Kaden stepped out of the vehicle, careful not to open the door too wide.
The morning rays of sunshine shone down, lighting up the hard muddy ground beneath his feet. Right before him, he could see a light sprinkling of snowflakes floating down and covering the ground bit by bit.
He was currently standing in what had very recently become a car park.
At least a thousand cars were parked here in a giant grid. You couldn't drive your car out if you wanted to, it was impossible.
Space was also cramped, all the cars made it hard to move around. Everytime he got in and out of their car he had to mind the doors, or he would knock it open right into someone else's car.
Just yet another change.
Yesterday, after attending a briefing about his job assignment, soldiers had come to their parking spot in the alley and sent them away.
It was part of a grand relocation plan, moving all the cars to this area to make more space in the city. Most cars had been relocated, and the place had become a sort of car hotel because of all the people that were sleeping and living inside of their cars.
It was necessary because of the influx of refugees that parked their cars all over town.
But the dense packing of people made for a very noisy night. Kaden was even sure that the car on his right had been rocking a bit too much during the night.
Maybe there was something about apocalyptic scenarios that just gave people that sort of urge.
Still, those people weren't nearly as loud as the gunshots that had continued all through the night. He had stayed up too late, and when the gunshots began it was almost impossible to fall asleep. It was definitely worse than it had been last night, which meant that the attack was also worse.
Shaking his head, he went and got a ration packet from a shop setup near the car park to service all the people.
He wolfed it down quickly, not that there was much to eat, and went on his way to the meeting spot.
As the soldiers weren't sure which entrance the wolves would attack, a meeting spot in the middle of the city had been chosen.
Kaden arrived in good time and got into the back of one of the four trucks.
But when the trucks left their spot, he noticed that they all seperated, driving in four different directions.
Kaden saw the officer that he saw at the cleanup yesterday, and decided to ask him something.
"Sir, why is everyone splitting up?" Kaden pointed at the other trucks that were disappearing in the distance.
The officer perked up a bit at his question, but seemed to be in a much worse mood than yesterday.
"The wolves returned during the night. But instead of focusing all of their efforts in one place like last time, they split off and attacked us from four different directions," The officer bit his cheek and looked to everyone in truck, "I'll be honest, the situation isn't great, I'm told we only barely managed to fend them off."
Kaden nodded solemnly, it was kind of like he'd feared. If the soldiers had already taken great losses during this night's battle, it made him fearful of the what would happen the following nights.
After they arrived at the spot, Kaden just kept his head down and did his work. Everyone seemed to be in a bad mood.
When all of the wolf corpses were finally cleaned up, he was about ready to die of starvation. These small portions were getting to him, they weren't nearly enough to fill him up.
He waited impatiently for his turn as the officer went around and handed out coupons to the workers.
Finally the officer got to him, and Kaden's face fell as he was handed two coupons. Two, only two measly coupons.
"Sir did you make a mistake?" Kaden held up his two coupons, holding out hope that it had just been an error on the officer's part.
"I'm afraid not. The coupon quota has been lowered, we simply can't afford to feed so many people," The officer shook his head, he didn't like it much either.
After everyone had worked so hard, the last thing he wanted to do was give them such a meagre reward. It was kind of like spitting in everyone's faces.
"But… This isn't enough," Kaden muttered.
He was already having trouble with food, this was only going to add to make it even harder.
"Isn't there something I can do? Can I work two jobs?" Kaden asked the officer, he needed to find a way of resolving his issue. If he didn't he would slowly starve to death.
"I… No I'm sorry, you can't. There are plenty of citizens to do the work that needs to be done, the trouble is the food," The officer scratched his temple, feeling kind of awkward. He had seen the civilian rations himself, he knew how small they were.
"So, there isn't anything I can do?" Kaden felt all of the hope drain out of him, he didn't see a god way out of this situation. Would he have to resort to stealing?
"Well…" The officer hesitated, he didn't want to bring it up. Kaden was a good kid, he didn't want to put him in that sort of situation, "No nevermind."
"What is it? Tell me," Kaden noticed that the officer was holding out on him, and urged him to go on. If there was a solution he needed to hear it no matter what it was.
"Well it's just…" The officer sighed, "The City Administration has come up with a new plan. It want's to create an Aether Defense Force, ADF. The members will aid the soldiers in the defense of the city, using Aether in close range combat. Essentially they will be front line troops. Everyone in it will be given military rations or better."
"I'll do it!" Kaden's eyes lit up, this was perfect for him, "How do I join?"
Just as soon as he had felt the hope leave him, he felt it flooding back in. This was the solution to all of his problems.
"I don't recommend it. It's very dangerous. These wolves, they aren't normal, there's something… Off about them. Many good soldiers have fallen victim to them. To get into close range of them is plain suicide!" The officer wanted to convince him not to join.
There was no way he wanted to send a kid to the front lines to die. The City Administration wouldn't see it that way, they'd take anyone they could get. Anything to keep more soldiers alive.
"How. Do. I. Join?" Kaden asked again, enunciating each and every word.
He wasn't going to be convinced otherwise, it didn't matter what the officer said. This was what he had been waiting for all along. If the City Administration had any hope of this plan being of even a little use, they would certainly have a teacher that could help them learn to cultivate. Davenport was a small city, there wasn't any strong fighters who stayed here but they still had a dojo. There would be a teacher, he was sure of it.
"Don't say I didn't try to warn you," The officer rubbed his eyebrows, sighing. He saw the kid's determination and knew that his words were useless, "Test's will be held all day in the Radiant Era Dojo. You can find it yourself, I don't want to be the one to lead you to your death."
"Thank you," Kaden nodded, smiling at the name.
Radiant Era Dojo was the name of Li Jie's dojo, it had branches all over the world, more than any other dojo. He thanked the stars that he hadn't been stuck with Billyboy's father's dojo.
God he hoped that old fucker was dead somewhere in Chicago, unable to escape after the leviathan appeared. With any luck his son Billy was dead too, it would be nice to never have to see his face again.
Kaden paused as he caught himself having these monstrous thoughts.
Since when had he become so vengeful?
Sure he hated Billy, but he hardly even knew the boy's father. He just disliked him on principle. To wish him dead was… Too much.
"I'll take your name off of the cleanup crew, let someone else have your spot," The officer spoke to him, pulling him out of his self reflection.
"But what about the test? How can you be so sure I'll pass?" Kaden tilted his head, looking at the officer in confusion.
If his name was taken off and he failed to pass, wouldn't he be stuck without any job? That also meant no food at all. That was even worse than his current situation. At that point the only choice available to him would be to steal from others.
"Don't worry. There may be a test but it's a formality to ascertain your strength. They're desperate and will take anyone they can get. At the end of the day, the only goal is to get more bodies to stand in front of the soldiers. Should honestly be called the city meat shields instead," The officer shook his head.
If the boy was stupid enough to join, there wasn't anything he could do about it. He didn't feel guilty for telling the kid what he wanted to hear, the information wasn't a secret after all, he could've gotten it from anyone else.
"Sure it's risk," Kaden rolled his eyes at the officer and his dumb ideas, "But if you think you can defend this place with guns forever, you're in for a rude awakening."
Kaden didn't bother wasting anymore time on the officer.
The man was stupid, he hadn't even realized the point the aliens had been trying to drill into them this whole time. Only strength was needed, only strength could save you from what's to come.
The man wanted to rely on guns and traditional soldiers, but that certainly wouldn't be possible forever. They were already losing men every night, guns just weren't enough.
He wanted to go and take the test as soon as possible, but he was way too hungry to put that off.
After getting a quick meal, he asked a man for directions and went straight towards the Radiant Era Dojo to take the test.
This was his chance, he needed to seize it. It didn't matter what thoughts anyone else had.
Strength… He needed strength.