Calming the Cabin Fever

"I don't care. I don't 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦. I didn't do a damn thing wrong! 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬…!"

Elliot stood against the wall beside the door inside the darkened master bedroom, watching and listening for a long while as Asher paced angrily back and forth in front of his bed, repeatedly combing his hairs back, pressing a fist to his mouth, and hissing out several curses as he did.

"That fucker—that 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳—you know what that fucker did?" Asher growled. "He had the fucking nerve to accuse me of cutting up her damn arm!"

"Ah-huh," Elliot mumbled, nodding mildly. "But you know—"

"And he just—kept—𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 at me," Asher chided, lunging forward and baring his teeth angrily. "He kept—fucking—yelling—with his stupid childish bullshit! Wouldn't listen to a damn word I said!"

"Yeah… but—"

"He has no idea—𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 what the fuck we're all dealing with here! And he didn't wanna hear it, either! Dumb fuck wouldn't let me get a 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 goddamn word in!"

Elliot sighed, nodding sideways. "I can imagine…"

"I should've… I should've…!" Asher grumbled through his teeth, shaking his head and raking his hairs back again, holding a fist to his mouth.

"Should've what?" Elliot asked, his tone darkening. "Shot him?"

"No, goddammit—I wasn't gonna shoot the dumb little prick," Asher snapped. "But I figured he'd shut the fuck up for a minute if I shot the wall behind him."

"Then why didn't you…?"

"Because… Olivia," Asher exhaled, glaring at the floor and falling momentarily silent.

Elliot perched his brow at him. "Because Olivia what?"

"Because she…" Asher uttered, swatting around loosely in front of himself. "She just… jumped right in the way…"

Elliot narrowed his eyes at him thoughtfully. "Well… from their point of view, it looked like you were about to execute him. You did manage to put the fear of God in them, yeah… but that's not exactly what we wanna be 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 for, here."

Asher dropped his hand by his side, ogling Elliot as if he'd just slapped him across the face.

"So what am I gonna do? Huh?" he hissed. "When some little puissant starts barking at me, telling me I'm an 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳? All I've done—from day damn one—is 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 her. Fuck—I've done the same for them!"

"I know…"

"I'm not gonna stand there and listen to that shit from a couple of nothing people who never lift a goddamn finger!"

"I 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸," Elliot said louder. "But we knew this little confrontation was gonna happen sooner or later, and we knew it wouldn't be a comfortable one from the get-go. Scaring the living shit outta them like that is gonna make them run off. And—if they actually 𝘥𝘰 that—then they're 𝘯𝘰𝘵 gonna 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 out there."

"What the 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 do I care?" Asher challenged.

Elliot's expression flattened into a stoic and caustic one. "Don't gimme that bullshit. You've had a kick in your step and a fire in your eyes ever since we first got here. This whole little thing we got going on here—with you managing the survival of a little rag-tag group of misfits—this is what you 𝘥𝘰, and this is where you 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦. And if you didn't give a good goddamn at all, then they would've been kicked to the fucking curb a 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 ago."

"Oh—really?" Asher griped, cocking his head at him. "I seem to remember some tinfoil-hat-wearing 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬-𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 talking me into 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 them here!"

"Asher," Elliot said seriously, straightening up and giving him a stern, intense look. "You would've done that anyway—and you fucking 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 you would."

Asher fumed at him, falling silent and suddenly losing the will to argue.

Elliot sighed. "Now… you need to fix it, and you need to make sure they know you're not out to just blow their brains out every time you butt heads over something. There are a million and one reasons we can't let them run off from here. They might tell other people that we're here, and then we'll have looters flooding in. They might find the military, and then we'll have soldiers coming here. Not to mention, they're not all that likely to survive on their own, and I really don't think you want their deaths on your head no matter 𝘩𝘰𝘸 pissed off you are."

Asher glared at him, hands locked into fists by his sides, though he couldn't think of any possible way of disagreeing with him now.

"Fix it," Elliot disclosed, pulling the door open and stepping out. "G'night."

The door slowly creaked shut as he left the room.

Asher remained alone in the middle of the bedroom, still leering into the door several moments after Elliot's departure, and still feeling utterly agitated.

A big part of him clung onto the anger, wanting to vent, and argue, and rage on and on—but, he knew for certain Elliot was right with every point he made, and he couldn't ignore those facts anymore. Honestly, deep down, he didn't want to cast the gamers out and leave them to their own devices, and he didn't want to hurt either of them, either.

But to have someone accuse him of abusing the girl he'd rescued—his actions on her behalf having been the main driving force that kept him from ending his own life on the day of the collapse—it gnawed at him, ate at him, festering a deep, furious disdain in the pit of his stomach.

Roman's accusations couldn't have possibly been more wrong.

But, as Asher stood alone in his room, heaving several heavy breaths and pondering deeply on it all, he also knew that Roman and Zach must've been seeing the situation very differently. All they knew was that a group of strange people had suddenly arrived to their Air BnB with an alarming number of firearms, always returning home every day with loads of new goods that appeared from seemingly nowhere, and they were harboring a girl with a worrying scar, a girl who was always anxious and wary of ever mentioning too much about the lives of her companions. From the gamers' perspective, it must've looked incredibly shady, indeed.

The air simply needed to be cleared between them all.

Asher stared down at the carpet, his visage softening, his eyes distant.

In fact, the more he mulled over it all now, while his temper was finally beginning to simmer, the more he almost empathized with Roman, at least to some degree.

Asher often found his mind wandering nowadays, occasionally daydreaming about running into Olivia's ex-boyfriend and giving him some due retribution—and it seemed Roman was just as upset about the scar that had been put on her.

Olivia spent more time with the gamers than Asher did, after all, and they'd certainly formed a friendship with each other. Hell, Asher remembered feeling a stab of anger the first day he met her, spotting that scar and feeling a deep perturbation at the sight of it, and that was before the two even knew one another at all.

But—Asher and Roman were both angered and disturbed by the idea of some abusive guy slicing her arm open, and that, if nothing else, they had very much in common.

He had to respect the hotheaded gamer for feeling a touch of protective anger for her. In fact—if the gamers decided to stay here with them, then Roman and Zach actually caring about Olivia would be a great advantage. She'd have everyone in the house looking after her, and that would certainly put his mind at ease to some extent.

Asher sighed deeply, running a hand down his face and nodding faintly at the floor, his jaw still aching, the corner of his mouth still tasting faintly of iron. He wiped at it with his thumb, stared at the door, and took in a breath, marching forward and pulling it open.

He ventured down the hallway, slowly and quietly, approaching the wooden balcony without making a sound.

Asher leaned silently on the railing, staring down into the living room where the others were.

Olivia, Roman, and Zach were all sprawled lazily across the couch now—Roman slacked up against the corner, Olivia resting against him, and Zach lying against her, all of them looking truly exhausted by the day's events. The coffee table remained in broken and collapsed shambles in front of them, all the items that were once on top of it still scattered across the floor.

Asher leaned slightly forward, eyeing them from behind and trying to hear whatever they were muttering to one another.

"That's crazy," Roman mumbled, scratching his eye and stretching his arm over the back of the couch. "That's like… 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 insane…"

"How do you shoot a guy's hand…?" Zach asked breathlessly, craning his neck around and peering up at Olivia, as he was lying against her stomach. "That's some serious aim…"

Olivia breathed out a weak little laugh, nestling against Roman's side and gazing up at the lights hanging above them.

Roman glimpsed down at her, stroking along his thin mustache and sighing heavily. "So… just outta curiosity… where does Chris live?"

"Ahh… I can't tell you," Olivia mumbled, shaking her head.

"Why?" Roman asked.

"Same reason I can't tell Asher," Olivia answered. "You might go there and try to kill him."

Roman and Zach both chuckled.

"I don't see your point, but okay," Roman snickered.

"He's probably not there anymore, anyway," Olivia knew. "Everybody's gone…"

"Yeah," Roman exhaled, gazing out the glass portions of the walls and staring into the night sky. "Fuck. I don't know what we're even gonna do…"

Asher flashed a soft half-smile, calmly listening to them in silence.

It seemed Olivia had explained everything to them, which would make his part quite a bit easier. And, admittedly, he did enjoy hearing them talk openly about the same things Asher often dwelled on in silence, like hunting Chris down and delivering an ass-beating.

"You don't have to do anything," Olivia said. "Asher's not gonna try and make you leave…"

Roman nodded quietly, still wearing an uncertain expression. Then, he glimpsed down at her again, narrowing his eyes.

"Why were you in Hawthorn…?" he wondered.

Zach gazed up at her upside-down again, also interested in hearing her answer.

Asher hunched even farther over the edge of the railing, leaning fully against it and staring intently into the back of the couch from a distance, listening closely.

Olivia stared up at the corner of the ceiling, sighing deeply, her visage seeming to deaden.

"It's a really long story," she murmured. "I don't even… know where to start…"

"Was it because of Chris…?" Zach asked.

Olivia hesitated.

"Yeah," she breathed. "And… no…"

"You had another crazy ex before Chris," Roman recalled. "Was it 'cause of him?"

Olivia swallowed roughly, looking a million miles away and slowly sealing her eyes shut. "Ugh… I feel sick…"

Asher gnawed his bottom lip, now looking grave and reflective, wondering exactly how much she'd confided in the two of them. In fact, they all appeared to be snuggled pretty damn close to each other down there…

Sighing and straightening out, Asher pushed off the railing and began thumping down the stairs to approach them.

Roman raised his brows and peered around, seeing him descend from the second floor. "Oh, shit, here we go…"

Asher emerged from the stairway just when Roman stood from the couch, marching around it and facing him.

Olivia and Zach perched upright on the couch and leaned on the back of it, watching the two of them with rapt anticipation.

Asher met his eyes, folded his arms, and sighed.

Roman did the same, pocketing his hands and releasing a cloud of breath.

"Awkward," he uttered.

Asher scoffed out a noise. "Mhm."

Olivia's eyes darted between the two of them, her fingers digging and scratching against the couch's back cushions.

Then, Roman let out another sigh, scratching his brow and tossing up a hand. "Okay… I'm sorry. There was a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 I didn't know… so…"

Asher made a few mild nods. "Yeah. Well… I've gotta imagine it all looked pretty damn strange from the outside. We probably should've just told you everything from the start, but we figured it'd be easier if we didn't. Little did 𝘸𝘦 know…"

Roman choked out a laugh.

The two of them shared another brief stare.

Asher eyed him, then decided to speak on. "Back in the day… my friends and I had this little spot out in the country where we'd go shoot. We all got pretty damn good at it. And, one day, this guy with a chip on his shoulder followed us out there, started raising all kinds of hell, making all kinds of threats… and he was strung out on meth, for damn sure."

Roman nodded along, looking somewhat lost.

"So… what I did," Asher continued, raising his hand in the shape of a finger gun, slowly outstretching his arm and aiming his fingers at the wall behind him. "Was pop off a shot right behind him."

Roman nodded again, his visage uncharacteristically serious.

"Scared him enough to make him chill the hell out," Asher explained, lowering his arm. "And… I figured it'd work again here. That's all I was gonna do."

Roman made another nod, glancing over at the destroyed coffee table, where their standoff had ensued earlier tonight.

Then, he looked to Asher again, squinting at him curiously.

Asher read the question off his face before he said it. "And, the reason she jumped in front of you was because she's seen me shoot people before. She knows I'm not about to just kill you, but she also knows I'll put a hole in a person's hand, so…"

"Fuckin'a," Roman breathed with a laugh. "You say that like it's the most normal thing…"

"Well… it's become that," Asher told him. "I had to get a head start on getting everything we might need… and, since there's five of us now, I had to 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 doing that. I still do."

"That's what you guys are doing when you leave every day," Zach mumbled.

Asher nodded at them both. "Yeah. El brought all his doomsday prepping shit here, and Olivia and I are going out to gather everything else we need on a regular basis. None of us are gonna go without anything. Not now."

Zach stared at him with understanding, Olivia smirking at him, Roman nodding and giving him a profound sort of look.

"That's pretty cool of you to do," Roman told him.

Asher narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"You're just like… taking everyone on," Roman explained, waving between all of them. "That's just… that's decent. I appreciate it."

"Oh… that's just what you do," Asher dismissed, shaking his head. "It's just necessary."

"Well… still," Roman shrugged. "I'm not opposed to helping, if you need me to do anything."

Asher blinked and raised his brows, surprised to hear such a thing from him, especially so fast.

But Roman appeared dead serious now, much to the contrary of how he usually seemed.

"Honestly? I like what you're doing now," Asher stated. "Having you two and El here is good. The house never needs to be empty if we can help it… and, to be honest, your fucked-up sleep cycles are a good thing, too. Having you both up until four in the morning keeps the house under almost constant watch. We can't have too many people riding with us into town, anyway, because we need as much room as possible in the vehicles for whatever loot we find. But… if I think of anything else you can do, I'll definitely let you know. There's probably gonna be more to do in the near future."

"Yeah… if the power goes out," Olivia murmured.

Asher snapped and pointed at her. "Yeah, that's one thing. El's gonna need help putting all the solar panels on the roof and dealing with the generator if we ever lose power. If that scenario ever comes up, it's gonna come with some power rationing. Oh… you might wanna ask El where he's stashing the guns, too, because he likes to hide them all over the house. Actually… now that I think about it…"

He trailed off, breaking to the right and marching around the couch, stopping in front of all the enormous glass windows. He surveyed them closely, then turned and stared at the large standing shelf in the corner of the room, spinning on his heel and examining the rest of the glass.

"We need to think of how we're gonna cover all this up if we ever have to," Asher pondered, narrowing his eyes at the back hallway. "And that side door is the only one we need to use. The other one needs to be walled off, just in case."

Roman strolled around the couch, collecting the large remote from the pile of debris in the middle of the living room. He lifted it, aimed it at the glass windows, and pressed a big blue button.

Suddenly, the windows all began to make a faint humming noise, and sheets of brown-colored metal began to emerge from the top of each one, slowly gliding downward and covering all of the windows completely.

Asher stared at them. "Oh. I forgot they did that…"

"Yeah… but the front door can't do that," Roman remarked. "And neither can the rest of the windows. If you bring us back some nails and plywood, we can cover them up."

"What about the sliding glass door?" Olivia asked.

"We can just throw that thing over it," Zach suggested, gesturing over to the large standing shelf. "If we ever have to…"

"All right, well… we've got a loose little plan in mind now," Asher concluded, clasping his hands and nodding at them. "Olivia and I are gonna try to swing by some lumber places when we're out tomorrow."

"Cool," Roman replied.

"Are you guys gonna go play more War Crimes 3?" Olivia wondered.

"Nah… not anymore," Roman laughed, snickering and shaking his head down at the mess. "We gotta clean this first…"

"Hey… thank you two," Asher told them, turning and giving Olivia a subtle nod toward the staircase. "Goodnight."

"Night," Roman and Zach each dismissed, waving both of them off.

Asher and Olivia moved to leave—Olivia pausing to collect the pistol from the top of the mini-fridge where she'd set it—and the two of them ventured up the stairs together, strolling down the hall and vanishing into the master bedroom.

Asher flipped the bedroom lights on, sauntering past the bed and sliding his hands into his pockets, sighing deeply.

Olivia stood at the door, staring tiredly at him and holding the gun upright by the barrel.

He turned on his heel and faced her, raising his brows and flashing a calm, soft half-smile.

"Y'know what," Asher said, waving a finger at her. "You are… the 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 person I could've run into in a goddamn apocalypse."

Olivia gave him a questioning look.

"With all the running around and doing whatever the hell I want… that's fun, for damn sure," Asher continued, taking a smooth stride toward her. "But, you… you've been a 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘵 for me, straight on to 𝘸𝘢𝘺 bigger and better things than just running around doing everything without a second thought. Y'know that?"

Olivia said nothing, attempting a smile, though she felt incredibly sleepy and lightheaded.

"You're always watching, and catching whatever I miss, and now you're enacting some hard damage control," Asher said, his smile growing as he slowed to a stop before her. "Thank you. Sorry I put that on you… but thank you. You're pretty damn good at dealing with it. Hell… you're just… you're exactly what I needed."

Olivia smirked at him. "You're always doing all that for everybody else. Somebody needs to do it for you…"

Asher nodded and let out a laugh, planting a hand on her head, gently shifting her bangs from her eyes with his thumb.

"You are really… my 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 partner in crime," he told her sincerely, feeling truly grateful to have her around, as many of these endeavors would've gone far worse without her. "And, you… you're way too good at dealing with drastic shit, you know that?"

Olivia breathed out a laugh. "I've done it a lot…"

Asher tapped his finger to her chin, then made a thoughtful face, waving a finger at her again.

"One thing, though," he said. "Why're they so 𝘤𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺 with you?"

Olivia's eyes narrowed, her smile evolving into a more amused one. "That's how friends are."

Asher glanced down, then shot her another odd look, now seeming totally lost.

Olivia snickered. "Okay, well… that's how friends are when you're a girl."

"Right… okay," Asher mumbled, slowly nodding. "Yeah, I was about to say… I never cuddled with anybody in the gang, except the one I married later. None of the guys, though. 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 of the guys."

Olivia giggled at him.

"Roman and Zach do that with each other, y'know… not just me," she said.

Asher fell silent, giving her a long, strange stare.

"Are they…?"

"No… they're not gay," Olivia told him. "They're just California people."

Asher choked out a laugh.

"I was like that with my friends in Hawthorn, too… and they were all girls," Olivia added. "I just like being like that with friends."

"Yeah… okay," Asher mumbled, squinting intently at her. "But if they start grabbing all over you, you better tell me."

"Why do you think they're gonna do that…?"

"Because, they're just… they're glued to your damn side now."

"So…?"

"So—I was there first," Asher chuckled. "And you don't have enough sides to go around."

Olivia made a caustic smile, tilting her head at him.

"I think they just care about me, 'cause we're friends now," she remarked.

"Ah-huh," Asher uttered tonelessly. "Well, I actually know 𝘩𝘰𝘸 they think…"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know how 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 think. Californified or not—I know where their minds go."

"Asher," Olivia said softly, reaching out and flipping the collar of his button-up around. "Do you not wanna 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 me…?"

Asher stared, his mouth slowly drifting agape, and his words suddenly abandoning him.

Then, his shoulders relaxed, as well as his expression, gazing into her with sincerity and releasing a heavy cloud of breath.

"You don't know what you did for me," he sighed. "I just like having you… here…"

Olivia peered up at him, wearing another smile, this one more genuine, if not somewhat pained.

"Nobody… keeps this in their office… on a regular workday," she said gingerly, giving the gun in her hands a gentle shake. "Unless they're planning on 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 it."

Asher continued to stare at her, falling silent again.

"I know where you were at that day… and I'm so… 𝘴𝘰 happy we met each other," Olivia told him honestly. "We both really needed each other… and I think… we still do. Especially now. So, don't… don't think I'm just gonna drift away, or something. I love being your partner in crime. I wanna stay that… regardless of whoever else I'm close to. I wanna 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 that with you."

Asher reared slightly back, feeling a slow-rising series of emotions beginning to well up inside.

"And I don't even know what this 𝘪𝘴," Olivia laughed, her eyes watering again, waving loosely between herself and him. "But just… whatever. Whatever…!"

Then—she tossed the gun on the bed and moved forward, coiling her arms around him, squeezing him tightly in a close, warm embrace, nuzzling into his collar as she did.

Asher took in a sharp breath, his heart jolting, his smirk returning as he draped his arms around her, placing a hand cozily on the back of her head. His eyes eased shut, and he took in a smooth, comforting breath of her sweet, gentle scent, suddenly feeling more at ease than he thought capable of himself.

Honestly—he didn't know what it was, either.

From the moment they met, the two simply stayed side by side, and it seemed to make everything work out—for them individually, and for everyone on a whole as well. The Asher and Olivia partnership had become a catalyst for everything transpiring now.

It ensured Asher's, Olivia's, Elliot's, Roman's, and Zach's survival in the new and unpredictable Knoxville—and it was keeping all of them fed, housed, and planned for. Not to mention, Asher was certain he'd never felt so at peace as he did with her, and both of them were far happier now than they were before they knew one another.

He didn't know what to call their relationship any more than she did—but he was sure it was wonderful and needed, whatever the hell it was.

The two of them held one another for a while before either of them moved or spoke.

Then, Asher gently leaned back, clasping her arms and meeting her eyes.

"Hey… I had this idea," he said, flashing his signature smirk again. "Something I figured everyone else would've overlooked."

"Yeah…?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah… food banks," Asher told her. "Me and El and them hit the food banks all the time back in the day… and I remember where they all are. Anyone else who's out there looting is probably hitting stores like we are… but nobody would think of stopping by the places that were already full of free food in the first place. I mean… unless all the homeless people are still in town, but I doubt if they are…"

"The stores don't have as much now," Olivia recalled.

"Exactly," Asher nodded. "I figured there're a few other people out there doing what we're doing… so it'd be good to try and hit places that they wouldn't think of. Food banks have a little bit of everything, too. Anything that was fresh meat or produce is probably bad by now, but anything canned, or pickled, or dried, or preserved is what we're gonna be gunning for."

"Okay," Olivia agreed, blinking thrice and rubbing her eyes, almost beginning to feel dizzy. "Can we go to sleep…? I don't feel good…"

"Yeah… yeah," Asher nodded, stepping back and collecting his gun from the comforters. "I just wanted to run that by you first. Between going to all the food banks and finding plywood for all the first-floor windows… tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

"Mhm," Olivia mumbled, stifling a yawn and wandering over to the bed. "That's cool… I jus… I'm just really tired…"

Asher stepped past her and flipped the lights off, the room now only lit by the lamp on the nightstand, a calmer and softer glow.

Olivia crawled into the huge bed and vanished beneath the comforters, nestling into the mound of pillows and falling asleep almost instantly.

Asher found himself staring at her as he peeled off his shoes and tossed them aside.

Then, he lay on his side of the bed, drifting into a deep, peaceful sleep as well.