They packed food, water, the seeds Techno had told Skeppy about, tools beyond hammers, mainly gardening tools, Wilbur insisted on bringing some books, their own first aid kit, and a few more things that could be classified as weapons. Now though they had a small problem, their Dad has a few guns and ammo though they have no clue where those things are located.

"Techno we'd be looking for ages. When he doesn't want us to find something we usually can't," Wilbur explained to Techno, something he heard a lot when he wanted to be a little shit and peak at the presents as a kid. Techno had never proven Wilbur wrong before however, he intended to do so today. "With close-range weapons though it'd be easier to get hurt than with far range. We have some time, we can just look in places where we think he'd keep them and go from there?"

Wilbur facepalmed, "This is going to end up being a waste of time." Wilbur muttered yet he still went past Techno to go look. He decided before searching he'd check on Skeppy. "Hey Skep, you doing alright?" He tried to be comforting, however, it didn't have much effect with his monotone voice and he was still covered in blood.

Skeppy was silent for a moment before looking at Techno. "Yeah, it is just way more difficult to process than what all the media showed in those shows and those games," Skeppy admitted, he nodded. "Yeah." Skeppy continued to look at him, "How are you just fine with this?" Techno quirked a brow. "Like fine with what is going on, fine with the blood on you-"

"I mean I'm not exactly fine with it." Techno interrupted Skeppy, "Everyone has a different way of processing things, I don't think I have even started to process this yet. Big changes are weird for me. I get through them but I don't exactly process them until later. I guess I am just subconsciously ignoring it, focusing on the important things. Like keeping you guys safe." Techno smiled at Skeppy, it was small but still, Skeppy smiled back.

That being the reassurance he needed to know that it was fine to go back to looking around, Techno pushed off the couch and went towards their Dad's office. He usually kept it locked however Techno was simply beyond the lock and kicked the door down. They probably wouldn't see this house again. Techno huffed and silenced his thoughts quickly, they would see it again and Techno would pay for the door. This was going to be solved.

"What was that!?" Wilbur shouted from upstairs, right, other people were still here. "I kicked his office door down, it's fine!" Techno responded before going in. He heard Wilbur shout about him being an idiot before he got distracted looking around the office.

Boring files and paperwork that needed to be filled out were all that seemed to be there at first glance. The drawers filled to the brim with carefully organized sheets of paper that practically flash banged his eyes when he opened one. He silently wondered how his Dad didn't crumple, rip or even tear a single sheet.

However, when he checked the main desk, in a drawer with a lock on it, that he simply just forced open, a handgun was placed inside. Jackpot. Techno grabbed it and hummed looking at it. It was barely used, they rarely ever hunted and no one ever broke in so it only made sense.

He searched a bit more but soon enough considered it futile. He left the office shortly after glancing at everything. When he entered the living room Skeppy wasn't on the couch. A spike of paranoia rose and he immediately wrestled it into the dark pit of his mind. This was fine, Skeppy was probably with Wilbur.

He jogged upstairs a bit louder than he probably should have before walking down the hall. "Wilbur?" Techno called out. "My room." It was a response at least. He entered the room and showed Wilbur the gun with a slight smirk on his face. "I found a gun." Wilbur stared a bit warily at it before sighing. "At least today is the best-case scenario for you to prove me wrong about it." Techno rolled his eyes. He respected his Dad too much, of course normally he wouldn't ransack the office.

"You see Skeppy around? He wasn't on the couch." Techno asked, the blood was dry, and to be frank, it wasn't the best feeling, it was like having a second skin. Is this how lizards feel? If it is he might sympathize with them a bit, this felt awful. "Nope. Good luck with that. I'm going to see if I can bring anything else. If you could find another gun that would also be great." Wilbur hummed out before seamlessly humming a tune off of the finished sentence as he looked around his room.

Wilbur always found time to insert music into everything. He left the room shortly after that. Okay, so he doesn't know where Skeppy is. That is great. Just fine and dandy. Not like he saw his friend almost get ripped to shreds by one of the ill, no not at all. He wasn't paranoid and anyone who said otherwise would be getting a dirty bat to the head. He went downstairs and looked around all the pent-up paranoia crumbling at the sight of Skeppy looking through the kitchen.

Hearing his footsteps, Skeppy turned his head to face him. "Find anything?" Techno deadpanned lifting up the gun as if it was in perfect sight the whole time. It was, but Skeppy hadn't seen it so not really. "Oh wow, that looks way too small for your hand." Skeppy chuckled to himself turning away, Techno made one of his famous confused noises as Skeppy moved on.

"God, we need a shower." Techno abruptly said, picking at some dried blood on his skin. Who knew that when blood dried in such mass amounts it'd be this annoying. "I mean we have time, we could just use your shower. You have clothing here and we packed some spare clothing for me." Skeppy reasoned. Listen, he wanted to take a shower but was it actually safe to do so? Better to shower now before the government crumbles. No, that's not what is going to happen. It's all going to get solved and washing this blood off will make it seem like Techno didn't just murder a bunch of sick people. Yeah. This is fine.

"Sure why not. You can go first though." Skeppy only nodded rushing past Techno probably to get some spare clothing. He had a bit more time to search, why waste it?

~

By the time it was his turn he found a rifle and a few boxes of ammo for both the handgun and rifle. He couldn't find anything else before Skeppy told him it was his turn.

He was glad that his friend wasn't covered in blood anymore and was ready to rid himself of it as well. From his room, he'd have to pack his own spare clothing later, so he picked a casual blouse. It looked like a blouse to him and he was too lazy to call it anything else, some jeans and some kind of sneakers. He didn't really care that much.

The shower felt heavenly as he got the blood off him. He got rid of the lingering blood smell replacing it with a nice soap smell. After he was done with his shower and all that he decided it'd probably be a good idea to pack soap, conditioner and all that good stuff. Hygiene is important after all.

Maybe he was a bit too prepared for something that was going to be solved. It probably wasn't going to be. It was going to be solved and being this prepared isn't necessary. Though he could appease his anxiety a bit and do it anyway.

He got some clothing he relatively liked, hoodies, jeans, that good stuff. He took a brush to his hair and brushed it out a bit, deciding to take it as well. When he was done packing what he needed and stuff for hygiene he went downstairs. Wilbur was sitting on the couch watching the news intently. Skeppy was relaxing and all their supplies minus the bag Techno was holding was in front of the couch. Techno placed the bag down and sat in between Skeppy and Wilbur.

"Over half of California is said to be infected with this unfortunate illness. The Military continues to struggle with keeping them at bay. If you see someone ill report it to the police, or better yet help out and deal with it yourself." The reporter finished before passing it to someone named Paul.

"We are here at the scene, it is truly sad to see an illness do such a thing to people." The man continued on but Techno just stared at the ground behind him. There was a lot. California is huge but it really spread this far this fast?

Okay so maybe this isn't going to be solved. "Where did you say your family is at again?" Techno asked, looking at Skeppy. "Las Vegas. They are there for a business deal." Skeppy explained. "Then it's settled. We are getting the fuck outta dodge."

"Right now? With your luck, we'd manage to get to the road before the military sees us." Wilbur huffed out, okay yeah maybe his luck was a bit bad at times. Though sneaking past the military is going to need skill, not luck. It just so happens Techno is on better terms with skill than luck. "I mean how hard can it be? This is the same guy who can go anywhere and you wouldn't know unless he told you." Skeppy stated, it's not like he was wrong but the military has to be more focused than regular people.

"I seriously doubt we can sneak past people who are trained for this." Wilbur crossed his arms. "We could still try, Skeppy and I don't smell like shit anymore so that's a plus," Techno spoke up trying to convince Wilbur. "Yeah, and when they see that teens have guns what are they going to do? Let us pass on by?" Wilbur contradicted Techno's thought process a glare being pointed at Techno.

"Are we even sure that they are there? They seem to be struggling with the problem. It's more likely they are more focused on the problem than making sure people stay." Skeppy broke through the tension building up between the siblings. Wilbur's look softened slightly as he looked at Skeppy. "Fine whatever. If we get caught I'm beating both of your asses."

"Have fun with that." Techno chuckled receiving a punch to the shoulder from Wilbur. "So we doing this now?" Skeppy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah of course. We gotta get out before it gets worse."

"Do we even know where the car keys are?" Wilbur asked. Shit. "We'll just walk." Wilbur groaned but nodded anyway. "Anything we wanna take from here or did we get everything?" Skeppy asked. "Got everything." Skeppy nodded and stood up gathering a share of the bags and his hammer.

"Then let's go. I'm getting paranoid just sitting around here."

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OooOOOOO progression! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I wonder. What is causing the illness?

- May