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Started September 21, 2021 by @CaseyJ group

tune

Z brought the first mattress back setting it down in the space she had made for it. They didn't say anything other than point Chet to the mattress as they exited the shed once more to grab the second mattress. Once that was also in the shed she left to go and find Sean. Z stumbled upon him leaning against a piece of scrap fast asleep. They let out a little sigh before they crouched down and picked up Sean's sleeping form. She then began to make her way back to the shed.

Chet listened to Z after a moment, his will too shattered to really put up any argument. He flopped onto the mattress next to Elliot, who had finally gone to sleep, the poor kid.
The poor kid?!?
He found himself shocked at the thoughts running through his head, but… somehow, it seemed right.
He looked up as Z came back in, carrying Sean. He swallowed hard, not really sure what to do in the situation.
"Hey, Z…. I'm sorry about all this." He ran a hand through his hair. "I, uh… I-… Thanks."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Z replied as she put Sean down on the other mattress that wasn't occupied. They grabbed a few blankets and gently laid the blankets on top of Sean gently. She let out a sigh and turned back around to Chet, "I'm the one that offered to do this alright? Now get some rest, I'll make sure none of us are dead by morning."

Chet nodded, before laying down and dropping off to sleep, his head full of difficult thoughts and confusing feelings.
He slept fitfully, and woke up when he usually would- just before the sun came up. It took him a minute to remember where he was, but when he did, he didn't feel much better. Got a lot to think about today.

Elliot slept that night without dreams. Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised, when he'd had a chip planted in the base of his skull he'd dreamt every night. Whether it be of a world on fire or the simple mundaneness of the Compound, there was always something to fill his unconscious mind with propaganda. That feeling of being watched, always there even when asleep. So sleeping, just closing his eyes and opening them to morning was terrifying.

The ginger sat up with a gasp, his hands trembling slightly. His internal clock was screaming at him that he'd overslept. The sun was up, the sun was UP. He was going to be late, late, late, late-

Like a bucket of ice-water dumped on his head, the man realized what was going on. He wasn't late to anything, there wasn't anything to be late to. Elliot blinked a few times, the feelings were still new and slightly unpleasant, what was he going to do without routine? Who was going to tell him what to do and where to go?

He sat still on the mattress for a long while. Staring off into distance to think, it took him a few minutes to really understand what was happening. The full weight of the situation hit him, pressing down on Elliot's shoulder like a new rock he had to carry. It pressed against his chest, making it hard to breath, but not impossible. He focused on what he could do in the moment, which wasn't much. The young man contented himself with slowly removing sand from his clothes, one grain at a time, silently counting in his head.

Numbers were easier to think of than words.

Numbers were easier than looking at any of the other actual human beings breathing nearby.

Z had taken watch at the entrance of the shed occasionally dozing off, but not for too long as she woke up a few minutes later when she heard a shuffle or movement coming from one of three boys. They were fairly out of it when both Chet and Elliot woke up and only noticed they were awake when they heard Elliot's gasp. She glanced over and gave the two a tired wave, "G' Morning."

Chet nodded tiredly. "Morning, Z." He looked at the darkness outside. Woke up like normal, I guess…
He glanced over at Elliot, who likely didn't want to be disturbed. He wouldn't be surprised if the guy didn't look at or speak to him all day, but…
Well, the human brain does a lot of thinking in its sleep. It is a well known fact that the thought processes speed up during REM, and questions a person has while awake can be answered in his sleep. Thus people say 'lemme sleep on it' before a decision.
Chet had been mulling over the questions in his head all night, and now, he had a direction.

He was going to help Elliot adjust.

But he stll had a lot of thinking as to how to go about that, when he had spent so long hunting the guy, and Elliot knew that he had. How to help the ex-Guv, when yesterday, he'd put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
A lot of thinking indeed…

Sean woke up a few minutes after everyone else, well, he had been awake for a few hours, but hadn't shown it or moved until everyone else was awake. He looked around, not sure how he had gotten on the mattress, but thankful for whomever had put him there. He never was able to sleep all night long, having been trained to wake up early to avoid the higher-ups wrath for over sleeping.

Z yawned as she stretched her arms above her head hearing the joints in her back pop with the movement. They walked over to where all three boys were set each on their own mattress. She figured with Chet up she could take a nap and trust Chet to watch the two ex-Gov's. They didn't voice this out loud instead saying, "Hope y'all slept well because I've got a few things for y'all to help me out with."

Elliots head immediately snapped up, staring at Z with rapt attention. He'd gotten to 329 grains of sand, but this was more interesting. With a slow, pained groan, the man managed to get himself on up, leaning heavily on his good leg. He brushed his clothes off, giving himself the barest, cursory look. He looked awful.
Good.

"What do you need help with?" Elliot stared expectantly at Z, waiting for them to say something, anything. It could be a menial task and the red head wouldn't have complained, hell if they told him to do something impossible he'd at the very least consider it. Being told what to do, even if only for the next few hours, was better than thinking of what he was going to do with himself.

Out of of habit, Elliot reached for his rifle, usually so securely placed against his back. Feeling nothing but air, the young man slowly lowered his hands, fiddling with them. That would take some getting used to, without the gun, the ginger felt vulnerable, exposed. Completely defenseless. Elliot's eyes darted quickly from the two others, both awake now. Maybe it was concerning that, like clockwork, all of these separate people awoke at the same time. The normal wake-up time in the Compound. Maybe it was a coincidence. Elliot's fidgeting increased.

"I need to expand the shed," Z put it plainly for Elliot and it was the most her brain could come up with at the moment. They were sure if any of the boys looked close enough, that they would be able to see the bags under Z's eyes. Besides, she figured that was something the boys could do without messing up the scrapyard too much. They had put in far too much work into the yard for it to get messed up now. Her hand reached up and ran through her hair as she continued, "I need my privacy, especially when I'm tinkering, and you three need a more permanent place to stay. The expansion doesn't need to be fancy, just another area for either you three to sleep in, or for me to tinker in. I'll figure out which later."

Chet glanced over at Elliot. The guy was pointedly not making eye contact. He looked back up at Z, who looked very tired.
"You get some rest. We'll try to gather materials and figure out how to do this. We can wait on the loud parts till you're awake."
He'd been on his own for a long time, and had no intention of staying but it would give him a chance to talk to Elliot.
He tapped the ex-Guv's shoulder. "C'mon, let's get moving."
He was up and out of the shed in a moment.

Sean sat up, watching the others silently. He saw how tired Z looked, and hoped they hadn't stayed up all night. He got up, stretching, "yeah that sounds fine and all, but I am eating first" he hummed, grabbing his bag and pulling out the food Mark had given him. "well…maybe if any of this is edible" he muttered, sitting back down on the mattress.

Elliot jumped at being tapped. Physical contact was foreign to him, unless it was in a fight. He listened closely to what Z said, trying to think of how to expand the shed without proper tools or regulatory safety guidelines? The red head had picked up a new habit of chewing on the inside of his mouth, the soft inside not holding up well.
Still, he'd been given an order, and with a slow shuffle, the young man followed Chet out of the shed, wincing at the bright light, holding a hand up to shield his eyes. Now that he was awake he got a good look at the yard, filled with junk and metal scraps, a valuable place to stay. Limping towards one side of the shed, Elliot looked it up and down, unsure of what to do with his hands.
It was hard to focus, thinking was hard.

Chet watched Elliot moving around. He looked uncomfortable and unsure, and was clearly having trouble thinking clearly. "Hey, we'll focus on the shed in a bit. For now, though, come with me." He picked up his crossbow from the ground, where it had been leaning against the wall. "You need to eat." They didn't have a lot of food, that he was aware of, and if Z had reserves, he didn't want to clean them out.
"If we climb that dune, we should be able to see something worth eating." He indicated the dune behind the scrapyard. "An extra set of eyes would be nice."
Chet walked that direction, hoping Elliot would follow him. He needed to kep the struggling mind occupied.

Elliot's eyes seemed glued to the wall, even as Chet spoke to him. He didn't want to turn, but the suggestion of getting food was sensible. He murmured something, staring at his feet. Not following after the other man. He murmured again, his voice was a harsh whisper, but this time it was audible.
"My pack. Got food." The ginger didn't know what they'd done with his supplies, but surely they had brought them? Right? The alternative made the young mans breath hitch, those were his things. They couldn't have thrown them out. They couldn't have.. He had to believe that, unless he wanted to add another breakdown to his ever growing list. It was concerning how fast he was accumulating them. (Check that one off the mental breakdown bingo card :D )

Chet paused, turning to nod at him. "Z will know where your pack is, just ask."
He was going to hunt anyway. The sands were full of meat waiting to be harvested, from basilisks to constrictors to the wild dogs that roamed outside the cities. Something would be near enough to shoot and cook.

Elliot nodded sharply, turning away with stiff movement, heading back to the shed. Ducking his head to enter the doorway, the red head looked for Z, his eyes still adjusting to the dim light.
"Z? I have a question." Elliot tried to think of a way that asking for his pack would not arouse suspicion. He really did only want to grab the rations, everything else in there was useless to him at the moment, but asking for supplies seemed conspicuous. The bag wasn't anything ritzy, designed to blend into his clothes, the same dusty grey/brown color that so conveniently melded in with the dunes and dusty ground.

"I don't want to bother you too much. But I have some rations in my pack, I don't want to be a drain on your resources." It was the best he could do for now. The itch to see his bag increased, almost burning his skin. The ginger hovered around the doorway, still staring at the ground, fiddling with the hems of his loose clothes.

Z had snorted at Chet's words and let herself lean against one of the walls her eyes quickly falling shut. They opened them back up when they heard Elliot re-enter the shed. She listened to his request and walked over to the furthest corner of the shed where Z had stashed his pack. They pulled it out, opened it up slightly, gave a quick glance over, and once they saw there were no communication devices, or at least any that they knew of, they handed the pack over to Elliot. Her eyes had a very amused look in them, "If you wanted your pack, ya could've just asked like a normal person. Besides I'm the one that offered to take ya in, so don't think of yourself as a burden, got it?"