"On your call Wilson." Rodney stated.
Everyone stood on the edge of the tree line with their weapons equipped and ready. Captain Wilson crept out into the open field and observed the surroundings carefully.
"Alright, we're good." He said while waving us to come out.
"Stay on high alert." Rodney ordered. "We're in an environment that none of us are accustomed to, and any corner could hide a hurdle higher than the last. Be ready."
"Yes sir." Most of us replied.
The road is only a half mile ahead of us so getting back on course shouldn't be an issue. It's much quieter now than it was a while ago. Not just the area, but hardly anyone in the group was making even the slightest of noises. That last encounter surely diminished the group's morale. Then there are some people whose morale were really low to begin with. I knew Nico was different but the guy is essentially a walking suicide threat. It doesn't make sense though, because he saved me in two different situations. He wouldn't care about saving anyone or fighting for himself if he was really ready to die. Right? Then it seems like Mali is just forcing herself through everything that's going on. She's forcing a smile too, I wonder how long she could do that for. There's also Angie and I'm still not sure how she's feeling. She's hard to read, but anyone could tell that she's being really distant. This is too tedious. The mental toll is hitting everyone a lot harder than I would've thought to start with. Not to mention we're only just getting started.
Sigh
"That's a heavy sigh there." Lici said walking beside me. "I hope you're not tired already."
"Not a chance." I replied with a smile.
"Good."
"If you don't mind me asking, who did you leave behind in the city?" I asked.
"Only my older sister really. I never had much blood relatives since I was young."
"Were you two particularly close?"
"I wouldn't say we were close. I guess she at least tried to raise me, but she always prioritized herself. Which I can't say I could blame her for doing so. Our mom left us when I was four and she was sixteen, so she basically had to learn how to take care of herself and me at the same time. At the end of the day I just became super resourceful from a young age, and a lack of familial love probably is what made me to be so unbothered by everything."
"Don't tell me you're still unbothered out here?" I asked with a half grin.
"I'd be lying if I said I was, but I can say that I think I'm more mentally stable than most of the others."
"That's a relief to hear. It seems like everyone out hear is fighting their own mental battle. It's a relief that I could at least talk to you like this."
"I always thought you were more like me than the others." Lici stated. "I actually... mmmm nevermind."
"Nevermind what?" I asked.
"It could wait, after all we have quite the journey ahead of us. We'll have time to talk about that later."
"We have time now too. It's not like we have anything better to do."
"Impatient are we now?" She asked.
"Um I guess, I'm curious now."
She grinned at me and said "you're gonna be happy you waited." Then walked ahead.
What was that about? I watched her walk off before glancing over to Angie who was just barely in my field of view. Her demeanor and expressions basically haven't changed at all, but it's like there's a barrier surrounding her. I wonder if she also knew Abby? Right now wouldn't be the best time to ask about that. The rest of our trek for today went rather smoothly. Surprisingly there wasn't anymore freak occurrences or dangerous obstacles we had to deal with. It did bother me a bit that we didn't run into any infected besides those birds. I'm not going to complain about it though. We arrived at our first designated campsite at around 5pm. The site appeared to be an abandoned colony of some sort. About eight or nine poorly built shacks that upon first sight, seemed to be falling apart. Again I wasn't going to complain because at least we had shelter for the night.
"Alright this is where we will be staying for tonight." Rodney announced. "You can decide for yourselves who you want to share a room with. Put your things away and all guards, hunters and searchers please report back here immediately after."
"I guess they're okay with boys and girls bunking together." Liam said.
"I mean if we're the future for humanity then eventually we gotta... yanno." Alyssa stated.
"Nope, girls we sharing right?" Lici asked.
Alyssa, Regine, Shea, Mali and Angie all followed her to one of the buildings.
"No fun at all." Liam exclaimed looking around. "Miguel don't look at me like that."
"Come on roomie, let's get along." Miguel says throwing his arm around Liam.
"Ejay, Lj, mind if we bunk together?" Khiara asked walking up to us.
"I wouldn't mind." I replied.
"It doesn't matter to me." Lj responded.
"I think we might need to find at least two more people." I said.
"If the two of you are okay with it then it doesn't matter who else is their." Khiara stated. "It'll be just like when we were growing up."
"Never thought we'd be this far from that old town." I exclaimed as I walked towards one of the houses.
"This place reminds me of that old town." Lj stated. "I wonder who use to live here."
"Hey kiddies." Nesha said to us as she and Dameer walked over.
"You guys mind if we join y'all tonight?" Dameer asked.
"You two wont be trying anything right?" I questioned.
"Bro we've hardly even done anything in private, so y'all don't need to worry about that."
With that, the five of us entered the house that was located closest to the main road. It was only one room which contained basically nothing. I'm guessing the people that lived here cooked and went to the bathroom outside.
"Not much to really get accustomed to." Nesha stated.
"Let's go Dameer, Lj, we have to meet back up with Rodney."
I dropped my bag in the corner of the room and so did Dameer and Lj.
"I guess we'll stay here for a while, or at least until they need us." Khiara said.
"Alright we'll be back later." I said as we left the room.
The three of us were the first people to return. After observing the area a bit more, I realized that their was an area which contained the remains of a campfire with boards of wood surrounding it. Probably where everyone here ate and sat for warmth. After about five minutes of waiting, everyone else had made their way back.
"Firstly what we're going to be doing is forming three man teams." Rodney stated. "Each team will contain one guard, hunter and searcher. We have five guards and hunters but eleven searchers. The remaining searchers that are without a team please wait behind for further instructions. So, go ahead and choose your teammates."
People began to shuffle around and form their squads while I sat and waited. It doesn't matter to me if I'm on a team or not so I'll just wait for someone to come to me. If no one does then I don't really care.
"Look alive comrade."
I should've known.
"What's up Nico?"
"We need somebody from the guard unit to finish our squad." He replied.
"I'll join your squad Nico." Mali said as she overheard him.
"Perfect, then this is our three here." He said.
I really didn't need to do anything. I noticed Lj watching us for a few seconds before turning away. It seems he didn't find a team, also he's sure to be irritated about me and Nico teaming up.
"The five teams please walk over to Captain Wilson while the remaining searchers please meet Zhaire over by those trees."
"I'm starving." Mali exclaimed.
"That's most likely why they assembled us like this." Nico replied. "We passed a lot of food on our way here, and I'm sure there are some delicacies around this area."
"I'm scared to know what your idea of a delicacy is." Mali stated.
"Alright squads here is the mission. We have one hour to hunt down our dinner for tonight." Wilson said. "We have more than enough vegetation and wildlife in this area to saturate everyone. We just have to get em. You all have a search perimeter of one mile away from the campsite in any direction. Each member of the squad is needed to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible. Work together and this should be easy. Any questions?"
"Anything is game right Captain?" Nico asked raising his hand.
"We're not hunting for game, this is for everyone to eat later tonight. Don't get carried away Nico."
"Yes sir!"
"Like I said you all have an hour to gather what you can and meet back here. Good luck and be careful."
"Let's gather our supplies then meet at the entrance to the main road." I said to Mali and Nico.
"Sure."
"Copy that."
I went back to our home for the night to retrieve my bow and whatever else I might need. I dumped the contents of the bag on the ground and decided I'll use it as a quiver for my arrows. Now that I'm looking at it there isn't much inside of these bags. A flashlight, a water bottle, duct tape, a towel, one change of clothes, rope, and a few flare sticks. I'm guessing the different squads have different contents in their bags. I grab what I think I'll need then head out to meet the others.
"I was sure that I'd be the first one out here." I said as I walked up to Nico who was sat waiting.
"This sort of mission is something I'm use to, so I already knew what I should need." He replied.
"Is that a machete?"
"A blade suited for the wild." He replied raising the machete.
He seems in his element out here. I take a seat in the grass beside him as we waited on Mali.
"Say Nico... did you really mean what you said before? That you're ready to die."
"I never said I was ready brother, I said I wasn't afraid to."
"What's the difference?" I asked.
"There's a lot of things I would love to experience in this world. A lot of wishes that I want to carry out before I'm gone. However, I've already lost a lot of things in this world, and I have wishes that no matter how hard I try, will never come true. People that I know are waiting for me on the other side. And if dying means that I can be reconnected with the ones I love, and be freed from the never ending torment of this world. Then I will welcome death with both of my arms wide open. However, it's because of those lingering wishes and experiences I want to encounter, that I'm not actively out there searching for death. If it happens then it happens."
"... I see."
"Tell me brother, is there anyone waiting for you on the other side?"
"Yeah, there is. But there's also a lot of people down here that wouldn't want me to leave yet. People who would want me to be here to weather the storm with them. I envy those who left me here in this world, and there will also be people who envy me if I were to leave. Because of that, I'm not ready to leave yet."
"I knew you were an interesting one." Nico said with a grin.
"What are you two talking about?" Mali asked.
"Nothing important." Nico stated.
"We were getting bored waiting on a certain somebody." I added.
"I knew being on a team with you two would be annoying. If either of you rush me I'll slap you with this gun."
"The fire burns bright in both of you." Nico says as he laughs and walks off.
I've still got a lot to take care of down here. People that are depending on me and expecting me to give it my all. I can't leave just yet. This body of mine will be pushed to its limit before that happens.