World gone mad (with Primal Things)

One absurd possibility struck Jared, and he sat up a little straighter, the blanket around him and his sisters slipping as he looked towards Ilya and Alina. "Toys R Us...I mean, why would an adult be there now? If we could break in or something...I know it's sort of outside town, but they would have some food...snacks and stuff anyway. Or we could just try for another school...hide up in the ceiling vents if we have to, like Peter was talking about. But we have to try something."


His eyes shifted over to Leigh, whose hair was plastered against her head, her teeth chattering, then over to Alina, who appeared in an even more miserable state, barely able to talk coherently. He had to listen carefully to completely understand her words, and renewed worry for her tugged at his heart. How would they get more inhalers for her? Would they be able to go to the pediatrician's office again without getting caught?


It wouldn't hurt to get vitamins either, if possible; definitely they weren't eating the sort of foods they should be. Right now, they couldn't eat anything at all, with all the rain damaging most of it.


Jared felt water dripping down his face and collar as he concluded finally, "We'll give until the sun is just starting to set...then leave everything, except the weapons and the things we can salvage."


"W-what if there isn't anywhere to g-go?" Leigh asked, her voice quavering through her chattering teeth, and Jared tried rub her arm through the blanket, tightening his other arm around Angelina in his lap.


"There will be. We'll find somewhere."
 
Ilya tightens his arm around Ali when her body manages to force out another shiver. Jared says something about Toys R Us, and waiting until sunset, both of which seem to fit with at least part of what Ali had been concerned with. Anyway, maybe a toy store like that would be good for the girls in general, at least then they would have something to occupy themselves with.


"A Toys R Us would work," He says, deciding that it's the best and safest option any of them can probably think of. He worries briefly if they'll even have the energy to make it there, but it's not like they have any choice. They can't stay here. Plus, since all of their other things have been essentially destroyed, there won't be the extra weight of their supplies slowing them down.


If they can just survive the mud.


"It might even be fun," Alina adds in. "So long as nobody judges me for sleeping under a bunch of stuffed animals in the giant Barbie house."


It sounds so ridiculous just then, amidst all of the stress of the last few days, the lack of food and proper hygiene, being cold and wet and scared, that Ilya can't help but let a small bark of laughter escape him. He knows, on some level, that it really isn't funny, or at least that it wasn't intended to be. But there's something about the image he conjures up of his sister curled up beneath a mountain of teddy bears, sequestered away in some huge Barbie castle that, at that moment, he's able to find at least a little humor in the situation. He stops when he notices Alina watching him, her face a strange mixture of confusion, embarrassment, and worry, and rubs her back briefly.


As the day went on, it becomes more and more obvious to Ilya just how anxious his sister is to leave. While he knows that it has a great deal to do with her wanting to be comfortable, he also wonders to himself if it might have something to do with the fact that this is where she had killed Peter. She still won't talk about it, even when Leigh and Angie are asleep, and while, on some level, he thinks that might be best for now, he still worries that maybe her holding it in the way she is could be dangerous.


Once the sun begins to set, though, he cannot get up and out of the campsite fast enough. With water rolling down his back from the rain, and his hair sticking messily to his head, he spares a glance around at the others and notes that they all look about as pitiful as he feels. The ground beneath his shoes squishes uncomfortably as they walk, their footsteps seem noisy to him, even though he knows that it probably can't even be heard over the rain.


The silence in the group doesn't register until he manages to extract himself from his own thoughts and look around at everyone else, all just as exhausted as he is, the strange, blank focus on their faces even a little haunting.


He hopes the store is safe enough for all of them, and he hopes they find it soon.
 
Jared manages a nod and a weak smile towards Alina as she talks about sleeping with stuffed animals in a Barbie house, the mental image a very cute one to consider. One problem he had not thought about, with his Toys R Us suggestion, was the problem of fresh clothing for them all. With Angelina it would be no problem; certainly she could find something in the children's clothing section, and it was possible that Leigh could too. He was pretty sure she could still fit in larger children's sizes- her choice to wear things from the junior's department was because she wanted to more than because she absolutely couldn't wear children's clothing any longer. But he and Ilya and Alina would be stuck in their same muddied, sopping wet clothes, so how would that work out?


It was possible they would have blankets there, he guessed, even likely, in the baby's department. Maybe they could wash their clothes the best they could in the sink and hang them up to dry, and walk around in blankets until they were.


He was so cold and uncomfortable then that even the thought of Alina walking around in nothing but a blanket failed to elicit much of a response from himself. Instead he tried to remain somewhat upbeat, reminding them that they would have plenty of stuffed animals to choose from to replace the old ruined ones, and then tried to get them to go to sleep. They would need what rest they could get before night came. This was nearly impossible, between the cold and the wetness continually pounding down on them, and Jared himself didn't try.


It seems to take hours before the sun is finally beginning to go down, and Jared stands as soon as he begins to notice it, his legs stiff and somewhat painful as he stands. He shakes Leigh gently, who comes awake without protest, not having been sleeping very deeply, and helps her and Angelina up, looking over to Alina again to make sure she's okay.


"Can you walk?" he whispers to Angelina, and when she just barely inclines her head, he takes her hand, hoping that this will last. If he had to carry her all the way, he wasn't sure how long he would be able to make it.


It hits him too, when they are just emerging from the woods and out into the open, how quiet they all are. It's necessary, of course, if they don't want to draw attention to themselves, but it's so uncharacteristic for Leigh to be quiet that it's almost worrying. He looks over to her, seeing how flat and strained her expression is, how she doesn't even try to keep her hair back from her face anymore, and his worry increases. She's not going to end up like Angie, is she?


Reaching over to her, he takes her hand and squeezes it hard, feeling some small measure of relief when she turns to look at him, then lightly squeezes back.
 
As much as she had told herself that she was going to be rational about this, the closer the group moves toward the town, the harder Alina's heart pounds against her sternum. She worries, vaguely, if the others can hear it, almost sure that they could, really. It's hard to walk like this. Her body is sore and uncomfortable, clothes sticking to her body and limiting her movement almost as much as her lungs are.


Why hasn't this stupid rain stopped? She'll suffocate before the adults even know they're in town. Swallowing thickly, Alina struggles to keep her pace even with Jared and Ilya. Every once in a while, she falls back from the group, only to speed herself up and step on them, the toes of her shoes clipping their heels. Unsure if it's the sudden contact, or instant remorse, she flinches every time and manages a small apology.


"Do you need me to carry you?" Ilya asks just before they step into the town. For a moment, she really considers it, but then just shakes her head. Neither one of them would be thrilled to do it, and ultimately it seems easier for her to just finish it on her own. When the store approaches, Alina's heartbeat races for a different reason. It's safety and shelter and warmth... she could cry just being that close to it, but the doors are locked. Ilya lets out a frustrated groan and rests his head against the door.


"What about bathroom windows?" She suggests, refusing to let herself give up now, just because she wants to. "Or just another window in general, I mean? One of you can give me a boost and I can let the rest of you in."


The look on Ilya's face shows how nervous he is about agreeing with it. After all, Peter had been in the high school he and Jared had gotten supplies with, which had been the reason Alina volunteered to do it instead of leaving the suggestion opened for the smaller girls. If someone sees her, she has a little more of a chance of fighting them off than Angelina or Leigh ever could, and there's no way the group could lift Ilya or Jared... at least not without a significant amount of trouble, and maybe even noise. Ali is small enough to be lifted up, at least high enough to slide into the window without any serious struggle, and she glances around quickly, suddenly aware of how exposed they are.


"Maybe." Ilya says finally, "I don't know."


Ali brushes her hair out of her face. She has to look like a drowned rat at this point, and reminds herself not to look in the mirror if she can help it. "It's not like we can break the door. That kind of noise will draw people in and it'll leave the building wide open. Look, I'll take a knife with me, okay? But I'm not going to just stand out here and wait for us to get caught when we are literally one layer of glass away from getting at least a little dry."
 
By the time they've reached the outskirts of the town, Angelina is dragging considerably, her steps so slow that Jared occasionally has to stop and wait for her. She stumbles often, her feet dragging as though she is shuffling, and in the end he does have to carry her piggyback style. The added weight, slight as it is, is very unhelpful, and Jared feels as though each step he takes is harder and harder to accomplish. Lifting his feet and setting it down again seems an effort that is almost beyond his ability to do, but he struggles forward, focusing his eyes straight ahead.


Alina is frequently stepping on his heels, and after the first few times he just ignores it, not bothering to tell her when she apologizes that it's okay. Talking would use up an energy he no longer has, so instead he trudges on in silence, understanding now why Leigh seems to have no words.


There is no joy at seeing the store finally within sight, just a heavy relief that is quickly slashed when they discover the doors to be locked. Of course they would be- why wouldn't they be? Still, it is disappointing, and as Jared shrugs Angelina off his back, making her stand again, and leans against the wall, he cannot think of what to do. His mind seems fully empty.


When Alina suggests going through a window, he looks over at her, the water still dripping down his face and half blurring his vision as he thinks this through. It seems dangerous, yet what else can they do?


"I'll do it," Leigh finally says, not aware that they were concerned not with the climb or the boost or even breaking the window, but with the possibility of others lurking inside. "Let's just hurry, I wanna get inside."


"I think...Alina can do it," he said after several seconds' thought, coming to this conclusion. "Come on...and yeah, take a knife."


Rounding the corner, Jared came up on the lowest to the ground window he could find and cupped his hands, preparing for her to step in them.
 
Alina takes a knife from Ilya's hand and draws in a deep breath, following Jared around the building. When he stoops down to let her step into his hand, she worries at her lip. "I'll meet you all around the front to let you in, okay?"


Offering up a small smile that probably doesn't reach her eyes, she steps into his hand and gropes for the window once he gives her a boost. Her hands on it, she pushes it open and gropes to the other side, trying to go as fast as she can. Once her arms are through, she curses softly as the blade slips from her hand and clatters onto the floor, wincing and straining her ears for movement. She hears none, thankfully, and starts to lift herself into the window, grunting with effort.


After some awkward and painful maneuvering, Alina manages to reverse her position, slipping her legs into the window. Everything about this is uncomfortable; her arms shake hard, not having been used this way, well, ever, and she knows they're going to ache horribly later. The sill presses hard on her diaphragm and she lets out a wheeze, almost afraid to lower herself, unsure of how far off of the floor she is and half terrified that someone will grab her legs and yank her down to shove the knife she so stupidly dropped into her back. Finally, she lets herself drop and actually slips on the knife when she lands. Her shoes slick with mud, she can't find enough purchase to keep her balance and hits the floor hard, pain lancing up her tailbone.


The grunt that escapes her is scary to Alina, and she quickly reassures Jared, if he's still under the window, that she's okay as quietly as she can, while still managing to keep quiet. At least she didn't stab herself with her own knife. Climbing to her feet, breath coming out fast and high pitched with nerves, she quickly looks around the immediate area to make sure there isn't anyone and walks to the front.


Seeing that Ilya and the others are safe and waiting for her is another precious relief that she holds as tightly as she can and, as quickly as she can through the shivers and anxious tremors she'd adopted since they left the campsite, unlocks the door and pulls it open to herd them in.


"I haven't done a good look around, obviously, but..." She wants to say that she's too afraid to look by herself anyway, but it's suddenly embarrassing to think about. Instead, Alina just offers them a shrug, "I kind of want to find something to wear first, anyway."
 
The younger girls are trying to crowd around Jared, looking up at Alina's dangling legs anxiously as she struggles to pull herself up, and Jared has to tell them to back off, to give both of them space. His own heart is beating faster than usual as he watches her, and when he hears the noise of her fall and her noise indicating pain, he gasps himself, immediately scaring himself with the grim possibilities running through his head. Had she broken a leg or arm? What would they do if that were the case? Was someone in there with her?


"Ali-" he started, as Leigh too gasped, eyes wide, grabbing hold of Angelina's arm with both her hands.


Her reassurance only partly settles him again, and as he hurries with the others around the side of the building back to the front doors, he is still nearly holding his breath, dreading that she might not come at all. What if someone is in there with her? But no, Alina lets them in safely, and the moment they are all inside out of the rain, Jared finally lets out a long breath he had been unaware of keeping back.


"It's creepy in here...turn on the lights," Leigh commented nervously, her eyes darting around them, and Angelina seems to think the same as she stays close to Leigh, clinging to her arm. Jared can hear them all dripping onto the tile floor as he shakes his head at them.


"No, bad idea. We don't want them to see the lights and know we're here...there's probably flashlights and nightlights somewhere though. Ilya, will you go lock the door? Leigh, we can go to get you and Angie clothes...and as for us...maybe the employee area will have some t-shirts, at least? Work shirts?"
 
Alina would be lying if she didn't admit to almost going off to find a switch to turn the lights on at Leigh's request. It really is creepy, all of those toys and games just lying around in the dark of the store, no good light coming in from the windows because of the rain. Her arms wrap themselves around her chest, clothes freezing and soaked around her body. The lack of breeze and the absence of rain on her body, though some relief, only serves as more of a reminder of how cold she really is.


Ilya sets off to lock the doors, she hears the bolt closing from behind her and Alina, somehow having gained a little confidence from being able to safely get everyone into the building herself, at finding a way to do SOMETHING to help the group as a whole, decides that she may as well continue to volunteer herself for things. "I can probably find clothes... I'd imagine they'd have them here, right? Doesn't Toys R Us have issued shirts for the staff? I bet they'd be in the stock room or something."


"I'd feel better if we broke into pairs," Ilya says, coming up behind her. "Just in case there is someone here, you know?"


As far as she's concerned, she doesn't care who gets teamed up with who or whether or not she goes alone. She just wants something dry on her, something to take at least a little of the chill in her bones out to help regulate her breathing just a little bit. It's here that she feels like she's almost regressing. She lets out a small moan, her head falling back slightly, "Il, I just want something dry. I will hug every wall in the building and keep my blade at the ready if I can just get out of these clothes."
 
"We can't turn on the lights? What if someone's hiding in here?" Leigh asks with audible nerves, moving closer to Ilya and dragging Angelina with her by extension as she again swivels her head back and forth, looking all around herself the best she can in the dark. Now that they are out of the rain, with relative silence from the absence of wind and pounding water all around them, Jared can even more clearly hear her teeth chattering, and his own and Angelina's too.


"They aren't," he told her, though he himself had some doubts at this declaration and quickly looked around himself too, as though to make sure. "Leigh, go find the kids' clothes and pick something warm for you and Angie, maybe pajamas, definitely socks-"


"But what if they are? What if they are and they hear us and see us and we can't see or hear them?" Leigh insists, anxiety pinching her features as she grabs hold of Ilya's arm, pressing into its side. When Jared looks at her and realizes that her shirt is very clingy in its dampness, although there isn't much in the way to be clinging to, he wants to pull her away, but realizes that he just can't seem to work up the energy to start anything.


"You're scaring Angie, Leigh," he said wearily, and this was true; Angelina was looking around too now with saucer-large eyes, and he tried to smile at her as he reassured her, "There's no one here. Now look, you and Leigh can go get some nice warm clothes and change in the bathroom, Ali can go with you too. Ilya and I will go find us and Ali some clothes, and then we can get blankets and sleeping bags and snacks and whatever else and set up somewhere to sleep...we can set up nightlights or lamps, or...or whatever...come on, it will be good. Really good, after what we're used to. And Angie, you can pick out a doll or stuffed animal to sleep with."


Looking over to Alina, he asks her, "Is that okay with you? Going with them?"
 
"Yeah, it's fine." Alina says and steps over to the girls, taking Leigh's hand gently, knife still clutched tightly in her other hand. "Angie, I want you to keep a hold of Leigh's hand, okay?" She spares a brief glance toward the boys before herding the girls toward the clothing section of the store, eyes constantly moving around to ensure that nobody else is in the store.


If she had been paired up with Jared or Ilya, she probably would have admitted that Leigh was voicing her own concerns as well. Alina doesn't want to be in this store in the dark, constantly worrying about whether or not someone is going to jump out and attack them. Of course, she can't say that to the girls. She has to at least pretend that she's not afraid of whatever might be in the dark. The fact that she is cold is nothing short of a blessing, for it makes it much easier for her to convince herself that her body is shaking the way that it is as a reaction from that, rather than from fear or nerves.


"The boys will make sure it's safe," She assures them, her teeth chattering loudly, and offers Leigh's hand a small squeeze in an attempt to add confidence to her words. "I don't think there's anyone in here though. It would look a lot messier if there was, I think."


Still, she keeps a tight grip on her knife just in case, and lets go of Leigh's hand once they're in the clothing department, "Okay. Let's find something comfortable for you guys to change into, yeah?"


--------


Ilya remains in his spot listening carefully to their footsteps. The squeak of Alina's shoes on the floor is a comfort, knowing that he would hear her if she sped up in her pace to evade some sort of danger. When he's sure that they'll be okay, he becomes only more aware of how cold and miserable he himself feels.


Sparing a glance over at Jared, he gives him a brief nod and cards his fingers through his hair as he starts to walk toward the back of the building. He didn't realize how much of a relief it would be to have an actual roof over his head until just now. Of course, he'd missed the creature comforts of a home while they'd been in the woods, but it had been something he'd needed to adapt to almost immediately in order to survive. Now that there is a structure blocking out the wind and rain, a place with some heat trapped in... it's like he's died and gone to heaven.


"Stock room, you think? Or the manager's office?"
 
Leigh does as Alina asks, gripping Angelina's hand tightly enough that if everything were normal and Angelina could still be depended on to regularly talk, she would have certainly complained and tried to pull away. But Angelina accepted her hold of her, slipping her other hand into her mouth as her eyes watched all around herself, leery of the shadows that flickered in the corners and more hidden parts of the shelves. As they began to walk towards the clothing, which was conveniently located near the bathrooms, Angelina spoke from around her thumb, her voice soft.


"Are there monsters if we don't have a real bed or closet?"


"Yes," Leigh said immediately, and when Angelina's fingers tightened around hers, she clarified, "The grown up are monsters now, Angie. But...but they said there aren't any here....probably..."


In the children's clothing Leigh quickly selects a long-sleeved t-shirt, jacket, pants, underwear, and socks for Angelina, then grabs long-sleeved pajamas too in size 5/6. For herself, a size 12 in the same items was the closest she could get. She knew the pants would be too short, but a larger size would be too baggy, and she found herself thinking with some faint embarrassment about the awkwardness of her current lack of proportion to her height and her figure as she selected the least childish looking items she could find.


As they took all of this into the bathroom, Leigh started to tear off long strips of paper towels, drying her face, hair, and arms the best she could as Angelina less ably wiped at herself too. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, Leigh made a face, cringing.


"I look so ugly...do you think they have makeup in here even though it's a toy store? At least lip gloss maybe."


**


"Check both, I guess," Jared said to Ilya as they walked, his shoes squishing and squeaking with every step, leaving a trail of water behind him. "There has to be something...maybe a vending machine back there too. Or a fridge with leftover food...something better than candy, you know?"


He pushes open the stockroom first and shivers immediately; it is much colder back there, with its concrete floors, than in the store itself. He doesn't see any clothing when he walks around, and so finds the manager's office next. It is locked, but several minutes later he is able to locate a fire extinguisher to use to break the glass of its window, and straining, he is able to reach in to unlock it, though he cuts his arm doing so. Extracting his arm and pressing his hand against the wound, which doesn't look as bad as he had at first feared, he opens the door and goes to the closet, hoping to find first aid as well as some t-shirts.


"Score," he said as both are found within the first minute of searching. "What size are you?"


(hm, would they have computer access where they could research what's going on and possibly try to find a cause here?)
 
Alina glances over at Angelina at her question about monsters and waits for Leigh to reply. Her answer probably isn't quite what Angie wants to hear, regardless of how true it is and she shakes her head. "Besides, there can't be actual monsters in a place like this. Not with how big the toys are... would probably scare them off I'd bet."


She waits quietly while the girls pick out their clothes, even a little envious that she wasn't smaller in stature so she could just change into something now. Her hips are slender enough that she could probably wear a larger size of the shorts, but it was too cold to keep her legs exposed for very long, despite the fact that they should have no problem finding blankets. Not to mention the fact that she hasn't touched a razor in days, and her stubble situation is out of control.


Her fingers cross on their own, hoping that the boys manage to find at least something for her to change into, anything to get these freezing clothes off. The ache in her tailbone is throbbing steadily, and she rubs it lightly, wincing as she follows Leigh and Angie into the bathroom so they can get changed. There's going to be a bruise there, no doubt, and it's going to hurt a lot. But she can suck that up, better a bruise than a broken ass, especially considering how hard she'd fallen.


"You're not ugly," Alina assures Leigh, who's inspecting herself in the mirror. "And there might be lip gloss, I guess. I don't know. Probably not much else than that, though. Once you dry off, you'll look a lot better though."


Taking a leaf from Leigh's book, she glances at herself in the mirror and her eyes widen briefly at the reflection that stares back at her. Has she really been walking around like this all this time? As she predicted earlier, her dark brown hair and the way it hangs around her face gives her the resemblance of a drowned rat. What's more shocking, though, is the simple wear and tear that has occurred on her face since all of this started. Deep shadows have gouged their ways beneath her eyes, which are bloodshot with exhaustion. She seems to have lost a considerable amount of color, and her face looks as though it may have slimmed down a little bit.


How long has she looked like this?!


Better yet, how the hell could Leigh think that Jared thinks she's attractive when she's been walking around like this the whole time?


Deciding to at least do something while she waits for the girls to change, she once again follows Leigh's example and uses some paper towels to dry off her hair a little and dab at her face. "Maybe we can find some hair tyes and brushes or something and I can braid your guys' hair... at least get it out of the way long enough for it to dry."


--------


While Jared looks for clothes in the stock room, Ilya follows up with the other boy's musing as to whether or not there was some sort of food around. Deciding he'll be quick, he sets off to find the break room, where, indeed, there are vending machines, and while most of the food in the refrigerator has gone bad, there are a few sandwiches and other odds and ends that look as though they've held up okay.


The vending machines also lessen his paranoia that someone else may be in there. While they aren't exactly fully stocked, there is far too much food in them to have helped anyone survive for this long. Making a note of the location of the room, he returns to the stockroom to find Jared gone and heads to the manager's office.


Stepping over the broken glass on the floor, Ilya glances up to see Jared rifling through the closet. He notices a flash of blood on his arm and his eyes widened, "Yo, you okay?" He assumes the answer is yes when he's asked what his size is and shrugs, "Uh, medium, I guess. Ali would be a small, but she'll probably want to sleep in a medium or large. Are there any pants or anything in there that we could use?"


He's about to move forward to see for himself when he really notices the computer for the first time. Holding his breath, Ilya walks toward it and hits the power button, half-expecting for it to not turn on at all. When the power symbol lights up, though, he lets out a small laugh - the relief of just having some sort of technology, some access to information of what's going on... well, for a moment, he's almost sure he's going to cry.


"Hey," He calls over to Jared and points at the computer, "What do you say after we get settled down we try to find some answers?"
 
"I do so look ugly," Leigh muttered, averting her eyes from the mirror now as she continued to wipe herself off the best she could. Then with somewhat uncharacteristic helpfulness without having been asked to provide it, she knelt beside Angelina, beginning to help her wipe off and dry her hair the best she could too. Angelina looked up at her, her mouth slightly open, and let her tend to her in silence.


"Get dressed now," Leigh told her once she had finished with her, and without self-consciousness Angelina began to strip, changing into her new clothes. More modest than this, Leigh disappeared into the larger stall, beginning to pull on her own clothes, and then came across a dilemma. She struggled with this in silence for a few moments, then called out to Alina, cheeks reddening even though she knew Alina couldn't see her in the stall, "Ali? Um...my bra is wet and they don't have any here...should I leave it off, or..."


Either way seemed a bad decision, and she found herself suddenly close to tears from having to make it. Just one more thing on top of all of this was one more thing than Leigh wanted to have to decide, and she sniffled, rubbing her palm over her eyes and thinking darkly to herself that either way, she was still going to look really ugly and like a little kid in too-short pants, in front of Ilya too.


**


"Yeah, I'm okay," Jared told Ilya, though his arm was throbbing slightly as he spoke. "Don't worry about it, I can clean up in the bathroom once we find something to wear."


Digging through the shirts, he takes out three mediums, tossing two of them to Ilya. "I don't see any pants...I don't know what we're going to do about that, because no amount of stretching is going to get me to fit in some kiddy sweats...you know what though? There are no windows in the office...we could turn on whatever lights we want back here and in the break room area, and no one could see. Maybe we should spend most of our time back here in nights...it would be harder to find us too."


The light from the computer is sudden and startling, and Jared quickly turns, swallowing a gasp. It takes him longer than Ilya to understand that being able to use a computer meant being able to possibly find information they have been sorely lacking, and he gives a tired but genuine smile, a brief stir of hope rising in his chest.


"Yeah, sounds good...uh, still not sure about the pants thing...we might have to go for the baby blankets, as much as that might suck."
 
While the girls change, Alina leans against the wall of the bathroom and picks at her fingers. Leigh's voice calling to her from inside the stall makes her flinch, eyes wide and focused on the door as though she expects her to say an adult is crawling out of the toilet or something. But it's just her bra, which is a relief, but reminds her of her own bra, which is uncomfortably wet and it makes her itch.


"Leave it off for now. You can wring it out in the sink and it'll dry a little faster. If it's uncomfortable... I don't know, maybe we can find something for you to use until it's dry. Or maybe there's an air hand dryer in one of the other bathrooms or something we can use." She really doubts that they will find something, but it eases her own concerns of having to ditch her bra as well. Glancing over at Angelina, she smiles weakly, "Those look cute on you, girl."


--------


The thought of not wearing pants isn't really what bothers Ilya. Sure, it makes him uncomfortable to not wear pants around Leigh, given her determination for him to think about her romantically, but with Jared and the others there, it's not as if she'll get out of control. What makes Ilya uneasy is the thought of Alina not wearing pants.


Sure, he trusts Jared, given that he's had absolutely no reason NOT to since they've all teamed up, but Ilya isn't blind. He's been biting his tongue for days now, not wanting to create conflict, especially since Alina would be absolutely mortified if he were to say something. She's sixteen, after all, and has clearly showed enough maturity to make her own decisions... but still, Ali is his little sister and Jared is nineteen.


"Blankets could work," He says finally. "At least it'll be better than, well, nothing at all until our pants dry." Drawing in a breath Ilya looks over at Jared, now being as good of a time as any. "So listen... I don't know if there will be any pants or anything that Ali can wear in the kids' section... I doubt it, but uh... if not, eyes on your own paper, alright?"
 
Leigh being physically uncomfortable due to not wearing a bra wasn't going to be an issue and she knew it; there was very little reason that she truly even needed to. Any discomfort would be entirely psychological, as the thought of her not wearing a bra and Ilya NOT noticing the difference was even more embarrassing than her earlier dilemma of someone noticing potentially that she was no longer stuffing.


"This sucks," she mutters, and she leaves the bra draped over the stall door rather than taking it to wring it out, mainly because she doesn't want Alina to see its size before she emerges, letting the stall door bang loudly. Looking Alina up and down, she asks, "What are you gonna do about pants?"


When Angelina goes over to Alina, starting to put her arms around her, Leigh takes her wrist and pulls her back. "Her pants are wet, you're gonna get dirty again....hey! Hey, could we wash our hair in the sink? I bet they have baby shampoo somewhere in this place, we can use that! We can get lip gloss and the shampoo and lotion and combs and stuff and fix ourselves up in here...let's go find it!"


It's nearly ten pm and it's been a more than exhausting day, but this is the most life that Leigh has shown in days. Now that she is in comfortable, if not perfectly fitting clothing, warming up, and mostly dry, her misery is beginning to lift. Angelina too looks interested at the prospect, even as she yawns, rubbing at her eyes.


**


It takes Jared a moment to realize what Ilya is saying. Then as the understanding comes over him, along with mental visualizations he no doubt wanted him to avoid seeing or thinking about, his cheeks redden, and he quickly shakes his head, holding up both hands.


"No, no, I, that's...I'll behave, I promise. Look, Ilya...Ali's pretty and all, but...I mean, she's your sister, and I get that..."


He trails off, not even sure what it is he's trying to say, and not entirely certain that it would be true. Of course he couldn't...what, make out with, kiss?....Alina with Ilya watching. But he couldn't promise that he wouldn't if he wasn't there.


"Let's get our stuff together," he said quickly, pulling off his sodden shirt and hanging it over a chair as he pulled on the other. "Find the blankets, get some food...see how the girls are doing...maybe we can do the computer stuff a little later."
 
What WAS she going to do about pants? Sure, Alina had been toying with the idea of maybe stretching into some kids' pants, but would they even fit comfortably? Sure, she's always been on the slim side, but she still does have a little curve to her, which would make any sort of little kids clothing a mess to squeeze into.


"I'll figure something out," she finally answers, and smiles weakly after Leigh's pulled Angie away. She reaches over and scratches at Angie's scalp briefly before she's out of reach. Once Leigh starts getting excited, though, it makes Alina flinch. She hadn't been expecting such a sudden burst of energy, and the cry instantly has her whipping her head around looking for some sort of threat. After the suggestion sinks in, though, her body relaxes and she bites back a small laugh.


Ali manages a genuine smile, though, "Leigh, that's genius! I kind of want some clothes of my own first, though. Plus we should let the guys know that we have some sort of option of getting clean. Maybe they've found food or something, too."


A thought occurs to her that, if they have baby shampoo, they might even have toothbrushes and toothpaste. It's almost too good to be true, and Alina has to quickly stamp down the feeling, not wanting to get her hopes up too high. "C'mon," She tells the girls and reaches for Angie's hand. "Let's see if Jared and Ilya have found anything cool."


--------


Though not completely assuaged by Jared's reassurance, Ilya allows the subject to drop. It's not like they would have a whole lot of private time together anyway, and at least he's made himself clear that it's not something he's okay with thinking about. Ilya pulls off his shirt and lets it drop momentarily onto the floor with a loud, wet slapping noise. The dry shirt, even with his pants still soaking and uncomfortable, lifts his mood.


Approaching the light switch like he's almost afraid of it, Ilya flips it on and smiles broadly as artificial light floods the office. This, if nothing else, will make things easier for them. "Maybe we can grab some games or something too, for in here. It'll pass the time at least."


With that, he steps the rest of the way out of the office and into the darkness of the store. It has to be safe, part of him nags quietly. If it wasn't, they would be dead by now. He thinks back to the girls and his heartrate picks up a little... what if the girls are dead? What if someone's found them, killed them before they had any chance to cry out? Or worse, what if he and Jared were so caught up talking or looking for things that they hadn't heard-


"Hey, is that my shirt?" It's Alina, and she's got her finger outstretched, aimed directly at the shirt clutched in Ilya's fist. He opens his mouth to answer, but stops when her hand is disengaged from the girls and the shirt is wrenched from his grasp before he realizes she was even bounding over to them. "Peace out, freaks!" She says and rushes into the bathroom, presumably, to change.


Raising his eyebrows, Ilya clears his throat and cards his fingers through his hair, smiling weakly. "You guys look like you feel a lot better."
 
Angelina, holding onto Alina's hand, looks up at the boys as Alina disengages from her to go change, reaching for Leigh's instead and leaning into her side. Leigh lets her hold her hand but otherwise doesn't acknowledge her, smiling up at Jared and Ilya with a measure of genuine excitement. Although she and Angelina both look obviously tired and their hair is still damp, just being in clean, dry clothes has made them look considerably better than before, and Jared smiles at them both.


"You guys look much better."


But Leigh only focuses on Ilya's semi compliment, her eyes lighting up as she beams back at him. "Thank you! These clothes aren't what I'd normally pick but they're what's here...I like that shirt on you. The color is good with your complexion..."


"Leigh-" Jared started wearily, shaking his head as he saw that she was stepping closer to him, and Leigh sighed loudly.


"Whatttt? It does...oh, Jared! There has to be baby shampoo and soap and stuff here! And hair stuff, and maybe like fingernail clippers and stuff too..we have to go get it and get cleaned up! Come on, you guys can too!"


The idea was a welcome one to Jared, and he turned to look at Ilya, shrugging. "Sounds good...was that your idea, Leigh? Nice."


Leigh is still smiling as she reaches to tug on Ilya's sleeve, wanting him to go with her to the baby section. "Come on!"


"Uh, we have to get something pants-wise first...which...I guess will have to come through the baby section," Jared muttered, not entirely pleased with this part of the deal. "You're right then, let's go."
 
The shirt is big enough that Alina doesn't feel as self-conscious about going bra-less as she had earlier. It doesn't fall down as low as she's comfortable with for taking her pants off, though, at just above the middle of her thighs. No, her pants will have to stay for the time being.


She hears their voices start to get farther away and feels a rush of panic at being left alone again. Even being by herself in the time that it took for her to let the others into the store had been far too long, and she hustles - walking quickly, rather than running - out of the bathroom after them. It's only her pride that keeps her from calling out after them to wait.


Luckily, they hadn't gotten too far of a lead, and she catches up in a matter of seconds. "Did Leigh tell you about how we can stay clean?"


"Yeah, we're going there now." Ilya glances over at her, "We couldn't find any pants, so we're going to have to just put up with blankets until our pants are clean."


It's not what she wants to hear, or even remotely close to it, but she keeps her mouth shut and stays with the group. Will they even have blankets big enough? It's mostly baby blankets, right? Alina supposed that they would have some for smaller children, maybe, but... well, they could make it work. There's a pretty decent selection of blankets. Maybe not in size, but in patterns. Strangely, that's a comfort to Ali and she smiles weakly, trying to decide which one to choose.


"It would be kind of gross," Alina begins, and looks up to address the group. "But maybe we could eat baby food too... for fruits and vegetables, I mean? I'm not saying that it would be enough or anything, but... I don't know. It was just a thought."
 
Leigh has managed to fill a baby stroller, which had been on display and so was not in the box, with a wide variety of soaps, lotions, shampoos, powders, baby towels, blankets, and other accessories from the baby aisle by the time Alina joined them. As she dumps another blanket in her stroller, she greets Alina as she comes into view, Angelina standing beside her, watching with her fingers in her mouth.


"Look at all this! This is gonna be so good, I can't wait!"


Turning to Angelina, she tells her, "We're gonna smell nice. Won't you like that?"


Angelina shrugs, sucking on her fingers, but she doesn't look quite as serious as usual as she watches her. Jared looks over to Alina, sharing a smile with her over Leigh's enthusiasm, before his eyes drift back to the blankets that she has already pulled down. Clearing his throat, he picks up a neutral beige one and holds it at arms' length. "Uh...this one looks...sort of long... are there, like, infant or toddler bed sheets?"


He rounded the corner to check and sure enough, some toddler beds were set up on a display with sheets nearby. Taking down several, he starts to open them, tossing them to Alina and Ilya. "Toga style it is."


"Come to the accessory stuff with me," Leigh demanded, abandoning her stroller to go tug on Jared's arm, and he was amused to see that although she at twelve always declared herself too old for toy stores, she knew exactly where the accessory aisle was. She must have coerced Lydia into walking them there after school more times than he was aware of, or else visited after school with friends.


As Leigh gathered the rest of what she wanted, which seemed every hair accessory or vaguely makeup-resembling item she could find, Jared shifted his weight, frequently looking around in the shadows to make sure no one else was present; he couldn't quite shake his nerves over this possibility, unlikely as it was. As they rejoined the others, with Leigh urging the girls back to the bathroom, he turned to Ilya. "Now might be a good time to look things up on teh computer, if they'll be a while...something tells me Leigh will take her time."
 
Leigh's enthusiasm over everything she's managed to grab from the aisles does rub off on Alina a little, despite how exhausted she is. She catches Jared's smile and manages one of her own in return, before making work of sifting through the cart of things Leigh's claimed for them. The thought of being actually clean, using clean water, and soap, and brushing her teeth makes her feel as though she's been living like a savage for months, rather than just shy of two and a half weeks.


Catching the sheet Jared tosses her when he returns, telling them that they'll have to wear togas, it takes a considerable amount of restraint to not just rush back into the bathroom and strip off the rest of her clothes, which are now drying and beginning to feel stiff. But it can wait. At least until Leigh is finished grabbing everything she seems to need.


Laughing quietly when she and Jared return and Leigh takes the role of leading them back into the bathroom, Alina links Angie's free hand in hers, the other hand holding onto the sheet like it's some sort of life line. This feels strangely normal, just now, and she's willing to fly with it, though she refuses to let herself get her hopes up too high. It'll change eventually. It has to. She's picked up on the patterns of this well enough, that while she may be able to celebrate it with the girls, the pit in her stomach still gnaws at her, reminding her that things were going well before, too.


And then Peter came and ruined it.


Not waiting to step into a stall, Alina lets go of Angie's hand and strips her pants off, "Don't laugh at how hairy my legs are." She warns, giving them both an embarrassed smile.


Sure enough, there's a decent amount of hair, which has been itchy and annoying as is, that's grown back on her legs since the last time she's shaved. Something will have to be done about that. It's too uncomfortable not to. Alina folds the sheet up and wraps it around her hips and double knotting them at the side. "Oh god, that feels so much better already. C'mon, let's clean up."


--------


At the sound of Jared's voice, and the mention of the computer, Ilya nods and sucks in a breath. It might be better for the two of them to see what they can find now, anyway, in case they find something that might scare the girls. There hadn't been any newspapers in the high school library, of course, and when Jared and Ilya had gone into town, it hadn't crossed his mind to see the kinds of things people might be publishing about it, but now...


Well, it scares him to think about what the adults must be reporting.


"Yeah," He finally agrees and turns in his heels to walk back into the manager's office. Ilya transfers the sheet back and forth between his hands as they walk, more to keep them busy than to serve any real purpose, and he pulls a genuine smile. "This was a really good idea, man."
 
Angelina looks between Leigh and Alina, seeing her sister's enthusiasm and that Alina too is trying to show some enjoyment, and she very tentatively tries a smile, though it looks more uncertain then genuinely unhappy. Once in the bathroom, she looks at Alina's legs, interested by the hair she sees there, and reaches out instinctively to touch. Watching her, Leigh makes a condescending noise, rolling her eyes.


"Angie, you don't do that, that's a dumb thing to do. That will make her embarrassed."


She's still looking at Alina's legs openly herself though as she continues, "I shave. Well I haven't since...everything...but I did shave before. I shaved four times, actually. And the last time I didn't even cut myself that much."


She seems to be trying to brag with this, eager for Alina to see her as adult, but had Alina seen her legs, she would have seen that even with several weeks' growth, she wasn't actually all that in need of shaving. Spreading out all her supplies along the baby changing area, Leigh begins to stack the baby towels she's collected alongside the sink as well, turning back to the other girls. "Who's first? Someone has to wash Angie's hair, and I guess we should do each other's too because that's less messy. I can do this in the sink pretty good. We used to have to do that if Joanna forgot to pay the water bill, we'd get gallons of water and Lydia would..."


Her voice trailed off, and her smile faltered. She averted her eyes from them then, finishing more softly, "I'm...I know how."


**


"The computer, or Toys R Us?" Jared asked as they walked. He was holding his sheet normally, and Ilya's fiddling with his he was finding distracting, vaguely annoying, though he didn't say anything. "Either way, thanks."


As they reentered the bathroom, Jared turned his back to Ilya as he stripped off his pants and tied the sheet around himself, wrapping it around his shoulder as well in the toga style he had mentioned. It wasn't as long as he would like, but it would get the job done. He removed his underwear too after a hesitation, hanging them to dry before waiting for Ilya to finish and walk with him back into the office. As he switched on the computer and waited for it to power up, he nervously drummed his fingers on the desk, wondering what it was he would find, and whether it would help them at all to know.
 
Leigh's tries for Alina's approval have become sort of endearing to the older girl, and she smiles weakly. "You're way ahead of me if you didn't cut yourself," she begins, laughing. "I still hack myself up every once in a while. Cutting yourself shaving sucks a lot."


She fusses briefly with the sheet around her waist while she listens to Leigh tell her about how she and her siblings would wash their hair in the sink, more to keep the girl from seeing the pity on her face than anything. Alina's family had never been rich, their parents were mostly illiterate in English when they came over from the country and worked mostly menial jobs to pay the bills and support their family. Since they weren't citizens, it's not like they could have worked any high paying wages, so their house was run on minimum wage labor.


It was difficult, but there was always food on the table, at least, even though they often had to go over to their friends' houses to play with any sort of gadgets like video games, and they rarely ever had cable. The internet was the only real luxury they had, mostly because it was needed for schoolwork, and even then, during the summer a lot of the time, they had to rely on the internet at the library if they ever wanted to just surf the web.


When Alina is sure that she won't look upset, she glances up at the girl and smiles weakly, "Why don't you show me with Angie's hair, and if you want, I can wash yours and mine? I can even braid our hair so we'll be like triplets or something and it'll keep the rat nests out."


--------


"Toys R Us," Ilya answers him as they walk.


Once in the bathroom, Ilya changes quickly, his own back to Jared's, though he doesn't tie it around his shoulder the way he does. Instead, he ties it tightly around his waist the way he normally does a towel. He drapes his pants and boxers over the paper towel dispenser to dry and lets out a breath. The sheet isn't exactly comfortable, a little too close to a skirt for Ilya's preference, but it's better than walking around either naked or soaked from the waist down, so he can deal.


As they walk back to the office and Jared turned the computer on, Ilya leans against the wall beside the desk. "What are we even going to look for? I mean, newspapers, I guess, but would they even really say anything about it aside from 'good riddance'?"


It's hurtful to think that they would, but it seems like the only thing they'll be likely to say. It was a good idea to do this while the girls were away, though, at least if that's the case, none of them will have to see it.
 
"Well...maybe it's not all over the state or even county, you know?" Jared thought aloud as he waited for the computer to power up. "Like maybe we can see that it's just this area...maybe the rest of the nation is okay. We can at least find that out. Maybe it's just this country, even...or we can find out what happened, or how it spread, if someone out there is still normal enough to figure it out and want to write about it. So no local papers...try ones for bigger cities around here, then for other states, maybe...national news...maybe no one knows yet, though. Maybe news hasn't spread...this could get complicated."


His heart sinks when he sees that he needs a password to open the computer further, but he finds it written on a piece of paper taped onto the desk soon and types it in, relieved when it comes up without a hitch. Pulling up Internet Explorer, he looks back at Ilya, adjusting the sheet more securely over his lap as he calls back over his shoulder.


"So where to first, google?"


**


"I'm pretty good at it!" Leigh beams, enjoying the attention Alina is giving her, the way she is talking to her as though she does in fact see her as equal. "I mean, the first time I forgot to take off the plastic thing so I couldn't even get the hair off, and the second time I did it the wrong way so that really cut me a lot. But I'm better now."


She likes the idea of being triplets with Alina and Angelina too, though she doesn't say this out loud. Gesturing for Angelina to go to the sink, she soon sees that she is too short to be able to reach it and bend over it effectively, so she goes to retrieve a small step stool from the supply closet and tells Angie to sit on it and crane her head back. Leigh keeps up a running commentary as she washes Angelina's hair.


"Close your eyes, and don't wiggle around...there. Keep them closed and your mouth too. See, this is like how it used to be, right?"


When she finishes, she dries Angelina's hair and wraps it in a towel, then looks up at Alina expectantly. "You can go next or me, I don't care...Angie, you can go sit down now. Or you can brush your hair. Maybe you should let me though because you always get it knotted up."


"I do not," Angelina says briefly, shaking her head. Turning to look at herself in the mirror,her lips twitch slightly. She seems to like having had her hair washed, though she says nothing else and still looks very tired, dark circles staining beneath her eyes.
 
Ilya thinks it over, running his fingers absently over the stubble that's accumulated on his face. It's uncomfortable, and itchy, but since they aren't going to find any razors, he'll have to deal. "I would check out news websites first, I think. Like CNN, maybe? I mean, they're not really all that reliable, but if we just sort of hop from news station to news station, we're bound to find truth in the middle somewhere, right?"


He glances at the door briefly, wondering how much time they had before the girls came back. If they're planning to wash their hair, he guesses they'd have at least fifteen minutes from that, though he's probably overestimating a great deal, and he knows it.


"I don't even know what we could search. Oh! What about newspaper archives? You can find those on the websites for them and search by date, right? We could start with just this state and work our way out, maybe? First this state, then maybe just national newspapers, and... I don't know, I guess world news, but I don't know any newspapers that would cover that, so we'd have to settle for what we find from google."


--------


Alina sees how tired Angie is and smiles weakly, "You go ahead and wash your hair, I'll brush Angie's and braid it and then I can do yours and wash and do mine, okay?"


Stepping over to the changing station, Alina picks up the brush and walks over to Angelina. She stands behind her and starts brushing her hair, gently working through the knots. She pauses after smoothing out each section and runs her fingers through it carefully to make sure that she gets all of the knots out. When Alina's sure that her hair is brushed well enough, she walks over to grab a hair tie and puts it around her wrist.


"I might pull your hair a little bit, but if I do just tell me, okay?" She brushes Angie's hair back and starts to french braid it. Stifling a yawn as she does so, she shakes her head briefly, "I don't know about you guys, but I"m beat."
 
Angelina holds still for Alina, tilting her head back a little bit to let her work on it. She is tense at first, not used to anyone but her sisters fixing her hair, but after a few minutes she relaxes and even appears to be enjoying the attention and touch. When she is finished, she examines her hair carefully in the mirror, standing on the stool to do so, and smiles faintly, touching the braid.


"I like it," she says briefly, although for Angelina, this is almost a speech. "Thank you."


Leigh has been struggling to wash her own hair, somewhat disappointed that Alina isn't doing it for her, and is having a difficult time with it since she's bending over the sink and not able to see what she's doing very well. Her face is wet, her hair dripping down her back, and she coughs when she finally emerges, rubbing her hair vigorously and toweling off her face.


"This is better...that's nice," she approves of Angelina's hair, nodding. "My turn! You should put barrettes in, Angie. Or bows."


She sits on the stool for Alina to work with her, still talking. "I'm tired too. Jared says I talk a lot when I'm tired. Actually he says I talk a lot anyway, but I think every boy thinks every girl talks a lot...I wish I could French braid. Lydia didn't know how and she didn't care about hair."


She goes quiet then as she speaks of Lydia, her shoulders slumping slightly, and it is several more minutes until she speaks again, much more softly than before.


"Do you think Joanna buried Lydia? I mean...she...I don't want her just...left there."


She slid her eyes towards Angelina, then lowered her voice further, biting her lower lip. "Ali? That guy...the one who...you know, the crazy one...what happened with him? I mean...we were running, and we didn't see, me and Angie...should Angie go, uh, play in the stall?"


**


"Okay," Jared nodded in response to Ilya, stifling a yawn behind his hand. Maybe this wasn't the best time of day to look all of this up or to think this through, but they were here, they had time, and maybe it was best to find out without the girls around to get upset by what they might see.


As he pulled up google, he couldn't think at first of what to type to search. Finally he typed in "deaths of children, Desmond County, Georgia." The first several links seemed too vague or else too specific, but as he scrolled down, one in particular jumped out at him.


A link about Lindsay Inc., a research center about human behavior and anatomy...and some sort of arson of the building. Jared had only the vaguest memory of the name, and didn't at first know what could possibly be related to child deaths with it, unless children had died in the fire. Still he clicked, and then his breath caught as he called over his shoulder to Ilya.


"This. Ilya, this might be it."
 
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