The Rot: Book 2

Chapter 4

Mick and Dylan started laughing. "Well we had to do something for some privacy. Carla and Phil screw like rabbits," Mick said. "I'm tired of hearing that shit."

"I heard that!" Carla called out from her cubicle.

Mick just shook his head and resumed working on the van. Since I know jack shit about vehicles, I didn't ask what was wrong with the van, or even volunteer to help; I'd just get in their way.

"Do you think your group would like to join us?" Maurice asked me.

I had to think about it for a few seconds before I gave my answer. "You know, Maurice? I really can't say one way or the other. If it were just me? I'd probably stick around. But there's three other people that I have to convince."

"You're welcome to stay here as along as you'd like, Reid," Dylan said. "Take all the time you need to make up your mind."

"Yeah," added Mick. 

Well, they did kind of have a point. One of the positive aspects of this whole end of the world crap is that I didn't have to worry about missing any appointments.

"Why don't you stay here for the night? It is pretty dangerous going back and forth all the time after all," Maurice said. "Did you have any close calls getting here?"

"Sort of. Carla handled it with her spike," I responded.

"The spike of doom," Mick quipped.

"I'll stay the night here only if I can watch Carla and Phil going at it," I said.

Mick, Dylan, and Maurice all glanced at one another. "Dude, really?" Mick asked me.

I shook my head. "I'm just kidding. What am I? Some kind of perv? I just want to listen to them going at it."

They all laughed. Except for Carla back in her cubicle. "Once again, you are a weird guy, Reid."

"Come on, I'll get you set up for the rest of the day. Your group isn't expecting you back today, are they?" Maurice asked.

"I don't think so. If I'm not back after a day or two, they'll come looking, they know how to get here," I answered.

"Okay, good."

Maurice took me over to a corner of the warehouse near the entrance. Him and I set up a few boxes for me to lay on, and I had myself a nice little cubicle of my own. I thought sleeping on a stack of cardboard would suck ass, but it really wasn't that bad. And, it was nice having a bit of privacy compared to sleeping out in the living room with everyone else back at the apartment. But I still didn't know if the girls would want to come and stay here. Hell, I didn't know if I wanted to.

When it was dinner time, Carla and Phil emerged from their love shack to join us. Phil was a little on the short side, bald, with a brown goatee. He wore a plain black t shirt and olive fatigues. He had almost as deep a voice as Mick.

"Nice to meet you, Reid," Phil told me.

"Likewise, Phil," I replied.

For dinner, we all had a few pieces of bread and butter. I was more of a margarine guy myself back when things were normal, but I wasn't complaining. We all just kind of sat around until Maurice got up in front of everyone and started talking.

"Okay, as you all know, Carla brought Reid to us to see if he'd like to join our group. Reid also has three others that could potentially join as well. Anyone here opposed?" Maurice asked the group. I guess he was their leader.

"Fine with me," Mick said.

"Me too," Dylan added.

"All good here," said Carla.