So that's it then?
A lone silhouette stays perceptively still, kneeling on the flat marbled stone and sounds of suppressed curses of anger ring out in the chamber. An empty needle clatters to the floor, the occasional liquid droplets being the only noise heard for a time.
Murmurs from the crowd sound ring out:
"No potential."
"Another unlucky one."
"Cursed".
The figure grits his teeth, and stands up, preparing himself for the judgment of the Elders.
An elder begins reading his information: "No mutation potential, age 18, average physique, male."
"Ashur, present yourself."
Stepping into the light, a disheveled and gaunt teen walks out glaring at the elders.
"Your evaluation has already been decided."
As I reluctantly walk up to the stand Elder Muriel, Elder Isaac, and Head Elder Vein returns my gaze and make me feel pathetic, but this is the ultimate rule of the Bunker, Power triumphs against all, knowing that without mutation potential my value is next to nothing amongst the ranks of the Bunker, amounting to cannon fodder. Yet I can't help but think to myself that despite the disgusting conditions and rules expected it's comparatively better to be a slave on the inside than an exile against all odds on the outside.
Now he has no choice, and he braces for the judgment of the all-powerful elders but as if in slow motion he hears the words from Vein:
"Ashur, you have been selected for ruins' exploration duty, thank you for serving humanity's best interests."
"WHAT?" He blurts out carelessly.
Muriel immediately extends her finger into a long fleshy tentacled blade that reaches a millimeter before his neck. He freezes and widens his eyes knowing his mistake could very well be grounds for immediate execution.
Head Elder Vein raises his hand, promptly saving me from guaranteed death.
"Consider my explanation a kindness, I can excuse your impoliteness this time, as we have never before selected ruins' explorers so young, yet we do not have as many adults with your aptitude as we did once before, therefore we must resort to using the younger generation. Now proceed to the left hall to be processed with the others and consider this an opportunity to grow in rank here."
Ashur knew the weight of his words, the facts were that he was selected to be a part of one of the worst but possibly highest rewarding jobs given out by the Bunker. Ruins' explorers were tasked, well as the name implies to search ruins for treasure and old relics from the past of some value in return for highly coveted rewards in the form of merits, or so he had heard anyway. He was still at this point frightened by the latest near-death experience and the importance of his new job begins to set in.
His face darkens but he refrains from showing any complaints to the elders, proceeding to the left hall to await his fate.
Begrudgingly he sat down in his seat next to other fellow entrants to the Bunker and started to look around.
It was so odd that it could be this clean in the entrance of the bunker despite having such a large intake of survivors over the years, his question remained unanswered until a group of slaves, apparent from the collars tightly wrapped around their necks began walking to the entrance of the bunker with disinfectants.
Then his eyes continued to wander and met the eyes of a nearby dirtied, bedraggled slave, around a similar age.
He laughed inwardly
"How familiar."
***
Amidst the two hours of playing with his thumbs, he begins to reminisce about all the events up to this point. His parents who he barely knew at the time died to a mutant, and his "adoption" into a merchant's traveling business as a "pack animal", to which he was berated more than once for sneaking morsels. His abandonment led him to wander for a way to survive until he eventually gave up and decided to risk a chance of either becoming a slave of the bunker or unlocking mutant abilities, provided he had the potential, which he did not.
But now since he had inadvertently taken the path of a ruins' explorer, he was certainly doomed, as he had heard many re-assuring snippets from his compatriots, such as:
"Heh, the last groups chosen for ruin's exploration only had 3 survivors." Said one of them.
"Ruins' explorer sounds like a fancy word for Suicide run, our luck would have been much better on the outside." Said another.
"Watch your mouth, you'd be dead within the day out there without the protection of the bunker." Spoken by some man in a leather vest in the back, which shut them up.
Eventually the last of the two hundred entrants were processed and they were all ushered into a wider atrium with another set of pillars dominating everyone below, of course for some important figure.
He figured this was the debriefing room, judging from the way the room was presented, the chairs in a semi-circle in front of the podium, he randomly takes a seat in the back row, trying to avoid the gazes of the entrants already filling the seats.
While sitting he manages to spot the man in leather, curiously, he asks another man nearest to him about his identity, which he comes to find is named Joshua, and the man in the leather was previously in charge of a group of trading merchants, to which were wiped out by each other due to a betrayal launched by the traders to procure his valuable goods.
Naturally... It doesn't make sense at all to fight your fellow humans in this world but then again, these pathetic people will continue to exist or will exist eventually, but these are the types of people he hates most; they can still give into greed even in the direst of situations.
But still, these types of stories cannot be believed entirely from second-hand accounts, right?
Heh, of course not, the only person you can trust is yourself in this world.
His gaze returned to the pillar as steps approach, and a booming voice rings out across the room.
"WELCOME ENTRANTS!"
A broad-shouldered man walks out on the podium, wearing an armored combat suit and a gun holstered to his side, eyeing the crowd with a slight smirk on his face, while adopting a straight posture he holds his hands crossed behind his back.
"I am Govero, the ruins' exploration manager. You've all been gifted with the chance to achieve something greater for society, rather than rolling around in your shit all day!"
He laughs.
"In return for being given shelter, food, and clothing, you most likely already know, that you all will be sent out into the ruins to scout, explore, or otherwise return with scavenged supplies from ruins in return for merits!"
He continues.
"Merits can be exchanged for items such as guns, ammo, armor, and can even allow you to rank up... to a bunker citizen!"
As this reverberates throughout the atrium many peoples' eyes are wide open in shock that such a privilege could be offered, others smirk in disdain; knowing such an offer would be too good to be true, which I'm inclined to agree with.
Never before had such a chance even been considered, limiting them to only receiving armor and ammo within the confines of the bunker, only able to borrow guns until they died from repeated explorations.
Not to mention that bunker citizen themselves do not even consider outsiders to be anything but savages that get by through eating bugs, but hell even the lowest bunker position I would take in a heartbeat if it meant I wouldn't have to spend another moment out in the City of Ichor!
But now even if it was minuscule, he had a chance to escape and enjoy the luxuries enjoyed by the bunker residents!
Everyone quickly opened their ears to what he would say next.