The room was cold as the cold air and the river noise poured inside. This was the main room, and it was damaged the most with all the rubble laying around. On my left seemed to be a telecommunication set up and, on my right, seem to be a kitchen. The scorch marks on the grey wall tell me that perhaps something else happened here. Perhaps I misjudge these people but still you never know they could have found this place and turned into their twisted lair. Maybe one of their victims escaped and tried to blow up this place along with these savages. I see that I will have to complete their work. I could see the other side of the bridge and the waters below us. The room felt like it was darkening as I walked toward the kitchen where he was standing.
"Sup"
He said nothing but nodded his head and extended his right hand. I then tried to shake his hand but saw him moving his left hand with the syringe. I quickly withdrew my arm.
"Whoa. what are you doing ?!"(ah ha! He is trying to poison me or drug me up so that the rest them can strap me down while I sleep)
"I was about to ask you if I can draw some of your blood. It is standard procedure."
"So, what you do this to everyone you meet?"(Like I am buying what your selling)
"Yes, to see what you have been exposed to and other things that could worry us. It is part of my research."
I gave my hand to him. He wiped above the skin where my vein was.
"You could have first told me that instead of trying to steal my blood. I don't even know who you are."(God so help me if he so much as tries to drug me up to do his freaky experiments. He better pray that I NEVER get lose. Oh, and I WILL get lose. I gonna kill his buddies and do experiments of my own on his body until he is dead!)
"I am Dr Dante Caracal."
He then poked me.
"I thought you were trying to poison me?"(or dose me up to do what mad scientists do. the jury is still out on that by the way and why are you taking so long to answer my first question?)
"...You didn't tell me your name."
"That's why I came to you. Lieutenant Luthor thinks you can help me. You see, I lost my memory."(now where are you going?)
He was quite as he drew my blood. He then walked to the table where I saw him working when I first entered the room. He injected my blood into a tube, took out a bottle of chemicals and filled a bowl with the clear liquid from the bottle. He placed the tube in a mini bar fridge, the syringe in the bowl and pulled out a recording device. He then went to sit on a chair. He looked at me, then the chair in front of him and then me again. I think he wanted me to sit in the chair (gees, can't this guy use words like normal people). I then sat down on the chair in front of him. We were faced to face when he came towards me and placed his hands on my head. He started recording and moving my head left to right, up and down.
" What exactly is the first thing you remember?"
"I remember waking up in rubble."
"So, nothing before?"
"I remember falling out of a tall building and I fell into another building. That is all I can remember"(what part of the sentence "I don't remember ", don't you remember from med school? assuming you are a real doctor)
"Tell me what DO you remember."
I proceeded to tell him my story up until when I met Luthor. He then stopped the recording.
"It seems you have a concussion. I'll have to check your blood for any deficiencies to be 100% sure."
"So, what does that mean? Will I never remember who I was?"
"Um hi there. I am sorry to intrude but I need you to come with me really quick. Like as in now."
"Azalea, right?"
"Yes."
"Ok go with her I will tell you later."
"Can't you tell me now?"
"Sorry but you are requested now. Whatever it is can wait. They want you now."
I got up and went with her wondering what was it they wanted from me. We walked to the other side of the room. Everyone was there as Doc followed us. Luthor was talking to someone on a cracked screen. I whispered to Azalea.
"What is going on. who is that on the screen?"
"That is the head of the factory outpost. They are the ones who sent out the Delivery Team, aka DT, that crashed not too far from here. Luthor told them that there might be a survivor, now they have requested to talk to you to find out what happened."
"What I don't know what happened. I...!"
"Ahem "
We were interrupted by a static female voice. Azalea and I looked at Luthor next to the radio that made the sound, and I realized that I was not whispering anymore and that everyone could now hear me, including the Head of the Factory outpost on the other side of the radio. I turn to look around and saw Ahana quietly chuckling and Azalea trying her best not to laugh but her smile kept escaping. Doc looked at us like we were fools and Luthor was dead serious. Luthor told me to come closer to the screen so that the lady on the other side can see me. I walked towards the screen and then I heard the same voice again.
"I can't distingue who I am talking to and your barely audible. Your camera and mic feed seems to be malfunctioning."
"Apologies for that Commander Anderson, as I mentioned earlier that the Bridge has exploded, and most things were damaged."
"Very well then. Where is the one who survived I saw other people in the background before then the camera cut off?"
"I am here."
"I am told by Lieutenant Luthor that you suffer from memory loss, yes?"
"Yes, that is true. I can't remember what happened before yesterday."
"(Sigh) Alright then. An investigation is underway to determine what cause the disappearance of the Bridge team and my Delivery Team. Normally we would cork this down to them probably died in one of the Events and would not bother about it. However, we are aware of all the events that is part of DT route except the one in the city. According to reports, it has remained dormant since the start of the Events, and no one knows what happened. Seeing that Lieutenant Luthor and his team have been sent to study this event as well as the fact that one of my teams along with others have gone missing. We will be expecting to hear about your findings, I will inform Head Command of the current status. The other outpost will have to be informed that delivery will be postponed for another day. As for you I will need you to send me a picture as to confirm which member of my teams you are. That will be all Lieutenant Luthor."
The screen then displayed "Transmission Ended "and Luthor turned to me.
"Alright Azalea will take pictures of you and send it to the factory. We should get confirmation soon."
"Alright."
"As for the rest of you start cleaning this place up. Find something to patch up those holes in the wall. It will get cold here at night this close to the river and the terrain has been known to snow from time to time. Whatever food, medicine or chemicals you find give them to Doc he will know what to do with them. Whatever camera or tech you find give it to Azalea and weapons go to A-Gunner over here We will be staying here for weeks, possibly months, so let's get a move on! Oh, and keep an eye out for those keys and they could be in any of this rubble."
Everyone got up and started working. Azalea walked toward me.
"Alright are you ready for your close up?"
"Um... yeah. tell me what happened here. she mentioned missing people and outposts?"
"We got radioed from the Factory outpost which is where the Delivery team was from, and they wanted to know if the delivery team had passed the bridge or are here as they didn't make it back the same day they left. They have sent a team in the meantime to ask some of the outpost to search for them. We told them that all but one almost made it to the bridge but then vanished along with the bridge team. "
"So, you lied and told them that I was the one that made it to the bridge?"
"Well, no. We are not yet 100% sure about you but we have footage of the crash that shows that the BT came to help the DT when they crashed."
"What does BT and DT stand for?"
"BT is the Bridge Team and DT is the Delivery Team."
"So then why not just say that."
"The outposts are ruled by military personal so we kind of have like a military thing going on."
"Wait so you guys have a video of me at the crash?"
"No, we don't. there was someone else found at the crash. The footage does not show the other members. Now let's take the pics so that we can find out who you are."
She took pictures of me and started typing she on her laptop. After that she took a stick from the laptop and connected it to a piece next to the screen that the lady was on. It showed loading at 1% , 30% and 100% uploaded file.
"There. Done and dusted now let's start cleaning I want to get done early so that I can sleep early. We had a long night."
"What happened?"
"Oof that was a bit too recent to want to talk about it now "
"Oh. So how did you end up in all of this?"
"What like how my life was before the apocalypse or after?"
"Both."
"When I was a little girl, I lived on a farm with my parents and younger sister in one of the rural areas within the Eastern Cape, South Africa. There were no jobs for people like me and most of my people ended up poor on the streets, so in grade 9 I thought to myself what the point was of trying to do well in school if I am just going to end up on the like the others? Unfortunately, that was also the same year that my mother passed away.
She had just found a job in a town not too far away from our old little town where she could help my dad with some money. My dad at first didn't approve of her working because it makes him look like he can't provide for us. My mother told him that it doesn't matter what other people think and that she meant it when she said for better or for worse. She told him that she loved him, and she will continue to love him every day after she gets back from work. After saying that my father allowed her to go to work on her first day but then came to regret that and blames himself for her death. Saying things like it was Gods way of punishing him for not being a good providing husband and he did not deserve her as she was too good for him that why God took her."
"How did she die if you don't mind me asking?"
"My mother got a job as a receptionist. There was a spot open as one last janitor, so she applied to be cleaner. At the interview they told her that they unfortunately had way too many cleaners and could not accept her. A week later they phoned her saying that they loved her welcoming fun personality. They ask if she is still looking for a job. and asked her if she would be interested in a job as a receptionist. She told them yes. She got the job and I remember how happy she was on the morning of her first day. She had this radiance of hope. She died later that day. It was a new building and it collapsed in on itself. Killing my mother and others that were in the building.
they said that it was due to budget cuts and miscalculations on the Mechanical engineer end that cause the new mall to collapse. my father used the money to pay for her funeral and started drinking. I was so depressed that I failed that year. it was a very rough year for me. I had to repeat that grade, but I passed it. I was determined to get a bursary to study as a Mechanical engineer, so that no one would ever have to go through what I went through, but I didn't get one even though. I had only sevens in my report, and I was still not offered one but that was ok because I was going to work to pay for my studies. At the end of my matriculation my dad told me that he had found a college that would accept me, and we had money to pay for my studies so that I would not have to go work first. Told me that there was still money left over from my mother's funeral and that he will use his pay to pay from my accommodation. I was so happy but then I told him that I thought he drank it all away. turns out that he didn't and started saving when he saw me pushed and got award for top performer in school as well as. He told me that even though he started drinking he never used my mother's money on booze because he knew it was her final gift to me and that even in death, she didn't want her little flower to wilt in the desert because I had the potential to make even the most arid karoo into a succulent karoo vibrant with life, color and beauty. What he said reminded me of my favorite poem that my mother used to sing to me."
"Can you sing it to me?"
"Maybe later."
"Ok."
"I completed bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, which is the minimum education level for a mechanical engineer, sometimes it can take about four years to complete, but the college I went to offer one year. That and my father didn't want to pay another three years just so that I can read books. He actually also wanted to start saving money for my sister's studies. The MSc in Mechanical Engineering was a 1 year full-time or 2-year part-time degree.
I had worked as a mechanical engineer in South Africa for about 1 year before it all happened. The event that took place was a flood. I was in a tall building on the top floor. it was late and I was still working. I wanted to finish some work to lessen the workload so that I could visit my dad and sister on the farm on the next day, but I never did see them.
I heard a bang in the sky outside. I looked outside the window and saw the night sky shimmering for one minute then it started raining hard. So much that it poured down. The second floor was flooded in 5 minutes so was the streets and other small buildings. I could hear the panicked screams of people below slowly die down. Some of them i knew them. I worked with them. They were trapped. The elevator was not working, and a river of water rushed down the stairway. I couldn't see where the water was coming from, but it looked like the city was under the spray of multiple huge waterfalls. In under 30 minutes the building that I was in along with most of the city was under water.
I got on a desk when the water reached my level and paddle my way to a broken window. Outside the water kept pouring. it was dark and the water was dark too with blood leaving the wounds of halve eaten bodies. there was something eating people that drowned in the water. When morning came as the water disappeared and as far as I know, I was the only survivor of that event. I travelled the country until I met Dante and he managed to save me."
"Oh, so you knew Dante since before the apocalypse and the squadron?"
"Yes, we are both from South African and we joined the squadron a few days ago so yeah"
"Wait I thought you guys we like in the army kind of and worked for like months?"
"We got a boat. I didn't want to get on the boat because it remined me of the flood, but I had to go with because Dante concluded that the events are only targeting human populated areas and lands. Since we are not aquatic, there shouldn't be events on the sea, and it turns out he was right. we made it here all the way to America."
"Why didn't you guys go with a plane? wouldn't it be faster?"
"Yes, but planes started dropping out of the sky since the events started."
"Oh."
"Well that my story up until now. We do the best we can with what we got and not give up. Now enough chit-chat. Let's start cleaning before Luthor comes back and blow a fuse"