Novel Snippets Part II

Read part 1 here, if you want.

Hi guys!
Right now I'm shoulders deep in Camp NaNoWriMo, and since that's where all my creative energy is going at the moment, I thought I should share some more with you.
To recap if you have no idea what's going on, I started this novel in November of last year. Right now I'm about halfway through (32,311 words and counting).
In part 1, I described my novel as this:

"My NaNo project is currently titled "The All-Gender-Inclusive Scouts of America." It's subject to change. It's an LGBT apocalyptic mess that probably fits best into general YA. It's been fun to write. I started the month with no plot and still have no coherent plot, so if I finish it it'll need lots of rewrites."

Well, I have good news! I found the plot. I made a note card outline of it on my wall. I still need a good rewrite, but we'll get there once I finish draft 1.

 Check it out! This is real footage of me writing this post, too. (Yes, I blurred out the writing on the cards so rude internet people can't steal my plot. And you can't spoil it for yourself. Sorry.)

Anyhow, you probably care more about reading my writing than hearing me talk about it, so here are some of my favorite scenes at the moment.

♡♡♡

“What are you doing?” Laurel asked. Paige dropped to her hands and knees and crawled into the tent next to him.
“No, you're supposed to say 'Who's there?'” She poked him in the shoulder. “So what are you doing?”
Laurel shrugged. “What do you do all day? I'm bored out of my mind.”
She thought for a minute, and then her face lit up mischievously. “Wanna help me with something?” She reminded him of Destiny, which made his heart ache. The way her voice tipped up in excitement and the dimples when she smiled were almost the same.
“What are we doing?” Laurel asked. He couldn't say no to someone this familiar.
“Looking for beetles!”
“Oh, alright.” He crawled out of the tent behind her. She led the way to a supply tent where they picked up a cup, and then a ways into the trees. The long grass that had grown up between the logs was starting to turn yellow. Hitchhiker seeds stuck to the bottoms of his pants.
“This is where you get them,” Paige announced, stepping over a trunk and stopping at random. She flipped over a log and plucked a centipede from underneath. Laurel bent down beside her. Hundreds of ants, centipedes, roly-polys, and earthworms flourished in the damp ground. They didn't seem concerned at all that Paige was picking off their friends one by one and trapping them in a plastic cup.
“How old are you?” Laurel asked.
“Nine.” The centipede plopped into the bottom of the cup. Destiny was eight, or did she have her birthday already? Suddenly he needed to know the date, but what could he reference off of? He had nothing.

(Paige is my favorite character to write at the moment haha.)

♡♡♡

“Oh,” Mavis breathed, stopping in their tracks. Stretching wide in front of them was the ruins of a city. They couldn't see the end of it. They swayed on their feet, but they couldn't take their eyes off the horror.
Buildings were crumbled, leveled. The entire town had shattered from the impact of whatever had hit it. It was the most fear inspiring thing they had ever seen. Nature had truly done a number on this place. This entire town, built up by humans, had been reclaimed by a force completely beyond their control.
It reminded Mavis of how small they all where. They could have been crushed in this. They were in Texas, too close to home for them. What if their family had been killed in this? What would they find if they went further? Death? Bodies? Of course there would be bodies. There couldn't be any survivors of something so terrible.
“Are you coming?” Andrea asked, and Mavis realized she was a long way in front of them.
“I'm afraid to,” they admitted.

♡♡♡

“Stop wincing,” Laurel complained. He held a washcloth soaked in warm water in one hand and Cole's cheek in the other. He was trying to wash the scab Cole had gotten yesterday.
“It burns! What do you expect me to do?” Cole replied.
“Hold still.” He wiped the cloth across the wound, taking some of the dried blood with it. Cole cringed and pulled away.
“Do you want me to hold your hand?” Mavis offered dryly. They were boiling river water in an empty can to make it safe to drink. It was slow work, and they kept burning their fingers, but it was better than running out of water. The other Scouts, Laurel especially, were impressed that Mavis had thought of it. They emptied the contents into a plastic water bottle and set it to cool.
“There! Done.” Laurel pulled the cloth away and let go of Cole's face. He stood up quickly and ran his fingers over his cheek.
Laurel squeezed out his rag and rinsed it in the can of water Mavis was boiling.
“Ew, Laurel!” Mavis exclaimed. They grabbed the towel they were using as a potholder and emptied the can and rag onto the pavement. “Are you trying to poison us?”
“It's just blood,” Laurel scoffed, picking up the rag.
“And if you want to drink that, be my guest.”
“All I'm trying to say is that I'll rough it to survive.”
Mavis turned their back to him and picked up another water bottle labeled “River.” “I'm not sure if I should laugh or call poison control.”

♡♡♡

“What was that?” Mavis whispered, hurrying to be in the center of the group. Whatever the thing was moved again, creating a rustling in the leaves.
“I don't know,” Laurel whispered back. He picked up a can of soup in his shaking hand and pulled his arm back, ready to throw it.
A twig snapped. They all jumped. A small animal scrabbled over a tree trunk and trotted onto the road.
It was a dog. Mavis let out a sigh of relief.
“A chihuahua?” Laurel said, shocked. “No way.” The chihuahua yapped excitedly and trotted over to the group. It continued to yap at Mavis's sandals until Laurel bent down to pet it. The dog's coat was dirty and matted, as much as a short haired chihuahua's hair could be. He was black and grey and white, and had sweet, big eyes.
“Careful!” Jenna warned, grabbing his shoulder. “It might not like you.”
“Or it might have rabies or something,” Mavis added. Laurel scratched the dog behind its ears, and the dog wagged its tail.
“It's got a collar on,” Laurel observed. He picked the dog up around the middle and held him to his chest to a collective gasp from his friends. “No name, but it has an address and phone number.” He turned the tag over. “No, wait, his name's Zeus.”
“Nice name for a dog,” Mavis said.
“And he's got his rabies shot, nice.” Laurel set Zeus down on the pavement. Zeus sat at his feet and wagged his tail.
“He seems friendly,” Cole said. “Can we keep him?”
“We're not leaving him,” Laurel decided. “It's inhumane.”
“What if we're kidnapping someone's dog?” Mavis worried. They bent down to pet Zeus. “He has a collar and everything.”
“Out here?” Cole waved an arm at the downed trees. “It's unlikely his owner's still around.” Mavis hadn't thought of that. They felt a twinge of pain in his heart for the poor dog who'd probably spent several weeks living on his own.

♡♡♡

I hope you enjoyed these! Zeus is the weirdest plot point that I keep forgetting about, but I can't just cut out the dog, you know?
Side note, these are not in chronological order, just the order that I wrote them in. Piece it together if you want.
Side note #2: Real Paige, if you are reading this, I swear I don't see you as an annoying, bug-loving nine-year-old. Ily.
And yeah, that's about it.