Chapter 1: New world order

  The night sky was normal until *it* arrived.

  As Mark watched it fly through the sky, he reized the familiar sensation.

  “No...don’t…”

  BADUMP

  The pulsating started and with it came the ging colors. Blue became yellow, then green, then red and with each pulse the color ge tinued.

  “STOP” Mark said with a horrified expression, when suddenly he heard a low growl behind him.

  “Grwooaar”

  “NO”

  Mark’s body jerked upright as he found himself in his own bed. His eyes were wide open in shock, his breath ragged and uneven. Uo pose himself, he sat in his bed for a few minutes.

  He looked at the sky through the window in his room, seeing the heavy cloud yer bhe sky above them.

  “If only it were a dream…”

  One year had passed sihat day.

  The fateful day which ged everything started being called the awakening. On that day disaster befell the world. The phenomenon caused more than half the worlds popution to either die or bee an aggressive zombie-like

  beings but those who bee her started to show signs of unnatural abilities. Those abilities varied from person to person and ranged from powerful psychokinesis capable of lifting a house, to simply walking on water. However,

  it was quickly discovered that humans were not the only oo ge. Animals and pnt life had gohrough a crisi of their own, undergoing mutations until they became unreizable, further tributing to the chaos.

  And as if adding insult to injure, one week after the awakening the clouds in the sky started to thied until they blocked nearly all sunshine.

  All of these happening oer the other, caused a colpse of society. Without the necessary number of people to support them, the govers of the world crumbled and the systems which they had put in pce followed shortly after.

  The first few weeks were hell oh for those who had bee aced to a fortable day-to-day lifestyle.

  And soon enough some people stepped up to take trol among the chaos. They created pces for the survivors to gather around and regain some sembnce of order as they k.

  Those pces grew into settlements as more and mather around them.

  With the growing popuce, rules were set and roles were distributed. Making use of their newly gained abilities and the skills they had learned prior to the awakening, these settlements were able to recreate a society to give people

  some form of fort.

  This fort however was extremely fragile, something that everybody realized without it being said out loud.

  They had all experiehis crisis for themselves and thus were desperate to make it work.

  Mark was no different in that regard. After the day of the awakening, Mark met with Thomas and the two stuck together ever since.

  They alked about that day but they uood each other heless. The reason for being alone when they met that day, was the same for both and thus there was o ask.

  Ohe settlement was established in their area, they joined without a sed thought.

  The two had just graduated from school and had no work experience, so wheurn came to take on a role they didn’t hesitate to make use of their new found powers to tribute.

  They joihe raid-teams, which were formed to protect the settlement. The raid-teams had several responsibilities, whicluded guard duty as well as hunting and resathering outside the settlement.

  The settlement depended on those raid-teams, sihey had no proper military to defend them.

  Facilities such as schools, which had plenty of space, were turned into operatioers for the raid-teams.

  This developmeo Mark and Thomas now living in the school they had graduated from much to Thomas’s dismay.

  After a couple minutes Mark got up and started walking out of his room. His first steps were unsteady, but quickly he regained his bearing as he heard chatter ing from the mes shall.

  One of the perks of being a raid-team member, is the free meals everyday. However those are only served during proper mealtimes.

  Realizing he had somewhat overslept, Mark hurried as to not miss breakfast.

  Entering the mes shall Mark went over to get his food from the buffet.

  Once he had his food in hand, he turned around to look for a seat only to hear a familiar voice.

  “Yo, Mark. Over here” Thomas called over to him.

  “Mornin’, Thomas” Mark said, walking over and taking a seat opposite of Thomas.

  “M, sleepyhead” said Julian, a fellow raid-team member

  “Hmm” Mark barely looked at Julian before his gaze returo Thomas.

  “Aren’t you you a ray of sunshine? Whatever, I’m going ahead. Thomas don’t fet we’re on hunt-duty today.” Julian stood up and walk away.

  “Yea, I know. I’ll be there in five mihomas said as Julia.

  After a couple seds of silehomas turo Mark and looked him straight in the eyes.

  “So, you wanna tell me what that was about?” He asked in a serious tone.

  “What?”

  “Don’t py i. What was that about?” He tinued digging into it.

  “Haa, fine” Mark sighed “I ’t really expin why but that guy seems ter my ?Danger sense‘ every time i see him”

  “Should we tell the higher ups about this?” Thomas suggested a simply solution to the issue.

  ?Already did but they just ughed it off saying it’s because his ability ters mine“

  ?Gotcha, I’ll keep an eye on him“

  The two boys had bee friends for years and they spent the st year supp each other. When one of them was in trouble, the other stepped up to help. At this point they uood one another despite the few words spoken.

  ?Thanks“

  ?No worries, your ?Danger sense‘ shouldn’t be ignored anyway“

  Mark started eating as Thomas stared at his face. After a few seds Mark asked.

  “What is it?”

  “It happened again didn’t it?”

  “…”

  “What’s our rule?” Thomas said in a serious tone.

  “We watch each others backs” Mark replied in response.

  “So? Was it the same nightmare again?” He refused to let go of the issue.

  “Yeah, the same one”

  “You know you ’t just ig, you know?”

  “I know, but it’s not something you just get over”

  “Trust me, I uand. Still you ’t go on having nightmares every other day”

  With a pained face Mark sighed again.

  “Sorry, didn’t want to worry you”

  “This is why you need me. You always tend to overthink everything” Thomas said angrily.

  Mark smiled wryly. “Thanks, I guess?”

  “Yeah, you you don’t make it easy. Anyway, I checked your shift today. You’re on gathering duty”

  “Thanks, so what’s the job?” Mark was more than happy to ge topics.

  “Team B3, yonna apany one our botanists. The boys from team A2 found a bunch of new berry bushes a dozen clicks south from here”

  “Wait, don’t tell me…”

  “Yeah, the expert is supposed to determine if it’s edible or not. If it is, they’ll add it to the farm”

  “You think it’ll work?” He asked somewhat expet.

  “The farm? Yeah, the higher ups are pretty fident that it will, sihey put so much manpower on it. So it better work. I don’t wanna relive st wihomas shuddered as he remembered the trouble they went through.

  “Hm, that was rough”

  “So go and gather as much as you ”

  “Will do. So what about you? What team are on today?”

  “A7, I’m going hunting today. A2 found the berry bushes by trag a herd of mutated deer south-east from here”

  “So yonna py with some deer, while I bag some berries?”

  “That just about sums it up”

  As Mark kept eating Thomas tialking about the days hunt and as Mark finished eating the two stood up.

  “Anyway, my team will be close by, so just call if your berries get to heavy. Hehe”

  “Shut up and focus on your deer or they’ll sneak up on you and drill you a sed asshole”

  As the two ughed, they bumped fists a separate ways.

  As Mark walked towards the desigo serve as a meeting spot for his team, he spotted a woman looking around nervously.

  This woman had shoulder-long brown hair tied in a ponytail. She wore dirty work clothes which gave ahy smell.

  “Excuse me, miss” Mark called out.

  “Hyaaa” She jumped in surprise.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean thten you” Mark said with an apologetic look.

  “N-no, i shouldn't have spaced out like that”

  “Anyway, I noticed you seemed kinda lost. Do you need help?”

  “Yes, are you perhaps a raid-team member?”

  “Indeed, I am”

  “Thank goodness, I’m supposed to meet the team that’s gonna apany me on a mission. I was told where to go but I ’t find the meeting room” She excimed in relief.

  “Hm, could it be…? Are you the botanist?” Mark asked, as he voiced his assumptions out loud.

  “How did you know?” She gasped.

  “The name’s Mark, I’m part of Team B3 that’s gonna escort you” He introduced himself, trying to be as friendly as possible.

  “I see...AH, I’m Hilda by the way” Being caught of guard by his statement, she needed a sed to process the information and then blushed a little, feeling like she had fumbled her own introdu.

  “o meet you, Hilda. Shall we go to the meeting room together?” Mark pretended like he hadn’t seen anything.

  “Yes, please lead the way” And Hilda was more than happy to go along with it.

  “Very well”

  As both of them walked towards the meeting room, Mark asked.

  “Say Hilda, I heard you’re in charge of the farm. How is it going over there?”

  “Ah yes, the farm is ing together quite nicely but it’s a slow process you know” She smiled wryly.

  Mark nodded in uanding “I’m guessing that slow pace is driving the higher ups crazy?”

  “Aaahhh, don’t remihose idiots don’t uand how much care is necessary and just expect results” Hilda grunted in annoyance.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, growing a food is something that requires extreme care. Some pnts require a lot of sunlight, while others don’t mind the shade. Some prefer more water in parison to others that would drown with the same amount.

  Ahose monkeys at the top think you just sprinkle some water on a flower to make apples magically appear.” Hilda started shaking her head in frustration, making her ponytail sway from one side to the other.

  “Your face right now, reminds me of our ander after doing one of his monthly reports. Everyone of our members knows not to cross the ander o day” Mark ughed.

  “I see, every sector has it’s problems, huh?”

  “Yeah, seems like it…Oh, here we are” Mark said standing in front of a door at the end of the corridor.

  “By the lease don’t call the higher ups ?monkeys‘ in front of other people. I don’t wan in trouble during such a simple mission”

  “It won’t be a problem as long as you don’t tell on me” Hilda giggled.

  “Yes, sir” Mark gave her a salute, clig the heels of his boots before opening the door for her.

  Hilda ehe room looking around, her prior pyfulness suddenly gone. Meanwhile Mark closed the door behind him before he standing straight like a dle, holding his arm behind his bad announg “Mark ein

  rep for duty”