Rick's brow furrowed, but he shrugged back. Wasn't much to do about that, really. Everyone had left something behind and clearly this is what she'd left.
He'd done his best not to stomp around when he entered, dropping the remaining bags from the car down in the kitchen as Lorna had done (he probably had double what she had and he couldn't help but regard this with a lecherous smirk on the inside- with the kid who was built for speed, and the badass lady whose job was... looking badass and taking names, probably, he was allowed to feel strong), but when he turned to move the car to a safer area, he'd nearly stepped on something very small, very fluffy, and very indignant.
A small but FAT gray, tan and black striped cat stared up at him. It flicked its tail and then let out a long, indignant "meeeooOOOOOWWWW."
Lorna jerked her head toward the noise and almost stumbled over some bags.
"Mr. Whiskers?"
The cat immediately began purring about as loudly as a mower as he made his way toward Lorna and weaved his way in and around her legs. Conrad blinked down at the thing several times before crouching and staring.
"Did you just call this cat... Mr. Whiskers?" he asked.
"Yes," she said simply. "I didn't pick it." Lorna groaned, remembering the student who had gunned for the name and beaten out tougher names that had been suggested. Conrad simply stared. Eventually, after Lorna assured him he could, yes, pick him up, Conrad did and almost squeaked??
WHAT A GLORIOUS, PERFECT NAME, he thought.
WHOEVER PICKED THIS NAME WAS A BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING AND I WANT TO MARRY THEM.The cat purred loudly and Rick could still hear him purr even after he was on the porch. After pushing the car behind the privacy fence and assuring everything was locked down, he re-entered the house with the last few things in the car. He was nervous to bring up how long he'd be staying here. He wasn't sure how long he wanted to stay, but he also didn't want to leave. There was nothing for him out there. Nothing that wouldn't try to dissect him. He looked at Lorna before looking around the house, then down at the kid and the cat. The house was so normal-looking that it felt... foreign.
When Lorna first asked him to turn on the generator, he nearly cried from how much normalcy was there. When she asked them to feed the cat, he couldn't help but remember the dogs he'd had in his past and feeding them bright and early every morning before work. He didn't try to remember these things- he just... did sometimes. The memories he had resurfaced only long enough for him to remember that all of this was what 'normal' was supposed to feel like, what they would want to try to achieve someday in the future.
But that was neither here nor there- he didn't have any business trying to run anything.
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After they'd been there a few days, discovered how the cat was still alive (he'd torn into multiple bags of food that Lorna had stocked up on in the basement, and she'd left a water feeder and a way out just in case he decided to leave, which it appeared he didn't), had done dishes for the first time, and Rick had even
cooked for the first time in, he didn't know, a year? Rick was beginning to feel less... on edge. He could tell Lorna was having issues adjusting to being in her old house again, but Conrad seemed to be having the time of his life with the cat. The kid tended to all his chores with no complaint, and sometimes mused about how the house reminded him of his grandparents' house in Puerto Rico. He always got silent after that- and Rick knew without asking that he was worried about them.
Finally, about a week later, Rick decided enough was enough and he needed to talk to Lorna. He went about this by knocking on her door when she was reading on her bed. There was a long pause, but finally he heard,
"Yeah, come in."
The door creaked when he pushed it open slowly, and he sidled his way in as if making noise would result in her yelling at him to leave- like he was unwelcome.
"What?" she asked, closing her book after marking the page.
"I--" How was he supposed to ask this? "I was just wond'rin'..."
Silence hung over them for a moment and he could tell Lorna was getting edgy by the way she'd folded her arms.
"Wondering what?"
When I'm getting kicked out. "'F it's okay if I go get sommore supplies. Make m'self useful."
She raised an eyebrow. "Useful?"
"Yeah."
She opened her mouth as if to speak, and decided against it. "Yes," she said after a moment instead. "Take the jeep. There's a marked map in the chest by the door of places likely to have anything good there. And uh, take Stedman with you."
"The kid?"
"Yeah, the kid."
So he did. It went on like this for a while- he and Conrad went scavenging probably twice a week, leaving Lorna to an empty house. When they returned, she usually hadn't moved from her spot on the bed. She was always poring over her books, only those related to Biology. The three of them lived like this for a few weeks before anything new happened- before anyone else found them.
And from there, it only escalated.
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