In the end, Mark run out of options and did nothing. Later, he found John lazying around and invited him to dinner with him.
"You didn't tell there would be fish!" said John, seeing Douglas preparing the fish.
Mark ignored his stupefied friend and looked in Douglas direction, "I hope you don't mind that I invited my friend to come," said John.
"Of course not. We have fish for an entire platoon here. Also, it was all thanks to you. Do you know how many times I went on that mission and I never got the idea of fishing?"
Mark could understand why people like Douglas didn't think the same way as him. They grew in cities, and the army provided all that they needed. The food was not the best, yes, but was safe and easy to get. Someone only had to do a few odd jobs and they could eat.
"Talking about the mission, the water mission It's a daily mission, right?" asked Mark.
"Yes, every single day without skipping, water is the most precious recourse after all. Why do you ask? Do you want to join tomorrow?" asked Douglas.
"Yes, I think I will do all days, it's a quick mission, and it's safe, it dosn't give much credits like other outside missions, but if we can fish something from time to time, it's worth it,"
"That's exactly what I thought when I first joined the water mission, later on, because I was doing it daily. The sergeant responsible for the mission at that time promoted me to corporeal, and I signed a one year contract with them."
That was the major difference between a soldier and anyone with ranks inside the army. They had contracts, or in other words, longer missions. The second one was that everyone that was in sergeant rank and above had military training provided by the army, basically because the army could not provide training to everyone.
Corporeal Rank was just above a regular soldier because of that they did not provide any training, but they had guaranteed meals, clothes, and a place to sleep, all provided by the army while their contract was ongoing.
It was a safe net for someone in the apocalypse. Mark, too, had received an invitation to become a corporeal a few months ago, but he thought that was better to stay free. Also, things were very different back then.
Time passed, and the dinner went as expected. Everyone filled their bellies with fish and went home happy, especially John.
In the next day, Mark joined the water mission again, but they didn't catch any fish. Mark even made an improvised fishing rod, but no fish bit his line.
Some even cursed that they were only lucky in the previous day, but Mark knew the true, fishing was like this. They needed to change spot when they scared the fishes or when they caught all of that spot.
...
Time passed quickly and in a blink of an eye two weeks went by. During that time Mark did the water mission every single day, without skipping, and from time to time they caught some fishes, but Mark never spotted a mutated one, even the smaller ones he brought home and opened up.
"Hey Mark, I never asked, but what you do with those small fish that you bring home? They are too tiny to even eat"
"That! Well..." said Mark trying to figure something out, "I give to my cat..." but it was a terrible lie, "Its... not exactly mine, you see.. its just a stray cat in the base... a brown one." said Mark hoping that the lie would pass.
"Ohhhh, the brown one? I saw him already. The poor thing is only skin and bones. I'm glad you are helping him." said Douglas while slowly raising the net. They were in the middle of the river right now, fishing.
'The heck? There is a cat on the base? I didn't even know there was a stray cat in the base, let alone a brown one.' Thought Mark, but refrained from showing surprise.
"You know, I think this will be my last day doing this water mission," said Mark, because two weeks had already went by and he found not even a single one mutated fish.
"Thats a pity. Are you sure about it?" said Douglas, and everyone around looked at Mark.
By now, the people that came to do this mission were always the same. After all, they had a chance of going home with fish.
"Yes, Tomorrow there will be a transportation mission to another base, and I'm thinking of joining" said Mark.
Transportation missions were always announced several days earlier, because the number of people needed was greater than the normal missions, but Mark already knew this mission would happen even before that, It was a monthly mission that always happened because this base not only was a research base but also a coal mining town, and this base was responsible for providing coal to another bases. The same way the trucks went to other bases filled with coal, they came back filled with food and other resources they needed.
Every base on the apocalypse had its strategic value, and because of that, humanity could hold against the beasts until now.
'But for me, it's the chance I need to kill a few mutated animals,' Thought Mark while remembering the dangers of a transportation mission.
"Well, in that case, I can only wish you the best of luck," said Douglas
"We will miss you, my friend," said the other guy by Mark's side.
"Geez, it's not like I'm dying, it's not my first rodeo, you know? I will come back some day." said Mark, but no one laughed at that, because they knew how hard those missions were.
"Now, less drama and more fishing. If I'm dying tomorrow, I will die with a belly full of fish," shouted Mark, already smiling, and this time everyone laughed aloud. People who already had fought were like that.
They laughed on the face of death and cried when happy.