on this bed," Jody says, grabbing what few trinkets I have on the bed and tossing them to me.

"Ah, man," Sam sighs. "And Five said that one was comfy and doesn't squeak."