I stood outside the door to my old bedroom. Of course, it wasn't exactly a functioning door anymore since it was half torn off its hinges and the wood itself had a sizeable hole in the middle. However, it was very much recognisably my door. In the considerably lighter side of the apartment due to a large fire nearby, I could see relatively well. I scooped up a mess of ripped and charred paper crumpled on the floor. It had once been a video game poster of a stern character telling people to KEEP OUT that I had kept on my door. The character was no match for the apocalypse, though. Half his face was now torn off and his angry grimace looked more like a wince of pain.
I let the destroyed poster flutter to the floor.
Gently, I guided the door open, convinced that it would disintegrate if i pushed it like you would a normal door. Inside, it was a lot darker, my curtains surprisingly partially intact and blocking out most of the light. I scaled my room to the other side, tearing them down. Even this did little to let in the light since the old town was pretty much burnt down already and those angry black clouds of matter blocked the sun out. Convenient.
From the little I could see, my room was much less affected than other places i'd seen. My bed still looked like a bed rather than a site from a bonfire and my wardrobe still stood. My wardrobe was leaning dangerously, though. The black wood loomed like an abnormally large person, the doorknobs looking like wide staring eyes. I shivered, suddenly afraid to delve into my wardrobe like I had come here for.
Mustering up the courage, I dove into my wardrobe finding that nothing but darkness greeted me. Sighing, I plunged my arm into the clothes, thankfully mostly intact. My hands found trousers that felt like my black ripped jeans that I wore to death and soon after a t-shirt. Since my taste in t-shirt's was limited solely to black t-shirt's, I went with the safe option and assumed that it was in fact… a black t-shirt. My hands found a jacket next, the one I always wore and could never be bothered to hang up. Like it always was, I found it crumpled in a heap of the wardrobe floor.
With a great lurch and a protesting groan, the great wardrobe toppled forward. The large slab of wood lunged towards me, threatening to encase me in its unwanted hug. I dove out of the way just in time, the wardrobe landing with a deafening thump onto my ankle. I yelled in pain.
I heard a scuffle of hurried footsteps, the robotic voice calling out a second later: "Is everything okay in there?" I saw the outline of my previous attacker through the hole, peering curiously into the room.
"Yeah, fine," I replied through gritted teeth.
"Are you sure? There was a big thump."
"Oh yeah? I heard that too," I retorted rather bitterly. Although we'd agreed to team up and help each other, that didn't mean I had to be nice to them. It was true that we'd first met by them putting a knife to my throat. Trust did not come easily to me, especially when I couldn't see their face, couldn't even hear their voice.
"Well… I'll just be outside then."
I waited for the footsteps to recede before attempting to haul my ankle out from beneath the wardrobe. It throbbed angrily and I concluded that it would no doubt leave a bruise.
Hurriedly, before anything else inanimate could attack me, I put on the t-shirt and trousers, thankful to finally be clothed again. I reached for the trainers that I always kept by the door before realising that I'd been wearing those ones when… the fire thing happened. No doubt they were a pile of ash somewhere. I hunted around for a little while to try and find another pair but, no, I'd forgotten my minimalistic self when it came to clothes. I had one pair of trusted trainers. To wear any other shoes made me feel like a traitor.
Full of dread, I crept over to Kai's room across the hall from mine. It felt wrong, to go into his room after what I'd done to him, after I'd left him for dead. My heart pounded a steady drumbeat, my legs liquefying.
Kai's door was intact apart from one hinge that had come undone. Holding my breath, I pushed open the door.
I'd only been into Kai's room once, in that night that I'd first met him. That story is for another time, though.
From what I remembered, he'd personalised it to the point where what used to be mum's painting room looked almost unrecognisable. Of course, I'd refused to let dad move the last painting she'd finished before she disappeared and Kai knew better than to move it himself so there it stood. She'd painted me, her and dad while visiting Titan's largest greenhouse where we grew all the crops. She'd captured dad's awkward smile perfectly, depicted my chubby cheeks from childhood fondly and, of course, she'd painted herself in a way that highlighted her flaws. She was always like that, picking out the worst in herself. She'd even painted my tacky I LOVE APHRODITE GREENHOUSE t-shirt written in large blocked letters.
I walked past the painting, glancing at every single detail of the room that had once been my step-brother's, illuminated more effectively by the fire.
It was painted a sky blue, one entire wall harbouring the hundreds of photos he'd stuck there. It struck me with intense sadness to see that they were mostly charred and burnt. I plucked one of the more intact ones off, not daring to look at his face now and tucking it away immediately in the pocket of my jacket.
I turned away from the photo wall, picking up a pair of shoes I prayed were my size and then I left, just like that, before the reality of the situation could hit me. Before I began to choke on emotion until I couldn't breathe. I bit my lip to keep the threatening tears at bay.
My previous attacker turned fellow survival buddy perched awkwardly on the edge of the half destroyed sofa, twiddling their thumbs. They turned their head when they saw me approaching.
"You're finally done?"
"I don't appreciate your attitude, I did get attacked by a wardrobe after all," I said defensively.
"Who knew the biggest threat in the literal apocalypse would be a piece of wood."
"Don't be sarcastic about it until you've been attacked by a wardrobe yourself. It hurts."
"Luckily, I don't think that will happen any time soon."
"Well," I paused for dramatic effect, "you've got to expect the impossible in these times."
I'd imagine that they'd roll their eyes if I could see them. They seemed like the type to roll their eyes.
"Your weird voice changer is seriously getting on my nerves," I added.
"Deal with it," they countered firmly, "it's only so I don't die, you know, of radiation sickness."
"Fine. Keep it. But don't talk too much."
"Fine. Are you ready to go now?"
"Right. Where are we going exactly?"
"Do you have the memory of a goldfish? To show you just how insane the world is becoming."
I didn't know how ready I was for that.
I sighed audibly. "Lead the way… what's your name again? I feel like if we're going to be survival buddies, you should have a name. I'm Cato."
"Natasha."
"Lead the way, Natasha."