New Age - Part 1

[sunmontue]

Title: New Age

Pairing: Kurt Hummel/David Karofsky
Rating: NC17
Word count: ~7,000 (15,000 total)
Summary: AU. A new age is being created, brought about by multiple bioterrorism attacks across the world. The need to help his father leaves Kurt in the hands of one of the potentially most powerful men in the country until his friends can return for him. If he survives his time there at all that is.
Warnings  Mention of slavery-themes. Character death, mostly of very minor characters or original characters (i.e. none of the Glee club members, and definitely not Kurt and Dave). Take into account that this is an AU and there will be a certain level of violence in a world in which only 10% of the population has survived.

Author’s note: So AU. Dave is older than Kurt by 5 years, but they are both in their twenties. Written for a prompt as part of the Kurtofsky fest on tumblr (original prompt at the end). This is complete, but there will be a smutty epilogue to follow as soon as I have time.

Prologue

            It was bioterrorism at its worse, untraceable and completely unstoppable.  A combination of the Bubonic plague, tuberculosis virus, measles, small pox, all released in high traffic areas with dense populations. London, LAX, Paris, New York, Cairo, New Delhi. Of course they all crisscrossed over each other within days, spreading worldwide before people started putting the pieces together. It had taken them too long, but no one had been looking for long ago extinct viruses, or rare ones.

            85 percent of the world’s population died within a year, 25 percent of the remaining survivors following year and maybe another 15 the year after. Not that they know exact numbers of course, not anymore, but he estimates that maybe, maybe, there are 700 million people left in the world. It still seems like a lot, but when he considers that there are probably only 30 million people left alive in the United States it’s a more sobering thought. It’s only just over three times the population of New York from before. Before.

            He’s lucky. He knows he is. He’s alive, as are his parents, and they are together. Most people he knows are the last remaining members of their family, or think they are, and will never know any different. He tries not to think about it too much, it gets depressing, and he’s not much use to anyone if he gets into one of his funks. His life has changed so dramatically in the last five years that he can’t even remember some things about before. How mundane and fucking simple his life was. He would have even gone so far to say it was boring. He likes boring. In hindsight anyway.

            He’d never really paid much attention to his parents jobs, just knew that his mom required him and his dad to go in and get special vaccines every so often. He gave up paying attention. Now he knows those vaccines are the reason his family are still alive. Why the people around him are still alive.

            It wasn’t a sudden thing, but more gradual, and his parents seemed to pick up on what was happening the fastest, although he only realized it later. His mother had been a doctor and his father an engineer at the local power station. He hadn’t known what his parents had been doing, but they had been preparing him, they seemed to know what was going to happen. Not if, when, and he refuses to think about how their basement had been set out with everything to ensure he would survive. Alone. He has them though, although it’s been close a couple of times.

            He’d been in the military when it had all started, which he supposes is why he has stepped in the shoes of leadership so easily. Watching thousands of people around him die had meant he’d accelerated through the ranks quickly. Too quickly really, but it helps now. He knows things, and that knowledge is power. The people he has with him are survivors. Most are scarred by the battles they have fought, but they fought them and won, and for him that is the most important thing.

            Some people find the choice very easy when it's a choice between death and being enslaved. Others not so much. Of course some choose enslavement simply so that they live and have the chance to run again later. That’s often the last choice they ever make. He didn't come by his position of power without a fight, and he knows there are people watching him constantly, waiting for him to slip up so they can maybe make a grab for power. Less so now than a few years ago when all the shit went down, because weirdly enough some people like the fact that he's in control, how constant their lives are beneath his rule.

            There are days though that he’d really like to just forget how many people are really relying on him for their survival.

NEW AGE

Today (~3.5 years after the start of the bioterrorism attacks)

            When he hears the short sharp siren indicating the approach of an unspecified group he takes his time heading toward the main gate. He doesn’t need to pick up a weapon, but he knows Z will have one. Will have his back. He’s another of the few survivors he knew from before, one of his friends from high school and someone who joined the army with him. He’s his second in every way that counts, and definitely like his brother the way his parents treat him.

            They have a quarantine border, where communication can happen between two parties without actually allowing them entrance into the main compound and he looks around quickly to see who else has come to their side, new people are equal parts intriguing and a risk. There’s only twenty of his people, all the people who were on watch, a few from the closer barracks and kitchen, plus Richard, who he doesn’t like, who gets drunk on the power of holding a gun and doesn’t like being told what to do. Who resents his leadership. He puts the thought to the back of his head for now and studies the group on the other side of the ditch.

            There are fences topped with barbed wire on either side, making it impossible to enter the area without clearance and he studies the newcomers. There are only about ten of them, and they look bedraggled and travel weary. He relaxes – they have to be the least threatening group he’s ever come across and he almost has to stop a laugh from escaping at the release of tension in his shoulders. He takes in the muscles of the men’s arms though, the fact that while lean, they don’t seem malnourished. Their clothes show that they’re nomadic, although everyone seems clean and healthy. He’s not taking any risks though, not with everyone behind the gate. There are groups out, tending crops and animals, but they’ll know the drill, to use the southern entry now that the red flag has been raised. He glances over to double check and of course it’s there, signaling that they have visitors. Unknown and potentially disease carrying visitors.

            “Are you all healthy?”

            “Yes.” He waits, wanting them to fill the silence “We’re not looking to stay.” He hadn’t thought they were, but it’s nice to know his assumptions are right.

            “So, what is it you want?”

            “We need gas.”

            “I don’t see a car…”

            “Well, uh… we have one, it’s just… not working. We need gas,” the guy repeats, as if he didn’t hear him the first time. He lets out a sharp laugh.

            “So, you want a vehicle and some gas. What? You think I’m just going to give it to you?”

            “No, we’ll trade for it. We just want to get to…”

            He doesn’t finish, which is fair enough. Trust is a hard fought for commodity in this world, and he wouldn’t tell anyone his end destination either. He could offer them a place here – he has the room, but he also doesn’t know them, and he definitely doesn’t trust them. As per usual there is no exchange of names. Not yet, and maybe not ever. It’s just something that everyone got used to in the first two years, so many dead that names became meaningless…

            “What have you got to trade?” He asks, and it’s out of politeness sake really, because he can’t see anything on them that might be of interest to himself or his wider group, and his group is large.

            The interlopers look between each other and go into a huddle of hushed whispering which he can’t help but find amusing, it reminds him of a huddle on a football field, and that gives him a pang of remembrance of before.

            “We don’t have anything to trade right now. But we will do.”

            “Yeah… still not going to give you anything.”

            “Please,” a younger one begs, a girl probably, he’s not sure. He just shakes his head, because he can’t give in to pleas like that, despite how much he might want to. He can’t even offer to let them in, not without them undergoing quarantine, and he’s not risking his mom to look them over either. He can see some of the people on his side dying to ask questions, hungry for news of where they might have travelled from. Be travelling to. He can’t deny them that social interaction, as limited as it might be.

            “Look, you can camp in that area over there to your left. That barracks is bare, but it’ll offer better shelter than sleeping out in the open. It used to be the quarantine area but we don’t need it much anymore. It’s secure. And clean. I’ll give you the key so you can lock yourselves in.” He doesn’t add that they’ll be locking everyone else out as well. He doesn’t want his people mixing with unknowns. Talking is one thing, being close enough to touch is another thing completely.

            He reaches to his belt loop for his ring of keys and opens the gate on his side, locking it behind him and noting the raised guns trained on the other group. He has to resist an eye roll, because they aren’t even armed, or at least they don’t look it, although appearances can be deceiving. Handing over the key to the guy he’s been talking to, probably their leader.

            “There’s running water, drinkable. Not enough for you all to have a shower or anything, but definitely wash up. You have enough food?”

            “We’re good.”

            That doesn’t answer his question, but he gets them not wanting to be beholden to him. More than they will be if he gives them gas and a ride back to their vehicle.  He looks around them, studying them now that they’re all within an easy arms reach. He’s being studied back in equal measure, and he knows his complete lack of fear of people, of the potential fatal diseases they carry makes some people uneasy, like he is the one who will infect them all.

            “I can’t give you anything for free,” he repeats, “but if you have something to trade then… Then we can talk. Let me know your decision tomorrow. Talk it over.”

            He leaves them and goes back through the gates to his main compound, ignoring Z’s hissed admonishment about just strolling into another group of people unarmed. He heads for the decontamination showers, just in case, keeping a safe distance from everyone else except Z. Like him Z is now pretty much immune to everything, vaccinated and having survived the plague. His own family had all died, and when he calls Z his brother he means it with every bone and breath in his body.

            He doesn’t give the new group much thought for a while, too caught up with rosters, and mundane activities that somehow require him to make decisions about. He can see they’ve started a fire, carefully contained between the large stones, and the low quiet hum of song. As he knew would happen he can see some of his own people have set up a small camp on this side, the two high fences and deep wide ditch separating the groups. He can hear their voices raised to talk, but he’s not close enough to know what they are saying.

            From the look on the other guy’s face he knows they have nothing, or little, to offer in the way of trade. Except one of their own. And he’s fairly certain with a group that looks that closely knit there they won’t be leaving anyone behind. Not to a potentially unknown fate. He sighs, and goes and sees his parents. It’s something he no longer takes for granted, that they’re there for him. He knows they are viewed as elders, wise elders, which he knows amuses them, but they keep it to themselves. His dad sets the water boiling and he braces his forearms on his knees.

            “What do you think I should do?”

            “Give them the gas, give them a ride to where they need to go… even if they have nothing to trade, putting some good out there, helping people, it’s what we need to do.”

            He resists the urge to roll his eyes at his mom’s feel-good happy-clappy comment.

            “We could do with more people joining us. I mean, we’re nearly 5,000 people, and many hands make light work. Show them how we are and they’ll be more tempted to stay.”

            He concedes their points with a slight incline of his head. They’re both right, he doesn’t need to hoard the gas, they have plenty, but again that isn’t a fact they want to advertise to anyone, not even some people amongst their own ranks. He goes to bed feeling unsettled, decision still not made.

NEW AGE

            “It has to be me. They’ll fall apart without you Finn, and dad needs those pills, we can’t leave any of the others here. It would ruin them. I’m the best choice.”

            “No! You are not even up to be considered.”

            “Look, I don’t like it any more than you do, but I can protect myself, I can survive on my own if I have to run, and… it’ll be fine okay? We can’t leave them owing them something. Having to come back to repay them.”

            “We’re going to have to come back for you anyway…”

            “Then we lose nothing by letting them have me for however long it takes you to find them and come back here.”

            Finn scrubs his hands over his face and he knows he’s won. Knows that he is the best choice, even if it weakens the group overall for a short duration, none of the others could stand to be parted from each other. Not now. He’d studied the people on the other side of the fence, and they’d been armed to the teeth, ready to protect at the slightest provocation. He doesn’t blame them, he’s the same with his group. It’s a matter of survival now.

            “Dad will kill me.”

            “Dad will understand,” Kurt replies, hiding a small smile that Finn now calls his dad his own. He likes it.

            Decision made he lets Finn announce it to the others, several of them start crying, as he suspected they would, but others are nodding, knowing it is the best option. They clean up, filling their bottles, and he suspects that this little area will be his home for the next few days, at least until he’s out of danger from being potentially infectious. He hears Finn call out a greeting and turns to see the same guy from yesterday.

            He’s built. Not as tall as Finn, but broader and barrel-chested and he can see the barest definition of muscle beneath his shirt. A clean one since yesterday, and wouldn’t he love that luxury? He’d kept to the back yesterday, not wanting to be noticed, so that he could just observe, and this man had surprised him. Older than him, but seemingly completely fearless of the potential diseases they could be carrying. He hears Finn tell him that he will be staying behind as a guarantee against the gas and car.

            “You’re offering me one of your group?” He asks, and he can hear the surprise in his voice, the disbelief. He guesses it is surprising, because they are small close knit group, the idea of one of them being willing to be left behind as collateral seems… wrong. He sighs. It’s… necessary though. He just has to hope it pays off.

NEW AGE

            He still hadn’t really decided when he’d started walking, mulling over both his mom and dad’s words. He doesn’t know what they need the gas for, but he knows that they will return for him. Or, if he listens to his gut instinct, that whoever it is will make a run at the first opportunity. If he can make whoever it is like it here, show compassion and kindness to those who need it, then maybe they can convince the others to stay. It’s a long shot, but his life has become a series of long shots so what’s another one exactly anyway?

            “So they’re… mine until you return?” It’s common practice now, but he hates the idea of slavery. Here they work out one year doing menial tasks, those that are required for the basic survival of the group, and then they’re their own person. They have to stay at the bottom of the ladder until they can be trusted, he’s not slipping up and making a mistake by trusting anyone, and he’s taken in more than his fair share of people who have run from people less kind than him.

            The system works for him though, eases his consciousness a bit thinking of it as an indentureship rather than slavery like some of the others, and he knows that the people he cares for probably, hopefully, care for him in return. Taking on an outsider though, someone he will no doubt be expected to feed on top of giving them gas, and then simply let go? He holds back a resigned sigh, knowing he’ll have to keep security tight on whoever it is, and no doubt deal with dissension among his own people, especially if he shows them any special treatment. The guy he’s talking to looks furious, that he’s even in this situation to start with, and he guesses he’d feel the same way if he had to leave behind any of his close friends.

            “Until we return.”

            “And if you don’t return?” He asks, because it’s totally realistic. Bandits that prey on travelers like this are rife, although he has had those nearby captured and put to work. He doesn’t have a high opinion of murderers even in the best of times.

            “We will return.”

            They guy seems adamant and he shrugs, because having that deep seated belief can’t hurt, and maybe the person staying needs to hear it. He looks over the group again, and they all look subdued, surreptitious glances toward one member in particular. The one that drew the short-straw apparently. He grimaces. The guy is non-descript, head bowed, face covered in a good few inches of hair and what skin he can see is covered in dust despite there being water for washing, tired and worried looking, but then again, aren’t they all?

            He nods tightly, wondering if the guy is useful in any way, has any skills that he could put to use, although he can’t even consider letting him in to mix with the others until he’s clean. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s been pawned off with a weak and useless group member. He notes that they’ve all packed up, except for the one they’re leaving behind and even though he doesn’t really have the time he watches as they all hug him goodbye.

            “He’ll have to stay here until he passes quarantine, and the guards will shoot him if he tries to run. Once he’s clean then he can come inside, and I’ll take care of him.”

            He feels fingers tighten on his arm and he turns back.

            “I will be back for him. He’s my brother.”

            His eyes widen at that, because he can’t imagine willingly leaving someone he considers his brother anywhere, and can only imagine that that bond between true brothers would be even stronger. He nods, accepts the unspoken threat in his voice, that he expects his brother to be safe and sound when he returns.

            “I’ll get the bus.”

            “What?”

            “Well, how else were you going to transport the gas and all your people back to your vehicle?”

            The guy gapes at him a little like a fish out of water, and he feels a spark of humor, something that is rare enough that the sheer novelty has him grinning wider.

NEW AGE

            He watches Finn and the others drive away in a short convoy of three vehicles, and his throat works convulsively, tight with the pressure of tears denied. Even though he might never see them again he refuses to think about the possibility. The bus had been a surprise, and he’d heard Finn and the other guy talking about possible things Finn could bring back as trade. The use of vehicles means his time here might not be as long as he feared if the others don’t have to walk back to their encampment carrying gallons of gas. Of course their small encampment will no longer be secret, but they hadn’t planned on staying there much longer anyway.

            His dad needs his blood pressure pills, and he’s already broken down over the irony of his dad surviving all the diseases as they swept the world to have another heart attack. A mild one thankfully, but enough to worry him. Worry all of them, because his dad has become a parental figure to them all. Taking the remaining pills every second day means his dad has a fortnight until he’s out completely. It’s his dad. He’d do anything for him, and if that involves staying here locked up in a completely unnecessary quarantine then so be it.

            The next morning he hears the gate of the enclosure swinging open, and he feels even more like a caged animal. It’s the same guy, and he must have returned sometime in the night. He enters the barracks, bringing food and some clean clothes and what looks suspiciously like soap. He’s starving, not having eaten for twenty-four hours, but he’d prefer a book to read to soap; anything to break the boredom that has already set in.

            At least this guy seems… decent. Still dangerous though, if simply because of the power he wields having such a large settlement under his rule. He’s met too many to think highly of them as a group, knows he wouldn’t be alive and whole if it weren’t for both Finn and his dad. The men and women that have become leaders in this NEW AGE are not nice and forgiving people in his experience.

            “I bought you some shaving gear. Thought you might like it given this heat.” He nods and murmurs his thanks, but doesn’t know if he should bother with the actual act of shaving. The facial hair helps hide just how fucking young he looks without it. He’s definitely had less issues with other groups since he grew it, although it’s bedraggled and there’s one little patch which simply insists on remaining completely bald. “So, what name do you use?”

            “Kurt.”

            “Right. I’m Dave. You can consider me your… carer for the duration of your stay.” The inflection on the word carer makes his skin crawl and his jaw tightens, but he nods. It could be worse, he could have used the word owner, or master, for most people in his, Dave’s, position, the words are easily interchangeable. Dave leaves the things at the end of the bed two over, not encroaching on his personal space, and he knows it might be partially due to the quarantine but it feels quietly respectful and he appreciates the gesture, empty though it might be when he hears the gate swing closed and locked.

NEW AGE

            He goes back the next morning, early enough so that he can fit in a decon-shower before starting his day. Kurt hasn’t shaved, and he can’t imagine how hot and scratchy it must feel. He has to shave daily, using a cut-throat razor and soap lather because he hates the wastage of disposable razors now, although that’s what he’d left with Kurt. He’s not about to arm the guy. He’d definitely call his lifestyle sustainable now, and minimalistic, but probably more luxurious than some others out there.

            He doesn’t hold high hopes of Kurt saying anything to him, not beyond the bare necessities and he sighs as he leaves the food for the day, giving him a tight smile. Today he needs to go and inspect the fields. He has a ten day roster that he works with mentally: crops, livestock, fuel, buildings, power, medical, vehicles, people and training, water, security and administration. They don’t always follow on from each other, but he tries to spend four to five hours a day on each specific. There are people in charge of those areas, people who all answer to him, including his parents, but he needs to have an overview of all the areas constantly.

            As his second Z does the same, along with a couple of other guys, and any problems are brought to his attention pretty quickly. After three years their system flows pretty smoothly. A solitary new person though, that is… unusual. There are usually groups. He wonders if it’s just him Kurt doesn’t want to talk with a decides to talk to his mom.

NEW AGE

            “Hello Kurt.”

            He blinks, because that is not Dave’s voice, and after just four days he recognizes it, has come to look forward to hearing it twice a day. This isn’t even a male voice, and is the last thing he expected.

            “Um, hello.” His throat feels croaky due to lack of use and he scrambles to sit up.

            “I’m Katherine. Dave’s mom.”

            “He has a mom?” He knows it sounds wrong, but he’s surprised that there’s another parent alive. That it’s a mom.

            “Well, you didn’t expect him to just spring from the ground did you?”

            The crinkles forming around her eyes caused by a gentle smile make him smile back slightly, still a bit perplexed until he sees the bag at her feet.

            “What are you… are you a doctor?”

            “Yes, Dave just wanted me to check you over. Is that okay?”

            Apart from feeling like an animal at the vet he nods, wondering if she actually is a doctor, or just someone who has fallen into it because they have a nurturing demeanor. When she pulls out a stethoscope and lime green otoscope he knows he might be dealing with the real thing. He takes off his shirt when she asks and answers her questions, letting her hands gently feel his lymph glands and press over his skin.

            “You look like you’re in really good health. A little too lean in my opinion, but nothing that can’t be remedied. Did you have the plague? Or tuberculosis?”

            “Tuberculosis,” he answers, and he knows his lungs mustn’t sound normal. He blinks and shakes his head, he can’t believe that he’s actually talking to a doctor. “What kind of doctor were you? Are you?”

            “From before you mean?” He nods. “I was a pathologist. I mainly did research around contagious and extinct diseases. I’ve had a bit of a crash course in relearning some things.”

            “Oh.”

            “I was one of the first that realized and started putting things together. It’s part of why we have what we have here.”

            He’s not sure what she means by that, but he knows they have electricity. That it’s an army base. The crops they had travelled past were well tended and fields were harvested and ploughed depending. He’s starting to see the bigger picture and he wishes he’d thought to ask if they had a doctor.

            “The reason we needed the fuel was so we could find my dad some pills. For his blood pressure.”

            “Oh. That would have been easier than the gas you wanted. We have… a lot.”

            He grimaces and rubs his face, the coarseness of his facial hair annoying him, but the fact that he could be back with his dad right now, with his pills, that makes his heart twist a lot more.

            “I think you’re very healthy, but three more days and I’ll have another look just to be sure okay? Then you can cross the bridge.”

            He nods, mind still on the fact that they’d been so set on finding gas they hadn’t thought of other possible solutions. He lies on his bed in a funk for a good few hours before deciding to do some exercise just to have something to do, especially now knowing his lungs are damaged. When Dave shows up with an evening meal and a couple of books he’s grateful.

            “Thanks. For the books. It’s getting pretty boring in here.”

            “Yeah, sorry about that. My mom pointed out you were probably getting a little stir-crazy.”

            “Just a little. I’m not used to the confinement.”

            “I get it, but I can’t take any risks you know?”

            He nods, because he does understand, but it doesn’t make him like it.

NEW AGE

            Three days later he’s nervous. His mom has said Kurt is in full health, which he’d known really from the beginning, but he feels like the time when he was a kid and they had to introduce his puppy to the cat and all hell had broken loose. He knows everyone is excited about there being new blood, but there’s also speculative eyes, potential jostling for position and that’s what makes his skin prickle.

            He enters the quarantine enclosure and his mom is already there, having checked Kurt over one last time to be certain. He’s changed into the clean clothes, and actually shaved. He looks… fuck he looks young. Maybe not even fifteen, sixteen tops. The slightly too big clothes don’t help, and he looks like a little kid wearing his dad’s shirt or something, cuffs rolled over about four times and shirt tails almost to his knees. Long limbs like he still has a serious amount of growing to do before they seem in proportion.

            “Huh. You look… different.”

            That earns him a frosty glare and shit, sometimes everything he says seems to antagonize the guy, although if he’s actually the teenager he looks then he guesses that surliness is just normal. His mom gives him a small smile, like she knows something he doesn’t; as per fucking usual. She pats his cheek and he glares at her, although now Kurt is looking amused and he feels like he’s really missing something. He sighs and just hold the gate open for his mom, wondering if he offers to carry Kurt’s backpack would earn him a scathing look or thanks. He’s not going to risk it either way, the guy wants to be independent, Dave’ll let him be independent.

            Through the other two levels of security gates he can see Z standing alongside his dad and a bunch of others. The various heads of different sections and it feels like a lot of pomp and circus just for one person. Then again it’s been nine months since they’ve had a new person join them, even if it might not be for very long. That’s something he’s stressed to everyone he’s spoken to, that this isn’t the usual situation, and he just hopes there’s no animosity because of it.

            He introduces Kurt to his dad, then Z, along the line of all the people and he can see Kurt’s eyes widening with the realization that this isn’t a small operation they have here. He gives him a small tour, just touching on the bare minimum, what Kurt will see in a normal day. There are hangers filled with vehicles, lab, bunkers… this is almost a purpose built facility, and he’d been left in charge. Or rather, the only one left alive with the rank and sufficient security clearance to make the most of the facilities.

            “And this is where you’ll be staying. With me.” He’s not exactly thrilled with it, but letting Kurt bunk with others just doesn’t sit right in his gut, and he’s taken to listening to his instincts when they tell him things like that. He’d seen Richard watching Kurt, and fuck he hopes Kurt is savvy enough at least to never be alone with him.

            “Is this… is this your room? I have to sleep in your room?”

            Kurt whips around and looks at him furiously, and it seems to be his default expression: angry with Dave.

            “I know it’s less than ideal, but it’s for your own protection. If people think you’re…mine they won’t… bother you.”

            Kurt looks furious at that, being reminded of his lack of position and he wishes he could do or say something that would help. But he can’t, except for what he is doing already, and that might not be enough. He has knowledge, and that is power. He also has the body and manpower to enforce it if necessary, which he always hopes he won’t have to do.

            “And if I don’t mind them bothering me?”

            He scoffs.

            “Really?” He shakes his head, not even wanting to consider the shit that could happen to this kid if he just lets him go. There are some people who aren’t right in the head, who have lost their entire families in gruesome ways… He shakes his head again. “You might think you’re all that, but you’re not. You probably can’t even remember what it was like before.” For some reason that makes all the anger leech from his expression and instead he’s being studied, Kurt frowning as if he’s trying to puzzle something out.

            “How old do you think I am exactly?”

            “Uh… eighteen? Maybe?” Dave guesses, deliberately adding on a few years to his earlier estimate so it isn’t such a blow to his ego.

            “I’m twenty-four,” Kurt states and Dave’s eye bug. “I know I don’t look it, the beard helps. Helped.”

            “Huh. Right. That’s… surprising. Well, doesn’t change the fact that you look fifteen. It’s either this or the bunk house, and I can’t guarantee your safety there. Plus it’s a matter of trust. How do I know you’re not going to run at the first opportunity?”

            “Where would I run to? My brother and father are god knows where, looking for something they may or may not even recognize if they even find it, and if I had just asked a simple question, spoken up rather than just hovering in the background, we would have got some medication for my dad and not even needed the gas we… traded.”

            “I don’t think I own you or anything okay? I just want you to be… okay when your brother comes back. He was pretty adamant that he’d be back.”

            “That’s Finn for you. And… thanks. This isn’t as terrible as I thought it would be.”

            “Yeah well, I’m trying to make the best of a shitty situation.”

NEW AGE

            When he follows Dave into the mess hall for dinner he can feel eyes on him constantly. Not just Dave’s, but everyone’s. It’s creepy as fuck, just the level of watching, like he’s a new species. He hadn’t realized just how comfortable he’d got with Dave in the last week. Being in this new environment throws into stark awareness just how quickly he’d become comfortable.  He accepts the plate and eats the food quietly. He’s been enjoying the novelty of fresh fruit and vegetables, not usually a part of his diet with them on the move so much, except for the little they can forage.

            “So tomorrow I’m going to leave you with my mom. That okay?”

            He wants to ask what Dave will be doing, and why can’t he just tag along with him, although he supposes Katherine is definitely a good second choice.

            “I don’t need a babysitter.”

            “You can’t sit in my room all day, able bodied people put in a day’s hard work. You said you were pre-med. Before. You can help her out. They always need help.”

            He can only imagine, and actually that sounds promising, interesting even. He’d enjoyed what little study he’d done before he’d gotten sick. He’s a survivor though, like the majority of his group of friends. Katherine’s company is good, and he knows that they actually have a team of doctors here, with their families, having survived solely due to the fact that they were all vaccinated. It had been a ready-made community, just needing a place to settle.

            He sticks close to Dave’s side, despite hating the way it makes him feel, like he somehow needs a protector, first his dad and Finn and now… he sighs. He knows he doesn’t need them, but the fact that they seem to think he does, even Dave who has only known him for a week. Than again he’ll take feeling protective over other guys that feel …amorous toward him. He’d totally been argumentative before, he really doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone. Doesn’t want to bother them either.

            He spends the rest of the evening watching Dave interact with the others. There are a lot more than he originally thought, potentially thousands. He’d asked Dave where he parents where, only to find out that they were at home, that there are actual homes here. It reminds him of a large school camp, but better organized. He watches them play football and he grins, Finn and Puck would love this. There is more than one reason for the game, it seems to lift everyone’s spirits, offers a form of exercise and he supposes creates a team environment.

            The lights are meant to go out at ten, and he watches as Dave pulls out a trundle from beneath his bed, and he breathes a quiet sigh, grateful he’s not actually expected to share his bed. He lies in the dark and breathes quietly, wondering just how long he will be here. He knows Finn will return with the others as quickly as he can, fearing the worst fate imaginable for him, but he knew mentally that he was the only one that could stay. He’s the only one with a close remaining family member still alive, everyone else has had to watch their family die. Moms, dads, brothers and sisters… that he has both his dad and Finn sometimes makes him feel guilty. Seeing Dave with his parents this morning had been heartwarming though, and maybe people see him and his dad and feel the same way. It makes him wonder and he falls asleep thinking of his dad.

            The sun wakes him the next morning, and he eats silently in the kitchen with Dave, and there’s coffee. Even just the smell is making him crave it, and his attention to it must be obvious, because Dave pours him a cup and slides it over to him without saying anything. He used to drink it with milk and sugar. A lot of milk and sugar, but now he sips slowly, savoring the bitterness on his tongue because he hasn’t tasted this in far too long. Dave just watches him, and he can tell he’s silently amused.

            There aren’t many other people out, and what people he does see all seem to be heading for either breakfast, or somewhere else in small groups. He follows Dave through a secure door, into a long building and looks around. It’s a hospital. There are beds along both sides, looking like it can easily fit twenty on each side. It looks incredibly well fitted out and he wonders if they ever actually use it, or whether anyone who becomes sick is put outside in quarantine. After so much death he couldn’t blame them for being paranoid. Katherine comes through a door at the end and she greets them with a smile and he definitely likes the softer tone of voice Dave uses with his mother.

            “So, what are you up to today?”

            “I need to go and check on the water treatment, so I’ll be gone most of the day. Z will be checking in on you.”

            “I’m sure we’ll be fine Little Bear,” Katherine states, patting Dave’s cheek and he has to bite his lip to stop an amused laugh from escaping.

            “Thanks mom,” Dave bites out, which Kurt finds even more amusing. “I’ll see you later. Kurt.” Dave stalks out looking irate and he looks toward Katherine nervously.

            “I don’t get many chances to embarrass him. Got to keep him humble somehow hmm?”

            “I… yes? I guess?”

            “Hmm. Come on, let me show you around.”

PART 2