Arin shifted in his bed, unable to fall asleep. As he laid with his head on a moist pillow, he heard a soft gibberish murmur. He focused on gibirish and slowly it started to make sense.
"Hey wake up. Wake. Up." He frowned and replied, "Actually, I am not asle…"
But before he could complete his word he felt pain jolting him from his back.
"Huff. Huff" Arin exhale looking around frantically but all he saw was pitch dark. What is this? Is it power outage? No, a blackout during the night?
"Hey stop moving carelessly before you…"
Hiss. Hiss.
"Owww" Arin gasped in pain. "...accidentally touch our campfire." female voice completed her words.
Arin froze as he realised he just caught a burning log. "No, its not a black out, my eyes. Who are you and what did you do to me?" he shouted hysterically. Next he heard something hitting the wall near him.
*Thud*
"WHY THE FCK ARE YOU YELLING?" she shouted then calmed herself before continuing. "Have you gone mad? We just talked few hours ago. I am Liv and your name is Arin. Remember?" her anger evident in her low soft voice.
Liv waited but only silence and crackle from campfire answered her, so she took another long breath and changed her approach,"Me, Liv. You, Arin. This, trial…"
"Okay. Okay. I am good. Just give me a minute." Arin cut her short. Silence ensued for few minutes.
Oh god! When i wished yesterday for someone to appear. I meant someone useful not a sobbing idiot. Liv massaged her temple with her left hand.
Arin cleared his throat, "Erm-hem. Sorry. I just woke up suddenly so it took some time for things to come back. Now I remembered everything. Good Morning, Liv. How are you?"
Arin waited but only sound of breathing answered him. He almost yelled again as he felt something soft touching his side but he stopped mid way. Ohh. It"s you. Completely forgot about you too.
Arin stared at the status panel of his rat. This is how he recognized it. Since sight was useless in the dark, he activated his talent to know what he was touching. Although it was risky move, it was all he had. Everything related to rat remained same but one thing changed. Loyalty previously 36% now it was 37%. Well, progress is a progress, no matter how small.
Since Liv was not responding, Arin closed the status window and started his daily meditation while murmuring. If she didn't want to talk, why did she wake me up? Weirdo.
Arin meditated for as per T.G instruction. He could feel his improvement. Ironically it was just like walking in complete dark. You can feel you are walking just you neither know if you are on right path nor where path ends.
Around an hour mark his focus broke as he heard. "Its time". He slowly opened his eye and was greeted with another crackle of campfire but this time he could see a flicker.
A subtle brightness creeped into his eyes and as darkness retreated a beam of light filtered through a broken window. Dense dust motes of ash fog danced in it. He strained his eyes to look around.
It was a small room containing a table, few chairs and a board. Almost everything decayed and broken. It was some kind of office. After observing everything his gaze drifted in front of him.
The girl stirred, her silhouette now illuminated by the glow of fire. Flicker of flame sent playful shadow across her face but he could see annoyance in her eyes and her upright posture.
Now that he met her eyes he felt nervous and blurted, "You, hungry? I got some berries."
***
The wind whistled through the ruined market area. Muscular man stood atop a concrete planter, his broad shoulder casting an unyielding shadow over the survivors gathered below. He held a clipboard as he oversaw mandatory check up.
"Team four, state your findings", he commanded.
Silence ensued as a row of exhausted candidates stood in straight line, mimicking a military formation, yet they moved as though they expected resistance if they broke rank.
A man on the side snatched the bag from scavenging party,"They found three edible cans of food and a gallon of sealed water, Captain Kaelen." He answered with smile.
He was part of self proclaimed elite squad 'Iron Vanguard' formed by so called Captain Kaelen.
Kaelen stepped down from his perch, his boots clicking rhythmically on cracked stone. He inspected the haul with neutral gaze and handed the cans to Iron Vanguard member.
Unable to control herself a female scavenger moved forward and protested,"Hey, what about us? We too hasn't eaten since yesterday."
Kaelen stopped and turned toward her, his eyes cold, "Individual needs are secondary to survival of whole unit. These resources will be reassigned to fighters as the protectin you seek can only be ensured by the strong fighters. Its an equivalent exchange."
"Actually, Cap, according to my math, if we keep going like this, morale is going to hit zero before the gravity does," a voice chirped from behind.
A young man with messy blonde hair and a grease-stained jacket and only one worth keeping even if he did not fight.
"Leo, you are back. Give your scouting report," Kaelen ignored the joke, his tone remaining clipped.
"We are probably going to be attacked by some rat type monster or at least bothered by them," Leo said with a playful, chaotic grin. He tapped a Dataplate, projecting a flickering hand drawn map. He pointed at north from their position and explained "Someone killed the Rat-King without killing all of its minions, so its minions flee and some of them are bound to come here."
Kaelen turned back to the crowd. "Prepare for a forced march. We move toward the south-east. Protect the resources with your life and always be ready to engage; there is a variable that's disrupting our order".