III

  First Month of the Awoken Age

  Alike in his namesake, he was covered in blood and viscera. The stench of iron was thick in the heavy damp air of this underground place; the earthen walls littered with pipes that hissed and cracked to a dull throbbing of techno music. His haggard breath always just a moment out of tune with the beat as the ache of worked muscles assailed The Bloodied.

  The rhythm of conflicts now dying down in his throat as he’d sung the tune and won the fighting.

  Whimpering sounded along with a thud of heavy iron, turning back to the entrance he saw the carnage he’d engaged in, the twenty bodies who’d fallen to in his rampage. As this had been a rampage, even their machineguns were useless against the Occult. Yet that whimpering gave sight to a frail sort in dresswear who had hid behind the bar and now was trying to sneak out of this field of combat, fear petrifying him as the two locked eyes.

  ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ The Bloodied hissed. His grip comforting around the spear in hand.

  ‘I… I had… nothing, to do. With any of this. Anything they did I, I just came here to hangout and enjoy myself. That is not illegal especially with everything going on out there.’ The faded flowery accent thick with every word of a people who had been entrenched within the north-west of Eurosea.

  ‘These people weren’t the kind to keep around laggards! It’s a warzone on the streets above, this city was already sinking beforehand but now there are entire portions lost to the waves.’ The Bloodied responded, perfectly still in movement as if he wasn’t there. To have such control over his muscles was a point of pride he had to concede.

  ‘Yeah, but I don’t take part of that at all. I simply keep to myself. The only reason they let me in is because I have product I give them.’ The man admitted, sweat stains becoming visible at the pits of his suit. The admission done nothing to stem his blade though. ‘Wait… I can give you a heap of stuff as well, if you let me go you can have everything you want. I have it all, cocaine, meth, weed, Juana Root, inhalants, hallucinogens… Whatever you want. Just let me go!’

  Perfectly still The Bloodied allowed a calming of the mind and oneness with the universe to wash over him, that state of harmony a perfect embodiment of the Cosmic Soul at the heart of all Enlightenment beliefs. Those still muscles became fluid in a moment and with unnatural speed and strength he launched the spear that took the dealer through the chest, ending whatever depravity someone like him would have continued to sow.

  Meet with his handiwork mirth came to him. -What an odd sight. Me a murder-hobo as a I am surrounded by people in suits. As if none of them wanted to admit the old world was dead-

  Ayer awoke to the usual aggressive knock on the door from Juries telling him to “Hurry the fuck up” and from there stumbled about to get ready, shoving his flabby form into high-visibility clothing and steel-cap boots. Before leaving a curiosity took him, slumping onto the ground and underneath the bed he pulled out his mother’s kukri wrapping his hand around its sheath as he ensured it was still there, that it was still his even though Juries only came into the house trying to find the blade.

  -But if he claims it, he’d go down for killing Adrian maybe. I cleaned the blade but there would be blood residue or something that could easily link him and the weapon… But no, it is mine-

  Hiding the blade away Ayer came stumbling out of the wood-paneled room with shaggy carpet underfoot, the stench of an unwashed body clinging tightly since the water restrictions were in full swing. Down the uncleaned hallway with trash bags piling along the walls and pinup papers scattering everything above knee-height, the pungent man-smell taking the tang of his olfaction whilst his ears burned with the chorus of chortles as people got ready for the day at hand.

  Out of the hallway and into the living room he was meet with the oddities that was house design from forty years ago favoring shaggy carpet everywhere down to the sunken dining room whilst another set of steps lead up to the kitchen whose lino floors had the hints, they once too were the same carpet. At the table Juries and his housemates sat eating their breakfast as the odor of black coffee stank out the house, from their reactions every time they took a swig none of them seemed to enjoy it either, the five of them giving brief greetings to Ayer as he moved passed them with Daven being the only one who engaged saying.

  ‘We cooked up the last of bacon and eggs for wraps Ayer bud. Leyland found out if you combine the mustard with those Alana spices, they make it so fucking good.’ The dreadful handsome man explained getting a thanks from Ayer yet little else.

  With nowhere to sit at the table, like always Ayer ate his meal on the countertop leaving Juries and his friends to speak amongst themselves. The group living in this place for the past year before the Arrhenius with a few additives such as Ayer himself and Leyland yet for how much longer this would go on he was unsure, there was talk of trying to concentrate a majority of the people towards the main street whilst many of the seniors from school were taking up shop in the high school leaving Ayer to wonder if he should do the same as the idea of being here much longer sent a nihilistic thought to every corner of his body.

  Instead, his attention went to a novel he’d picked up as this seemed to be the only way to entertain himself in those moments between work and sleep. Since videogames weren’t an option due to the power consumption and socializing were off the table, this was all he was left with, one of those so-called classics about a pouty teen who couldn’t see his own prosperity and somehow made it everyone else’s problem… Ayer wanted to strangle the main character seeing hints of himself but vehemently regretting such notions.

  -You’re going to go and live with the people you once knew and pretend as if you didn’t kill someone universally liked. Even if you tried to hide it Braden is already suspicious, and everyone will see how you’ve changed in an instant and agree with his conclusions-

  ‘Ayer, today I need you to do something.’ Juries started as they finished their meals and separated to get ready for work. ‘We need more panels, batteries and the rest and I want you to go and get them. Of course, we’ve got all that can be found throughout Durrahan and Ciaran, so you’ll need to go further afield.’

  ‘Where can I get solar panels from then?’ Ayer excitedly asked, the idea of doing something else entirely hitting a craving he didn’t realize he’d had.

  ‘I know there is a place in Kirigunya of the Crags that sold and equipped them so try there, it’s in the industrial district. And take Bertha, I want her stacked with as much as you can get in her. I know you can drive stick because I’m the one who taught you, so do screw this up!’ Juries said passing the keys to Ayer who recoiled at the memory of Juries driving lessons.

  But the knowledge that he basically could waste the day away from Durrahan sat strongly inside Ayer. He could go as fast or slow as he wanted with a guaranteed hour-long drive to Kirigunya in-between, and nobody except his own company which was always a double-edge sword but far better than being around anyone else.

  ‘It’s a big job so you’ll also need someone else. Get Viking or one of your other friends and if anyone complains I’ll tell’em to shove it.’ In one sentence Juries cut all the excitement Ayer had, he would do as told though but who he decided to ask that was up to him.

  -Why is it so fucking hard to get people to buy into what we are trying to do here. Every time I turn around there is someone else causing problems or refusing to cooperate-

  Wandering around the Durrahan High School the layout tattooed into her memory, gliding from the mass of classrooms many of which had been converted into living quarters and rounding into her own. The interior windows had been mostly covered to allow for some privacy with simple carboard on Kailey’s behalf, a fine office space where a sitting area had been laid out with the finer leather-bound reclines stolen from city hall and an oakwood desk that barely fit through the door yet gave an impression of excellence as behind that a curtain had been hung to allow for a bedroom, the contents of her entire life now sprawling behind that closed curtain.

  Taking the Native’s demand very seriously Kailey and Indra had organized everyone who’d come to live at their house and moved all of them to the high school. And now they still had people who refused to leave their Ciaran residencies as this Devotion Gregory had refused to leave, his disobedience compelling others whose parents were the upper crust of the basin to stay in their family homes.

  Slouching into that regally comfy leather chair behind her desk Kailey exasperated at the growing list of issues outside of human stupidity. From the now flooded sewage system that was junked meaning they couldn’t use any city water or risk disease, then there was their always dwindling food supply as with their current estimations with all the food under lock and key and what had already spoiled, they would only get halfway through the winter when the rains made farming agriculture nearly impossible at scale. And of course there was the always decreasing supply of fuel for generators, cars and everything else.

  Indra soon followed in with that digital camera around her neck, trailing her was Vicraera with that sketchpad latch at her chest. Something about her had started tickling the recesses of Kailey’s mind as she had a resemblance but to who the older woman could not place, it was a passing likeness maybe to some celebrity. Just as surprising was Braden Cali who came in as well, taking position by a wall as if he didn’t want to be part of the conversation.

  ‘So what did the plumbers say about cleaning up the sewage system?’ Kailey directed at her sister, avoiding that all the remaining plumbers were apprentices, the longest of which was still a year away from being fully qualified.

  ‘Nothing useful. They want to start digging around into the pipes so they can start to flood them out and then drain them and then flood them again. And that way they can also look at where these leaks have built up and repair them.’ Indra’s words were tinged with a cynicism that was far from her usual demeanor.

  ‘That sounds like a lot of work.’ Braden’s sarcasm announced.

  ‘A lot of work and costly work. They have the machinery to do it thank the Angelyn, but it’ll require massive amounts of gasoline which cuts our current reserves down by half, and those are the conservative estimations. Not to mention that they will need their own crews to assist which means those crews will need time to upskill themselves and even then, they are going to make a lot of mistakes.’ Now she understood why her sister seemed glummer than usual. ‘Not to mention the time estimation. From what they are guessing it’ll take anywhere between six months and a year.’

  ‘Angelyn take my rage!’ Kailey raged, her hands curling into a fist at the news.

  ‘Exactly. This is something we don’t have to do of course. But if we are expecting that there will be no change to our future and that we are all we have, the quicker we fix this the better the outcome from Durrahan.’ Indra posited.

  Maybe Kailey was an optimist, but she had a cindering flame of hope for the possibility of change back to the way everything had been. Back to normality and away from this unreality they endured. But that left them with a good question, release the resources that they were relying upon for something that won’t see benefits for an age or ignore the problem and be austere with their precious commodities.

  ‘What about you Vic. Please tell me there is good news from the hospital?’ Kailey splurged with a vain hope.

  ‘Ah… Middling… Dahl has done a great job getting the nine of us up to snuff, we’ve of course been dealing with wounds and sicknesses most of all but that has come at a cost. We’ve been honest about the losses, due to sicknesses beyond our capacity or things we aren’t aware of twenty-two people have died in our care.’ Vicraera admitted, a number that the hospital was extremely open about.

  -Well, we’ve lost a hundred people in all honesty. Many of those were due to accidents or untended treatments, those who’d died in care and a portion due to suicides which had been climbing this month for some reason. And then there have been the three accidental murders that have happened. That is something I’m going to have to deal with soon-

  ‘We know this Vicraera, none of this is news to us here. We also don’t put those deaths at any of your feet, it’s understandable that all of you have been thrown into the deep end so the idea is to give you all time to adjust into the required skills.’ Kailey returned, trying to make the young woman comfortable with what had happened and what was no doubt going to continue to happen.

  ‘Thank you but the issue we are finding is the hospitals placement. It’s a fully renovated structure and was perfect for a dynamic and bustling Durrahan and Ciaran who had all the resources of modernity available, but we aren’t that, its position to the south-east puts it away from the two population areas being Main Street and the Meadows.’ Vic’s words seemed ready as if she knew exactly where she was pushing this conversation. ‘We are thinking of moving to a smaller structure that will be central-ish to both those locations. The Town Hall. It’s an older structure but with the recent inclusion of those solar panels that generates much needed power rather than the generators we are currently relying upon, and its flooring and well everything about it makes it perfect for a momentary hospital until we have the resources to move everything back.’

  ‘But if you have everything you need at the current hospital why move at all?’ Indra replied. ‘People are still getting there for treatment. Isn’t that all that really matters? Otherwise, we will have to move a shit tone of equipment just to eventually move it back. That doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Think of how much time and resources are wasted sending people to the hospital. Those extra minutes mean something to a person’s health. If we are centralized, we can have people walk in moments after accidents rather than half an hour or hours after said incident. And once Dahl has trained up a few people to a decent requirement he can send them out to the Meadows, so they won’t have to waste fuel being carted into town, but to do that we need training.’ Her reasoning was acute that was for sure, she was smart enough to believe this was the best course of action with Kailey now realizing why Dahl sent Vic instead of himself, he would have bent at the first sign of opposition, but Vic was going to be stalwart in her demeanor about this.

  ‘FUCK! If we are going to waste all our fuel let’s just do it. The Council will help you move the hospital to Town Hall; we can put together a crew and maybe that will inspire some more people to join and learn how to tend to people. As for the plumbers tell them to do what they need to. I’ll find fuel somewhere else, so we aren’t completely out of luck.’ Kailey ordered, annotating the book before her as she basically reinforced that she was screwing over everyone at this very moment.

  Going over how much gasoline was required for both projects and crunching the numbers they found how little fuel would be left over from these twinned projects alone. The hospital would be the least consumptive project at least, and the continuous dip coming out of their reservoir of petroleum would give the Council time to find another source that they could tap into.

  ‘You don’t exactly seem thrilled about this?’ Indra observed of her sister.

  ‘I’m triaging issues and I’m not even sure what tomorrow will bring. I’m not exactly getting a thrill out of any decision I make now. Anytime I look at them I see the hundred ways they can go insanely wrong at the drop of a hat.’ Kailey simmered from the bottom well of her being.

  ‘So why don’t you stop?’ Vicraera suggested, a contrarian demand to her voice foreign to Kailey.

  ‘NO!’ Is all that she could reply. The two applying pressure for the next ten minutes but all she could reply to each of their new attacks was the same and simple “NO” without further elaboration, truly she knew why she wouldn’t stop but saying it would be wrong to all her sensibilities.

  -I’m the only one who can lead us through this situation. Anybody else will mess everything up. They don’t have the years of acquired skills and knowledge on leadership that I’ve been developing in university and beyond, they couldn’t understand the ramifications of their decisions or indecisions or what to prioritize for prosperities sake. It’s all on me and only me-

  Now it seemed to be Braden’s turn as he stepped forward. ‘Considering everything that I just heard I’m guessing that you won’t be willing to do this, but I wanted to gather some bodies into the Police Force and turn it more into a militia so protection of Durrahan and our in all honesty exploded population won’t push who we have to the limits.’

  ‘What does a militia mean? If we are going from Anglesea meanings, they are weird groups who often turn rogue on the government.’ Kailey pushed, the very notion of more people with access to weapons disparaging.

  ‘I was thinking along the lines that we can train people to use some weapons or even in combat, but we would of course need fuel to take groups elsewhere and train them.’ Braden admitted.

  ‘You just heard me admit after these two projects we will be skint out of petrol unless we find some elsewhere. And I don’t want people shooting guns in the town’s proximity at all, do you hear me!’ She demanded. ‘You can do your fight club and train them how to defend themselves but nobody else will be getting guns!’

  ‘Do you not want to be safe for fuck’s sake!’ The brute of a small man raged.

  ‘Braden! I have been lenient with you as of lately because your fuel and resource consumption has dropped since you’ve stopped searching for Adrian… And… And of course, I want you to find him. But every time we have these kinds of meetings you are asking for things that aren’t within our current reality.’ Kailey explained trying to tame this man’s righteousness.

  ‘Well, you don’t need to worry about that. I have suspicions I’m working on about that which won’t cost you anything.’ Braden replied, something of a threat but it also didn’t feel like a threat, so she let it slide.

  ‘At this moment right now, nothing matters more than finding more fuel or we risk Durrahan grinding to a halt! So, lets figure this out!’ Prioritizing the oil was the only thing that made sense to her now, everything else was a distant second.

  Shifting down-gear as the windy roads of Pretty Valley threw the occasional obstacle their way Ayer found himself comfortably folding into rhythm with the truck, on the other side of the cab Viking Djuric lounged with a cigarette hanging out his mouth with the window open releasing in whippets of gusts.

  The mood was tense from the moment Ayer found him and asked if he wanted to help, Viking for all his social intelligence could not hide his own feelings and they were radiating off him something fierce. The thought had come to Ayer that those feelings might just be his own and realistically he might be the odd one who is making Viking feel awkward.

  ‘What did Juries say we need to get again?’ Viking asked to get some sort of conversation started.

  ‘Solar panels and batteries. There is a warehouse where they are already assembled and ready to be installed. This should be straightforward.’ Was all Ayer replied with unsure how to progress the conversation any further. ‘What has been happening since… All this shit?’

  -A month ago, we were friends. We would never have this kind of lull in the conversation. Usually, he’d say or be doing something stupid which would give me something to use. Now we can barely talk to each other-

  ‘As I said man. Nothing, I’ve been doing the guard with Braden and all that, keeping everything from falling apart. Moved in with all of them as well, we got that dollar-store next to the Police Station.’ Viking surmised, really scrapping the bottom of the barrel. ‘Braden of course is pushing to find Adrian. His disappearance was a fucked way to cap off a fucked day, but Braden is doing everything he can to find him, so hopefully he turns up soon.’

  Ayer shutdown, the mentioning of Adrian transmuting his blood to ice and draining his energy. He immediately became close off as Viking who would usually ignore such things seemed to take note and became awkward in turn. The memory of that night still at the forefront of his mind, the darkness and brutality of an uneven fight, the flaring pains followed and stench of bodily fluids with the crimson stench of iron in the air. He was thrown right back into that moment of desperate struggle.

  The truck came on the incline into the township of Kirigunya passing the local market with a wall that looked as if it had taken a beating, following the roads that led to the industrial park by the river at the base of the valley as three fenced off structures announced small businesses with the forth and final being the sprawling sawmill which had once owned the town. Its handiwork seeing much of the forestry desolate, revealing a gapping maw in the side of the mountains of the valley whose darkened gullet seemed sinister as the Crags were known to be.

  Finding their place, the sheet-metal structure proudly wore the signs of the solar technical company, driving through the wide-open gate as a line of vehicles parked by the side of the building had weeds crawling up the length of the tires. More reminders of the oddity they now lived in. Gaining entry proving to be just as easy as pushing the window-panel door open then opening the roller door allowing Ayer to back the truck up.

  Stepping out of the truck Ayer came to find everything they’d been promised as stacks of solar panels and crates of batteries were scattered around the warehouse, a calmness overtaking him now that this trip wasn’t a bust and he wouldn’t have to face Juries wrath.

  Inside an odd fecal odor lightly touched the peripheries of his senses causing a quiet revulsion at the smell between the two, Viking pointing out some peculiarities such as handprints in dust or the scattering of tools as if someone had scaled the bench and left everything sprawled around. But nothing to indict a person was here now which suited them just fine.

  Getting to work Ayer realized that it was on him to provide the push to get a conversation going, the longing to go back to the way they had been before the Arrhenius. ‘So, tell me. Which of the girls have been coming to you asking for protection and a place to stay just so they can be close to you?’

  The words hit with a broad smile sweeping over Viking whose movements became fluid, his tall lanky frame which towered Ayer becoming like flowing water.

  ‘Dude, I have cleaned up so much since this happened.’ The two going into hours of conversation as Viking explained the multiple women he’d fooled around with; some were expected but others shocked him.

  Expectedly he’d slept with Karesha Don Lee, Ifrit Kallos & Marjorie Green-Shey most of them coming from the same group and trailing after him for a while as the girls thirsted over Viking to a shocking degree, as surprisingly he admitted to only making out with Indra Don Caldera but her stopping anything before it went further. The dream-like quality coming to his eyes at the thought of seducing her, like the other guys around she seemed to have some quality which allured all of them towards her.

  -What power does she have. She seems a little bit stuck up for me-

  In the unexpected category was Sarika Mews-Gimbutas, the woman a few years older aligned to Ayer’s older siblings who he’d always thought of as too stuck up to ever demean herself by sleeping with anyone who wasn’t of the upper crust. A princess through and through, but a spike of jealous did spurt into Ayer and surprise as last he’d heard she was overseas. Whilst Viking became vague about hooking up with one of the Arben refugees named Alicent Tres Hood who Ayer had already heard excited speak about yet did not understand.

  Viking ended by joking. ‘Have you heard that Marjorie has gone rogue?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Ayer asking back. Being the only one who was carrying a heavy load as Viking stood off in the corner having a cigarette.

  ‘She’s been sleeping with people for those Ration Chits people are getting.’ Viking informed and Ayer lusted. The Polar-Kin brunette had gone through a swan-like transformation and now as the woman everyone joked about with the biggest breasts in their year level. And knowing that she was trading a resource he had for sex was a temptation. ‘Now you can even get laid!’

  The temptation was gone now, replaced by the snarky-hurtful comment. Without much thought, placing the last of the hefty crates into the now packed haul Ayer joked. ‘Sounds like you are both open for business then!’

  Viking’s face creased blooming with crimsons as if Ayer had just offended his core values, as if he’d never called Viking a slut before. The tall man seethed at this, his widened eyes glaring at Ayer for a moment then tearing away as if to pretend something else stole his attention. -Is he just realizing that people view him as a man-whore now. I’m not the only one who joked about it with him, everyone does-

  Jumping down from the trey that took them an hour to figure out how to operate Viking smacked back. ‘At least I get laid! You couldn’t organize a root in a brothel for fucks sake.’

  Adrenaline flooded his system unlike anything he’d felt before, as if everything that had happened to him lead him to this very moment. ‘The only reason you get laid is because women know you’re a fucking man-whore and it means nothing. No chick would ever actually consider dating you, instead they use you for sex when they want attention because they know you will give it to them and there won’t be anything afterwards.’

  Viking spun around with venom to his glare. ‘Fuck you to every possible fucking hells Ayer. You’ve always been arrogant as fuck but even then, I was your only friend, I vouched for you when you turned everyone else off so even those who say they are your friends I know they aren’t. You are so into your own shit you can’t even see beyond yourself; I have no faith in your abilities of any stretch because you are so self-absorbed you piece of shit.’

  -Fuck. Maybe he’s right. No, fuck him. He’s the one who got butthurt because of the truth-

  ‘We are done here. Just take me home and drop me off.’ Viking demanded, only adding to Ayer’s infuriation.

  ‘That is for the best. It’s probably for the best that we don’t hang out in the future as well!’ Ayer threw out, flaying Viking who had a moment of shock before agreeing and flying into the cab with a slam of the vehicle door.

  -I could fucking kill you- Flash through his mind with the knowledge that he’d already killed someone, the welling anger enough to sail into that cab with a crowbar and. -What is wrong with me. Why would I kill Viking he has done nothing to me other than talk at me. Why is that worth death. How fucked up am I that that was my first response-

  *

  ’WHAT THE FUCK!’ Juries raged in the kitchen, the closeness of their proximity clenching Ayer’s heart in a vice. ‘You were gone all day and only did one fucking load! Why are you so fucking useless AYER!’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Is all he could muster not entirely seeing why Juries was flipping his lid. His brother filling the void inside those words followed them up with a slap across Ayer’s face.

  ‘Don’t you little fucker! I sent you to do a job. To get everything we need in one day. And what you done was a third of a fucking job. What should have taken one day and as few lost resources as possible is now a two-day job because of your own stupidity!’ Juries cursed.

  ‘I’m sorry. I’ll get it done tomorrow I swear.’ Ayer responded, fear in his voice.

  ‘I don’t care about promises Ayer! What I care about is… You don’t even seem to grasp the concept of how you fucked up! Am I wrong?’ Juries seethed, gasping an open beer and downing a gulp.

  ‘Because I didn’t get it all done!’ Ayer replied, boiling at being talked down to like a child from Juries of all people.

  ‘Fucking idiot. It’s because you wasted my time, your time, and everybody else’s time! It’s because if I had of known you were going to screw up, I would have sent someone I could trust to get the job done. If you aren’t good doing something like that then what use do you bring to the table, what skills can you use to help yourself and other people, because if there is one thing that you need to know in all of like it’s the simple truth that “Nobody likes a useless person” and right now Ayer, you are incredibly useless.’ Juries finalized, white knuckling the glass in his hand.

  After a long silence of ill-tempered patience Juries left it at. ‘Tomorrow, I need all hands-on deck including your shitty ones. In a few days you’ll go again, this time take someone useful and don’t fuck up again otherwise I am done with you!’

  Waking up the creeping morning light with the added rising heat Kailey’s bleary eyes opened to her “apartment” in the High School Complex. That wall of fabric had been enclosed, its rich vibrancy framing the line of tables along the wall all covered in books and papers that she desperately needed to keep track of her king-bed headed on the outside wall as the thin-comfort sheets moved off as she turned in bed.

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  Settling in her eyes broke open revealing the pristine back of purple skin in an hourglass figure, the sheets almost intentionally arranged to reveal her nude body and ass. -I hate to be a guy but… Nice-. Compelling Kailey to move over and wrap an arm around Nerissa in a deep embrace.

  Coming last night to ask if they’d discovered anything about her cousin’s biker expedition had been a hard conversation as they still had nothing even after two weeks. It pained Kailey that she couldn’t afford to spend the fuel to find out where they went, but she was having enough trouble keeping Braden on a short leash as he often went for drives in random directions trying to find Adrian.

  -You are nude against a beautiful woman. Why are you thinking about work-

  Nerissa sunk into the cradle of her arms, both somewhere between awake and asleep until the alarm blared forcing them out of their stupor. Policing up her belongings as today was Washday where they’d gathered enough fresh water to bath even if it wasn’t a true shower was still something incredible, and looking over at the nude Nerissa who wandered around without shame brought a smile to Kailey.

  ‘Would you like to take a wash? Every third day we gather as much water as we can and heat it so we can keep hygienic?’ Kailey found herself asking, far more awkwardly than expected.

  ‘Thank Kae but I don’t need to shower today. We are moving the hospital so being clean doesn’t really make sense with how much heavy stuff we are loading and unloading.’ Nerissa replied to stunting Kailey as she completely forgot that Nerissa had taken a job at the hospital meaning she showered there before her shift even began. ‘But maybe I will see you today yeah?’

  ‘You definitely will.’ Kissing with hands on each other’s hips. ‘Um… apologies but the truck we were originally going to use hasn’t been returned, Juries says he still needs it, but we do have a backup ready so the original dimensions Vicraera gave might be a little off.’

  Amused Nerissa laughed. ‘I expect nothing else from Juries Bradshaw.’

  The two went their separate ways with Kailey wandering down to the local shower block in the building where from a basin she washed herself over a drain in the floor as if she’d been thrown back to some earliest stage of development on 9th Earth. Even with this little pleasure though she had to admit how good she felt, how even those subconscious fears that huddled at the back of her mind like her stench or the hygiene of her vagina alleviated.

  -Honestly that alone should require that women get more washing rations than men. Depending upon how long this goes for it’d better that women keep healthy so we have long term survivability and let’s be honest guys can go for months without showering and be completely fine the ferals-

  Pondering this Kailey dressed for the day in leggings with a sports-top and runners since she planned on being active today, her hair molded into a tight ponytail. Catching her reflection in the mirror thankfully she found everything where she expected it to be but the realization that it had been over a month since the last time, she went for a run with a resolution that she could start to incorporate them back into her schedule.

  With ready movements as she knew where the day was leading her Kailey left the main building and wandered through the High School Complex of buildings finding herself on the opposite perimeter in a part of the school, she spent little time at when she did attend as the sheet-metal structure of the Tradies School stood before her.

  The open space atrium of the building could have housed several more rooms but instead had been littered with piles of material some towering over Kailey making her wonder who could organize their life like this. On the bottom floor two disparate classrooms were illuminated with both doors closed, a chortle coming to Kailey at the lengths of people’s ego and walking through the lefthand door where she drilled her demeanour.

  ‘What do you want!’ Reyes Eyries levelled, the accented Sun-kin woman’s back to her and even with no response she didn’t look up from whatever she was working on at the heavy-built table as steam vapours drifted to the aether before her.

  ‘Um… I have just come to check on your work. You said that you’d have it ready today?’ Kailey replied eventually.

  If it was anyone else, she might be irked but for a great many reasons she wanted to be civil with Reyes, she was a true-wiz and had engineered the solar-energy scheme on top of a few other projects, she was Nerissa’s ex and considering that Kailey had slept with her last night she didn’t want to be a dick. And maybe… She found Reyes attractive with a slender body and tough muscles with that darkened caramel skin and brown doe eyes, with an accent which for a people like the Tyrsea who barely saw foreigners was always an aphrodisiac.

  ‘Oh, it’s you. Yeah, I have mocked up wind turbines as you wanted, you will be able to integrate them onto most of the buildings along main street like you asked. As for where you get the resources I don’t know, probably finding a windfarm and dismantling some then scaling them down will be smart… Let Archibald figure that out.’ Reyes mocked leaving Kailey wondering if the foreigner knew that Archie was her cousin but to awkward to ask as the two had been clashing daily by this point.

  -In her defence Archie is a fucking nightmare and has been ever since we were kids. Sharp as a whip but his autism comes out all the time- A distinct memory of her childhood was how she was already ahead being an intelligent student, yet Archie was always leaps and bounds ahead only being kept back because of his antisocial tendencies.

  ‘And I’ve taken a look at the sewerage map and have marked the points where this crew of yours can break in with little damage then flush out what’s down there.’ The woman’s words were pointed, and all Kailey could reply was a weak praise of the woman who didn’t even seem to take it immediately getting down to business. ‘Now that I’ve done everything you’ve asked and more it’s time to pay up as we agreed ages ago. A full tank of gas for my bike, food and water.’

  This was not what she wanted to be hearing, she was hoping that Reyes would have changed her mind coming to love living here even in their current state of things. This woman showing her value three times over again as her absence would be felt immediately even with Archie.

  ‘Um… Well about that. Due to unforeseen projects like the sewers and whatnot we are bone-dry on fuel and when it comes to rations, we have to be incredibly conservative-’ Kailey explained with delicacy.

  All of which was lost on Reyes whose eyes narrowed like a predator. ‘-Bullshit! You promised me those resources so I could get the fuck out of here.’

  ‘Well why do you want to leave? We have safety and protection here; we have stability enough that is drawn people from across the basin.’ Kailey protested, avoiding the promise that she had made.

  ‘Stability and Protection aren’t very concrete concepts as this whole entire fucking event proves. The adults disappear mysteriously and all stability and protection crumble. So how long until your stability and protection is in ruins?’ Reyes clapped back, a heat between the two.

  Both hands clenching the sides of the table and releasing a gravelly sigh as if she was releasing a thousand years of torment. Reyes calmed herself, turning those beautiful doe eyes at Kailey with a seriousness of a displeased parent.

  ‘I just want to be out of this shitty place. The only thing keeping me here was the town bicycle, and I see that now. I was only over here on a visitor’s visa which would have expired in a few years anyway… There is nothing here for me. The fact that I stuck around is concerning itself but I’m not going to psychoanalyse myself. All I want is to get the meagre resources I need to survive a few days and I’m out of your hair for good.’ Reyes almost pleaded. ‘This way you can also slut around with Nerissa all you want, and I won’t have to see it!’

  Rage burst alight inside Kailey at the slight levelled at Nerissa, that was someone she’d grown up with, someone she’d loved. And this random had the gull to talk about her like this, had the gull to say that she would want to be anywhere else other than this gem of paradise they’d made, even going as far to say that it was going to end as well.

  ‘Nerissa is a grown ass woman. She can choose who she wants to even if that isn’t you!’ Kailey levelled at Reyes who recoiled at the verbal attack. ‘You will get what I promised you. But when you come back begging for the safety, we offer here don’t forget this moment!’

  And with that Kailey stormed out. Leaving behind the heartbroken Reyes to her own wallowing self-pity.

  The drive to Kirigunya had been much better than last time as Ayer shifted the gears backing up to the open warehouse akin to last time, next to him in the cab sat Boulder Thrall Jones who had readily accepted the undertaking. Already they had the second load dropped off back in Durrahan and this time it was about collecting what last pieces there were as the conversation to had been far more pleasant than with Viking.

  During this drive Ayer noticing that Boulder had a nautical tattoo on his hand as a ship at sea across rough waves made for an entire handpiece. The only indication that it was drawn on was a smudging on one of the lines that almost escaped him.

  ‘So, on Helius Six you’d do incursions against the bugs and that worked constantly?’ Boulder processed, as it turned out they were both gamers with similar tastes and both pained by the lack of available energy to power televisions and consoles.

  ‘Worked a treat to level up my skill with various weapons quickly. Its bloody hard but a lot easier than doing it elsewhere and the bugs usually use swarm tactics, so they are easy to deal with, although I only found that because I hated fighting the machines… So, fuckers steamrolled me above average difficulty.’ Ayer joked getting a laugh from Boulder.

  ‘Honestly those were the only levels I was good at. Just survive long enough to use your abilities and call down bombs. I was always golden.’ Boulder admitted adding. ‘If you can’t outthink your enemy, blow them to kingdom come.’

  ‘Wiser words were never spoken.’ Ayer continued getting a loud chortle from Boulder as they left the cab to finish the job.

  Inside they were met with the now familiar sight of the warehouse with the last of the packed solar panels crated up allowing the two to spend the next thirty minutes loading them into the haul whilst continuing to speak to each other. Both avoiding anything personal with a silent agreement to keep everything surface level.

  Breaking that silence of work Boulder asked. ‘Have you ever seen anything from that tabletop game Cleaver Hundred-K?’

  Excitedly Ayer looked over to the man as they loaded another panel. ‘That balls to the wall thing where space humans are fighting everyone? The Hive are my fuckers, something about how screwed up they are gets me going.’

  That sparked a conversation for the next few hours, both admitting they were too poor to properly play it but both wanting to get into it now. Like the last time Ayer was here there was some oddness that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, there was still a ficid odour that was indistinguishable now, as if it had seeped into the very pours of the building. Boulder had taken some time to explore and see if he could point to the smell yet even after fifteen minutes could point nowhere specific.

  *

  ‘Thank fuck!’ Ayer announced hitting the switch of the loader, decompressing the prongs allowing the pallet to sit inside the haul with the other cargo as now they’d cleared out a heap of random tools and materials simply to get more into the truck which still sat at quarter capacity.

  ‘We done then?’ Boulder asked in hand a weed cigarette had already been lit.

  ‘Yeah, we are done. Now all we need to do is drop this stuff off at the yard, but I can drop you off then unload this tomorrow my man?’ Ayer asked, aware that the sun was starting to set off in the distance as the mountains of Pretty Valley cast interesting shadows. ‘Thank you again man for agreeing to do this.’

  ‘No issue Ayer. Honestly this was so much better than working with your brother… Offense intended… but this is also so much better than working the fields with the other Thralls.’ Boulder admitted, both coming around the side of the truck and out of the warehouse.

  A force collided against Ayer’s face sending him down to the ground, a gunshot -That can’t be right- echoed. A smacking of flesh racketed as his head was aflame, his eyes glued shut against the waves of pain until through sheer force of willpower he was able to contain the hurt into a tiny pocket of existence and push off the shackles it held over him.

  Open his eyes Ayer was met with Boulder fighting off two people but being overwhelmed, to the side another two had rifles trained on the Polar-Kin once they had a clear shot. To his own side must have been the person who done him damage as a lanky teen of similar age had a lever-action in hand but attention upon the fighting.

  Aggrieved a distant flame of survival roared inside Ayer and without much thought his hand curled into a fist as he ascended, launching into his attacker’s kneecap causing the teen to cry out and collapse. Ayer himself felt fingerbones break and the reverberation rattle, yet with his ascent and his attacker’s descent his hand made a fist again this time launching into the teens head.

  A storm of commotion as everything truly popped off. Instinctually he raced for the fallen repeater shotgun, at the back of his mind the knowledge of the other riflemen with their rabbit-guns steered his unconscious action as taking hand of the gun he released a blast that scattered the others.

  Every now in real shock at how the situation had turned dispersed. The riflemen ducking to the ground in sure signs of cowardice as the two who fought with Boulder had disengaged, one was now being throttled by the pale man with a ready clinched hammer of a fist that landed blow after blow until he came to awareness seeing what was happening.

  With base knowledge of such a weapon, using his now broken hand Ayer clocked the shotgun in the silence of everything that was happening. ‘Who the fuck are you cunts!’

  Levelling the shotgun between the assailants, with each retched jerk those assailants quivered almost as much as Ayer was. In that time Boulder had pulled a knife from somewhere and had his other attacker by the throat prompting the others to regain their footing, the riflemen were with guns at the ready but not taking aim with the shotgun trained on them.

  ‘I’m not going to ask again! Who Are You!’ Ayer repeated.

  ‘Fucking Answer the Question!’ Boulder enhanced that dagger-point knife digging into his hostage’s throat with a droplet of blood announcing his intentions. ‘Or Your Friend Here Gets It!’

  ‘This is our fucking town! We are stopping you from looting our places!’ The teen who Ayer had punched espoused, a slow trudging movement as he brought himself up. ‘You’re the fourth lot of people who’ve come to steal from us and we killed the last three that came to take from us.’

  Aiming the shotgun at the teen Ayer said. ‘Why didn’t you get the fuck out of this spit-fuck of a township and go somewhere bigger. People have come from all over to Durrahan because we have a stable government there. Better yet why not go to bloody Everdeen, its bigger with a smaller population, and only two entry points!’

  ‘Who do you think has been hounding us… When all this shit happened a few of us went to Everdeen and they told us in no uncertain terms to “Fuck Off” and a week later they came through trying to take everything that wasn’t nailed down.’ The mouthy teen stabbed. ‘Your bikers from Durrahan came through a few weeks ago to steal from the local market but we put them down!’

  In the cloud of everything that was happening that information tickled something the words “Bikers” and “Missing” standing out but as for what it meant Ayer could not explain. His mind quickly dropped it with internal notions as he was needed in the physical world rather than the mental one, those riflemen seemed to have an aching trigger finger by the way they surveyed the surroundings.

  ‘Well, we aren’t them now are we. So, we are going to take what we came for and drive back to Durrahan and forget any of this. I will even tell the Council that Kirigunya is a no-go anymore.’ Ayer suggested, reorienting his aim multiple times as those riflemen became more concerned with something further afield.

  ‘No! We want to leave this place.’ One of them rasped.

  -What the fuck- And with that thought a guttural call echoed, somewhere between man and beast or even rodent from somewhere far closer than any of them were comfortable with.

  ‘What in all hells was that?’ Boulder and Ayer said at the same time, looking off to where such a thing may have come from.

  Seeing an opportunity the mouthy teen came back in, latching onto the shotgun as the two wrestled for the weapon. Neither having an open advantage in strength stagnated whatever winning either could have taken, it was only noticing his opponent’s hands latched atop the gun that Ayer quickly acted on an idea that was probably more stupid than anything. With another bout of wrestling with the gun Ayer positioned himself away from the barrel and pulled the trigger, the force dislodging the two of them, the ploy thankfully working in his favour as he retained the weapon.

  With another dramatic clock of the lever and a sprouting awareness of the pain in his right-hand Ayer felt the adrenaline easing and that moment of hyper-fixation broadening. ‘Never do that again otherwise I will put you down!’

  -If only you people could understand how real that statement is-

  ‘Now what in hells was that!’ Ayer demanded of the group whose tension had spiked even further.

  ‘Fuck… We must have drawn their attention with all the commotion.’ One of the riflemen said, terror tinging his words like it was an otherworldly threat.

  ‘He’s not going to ask again!’ Boulder threatened. Now aiming a question at his hostage. ‘You. What is happening?’

  ‘Fuck… We can’t… Um… It’s the kids from the town. The twenty or so who survived. We don’t know what happened to them, but they’ve changed.’ The hostage said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Explain!’ Ayer pointedly asked, the barrel of the shotgun resting on the temple of the mouthy teen.

  ‘When your lot came in, we killed them. We thought we policed up the bodies but one fell into ditch by the side of the road, so he was left there to rot, then one day the kids come back with this red and black plant thing saying that it was in a ditch and growing out of a dead adult.’ The mouthy teen explained, the riflemen keeping a sharp eye away from the Ayer and Boulder who had lowered in their list of priorities. ‘We checked it out and figure it wasn’t an adult but didn’t think too much of it outside of that. The kids cooked it and ate it for a few nights straight then they started to get sick as a dog, they admitted to cooking and eating rodents, so we thought they were as good as dead. But then they started to change. And now they are…’

  ‘Demons. That is what they are. Right out of some Pavillion movie.’ The hostage added. ‘They aren’t the kids we knew or protected. They are cannibalistic savages. It’s because of them that its only us left, they killed and ate the rest.’

  ‘So… A crazy kid made that sound?’ Ayer replied.

  ‘We’re serious. These aren’t people, they aren’t even kids. They are beasts. It has been three weeks since then and they’ve killed more than we have.’ Another said.

  ‘And a plant that sprouted out of a dead guy?’ Ayer continued, his mind a mess of contrary thoughts.

  ‘Like out of a fucking movie or some shit. A plant that none of us have ever seen before, that was always cold to the touch and seemed to distort all light around it. It wasn’t there before either and we’ve found that it only grows there… Until yesterday when we noticed the graves we buried the others in were starting to sprout that same shit.’ The mouth teen explained.

  This very concept seemed odd though and if anything, scientifically stupid beyond a reasonable doubt. Maybe his nihilism was showing but he’d never been a science-optimist always noticing how long it took for things to come about, and anything this could resemble was ages off.

  -He said this stuff grows out of dead bodies. Does that mean that this stuff would be growing out of Aidens body in the Old Quarry- The thought of returning to that place caused a stirring in his stomach that threatened to come out as bile, the painful memory of Aiden and the disrespect that Ayer threw upon him each day that he lived, and Aiden didn’t. All of it was a foreboding calamity.

  ‘AYER!’ Boulder shouted ripping Ayer away from his melancholy.

  Around him he saw all eyes glaring upwards, following them as the waning sun threatened to dim any moment now making the scene one out of a horror movie. Crouched on all fours at the pinnacle of the warehouse shed was a creature not-quite human yet not quite beast. Its hunched spindly figure that of a child’s, skin a Rorschach of splotched colors against a maggoty-white skin easily noticeable against the hairlessness of the thing. And then there was the head which was twice as big as it should have been, ears that had enlarged against any human design with eyes that receded down to beads of black orbs against a flat face without a nose but open nostrils with fanged incisors against their elongated fingers.

  ‘What the Fuck!’ Ayer spewed at seeing the horrific malformation, the hints of a child being subsumed by something else.

  ‘We told you these things ain’t right. There is something fucked about that plant I swear!’ The hostage raged, fear gripping him as he was still held at knife point.

  The thing trilled like it was an animal rather than a person, its eyes never truly leaving them.

  ‘Shit!’ A rifleman shouted. Facing him they saw his attention all around them as now the pack was revealing themselves in the twilight of dusk. ‘We are fucked!’

  ‘Get to the truck!’ The mouth teen raged once again attacking Ayer sending the situation spiraling further.

  Rushing in, Ayer this time had plenty of time and space as his attention already drifted to the teen as he spoke. Swinging the butt of the shotgun at the charger, the lever took the brunt of the damage saving his already frail hand and sent the teen spiraling just as that child-rodent sprang onto him. Ayer watched in horror as the creature clawed and chewed teen, a chorus of chaos and screams and gunshots as those rifles took their precious time at the incurring force.

  ‘BOULDER! LET’S GO!’ Ayer shouted, rushing past the creature atop the teen and once again using the lever to bash as rushing passed, he reached down and tried to help as much as he could.

  From what little he saw though the teens face was already chewed off and even if he lived what kind of life could follow such an incident. The shock of what was happening to him sending his body it fits and spasms in that brief second that Ayer saw him clearly whilst Boulder had released the hostage who rushed in to help his friend, but all he would find was someone beyond traumatized.

  Boulder raced into the cab leaving the door open for Ayer who shouted at the top of his lungs “Start it!” over the bedlam around them, at the vehicle he heard the motor come to live with that last light of day fading out. A trill stole his attention seeing a bounding childling coming straight at him, the thing jumping wide in the air with unnatural grace forcing Ayer to bring up the shotgun and pull the trigger this time aiming directly for someone rather than away, pulling the trigger felt more painful than any injury he’d ever had and the roar of the blast echoed greatly, the buckshot tearing the child apart making it drop in a heap right at his feet.

  Boulder dragged Ayer into the vehicle as all of this was happening, in those brief moments everything happening in a place outside of time and space where his mind was solely focused on the next step. Once inside Ayer stepped on the accelerator, pushing hard to get the truck up to speed to get away from this mess, shifting gear getting a protest from the engine block each time as they left behind the carnage.

  Speeding through the streets and showing no interest in slowing pace only now did Ayer realize that his door was still open, closing it they waited for a long minute which turned into a very long couple of minutes, then ten minutes. Waiting for some noise, for some screech or some calamity from the creatures.

  Somewhere at the halfway point they looked at each other, both covered in blood and sweat. And they started laughing in disbelief. The only constant from this fucked night being the wreckage of Lua across the canopy of stars.

  -I don’t even know what I’m walking into. Why am I shaking so much… I know why I just don’t want to acknowledge it at all. But I still need to know what is happening, especially because what Nerissa told me over the radio made absolutely no sense-

  She had been sitting in the car for thirty minutes already. She was there; she’d had a good time helping with the hospital transfer so it would be odd for her to just avoid this since they’d already interacted with her today. That of course brought about another sleight of issues that subsumed her, the reminder that today alone they parted with a significant portion of their gasoline and with the other works sleighed to come up it was going to walk out the door.

  Then there was also the awkwardness of Nerissa as today they’d been amiable, but Kailey waited all day for the shoe to drop and Nerissa to find out that Reyes was leaving, she knew that the woman would come to her aggravated demanding that Kailey do everything in her power to keep her here. But Reyes was her own person and above that a foreigner who wanted to leave, it wasn’t right to keep her.

  -You can lie to everyone else but don’t lie to yourself. The rest might be additional, but you don’t want to go in there because you don’t want to face Ayer-

  That honesty brought a deep seeded pain that was hard to push through, she at least was honest with herself but that done nothing and gave her no zeal to speak with anyone right now. That is when it dawned on her, she was wasting time really dealing with something like this, she needed to focus on finding petrol otherwise they risked everything.

  The desperation to simply be aware from here struck an idea of where they could get fuel from though. Sureness swelled within her as she brought the radio up hitting the button.

  ‘Kailey to Indra…’ She said waiting for the response on the Councilors channel between these set receivers.

  ‘Indra here…’

  ‘I need you to go to the hospital. Something has come up that I need to deal with…’ She replied readily.

  ‘Um… Aren’t you already there?’ The question pushed Kailey; she just needed her sister to do this why she done something more important.

  ‘I was but something has come up that I need to deal with… Can you do it or not!’ Kailey put the pressure on.

  ‘Um… Okay. I’m at the school now so it’ll take me fifteen minutes or so to walk down to the Town Hall.’ With that confirmation Kailey peeled away from the Town Hall driving anywhere else but there.

  She hated that she had to brave the darkened streets of Durrahan, pissed off that her sister reneged on doing such a simple task especially since Indra had already been in the process of other things. Putting on her running gear with a head-lap was the only consolation Indra had from this, as she was eager to get whatever this was over and done with as quick as possible and get some laps in while at it.

  Racing down the street keeping an even pace and better breath, she kept sharp attention on anything and everything possible as she had a flip-blade ready. The thought that she would even need it concerned her, but she did not have the optimism her sister seemed to have about people and the way of things. Coming to the main stretch she quickly came upon a truck in the middle of the road on a slight skew as if the driver didn’t have the time to properly stop.

  In front of her the glowing orbs of light from those solar panels illuminated the grey-brick Town Hall with those four pillars reaching two stories high and another level above that, ascending the few stairs she flew through the double doors, her feet squelching upon the limestone floor of the building as the mess they’d made carting everything into the building hadn’t been properly set up. Yet this was their new Hospice.

  ‘Where is Kailey?’ Vic surprised, making Indra step back as she saw her friend resting on a pillar with the sketchbook open and a ready hand over the page. Indra noticed she wore a knitted sweater even in the temperate climate of the night, which was perfect in the sportswear Indra wore, yet her friend had a fixation on such a bohemian style as underneath she only wore a bra paired with the cut-off jeans giving a unique impression for sure.

  ‘She got busy with something else, so I had to run here from the High School… Running in Durrahan in the middle of the night after society has collapsed, a lot of fun.’ Indra complained getting support from Vicraera who innately knew the plight as well. ‘Anyway. What is happening?’

  ‘Nothing but oddness. Ayer Bradshaw is in there getting a cast on. I’ll go in with you and he can tell you directly… Its… something… For sure.’ Vic’s wiry personality seeing her eyes bulge with a snark to her wit. But she’d do that about anything leaving Indra further in the dark.

  Following Vic who seemed reserved for some odd reason -Odd even for Vic who is weird as fuck- yet the woman pushed forward and into the square of curtains. Ayer Bradshaw sat on a bed being tended to by Dahl and Nerissa, their attention on the splint they’d made with Indra clocking the welt growing on the side of his head, the visage alone causing fury to break Indra.

  ‘Don’t tell me you got into a fight again for hells sake!’ Indra spat causing Ayer to look up surprised.

  ‘Ah… Oddly yes… and oddly Boulder too was a part of it. But apart from that everything was completely different.’ Ayer responded some sort of hilarity to his voice that immediately disarmed Indra, something she had never seen from him before. ‘And hey. This time I’m not even high so I can respond to you.’

  It was only then that she heard the fake cough of someone drawing attention to themselves, seeing the ginger Polar-Kin known as Boulder Thrall Jones waiting to the side of the walls. Unnaturally quiet, but with eyes that distrusted everything they saw. Presenting blazingly red as if he’d smoked a lot of Juana Root.

  ‘Wait you’ve been in a fight before?’ Nerissa derided, Ayer for his part chortled at it showing that he wasn’t in this depressing mood other people had been reporting. ‘You are really shaping up to the Bradshaw name.’

  That seemed to stump him, a hint of that old distant Ayer coming back to him -Evidently this mood was a passing emotion so I probably need to capitalize on it- although seeing the chubby Mid-Kin man whose mop of hair would have once been considered attractive back in middle school but was now just laziness she was struck by a range of memories or even near emotions.

  -Like at Vikings last birthday. The one and only time we’ve ever spoken outside of school when he didn’t seem to have any walls up and he came off as an actual person rather than whatever the hells he tried to play at. He didn’t even try to flirt with me like every chick said he tried with them… It was odd how Maya avoided me for the rest of the party, and then of course I did end up making out with Viking-

  Shaking herself out of that one time when she’d felt for Ayer, she brought herself back to reality. ‘Good, you’re not high but you are busted up and done a shit park job outside so what happened?’

  ‘You want to get comfortable for this because it sounds batshit. But I swear every word is the fucking truth.’ He spoke with a sincerity that made Indra’s jaw drop, something she rarely heard out of guy and never expected to hear out of Ayer Bradshaw. So done as he asked.

  *

  How had three hours passed, Dahl’s warning as he obviously wanted to get to bed, sleeping here in the New Hospice. But she knew how that time had moved at a gallop -Because every aspect of that story sounds so made up but so real at the same time- and how he spoke with a genuine earnestness, every word being backed up by Boulder who periodically stepped outside to get high, yet the story would never change or skip a beat.

  Across her lap the shotgun that Ayer described taking from someone and pointing at people, a gun that she had seen before wielded by their scout’s leader Jimi. His admission that the people from Kirigunya had killed their crew in cold blood causing Nerissa to breakdown crying, Ayer saying that he wanted to wait for her friends to be close by yet now she sat next to him, her head on his shoulder and he looked damn admirable being awkward but trying to comfort her.

  ‘Holy shit.’ Was all Indra could exacerbate realizing how out of her depth she was. She had no idea how to deal with guns and fighting and warfare and even stranger creatures to boot.

  -Damn you Kae’s why aren’t you here. You would know exactly how to poke holes in his story, how to see if he’s lying or telling the truth or even finding out if he just believes his own shit. He is a stoner after all-

  ‘I know… I don’t know… It was just fucked…’ Ayer stumbled, his arm rubbing up and down Nerissa’s back from the movement of his shoulder.

  ‘A question. Why did you punch this guy in the kneecap and then in the skull, two places of strong bone?’ Vic inquired, finally speaking after an age of a petrification that was unnatural for her. Indra realizing just how weird her friend was acting with no discernible reasoning why as this entire time her attention was kept and not once had she reached for her drawing pad.

  ‘Wasn’t thinking, I was just doing. The first punch was somewhat planned but the second was just instinct and well you see where that got me.’ He joked raising his splinted arm.

  ‘Oh shit. And you killed someone!’ Nerissa threw out suddenly, the shock and drain on his face turning those slate-copper hues pale as if a truth had slapped him.

  ‘-He shot a creature not a person.’ Vicraera pushed back with force stunning Nerissa herself.

  ‘Oh no I didn’t mean it like that… Ayer I am so sorry. I meant you killed someone defending yourself, you had no choice I totally understand that. It just.’ Nerissa defended, her words failing her into silence before she found them. ‘If you killed someone, that changes everything. We are no longer in this together, we worry about stuff that is happening here, but now we also need to worry about other people who are willing to kill. We no longer can only look inward to what we are doing here, but we also need to keep an eye on the outside world.’

  Her words may have failed her, but she did tap into some sort of wisdom, they were no longer alone. They were in fact in competition further than just at the home front. Internally Indra was screaming a thousand profanities that would make a sailor blush.

  ‘Okay… You are right but that is something we need to focus on later. To the thing that makes no goddam sense.’ Indra cut through, Boulder coming back in with a waddle to his step as his eyes bulged at how high he was, also making her wonder how much Juana Root the guy had. ‘The fucked-up abominations that were apparently kids. How… Why?’

  ‘Do we even believed that is what you really saw. Like I am sorry Ayer and Boulder but both you guys did sustain head injuries, that might have made you seen hallucinations or distorted reality somehow.’ Nerissa primed, Indra realizing how right she was to ask that question.

  ‘We know what we saw!’ Both the boys levelled at Nerissa, whether offense was meant or not they’d taken it with a healthy dose of outrage. ‘To make people our age so bloody scared, it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t like these were drug addicts or anything. These were normal kids in an abnormal situation, some caveats there I understand but to say that they were overly afraid of some kids… Not bloody likely.’

  ‘You said they got that way by eating a plant that sprouted out of a dead body, right?’ Vic prodded.

  ‘Yeah. One of our bikers had fallen into a ditch and they didn’t see so it was left there. By the time they were made aware the kids had already eaten some of the plant and then ate some rat or something and shit went south from there.’ Ayer informed, his eyes narrowing as he envisioned the thing. ‘The kids… they weren’t kids anymore.’

  ‘They were long gone; they’d morphed with the fuckers or something.’ Boulder continued reinforcing Ayer’s point. ‘One made it up to the rooftop of a warehouse where there wasn’t any direct way for even me to make it up there. Not to mention they ate someone’s face!’

  ‘It’s not that we don’t believe you… I mean… Obviously it is hard to believe so we are taking it with a grain of salt but that just adds so much extra complications, now do we need to start looking at the graves for those who have died? Do we need to be checking them or burning the bodies… That alone brings about so many issues, people get really weird about death.’ Indra spiraled.

  ‘Look I get that none of this is good news. And that none of it makes sense, tomorrow if you want, we can go back and try to find the one I shot. That could be conclusive proof there either we are crazy, or we saw or what we saw.’ Ayer threw out, the proposition intriguing but leaving so much else exposed.

  ‘Right about now we can’t do anything more. What we can do though is get some sleep and make plans tomorrow. For right now though you.’ Indra said pointing to Ayer. ‘Are going to take us home. Either tomorrow or the next day we will be in touch.’

  And if that one of the weirdest conversations Indra had ever had in her life, and the second one within a yearlong span ended. With tomorrow bringing whatever it would.

  The midnight darkness down a street Braden didn’t even know existed added to the flavor of everything. He stood in the middle of an empty street with lawns that were starting to get out of hand, proof that nobody had cared about this place since the Arrhenius. And in the dimmest light possible he saw a fibro-house falling apart at the seams.

  -Ayer Bradshaw’s house-

  A smile creased his mouth as a predatory urge that haunted Braden grew in hunger the closer, he got to the evidence he needed.