I Hope the Worst Isn't Over ✔️

Chapter One

"The idea of a 'green thumb' is such bull. There's literally no such thing," Virgil said, looking at Logan as they climbed the stairs, "Hey! Tell Roman that I'm right."

Roman shook his head, "No, tell this ignorant man that he's in the wrong. There's definitely some totally scientific explanation for having a green thumb. Right, Logan?"

He raised an eyebrow, unsure of how the two even ended up arguing over something so inconsequential. "Well, no. Scientifically speaking, there is no proof of someone being naturally gifted in caring for plants, though I don't see what that has to do with the colour of one's digits."

Roman groaned, "That's so lame. And it's an expression, anyway. It doesn't actually mean your thumb turns leprechaun green when you're skilled. It alludes to a gardener having their fingers stained from working with plants so much."

"I see…" Logan shrugged, "In that case, although there's still no proof of anyone inherently possessing advanced gardening abilities, if your tendings do happen to be sprouting faster than Virgil's, it's simply due to the extra steps you take. For instance, everyone knows plants need sunlight and water in order to photosynthesise, but they also grow better when spoken, or even sung to."

"See! I told you my gardening tunes weren't in vain! Even the plants appreciate it," said Roman, placing a hand over his heart.

Virgil shook his head adamantly, "Well I sure don't, and I am not going to start singing to them either," he said, raising his hands in mock surrender and abandoning the conversation in favour of assisting Patton.

Roman chuckled and rested his hands on his hips, "I'll take what I can get."

"That may be wise," Logan agreed.

Patton looked to Virgil with a smile, "Would you mind serving everyone up a bowl while I get some water from the filtration system?"

"Sure, dude."

The blond nodded and headed off, and Virgil ushered the others to the wooden picnic table installed on the side of the deck. He poured the soup into the four bowls Patton had prepared, and placed each one onto the table in front of their may-as-well-be assigned seats. Patton returned soon after, handing out cups of purified drinking water to everyone, as well as placing a bowl on the ground for his dog that was now following close behind and wagging its tail excitedly. His name was Dug, a big sweetie of a golden retriever named after the movie Up that Patton had owned since before the world fell apart.

"There, everyone all set?" Patton asked, only taking a seat once the others assured him they were alright and not in need of anything else. Everyone began digging into their meals, and they ate in a mildly tense silence before Logan finally broke it by speaking up.

"So..." he began, "we spoke of partaking in a scavenging mission after dining, has anyone's opinion on that matter changed?"

"Mine hasn't," said Roman after taking a swig of his water. "We need to go, we're running dangerously low on supplies. I hate to bring it up, but I thought we agreed to never get to this point again if we could help it. Winter will be here soon, and then we won't even have most of our crops."

Virgil nodded, "And I hate to agree, but Roman's right."

"Well," Patton took a deep breath, "I guess it's decided then, we'll go after lunch. But we'll probably have to find a new shop, we've cleared out anything useful from all of the ones nearby."

"All of those within a 5 mile radius, yes…" said Logan, "meaning it will be an approximate 4 hour round-trip to this new location and back. That is, taking into account any stops, detours, and the time needed to actually search the store we select. Though that estimate is only applicable if all goes as planned."