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"No…" Pollux muttered, motioning for Jaylin to put it away, "I'll make sure this is taken care of."
But it was too late.
He turned back to the counter and thanked Logan, cold venom seeming to drip from his words.
Pollux took the package and his used inhaler and rounded the corner before stuffing the package in his bag. He sat down by the wall and straightened his posture before taking a dose of the medicine. At this point, he didn't really care so much that Jaylin saw.
"An inhaler? I thought it would be something super bad when you were hiding it from me." Jaylin said, leaning back against the wall next to Pollux.
"Yeah…" he muttered, trying to take deep breaths, "I dunno… I didn't want to worry you with it, but I was just worrying you more, wasn't I?"
After a little longer, he took another puff from the inhaler and put it away.
"Besides, it's usually just been embarrassing for me."
"You shouldn't be embarrassed by a medical condition." Jaylin stated simply. She slid down and sat on the floor, taking out her laptop once more. She began transferring the notes she took earlier on her phone onto her laptop.
"Hey, I got picked on for a lot of things growing up. That was definitely one of them," he replied, "Can't be too careful."
He stretched a little bit and continued taking deep, steady breaths. Things were starting to feel better, if only slightly.
"Thanks for paying for that, but I had money," he said, pulling out a $20 to pay her back. "I just figured guilt-tripping would be wise to try first, ya know? Honestly, what the hell does she need with all this money she's collecting? It's the apocalypse."
"She must have her reasons." Jaylin replied, not taking the twenty from him. "Like you said, it's the apocalypse. I don't need money, so why not give it away to people who might?"
"Oh…" Pollux put the cash back away. "I mean, I guess. Literally the only reason I might need it is for medicine. Can't imagine what her reasons must be."
Jaylin shrugged. "Well she seems to be running some sort of business here. Maybe she uses it to restock the pharmacy or something."
"I don't have that much faith in other people," Pollux said, "People selling medicine the way she is are rarely in it to help others."
He coughed a little more, but it seemed to be getting better by now. However, he was feeling quite tired.
"I think we should definitely crash here for the night," he added, "I need the rest, and I'm sure you do too."
Jaylin nodded, closing her laptop. "I've been living between two dumpsters for the past week. Any place with a roof is already an upgrade."
If she was being honest, she hadn't slept at all in the past few days. Now, with more people around her, she could probably get some rest.
"I'm not sure whether it would be safer to sleep in the hall or try a bed, but we'd have to find clean ones," Pollux said.
He slowly stood back up and started searching the hospital rooms. Many of them had blood everywhere.
"I'm just gonna sleep in the hallway." Jaylin said, not wanting to risk seeing a dead body in one of the rooms. She had grown used to uncomfortable sleeping situations by now.
"That's… probably best…" Pollux agreed, shutting the door. He pulled his hood over his head and used his backpack as a pillow against one of the walls before laying down and attempting to sleep.
Jaylin, not wanting to crush the stuff in her backpack, decided to just curl up on the floor. She dozed off faster than she had hoped to.
Pollux looked to Jaylin, about to say something, but she was already out. He curled up a little more to stay warm, and after a while, he was asleep, too.
Pollux woke up next to Jaylin. It was still dark out. He was feeling a bit off, but mostly okay. Maybe it was just sleeping in a strange place surrounded by other people, perhaps it was because he slept with his neck at a bad angle.
He was here, though. He was alive, and honestly that was more than he expected.
Jaylin heard a rustling noise from beside her. She groaned, an annoyed tone in her voice.
"Go away zombies." She muttered, still half asleep. "Let me sleeeeep."
Pollux got up and walked back through the pharmacy area to get to the front of the hospital so he could look outside. It was still pitch-black out. He must not have slept as much as he thought he did. He paced the front hallway by himself.
Logan actually had cleaned most of the blood out of the hospital the past week, so she was hoping it wasn't too gross for the new people. In her head she counted how much more she'd have to pay before Elijah would do the job. Only… $4,056 left. Yayyyy. And with me still stocking the hospital with food for everyone who stays here, then things will keep moving at the same speed. In the future I might have to ask people to pay for their rooms. I really don't want to do that.
Pollux sighed and decided to start going back to where he'd been sleeping, but passing the pharmacy, he caught sight of Logan. He made sure Jaylin was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, come here a minute! I have something to ask you," he called.
Logan was brought back to earth from her thoughts at the sound of a voice. It was the new guy, Pollux. She cautiously approached him. "'Sup?"
He leaned himself up against the counter.
"Yeah… so… why, exactly, are you out here collecting money from people during the apocalypse? And another question. Had I been seriously sick and about to die, would you have let me take medicine without paying and without debt? I'm just having a really hard time understanding your motives and morals, and it's kind of bothering me."
"None of your business why I need money," Logan grumbled. "If you were about to die I would've given it to you, but I would still want payment later. I'm not that bad a person."
"Hm…" Pollux muttered, "Not sure I approve entirely, but okay. Charging steep amounts of money for medications pisses me off, if I'm being honest."
He frowned.
"I don't think putting people in debt they can't repay during the apocalypse is exactly kind either. You just don't want more corpses littering your hospital," He laughed lightly, "Well, maybe that's just me having no faith in other humans. It's probably just me having no faith in other humans."
"Medication was already really expensive. I don't see why I can't sell it too. I stock this place with food and drinkable water. People are running their own businesses out here. And I shelter people for free. I don't have to help anyone, but like I said. I'm not that bad a person. I don't want to see human life gone before it could be used by that person for as long as they should be able to," Logan said, crossing her arms. "Now are you only here to criticize me for how I survive?"