Simulation Swarm
So, what the fuck was that? Natalie asked herself this question about six times since Lottie had excused herself. She heard that right, right? It was her name that Lottie had called? What was that dream about? She needed to know.
She wasn’t able to fall back asleep after that, she was curious as to where Lottie went and she was just feeling overall unsettled. Gen had fallen back to sleep, but Laura Lee was sat, praying in the corner of the room.
Natalie was glad that there was somebody praying for them.
She hoped she was praying for them, at least.
Natalie made her way out of the bedroom, taking a seat on the couch where Javi once slept. She wasn’t sure where the boy was now. Jackie had just woken up, and was going through what they had to eat. It wasn’t much.
Natalie waited, playing with her pants while the crowd in the living room gradually grew. Lottie was still nowhere to be seen. Jackie took her place back at the front of the room, smiling to the group once they had all arrived. Minus Matthews.
“Sooo, last night me and Shauna were talking, and we thought that if this is gonna be a real thing, then we should have jobs... Or roles, so to speak.” She began, winking at Shauna with a friendly smile.
They were dating, right? Natalie was about ninety percent sure.
“We discussed some potential ones, but we’re not sure who wants what.” Jackie continued, thinking for a moment before continuing. “We’ll need people to go on runs, like scavengers, people to do watches at night and keep our area safe, inventory people for... weapons, and such, medics, cooks or people to handle the food, et cetera.” Jackie counted on her fingers for each one listed.
“I’d be up for some inventory work.” Taissa raised her hand briefly. She was good at math and being organized, so the role made sense for her.
“Great, that’s—”
“Hey, I'll help with that too.” Van piped in, nodding her head at Jackie after interrupting her.
“Ooookay, anyone else?” Jackie sighed.
“I’d be up for cook. I’ve taken, like, a ton of cooking classes, and I ran bake sale last year. Akilah, you wanna join?” Mari hummed; Natalie rolled her eyes. Maybe she was trying to get hold of the food so she could poison her.
Akilah grinned at the offer, nodding urgently. “Yeah, sure thing.”
“Great, great. I’m loving the initiative guys! Who else?” Jackie beamed, looking proud.
“I’ve been in girl scouts twice, plus I’ve taken a ton of first aid classes. Not to mention lifeguarding courses, babysitting courses, home alone cou—”
“Yes, we fucking get it Misty, you’re a loser, what’s your point?” Natalie chimed in, grumbling.
“Oh—my bad... I just mean that I’m probably the best fit for any medical-related jobs.” Misty finished, raising her eyebrows.
“I know some things too; I’d love to pitch in there as well.” Laura Lee hummed from in the back, still sitting on the floor.
“Sounds good girls. What about you, Natalie? Travis?” Jackie cocked her hip, pursing her lips. “Why don’t you two scavenge? I know you’re good at stealing, Scatorccio.”
“Hey—fuck you, Jackie.” Natalie growled. Who did she think she was?
“Yeah, no, I’m not doing shit with the burnout, fuck that.” Travis said roughly.
“Hey—no, no I’m not going to take that. You’re going to scavenge together and you’re going to like it, okay?” Jackie retorted, ending the conversation by turning her head. “And Gen... Where the hell is gen?”
“Travis. I saw a shop a few days back, we should go.” It had been a few hours now since the team meeting. Ben was still unconscious, and Lottie had still been absent. Natalie had really started to worry now.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” He huffed turning around. Natalie never liked Travis. He had this annoying, man-ish personality to him that she hated. Class A misogynist.
“Yes, you are.” She shot back, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him back around. “Do you want to die out here just to protect your stupid fucking ego? Huh? I don’t think so. I don’t think you want your brother to either. Hm? So, get ready and meet me at the door in five.” She shoved him, sighing as she left him standing with an idiotic look on his face.
Natalie made her way out the front door after grabbing a kitchen knife from the cabinet. Shauna had refused to give up the hunting knife after Lottie handed it off to her. It was kind of creepy.
When she stepped out onto the grass, she took in her surroundings, looking around while breathing in deeply.
A familiar face caught her eye.
Lottie was standing in the middle of the road, holding some sort of... Bow and arrow? Where did she get that from? Why does she even have it? Natalie continued to stare.
She wouldn’t know it, but she was practically drooling. She watched the girl as she pulled back an arrow, aiming at a pillow with a target drawn into it. She’s been up to a lot in these hours. Lottie shot the arrow with unfortunately poor accuracy, clipping the top of the pillow. Natalie grinned in amusement as Lottie threw her hands up, walking back over and grabbing the arrow before taking her place again.
She seemed to have good form, she pulled back the arrow smoothly, like she’d done it before. Natalie kept a steady eye, not pulling her attention away for a moment. Lottie released the arrow, this time, piercing through the center of the blanket, just a centimeter away from the middle.
Natalie felt her heart skip. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to look away. Until...
“You going to keep staring, Scatorccio? Or are you gonna get back to your duties?” Lottie called over, staring up at the blonde while holding a hand above her eyes, blocking the shadows.
Natalie felt her cheeks warm up, a lump catching in her throat as she coughed awkwardly. “I—uh, wasn’t staring...! Just, seeing what you were doing.” Natalie called back, trying to salvage some of her dignity.
“Mmm, I’m sure you were.” Lottie responded with a smirk. Natalie giggled to herself like a child.
Wait, why the fuck was she so giddy right now? God, get a grip!
Travis crashed through the door, clearly in a mood. Natalie’s smile faded almost immediately. “Let’s go.” He grumbled, walking away. This is gonna be so fun! Natalie thought to herself sourly.
“Wait!” The voice called from back behind her, from Lottie. She was running towards them quickly. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I can come with, I mean, just in case. Safety in numbers, y’know.” Lottie’s voice was nervous. Natalie didn’t understand why.
“No, I think we’re alright Lottie. Thank you.” Natalie smiled a thin smile at her, nodding slowly.
“Are you sure...? What if something goes wrong? I mea—”
“Lottie. Stop it, we’re fine.” She answered a little more harshly this time.
“Really? You don—”
“Lottie! Quit it. God, you’re freaking me out. We’re fine.” She snapped, narrowing her eyes before turning back to Travis. “You ready?”
Natalie walked a foot or two behind the boy for the majority of the walk, they only met up when Travis gestured for her to drop down.
“Shh. Over there.” He whispered, pointing at the store. It was a convenience store that she had seen when Lottie was dragging her away from the airport. The only problem was that it was crawling with life... Death? Whatever.
“Should we bail?” Natalie asked in a hushed voice, keeping herself alert in case of any stragglers.
“No, no way. We have to bring something back.” He responded. He was feeling confident, apparently. She should just let him get eaten. The others wouldn’t know anything different. “C’mon, stay quiet.”
Travis grabbed her wrist, crouching down as he pulled her. No weird electricity this time. She’d been meaning to see if that was just a thing that happens when people grab her wrist. Apparently not.
Natalie let him guide her, following his movement while keeping her steps light and precise.
Quietly, they made their way up to the door. Natalie was bewildered that they were able to make it up without any notice. Travis opened the door hesitantly, sneaking in and getting a look before standing up, nodding to Natalie.
She made her way inside, sliding in through the door and closing it silently behind her. “Did Jackie mention anything we need to get specifically?” Natalie asked, perusing the picked over aisles.
“Nope. She just said anything we can.” He replied with a huff as he disappeared into the rows without another word. Natalie rolled her eyes. Great talk. She thought, grumbling.
Natalie wandered around, picking up any snacks and fun items she could find for the group. A colorful shelf caught her eye. It had to be fate.
The shelf was filled with assorted bows of all different colors and types. It reminded her of the brunette too much for her to ignore this time. Why can’t I stop thinking about her? Lottie’s face crowded her mind as she stared at the bows. Fuck.
Natalie immediately made her way towards the shelf, grabbing a few different ones and shoving them in her pocket as if she was making a sketchy deal with someone. She needed to do this quick, she couldn’t even begin to explain herself to Travis.
Why was she doing this again?
Once she’d grabbed enough to fill her pockets, she continued to the next aisle, hoping to pretend like that didn’t happen. Until she got back, that is. She was sure Lottie would appreciate it. She was really weird earlier, and Natalie felt bad for yelling at her. She was just worried.
That’s all.
Natalie finished up on her side, reuniting with Travis back at the front. She had a nice haul, seeing what was left in the place. A pack of granola bars, some soap, toothbrushes, the last bag of m&m’s.
And the bows. Can’t forget the bows, stuffed in her pockets. It was probably obvious she had something in there. If that was true, Travis kept his silence.
They packed up their things in Travis’ bag, getting ready to leave. Natalie took the knife back into her hand, pushing against the door and peeking out. She nodded to Travis, mouthing a small “let’s go” before pushing on.
They began running off, attempting to step quietly. Travis, and his clunky feet, managed to make some kind of stomping noise, gaining the attention of a few straggler zombies.
“God—go!” She yelled, running off without checking behind her. Natalie wasn’t exactly sure where she was going exactly, she just knew they had to run. She ran for a while, the only confirmation that Travis was with her was the heavy breathing from behind her.
Man, he must be out of shape, he was loud. Natalie spotted something as the trees began to clear. “Oh, shit man! Look!” She grinned, pointing excitedly ahead of them.
“A hunting...store?” He raised an eyebrow. Natalie could see the smile forming on the corners of his mouth.
“Yeah! Knives, guns—wait do they have guns in Canada?” Natalie thought for a moment before shrugging. “Whatever, I’m sure there’ll be something good there.
She beckoned him to follow, the path around them was clear, they seemed safe, it was all quiet.
For now, at least.
They jogged over to the building, cracking open the door to get a look of the place. It was completely ransacked, emptied out besides a few non-necessities. Natalie nodded, telling him it was safe before pressing forwards.
They walked around in a duo this time, back and forth through each shelf trying to find something good. It was crazy how empty the place was.
“Hey, what’s this?” Travis hummed. Natalie heard a jingling sound and some scraping. A ring of keys was hidden at the back of a shelf. “From the owners maybe?” He asked, looking around.
“Maybe. I would guess so. What about that room there?” She pointed to a room marked “employees only” behind a glass counter. Travis made his way over, doing a jump-slide over the counter.
“Ya know, you could’ve just walked around?” Natalie said with a twinge of playful sarcasm, demonstrating her words by walking carefully towards the door. She watched with a smirk as Travis fiddled with each of the keys, trying to find the one that would open the door.
It took him a while, but he got it eventually. They entered a small, square, stone room with a desk and some decorations in it. It looked completely abandoned. “Hey, look!” Natalie smiled as she spotted a large, green backpack on the floor. It looked stuffed.
She grabbed the bag off the floor, it was heavy. Just as she was about to open it, a loud crash sounded from the front room. Natalie ran to the door, assessing the situation.
“Ohhh shit... Travis we gotta go. Now! There’s a ton of them!” She snapped, running back to the bag and looking around the room. “There—through that window!” Natalie ordered, breaking towards the window and fiddling with the lock as she heard fast footsteps approaching.
“Hurry the fuck up, Natalie!” He yelled, nervously hovering beside her. She got the door open quickly after that, jumping out the window and landing with a grunt.
She ran as fast, and as hard, as she possibly could in the general direction of where she believed the house was.
When they arrived back, Natalie was sweating and panting, her heart racing. Lottie and Jackie were the first to greet them.
Natalie offered Jackie the bag, dropping it on the table with a loud thud. She opened it to reveal a shit ton of gear. Pistols—surprisingly, ammo packs, mace, bait, hunting knives, gloves, a headlamp, and all sorts of other things.
Lottie was oddly happy that Natalie had returned. She hovered intensely, making Natalie nervous.
“Oh, Lottie, I... I got you something.” She whispered, frowning in slight embarrassment. Natalie reached into her pocket, pulling out a handful of bows. “I, uh, I don’t know if you like these ones, but I found them in one of the stores and I just thought...” She trailed off, suddenly red in the face.
“Oh, Natalie. Thank you so much!” Lottie smiled brightly, reaching out and taking them from Natalie’s hand. “That’s really thoughtful... I thought you were really angry with me... Thank you.”
“Of course, Lot.”