LOSS System: Last Store Standing

While Megan showered, Jack got the guest room ready.

He found fresh sheets, a duvet cover, and pillowcases in the cabinet and changed the bedding. Then he wiped down the table and nightstand. By the time he finished, the bathroom door opened.

Megan came out in clean clothes, her damp hair hanging over her shoulders. Without the dust covering her face and clothes, she finally looked familiar again, though the exhaustion was still there.

“The guest room is ready.” Jack pointed toward the room beside them. “You can stay there from now on. If you need anything, we’ll deal with it tomorrow. Get some rest.”

Megan glanced inside. “Thanks.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

Jack took his clothes and went into the bathroom, leaving Megan to enter the guest room alone.

A clean bed waited beneath the warm light, with a bottle of water on the nightstand. None of it was special. It was simply a normal bedroom—the kind of place she had once taken for granted.

Megan sat on the edge of the bed and ran her hand over the soft blanket.

She was safe.

The moment that thought settled in, her vision blurred.

A tear landed on the clean sheet. Megan quickly wiped it away, but another followed, then another. Soon, she could no longer stop them.

For more than half a month, she had forced herself to keep going. There had been no one to rely on and nowhere safe to rest. No matter how frightened or exhausted she became, she had never allowed herself to fall apart.

Now she finally could.

Everything she had kept buried came rushing out. Megan covered her face, her shoulders trembling as she tried to hold back the sound. It didn’t work.

She had nearly died alone in an unfamiliar world. She might never see her parents or the life she had left behind again.

Perhaps she was crying for all of it.

Jack returned to his room after his shower. He had barely settled into bed when he heard Megan crying next door.

He sat up and looked toward the guest room.

For a moment, Jack considered checking on her, but he had no idea what he could possibly say. That everything would be all right? That at least she wasn’t alone anymore?

In the end, he stayed where he was.

Megan had spent more than half a month forcing herself to hold everything together. Maybe what she needed now wasn’t comfort, but a chance to let everything out on her own.

Jack lay back down. After days of traveling, exhaustion soon pulled him into sleep as the crying next door gradually faded.

By the time he woke again, bright sunlight was streaming through the window.

Jack checked his phone.

It was already noon.

After washing up, he stepped out of his bedroom and caught the smell of food coming from the kitchen. He followed it and found Megan preparing lunch.

“You’re up early,” Jack said.

Megan glanced back at him. “I only got up a little while ago. I was hungry, and I found some pasta in the kitchen, so I thought I’d make lunch for both of us.”

“The pasta is there to be eaten. You don’t have to feel bad.”

Then Jack gave her a shameless grin.

“Besides, I can always complete another mission and turn pasta into an unlimited supply. No need to save it for me.”

Megan laughed.

“You’re ridiculous.”

She turned back to the stove, and Jack wisely stayed out of her way.

By the time she called him over, two plates of food were waiting on the table.

Jack walked over—and stopped.

The pasta was coated in a rich reddish-brown sauce, with bits of beef and diced potatoes mixed throughout. Several slices of golden garlic bread sat on the side. It looked like something from a high-end restaurant.

Jack stared at the two plates.

Megan was clearly pleased with his reaction, though she kept her tone casual.

“We didn’t have much to work with, so we’ll have to make do.”

“This is what you call making do?” Jack asked, still staring at the pasta.

He swallowed.

“Are you a doctor or a chef?”

“I only know how to make a few dishes. It’s nothing special.”

Jack suddenly grinned.

“Let’s eat outside.”

Megan was about to sit down. “Why?”

Instead of answering, Jack picked up both plates and headed downstairs.

Megan could only follow him.

Cass was sitting beneath the canopy, focused on the drone controller, when Jack placed both plates on the table in front of him.

“Cass, have you eaten?”

“A long time ago,” Cass answered without looking up.

“Oh, good. That’s a relief.”

Jack grinned and called Megan over.

“Come on. Let’s eat.”

Megan stood behind him for a moment before finally understanding why he had insisted on bringing the food outside.

She gave Jack a look but said nothing.

Cass finally looked up and noticed Megan behind Jack. He was about to introduce himself when the smell of the food caught his attention.

His gaze dropped to the two plates of pasta, and he forgot what he had been about to say.

Jack burst out laughing.

Only then did Cass realize that Jack hadn’t come over to ask whether he had eaten. He had brought the food outside just to show off.

“You…”

Cass pointed at him, too annoyed to finish.

Jack ignored him and took his first bite.

The sauce was sweet and tangy, the beef rich, and the diced potatoes soft. The garlic bread was crisp on the outside and tasted even better dipped in the thick sauce.

Jack immediately went back for another bite.

“Megan, are you sure you’re a doctor and not a chef?”

“Just eat,” Megan said.

Cass stood nearby, watching them eat without taking his eyes off the pasta.

Megan eventually returned to the convenience store for another plate. She shared some of her untouched pasta and garlic bread with him and placed it on the table.

“Here. Try it.”

“Thank you!”

Cass immediately picked up his fork. After the first bite, he lowered his head and began eating without another word.

The pasta and garlic bread quickly disappeared.

When Cass finished, his gaze shifted to Jack’s plate.

Jack immediately pulled it closer.

“What are you looking at? This is mine.”

Cass said nothing. He simply kept staring.

Jack quickly finished the rest of his pasta and used the last piece of garlic bread to wipe up every bit of sauce.

Megan watched the two of them and laughed.

After lunch, they cleared away the dishes, and Jack took Megan around the settlement to show her everything that had changed.

After seeing everything around the convenience store, Megan stood beneath the canopy and watched the others work.

“I didn’t expect you to be doing this well here.”

Jack caught the teasing in her voice. “Jealous?”

“Of course. The chances may be slim, but I still want to go back to my old life.”

“Who doesn’t? But until we find a way home, we might as well live as well as we can here.”

Elias came over from the growing area, looking pleased. After chatting with Megan for a moment, he turned to Jack.

“Marg identified the seeds you brought back.”

Jack immediately perked up. “What did we get?”

“Wheat, soybeans, corn, and a small amount of sorghum. She doesn’t know if any of them will still grow, but she’s going to try.”

“That’s fine. Plant them and see what happens,” Jack said. “If they grow, great. If none of them do, we still have potatoes.”

Elias smiled. “That’s what I thought too.”

Jack remembered the small black devices they had brought back.

“What about those things Mort found? Did you figure out what they are?”

“They’re Precision Water-Distribution Sprinklers. Old-world farms used them for irrigation.”

Elias briefly explained how they worked, and the description matched what the system had told Jack.

“Then can we install some in the growing area and place a few around the convenience store too?” Jack asked.

He pressed his foot against the dry ground.

“Every time the wind picks up, dust blows under the canopies. If we keep the surface slightly damp, it should cut down on the dust and cool the area a little.”

Elias considered the idea.

“It should work. I’ll have Thomas set them up.”

Jack then remembered the three rolls of mesh.

“What about the fencing?”

“The three rolls of Flexible-Frame Barrier Mesh?”

“So that’s what it’s called.” Jack continued pretending not to know. “Is it useful? I only brought it back because it was light and easy to carry.”

Elias stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Jack frowned. “What’s so funny?”

“That mesh is incredibly useful.”

Jack immediately became interested.

“What can we use it for?”