𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝖘𝖆𝖎𝖓t

He heard the clunk of the knife hitting the ground, the noise causing him to slowly peak over the bannister to try and catch a glimpse of her and the knife on the ground. "What the fuck is going on?" He whispered to himself, the situation was causing confusion and he didn't know how to act anymore. The voice.. her voice seemed all too familair. "What.. what is your name?" He asked sounding a little unsure in himself as he slowly slipped the knife back in the sheath, he wasn't sure if he was going to regret that choice. Gabe stepped towards the stairs for a better look at who it could be that he was speaking with, not fully showing himself yet just in case there were some surprises like a potential gun or more people.

Until he asked her what her name was. That was the first time as she stood on those stairs that she considered lying to him. She knew that she wasn't dangerous, but how could she say that same thing for him? She could go with something simple, she thought, Emily was close to Emine. Or maybe just say Em, it wasn't technically a lie because that was what her boyfriend used to call her. A boyfriend that was a lot closer than she even knew. "Em." She called up the stairwell, shaking her head at herself. "Well, it's Emine but my boyfriend calls me Em."

"What?" He scrunched his eyebrows at their question, he couldn't remember the last time somebody asked him if he was hurt that wasn't from him community. He tiptoed towards the bannister to see if he could sneak a glimpse of the person over it but it seemed they weren't close enough. "No, I'm not hurt. Listen to me you have 4 minutes now to get the fuck out otherwise I'm coming down there." He threatened once more. "This whole place is booby trapped, if you don't leave it's either me that gets you or the traps you will stumble into." He was lying. There were no traps, at least none that he had set up anyway.

"I'm sorry if I've intruded into your space or something, but listen, we have a community that could help you. You don't have to be on your own like this." If there was anything she could come out with, it was that she helped someone today. She wanted to take another step up the stairs, get a look at the man who viewed her as a threat. But what if he was right? What if she tripped a wire being curious and never made it back to the team? The next thing she did was stupid, so very stupid. Emine threw down her knife, her only weapon, onto part of the stair landing, "I told you I'm not a threat."

The past two months had worn Nathan down in ways he hadn't expected. Days blurred together beneath the constant hum of generators and fluorescent lights, each one ending exactly where it began. Inside Saint Marlowe. He'd asked more than once to join the scavenging teams, always receiving the same answer. Not yet. He couldn't entirely blame the soldiers. He caught the hesitant glances they exchanged before politely turning him away. He understood some. Nathan looked like he'd snap in a strong breeze, and he knew his nervous habit of wringing his hands probably didn't inspire much confidence either. They weren't trying to be cruel. If anything, they were trying to keep him alive. Still, it was hard not to feel like another patient trapped inside the hospital.

Saint Marlowe had its own rhythm now, one Nathan couldn't seem to escape. Boots echoed down hallways at all hours. Radios crackled somewhere in the distance. Sometimes, when the building settled for the night, something else echoed through the sealed floors the military insisted everyone avoid. He'd gone looking more than once despite the warnings, curiosity always getting the better of him, though he'd never ventured far enough to satisfy it. Eventually, he'd accepted that the best thing he could do was what he'd always done best... make himself useful. The children's playroom had slowly transformed into a makeshift library. The shelves filled with every anything he could rescue from abandoned waiting rooms and offices. It wasn't much compared to the library he'd left behind, but people came anyway. Sometimes for a book. Sometimes just for a quiet place to sit and pretend the world still made sense.

He was shelving another stack of books abandoned by a group of children who had been far more interested in playing tag than reading when someone appeared in the doorway. Nathan glanced up, offering the same warm smile he always tried to wear, even when it felt a little borrowed. "H-Hi," he greeted. "Looking for something to read?" His eyes drifted toward the shelves before a sheepish smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "My selection's... honestly limited. Turns out hospitals stock an alarming number of romance novels." A quiet laugh escaped him as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Not that I'm judging. Desperate times and all."

During this almost sleepless time, she often found herself wandering. She wanted to know more, she wanted to be as prepared as she could be and with not a lot to offer fighting wise, she would at least know every corner and speck of her 'home'. That's how she knew she'd find him here. Among the books. "Always looking for something to read." She smiled at him warmly, "You know, anything to kill the time or make me feel.. normal?" Emine scooped up a copy of a childrens book on the floor nearby where she stood, looking over the cover carefully before extending her arm out to hand it over to Nathan. "I used to read this one to my class. It feels like years ago, but really I had just read it a few months back."

𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌: 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥. @kartalem

Gabe had to get out of the community everyone once in a while, he was thankful for the safety of the walls but it really did make him feel like he was going insane sometimes. There was nothing natural about the way they lived, there was nothing normal about military maintaining the walls.. or the walls being barricaded by sandbags or abandoned vehicles. Leaving every now and again to look for supplies and make him feel as though he was doing his part really helped clear his mind. Todays location was the nearby abandoned neighorhoods. Searching through peoples empy homes felt odd. This used to be where people were making memories and growing their families, living their everyday life and now their things were just left behind for others to decide whether or not their belongings where useful to them. Gabe was searching through one of the bedrooms in a home, a bedroom that looked like it used to belong to a teenager at some point, when his hand reached underneath the bed to grab what looked like two sealed water bottles. He froze in place when he heard what sounded like footsteps down stairs. "You have 5 minutes to leave otherwise I come down there and kill you." His hand reaching down to his belt to grab his knife, he was hoping it was an empty threat but these days.. you just never know.

So far in her search, she had come up empty handed. It always felt like that was the case for Emine whenever she went out with the group, they always found more than she did. It left her feeling useless, but never something that she was express. She had to be the light, she had to provide something. She knew that the group would be meeting back up together again soon to go back to their community, and if she wasn't going to bring anything back with her, she would at least enjoy her favorite part of this all.

Her eyes scanning over each wall carefully, trying to memorize the faces of each person in every photo. She wondered who they were, who they are now, if they even are someone anymore. Her fingers trailed along the staircase railing as she took the first step, the creak it made hadn't even phased her until the voice above came through clear enough to send shivers down her spine. She had never run into another outside of her community before. "I-.. I'm not a threat, I promise. Are you alone? Are you hurt up there?"