Code of Honor

“Grace?”

I turned on my heel and followed the voice with my eyes. A floor above me stood Riley. He was leaning on the cracked steel brace that had once held glass panes, with a cute grin on his face. My stomach slipped.

“Hey,” I called.

“Didn’t think you’d come.”

I shrugged nonchalant. “Had nothing better to do.”

He gave me another sweet smile that made me think he’d seen right through me. Slowly he lifted his hand I watched it wearily out of habit. He took a bite out of it.

“Want one?” He asked.

He held it up but I still couldn’t make it out. All I seen was a flash of brown and blue. “What is it?”

Without a word we reached into the pocket hanging off the side of his pants and pulled something out. He tossed it down to me. I caught it in the tips of my fingers. I pulled my hand back to see what he’d given me. Sitting in my palm, live a bar of gold, sat an un-opened Snickers bar. I started salivating in an instant. My jaw would have hit the floor if I wasn’t worried about drooling in front of him and making an idiot of myself.

“How the hell did you get this!”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Found ‘em. Don’t worry there safe to eat.” He took another bite of his own to prove his point.

I tore it open in one swift pull. “You are officially my favorite person in the world right now.”

He laughed again as I took a bite. It was already half melted front he warmth of his pocket but it was perfect. I could have died happily on the spot. I couldn’t have cared less if it wasn’t edible. Death by chocolate sounded fine by me. Riley watched me for a moment then threw his empty wrapper off the side. It slowly floated to the floor at my feet. He motioned me up with his hand.

“Come up here.”

I glanced around and spotted an escalator. It wasn’t working but it was good enough. I scaled up. It took some effort since it was a steep slope and I was clumsy. I tried very hard not to fall on my face. I walked over after reaching the top and fell into step beside him. Following him towards the other side of the deserted mall.

“How did you find this place?” I asked looking around.

“Well...it’s kinda big. You can’t miss it.”

I turned to look at him and he laughed.

“Seriously?”

He shot me a cute smile. “Easy. I knew when the army stopped using it as a base and when they deserted it completely. So when I needed somewhere to hide out and get away I came here.”

“I would have thought they’d keep watch over it.”

“They do,” He yawned stretching his arms over his head. “Just not at night time. Not that there’s anything valuable here left to have...unless you count the chocolate.”

“I count the chocolate.”

He laughed and suddenly disappeared. I had a moment of confusion before I noticed he’d ducked under a broken doorway. I glanced up at the sign. It was a furniture store of some kind. Between a Walmart and a set of escalators. Compared to every other store around me it seemed to have fared better than most. I assumed it was the big think door that had protected it. I could make out the starches and dents where people had tried to break in. Most likely during the riots.

The door rose before me. Riley had opened it from the inside and continued to hold it open for me with one arm. It wasn’t just the sudden opening of the door that had me momentarily stunned. I hadn’t noticed before but Riley wasn’t wearing his usual army jacket. He was wearing a faded black t-shirt. It fit him a little too well. I could see the ripple of the muscle in his arm straining against the fabric. I couldn’t help myself. I had a thing for boy’s arms. It was half the reason I had fallen in love with Oliver.

“Uh...you coming in?” He said bemused.

I jumped realizing I had been captivated a little longer than I should have been. I mumbled an embarrassed and quick response before ducking into the store behind him. He let the door fall closed behind us with a thud and started walking towards the back end of the shop. I followed though my mind was elsewhere.

The store itself was in good condition considering. It was clean and everything still seemed in some form of order. I assumed the large doors held through the riots and looters. Though I guessed a furniture store was the last place of peoples looting agendas. It wasn’t like a six seater leather couch was easy to throw over your shoulder and take home. Though it looked nice I noted as we walked past. Something my mum would have liked.

“So of all the places in this huge mall...why here?” I questioned

He turned and smiled at me over his shoulder. He didn’t answer right away but instead walked a little further ahead before falling onto a huge queen sized bed. It looked like it had been used regularly unlike a lot of the beds in here.

“Because,” he explained. “It’s comfortable...and lame enough that no one will look here.”

I smirked. “Figured.”

Slowly I sat down and was swallowed by the mattress. I had assumed it would be firm...it wasn’t. I fell backwards as it devoured me into his outer layer. Riley laughed at my face which was suddenly inches from his.

“Good isn’t it...best one in here. Believe me I know.”

I sat up before I could embarrass myself anymore than I already had tonight.

“Are we safe here?” I asked. It was a question of habit now.

He nodded. “As safe as we are anywhere else. Army only ever check the place during the day. No one wants to man it at night. And most just avoid it thinking they are here. Even if someone tries to come in we’ll know before they make it far. I heard you coming a mile away it’s so quiet in here...that and they won’t get through that door without us noticing.” He shrugged his head in the direction of the massive white roller doors we’d entered through
.
“True,” I replied feeling a little safer. “Why are you hiding out here anyway?”

He shrugged again. “It beats being on base. A lot of the guys there are assholes to guys like me. I try to avoid being there as much as possible.”

“Guys like you ?” I questioned.

“Runts,” He sighed. “That’s our rank.” He quoted the word with his fingers to ass sarcasm. “We were the ones picked up off the streets and handed guns. We never really joined the army so were unimportant in comparison.”

“Assholes. You should come join us.” I said it as a joke and suddenly realized I wasn’t.

“Would if I could,” He laughed. “Can’t really just walk away from the army though. They’ll bullet me before they let me go anywhere...least of all a rebel group.”

“Rebel group,” I mused laying back. “I like the sound of that.”

He laughed. “Yeah me to. Anything would be better than being stuck with these task force dicks.” He rolled his eyes.

I snorted a laugh. “Don’t take it to heart. Aiden’s always been a dick.”

“What,” He sounded more shocked than amused.

“Aiden Burns,” I sighed. “Was an old family friend of mine. I assume his one of said ‘dicks’”

He nodded with a small laugh. “Yeah he is...do you just have connections everywhere?”
“All the way to the white house.”

He laughed. “Last time I heard it was gone.”

I frowned. “Ash house then. By the way, maybe you’d know.” I sat up. “California?”

“So you’ve heard?”

I nodded.

“I really don’t know,” He admitted. “I know they have transport to take a certain amount of people sorted to evacuate...next week.”

“Next week? That soon?”

“It’s been in the works for a while. But I don’t know what state that side of the worlds in. I know the city borders. That’s it. Why? Are you going?” There was a little sadness in his voice I suddenly wanted to comfort.

“No,” I replied quickly. “But someone in the group brought it up. I was curious.”

“Sorry I can’t give you much more. I know it’s all organized for next...Wednesday, late afternoon. If anyone of yours wanna go they’d have to get there quick. There only taking a certain amount of people and they won’t take the sick and injured.”

I figured this would be the case. It had been during the first evacuations. They wouldn’t waste safety and supplies on those who may not be around to enjoy it. It was why we never made the first evacuations out. Our burns and injuries, though not lethal, were considered dire enough to be left behind.

The worst of our injuries was only my father’s broken arm. They may have taken me but I wasn’t going anywhere without him and after losing everyone else he wasn’t willing to let me go. So we survived on our own until the group formed. Suddenly the light flickered above my head. I almost jumped out of my skin and looked up at the roof.

“This place still has power?” I asked.

“Fleeting,” he replied. “Can’t really get

anything to work of it for long.”

“I thought the power plant was shut down?”

“It is, this place has its own generator, someone got it working at some point or another. I had a look at it but it’s not like the ones we have on base. I have no idea how to fix it.”

“You guys have power to?”

He nodded. I didn’t know why this came as a surprise to me. Of course they would. They had everything we didn’t. I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy that ran through me. He probably had a bed and a shower to.

“That’s gotta be nice.”

He shook his head. “There’s a lot of other things I’d rather have honestly.”

I frowned and stared down at the mattress. Maybe I wasn’t as bad off as I thought. Eventually he broke the silence.

“What’s it like for you guys?” he asked.

“It’s okay I guess,” I replied truthfully. “Could be worse. We got somewhere safe to sleep, the guys have fixed it up as much as they can to keep the warmth in and wind out. We pretty much to everything by fire...were roughing it really. Do what we can with what we find...what’s it like for you?” I couldn’t help myself. I was curious.

He shrugged. “I guess we got it alright, we got power, decent food and showers...but...I don’t know. I think I’d rather be roughing it with you guys.”

“Really?” the thought astounded me.

“You guys...you have like a family thing going on. Your all friends and look out for each other. I’d rather have that than the power.”

“Well this is a depressing conversation,” I mumbled trying to lighten the mood and he chuckled. “Where’s that chocolate kept?”

He laughed louder this time and jumped up. “I like the way you think.”

I sat up and followed him across the floor. Zig sagging around all the furniture, sometimes just jumping over it. I was suddenly tempted to jump on one of the huge beds. There was no one around to tell me off anymore. I pushed the thought from my mind not wanting to look like a child in front of Riley. We got to the end of the shop and he stopped for a moment to jimmy a door open that read staff only. It was stubborn but he got it open.

He glanced back at me once before stepping into the darkness. I followed. It was a store room, a huge one. With only the light from the open door behind us we stumbled over boxes and couch legs until he reached the far right wall. There he easily opened another door much like the other one. He pulled it open and stepped back, motioning me in with one hand and a dramatic bow. I chuckled.

“Why thank you sir.”

“You’re welcome Madam,” he smirked and I laughed.

“Whoa.”

The room before me was much better lit than the last. It looked to be another store room but this one held rows and rows of shelving. I could see several boxes still sitting on the shelve and several more on the floor. Most were empty. I glanced back at Riley who had a smile on his face as he watched me.

“Walmart storage,” He said answering my unasked question.

I shook my head in disbelief and glanced around again. “I thought this would all be gone by now.”

“Most of it is,” he replied walking ahead. I followed. “There’s still some stuff around if you know where to look.”

Once again I followed. He lead me to the far left corner of the room, kicking empty boxes out of the way as he went. In the corner was a tall stack of boxes. It looked like rubbish to me but Riley knew what he was doing. I watched intently as he pulled several empty boxes out and pushed them away until he reached the one he wanted. Hidden beneath.

He reached into it and pulled out a few more chocolate bars. I instantly salivated as he threw a couple to me, then took some for himself. I tore one open and bit into it. It was already half melted but I didn’t care. It just melted faster in my mouth.

“Secret stash huh?” I asked through a mouthful of chocolate.

He chuckled and nodded ripping into his own. “And if it goes missing I’m looking at you.”

“Probably a good bet,” I replied turning on my heel to look around as the lights flickered above our heads.

A flash caught my eye. I stared into the far corner of the room where I had seen it in there shirt flicker of light. There was something there. As always my curiosity got the better of me and I had to go look. Riley followed without a word. At first it looked like nothing more than shelves and empty torn up boxes. The only difference being a few empty and dark refrigerators on the wall.

I was ready to turn back and walk away when I seen it out of the corner of me eye. A glass bottle alone in the bottom of the last fridge. I stepped back and reached thought he broken glass door to pull it out. At first I thought the clear liquid was water. It took a moment for me to realize water didn’t come in glass bottles. It came in plastic bottles. I turned it around in my hand and read the label.

“Hello.” I mumbled under my breath.

Of all the things to stumble across I’d found what was properly he last bottle of Vodka left within a fair few miles. It was strong to. Stronger than anything I’d ever drunk, stronger than anything that had taken residence in my fathers restricted cabinet. I was astounded it was still here. I lifted it up to show Riley my find. His eyebrow lifted to his hairline and a cheeky smirk took his smile. Similar to the one on my own face.

We were going to have some fun with this.