"Aye Andy, where's everyone at?"
I asked upon noticing that other than Andy, no one else was in the main area of the apartment. However, I did hear a few muffled voices coming from my hobby room.
"Are they in there?"
Pointing towards the hobby room, I asked. To which Andy, while opening a small bag of chips gave a nod to and said.
"David went in there a few minutes ago after making sure his phone was charged. I think he said he was going to try and get in touch with both his and Sara parents."
"I see. What about you? Did you get in touch with yours?"
"I did. They said that they're going to wait for me at our house. Dad said some people tried to break into the shop but luckily, he managed to scare them off...Despite knowing that they're in a safe place, I'm still quite worried."
As he said this, Andy's face slowly turned solemn. His eyes were filled with unconcealed worry as he thought about the safety of his parents. Understanding how he felt, I comforted him by walking over and giving him a pat on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, you dad's a strong guy, so I'm pretty sure he can protect himself and your mom with no problems at all."
"I guess you're right. Despite how my dad looks, he's a pretty strong guy. I'm confident he can take out a few infected by himself!"
Showing a smile, Andy said with confidence. Seeing this, I give him another pat and say 'that's the spirit'. This is one of the reasons why I like hanging around with Andy, he doesn't let worrisome things get to him.
While I was thinking this...
"Is that the annoying neighbor you've been talking about?"
Andy suddenly whispered this to me. His eyes were trained on Erika who was taking a can of soda from the fridge. She really was treating this place like her home.
"Pretty right?"
"Pretty is not the word for it. She's mfin sexy!"
"Heh, let me tell you what I saw earlier."
Seeing the lecherous smile on his face, one slowly formed on mine as well. Pulling him in close so that Erika couldn't hear me, I eagerly told him what I saw. From describing how she looked in her sexy underwear all the way to how she told me that she usually slept in the nude, I told him all of it.
"You lucky bastard! What's there to be complaining about if she has a body like that?"
Throwing me a stare full of jealousy, Andy asked. To his question, I couldn't help but scoff at him.
"You say that but you haven't known her for as long as I did. Behind that pretty face is a personality that's the epitome of an annoying drunk. You try carrying her drunk ass back to her apartment every other weekend. That sh*t gets tiring. There are times where I just say 'screw it' and plop her on the couch. Not to mention, when she is drunk, she leaves beer cans and cigarette butts everywhere! I know I smoke the occasional cigarette but come on! It got to the point where I bought ashtrays specifically just for her to use! Tell me, do you really think I shouldn't be complaining? This is only the tip of the iceberg!"
There's also times where she would mix some of her clothes in with mine and I would unknowingly wash them. As for how she slips them in I don't know. The only time I find out I washed them is when I spot the occasional girly shirt or pants in my freshly washed and dried clothes.
There's a limit to how shameless you can be!
"I was insensitive earlier...It's been hard on you."
After hearing my complaints with tears in my eyes, Andy showed me a look of pity as he patted my shoulder in comfort.
"You have no idea."
"How dare you make me out to be such a monster!"
With a hard chop to the top of my head, Erika, who was suddenly behind us, said angrily. I guess my emotions got the best of me and caused me to raise my voice, resulting in her overhearing.
Rubbing the top of my head as I glanced at her with a similarly angry expression, I remarked.
"Well it's true! Look me straight in the eyes and say that I'm lying!"
When I said this, Erika froze for a second before turning her flushed face sideways.
"Aha! I was right!"
"I don't want to hear that from you. Don't forget, I am the one to bail you out when you have no food to eat. If I didn't help you all those times when your fridge was empty, you would've been in a world of hurt."
"That's because you eat all the food! The only reason you buy any is because you feel guilty."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were brother and sister."
Standing off to the sidelines as he watched the little argument between me and Erika, Andy offhandedly said. At his words...
"I can't outright deny that."
"Me neither."
Me and Erika somewhat agreed.
I've known her for almost two years. She, being a good samaritan, helped me move into this apartment a few months after mom died. After that, because we saw each other on a daily basis, we slowly got close to each other. Resulting in the almost brother-sister like relationship you see now.
It's a taxing one, but I don't mind it.
"Oh, is this the annoying neighbor you were talking about?"
Big Sis, who was leaving my hobby room with Amanda, asked upon spotting Erika. And at Big Sis' question, Erika looked at me with an incredulous and said a little shocked.
"Annoying? You told everyone I was annoying?"
With a shrug of the shoulders, I replied.
"I'm just speaking facts."
"Speaking facts my ass! I'm pretty sure because of you, everyone here has a bad picture of me!"
Giving a light cough, she looked back at Big Sis and Amanda and continued.
"Hello, my name is Erika. Nice to meet you guys. Also, please don't believe everything this guy says. Most of it's not true."
Key word, 'most'. I won't deny, I may have exaggerated her annoyingness a little bit in my momentary bouts of complaining but the majority of it is true.
"Nice to meet you too. My name is Belladonna Yang."
"My name is A-Amanda Wilson. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
After Big Sis' and Amanda's introduction, Erika then took on an expression of intrigue.
"My, my, you girls are some school flowers, aren't you? How did you two end up hanging around Desmond?"
"Oi, those words at the end there hurt."
I said a little hurt. Are you trying to throw shade my way?
"Can you blame me? I mean, how can two beautiful young girls like these ever follow a guy like you?"
"Well, duh, it's because of my manly charisma."
Sticking out my chest, I put on a confident smile and said. At my actions…
"Hahaha!"
Everyone started laughing.
…
But I'm serious though.
==========
(David's POV)
RING! RING! RING!
In the now silent room after President Yang and Amanda left, the only thing that could be heard was the subtle ringing of my phone as Sara tried to contact her parents, more specifically, her mother, Mrs. Lewis.
RING! RING! RING!
"Please pick up. Please pick up."
In a voice that was on the verge of crying, Sara desperately pleaded. This is the third time she tried to call her parents. Seeing her like this, I couldn't help but feel a pang in my heart.
"Please pick up. Why aren't you picki-"
"H-hello?"
Just about when you were expecting the call to go straight to voicemail, Sara's mother picked up the phone. Ecstatic, Sara put her on speaker phone and screamed out.
"Mom! Thank God you're okay! Where are you?"
"Sweetie, is that you? I've been trying to call you but you wouldn't answer your phone! Sigh,
I'm okay. I'm still at work We were on lockdown because numerous people suddenly started attacking each other. A few of them were even killed! But that's not the worst part, some of the people that started attacking immediately began eating the ones that they killed! I-I don't even know what's going on anymore! More importantly, where are you? You're not hurt anywhere are you?"
"I'm not injured or anything. I'm staying at Desmond's house with David. I'm using his phone to call you since mine is dead."
"Desmond's?...Sigh, as long as you're safe that's all that matters."
At her somewhat disgruntled words, me and Sara couldn't help but let out a wry smile. It's a known fact between me and Sara that Mrs. Lewis doesn't like Desmond all that much. It wasn't like this in the past but ever since she heard that he went to juvenile detention for two months because of assault, things changed. She now considers him a bad influence for Sara. Desmond knows this too. That's why other than birthdays, he hardly ever visited Sara's house.
"Have you gotten in touch with dad?"
Putting on a worried expression, Sara asks.
"...Yeah, he told me th-"
All of a sudden, Mrs Lewis' voice is cut off. On the phone's screen, it showed 'call ended'.
"W-what happened?"
Frantic, Sara looked at me and asked. After thinking for a moment, I answered.
"Maybe her phone went dead. Due to all that's happened, it wouldn't be surprising if she forgot to charge it."
"...I hope what you're saying is true. Dad, where are you?"
Seeing her give a small sigh filled with concern, I wrap my arms around her and give her a gentle hug.
"It's going to be okay. I am confident your dad is going to be okay. Worrying about it too much is only going to make you sick."
"...Hold me tighter."
Sara's small voice sounded as she buried into my chest as the tips of her ears slowly turned red. .
"Okay."
Showing a loving smile, I acquiesced to her command.
"..."
"..."
After hugging each other for a few more seconds…
"Here. it's your turn to call your parents. Make sure that they're okay."
"...Alright."
Sara released me and handed me back my phone. Although a little reluctant, I took it from her and started to call my dad.
RING! RIN-!
"RATATAT! Form a perimeter! Don't let them get any closer!"
When the phone immediately picked up, the sound of gunshots was instantly heard followed by my dad's voice.
"Dad!"
I yelled but to no avail, he didn't respond.
"RATATAT! There's too many! Fall back to Kingston Avenue and use the vehicles to form a barricade! We can't let them near the checkpoint! RATATAT!"
"Dad!"
"Huh? Son? Is that yo-"
Before I could even speak to him, my phone suddenly died due to a low battery. At this, I angrily threw my phone down and cursed angrily.
"F*ck!"
What the hell happened over there?