June 14th, 2020 10:14

"Soup's on, squiddos!" Ruby placed the steaming hot pot-pie onto the table before the two children. Adam's blue eyes widened significantly at the rare food item before him. "Woah! Where'd you get this?" Ruby laughed, removing her oven mitt and fanning the pie. "There's a freezer in the basement. There was so much ice in it, it felt like it had never been shut off! I kept the hot-plate from that other house, so I could cook it-" "Yeah yeah, can we eat now?" Kirsten cut in, a completely serious look on her face. Adam elbowed her in the ribs, giving her a look. Their caretaker rolled her eyes, smling. "No, I'm just gonna make you sit here and smell it. Duh you can eat it!" Kirsten's face lit up and she grabbed her fork. "Sweet!" The dark-haired girl stabbed her fork into the gash cut in the center of the pie, a fresh puff of steam wafting from the now larger hole. Adam took his fork and stuck the prongs under the edge of the crust, using it as a lever to lift up the top layer and get to the filling inside. Ruby watched in bemusement, glancing over at baby Danny, who lay asleep in his carrier on the counter.

The woman couldn't believe their luck. Two houses in a row? Though she would've preffered to get into the hotel not too far away, she couldn't complain about this house. It was in decent condition, and the fact that they had just left a house not 8 hours ago just increased her gratefulness for finding another one so soon. Plus, she had managed to find food! Actual food! After living on granola bars and beef jerky for months, a nice, warm pot-pie was just what the crew had needed. She grabbed her fork, swiping a piece of meat from the pie before either child could notice and popping it into her mouth.

She instantly regretted her decision as her tongue burned in protest against the hot piece of chicken that had been placed upon it. Ruby fanned her mouth, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she attempted to cool the chicken off without removing it from her mouth. This, however, was unsuccessful, and she spit the meat out into her palm, grabbing her water bottle and taking a large sip. She swished it around in her mouth a bit before swallowing it, her tongue already beginning to numb from the burn.

"Damn....." she muttered, her tongue dangling from her mouth as she spoke. She heard a snort, her head snapping over to see Adam, his hand over his mouth in a desperate attempt to conceal his laughter. Kirsten, on the other hand, was too absorbed in her food to notice a thing. Ruby gave Adam a playful glare, taking another, smaller sip of water. The boy gave up, releasing a stream of giggles as he tried to keep at least mostly quiet. This caused Kirsten to look up from the pie, fork halfway to her mouth. "What's so funny?" The woman rolled her eyes, smiling, before blowing in the piece of chicken and popping it back into her mouth. "Much better." Adam giggled again, earning a scowl from Kirsten. "What are you laughing at?" "N-nothing." Adam replied, calming down a little bit. Kirsten sighed in exasperation before shoving the fork into her mouth.

Ruby couldn't help but smile. It was like normal; like none of them had been through any of the horrors of the past who knows how long. Like no one had died. The woman sighed.

If only.