Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 257

Chapter 257: The Right Choice
Rayne carried two boxes while Julian carried the other two. They walked down the staircase and to their SUV with the old man.

“I never got your name”, said Rayne as she placed the boxes in the trunk of the car.

“Adam”, he replied.

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a small sandwich, “Here you go Adam, I hope it’s to your taste”.

This was the first time the old man showed a look of surprise on his face. He looked at her outstretched arm and the sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap that she was holding.

“For me?”, he asked again, gulping slightly.

Rayne smiled, “Yes! Don’t worry, I have more! You mentioned that you haven’t eaten in a while, please have this.”

After a few moments, Adam extended his arms to accept the food. He held the sandwich as if it was a brick of solid gold with shaky hands.

“I don’t remember the last time I saw a sandwich. Thank you”, he said quietly.

It took him a while to actually open it and begin eating, as he savored the feeling of having a meal other than stale bread or dried biscuits.

Rayne smiled as she watched him carefully take a bite. After confirming he enjoyed it she walked over to the other side of the car, giving him some space to eat.

Julian went back upstairs to see if the mother-daughter pair needed help carrying their things down, and when he arrived at their apartment, an entire stack of boxes blocked the view inside their apartment.

“We still have a few more things we need to pack!”, Rachael’s mother shouted from inside.

Julian looked at the stack of boxes in front of him and scratched his head, wondering how they were going to fit anything inside.

Rachael squeezed through the boxes and looked at him with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry, she can’t seem to part with any of these items. I tried telling her there was no room but she insisted”, she said quietly.

“Well, we can try to fit it. But I’m not sure if we can get all of it in”, he said.

Rachael nodded and pointed to the front stack of boxes, “These are the most important, the ones in the back are mostly memorabilia.”

Julian nodded then picked up a few of the front boxes and began carrying them down to the car.

–

Rayne spotted him from the side of the car and walked over to help.

“Is this all?”, she asked, slightly surprised.

“Ha, if only. They have so many boxes, I don’t think we’ll be able to fit them all”, he said, shaking his head.

Rayne laughed, “We’ll, us women do typically require more items. Let’s see if we can fit them all.”

They began stacking the boxes inside the trunk of the SUV. Thankfully Adam’s only had a few items, leaving a good amount of space.

Rayne followed Julian back upstairs to help carry the rest of the boxes. When they made it to Rachael’s apartment, the two women were finally finished backing.

They managed to carry the rest of the items down in a single trip thanks to Julian carrying such a large stack that he couldn’t see where he was going.

When they made it to the car, Rayne and Julian had to play Tetris in order to fit all of the boxes and bags inside. They managed to fit most of the items only because Julian strapped some of the sturdier boxes to the roof of the car.

“I’m surprised all of that we managed to fit all of this”, said Rayne, closing the trunk of the car.

Julian looked over at her with a cheeky smile, “Only because you happened to carry car straps.”

Rayne blushed from his teasing tone. The others looked at them with a confused expression, deciding to leave the two love birds alone.

–

Once everyone was settled in the car Julian decided to head back home. He originally wanted to visit a few more places to gather more information, but with the added cargo and people, he decided to call it a day.

They quietly drove back out of the city and towards the mountains. Everyone stayed quiet while they watched the cityscape disappear behind them.

“You guys weren’t kidding about being outside of the city. I guess the rural folk are better built for these kinds of disasters. They’re more self-sufficient”, said Adam.

“Both of us are originally from the city, but we had to move out since we had no place to stay. Thankfully we met a group of like-minded individuals and started this small settlement”, replied Rayne.

Adam nodded, understanding their situation, “If I were younger, I too would have tried to move out of the city after the earthquakes.”

Rachael nodded, agreeing with Adam, “At least before we had a bigger group of us. We managed to band together and search for supplies together. After everyone left, things got scary. If you two didn’t show up, I’m not sure where we would have ended up.”

Rayne listened to their stories on how they had to walk for miles every day through the freezing cold to find food and fuel.

She couldn’t believe how easily tricked those people were to believe in a stranger’s words without asking about details first.

–

When they finally pulled up to the forest entrance, it was already late at night. Rayne led the three of them to the guest house they set up for situations like this.

“Please stay here for the night and in the morning we can get you settled into your new rooms”, said Rayne.

Adam and the two women looked around in awe. As soon as they walked inside they noticed a dim light and how cool the air inside was.

“Electricity? And air conditioning?”, asked Rachael with surprise! She was expecting to live in a tent or some basement.

Adam was also clearly surprised but remained quiet. He walked behind Rayne to his assigned bed, looking around curiously.

“Here, Adam you can stay in this room, feel free to choose which bed you want. Ladies, please follow me to this other room”, said Rayne.

Adam walked in and made his way over to the bed by the small window. He sat down, feeling the plush mattress and soft blanket beneath him.

The cool air blew in from the hallway, causing him to close his eyes and enjoy the feeling. He thought of the delicious sandwich he had earlier as he ran his fingers over the bed.

“I made the right choice”, he said softly.

–

In the adjacent room, Rayne was showing Rachael and her mother to their temporary beds.

“And if you need to use the restroom, there are two RVs outside that have water. We’ll teach you how to use the showers tomorrow”, explained Rayne.

Both women looked around the small room with happy smiles. They were both pleasantly surprised at how nice things were here, and they didn’t even see the rest of the settlement.

“Thank you very much. This is truly amazing”, said Rachael after a few moments. The beds were soft and the sheets were clean. She could tell that they put a lot of care into this place, making her want to do her part to contribute.

“Have a good sleep, we’ll come by in the morning to introduce you to everyone and get you settled”, said Rayne before turning to leave.

–

Julian waited for Rayne outside. He was tired from the long drive and didn’t have the energy to settle the newcomers in.

“Everyone settled?”, he asked her as soon as she walked out of the house.

“Yes!”, she smiled, walking over to his side.

Instead of walking home, they went over to the newly constructed rec center. Rayne planned on using their late arrival to secretly furnish the new building.

Julian followed her inside, yawning with watery eyes.

Rayne giggled and looked at him, “You should go home and sleep. I’ll be okay on my own.”

He shook his head, “No, I want to stay here and keep you company.” He continued to yawn as he fought to stay awake.

Rayne walked over to the library side of the building and placed a small leather couch under the side window.

“Here, lay here while I stock the shelves”, she smiled, pointing to the couch. She handed him a blanket before walking over to a nearby bookshelf.

Julian stumbled over to the couch and sat down, falling asleep as soon as he tilted his head back.

Rayne giggled at the scene before turning her attention to the bookshelves. The process of filling the shelves with books was very therapeutic. She found herself lost in the moment, unaware of how much time had passed.

She filled the shelves by genre, anywhere from gardening and survival guides to children’s picture books.

In the center of the room, she placed three long tables together to form one long one. She surrounded it with wooden chairs in the same wood tone as the table.

“Perfect! Now everyone will have a place to read!”, she said to herself.