Part 2: Square One

  Chapter 4: I’ll Catch You

  “So to be clear. You want me to jump over the gap in these buildings, vault over the AC unit on that building, and then jump to the last building?”

  “Correct. The point of parkour is to get from A to B as efficiently as possible.” Aina explained.

  “And I am here for when one of you gets hurt.” Trent yelled from two stories below.

  “Alright, watch.” Aina took a few steps back before running and clearing the alley between the buildings, she continued, jumping up and clearing the AC unit in one leap and finally jumping the last, larger gap with ease. She gave DD a thumbs up from the other side. DD took a few steps back, and ran. She jumped the gap, staring forward as she held fear at bay. Scraping her knees on the landing, she recovered and bounded up to the AC unit, her arms catching on the top with a clang. Muscles straining and legs waving, she wiggled her way up until her stomach rested on the metal. Finally she pulled herself up and dashed towards the last jump. Closing her eyes, she took that last leap, and opened them just before she hit the corner of the building, knocking the wind out of her. She let out a quick yelp of pain and Aina reached down instantly, grabbing her arms and preventing her from falling.

  Aina moved out of her crouched position, keeping a firm grip around DD’s wrists. Now in a better position to pull, she leaned backward and pushed against the roof's edge, dragging DD up until her hips rested on the roof. Dragging herself a little further, DD rolled onto her back and breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Thanks.” DD got out through the pain in her stomach.

  “I wasn’t going to let you fall, DD.”

  “My stomach might hurt less if you had though.”

  “Is someone hurt?” Trent yelled.

  “Are you hurt?” Aina asked DD.

  DD coughed. “Only a little.”

  “Not really!” Aina yelled. “Alright DD there’s a ladder on the old butcher shop next door, do you have one more jump in you?”

  “Help.” DD moaned. Aina pulled her to her feet, and took her hand.

  “We’ll go together.” Aina assured her. The two begin picking up speed, getting up to a run as their feet reached the edge. In sync, they both jumped, clearing the gap and landing, mostly, on their feet. The old building groaned and with a loud crack DD and Aina suddenly fell into the building below and thudded to the ground. Dust was floating in the air.

  “Is someone hurt now!?” Trent yelled. “Come on answer me!”

  “Ow!” DD complained loudly as a response. She turned to assess the damage, and a cut in her thigh made by exposed rebar.

  “Owwaaah.” Aina moaned as she stood up. “Oh shit!”

  “I don’t think it’s deep. Just… bandage it out for me?”

  “Yea, it’s gonna take more than that.” She responded, dumping water from her bottle onto the wound and wiping away dirty blood, only for more to come out; She looked DD up and down. “You don’t happen to have a sleeve you could part with, do you?

  “What? No???” DD said. Aina grabbed DDs’ hand and pressed it hard directly onto the wound with both her hands on top of it. “Augh.” DD protested the pain.

  “DD this place is fucking weird.” Aina spoke suddenly. DD hadn’t scoped the place she’d fallen into, but it seemed they were in the living room of someone’s apartment. It was relatively intact, actually, down to the pre-collapse appliances like televisions, computers, and the like. “What do you think?”

  “It’s certainly very… different than most of the other wrecks.”

  A faded and torn red flag hung limply from one wall. “Make America Great Again.” Aina read.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that worked out so well.” DD groaned through more pain.

  “You don’t say DD. What don’t you think was great about America?” Aina’s voice was laced with sarcasm; the 2020s and on were an entire month of both of their schooling.

  “Two separate downplayed diseases in twenty years, it’s hand in the climate catastrophe, and of course the second revolution of 2028.”

  “That was sarcasm you know.” Aina groaned at the unwarranted history lecture.

  “Those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it.”

  “Not if we go extinct.”

  “You’ve got me there.” The two looked around the apartment from their messy vantage point., It was eerily pristine. Other than the dust and faded colors, it looked almost exactly like old photos probably showed it.

  “It’s crazy some butcher could sell things like beef here, from cows in completely different cities.” Aina said.

  “Those people didn’t know what they had, all that food.” DD was introduced to many new things in Seattle she’d never had in Nevada. She’d never even heard of an air fryer prior. It was one of the few things she missed about that city.

  “Alright let’s go.” DD moved to stand up, but Aina pressed harder into her leg.

  “Wait.” She slowly moved her hands from the wound, stained maroon with blood, but it was dry and clotted. “Alright. It wasn’t deep, but you should still stay off it til we get you to Trent. Tetanus and all that.” Aina helped DD to her feet, and scoffed, “I don’t know how you made it to Seattle and back with no first aid knowledge whatsoever.”

  “Hey.” She said, pointing a finger. “I know about tetanus, and that it is very bad.”

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  “You were gonna try to walk it off, weren’t you.”

  “That’s worked for me so far.” DD shrugged.

  “Only god knows how.”

  “Pfff. Cause she loves putting me through this shitshow.” DD nearly choked at her own joke, and Aina cracked a smile.

  They made their way down the stairs, the steps barely creaking under their combined weight. The bottom floor was darker, with streams of light making it through the grime of the windows. Still, the dust was settled, making it somewhat easier to see than the floor above. They walked over to the entrance and Aina kicked the door to the shop open, breaking it free of its hinges and knocking it into the street.

  “Hey Trent, I need the med-kit.” DD yelled. Trent threw the bag to Aina, who passed it inside to DD. Aina walked out and DD unbuttoned her slightly more red pants, rolling them down below her knees. There was now a rip through her favorite pair of boxers, annoying, and her favorite pants too. DD grabbed the glass bottle from the bag, alcohol. This would hurt. She took a knee and poured the liquid onto her leg.

  “Fucker!” DD’s voice echoed harshly through the store as she began wrapping her leg up. She pulled her pants back up, careful not to disturb the wrapping around her thigh. She began limping out of the store, her leg burning in pain constantly.

  “You good?” Trent asked.

  “As I can be.” DD complained.

  “Hey do you want to do something stupid?” Aina asked enthusiastically.

  “More or less dumb than this experience?” DD was curious.

  “Less dangerous, more dumb.”

  “Do I have to be included?” Trent protested.

  “Yes.” DD and Aina said together.

  Aina led the two into the abandoned part of town, and a barely standing building. The roof had long since fallen in and the walls seemed like they would follow shortly behind.

  “Are we going in there?” DD asked, eyes closely watching the walls for movement.

  “Yes.” Aina said, as she pushed her way through the door. DD exchanged a look with Trent, then followed. Hints of what the building was were still present: an open area and another closed off area behind a half height counter, worn out booth seats and swivel chairs, tables welded to the floor; a fast food restaurant. Lots of pictures of these existed on Seattle’s internet, mostly in archived advertisements. In the past advertisements were everywhere, and often tracked people. The idea of having her information traded in the way services are traded now, like a currency, sent shivers down DDs’ spine.

  “Welcome to Wendy’s how can I help you.” Aina said from behind the counter, wearing an uncannily wide smile and moth-eaten hat.

  “Are we role-playing?” DD asked. “You know me and Trent are almost thirty right?”

  “You are never too old to role-play DD.”

  “Sure, why not.” DD shrugged, as if she’d never played Dungeons and Dragons as an adult.

  “Do I have to play?” Trent moaned.

  “Yes.” They said in unison.

  DD moved up to the counter. “Uhhhh, Can I get uh, a number five?” DD said, drawing out the confusion she saw in videos from the internet archive.

  “Would you like to supersize that?”

  “I really can’t. I’m watching my calories.” DD joked softly.

  “Diet Number 5!” Aina yelled into the back.

  “You bet!” Trent yelled back, with a bit of an edge in his voice.

  “Wait, how’d you get back there!?” DD was looking around, confused about how she’d lost track of Trent. She hopped the counter and entered the back. The roof was also missing there, and many old devices sat rusting where they were.

  “Hey, why are you guys not doing anything?” DD asked in her best manager impression. “You know what Wendy says, if you’re leaning, you could be cleaning!”

  “Yes ma’am!” Aina saluted before pretending to wipe one of the old tables.

  “This is dumb, what are we? Three?” Trent groaned.

  “You have to get older, but you don’t need to give up having fun.” DD smiled softly.

  “I mean I’m twenty, I’m an adult too. The world is bleak, doing dumb shit and parkour is how I escape.” Aina agreed.

  “A little escapism doesn’t hurt. I took up Ultimate Frisbee for a while in Seattle. I was kinda decent at it actually.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Aina joked, recalling her missing the disk at the Clown Motel.

  “Don’t you ever let yourself have fun Trent?” He thought for a bit.

  “No, Not really. I tend to lose myself in the music on the radio. Even though it’s technically work, I’m passionate about it. Old music is one of the last things we have from those who came before the collapse. But other than that,” He sighed, “not really.”

  “I’m excited that you’ve found something to be passionate about.” DD said gently, as if also regretting her lack of a passion.

  “Honestly, it’s somewhat inspiring.” Aina added.

  “Thanks. I just,” He stared at the ground, thinking of how to say what he wanted to. “I don’t get how you can be so… childish? So playful all the time. We’re adults now. I guess we just don’t all see eye to eye on how we handle ourselves.”

  “Well of course. We’re different people, with different experiences. Aina was nine when I left.”

  “You’re very understanding DD,” Trent noted. “I’ve always liked that about you.”

  “You’re welcome.” DD was blushing under her solar gear, again thrilled no one could see. “Anyway am I getting that number five?”

  “I think someone needs to repair the grill first.” Trent laughed.

  “Maybe five is chicken nuggets.” Aina suggested.

  “I love chicken nuggets.” DD hadn’t had the food since she’d left Seattle.

  “They had those in Seattle? Dude why’d you leave that place, I’ve heard so much about chicken nuggets.” Aina said hungrily.

  “They’re worth the wait Aina, that’s all I will say.” DD wasn’t even joking, or trying to tease Aina. She ached to be somewhere that had a good cook and an air fryer again.

  “Now I’m actually hungry.” Aina crossed her arms.

  “Let’s go see if Tess has cooked anything then.” Trent suggested.

  “Perhaps Scott returned from his supply run.” DD added. Scott had driven down to Las Vegas in the morning with the truck, looking for food supplies. She’d actually never seen Las Vegas, but it was supposed to be very welcoming to outsiders, and very luxurious, and bureaucratic.

  “Hey, DD.” Trent said sheepishly. “Can we do one of our night talks tonight?”

  “Of course.” DD was smiling now, they hadn’t done that since the first night she’d arrived back to Winchester.

  To Be Continued