The End Times, Brought to You by Americorp.

The hole in AWOL

It took a couple hours, but I eventually made it back home. Well, the closest thing that people like me have to a home. It was a ginormous abandoned mall, shrouded in miles of forests. The mall, and many of the other crumbling buildings, used to be very busy and popular. However, after a larger-than-average act of ecoterrorism that happened a few years ago, the entire town was evacuated. The air was deemed completely unbreathable, the water undrinkable, and ground itself was too polluted to grow healthy crops. The lack of human interaction caused nature to reclaim the territory, and gradually heal from the pollution. Unbeknownst to the government and the companies that own it, the forgotten town was starting to repopulate. The mall swarmed with life, hundreds of missing persons and shady characters lived and worked and reinvented themselves in a shoddy building left unknown by the rest of the world. The ones who do know of it, however, lovingly refer to it as AWOL.

A blinding spotlight was cast over me from one of AWOL's second story windows. I shaded my eyes with one arm and waved towards the watchman with the other, hoping they'd recognize me. The spotlight blinks twice and turns away from me, signifying that they do. I continue walking across the expansive, cracked, and overgrown parking lot to the front entrance. I recognize Jax's truck, parked amongst other rusty vehicles, and sigh in relief at the fact that he and Mince must've arrived relatively safely. Looking back to AWOL's entrance, I spot Smiley, sitting in the windowsill.

"Hey, hey, hey," She greeted, waving with both hands and showing the unnaturally genuine smile that she always wore. "I heard that your clumsy butt got ditched again." 

"You heard right," I admitted. "That jerk of a manager scared Jax off again. But it's all good, no harm done."

Smiley kicked her legs and cocked her head. "You must be hungry, having to walk all the way home." She pulled a granola bar from her overall pocket and waved in front of me, but refusing to let me grab it.  "I don't suppose you'd be willing to do me a favor?"

I rolled my eyes and checked the time on my flip phone. 2 AM. "It's kinda late to be doing 'favors', Smiley." I yawned, feeling what remained of my energy leaving. I started walking away, only to hear Smiley get up and follow me.

"Come on!" She said, "It's not gonna kill you. I just want you to meet this guy-" 

"How am I not surprised," I say, cutting her off, "that you're once again, trying to set me up?" The words left my mouth sounding a lot more bitter than I meant it too. That was the other thing that she was known for; she was determined to get everyone she knew into some romantic relationship. And she knew a lot of people, being one of the main recruiters.

"It'd be good for you," she insisted, either not noticing or outright ignoring my tone.  "Everyone deserves love, Hydra! You deserve love!"

"I don't want love," I bluntly said. The growing exhaustion was starting to make me irritable. "I can't afford things like that. I can't afford to get comfortable. I can't afford having something to lose. I can't. So please drop it." The slight outburst left Smiley speechless for a moment. I turned to her, on saw the pity written on her face, the hopeful smile still there.

"Where are we headed?" She changed the subject, thank God. She must've just noticed that I wasn't headed to my room, which was on the second floor. We were currently on the third.

"Tech Branch," I answer, showing her the USB I received earlier that night. 

"Cool," she said. She continued to follow me. I was half-tempted to find something better to do, but I held my tongue. 

We passed several tech-filled rooms, devoid of people. I eyed the crow bin, where the local flock of corvids had been trained to leave flash drives, memory chips, and other small pieces of tech. It sat on an open windowsill with a plate of seeds and berries. I considered leaving the USB in there and calling it a night, but a short buzz of electricity caught my attention. I investigated the sound, and found Alex working in the dark. He seemed to be disassembling a phone.

"Hey, Alex," I said, stepping closer to his desk.

He lifted his head, looked at me, then Smiley, the clock hanging on the wall, then back at me. "Morning," he said, redirecting his attention to his work.

"I got a message from West Tourniquet."

"Ok, and? I'm not in communications. If you wanted that deciphered, you should've come up here at a reasonable time." 

"I would've if I could've," I mumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Can you just make sure that one of the guys in communications gets this?" I say, holding the USB out to him.

"Yeah, yeah," he snatched it from my hand without a glance. "Need anything else? Do you need me to spoon-feed you breakfast and give you a backrub?" He offered sarcastically.

"Yeah, just do me a favor and die in a ditch," I snapped, wanting nothing more than to punch the snide jerk in the face. Smiley looked nothing short of amused at the altercation. 

I wasted no time leaving the Tech Branch. I briskly made my way to the second story, where most of the stores were renovated into living spaces. My room, which was once a Forever 21, was shared between six women, including myself. Upon arriving the entrance, I turned to Smiley, who was still on my heels. 

"Smiley, I mean this in the nicest way possible," I began, "but if anything prevents me from falling asleep within the next 3 minutes, I will not hesitate to mutilate it beyond recognition. That being said, you should probably go back to doing whatever it was you were doing before I came in."

She chuckled at my threat like I was joking. "Sure thing, Hydra. Sleep tight!" She immediately turned and walked away, looking back and waving as she did so. I finally entered the store, looked at the mattress I've been longing for all day, and collapsed onto it. I couldn't even stay awake long enough to take my shoes off or get under the blanket. In that moment, my soul ascended to heaven. I was finally at peace.