IC Inbox

[dog_eat_dog]

INBOX

Comments

[dog_eat_dog]

Ha! If you want delivery pizza, we’ll have to go to the Enclosure. Won’t be filling, but it’s better than the homemade here.

[And she hasn’t had that in eons either.]

[vaccination]

Look, everyone always went on about gross, plastic-cheese pizza, like it was the best shit ever. I don't know if it was nostalgia or what. I'm just reporting what I've heard.

[dog_eat_dog]

[They're going to the fucking enclosure now, no other way around it. Tess steers her in that direction.]

All pizza is good, just for different reasons. You and I are going to set up with pizza and black cherry Polars. It’s been twenty years, we’ll find out whether it’s actually good.

[vaccination]

[whoa. Okay. Ellie laughs, perhaps to relieve the stress she feels.]

Am I gonna shit my brains out?

[... that may or may not have happened once or twice here already.]

[dog_eat_dog]

Undoubtedly. I still haven’t gotten the hang of the food here either.

[vaccination]

[A groan.]

It's good, but holy shit, my stomach.

[When she does eat, she loves it, but the pain is impressive.]

[dog_eat_dog]

Right? The sugar in everything, the amount of dairy, the pasta, all of it. I almost feel better when I’m half starved but it tastes so good.

[vaccination]

The fucking dairy.

[Did that stop her from shoveling down some ice cream? The second time, yeah.]

Maybe we'll never get used to it.

[dog_eat_dog]

Apparently you can build up a tolerance, but I haven’t found it yet.

[They’re at the door to the Enclosure. Tess gestures for Ellie to do her thing and unlock it.]

You get us in, I’ll set us up.

[vaccination]

[With a nod, Ellie pulls her backpack around to her front. The front pocket has her journal, and that opens the door.]

Whatever you have it make up, there better be a toilet.

[dog_eat_dog]

[ Tess notes the pocket and heads on in. ]

I’ll set us up with a whole house.

[ Which she does set about: plugging a suburban house in a quiet Boston neighbourhood in the before-times. Just barely nightfall, lights on in all the windows. Tess heads up the driveway of the nearest house, a cute two-storey colonial with yellow panels and white trim. The lawn is cut and dusted with fallen autumn leaves. Tess feels pretty happy about that, actually. Just like a memory.]

[vaccination]

[A house? Ellie was expecting a pizza place or mall. This is... cozy. Almost like all the nice, freshly painted houses in the movies. She follows Tess, turning around to take it all in.]

Is this a memory, or did you make it up?

[dog_eat_dog]

Just a random house in my uncle’s neighborhood. I always liked how it looked.

[Tess lets herself in the front door like she owns it anyway. The inside is invented by the Barge, but Tess doesn’t care much about that. She flicks on the front hall lights.]

We’re gonna order pizza like it’s the mid 2000s.

[vaccination]

[It's so... airy. Clean. Fresh. Ellie wanders into the living room, tossing her backpack onto the smaller sofa before plopping down on the bigger one.

Then, she laughs.]

Like--with a phone and everything? That fucking works in here?

[dog_eat_dog]

If this place can make entire neighborhoods, it can make me a phone line.

[ Tess meanders through the kitchen, going through drawers until she finds the stash of takeout menus, all glossy pizza ads with big pictures and obnoxious fonts and special deals. She grabs the cordless phone off its cradle and brings it all to the living room. She tosses the menus in Ellie’s lap as she sits down with her. Feels like home, but then again, she’s got twenty years of creeping through abandoned family homes under her belt. She could be comfortable anywhere.]

We can get one of everything you think looks good. Pick.

[vaccination]

Whoa.

[Ellie's seen faded versions of these while digging through homes for supplies, but never so vivid and bright, and she's never had reason to really look at them.]

Well, I gotta try pepperoni. Stuffed crust? Shit...

[She doesn't even know what that is, but it sounds good.]

[dog_eat_dog]

Stuffed with cheese to boot.

[A grin as she leans over to point at a Hawaiian pizza.]

We should find out if you’re a pineapple-on-pizza kind of girl.

[vaccination]

Hot fruit?

[Ellie's already grimacing.]

On... cheese? With tomato sauce...?

[dog_eat_dog]

Have you tried pineapple? It's tart, it's not like any other fruit. You can try it.

[Tess is already checking the number for the place and dialing the pizza place. They're going to order one of everything anyway.]

[vaccination]

Nope. No pineapple trees or whatever in Jackson.

[Do pineapples grow on trees? Ellie has no idea. She flips over one of the menus.]

Strawberry cheesecake? From a pizza place? Fuck yeah. Order that, too.

[dog_eat_dog]

[That gets a laugh.]

I meant here, smartass.

[Strawberry cheesecake she can definitely go for too. She puts the phone to her ear.]

Hey. Can I get delivery to 491 Webster street...? Sure. A large Hawaiian pizza, a large pepperoni, a large meat lovers, honey garlic chicken wings, a couple bottles of black cherry soda, a strawberry cheesecake and...

[Squints.]

Cheesy garlic bread.

[vaccination]

[Ellie snorts.]

Not that I know of. After the first or second week of everything hurting me, I've been more careful.

[Except now. This doesn't really count though, right? Either way, Ellie watches Tess place the call with open curiosity. Just like TV.]

That sounds like a lot.

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess wraps up the call and hangs up, putting the phone down between them.]

You'd know. And you'll know soon, anyway.

[It's strange, sitting in a living room like this. Tess reaches for the remote and turns it on, flipping channels. That feels a little foggy, remembering which channels were which, but she settles on some fucking MTV reality TV show like Teen Mom and leaves the volume low so it's just background noise.]

It's enough food to feed like ten people. We don't have to eat it all, just... worth trying a bit of a bunch of different things.

[vaccination]

[The TV is distracting. All Ellie's seen of actual TV shows are random box sets of random shit, or the occasional parts of sets. When most of the things you can find aren't found in their entirety for one reason or another, it doesn't make you eager to watch them.]

I'm surprised people don't camp out in here.

[dog_eat_dog]

Well, half of us are inmates, and most wardens don't seem to have much they need to escape to. [Shrugs] So that just leaves the outdoorsy types. Arthur does literally go camping in here sometimes.