Day Zero: Lost Lambs - Sunday

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Cut off from everyone, the New Mutants take a brief stop to gather food and try to plan what happens next.




The power was still off, but that wasn't an entirely bad thing as the small group of students slipped into a small side street. There was a deli there, the sort of place that, during a normal Sunday, would be full of yuppie couples eating brunch and reading the papers and talking brightly to each other about their fantastic Saturday night out. Instead, it was dark and deserted, the doors locked. Glancing around almost guiltily, Yvette slipped one long finger between the door and the jamb, sawing downwards through the tongue of the lock. After a few moments, she was done, and the door creaked open.

They waited a moment, straining to hear for any noises in the deli before easing inside. If someone were to pop up none of them had any problems in fleeing if it was necessary. Once Angel was inside, she cupped her hands together and called up a small flame. It was big enough to give them enough light to see by but when shielded by her body or held lower than her waist, it would be difficult to make out if someone looked in the window from the street.

In contrast to Yvette's slightly hesitant, guilty movements, Noriko walked self-confidently into the deli behind Angel, slipping around her to head towards the entrance to the kitchen. She'd learned long ago that if you moved like you belonged somewhere, people were much less likely to ask questions. "Is no power - no cold food is maybe good," she said. But there'd be bread, and cheese which wouldn't have started to go off. Water, too - bottled and clean.

Following closely behind Nori, Catseye sniffed liberally around the kitchen and nodded emphatically. "ShockyGirl is VerySmart. Pastrami and other meats are BadStuff." She poked around in the semi-darkness curiously, making a mewing noise when she came across a half-empty crate of apples and bananas. "Bad meat, but fruits still good," she announced. "OooOoooo! Cookies!" It was difficult to maintain optimism when the catgirl was worried about her brother, but she knew that it was useless to let her fear show. Cess reached down to help hand out the fruit. A small variety passed through her hands until all of the others had food. "Anybody left?" she asked.

Inez nodded as she munched on an apple and tore the wrapper off a granola bar. "So we're just going to head to this club and wait there until someone comes to get us? Maybe they've already got a plan for getting people out of here, since no one seems to be going for the bridges?"

It was true, for all they knew. The first day had been full of people pushing to evacuate, but after the word got out that the "Horsemen" were attacking humans in the streets, those who remained seemed to have gone into hiding. Inez didn't much like the idea of hiding, but she liked the idea of getting shot in the street -or worse- even less.

Tat moved around the counter, squinting in the dim light that was blocked by the case. "Hey, Angel? Can you bring that over here for a second?" She could see jars, but she just needed to find the right
one. "There's always crabby kids who don't like what they have, so there should be some peanut butter back here somewhere." They all had to have some sort of protein to keep going, even she knew that.

Taking care with the fire, Angel trotted over to where Tat was standing so she could lift her hand higher. Blue light washed over the shelves and illuminated various canned and jarred goods, though
she kept the warmth away. "They'll have bottled water, too, so we'll stock up on as much as we can grab." For once, she was forgoing grabbing anything like energy drinks because they were going to need the space.

Meggan reached the end of her own apple, briefly eyeing a nearby granola bar. She swallowed the last bit of it before speaking up at last, with what she hoped was a good idea. Showing her duffle bag
where she had left it hanging from her shoulder, she asked, "Do you think we could add some water bottles to my bag?" She shrugged and cocked her head, before adding, "I just thought we might be able to tow along more that way."

"LittleFur and BurningGirl make a VeryGood plan," Catseye agreed, hauling water by the armful (and tailful) into Meggan's bag. "Catseye does not like peanut butter; it is StickyMessyStuff." She might just settle for eating it, though- she was getting rather hungry. She thought about the semi-spoiled meat and licked her lips, contemplating shifting into catform. The cat, perhaps from years of eating out of dumpsters, seemed to have a much stronger stomach than the girl. But Catseye knew she would be more help in girlform and that making that form sick from rotten meat would not help the other students. "Any tins of tuna or pastrami?" she asked hopefully.

"No pastrami, but there is the tuna." Yvette came back from a back pantry, several tins in her arms. "We should not be taking too many of the tinned things - they are being heavy to carry."

"Says you," Inez answered, lifting a box full of canned fruit effortlessly with one hand. "But you're right. We shouldn't take more than we need. If we're careful, we should be able to keep out of sight of whoever's out there causing this mess, right?"

She tried to keep an upbeat tone, but really all Inez wanted was to get out and go home, and if that meant smashing her way through whatever was out there, she was completely okay with that.

Nori, meanwhile, had cracked open the fridge, discovering a really, really bad smell, and all the bottled drinks they could want. "Here is water, juice, soda," she called over her shoulder into the main room. Also beer, and she was being good, really she was, and wouldn't take any, and plus it'd be warm and gross...

Cess waved away an offered granola bar. "I don't need it," she said. "I only eat to look less like a freak, and that's not really important right now." She hefted a filled bag onto her shoulder. "We loaded up?"

"Yeah, looks like it," Angel replied as she tightened her backpack on her shoulders. She glanced around to just make sure and then eyed the streets through the glass windows. "Let's go see if the coast is clear and then we'll move on?"

"All right, saddle up, people." Inez hoisted her duffle bag over one shoulder and looked out the window. "Let's get out of here."