Brain Dead; A Zodiac Story

❖ Chapter 16 ❖

~Leo~

    "I am not thrilled about basement duty at all." Taurus mumbled, hopping down the last concrete step and sneezing as he inhaled dust.

    "Would you rather count a million cans in the kitchen?" Mini asked, raising a brow.

    "Yeah I would, actually." Taurus deadpanned, squeezing in between a stack of old boxes to investigate the rest of the area.

There was nothing special about the space, just your average basement used to store away unneeded items. If it weren't for the heaps of cardboard boxes, it would easily be mistaken for a decent living space with how the couches and smaller tables were rearranged to resemble a living room.

    "This could last us for months! Look, fresh blankets!" Taurus began rummaging through some boxes, eager to find something that would give him comfort during sleep.

Looking around, he was right. A lot of the boxes here were just stacked with supplies; extra blankets and pillows, clothes, and some were even packed with canned goods and plenty of water. In any apocalyptic world, this would be considered a gold mine.

"Damn, were they preparing for the apocalypse or something?" Mini asked, digging through one of the boxes and practically just throwing things out.

"Maybe a hurricane. I would've come here sooner if I knew they had all this.." I muttered, taking note of the extra packages of food sitting freely on the iron shelves.

It had me thinking of my own house. Mom had been overworking per usual, so I left almost immediately when Libra came pounding at my door in a panic. Usually it's better to stay within the safety of your own home, but in my case we ain't really have anything to defend ourselves with. We were ill-prepared for a situation like this and I can now only imagine my mom returning home, crunched in a corner with an emergency bag of Lays, ringing me nonstop despite the service being out.

My insides rocked at my sudden homesickness and the thought of my mother having a total freak out. Once we got some service, I'd be sure to call her immediately and maybe give her tips on how to not become zombie food.

She'd say something like "I know that, big head!" and we'd laugh and forget for a moment that we're literally in a state of emergency. Damn, now that things had settled down a little, I really missed my mom.

    "You think we'll ever get to go home? Like...after everything's handled?" I asked, which must've seemed out of the blue since Mini and Taur looked to me like I had uttered something offensive.

   "What's your idea of 'handled'?" Mini asked, tipping her head. "I think this town is beyond salvageable."

Taurus quickly cuts in. "What? No. There's no way things have escalated that fast."

He said that, but his expression contradicts his statement as he appeared a little troubled. His forehead creased as his eyebrows knitted together, like he had suddenly been irked by a horrid thought.

    "Don't be so confident. This shit is probably spreading like wildfire."

    "Yeah but..." Taurus paused, finding it hard to counter Mini's statement. It was understandable, this shit was basically unpredictable.