#i left the muse open ended bc i realized i don't think we decided?? lol

[mutatedangels-a]

@thewolfruns // eli x ??

It was the best sleep he'd gotten in days. And shit like that seldom came.

Eli's eyes flickered open. His body and mind recalibrated as he took in his surroundings. He never really knows what takes them so long to click together; it's not like he ever wakes up anywhere different. Anywhere besides the crow's nest. Maybe in different spots each time but always within the same four-walled sanctuary.

If you could even call it that anymore.

Well, the good thing about hiding out from this whole world-ending thing in the lookout is that it's high above ground. (It's a detriment, too, but Eli holds on to the few pleasures he has in life.) Lookout towers are anywhere between 60 to 120 feet across the U.S. and he happens to work at one of the taller ones. Deadwood Peak. They call it Deadwood because it's full of redwood trees that should be dead by now, taken down by forest fires or maybe cut down by some poachers or by some other force of nature.

It's a lame story, but it's the only one he's heard from the locals, and the chances of anybody telling him anything different is slim-to-none. So he sticks with it.

During this whole world-end, Deadwood Peak Lookout A8 has only been broken into once. It's so far down the trail of lookouts that only a few hikers, real serious ones, have ever reached it throughout its lifespan. From up top Eli's only seen maybe one or two groups pass by; for some odd reason, they never tried to ransack the tower. Maybe they didn't notice him.

So when he wakes up from a long slumber, he doesn't rush to get up. He never has a reason to.

Until he hears the rattling of a doorknob. His mind stiffens but his body springs into action, as agile as one could after waking up. Bumbling limbs are activated and refined once more as he reaches for his rifle and points it straight at the door. He doesn't say anything, not yet. For a second he takes his eyes off the door to look at the sun outside the lookout, through the window. It's bright. Who the hell has got the guts to break into someplace in broad daylight?

Somebody who didn't care whether they lived or died, he bets. He takes a deep breath in and doesn't let it go until. Until.