Chapter Text
Kim sat on the couch flipping through old magazines. She didn’t want to go to the center today. Ron and the tweebs were in the garden tending to it. The sun was at its highest point, as the leaves slowly fell from their branches. She slowed her pace and flipped on the paper, looking at the bare wall in front of her.
In the back of her mind, something was really nagging her. She was too comfortable. Out there, people are dying. And here she was, living a semi-domestic life.
A guilt started to surround her mind, suffocating any good thoughts that were still living in her head. She should be dead and rotting. She didn’t deserve kindness. She needed to be out, helping. She started to pick at her lip, in a haze of endless spinning, before a noise startled her.
It was the radio the tweebs set up. It was very active when the outbreak happened, but the weeks following, it slowed down, till finally, nothing. It was dead, but Wade told them to never turn it off.
She got up and turned the small nob upwards to better hear the voice behind the static.
But she heard nothing. Just a different tonal beep. A steady beep in different tones.
“TWEEBS!” She turned her body to the kitchen and watched as her brothers pool in from the back door. Ron stayed outside. “What the heck does this noise mean?” She pointed at the radio.
Tim grabbed the old magazines and began to translate, while Jim corrected his twin’s work. Kim folded her arms and watched her brothers work away, translating it. The twins looked at each other and nodded before setting the magazine back down.
“You can turn it off.” Kim looked at Jim, then back at the paper, filled with marks.
“I’m not turning it off, Jim.”
“Kim.”
-.-. --- .-.. --- .-. .- -.. --- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -... . / .. -. / .--. . .-. -- .- -. . -. - / --.- ..- .- .-. .- -. - .. -. . / .- -. -.. / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -. --- / .-.. --- -. --. . .-. / -... . / --. --- ...- . .-. -. . -.. / --- .-. / .-. . -.-. . .. ...- . / .... . .-.. .--. .-.-.- / -. --- / .--. . .-. ... --- -. -. . .-.. / .- .-. . / .- .-.. .-.. --- .-- . -.. / - --- / . -. - . .-. / --- .-. / . -..- .. - .-.-.-
Kim didn’t really understand what she was looking at. Ron walked in, his hands and clothes covered in dirt. Rufus was on his shoulder, his little face splattered with dirt. He puffed his hair out of his eyes and looked at the 3 possible siblings hovering over the paper.
‘Yo?” Ron said, unaware.
“Kim, we don’t need the radio anymore, turn it off.” Jim barked again. She put her hands on her hips, glaring at her brother.
“What aren’t you telling me?” She felt her anger start to build as she felt her hands ball up and her face tighten.
Tim took the page off the paper and mentally translated the code in his head. He dropped the paper back on the coffee table. Kim looked away from Jim and looked at Tim. “Well?” She barked
She shouldn’t have.
She watched as tears welled in his eyes almost immediately and tried to hide his shame from tearing up. His face bunched up, and he didn’t know what to do with his limbs as he tried to hide.
“Who, hey, calm down, all of you.” Ron stepped in, “Kim, lay off him. Jim, what does it say?” Jim huffed and blew a raspberry at Kim before grabbing the book and running his finger under the marks.
“COLORADO WILL BE IN PERMANENT QUARANTINE AND WILL NO LONGER BE GOVERNED OR RECEIVE HELP. NO PERSONNEL ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER OR EXIT.”
Kim stood still. Well, yeah. Wasn’t it obvious? Why were her brothers reacting in such a negative way?
“Oh,” Ron whispered. She looked at him, puzzled. Was this information already public???
The seasons rapidly changed. Bonnie made herself useful at the center, making herself the ‘queen bee’ and directing the place better than anyone there. The 3 teens mourned for their senior year of high school. Birthdays came and went. The city grew quieter as the dead began to rot away. The living began to leave the comfort of the center in hopes of sneaking past the border and re-entering society.
They never returned.
Snow fell just as quickly as the leaves started to fall. Food got really scary. The living began to panic due to the lack of food and left.
Only a few came back alive.
The center’s numbers dwindled.
But Kim and Ron never stopped looking for new members when they went out for supplies.
And just as the first snowflake fell, the sun began to warm the earth again.
Bonnie left before all the snow melted. Kim wished her well.
Kim’s parents never returned.
Ron and Kim went to gather supplies again, leaving the twins in charge.
It should be a quick trip.