Pharmacy

The two of them walk their bikes up through what used to be a residential area. Houses line the hills above them while they stride along road bordering a riverbank. At first Asuka believes her labored breathing is just a result of the steep incline they’d just climbed. But that didn’t explain the tickle in her throat and the weakness in her limbs. They had been getting sufficient meals throughout their journey thanks to Hotaru’s scavenging skills, so it can’t be because she’s hungry. Eventually she must stop as aches and chills permeate through her body. She crouches by her bike to catch her breath.

Hotaru notices when she’s about three meters ahead of her. “Come on, it’s not that much further!” She throws her hand up in exasperation, “Hurry up!” She starts getting concerned when Asuka is barely able to answer her, responding in an unusually quiet and raspy tone.

She walks her bike back down the road and goes up to Asuka. Observing her state, she puts a hand to her forehead. Realization spreads on her face. She encourages Asuka to get up, supporting her by holding her waist and keeping her arm over her shoulder. She guides them around, scouting for a safe place to stay until she finds an empty park. She moves them behind some bushes and makes sure they’re hidden along with their bikes, laying them flat. Removing her backpack, she takes out a tarp and blanket to fashion and makeshift bed for her.

Asuka’s breathing worsens as her fever climbs. Hotaru clicks her tongue; it must be because of the sudden rainstorm the other night. She personally felt fine, but they couldn’t travel like this. What should she do? She stands up and looks to the horizon. Smoke rises in the distance toward where they were headed.

Taking a bottle of water from her bag she placed it next to Asuka, who is conscious but incoherent.

“Wait here,” she says, “I’ll be back.”

When Hotaru reaches the shopping district of the town closest to where she left Asuka, she looks around carefully before making any moves, peering around and listening for any footsteps. Most of the stores she enters are open, but empty. The shelves cleared of all of their goods, save for a few random items left rolling around. She is armed with nothing but pepper spray in her jacket pocket; no blunt weapons because they are heavy and loud.

Right now, she is in search of cold medicine. She keeps her eyes peeled for both liquid and pill types, anything that will break Asuka’s fever. It had taken her about 20 minutes to make it to the city, but anything could happen in that time, so she tries to hurry in case anyone tried to attack Asuka in her vulnerable state.

Eventually she comes across a marketplace, it’s a long hallway lined with shops of all different kinds. It’s too dangerous to go inside, though. These kinds of places tend to attract squatters, and she did not want to have to deal with any of them. The sun was setting, so she only had about an hour or so before she would be left in complete darkness.

Hotaru had left her phone at home, aware of the GPS tracking device her parents had always thought she never noticed. Therefore, she could not use it as a flashlight, but at least there was no worry of her receiving a random notification that alerted a hoard to her presence.

Hotaru feels lost. Exhaustion from worry threatens to overtake her as she crouches in an alleyway. Everywhere she looks the supplies have already been emptied out. She worries Asuka will have to suffer through the cold until they can make it somewhere else, something catches her eye. 

A orange butterfly with white spots on the wings flit in front of her. It mesmerized her, appearing to have a faint glow as it danced near her. She watches it until it floats around The corner of the building she’s leaning against. Something leaves her to go after it. With no sense of danger she continues walking until she sees the butterfly enter a building. 

She seems to regain her senses as it disappears from sight and she looks around before tiptoeing to check the front of the building. A dilapidated sign reads “drugstore”. Her mouth falls open, but she quickly recovers. She tries to open the front door, but it is locked. Instead, she tries to enter through the broken window that the butterfly went through. She eases herself in, going leg first through the jagged hole and ducking to avoid injury.

When she thought she had made it all the way in, the glass digs into her skin and leaves a cut under the meat of her thumb. She hisses and flinches away, trying to keep her voice down but unable to totally silence herself. Looking around the store, she sees it’s also in a dilapidated state, but there are still a reasonable number of products left for her to hope for the best.

Squeezing the cut closed, she inches herself step by step around the interior. There is no sign of the butterfly, but it might just be too dark for her to see it. Her eyes dart around, checking the floor for debris and corners for people. She passes by the health supplements and topical creams until she reaches a shelf with ‘cold medicine’ written on a sign above it. The people who had been there before her really did a number on this section. She’s about ready to give up when she sees a lone bottle tipped over at the back of the shelf.

Pulling it down she goes into a patch of sunlight streaming from the window to read the label: “fast acting cold and flu medicine”.

Excitement thrums through her body and she pockets the bottle. She’s about to make a hasty exit back out the window, when she hears voices. She freezes and perks her ears to listen. Along with footsteps, they appear to be getting closer.

Her previous excitement is replaced with fear, and she looks for a place to hide. Hastily tiptoeing toward the back of the store, she dives behind the counter.

She doesn’t expect them to enter the pharmacy, but keeps quiet, trying not to move so the pills in the bottle don’t rattle and give her position away. The opening in the window makes their voices clearer as they pass by. She suddenly hears a crash and involuntary jumps.

“The fuck did you do that for?” She heard one voice ask another.

“It wasn’t broken enough; it pissed me off.” The laughter of the pair subsided as they continued on their way.

Hotaru let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and peaks around the counter. More glass littered the floor from where the window’s assailant shattered it. She waited a little longer to make sure she heard no other noises and slowly got up from her hiding space. The cut on her hand left blood from where she had pressed against the ground. She figured she might as well look for a pack of bandages while she was there. There were a few more boxes available, and she was forced to pick one with “Happímon” branding on the cover.

By now the sun had set even further, barely casting any light over the darkened city. The violent delinquent had at least made more of a suitable path for her to exit the pharmacy without getting the same injury. She looked around from the window before stepping out and easing herself over the frame one more time.

Maneuvering the same way she had to get into the city, she makes her way out. As she is walking in between two buildings something large runs across her foot. She squeaks but slaps her hand over her mouth to quell it in her throat. Unfortunately, the rattling of the pills from her fall had been loud enough to cause an echo. She waits and listens again but is not so lucky this time.

Voices begin to grow louder as they talk about an unidentified sound. They tell each other to split up to see what it might be. Hotaru panics, hearing this, and flattens herself along the wall of the building to try looking for a place to hide. But all she can do is stay where she is; there’s nothing but open space ahead of her, and the gang runs amok in every direction, like ants who had been disturbed out of their hill.

The sun has now fully set, and the only lights that can be seen are the beams of flashlights that were likely swiped from the surrounding stores. She tries to make a break for it when she thinks all of them have left, but bumps into one as soon as she leaves the alleyway. He grabs her before she can run, pinning her arms behind her.

He tries to intimidate her instead of hurting her outright. But before he can say anything more, she flips him over, using his own weight against him. Kicking him in the face for good measure, she dashes out into the night as he shouts to alert the rest of his posse.

Trying not to lead them back to where Asuka is, Hotaru takes a slight diversion to hide under a tunnel by the river. Fortunately, no one else is squatting in there and she waits, listening for their shouts to dispel before heading back in the right direction.

When she gets back, Asuka is fast asleep, her forehead is covered with sweat. Hotaru wakes her up, shaking her until her eyes slowly open. She opens the pill bottle and makes Asuka swallow the recommended amount and forces her to eat a couple bites of food, suspecting she hadn’t eaten anything for dinner before putting her back to sleep.

Hotaru collapses next to her on the tarp, though there was not much room for them both in the cover of bushes. After washing her cut and plastering it with a “Bubblysaur” bandage, she stuffs the empty part of the bottle full of cloth to keep the pills pushed down to stop it from making any more noise.