Accountment

"Hmm... Everything is a bathroom!" Angelo gleefully answered.

"Eh?" Duncan grew despondent.

"Well, everything except inside."

"... I see..." the boy softly rummaged inside the dark green backpack.

'... I only have one roll of toilet paper... I did NOT plan for this. Gah! The image in my head of conquering a post-apocalyptic world did not involve going to the bathroom! How am I supposed to survive like this?!' he stared into empty space with pouched lips and wide eyes.

"Uhh..." Angelo was unable to find the right words. "It... rains a lot!" he counseled.

'Rain...?' he sighed. 'I guess I could live like that... Hm, but why not that river thing I saw?'

"Rain?" the survivor asked. "What about that river by the plains?"

The wide smile across Angelo's face withered as the hopeful glint in his eyes dimmed. "I don't like the water..." he mumbled.

'Eh?! Huh?! W-what? What is up with that reaction?! What happened to him?' he glanced back and forth between the winged boy and the wall.

'I'm too scared to ask...'

Duke remained still in the middle of the room, its eye moving from one of the boys to the other as it eagerly awaited an opportunity to strike.

Duncan took the square frustum drone and pressed on its top base. Flipping it over, the screen now had a visible line cutting it out from the rest of the drone body. Using his nail, he lifted the screen and then pulled at the exposed piece of phone. As he pulled the phone up, sticky sick green gloop drooped from it. The goop lines split into two ends that then retracted like rubber back into the phone's case and drone body respectively.

'Might as well do some planning...' he opened a new spreadsheet.

'Oh, past me was awesome enough to make a list of all the items I brought along with me! How nice. Okay then, what should my goal be? I guess I'll keep sticking to survival for now, and the whole food, water, shelter thing.'

'Water... well it seems like it's covered with those water bugs? It seems the river is a no go...'

'Food... As far as I can tell, this guy doesn't have a large stockpile.' he looked around the hollowed out room. 'Yea, there's no way that's enough for three meals a day. I should probably count up everything and account for how much is eaten daily and then make calculations based on that.' he looked over to Angelo's wings.

'Okay, but like, I'm still confused as to how it's physically possible for him to fly. And that explosion too, how does it work? Can't I just... ask?' the survivor took a deep breath.

"Hey, uh," he called out to the angelic boy. "how can you fly, like physically? How does it work?"

"Wait, I'll show you!" the winged boy said, having come back to normal.

Angelo extended one of his wings and plucked out a feather. The feather was held onto the wing's scaffolding line by a short thin thread that now hung off the detached feather.

'Doesn't that hurt?!'

"Here, look inside." the winged boy handed over the white feather with a subtle yellow tint.

Duncan reluctantly took the banana sized feather and gave it a close look. It looked like a swollen version of a normal feather with far shorter barbs.

'!' he rotated and shook the firm and hard feather close to his eyes. 'This thing has some sort of... liquid inside. The texture is also weird, feels more like some sort of leather sack.' as he moved the translucent feather, a lightly yellow fluid swooshed around on the inside.

"W-what is this?" the boy asked.

"Fuel!" Angelo exclaimed. "I can burn it and push myself around that way! If the feathers don't have fuel, I can't fly, only glide."

'WHAT?! Is he a freaking gas pump?!?!'

"Huh? How do you put fuel inside them? Also doesn't it hurt to just... pluck them out like that?"

"From the food I eat! That's why I eat a lot! Mommy said I eat as much as ten people combined." he gave a hearty laugh. "And don't worry, it doesn't hurt, and they grow back!"

"Wow... I see..."

"Give me it, I'll show you something cool!" the angel presented his hand.

Duncan handed over the feather and watched. Angelo lightly pulled the feather by its thread, causing it to combust with a small flame on top on its quill like a lighter.

"Woah..." Duncan looked in awe. "That's so cool!"

Angelo giggled. "Yea. Haha." he smoldered the feather on the ground and threw it in a corner.

"I can also throw them and make them explode like when that bad bird attacked us." he tapped his chin. "And I can take out the oil, but I haven't done that since mommy taught me how to."

'So... He literally has a wing shaped jet pack growing out his back? Dang, Tatiana. Wait... now that I think about it... How did he get his body mods? And how does it relate with his name? Also wasn't it illegal to put such extreme body mods on minors?" Duncan contemplated for a second. 'Best not open that can of worms right now...'

'But uh, he said he eats as much as ten people? I hope that's an exaggeration. Well, it would explain the low food stockpiles, and I'm sure it takes a ton of calories to make that much fuel. I mean just look at how many feathers there are!' he looked back to his phone showing a blank spreadsheet.

'So my day should basically just be scouring for food and water... Will I even have any free time? That... sounds like it'd suck. I need a long term plan.'

"Whachu doin?" Angelo asked, causing Duncan that was deep in thought to jump slightly.

"I- uh, was, I-" he failed to form words. "Planning!"

"About what?"

"How we should survive! Like, food, w-water, you know?"

'Wait... we?' Duncan thought. 'Do I really want to constantly be with him? I mean, he isn't bad, but, I wanted to build a machine empire by myself... And rule it myself! But, is that really possible? I'd kinda be dead without him by now...'

"Ohh, that sounds fun! What do we do?"

'W-well, get food, I think. Enough so we can be well-fed and save some for another time. And water."

"Great! Let's go then!" the winged boy bounced up on his feet.

"Ah! Wait! We should first, um, count what we already have. And also! We need a long term goal. Like, surely we should be building up to something?"

"Okay!" the angel sat back down. "Hm, how about we find my mommy then? I'm sure she'll help us! Her cooking is really good, we'll never have to worry about food!" Angelo came to a realization.

"Ah! But what about your parents, Duncan? Don't you... also want to find them?"

Duncan gulped and adverted his gaze.

'Tsk, as if.'

"Well... I'm not sure if they even made it for the suspension... I doubt they're alive." he said, emotionless.

"A-ah... Okay, I see..." guilt showed on Angelo.

"Don't worry about it." the boy dismissed. "I don't have anything against helping to find your mom. Let's do that if we get a lead." a smile creaked into being on the survivor's face.

'I do kinda owe him. It's the least I could do.'

"Alright!" Angelo got up. "We should count what's here now, right?"

"Yea." Duncan also got up and dusted himself.

'I'd rather weigh most of this stuff, like the food. But, there's no scale...'

The two ran around the hole in the tree, counting and writing the quantity of each item.

"Fifteen sticks!" Angelo yelled out, prompting Duncan to add the number to his spreadsheet.

"That's everything..." the boy announced and double checked.

"Yay! Let's go get food then!" the winged boy picked up the gray branch he always carried around.

"From where?" the survivor pocketed his phone.

"The place with tall grass, the plains. There's a lot of food there."

"T-then, before that, maybe I should empty out my backpack so we can carry back more stuff?"

"Sure! Let me help."

Duncan dragged over the heavy green pack, unzipped it and settled the many items inside on the floor with the angelic boy doing the same from a different compartment.

'I guess with this I'm committing to working with him.' the boy sighed. 'Good thing I took doubles of most stuff just to make sure. I kinda don't want to share tho, ugh.'

The two emptied out the sack and organized everything.

"Let's leave Duke behind." Duncan said. "He won't be really useful, and will end up using up his battery for nothing."

[Of course, you shall lock me in your horde of prized possessions, for I am the most valuable one.] the machine instantaneously added.

"Yes, yes, you're a lamp now, buddy. Congrats." the survivor teased the automaton.

[My dimmest light is brighter than your future.]

"... Anyhow, he could also be on alert and send a signal to my phone if something happens here, but I doubt the signal will reach."

"Fine by me!" the angelic boy's wings softly fluttered.

"Duke, sleep and guard." Duncan commanded.

[Even in my slumber they shall fear my gaze.] Duke laid limp, its lights went out and the subtle mechanical whir coming from within it ceased.

The two survivors left the spherical room, one carrying a deflated backpack while the other gripped a grey stick. The winged one took the moldy bark on the outside and leaned it against the hole in the tree to make it hidden.

"Let's go!" Angelo ran ahead in excitement, Duncan following close behind.