The Altered.

Chapter XL.

It was relatively early in the morning. The sun had just risen, and dew still clung to the chilly air.

Miles and his group were going back to the city. Finally.

In the day and a half since they'd discussed where they'd stay in the city, there hadn't been much more reconsidering, and even when there had been, they concluded eventually that the library was still the best option.

Today, Percy was up and about. It hadn't taken long for his sickness to disappear after the microchip had been killed, and Percy was a lot more lively than Miles remembered him being when they're first met. He reminded himself that on the day they'd met Percy, he'd probably already been starting to feel unwell.

Percy was terribly bothersome when he wasn't unwell.

He wanted to be a part of every conversation and was much to affectionate for his own good sometimes. And complained whenever something didn't go the way he pleased. When he got the opportunity, he would flirt endlessly, and even though he could be ridiculously charming, Lia was really the only one showing him much attention in return. This seemed to please him enough, though. Even now, it was him and Lia packing the final supplies into the backpack, laughing at a joke Miles hadn't heard and didn't care for. Percy could only use one hand to assist, so it was Lia doing most of the work, but they seemed content in each other's company.

One a different note, there was a whole other side to Percy that had taken a while for Miles to notice. The ebony-haired boy was intelligent, as surprising as it was, and when he wasn't showing off once of his many expensive accessories or trying to snag a girl's attention, he was involved in a philosophical conversation or a debate about one scientific thing or another.

Percy had even managed to have multiple conversations with Miles about sports he liked, and kept the conversation going no matter how hard Miles tried to discreetly throw in some kind of knowledge that might be exclusive to just him.

Percy was good at almost everything.

It pissed Miles off.

There was a hand on Miles' shoulder. "Every time I look at you," Eira said, "you're staring at Percy." She sucked on her teeth. "I don't know if this'll break your heart, but he's definitely into Lia."

Miles shoved Eira away and she giggled. "Mr Fucking-good-at-everything isn't my type, anyway."

"Mm," hummed Eira.

Miles glared at the girl, but all he gained from it was another cheeky laugh. "Okay, sorry," she said eventually. "Sorry. But I did actually need you for something." She grabbed his elbow and tugged him towards the bags of communal food that the residents of the treehouse had been sharing since the last supermarket trip - they hadn't gone back since Bronte had died. They had enough food to last a little longer, and they'd been trying to eat as little as possible.

"What do you need help with?" he asked, frowning.

"We're going to take some food with us in case we can't find a safe store to go into immediately," Eira explained. When Miles lifted an eyebrow, she quickly added, "Bri's group agreed to it, of course. You and Aaron helped get the food, so it's only far we can take some of it." She put her hands on her hips and stared at the bags of food, lips pursed and strawberry-blonde bangs falling across her forehead. "What do you think we should take?"

"Only the bare minimum," Miles started, dropping to a crouch to get a better look at what they still had. "We're going to be much closer to a supermarket than Bri's group is here, so we should only take a little bit and just try and find a store as quickly as we can."

Eira dropped down beside him. "We should take with us the things that are likely to expire the fastest. Leave the long-life food here so that if they don't get to a store soon, this'll last."