"AGHHH WHAT IS THAT NOISE?"
Ashur hurriedly jumps out of his bed, tripping to the floor he is barely able to catch himself from completely falling to the ground. Looking up he sees flashes of light all glaring across the hallways and the innards of his room.
'Have I really been out for that long?'
He swiftly peeks to each side of the hallway, body beginning to wake up, and is able to see a flying drone. Abruptly the drone spews out what appeared to be to him a repeating message.
"ENTRANTS REPORT TO THE LAUNDRY ROOM IMMEDIATELY! ANY ENTRANT SEEN OUTSIDE OF THE LAUNDRY HALL BY 8:30 WILL BE KILLED ON SIGHT! REPEATING."
Panicking he takes a look at the time at the wall which displays the time, 8:26.
He begins running to the hallway junction passing already emptied rooms, he's never been to the laundry room before, how could he possibly predict if he would make it in time?
'Why didn't anyone wake me up?' He groans, yet inwardly he knows that even if someone banged on his door for an hour he probably would have just kept on sleeping away, he figured that arduous day yesterday took its toll on him, for normally he is quite the light sleeper, and the worst part was that he could barely even remember the taste of the food!
He sped down the hallway till he came across an encapsulated door frame, to which he skidded to a stop on the floor and allowed the drone to scan him, giving immediate access to the laundry room and he runs into the room almost in a quick skip, panting. As soon as he entered the room all eyes were on him, causing a rosy color to appear on his cheeks, he quickly slinked to the back of the crowd to avoid the piercing gazes.
After moving to the back he manages to spot Davis, Instinctively Davis manages to sense eyes at the back of his head and turns around inconspicuously, he raises his thumb up, then sideways, and downwards. Ashur quickly recognizes what he's asking for and quickly gives him the thumbs up in understanding, thus throwing his lot in with Davis for the time being. As they began to line the room a drone approached from the hallway, floating to the front most of the ranks of entrants the drone began to address them.
'How lazy must they be to have only one design of drones, this place needs to be lightened up a little, or are they trying to stress out with the bare minimum on purpose?' He couldn't help but wonder.
Suddenly, a hologram began to be projected in front of them, displaying a young lady with vague features that were mostly lost in the low quality of the hologram. Despite not being sure if the hologram was a recording or not, his thoughts turned dark as he thought of how many people this drone had already instructed, leading them to their dooms outside of the bunker?
Although many people could band together to survive, outside these people were ruled by Tyrants that ruled with an iron fist and the strength to enforce it, refusing anyone foreign-born to join their clan nor enjoy the services provided, unless they were ultimately able to prove that they could provide for the clan, implying a mutant ability potential. Of course you could also get in using other methods such as important skills for jobs like tailors, engineers, accountants, and gunsmiths primarily fill an important role in the foundations of any clan. Unskilled workers born in the clan are set to have positions of a farmer or being in the food industry, but despite being un-rewarded for their efforts they are instead given protection from the mutants of the city. As he continues to brainstorm the hologram speaks out to the crowd.
"Congratulations, you will all be receiving your very own suits, courtesy of the bunker!
The crowd stares emotionlessly at the drone but whether it pays them no mind, whether it was a a recording or not was hard to tell.
"Proceed in a line in an orderly fashion, retrieve your suit from the dispensary and quickly change into them at the changing rooms to the left. Do not worry, they are all custom fit upon retrieval." She smiles before continuing, "Discard your remaining clothes into the bin and proceed to the highlighted area in red, any items carried after this point will be considered illegal contraband."
A red light fixture at the top of a wall emits a loud blaring sound before turning green, causing the first man in line to grab his clothes quite easily which spurs the rest of the group, including Ashur to change out their garments.
Ashur takes his pair of clothes to the changing room, examining the suit to be made out of extremely cheap synthetic fibers, colored entirely black with a patch of the Bunker's icon plastered on the shoulder. After taking one last good look at his old clothes, overalls and a t-shirt, heavily stained and torn the weight of his life changing begins to play into his mind.
'Sigh, Ruins' Explorer life here I come!'
***
After being outfitted he joins with the other entrants also wearing the attire, suddenly after waiting Davis comes up behind him and surprises him with a grin.
"Guess you know what this means?"
"What?..."
"We're officially ruins' explorers now!"
Ashur scoffs, "That's not something to be boastful about."
"Sure it is, not everyday you get to poke around deadly post-civilization ruins, with a friend no less!"
"We're not friends." I reply with squinted eyes.
"Bound to be if we survive this whole ordeal. Eh?", Davis waves off as he walks away to his spot in the file about 2 lines behind my position.
I roll my eyes and watch as more people begin being filtered.
Finally the process ends up to be mostly done about half an hour later but suddenly Joshua still comes out wearing his leather jacket, arousing the interests of all the entrants. People begin whispering:
"You can do that?"
"Damn, I didn't have to throw my lucky shirt away after all.."
"Cool..."
"Heh, that holographic bitch will get to him, just watch."
As if feeling the unusual burst of emotion from the crowd the holograph, being displayed by the drone approaches.
"ENTRANT JOSHUA, REMOVE THAT ARTICLE OF CLOTHING IMMEDIATELY OR RECEIVE PUNISHMENT."
A deep hoarse voice speaks out slowly, "As long as I promise to pay 5 merits in return for being able to keep my jacket you'll let me wear it... right? His eyes flash at the holograph.
"IT IS... ACCEPTABLE."
He walks away from the drone calmly, as if anticipating such a reaction, he struts across the floor to his own positions in line at the frontmost position, inspiring the awe and fervor within his group.
Yet Ashur was more surprised at how easily the holograph was dealt with by Joshua, as if he knew precisely what he could and could not get away with, internally he was conflicted if messing with such a knowledgeable figure was a wise choice, till he felt a tap on his shoulder.
Davis whispers to him, "Just as I told you, Joshua is not as innocent as he seems, be wary." and then slinks back to his spot once again.
The holographic drone faced them once again, "X-103 RUINS' TEAM DRONE WILL BE ACCOMPANYING YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR CAREER AS AN EXPLORER, ESTIMATED TO BE: 2 DAYS OUTSIDE THE BUNKER. FOLLOW ME."
Ashur sucked in a big breath of air, anticipation flowing through him, and with an unwilling but energized movement the group proceeds down the hallway, subject to the whims of the mysterious holographic drone.