The server placed a cup of appalling-looking cereal on Luke's plate. He lined up with the soldiers at the serving table, Kristo and Calyx stood next to him. Luke felt good having the two soldiers with him. At least somebody would defend him if bullies came. Major George called Nica to strategize their attack tomorrow at dawn. As planned, they were going to attack one of the Bugmen's military bases.
Another military server filled one side of the plate with green beans. He hated those things as if ingesting small pebbles. A cup of water was then served at the end of the food table.
"Do you even have meat?" Luke asked Kristo.
"Yes, we have. But we can't just have meat every day. Only on special occasions," Kristo responded.
"Do we have farms here?"
"Yes, we do. I've heard that you are going to help clean the pigs," Kristo laughed.
"You are kidding me, right?"
"I hope not. I have heard from Major George that you will also help in the upkeep activities in the camp. He said there should be no special treatment."
No exception, Luke anticipated it. George hated sending another deadweight to the camps, such as him. Jameson, an Ensign Evolver, had given the Major negative results, somehow discouraging the latter of wasted resources.
With that premise, Luke should participate in the camp's activities in any way he could.
Luke hated the idea of cleaning pigs. He had never been to farms ever since. The scent of animal feces had never reached his nostrils.
The cafeteria pervaded with hoot of laughter, in an unkempt and undisciplined way. The cafeteria back at the camps in 2030 during his training was way saner. Probably, because of the absence of high-ranking officers.
He wondered why he had not smelled the aroma of cooked food from the kitchen, maybe due to the smell of sweat carried by the soldiers from their intense training.
He had to face the fact that he would be living with these animals for years until the acquisition of his objective. The question remained, could he win the war with his virus alone? And if he could, how many years can he do it? How many years can he be hailed as a World Eater.' He thought.
They sat on a table intended for the newbies. Kristo and Calyx had been deployed for a few years but they were considered as new deployments. Apparently, the soldiers were grouped into three, the newbies, the seniors – deployed for more than three years, and the rank officers. The clear distinction between the three was that the seniors were noisier and more dominant in the cafeterias than the two groups.
Surprisingly, Major George sat across Luke as the latter swallowed his food gradually. Kristo and Calyx stiffened like statues beside him while the other soldiers recoiled to their surprise. However, George posed no fear towards the Evolver. Major George slammed his beer slightly in his left hand against the wooden table, emanating a festive expression.
"Is it legal to drink here, Major?" Luke asked. Back in the camps, alcoholic drinks were prohibited.
"Do you have a death wish?" Calyx whispered on his side. However, Luke disregarded him.
"Of course. Celebratory drinks for the deployers tomorrow morning," George responded casually.
"In the camps, we can't drink beer, Major." Luke pondered. "How did you even acquire one?"
"Yes. Here, it is our tradition." Major struck a bitter smile. "I got the beers from one Bugmen store. Bugmen are just like humans, you know. They drink what we drink. They move and eat like humans. You can never tell the difference." Beer bubbles frothed on the edges of his mouth.
"The camps are far from the wars." George continued, "Here, we don't know if we die tomorrow. So, better to just enjoy little moments, Luke. This, you should understand. It's different here. You see, people here seemed to be sane on the outside. But we have a lot of incidences of mental breakdowns, especially from the seniors. They wanted to go home but Command would not let them. Command just gives us mission after mission until going home is not an option anymore."
"Why? Command should consider the feelings of our soldiers here."
"Feelings? That's funny. We are at war, Luke. And the only thing that holds us from total annihilation is the camps in this timeline. Without us, the Bugmen can do as they please."
Luke understood the Major's sentiments. Their families should be missing them. Kristo emptied his plate first. He seemed nervous with the Major's presence.
"Major, I will request for a blood collection from the slain Bugmen," Luke said.
"How?" He said while he chewed his food. He drank his beer like water, pushing his food down his throat.
"I can show you how if you have a dummy."
"Why use a dummy if you have the real thing," Major said, ceasing Calyx and Kristo from eating.
"Ok, Major. Let me teach you how to collect blood samples."
The Major emptied his plate nimbly and emptied his beer, while Luke just ate half of his plate. Right after, the Major took him to a morgue-like room. White-washed tiles comprised the floors and walls. Metallic human corpse storage was situated on the other side of the wall.
"Welcome, to the morgue," Major said while he pulled one human corpse storage unit, cold air slithered to the floors.
The sight of the corpse horrified him. It was his first time to witness a cadaver, a soulless chunk of human meat degrading naturally. The human corpse was an old person, naked and preserved. The storage units seemed to be supplied with freezing air in the preservation of the body. The smell of formaldehyde permeated the room.
"Why are you showing me this, Major?" Luke asked.
"This is a Bugman, Luke. We preserved the body by freezing it, and the bug inside of it is also frozen."
Storing Bugmen in the camps posed a high level of risk. The alien bug can escape the dead host and could cunningly transfer to another human host, creating a rogue spy within the confines of the camp.
"Ok. To collect a blood sample, this is how you do it," Luke took out a metallic tube, a foot in length, from an insulated styrofoam box. He clicked one button of the tube and a large syringe emerged at the bottom. Then, he plunged the metallic syringe into the corpse's chest and pressed another button. The tube automatically collected blood from the frozen corpse.
"This is the location to collect the blood, Major. Near the heart."
One metallic tube will give Luke 20 evolution genes. He needed five metallic tubes to achieve the next evolution for his virus. And the Bugmen's pure blood would give him 100 evolution gene points.
"Major, would you care to slice the corpse?" He said after he detached the collection tube from the chest.
Major George held a disconcerting stare towards the kid. He uttered no words upon Luke's request. Then, after short awkward moments, he said, "Help me turn the corpse over."
Hesitantly, Luke grabbed the corpse's ankles and the Major on the shoulders. They lifted and turned the corpse over on its bed.
The dead body's spine had a protruding lump underneath the skin, on the upper back near the nape. It was the alien bug.
Carefully, the Major sliced the skin open to where the lump was located. Blood oozed from the direction of the blade, and revealed the back portion of the alien bug, clasping its eight bony legs to the spine. Luke took another metallic tube and pierced the frozen alien with his syringe and collected bluish viscous liquid from it.
"One hundred gene points collected," Luke said.