The teleporter dropped our group about a hundred meters away from the entrance of the hospital inside a portable shielded base. The four different wings of the hospital would be explored in pairs as we had planned.
According to the report that came from the scouts, the adjacent wings and branches of the hospital had collapsed entry points. Any valuables in those would have to wait until after we cleared pathways.
I scanned the ruin's exterior with my eyes and began making mental notes. The top floors appeared most damaged with entire sections of the wall broken and open to the elements. Winds often whipped up high levels of rads from the scorched soil. While the lower floors looked to be more caked in fallout, they also appeared to be more sturdy.
While scavers were trained to be self reliant, if one pair got in trouble, all scavers were expected to assist so everyone memorised each floor not just their assigned one. I personally had my ass saved on more than one occasion thanks to our unofficial policy.
"There's a wicked wind bearing down from the north east. Could be the tail end of a recent rad storm." Florian scanned the floor layouts into our visor databanks while speaking.
I nodded in agreement. The clicks of my Geiger were swallowed up quickly in the wind. My Geiger counter worked at least. Radiation covered every area of the planet not protected by shielding. There were only four or five massive cities on the each continent that had been saved from fallout.
"Lets be careful not to soak up too many rads man." Florian said. "Pretty sure the Selection staff won't enjoy dealing with radiation poisoning." We normally didn't use this much caution but we had to today.
Florian and I were the last pair to set off. We reached the front entrance and slipped through the gap in the sliding glass door left by others. Fallout clung to the windows and glass. " Head lights on and Comm check." I said.
Florian gave a thumbs up. We moved in sync, slowly crawling along as we had a hundred previous times listening for the signs of shifting weight in the ruin structure while still searching for valuables.
Old medicine was our goal along with medical supplies and any tech we could carry with us in a place like this. Most was still highly valuable even after all this time. A good scaver was a valuable asset to the guild's. Maybe that's the path I would choose for training school.
Training schools each specialized in one or two fields, but brough in enough experts to teach at least the basics of every category.
Soldiering and scavanging, tech and sience, medicine and support classes. We all various types of fields that one could attempt to specialize in after selection day, so the training schools worked towards training in those specific areas. When the school day ended, then work details would start.
At first they were assigned for the first few years but after a the second year ended, students could switch if they wanted to. Some students liked specializing in ome specialty. Made them feel like they had a chance during selection day to land an internship or a contract. Others like to be a jack of all trades.
The hospital walls goaned. Snapping me bavk to the present moment.
Every desk and table and counter we passed had a thick coating of radiation and dust. The crunch of glass under our boots echoed with every foot fall.
"What are u gonna do for your power once you get sorted?" Florian asked referring to the power book auction.
After the discovery of soul stones, humanity quickly developed the ability to create super human abilites. They said it was something about how the radiation had affected humanity despite our best efforts at preventing poisoning.
To be honest I had been hoping to avoid this particular conversation. Parents who had strong familial abilites often passed then down to the eldest child or two and then bought skill books for the younger children. Society existed in a basic caste system where your worth was determined by your family name and your power level.
Trouble is... my family never got the chance to pass anything on. I would have to go through sorting then the auction. Placing low meant being subjected to the bullying and pressure of those who would step on you because they were more powerful. I had already experienced it all my life during our early school years. I could almost hear the snickers already. There is nothing I could do. I could feel my blood pressure rising in anger at the thought.
"No, Flo." I said forcefully, pushing against a door and begining our descent to the basement. "It is probably gonna be pretty bad. I'm not really looking forward to it as much as you probably are."
"Shut up Matthias. I'm not gonna do much better. I'm just trying to help you man. All I got is my parents ability of probability manipulation it isnt much better. I might give it up and see if I can buy entrance into the auction. Then at least I would have a chance of getting a useful skill. I'm jealous. You have a blank slate and can go to any school of training possible."
I know he spoke to help me but somehow I still felt worse.
"At least you have an ability." I said bitterly. It was more of a sore subject than I realized.
I brielfy flashed back to when we spoke to our school advisors. All of them who spoke with us through the years said specialization would be more important than the initial skill choice. Make yourself invaluable and noone can turn you away. How can a person with no powers be vaulable or stand out?
The various factions held tremendous influence over who got what abilites in the auction and how fast someone could progress. Disapoint them and they would abandon you with a low level ability for life. It seemed like indentured servitude to me.
The steps creaked under our boots. I checked the Geiger counter. The tiny red needle had risen only slightly. Still well withing safey limits. "Three hours left man. Let's get going. There's the door." I say pointing to the large rectangle in the distance.
--
I followed Florian, crawling under the broken support beams and brushing aside bits of rubble and glass and we pushed forward towards the basement. "Usually there's extra medical equipment stored in basements. Maybe a vehicle if there's an attached garage," Florian said holding the rusted door open for me.
Once inside I stopped and held out my arm to block Florian. We entered into a large room with a high ceiling. The rads were much higher here. "Flo..." I start to say.
"I hear it clicking. Move fast."
"Do you see the skeletons?"I reply angling my light on a small mound on bodies in the distance.
He lets out a low whistle." Damn. Must have sheltered down here and never made it out. Poor souls." His whistle echoed softly.
I crept forward cautiously towards the pile of bodies.
Once again I gave silently gave thanks for the oxygen recyclers in my mask keeping the odors out of my nostrils. Florian exchanged fresh ones for himself out of the corner of my vision.
The bodies huddled outside what appeared to be a closet of some kind. Maybe a bathroom. I knelt down and brushed away some dirt and ruble. A bit of metal glinted near the bones in front of me. I gently tugged it free and studied the object. A time piece. I pulled out my nano tag and with a click, marked the pile of bodies with a label and tagged the watch. The clock face had frozen on 2:44. It vanished along with the bodies.
"Can you imagine? " Florian said standing beside me. I stayed silent but shook my head.
No. I couldn't. I did not want to. It must have been a scary time. The blast, the heat and the screams and burning wave of fire washing over them. A wave of cold washed over my shoulders. I shivered despite the temperature gage reading over one hundred.
"Lets move on." Florian said gently. I agreed.
We moved on gingerly from area to area searching for anything of use. Florian tagged a few tanks that used to hold oxygen and I emptied a small dented up locker that held some bottles of medicine nearby.
The only sound as we searched was the constant ticking of the Geiger counter. The deeper we went, the faster it clicked. It seemed like hours passed.
Finally we reached a blocked off corridor. A decent portion of the wall and ceiling had fallen partially blocking off the path forward.
"Let's turn back. Rads are reaching dangerous levels man." Florian said. His voice wavered. We had been down here searching for hours it felt like. "Our tags are almost empty too and times almost up."
I sighed. He was right and clearly was tired and a bit frightned. I could not blame him. I prepared to turn back when something caught my eye. Just ahead, a dim glowing light illuminated a small area just ahead. Most electricity was long gone. So any lights peaked my curiosity. "Help me lift this up Flo." I said grasping the largest chunk of concrete." "I will be quick. I promise." I added before he could protest. "Let me check this and then I'll tagged myself out."
"Fine. It's your funeral man." Florian grasped the concrete and pulled up lifting it what little he could. "Our probability for developing radiation poisoning is increasing rapidly." He said through gritted teeth. "Sorry, stupid ability."
I let go and slipped under the beam crawling on my belly until I emerged clear on the other side. I immediately knew why the corridor had been blocked off. It was a undetonated bomb. It must have broken through every level until coming to rest down here.
The nuclear core must have been breached because my gieger counter was clicking extremely fast. This was how those people died. The blue glow surrounded me briefly.
Suddenly I felt super hot and my body felt weak. "F-florian. It's a compromised bomb. Get outta here!" I yelled weakly.
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Go!" I screamed. I had to tag this out of here. Not to the normal drop but to toxic item port. I pulled out my nano gun. my skin burned and I fumbled trying to swap the nano tags out. I looked back and saw Florian still standing there.
" Go you giant moron. Get the hell outta here!" I said tossing a pebble at him as best I could.
I did not have much strength left.
Thankfully he heard me and ran. "I'll get help."
I couldn't hear him. My lungs felt like they were boiling. I couldn't breath much less speak. I fell to my knees and grasped my waistband trying to grasp the toxic tag clip.I could tag myself back to base afterwords.
I spotted it poking out from underneath the concrete that I crawled through. Busted. Everything burned. My visions blurred. My throat blistered and I tasted blood. I lifted my nano gun and squeezed the trigger with what little stregnth i had left. There was an enormous blast of blue energy and i felt myself soaring through the air.