Chapter 102: Matters of taste

Chloe’s brows furrowed, her gaze directed at Grimm.

"Is it really important?"

Grimm’s tone remained even.

"My house is there. I need to check something there."

"Oh."

Chloe’s mouth widened a bit before she promptly shut it. She looked down at the piece of paper below her, tapping it before looking towards Miles.

"It’s... it’s not as important as his reason. But if there’s a chance, there is a house I need to check too."

Grimm looked at him, his eyes widening as though in realization. It only lasted for a moment before he recovered his poker face.

Chloe scratched her hair.

"Let’s see what happens when we get there. If there’s a chance, maybe you can take it then."

The reply was enough to satisfy Grimm. It largely satisfied Miles too.

In the end, checking on Jayce’s house was merely to feed his curiosity. Even if he didn’t get the chance to check it, it wouldn’t matter all too much either. It wasn’t worth derailing the entire plan for.

Certainly not for the likes of him.

Chloe went further into detailing her plan, mostly her and Ryan. The routes she was familiar with. Everything. From time to time, someone would interject, and they’d talk about it. If their idea was reasonable, she’d incorporate it into the plan.

Time crept by silently.

"Alright, I think this much should be fine, any more deliberation feels counterintuitive now. We haven’t been able to agree on a change for the past ten minutes."

Mia was the first to call it quits. Ryan glanced at the watch on his wrist before rubbing his forehead.

"It’s already past bedtime. Unless we plan on joining Miles and Grimm on their watch, I suggest we go to sleep."

Chloe looked down at the paper, hesitant, still unsatisfied. But even she knew when to give up. She packed it up carefully.

"Fine. Do we leave tomorrow morning?"

Ryan nodded slowly.

"Yeah, we need all the daylight we can."

A gloomy atmosphere had already been setting in while they’d been discussing the plan. Silence brought on the full weight of realization on them.

With the world so dangerous already, the past few days were just about the safest they had been so far. The food might’ve been terrible, but at least they didn’t need to worry about some random anomalies attacking them.

Now they were leaving that, for the cold, white, dangerous embrace of the outside world.

Staying wasn’t an option either; it was just another form of suicide. Sooner or later, like the principal said, they’d run out of food. They’d be lucky if some anomaly didn’t manage to break through the pylon’s suppression field before that. After all, it wasn’t foolproof.

A longer, surer death. That was it.

Ryan let out a weak smile.

"We’ll be fine guys. I mean, we’ve done pretty well so far."

Mia’s snort came from his side.

"Say that when your arm isn’t bandaged up."

He chuckled.

"I’m serious though. Just get some sleep."

The room slowly fell silent, save for the sounds of the teenagers settling into their thermal blankets. Well, most of them.

Miles was busy settling in for his watch. Grimm had his phone out again, likely scrolling through his comic again.

’At least it’s something to do.’

He couldn’t play around with his new ability, since it needed another person to work. The rest were sleeping, and likely wouldn’t be pleased if his fooling around woke them up. As for Grimm, the boy was already far too suspicious of him, it was best not to give him any more ideas.

’Hmmm...’

His hand unconsciously went searching through his backpack, pausing when it brushed against a familiar shape. The camera.

’There’s a diary in there too, right?’

After a little consideration, he decided to only bring the camera out. The low light conditions would only serve to make reading a pain. The two flashlights had done well enough to last for the past few days, but their lights had started flickering and dimming this morning.

’One more reason to head to the hardware store.’

The pink body of the camera was faintly visible in the darkness. Miles felt around for a switch. The moment he tapped it, the little screen attached to the device flickered to life.

Its bright light temporarily blinded him.

As he blinked his eyes clear, his peripheral vision caught Grimm looking up from his phone and staring with interest.

Focusing, the screen displayed an image of three women clinging onto a pokerfaced man as he stared at an incoming wave of goblins.

At some point, Grimm must’ve realized he was staring, because he met Miles’s gaze soon after.

’Oh.’

"Is it any good?"

As always, Miles considered himself an expert in coming up with excuses. Grimm furrowed his brows.

"What?"

"That comic."

The boy glanced at his phone, then shrugged.

"I guess. It’s a matter of... taste. You likely wouldn’t get it."

"Right..."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

Grimm furrowed his brows, studying Miles’s face for a few moments before shifting his gaze to the camera.

"What about that?"

Miles perked the camera up, still feeling around for its body.

"The camera?"

"Yeah, do you even know ho-"

A click interrupted Grimm. Miles felt his finger hit a button to the side. Before either of them could react, a brilliant flash of white illuminated the room.

Grimm might’ve well been a vampire from the way he crumpled under the light. His small scream sent the others shooting up from their blankets, frantically glancing around for the cause of the disturbance.

’Now I’ve done it.’

The room eventually settled back to its previous calm, but only after Grimm and Miles were subjected to a drawn-out nagging session from Ryan, all the while Chloe looked at him with what he could only determine to be a parent’s disappointment.

Luckily Brandon and Mia had been too tired to care, and soon went back to sleep after.

The two culprits settled into a peaceful silence as their watch continued, only occasionally interrupted by Grimm sending Miles dirty looks, like it was all his fault.

’I mean, technically...’

Safe to say, he decided it was best to just scroll through the camera’s gallery for the rest of his watch.