186. Big Dinner

After a time, Heather came back with a few tenants and members of Erica’s army, and with their help, Zeke and Domi made short work of the cooking. The two of them carried the bit pot out into the apartment’s massive Convention Hall, careful to keep the chili even between them.

“Do apartments usually have Convention Halls?” Zeke muttered to Domi.

“It’s the end of the world,” Domi muttered back.

“Yeah, right…” Zeke said, nodding.

Domi shot him a look. “At least we didn’t pick up anyone from the Undead Apocalypse.”

“Except Olivia.”

“She didn’t come for dinner. And I put garlic in the chili,” Domi said.

“Can Olivia not eat garlic? Huh. The rules they follow seem so arbitrary,” Zeke mused.

Domi shrugged. “I dunno. I was just memeing. I didn’t do any research.”

From across the hall, Mia looked up from where she was chatting with members of Erica’s army. Her face lit up, and she jogged over, but the closer she got, the more concerned she became. She nodded. “Hey.”

“Hey, Mia, no help cooking, huh?” Domi ribbed her.

“I was setting up the tables,” Mia explained flatly, no emotion but exhaustion in her voice.

“Yeah, yeah. Just joking.”

Mia looked at Zeke. “Have you seen Ryan? He vanished around the time we got home, according to everyone I’ve talked to, and no one knows where he went.”

Zeke frowned. Although he didn’t understand why, anger rushed up in his heart. He pressed his lips together, barely suppressing it. “What, did he think he was doing us a favor? Getting out of our hair?”

“Probably. He’s kind of an asshole like that,” Domi agreed.

“Whoa, whoa. I’m just wondering if he wandered off and got hurt. There’s nothing wrong with avoiding conflict,” Mia said, putting her hands up.

“Yeah, there is,” Domi snapped, before Zeke could say anything. “It pisses me off. That’s what’s wrong with it.”

“Prolonging resolution doesn’t help anyone,” Zeke agreed, taking a sage expression with some effort.

“You both just want to sock him in the face. That’s not conflict resolution,” Mia returned, crossing her arms.

Domi glanced at Zeke. “Mades me feel better.”

Zeke nodded, raising his brows.

Mia sighed. She rolled her eyes. “No wonder you’re all Apocalypses.”

“Ryan was a Hero,” Zeke pointed out.

“Not for long,” Mia muttered.

Zeke nodded, half to himself. He glanced at Mia. And on the other hand, she’s still a Hero. And so is Jimmy. Between Ryan, who acted out of his own self-interest to create a world that was perfect to him, and accepting nothing less than his own self-satisfied perfection, and Jimmy and Mia, who struggle to survive the best they can with their morals intact in the tumult they find themselves in, I think I can agree with that judgement.

Then, me and Domi, who fold to the whims of our instincts, who can’t escape the desire to destroy, is it not correct to call us Apocalypses? Even if I refuse to happily tear apart everything that we’ve built up, it doesn’t mean that I’m doing my best. I’m just trying not to be evil, but that isn’t the same as being good.

“Zeke, hey! The chili’s spilling!”

Zeke snapped back to reality and lifted his side of the pot, stemming the flow of the chunky red fluid. He looked around, forcing his thoughts back down. “So, where do we go from here?”

“Huh?”

“With—with the chili. Where are we taking it?”

Domi nodded ahead of them at a big banquet table, already set with drinks, chips, salad, and cornbread. “Uh, there?”

“Right, right.” Zeke rolled his eyes at himself. Dumb question.

“You okay, Zeke?”

Zeke shrugged. “Just zoned out for a minute. Has anyone seen Zeke? Er, the other me. You know.”

Mia tensed. She looked him in the eye. “No way.”

In the next moment, Zeke stiffened as well. No sign of Ryan or other-Zeke. Yeah. That’s a real oh-shit moment.

Does other-Zeke know about Dead Man’s Switch? He has to, right? No way he doesn’t. He’s from a universe where Ryan… I don’t know if the word is won, but certainly where Ryan left. And if Ryan left, that means he knows that Ryan can turn back time. Potentially even turn back time if he dies.

He has to know. No, that’s not the question.

The question is, does other-Zeke care?

“Let’s—let’s get the chili onto the table,” Zeke said, suddenly anxious.

Domi nodded. The two of them hurried forward, dropping the chili into place.

One of the more mature-looking members of Erica’s army looked at them. “Is something wrong? Can we help?”

Zeke shook his head, a little panicked. He forced a smile, taking a beat to appear normal. “Everything’s fine. Enjoy the meal! We’ll be right back with the rest of it.”

From across the hall, Eric looked up. Meeting Zeke’s eyes, he mouthed, Need help?

Zeke waved his hand, making a confident expression. He met Mia and Domi’s eyes.

Without the need for another word, they rushed out of the Convention Hall. Out into the night. Zeke glanced at the girls. “Anyone have a location skill? Tracking, maybe?”

Domi shook her head.

Mia frowned, wrinkling her nose.

Damn. Me neither. Maybe I should’ve taken Blood Sense from the shark.

Then again, if I can sense Ryan’s blood from here, we’re already in trouble. No… we’re already dead.

Can I hope that Ryan’s still alive, because we’re all still here?

But then, that Zeke came from a world Ryan ditched. What would we experience, if Ryan turned back time completely, enough to erase this world?

He shook his head, checking his skills. I still have Regression. I should be able to chase him. Even in the worst case… even in the worst case…

No. Let’s hope for the best case. Ryan’s still fine. He has a shit ton of skills. Regeneration skills. Short-term time reversal. That teleportation skill. Even I can’t guarantee a win, with Regression and everything. He should be fine, at least for a little while.

He swallowed. Ryan. Fuck! Don’t die. We’re coming!