When Abel entered the bathroom, he looked at the clock on the wall with a bit of excitement in his eyes.
-8:21 a.m.-
"Today is the day where I can finally go on a scouting trip. I've been waiting on this day since I've turned 18! I better go get Peter and Sarah after I take a bath so we can walk together to the debriefing."
Thinking about his friends, he gets a rush of nostalgia and excitement that shows on his face.
Peter Swift, his first bestfriend that he made since entering the community. His story isn't sad or pathetic in the least. When the portals occurred he was already living pretty close to where the community decided to permanently set it's foundations. His father was in fact one of the 3 founders and was on the council of Edgeville. His mother is one of the nicest people in the community. She would always tend to the wounded or make food for everybody to the best of her abilities.
She was also one of the prettiest females in the community which didn't hurt her popularity in the slightest. Abel would sometimes think about how she was like a second mother to him, but he knew deep down he hated thinking that way. Especially since the death of his own mother still hurt his heart whenever he heard the word.
His second closest friend was actually Peters sister, Sarah Swift. Peter was 20 years old and Sarah was just a year younger at 19.
The Swift family is actually the ones that took him in and is where he is currently presiding in. Which is why they became such quick friends that could rely and trust each other.
-Knock-Knock-
"Hey Abel, it's about time for the meeting. You need to hurry up!" Peters dad, Jack, said while trying to make sure Abel would make it in time. Jack knew how Roger would get if anybody was late to the meeting. He could see his grizzled scar ridden face now.
"You know how Roger gets when people are late, I can practically hear him screaming now!" Jack shivered slightly.
"Ok, Mr. Swift. I'll hurry!" Abel yells through the door making sure Jack heard him and also hoping he would leave him alone long enough to get dressed. If one thing everybody could agree on, it's that Jack Swift was a talker.
Abel hurriedly dried off and put clean clothes on that looked like a regular T-shirt and some denim pants. He put on some jet black socks and some homemade leather shoes made of some kind of animal hide.
"Its a shame my old shoes wore down as much as they did. They are much more comfortable than these leather shoes." Abel thought depressingly. "Its only a matter of time before socks become obsolete as well."
Opening the door, the first thing that he sees is Jack. An older man in his 50's, roughly 5'9 and surprisingly in good shape, Jack looks like your average man in the face. Not too good looking, but definitely not bad either.
"Abel, my boy! Hurry along and go get Peter and Sarah! If you guys are late and get yelled at I'll have to give you guys a never ending speech on time management!" Jack enthusiastically says while laughing at the same time. He knows better than anybody how much he likes to talk.
After listening to the repercussions of them all being late, Abel doesn't even say anything as he is in too much of a hurry to get his friends.
Abel forgets to knock on Peters door as he is in no mood for a long winded lecture of Jack, and directly barges in the room.
"Hey! Damn it Abel, what if I were naked and you just barged right in?" Peter says while acting angry to see how Abel would react.
"Then I'd see something I've seen a hundred times except on another person. Now hurry up, your dad just threatened us with a long lecture on time management if we're late!"
Seeing Peter turn pale after relaying the message his father said, Abel feels gratified about the reaction of his friend. Especially after giving him unpleasant images in his head.
After Peter grabbed his things, he pushed Abel out of the door while saying, "Quick, we have to hurry! If we're late Roger will yell at us and dad won't shut up about it for at least a few hours after we get back! Let's grab Sarah and sprint to the meeting!"
Amused at his friends reaction and the amount of time left they have left, he calms Peter down before they arrived at Sarah's room.
"Hey, Sarah! We have to get moving or dad said he would give us a lecture about time management!" Peter says through the door. Looking at Abel they both laugh silently and a little evily waiting to hear the chaos in the room.
"WHAT!!" Sarah yells loudly. The sound basically carried around the whole house. It wouldn't have surprised Abel if her voice echoed onto the nearby street.
Both Abel and Peter knew how much patience Sarah had. Which was practically none. The worst kind of torture for her would be to sit and listen to her dad speak nonstop about something so boring and useless.
Not even 5 minutes later Sarah comes walking out of the room. Looking like a walking disaster, her hair is all over the place, her shirt is half tucked in, and..."Uh, are your shoes on the wrong feet?" Peter asks trying not to burst his gut from holding in all the laughter.
Sarah glares at him with a look that would give death a second to reconsider what he said next.
Peter gulps and starts walking off saying, "No time to lose! Abel gets his first scouting job today!" Shamelessly walking away like nothing ever happened.
Sarah, after fixing herself up and fixing her shoes, says excitedly, "I almost forgot! Our little Abel turned 18 and now gets to experience what it's like outside and maybe grab his first spirit module!"
Sarah and Abel run to catch up to Peter. After catching up Abel starts to look at the two of them before sighing. Peter and Sarah almost looked like twins. Like they were built for battle.
Peter was a little taller than his dad at 6'0 even. Handsome face and wide shoulders that could hold the world. The muscles under his shirt looked like they were animals in a cage trying break out.
Sarah was the same height as Peter and just as beautiful as her mother. An hourglass figure, with a mature air to her despite being only 19. She isn't as muscular as Peter, but she isn't too far behind either. Just the perfect amount of muscle it looked to him.
Abel himself was only 5'10 and had hardly any muscle to him. Since he has stayed in the Swift household he's been training with Peter, but with only about a month of training the results were minimal.
Walking along the road, he started looking at the people chatting or just minding their own business. Edgeville was just a small town walled off to the world. Just a single convenience store. A little single story hospital, and a few dozen houses. no more than a hundred people live here, but most of them are battle hardened veterans.
Most of them were useless before the change of the world, but Roger, came here during here travels and saved them from a group of wild mutated dogs that tries to kill everybody. The dogs wound up killing over a few dozen people before he came and fought them off by himself.
Roger was absurdly strong. He was an elite soldier before the change and was among one of the first to gain a Katana type spirit module. Chicago was his home city and when it fell he began to despair. All he wanted to do was travel and die fighting. Luckily, he found Edgeville on his way south.
When he defended the town everybody was grateful to him. This caused a change in his heart, where now a he wanted to do was save these people and care for them.
He knew he couldn't do it by himself so he organized for everybody that could still fight to go on organized hunts. Eventually most of everybody was able to defend themselves and even some were able to get their own spirit modules.
Walking to the meeting hall; Abel, Sarah, and Peter walked in to see Roger slouched over a table with a map on it. Upon seeing them Roger stands up with his tall frame and says, "Well, look who it is! Finally 18 now, Abel?" He says jovially while hugging Abel.
Roger is 6'6 and a muscle bound freak. His face is grizzled like a worn torn soldier. He has scars all over his face and a large claw mark scar running down his whole torso. Him being so tall and shirtless made the hug especially awkward for Abel, so he just did a quick slap of the back and moved away as fast as he could.
Peter and Sarah looked at the confused face of Roger while holding in their laughter with everything they got. Roger, not noticing the laughter at his expense, gets down to business.
"Ok since it's Abels first mission, I'm going to make it a scouting trip with four of you as a group. The fourth person will be here soon, so don't worry. She also knows the plan so she doesn't need to be here for this."
Walking over to the map he points at a small town near Edgeville. "This is where you guys are going. It's a small town named Nipton. I want you guys to go there, scout for people that need help or for supplies we need. We have already hit this town in the past, but for a simple first mission it will do. Hopefully you guys come across a weak mutant and are able to get yourself a spirit module. If one does pop up, I recommend giving the module to Sarah or Abel, since you already have one Peter. Sarah you're already stronger than these two newbies, don't look at me like that."
Abel looks at Peter with a surprised expression. He didn't know Peter had gotten himself a module! "Peter, what the hell! You didn't tell me?"
Peter looks embarrisingly at Abel trying to explain. "Hey, wait a minute! I was going to wait to show you during the mission so I could blow your mind, but mister loud mouth here couldn't wait to just spoil it!" Pointing at Roger, Peter tries to twist the blame, but Roger doesn't seem to care.
"Anyway the leader of this party is going to be Peter since he's the only one to have a module. Go grab Attica, she's your fourth party member. Stay safe you guys, don't risk your lives. Meeting dismissed!"