Hide Your Lungs||SMPLive AU

Chapter Three

Travis swallowed and stood up, carefully pushing his chair in and out of the walkway, "Yeah... sure..."

"Great! Always good to have an extra pair of hands," Ted walked across the kitchen to a wooden door that Travis assumed led outside. Ted gripped the handle but before he opened it he removed his hand and put a hand to Travis, "Wait, one second."

Travis watched as Ted rushed out of the kitchen and his footsteps could be heard down the hallway. In less than ten seconds he was back, with two sweatshirts in his hands. He tossed one to Travis, who caught it with surprise.

"You're gonna want to wear that. Weathers been a bitch lately."

Travis nodded in understanding as he put the sweatshirt. Clothing and blankets were one of the main things they were supposed to get in Canton. Ted had his own sweatshirt on when he opened the door, causing a wave of cold morning air to rush into the kitchen.

"Come on, let's go to the garden."

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The kitchen door led to a small fenced area. In the far back was what Travis recognized as a green-house. Following Ted down off of the small porch they stood on, and he got a good look of the area surrounding the house. It was pretty wooded, making the house hidden from unwanted eyes.

Won't help against Drudges... but Adores... maybe.

They arrived at the green-house, and gripped the wooden handle, "Alright, come in quick, we need to try and keep as much warm air in," He raised an eyebrow and Travis quickly nodded, realizing he was probably looking for some kind of confirmation, "Okay... three... two... and go!"

He swung the door open and Travis quickly slid in and Ted followed shortly after, closing the door behind them. The air inside was humid and warm, and hanging from the ceiling were three lamps, each casting light and warmth on the plants below them.

Travis scowled, and turned to Ted, who was grabbing a small wicker basket off of a small wooden shelf, "How do you have electricity?"

"What?"

"The lights... and the heat inside...? How do you guys have all that stuff?"

Ted smiled as he started to walk down the isles of plants, stopping at a tomato plant that had several ripe looking fruits, "Most of this was all here when I get here, but we've done work and it has definitely improved," He plucked a large red tomato off its branch and gently placed it in the basket, "But the power comes from solar panels. There were some already in place, but Schlatt and Connor set more up so we would have a more reliable source of power during the winter. The heat inside comes from a fire, old house, no electrical heating, so we have to be real good at building fires if we don't want to freeze."

"Oh... that's smart," Ted nodded and Travis quickly realized that he was being useless, "Uh... what do you want me to do...? Sorry, I've been just standing here..."

"It's all good, there's a pepper plant over there, get at least two?" Travis' eyes followed to where Ted was pointing and nodded as he hurried over.

There were at least four large, red bell peppers that Travis guessed were ripe. He pulled one off the branch, careful as to not damage the rest of the plant. He held the pepper in his hand and he couldn't help the smile that grew on his face.

We haven't had fresh food in so long... Cooper is gonna love this.

Cooper.

Guilt suddenly washed over Travis, and he felt sick. Cooper was probably in so much pain and Travis was in a garden. Travis had gotten a night's rest, and Cooper had had his leg removed. Travis didn't even ask if he was okay this morning.