Sol and Ratface crossed the pipelines safely and arrived at the underground shelter, where they were grouped with two other people and sent to an apartment deeper into the ground.
'I wonder if that old man survived in the end.'
Sol froze in the midst of his shower when he remembered the old man.
'Ha, how ridiculous, did I expect him to survive because of the straw T–shirt I gave him? He's probably dead. I shouldn't put much thought into it.'
Sol traced his fingers around the blue bruises around his body.
'That's something to put more thought to.'
"Alright, Alright, Beth, I stink, big deal! I'll go take a shower, brush my teeth if that's what you want."
A rough Voice from outside the shower reached Sol's ears in fragments.
"No that's not what I want, Barth, I want you to be sober, you hear me sober."
But barth didn't listen to her — even if he did, he didn't show it — he just barged uninvited into the shower.
"Ohhh, hi kid, didn't know you were in here, hope I didn't disturb you."
He said, his voice managing to sound like a real life anagram.
"Oh, And you might want to look away, unless you're willing to get humbled."
Barth laughed as he untied his towel.
Sol chuckled as well.
"That's funny, But I think your wife would beg to differ."
Barth's drunken smile faded.
"How naive ~ You think a half baked insult from a brat who's wet behind the ears would affect me?"
"Yeah, of course, whatever makes you sleep at night."
Sol walked out of the shower as he said so, leaving Barth no chance to defend himself.
'I destroyed that guy, he must be falling over in tears right now.'
A slight smile graced Sol's lips at the thought of that.
Knock* Knock*
"Who's there?"
Sol replied almost instantly, as if it would have mattered with the doors shut.
'Who could be knocking on the door? And who for?'
Sol thought as he made his way to the door.
"Hey, hey, hey." Barth's wife; Beth, rushed up In Front of Sol.
"You can't get the door, you're half naked."
Sol looked down to his bare chest and towel hung over his lower half.
'makes sense.'
"I'll get it." Beth said before she raced off to answer the door.
"I've got to dress up in case he decides to come in."
Sol walked speedily to his room and grabbed his clothes, racing against time to put them on.
Half way through putting on his shirt, it accidentally grazed his bruise, causing waves of pain to hit him.
'I should probably put some ointment on it, later though I'm curious who this visitor is.'
Sol finished putting his clothes on and waltzed into the sitting room where he saw Ratface.
"Hey Puti, have you seen our visitor?"
Puti was a name Beth gave Ratface, when he had introduced himself without a name, and since Sol didn't have any other name to call him by, he decided to call him the same.
"No, He didn't come in."
He replied without looking at Sol.
"Thank you."
But that didn't stop Sol from showing proper courtesy.
"Barth, You better have sobered up by now, it's time for breakfast." Beth shouted, hammering the ear of Barth and everyone else in the house.
Sol looked behind him instinctively following Beth's voice.
Behind him he saw Beth entering the living room with plates of food about four people's worth.
"So who was at the door?"
She flicked her head upwards and stared at Sol.
"Why in such a hurry? you can't wait till after breakfast to ask?"
Beth sighed and shook her head from side to side.
"It was an invitation letter to join the City Defense Services."
"To you or Barth." Sol raised his brow.
"Haha ~ That's funny I don't think Barth or me is of the C.D.S standard, It was a public invitation to everyone."
Beth lifted a cup of coffee and gave it to Ratface.
"Drink up Puti, it's a really expensive coffee; avicola flavoured, the council really put a lot of luxury into these chambers."
"Thanks Ms. Beth."
"Wait just to be clear, anyone from any background, rich or poor can join the city defense services?"
Sol spoke with deliberate emphasis and on the details.
"I suppose."
"Yes." Sol exclaimed
'This is so much easier than I thought.'
The demarcation of power in this world was more open than he had imagined.
He thought that to gain a hold of any mysterious power in this world, he would have to go through years of grueling work and bootlicking like a modern day office worker.
"That's nothing to be excited about, the CDS is just restocking their cannon fodder."
"The CDS! What did I miss?"
Barth barged into the living room half-naked and still wet.
"Barth." Beth sighed in disappointment as she took one look at him.
"Oh nothing, It's just a recruitment offer from the CDS nothing of your concern though, doubt they'll hire a drunk like you."
"Why you little–"
"Barth, just sit down and eat!" Beth scolded.
Begrudged, Barth sat down on the chair, all the while staring at Sol.
"Uhh seriously, who else is going apart from me? " Sol turned to look at Ratface "Are you going?"
"Hey, hey, don't involve Puti into this, if you want to go commit suicide do it by yourself."
Sol placed his hand on Ratface's shoulder.
"You want to go join the CDS and live a life of excitement…
Or live a boring life here with good ol Barth."
"Give up boy! telling a slum rat to risk his life is like telling a fish to swim, impossible!" Barth interjected.
Half way through his sentence Beth tried to get him to stop but much to her horror he ranted on.
"I'll go with you, Sol."
"Yes, We set off tomorrow, pack up your bags."
Sol patted Ratface's back and slipped away before he changed his mind.