Chapter 3
Pandora giggled as her boots slammed down onto a zombie's head. Evan sat a few feet away from her, busying himself with skinning some animal Pandora hadn't been paying attention to when he brought it back to their small clearing in the forest. There was only one decently sized tent, two sleeping bags in it, along with plenty of weapons and canned food. The Rosier twins had been long prepared for the apocalypse.
Pandora grabbed another zombie from the pile of their bodies, all stacked up on top of each other behind their tent. She looked down at the spilled brains and cartilage already under her feet.
"No one believed us," Pandora said, her voice vengeful even as she giggled, throwing the body to the ground. "Not when we warned them," she stomped onto the zombie's half-rotted arm. There was a cracking sound that echoed around the clearing. "Not when we told them to prepare," she dug her boot into the monster's chest, twisting it around. "They all laughed!" She yelled as she brought her other boot down upon the zombie's face. It caved in immediately, the weakened bone tissue quickly yielding to the force of Pandora's boot. Blood quickly pooled around the thick black sole.
Pandora panted as she looked down at the sight underneath her boots. She took a few heavy breaths, her chest heaving up and down. She looked over to Evan, who hadn't done so much as spare her a glance. They were used to each other's behaviour, nothing was unexpected now.
Despite Evan's silence, Pandora knew she had to clean up her mess. She dragged the messy, strung out cartilage and remains of the monsters back over to the twins' pile of zombie bodies. The blood soaked through her gloves, making her fingers freeze. She tossed the zombies back into the pile, still panting as she did. She looked down at her bloody gloves, and made the decision to toss them back into the tent so they could dry. She shoved her hands into her pockets to keep them from getting cold.
After Pandora tossed her gloves back into their tent, she turned around to see that Evan had set up a relatively small fire a few feet away from the tent.
A smile spread across Pandora's lips as she fell onto the ground beside Evan, reaching her hands towards the warmth of the fire. She hummed erratically, not thinking of any song at all. Her fingers began to hurt with the heat, but she refused to move them. In a decision between too much heat and too much cold, she would choose too much heat. She saw her breath in front of her, and wondered if Evan had remembered to bring toothbrushes. Probably. Evan checked their bags at least ten times per day before any of this even happened.
"Hm," Evan grunted beside her. He ran his fingers through brown fur, slow and gentle, as if he hadn't been the one to kill the thing just a couple hours ago. Pandora gave him a questioning look.
"What is it?" She asked, and Evan opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of something crashing through the trees. Both of them were on their feet in an instant. Pandora took on a fighting stance, taking her knife out of one of her pant pockets. Evan tried to take a step in front of her, to protect her from whatever was coming through the forest. Pandora gave him a death glare, and elbowed him behind her. She stood in front of Evan, knife in front of her chest.
She braced herself for another wave of zombies. Maybe a family this time. That thought sent a cold chill throughout her body as she looked at the pile of decaying children behind their tent. She swallowed down her guilt, and blinked away the tears in her eyes. There was no saving someone after they were infected.
What came crashing through the trees, though, were not zombies of any kind. Rather, one boy with green and black hair dragging another boy through the forest (along with a massive duffel bag that was obviously too heavy for him). Despite the sight of them obviously not being the most intimidating, Pandora still waved her knife at them, making sure Evan stayed behind her. "Who are you?" She demanded, her voice echoing throughout the clearing.
The boys stopped in their tracks. The one with green hair dropped his bag, and then eyed it for a moment, as if considering reaching for whatever was in it. In the end, he didn't.
The boy beside him yanked his own arm away, and then shoved the first one to his knees. He muttered something to him before taking his place on the ground beside him. He put his hands on his head, and the one with green hair quickly followed. "My name is Regulus Black, that's Barty," said the one without the green hair. "We don't want to cause any trouble, we just need somewhere to stay for the night." Regulus Black sounded like he was holding back tears.
Pandora narrowed her eyes at the two of them, and then looked back at Evan. He firmly shook his head, and Pandora looked back at the boys. She knew Evan would be upset, but... Well, she couldn't exactly send these two to their deaths in good conscience.
Pandora looked between her knife and Regulus's teary eyes. Pandora took a sharp breath, and reluctantly shoved her knife back into her pocket. Evan made a sound of annoyance behind her. Pandora rolled her eyes.
"You can stay. For one night, mind you," Pandora said, her voice firm. Regulus rapidly nodded his head, repeatedly telling Pandora how grateful he was. Barty gave Regulus a look between being shock, disgust, and worry as he watched the display.
Without warning, Evan shoved Pandora aside, and walked up to Barty. Barty tried to get on his feet to talk to Evan, but Evan shoved him right back onto his knees. Barty scoffed, about to make an argument. Evan interrupted him. "What's in the bag?" he asked, and Barty grumbled to himself. "Show me."
Barty reluctantly unzipped the bag, and took each item out one by one. He first pulled out a small hammer, and tossed it onto the snow. Next up, he threw two large sledgehammers next to the hammer. Regulus watched in surprise. It looked like he hadn't done any packing with Barty. He tossed lots of things into the pile, nails longer than Pandora's hand, wooden planks, a lot of sledgehammers for some reason, some random pole... Finally, he tossed a knife set into the pile.
"That's all of it," said Barty as he turned the duffel bag inside out to show Evan. "Need anything else, handsome?" he asked with a sarcastic, over-exaggerated smile.
Evan looked back to Pandora, who shrugged. Evan's eyes fell on the pile of weaponry. "Yeah. All of it. It's me and my sister's now." Barty's face fell, and he tried to reach towards his stuff. Evan kicked him back by his shoulder. Pandora almost felt bad for Barty. Almost.
"Alright, dipshit, I risked my life for all of that!" Barty yelled, trying to crawl back to it.
"Don't care," Evan said dismissively, grabbing the things. Pandora walked over to the entrance of the tent, and caught a sledgehammer Evan tossed to her. She threw it into their tent without looking.
Barty reached for a hammer, and when Evan was about to kick him in the face, Regulus yanked Barty back. He held him against his chest as he struggled, yelling things at Evan and Pandora. Regulus slammed his fist back against Barty's nose, and he yelped. Pandora laughed as she watched Barty hold his hands against his bleeding nose as he tried not to cry. "Let me keep something," he whimpered around his hands.
Evan didn't respond for a long time, mechanically throwing things back to Pandora. He reached for one of the nails, and then sighed. He looked back to the pitiful sight of Barty's bloodied up face. "Fine," he grumbled, and Regulus let go of Barty.
Barty scrambled forward, and reached for one of his sledgehammers. Evan batted his hand away. "No. That's too big for someone like you to use effectively."
Barty scoffed, "what do you mean by that?"
"You're short and scrawny. No." Evan grabbed the knife set, and tore it open with his teeth. Knives fell into the snow, and Evan picked up the smallest one. He handed it to Barty, and Barty's jaw went slack.
"Seriously? But-" Regulus hit the back of Barty's head, and Barty deflated. "Thanks," he said grudgingly, and forcefully took the knife from Evan. Pandora couldn't guarantee anything considering she was a bit far away from the three boys, but she thought she might've seen the corners of Evan's lips quirk up. Evan tossed the rest of Barty's things over to Pandora, and, before long, there was a pile of weapons inside of the tent.
***
Pandora sleepily leaned against Evan, the warmth of the fire making her tired. The forest was dark now, the only light coming from the fire in between the twins and Barty and Regulus. The looks were heated, but no one outright said anything horrible. Regulus just looked terribly tired of everything.
"So, where were you two when this all started?" Pandora asked, leaning into Evan. She tried to keep her eyes open and on the fire.
Barty gave Regulus a glance with narrowed eyes. Regulus looked away, quiet. "Well, I was at home," Barty said. "When it started. My mom was crying, I didn't know what was going on until I messaged Reg here, and he told me. The first thing I did was head to the hardware store and get all of that," Barty said, vaguely waving a hand towards Pandora and Evan's tent. "Then, when I was leaving, I was ambushed by those monsters. I got out using my sledgehammer. Which Evan over here apparently thinks I'm too scrawny for," Barty muttered. "Then, I went to Reg's house. A few hours later, we end up here. Any questions?"
Pandora and Evan were both quiet. Pandora continued to stare at the flickering fire, it contorted Barty's face.
"We were already outside the moment we saw what happened to Riddle," Pandora told him, her voice quiet with tiredness. "We had everything prepared. We've been expecting the apocalypse for years," she said, stretching her arms above her head as she yawned. "Unfortunately we couldn't exactly make our own bunker, so this had to do." Pandora gestured around the clearing.
The looks around the fire were less heated, now that they'd heard each other's stories. Everyone's except for Regulus. Pandora wondered what he'd been through already, for him to look so... Disheartened. Sure, they were on the brink of an apocalypse, or maybe it had already begun, but what could've possibly happened? Pandora belatedly realized when she looked to the growing pile of zombie bodies behind their tent. There was no saving someone, she reminded herself. Not once they were infected. There was nothing you could do, except protect yourself.
Pandora leaned away from Evan, which earned her one soft, questioning glance from him. Pandora waved him off.
Across the fire, she saw Barty looking at her curiously. He looked curious, sad, and bitter. Pandora had sympathy for him. He definitely wasn't normal, probably got the shit bullied out of him before everyone started turning into zombies. Pandora had a desire to know more about him. A very deep desire. She had a distant feeling that the two of them may be more similar than one may think.
Evan cleared his throat, and pushed himself up from the ground. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight," Evan said, and then turned to the tent. Pandora looked across the fire towards Barty.
"I believe I will as well," Regulus echoed, and stood from the fire. He followed Evan into the tent, leaving Barty and Pandora alone.
They both stared into the fire. Pandora experimentally held her hand over it, trying to push her hand as far as she could before it began to hurt.
"I do that too," Barty mumbled, reaching his own hand out towards the fire. "Reg hates it. Says I'll lose my hand 'cause of it some day."
Pandora smiled softly, though she could hear the hint of competitiveness in Barty's voice. They locked eyes across the fire, each of them trying to push further than the other. Pandora tried to focus on the sensation of her other hand, the one in the snow, so that the heat wouldn't overwhelm her. She saw Barty gritting his teeth on the other side. Pandora continued to grin, and then Barty pulled away, shoving his hand in the snow and relaxing. The silent competition had been won.
Neither of them said anything, because that would somehow ruin the moment. But Pandora heard Barty huff in annoyance at his loss.
"So. What's your life like?" Pandora asked, taking her own hand away from the fire. "If you wanna stay the night, you'd better help me get to know you."
Barty smiled, and then he fell back against the snow. "What's my life like?" He echoed. "Damn, where should I start?"
"Three adjectives."
Barty looked up from the ground. He gave Pandora a questioning look, and then let his head fall back on the snow again. "To describe my life? Or me?" Barty asked. Pandora stayed silent, and Barty laughed breathily from the other side of the fire. "Well, three adjectives to describe my life... Repetitive, weird, difficult. Y'know, you got all the average struggles. And to describe me? You'd have to ask Reg, honestly. But I suppose I'll give it a shot." Barty opened his mouth with a smile, like he was about to say something funny, but then he caught sight of Pandora again, and his smile fell.
Pandora gave him a gentle, encouraging smile. Barty drew in a shaky breath. He sat up again, his eyes trained on the fire.
"If we're being honest here, I don't think I've got one good thing to say about myself. I don't know why I'm saying that to you, it's batshit considering we just met, but whatever. I'll just blame it on the fact I'm tired," he said weakly. "I think I'm real annoying. Really. Regulus says it as a joke all the time, but, man, I think he means it." Barty was quiet for a long time as he stared into the fire. He swallowed harshly, his eyes dropping to the ground again. He couldn't seem to keep his eyes on one place for a very long time. "So, annoying, yeah, I guess that's one. Something else, I'd say... Stupid. Just genuinely stupid. People see me as a fucking idiot, and I am, I guess. I'm so sick of it. I don't know how to fix that, but-" Barty drew in a quick breath between his teeth, and then exhaled softly. "The last one, I guess, is rude. Even though I don't try to be, necessarily, I just am. Anyway, that's it. I'm annoying, stupid, and rude. What about you? I don't even know your name, for fuck's sake."
"It's Pandora," she said, quickly dismissing all of Barty's other words. She didn't know Barty well enough to decide whether or not that was the right thing to do, but she did it nonetheless. "Witty, crazy, bold. That's what I've heard about myself, and I think it describes me pretty good."
The two of them went right back to staring at the fire, something they both apparently did a lot. Pandora considered Barty's words, and evidently felt the smallest bit bad for him. This boy apparently had his own struggles.
"People have called me all of those things before," Pandora told Barty, her head tilting to the side, and her eyes falling on the trees. She rested her hands across her knees as she spoke. The fire between Pandora and Barty was dying, and the cold was setting in. "Crazy, mostly. People don't particularly like me. I can be impul-"
"-Impulsive." Barty finished. He recoiled when Pandora gave him a threatening look over the fire. She quickly settled it. Sure, she didn't like being interrupted, but it seemed Barty had good intentions.
Pandora drew in a heavy breath. "Yeah, impulsive."
"Me too," Barty murmured. "Obviously."
Pandora laughed at Barty's words, the sound echoing around the trees. Maybe an unwise thing in an apocalypse, but there wasn't much that could be done when talking to someone like Barty, was there?
Barty's breath was bated for a quick moment, before he forced out the words, "I'm genderfluid, by the way. Thought you should know."
"Oh," Pandora breathed, looking up at Barty. "That's cool. What're your pronouns?"
"He/she/they," she said, placing a hand in the snow and watching some of it melt around her hand. She focused on that more than Pandora, she noticed. "What about you?"
"My pronouns are she/her," Pandora told Barty, and Barty nodded once.
Barty pulled his hand away from the snow, and looked up at Pandora. "Could you tell Evan for me? No offence or whatever, but that guy scares the shit out of me."
Pandora laughed again, covering her mouth with a hand to muffle the noise. She tossed some snow into the fire, and it sizzled out. She stood, walking to the tent, and Barty followed quickly.
"Wait, no I'm serious- Wait, Pandora!"