Chapter 34A - Wandering
The clock on the wall faintly ticks in the background as I rummage through boxes of rations. Upon further exploration, I discover cans of soup on one shelf and various other unlabeled goods on another. Maybe these will at least taste decent…
I heat up the can of soup and sit down at one of the tables, finding myself feeling a bit more lonely with nobody else to sit with. Strangely enough, it feels even more empty in this place without Ell1s and his constant ramblings…
Where is he, anyways? It’s not that I want to deal with him again after what just happened, but knowing him I feel like he’ll feel bad and turn up again eventually. I quietly think to myself as I fidget with my scarf and take a few reluctant sips of the soup in my hand. I sigh, exhausted, but no longer hungry as I finish my food and stand up from the table. Maybe I’ll just walk around for a bit to clear my mind.
I feel a bit weaker than usual as I step through the metal hallways, but I try to shake it off and just go for a quick stroll. I come across a few storage rooms I haven’t seen yet, but I don’t have any use for the various documents scattered around anymore. I wander around a little more, approaching the library room before noticing a green flash of light in a nearby corner, quickly disappearing.
Of course he’s lurking around, why am I even surprised… After a few minutes, I walk into the library hoping I might find something interesting to read, since I was a bit of an avid reader in the past. Most of these books are super dusty though…
I browse around the shelves for anything that might pique my interest, until I notice Ell1s in the corner, awkwardly scrolling through an article on one of his holographic screens. He notices me, panicking a little before quickly composing himself and looking away.
“Um… pay me no mind… I’m just here… reading… stuff……”
“Are you following me?”
“What?! I’m- Well- I mean- What, no, of course not. Like I said before, you’ve got everything figured out on your own, so just ignore me. I’m simply here, er… Reading. Because this is. A library. Um. Yeah.”
I shoot him a glare and he panics, quickly disappearing in an instant. Ugh…
I spend a bit of time reading through random books, doing anything to keep my mind distracted. I guess it’s just now dawned on me that there’s not really anything entertaining to do here besides wander around aimlessly.
I lean against the wall and look at the scar on my chest, no longer hidden by the bandages covering it, and mostly healed by now. It’s strange. How many months have I been stuck in this place now? I kind of miss seeing the sun, although nowadays it’s covered by the clouds, bringing down fallen ash and more snowfall to the ground. It felt like I was trapped in an eternal nuclear winter. I’ve already started to forget a lot of my travels and the pain I felt trudging through the snow each day…