Chapter 4 (Updated version 2)

TW: Mild language ("dumbass") and some salty internal monologue. <3

I stared at the room. Screens flickering. Headsets everywhere. Weird controllers. And something called a StationPlay 5. Everything looked like it time-traveled from a more exciting century. Confused, I turned to Vesper.
“This is…?”
“An arcade,” he said, like that explained anything.

No clue what that meant. He was messing with some cables behind one of the boxes, muttering nonsense like he was about to resurrect it from the dead.
“There’s no power,” I said. “It’s not gonna work.”

He stared at me like I just personally ruined his hopes, dreams, and breakfast. If he was blinking in Morse code, it translated to ghshverykan. Not a word. Just chaos behind the eyes. I didn’t even want to slap him, but he was making a very strong case.

He got up and wandered into a back room. “Liora? Can you help me lift this?”

I followed and found him struggling with a wooden pallet. Of what, I wasn’t sure. Sad boxes? Forgotten ambition? Either way—
“You’re really struggling with that?” I burst out laughing.

He gave me a look. One of those "I’m pretending to be mad but also deeply wounded" looks. He finally got the pallet off, claiming debris was the issue. Suuure. I helped move it anyway, mostly because watching him fail was giving me secondhand embarrassment.

He grabbed a few wires and started fiddling. It was so dark in there I could barely see anything. A plastic bottle flew past my face. Then, smack — a cardboard box hit me square in the forehead.
“VESPER?!”

He turned, saw the mess on my face, and laughed. LAUGHED. I was one trash bag away from a landfill and he found it hilarious. This man had no survival instincts.

Then I heard rumbling. Something yanked. Something shifted. Something clanked.
“Are you summoning a kaiju or something?” I asked.

More noise. Lights flickered to life. The box he was messing with? A generator. He actually got the place working.

Honestly? Surprised. This was the first time he used his brain and it didn’t end in disaster. Miracles do happen.
“If we get jumped by NeuroSick,” I told him, “I will personally end you before they get the chance.”

He smiled. Like I complimented him.
This man needs help. Legitimate, professional-grade therapy. If we weren’t in a broken apocalypse, I’d book the first appointment myself.

“Liora?”
I looked up.
“Wanna play one of these games?”
I blinked. “Seriously?”

Cue the puppy-dog eyes. Of course.
“No.”

He kept saying please. Like it was gonna work.

“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”

This continued until I wanted to strangle the air.
“Fine,” I snapped. “But it better be quick.”

He beamed. Then I was suddenly drop-kicked into a chair and handed a controller like I’d just given birth to it.
“What in tarnation—”

A title screen popped up. I knew this game. A racing one. I used to beat my dad at it all the time. I narrowed my eyes.
“Vesper, you’re going down.”

The game started. I picked my character. He picked his. We launched off the start line—and I blazed ahead. Easy first place. Nostalgia met muscle memory. Vesper hovered in third, trying to keep up.

Then he grinned. “Liora! Get smacked!”

Boom. Something hit my car. I spun out. He passed me, cackling.
Oh it’s on. I hit a power-up and blazed across the finish line a split second before him.
Victory. Sweet, pixelated victory.

“Good game,” he said, still smiling.

We packed up and left the arcade. He was still being weirdly happy and I… kinda didn’t hate it.
His dumb face was annoying. Like, adorably annoying. But not that I like him. Obviously. Still, not the worst company in the world.

As we walked, he filled a bottle from the generator’s gas tank.
“Most of that gas is probably oxidised by now,” I said.

He smirked. “It’s still flammable.”
Spoiler: It’s not. Not the way he thinks it is. But go off, king. I handed him the bottle back and silently accepted his eventual doom.

By the window, I spotted a book on the ledge.
“A Journey of a Lifetime.”

“Liora?”
I turned.

“Oh, I read that. It’s good. Love her work.”
He looked at me. Then looked down at the book again, smiling.
“She’s amazing. You should read the rest of her stuff too.”

I didn’t even ask. He just… volunteered that info. Like a walking Goodreads review.
He tucked the book into his bag and sat down for a second, flipping it open before I reminded him—
“I thought we were going to your camp?”

He blinked. “Right.”

We stepped outside. The sky was bleeding colors. Reds, oranges, purples… like someone spilled paint across the heavens. I stared, head resting on the windowsill.

Vesper leaned next to me, arms on the ledge. “Sunrise makes me think of my girlfriend.”

Pause.
“Back up. Someone looked at you and thought, ‘Boyfriend material’?”

I was genuinely stunned. This man? A girlfriend? Who signed up for this? He’s like a sentient microwave. A spanner with legs. And someone out there said yes to that?

He just kept smiling, like it wasn’t the wildest thing I’d heard all day.

On the walk back to his camp, I thought about it. Why do I trust him so much? Why do I like having him around? Why do I feel like I’d punch a monster for him? Maybe it’s ‘cause we’re survivors. Maybe it’s more. I don’t know.

“Liora. We’re here.”

As we arrived, a group of men walked up to us. One scanned me with a nanobot reader.
It beeped.
He cocked his gun.

I moved. Fast. Kicked it out of his hands and caught it mid-air, pointing it right back.

“Liora—wait!” Vesper rushed over, hand on my shoulder. He looked almost… scared.
“You okay?”

“It’s an implant,” I muttered. “Sets off scanners sometimes.”

I helped the guy up and handed the gun back. Vesper apologized for my behavior. Like I was the one who escalated.

Walking into the camp, it hit me—this wasn’t just a survival crew. It was a community. Kids playing. Painted walls. Tents everywhere. Even someone carving wood. It felt… human. Real.

I looked at Vesper. His hair looked like it’d been trimmed with a broken spoon. His clothes were a museum exhibit. Denim jacket? 2020 called. The sleeves straight-up quit.

Then she showed up. A girl sprinting toward us. I stepped aside. She threw herself at him, hugging him like a human cannonball.

“Liora, this is Ashley. My girlfriend.”

Oh. She’s the one who willingly signed up for the chaos.
“Ashley,” Vesper said, “I’m gonna set up Liora’s tent.”

Ashley smiled at me before heading off.
Vesper pulled out a roll of fabric and a bag. “You can explore if you want. I’ll handle the tent.”

I nodded and wandered in Ashley’s direction… but something didn’t sit right.

And then I saw her.
She wasn’t alone.