A group of seven people, including four guards and three young people, passed through the corridors of a school building. The building was considerably large compared to the others around it. Its color was white with green streaks and had 3 floors including the ground floor.
As they walked, the young men looked around curiously. Lucas never attended school, while the cousins still wondered how all of this was possible. The world was upside down, a place seemingly as stable as this would be an oasis.
The hallways were lit by torches mounted on the walls, much like the Middle Ages. It didn't take them long to reach the commander's room. Coincidentally or not, it was exactly the school's former boardroom. When they entered there were five people inside, three of them were around a large square table formed by the aggregation of four small tables. While the other two were further away discussing something.
The trio around the table consisted of two men and a woman, while the back duo was a man and a woman.
The seven entered without knocking and the leader of the patrol group came forward to speak towards the pair:
"Oops boss, we found some young survivors, they are evolved not deformed." Normally, subordinates addressed the boss with more respect, however, that didn't seem to be the case now.
"I have said several times Matthew, we are not the army, we are survivors." The man spoke helplessly, putting a hand to his forehead.
He was tall and thin, his hair was long, shoulder length. His skin was white and with brown eyes. However, the most striking feature was his right arm and leg. Clearly they didn't belong to the human species. There were brown tentacles hanging from them where the fur would be. He wore a T-shirt and shorts, showing his bestial features.
He approached the three young people and said:
"Good night, my name is Felipe. I know you still need to get used to these…" he paused for a moment before continuing, "deformities. Don't worry though, you're safe now. We register everyone here to facilitate communication and administration. While they register, they will be informed of the details of the base and its occupation." The leader spoke with great politeness and concern. Essential quality for a leader.
The young people nodded, they were still adjusting to this new development. As they walked towards the register, Ruby suddenly remembered something, curious, she asked:
"Excuse me, but what did the commander mean by occupation?"
One of the guards accompanying the leader replied:
"Civilization as a whole is gone, so to maintain order, Commander Felipe set up this work system. According to the mutation of each one, if any, an occupation is assigned." He spoke very naturally. Mateus also explained more about the subject:
"Exactly, as you may have seen at the entrance, most guards are either evolved or evolved deformed. Everyone who has an offensive or defensive ability helps on patrol."
Lucas listened carefully, there wasn't a single piece of information that went unnoticed. He had some doubts he decided to know about.
"Excuse me, another question. You call them evolved, I call them mutants, is there any reason you call them evolved?" Again, his tone was very polite.
The leader found this question very interesting, but also somewhat self-explanatory.
"You're smart, I don't know many details, but the reason is clear. The evolved ones are superior, with their abilities, they have a better chance of survival. Just like in the wild, survival of the fittest. If you want to know more about it, I suggest talking to the research team, they definitely should know more about the details." The more he talked, the more animated his tone. It seemed that Matthew liked to explain things.
Lucas kept asking:
"You said that 'if we have a skill', we would be assigned some work. Are there still non-mutant people?" That was his second biggest question. He had deduced that there would be only 2 types of mutants, the deformed and the 'normal' ones like him and the cousins. However, this new information surprised him.
Enthusiastic, Matthew replied:
"Yes and no, we're not sure yet. In the beginning, for the undeformed evolved ones, many thought they didn't have any abilities, but over time, they found they did. So, according to the research team, the biggest possibility is that those who don't have a skill yet will develop or, in their words, withdraw the seal. However, the possibility of not having an evolution still exists. We don't have a proper lab, so we kind of can't go that far with research. That's just what I know for now." Matthew this time even stopped and turned to explain what he knew.
'Oh, so it is. Does every human being have to wait for their body to adapt to mutations due to dark matter or neut? Hmm, too much theory and not enough certainty." Lucas' thoughts were at full steam to discover the new parameters of the world. He still had his biggest unanswered question, but he didn't dare ask.
Quickly, they reached the registration room. Before the war and the beam, this had been a classroom, but now it served as a survivors' registration room. The layout of the room was displayed when they entered, the student chairs were almost all removed, leaving only the teacher's desk and a few chairs.
Behind the professor's chair, a middle-aged woman with some bestial features. Her face was human, but her arms and legs were thin and prickly, it looked like a mix between insect and human. Seeing the seven people enter, this woman straightened her position and spoke excitedly:
"Ohh, new people. Come on, let's register them." Even with her cheerful tone, it was not possible to hide her voice, for lack of a better word, hideous. She wasn't inaudible, but it was really bad to hear. It was a shaky sound, it sounded like a cricket was speaking human words.
However, none of the guards thought it strange, they even smiled when they saw her. The leader Mateus came forward and said:
"Glória, these new young people arrived, apparently they survived with their own abilities." Again, he was pretty excited.
"Wow, this is new. So, our group got stronger apparently." Gloria responded with the same enthusiasm, too bad her vocal chords couldn't convey that enthusiasm correctly. "Come, sit down." She continued, pointing to the few chairs present.
The young people sat down and as they did so, the guards who guided them said goodbye to their desk and left, leaving them alone. Gloria asked:
"So my dears, what are your names and abilities? Because they survived alone, I believe they have skills, right?" She did her best to suppress her modified voice, but to no avail. The cousins were still processing all the information and didn't react in time, while Lucas was ready to answer first again.
"I'm Lucas Tavares, and I can handle blood with some limits."
"Hmm, noted. Lucas Tavares, control the blood. Great, can your ability be used for offense, defense, or something specific?" asked glory
"Yeah…" He hesitated to answer.
'Should I say everything? I don't want to expose myself… one thing I learned in my time at the hospital reading novels is exactly that. Don't expose your skills unless it's necessary! But Ace and Ruby already know, if I hide something, they'll think it's weird… I'll talk vaguely then."
"Yes, I can use it for offense and defense." Lucas replied.
"Okay, let's go to the next one, can it be you lady?" Gloria wrote everything down and continued the record.
After registering the cousins, Gloria brought up the most anticipated subject.
"Wonderful, Lucas, Ruby and Ace. Let us now discuss your occupations."