In the Darkest Days

[Sequoia]

She sniffed and wiped her eyes.


"I know we can't..I just wish I knew if my baby made it. If I knew he was alive...I'd be okay." she shrugged slightly.


Her borw furrowed. "Camps, what camps?" she had no idea what he was talking about.

 

[Kazanna]

Derrick shook his head, "I'm not sure what they do at them, just that they relocate the Americans to the other side of the planet, they send a whole mess of Africans and Chinese over here on a daily basis, or at least they used to. They use the adults for breeding, but I've never really seen any kids." He motioned to the house, "We should get inside before our smell builds up in one spot." He let her go bodily, but held onto her hand, guiding her towards the front door. He pulled out the ring of keys, and pushed the familiar key into the slot, opening the door. "Make yourself at home."

 

[Sequoia]

Ally bit her lip, her worry for AJ increasing. She sighed and followed him, letting him push her into the cabin. She sat on the couch and unlaced her boots, sighing as her body unwound.


"Anything to eat?" She asked him.


She looked around, looking at the layer of dust.

 

[Kazanna]

With a shake of his head, Derrick shrugged slightly, "What I've got in my pack, some of the old reserves and preserves in the lower shelves of the basement. Dad kept the place stocked, but he only kept canned foods really to prevent anything going off. That and a lot of alcohol and water." He made his way to one of the cabinets, and snorted, "Ah, Well, theres three year old boxes of cereal in here. Unopened, and a couple boxes of crackers as well."

 

[Sequoia]

Ally smiled a sudden thought blooming in her head. "Lets just have some crackers and wine?" She asked, sitting up and looking at him, eyes bright.


The idea was risky, but they were realtively safe now, it wouldnt hurt to try...

 

[Kazanna]

With a shrug Derrick muttered, "If we can find any wine, sure. Though I know there's a cellar down there for it..." He pulled the keys out again, and unlocked the basement door, he'd stepped over to it as he sorted through the keys.


Derrick took a moment to test the lights, they were all unpowered. "The grid must be turned off, Breakers in the basement..." He sighed and began to feel his way down the stairs.

 

[Sequoia]

"I have a hand flash light, let me come with you." Ally bounced off the couch, curls flying and pulled the crank flash-light out of her pack. She made her way to the stairs, cranking the light and turned it on, shining it down into the cellar.


"We should eat upstairs...in the bedroom." She dropped a hint.

 

[Kazanna]

Pausing, Derrick turned to her, a brow raised, he muttered, "You know, normally it's the guy that comes on strong Ally." He chuckled lightly and strode down the stairs, he pulled open the breaker box, and threw the switch that controlled the power to the rest of the house. He heard why the power had been shut off immediately. The alarm system in the house was going berserk. He groaned and stepped over the master control panel, and hit the reset button. "Christ dad... way to go... You lazy bum.." His father had never liked the alarm system, so when it went off the last time, his father must have shut it off by just killing the power.


Derrick took a moment to close the power box, and lock it, along with the security system as it rebooted. Within a few moments, the lights in the basement flickered on as the house went through its rounds with the power system. He pulled open the wine cabinet, and whistled, "He restocked it... Cool..." Derrick murmured as he gazed at the various vintages. His father had stained the wood, from a light pink, to a deep burgundy, and everything in between. As you went along the color chart, the darker it got, the drunker you got with less wine. He pulled a bottle from the farthest corner of the darkest section, "Whole lot of bad I want to forget... Whole lot of good I want to remember... This ought to do it..." He muttered, spinning the old bottle in his hands.

 

[Sequoia]

Ally simply grinned. "Am I ever what you expect of a girl, Derrick?" She teased.


Once the alarm went off, Ally cringed, her hearing a bit too sensitive after days of near silence. The lights flickered to life and Ally shut of her light, following Derrick to the cabinet. She peeked over his shoulder as he picked one and grinned.


"A 1973. Nice choice babe." She said.


She picked the bottle from his grip and and made her way upstairs, making sure to put an extra sway in her hips.


"Coming?" she called, her voice huskier than it had been a minute ago.

 

[Kazanna]

Derrick wasn't slow with this kind of thing, but he was also cautious. So as he made his way up the stairs again, he glanced to Ally but for a moment as he shut off the lights throughout the house, making sure the alarms were set to silent, and designated to alert the master bedroom only with a light tone. He let out a breath, finally feeling slightly secure in the fortress his father had left him. He returned his thoughts to Ally, and laughed lightly, "Yeah... Not really Ally... Never were.." He followed after her and raised a brow at her, "Since when do you know anything about wine?"

 

[Sequoia]

She turned to look at him over her shoulder. "I payed attention when our dads talked about wine, pretty boy. Unlike you." She grins. She snags the crackers from the kitchen and runs up the stairs to the bedrooms, shedding her jacket and tank top along the way.


Upon reaching the bed, she jumps on it, bouncing for a minute before settling. She sits, only in a bra and jeans, her 6-pack showing nicely as she reclines.


"Come on big boy, I'm hungry!" she whines, looking up from underneath her lashes.

 

[Kazanna]

It was like coming out of a nightmare and into a good dream, everything seemed right for once. He was with someone he cared about, in a place he'd always felt safe. He followed Ally up the stairs and into the bedroom, leaning against the doorframe he stared at her for a long moment, muttering, "If this isn't picturesque, I dunno what is... Give me a moment... I want to remember this." He stared at her, a big stupid grin on his face.

 

[Sequoia]

Ally had never felt more safe and loved than she did in this moment.


"I picturesque, huh? I'm not done undressing yet." She looks at him and grins. "I have a lot of other things you're gonna wanna remember Babe." She says, flipping her hair and leaning back farther on the bed, opening the wine bottle and taking a quick swig. She hadn't bothered to bring glasses.

 

[Kazanna]

Derrick shook his head, laughing lightly, "You know, for a girl who's surviving an apocalypse, your doing pretty well." He sighed and strode over to the bed quietly, regarding her carefully. Everything felt too right, like he was being lured into complacency. Dropping onto the bed next to her, he muttered, "Reminds me of summer, when we were both sixteen... we did this same thing... but we got caught... Remember?" he asked her quietly, taking the bottle, he sniffed it and blanched, he'd never cared much for wine, and this stuff was almost vinegar at this point.

 

[Sequoia]

Ally grinned, "yeah, I always have something to fight for. First AJ, now you." She quickly turned and settled her self in his lap, straddling him. "I can honestly say I don't remember us ever getting this far. I do remember you backing out if the dare I had given you;run naked through the woods."


She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her half-dressed body up against his. She laughed at the face he made at the wine. "Liquid courage, Pansy." She teased.


 
~FADE TO BLACK~

 

[Kazanna]

The next time Derrick woke, it was dark out, the house was quiet, and Alice lay beside him. He was quiet as he stood up from the bed and mostly re-clothed. He glanced to her, and smiled lightly, then stepped over to the large window that overlooked the front yard of his parent's cabin. Everything outside was quiet, the night time was the most dangerous time in the world as it was, demons didn't fear the sun so much as despise it, it weakened them, made them vulnerable to attack. He'd learned how vulnerable when he'd killed one easily in broad daylight, one he'd been unable to scrape in the night. Now though, the darkness outside left him paranoid. So as he stood at the window, invisible specters rose up to frighten him. With a shudder, he turned away, and moved back to the bed, sitting down on it he would wait for Ally to wake before doing much else.

 

[Sequoia]

Ally stirred when she felt the bed move and dip beside her. Slowlly her eyes opened, looking at him with one eye. She groaned.


"I don't like waking up in the middle of the night She said, sitting up. She had slipped on Derrick's white undershirt in the night and now wore only that.


She turned to Derrick and smiled sleepily. "Why are you up?" She chirped, trying to wrangle her wild hair into a ponytail.


She stood up, the shirt going till mid-thigh and stretched. That was the best sleep,longer than 3 hours, she had had in a long time.

 

[Kazanna]

Derrick shrugged lightly, "I haven't slept more then a few hours since this all began Ally. Military beat needing sleep right out of me, and I've been comfortable with that since." He stood up and nodded at her, "You hungry? It's about time we took stock of the food situation in the house." He said flatly. He did however had a curious amused look on his face, like he was ready to play some big joke on her.

 

[Sequoia]

She nodded in understanding and and rubbed her face.


She turned to him, her cinnamon eyes narrowed. "I am hungary...What are you planning?" she said suspiciously. "I've seen that face before and nothing good ever comes from it..."


She pointed to her pack after staring at him carefully. "I have some canned good in there..."

 

[Kazanna]

Derrick raised a brow at her grinning lightly, "Your a land locked country in Europe? What an interesting turn of events!" He said sarcastically, but with a great deal of humor. He motioned to the doorway, nodding, "We'll take stock of what's in the basement first, go from there. Anything that won't last long, we'll set into preserves, like my old man used to show us when we were kids. Lots of salt and sugar." He chuckled, snorting lightly.

 

[Sequoia]

She snorted, realizing her verbal faux pass. She bent to look around for her pants, "Just let me find my clothes and we'll go. She mumbled. She stood up triumphantly a few minutes later and hopped into her jeans. She didn't bother with her shirt, Derrick's was quite comfortable.


She grinned. "I also have my ipod. We are going to listen to music while we work!"


She grabbed her pack and reached up for a kiss.

 

[Kazanna]

After returning the tenderness, Derrick paused, and her words triggered a memory. He shook his head, "No music Ally. They hear... a lot better then we thought initially... Especially electronic signal..." He said quietly, a look of concern on his face.


After an uncomfortable moment, he made his way out the door, saying quietly, "They homed in on our broadcast receivers, televisions, radios, anything that put out a signal, like moths to a flame, only these moths were horrific monsters. Even this far out, they somehow pick it up. I've been trying to figure out a way to block it, so they can't hear it, but something about the way we transmit signals..." He shook his head, "It's weird... Like they smell it or something."

 

[Sequoia]

She frowned before her eyes widened. "So that's how they found me and Kat..." She mumbled, face twisting in pain at the memory.


She sighed heavily and followed him nodding.


"Kat was with me when I was going to visit AJ once...we were listening on my radio to see if we could find other survivors...I couldn't save her fast enough..." she trailed off.

 

[Kazanna]

With a nod, Derrick's face fell, "We found out down south... a military outpost had been using radios for a week. The bastards came in and hit us during the night... It was... probably a month after we got separated... They burned the outpost to the ground in seconds, it was like they knew where everything was... One of the nerds I was travelling with, he figures it's some sort of echo-location, like... they hear the spaces between the sounds or something..." he muttered, shaking his head, "I don't know... All I knew was to run when they hit the ammunition cache... I barely got out alive..." He looked pale as he spoke, like he was recalling a very, very bad memory.

 

[Sequoia]

Ally turned and looked at him. Coming closer, she rose on her tiptoes to hug him tightly. "Don't you dare blame yourself. No-one could've known." She squuezed tighter and kissed his cheek. "What matters is that know you do know and you told me. One more thing to help us against them." She smiled and stepped back. She took her ipod out of her pack and smiled sadly before smashing it against the counter. It broke at the first impact.