(A/N: Let me just put this out there. Due to the interchanging of the perspective between first and third person, a chapter that begins with * is in first person, while one that begins with *** is in the third person. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER!).
"So were you sent to scout this entire area alone?" I asked.
"No, we split up. You wouldn't know, but only a few continents remain intact at this point. Only half of your entire continent remains. The other half, well..... the floods did a number on us," she replied.
I was gobsmacked, flabbergasted.
Flabbergobgasted! The African continent was left with only half of itself? Wasn't this much worse than the plate tectonics from eons ago?
"What other continents have sustained...damage?"
"Australia is gone, Asia is only left with two fifths of its former size, North and South America kissed and became a series of floating islands. Last but not least, Europe is doing the best out of all the others, just dents here and there," she said with a frustrated tone.
I don't know what I expected. Naturally as an author I thought I would understand different scales of destruction better than most people. Visualisation and imagination are an integral part of novel writing after all, especially if your forte or focus is supposed to be action and horror.
Horror was my favourite genre, action coming in second. A mix of the two was even better. My descriptions while imagining the disgusted and frowning expressions of my readers where my pride and joy.
But now, I couldn't laugh at this. Was this some form of retribution? The worst part is that the disaster was not over, we were just being shielded by an existence I was going to be told about when I reached the Safe Zone.
I could still feel that the atmosphere was agitated. The tingling on my skin as if I was wearing an invisible overall which was tanking damage was unsettling.
From an aerial view, one could see nothing of life, except the abominations that roamed as if they did not have any intent; they only attacked when there was life nearby. The land was barren, shades of black and purple.
I tell you this is the advent of planet Namek.
(A/N: Dragon ball reference).
After flying a certain distance, I saw figures converging around an obliterated building who's former visage was of an elegant mall.
They were not Stragglers, but short and upright, some were wearing black suits like Astrid. They were obviously humans, but after hours of seeing different shades and shapes of straggler, I had to desensitise my mind to get a grip.
The helicopter reduced its altitude and the figures became clear. There five of them, with only two wearing the suits.
At a low enough altitude, the figures jumped on the helicopter's accommodating platform before we ascended again into then skies.
There were two ladies and one young man among the black suited squad.
To the left was a short Asian girl with warm beige coloured skin. She had dark hair that was done into a messy grown out pixie do. Her marble grey eyes looked at me with indifference and her saddle nose was twitching. Her hourglass figure was potently visible from the tight suit, but I barely noticed. Nothing at all... I don't see shapes.
In the middle was a tall blonde haired girl with green eyes, who despite my inferences reached out her hand and introduced herself in a bubbly way, her athletic figure showing an intense vigor.
"Hi, I'm Sandra. Glad to see you survived. That means we have another stronger fighter joining our ranks."
Dear God. Too bad I don't have the blood of former powerful rulers in my history. I literally quaked when she said those words. The lizard-whale appeared in my memory and I sighed.
"Nice to meet you too. We're all desperately clinging to life in this fight. I'll gladly join the cause," I lied through my teeth, shaking her hand.
Her brows rose as she looked at me.
"I didn't expect you to have a Canadian accent. The world has become smaller than thought. Or it was always small but we didn't realise," she said.
"Yeah, well we were sharing more than we thought we were."
The young man to the far right finally gave me a glance with his blue eyes, his short, spiky brown hair rustling in the wind.
"I'm Josh. Nice to meet you. Hope we can get along."
How succinct.
"Nice to meet you too."
I glanced at the two people that were wearing torn and dirty casual clothes, a middle aged woman and a teenage boy with distressed looks. They were seated and their eyes looking like they were devoid of will.
"Um..."
"They lost someone on the way here. I couldn't save the father. Both watched him get eaten alive," Josh spoke with a straight face, devoid of sympathy.
"I see."
"Trust me, it happens more than you think. Simply being Invigorated doesn't guarantee that you'll save everyone you see. You'll learn when we do field work. Don't let it burn out your faith," Sandra said, after seeing the sad expression on my face.
"Yeah," I said with a hollow voice.
My light skin had gotten several shapes darker, and my black hair had grown into quite the messy afro. I bet my soul that I'd reject myself if I were to travel to the past. I was hoping I'd get a shave at least and my stomach that was probably as shrivelled as a raisin was finally muttering death throes now of all times. Pretentious bastard! Wait...that's me.
The helicopter ride went on for hours, Sandra explaining some stuff to me that I didn't know.
Stuff like why we were using a helicopter instead. The answer was that there was a shortage of planes to cover every single endeavor, thus the diversity.
Refuelling would be done by the Asian girl with her ability, which Sandra refused to disclose unless the girl, who was named Yang Hai, consented to it. I dare you to take a guess which she chose.
The Asian girl kept her cold disposition and Astrid was constantly scribbling on her notebook the entire way.
We reached Europe around 16 hours later, the delay attributed to the scouting.
Where we were going was a large island, broken off from Europe which had what I would call a halo around it.
There was greenery all over, which left me sighing in relief.
The helicopter descended and I saw a massive community. Makeshift houses were strewn about, others occupying what was left of torn down buildings. Some were made of bricks, stone or wood, looking strangely steady and all within a massive 10 meter wall that circled around the entire settlement which looked to be a couple hundred thousand square meters.
I was shocked to see its 5 meter thickness and smooth surface, which made it look like a work of art. This was definitely done by an Invigorated.
Inside it clothes could be seen hanged on lines, people of different ages and colour interacting peacefully, sharing drinks, working in the fields or cooking.
Did it really take a World Apocalypse for people to start getting colour blind?!
In the center was a massive structure that looked like a cross between a coliseum and a sky scrapper. It didnt have the finesse of shiny glass or exterior textures but looked to be sturdy enough for housing hundreds of thousands of people with large a number of floors that could be seen.
There were other helicopters also converging on the structure, heading for the multiple crude looking helipads.
"Welcome to the Safe Zone," Sandra said with a cheery expression.