Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

but the ones that matter in this world could, like engineering and making things and farming,” said Peter. “I wanted to talk to you about the library.”
    I frowned. “What library?”
    “Well, first of all our library.” He pointed to another map, to a square that looked like it was probably a large room of some sort. “Here’s where we’re putting all the books - in the former prison library, which was pretty crappy, actually. You and I brought the most, but some of the other kids had some too. We’ve all agreed to make them available to the community. All except for George’s journal of course.”
    I nodded. “Of course. That’s exclusively mine and yours. No one else’s.”
    “Understood. And as for the library’s future, we’d like to see about going to some local libraries and book stores and moving their books over here.”
    “All of them?” Peter was going a little nuts now. With books being so heavy and bulky, I couldn’t imagine how we’d move them over long distances without putting ourselves at huge risk.
    “Sure. Almost all of them, anyway. Technical stuff, fiction novels, encyclopedias. If we’re going to rebuild, we’ll need that knowledge. I think one of the best places we can go is the university bookstores. I heard from Bianca that the University of Miami has a monster one.”
    The wheels were starting to turn in my head now. “I’ll bet they have all kinds of technical goo-gah there. Like engineering and chemistry stuff.”
    “Exactly. And we have kids with skills already. We could do some study courses to help increase what knowledge we have and get going on really setting this place up for the long term.”
    “Now all we have to do is figure out how to move all that stuff without getting attacked and eaten.”
    “I’m working on that, too.”
    I hugged Peter to me hard. “What would I do without you?”
    He patted me lightly on the back. “You’d manage. But I appreciate your gratitude. It’s nice to be needed.”
    I pulled away, but left my hands on his arms. “I’m going to go and get him for you, Peter.”
    “Who?”
    “Don’t play games. You know who I’m talking about.”
    Peter closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them again, they were as cold as I’d ever seen them. “I don’t care what he does. He can stay and rot in that stinky swamp as far as I’m concerned.”
    I dropped my hands from his arms. “Peter, don’t say that. You know you don’t mean it.”
    “Don’t I?”
    “No, you don’t. You’re not that cold-blooded.”
    “It’s not about being cold-blooded. It’s about walking away when that’s the right thing to do. He could have come with us. He could have stopped me. He made his choice, and now we both have to live with it. That’s life out in the badlands.”
    I shook my head. “First of all, badlands? What’s that? Are we living in a Blade Runner movie now? And when did you get so hardcore, anyway? What happened to my fluffy doodle dumpling?”
    He shrugged, shuffling some papers and making a big deal out of straightening the ones laid out in front of him. “I’ve always been this way. People who can’t adapt and move on get left behind, and I’m not getting left behind.”
    I sighed, very frustrated. “Could you stop with the papers for a second?” His casual attitude was really worrying me. Before, I’d always thought Peter having a breakdown would be all about hysterics and girly screaming. Now I wasn’t so sure that it wouldn’t be a lot of hyper organization and planning like what I was seeing here.
    “I’m busy right now. Maybe we can continue this conversation later.”
    “No, maybe we can continue it now,” I said, more firmly this time.
    He stopped and put his hands on his hips. “You’re getting a little high-handed, don’t you think?”
    “You haven’t even seen high-handed, yet. Trust me. Either talk to me now and cut the crapola or I’m going to carry you out of here and force you to talk. And I’m warning you … there could be possible cuddling after.”
    “You wouldn’t,” he said, his nostrils flaring.
    “You sure about that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I widened my stance, preparing to grab him around the middle and haul him out of there.
    He wilted like a newly airless balloon. “Fine.” He dropped his gaze to the floor. “But I’m not going to like it.”
    “Come on, you don’t have to like it.” I took him by the elbow and led him out of the lobby and