This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 30

Xavier and Alex were waiting for us a little bit away from the grocery store. Alex was leaning up against one of the buildings with his arms crossed. He looked annoyed, as usual. The group that we encountered was nowhere in sight. They were gone as quickly as they came, which made me suspect that they most likely had a car at their disposal. That would have been very useful to us right now. We had at least one cart of supplies that we needed to transport back to our base.

Alex pushed himself away from the wall to join us when he saw us. He stopped in front of me and asked, "Do I look like a K-pop wannabe?"

This made me laugh a little bit. "Are you still offended by what he called you?"

"Yeah, I am! Just because I'm an Asian with dyed hair doesn't give him the right to classify me. I'm not even the right ethnicity for his insult," he said. 

I rolled my eyes. "Don't let his words get to you. We'll probably never see them again. And if we ever do, you can correct him and tell him you're actually a J-pop wannabe."

"I hate you sometimes, you know that?" After my joke, Alex looked so done with me, but it made me chuckle. Unlike with that man, my friend didn't seem upset by this. I saw the corners of his mouth twitch as he held back his urge to smile. 

Xavier cut into our conversation. "If you two are ready now, then perhaps we should return to base. It's going to get dark before we know it and I would rather not be stuck out here when that happens. We don't know what else is out here."

He had a good point. While we may not have run into any zombies during the day, we didn't know if that would be the same on the journey back. Our luck could change at any moment. After the zombies that we encountered so far, it made me curious about what else could be out there. I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out, though. I was scared of running into a monster that would be the end of me. 

As we walked back to base, Alex broke the silence. "What happens if the others aren't back?"

"I'm sure that they will be fine. Stella and Tyler are capable of handling things, and I know that they will keep your friend safe. Besides, the pharmacy is much closer to our base than where we just came from. They are most likely already back and waiting for us," Xavier said, sounding confident in his friend's abilities. 

While we understood his faith in his friends, they didn't have much control if things took a turn for the worst. They could run into a group of the undead or even other survivors. Those survivors might not be as nice as the ones that we met. I wanted to believe that Riley was safe with Stella and Tyler, but there was still this doubt. This feeling wouldn't go away until I saw them safe at our base. 

"Your friends aren't invincible. Something could happen and then what?" Alex voiced my concerns. 

Xavier sighed. "You have a point, but I don't want to think that way. I want to believe that everything will turn out okay and if they don't, then I'll deal with it. If something happens, then I will go out and find them."

Alex realized that he upset him. He awkwardly glanced away and added, "Look, man. I'm not trying to be a bummer about this. I'm only thinking realistically. We risk our lives each time we go out like this. Eventually, something is going to happen. As this virus or whatever gets worse, it's going to get harder for humanity to survive. And not going to lie, joining that group of people sounds like it will be a better option for us. Their base isn't in the middle of town like ours. Plus, if they have more people, then more hands to pitch in whenever we have to go out like this. And they have a car. I think it will benefit us to think about this and our future."

I was surprised by Alex's response. He didn't seem to care much before about what our future looked like. I knew that he was scared, but now he seemed to be thinking about the rest of the group and where we should go from here. 

"I know. I'm trying to think about the future as well and what will be most beneficial to our group. Perhaps it is something that we should discuss with everyone else first. I don't want to force anyone to relocate if they don't want to. People are scared, so I worry that not everyone will be willing to leave the apartments. Also, we don't know how trustworthy those people are. I don't want to send our group off to their doom," Xavier explained. 

"We can put it up to a vote. Besides, we have options. That asshole in our group mentioned another place, one with a wall built around it. I understand that you're worried about that place since it is suspicious as hell, but I have a feeling that some of our people may want to go there instead. A wall will give them an extra sense of security." Alex threw another suggestion Xavier's way. 

Xavier also seemed shocked that Alex was still contributing to this conversation. Even he realized how little Alex seemed to care before. He said, "I'll take your idea into consideration."

That seemed to be the end of that conversation as we continued forward. As we walked, I grabbed onto Alex's arm and whispered to him, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Why are you asking? Because I'm actually participating in decisions? I just thought that I would put my two cents in. Besides, I thought that you would like it if I contributed more." He gave me a gentle smile as he looked at me. 

I nodded, feeling myself blush a little bit when he looked at me. "It's impressive."

After my compliment, Alex shot Arin a smirk. I was a little confused by this. It seemed out of place for him to look at Arin when he wasn't even a part of our conversation. But I felt my face heat up more when Alex took my hand in his. His reaction towards Arin made it seem like Alex took gaining my affection as some sort of competition. It already seemed as though Alex may have been a bit jealous of him. I may have interacted with Arin, but that was nothing to be jealous about. Though, I could never mention that Arin asked me out on a date. I didn't know how Alex would respond to that. 

Eventually, our base was coming into view. The sun was already starting to set. It relieved me that we were able to make it back in time before darkness overtook the town. Once at the front door of the building, Xavier knocked on the door. 

We heard movement on the other side, then Caitlyn was the one to open the door for us. My sister looked frantic when she saw our faces. Her response confirmed that one of my fears had come true. 

"Stella and Tyler came back, but without Riley."