Chapter One: End of Watch

  With how things had been going lately, I knew I was lucky to be sitting here. To stare out across the city. To see the sunset. To still be breathing.

  I had one leg tucked underneath me, and one leg dangling off the side of the roof. Then I felt strong hands grip my shoulders, moving as if to shove me off. Quickly, I reached up, grabbing their wrist and swinging my weight forward. Taking their momentum, and both of us, off the roof and splattering us onto the road far below. Or, I would have, if I hadn’t realized who it was.

  “Woah, woah, woah, it’s me, Cain, it’s me!” Cypher’s fast reply came out high-pitched. I let go of his arm, thankfully still balanced on the roof, and pushed him away hard enough so he stumbled and fell back. Placing my hand on the edge of the roof, I moved so I was standing.

  “One of these days I’m going to throw the both of us off of the rooftop.” I told Cypher, who was still lying on the roof.

  “I know, but you just always look so,” He waved his arms around before placing a hand on his knee and hoisting himself up. “Zoned out, or something. Lost in thought.” I nodded. That was probably true.

  “Lots to think about.” I answered. “Not that you would know what that’s like.” I grinned at him, and it was like I could watch the cogs of his brain slowly clank together as he finally just grinned back.

  “Sure, whatever.” Cypher was cool to be around, and he was very—carefree. It was a good break some days, when the world got to crazy. And after what had happened a year and three months ago—everyone could use some calm, or at least, some distraction.

  “It’s the end of your watch, time to switch shifts.” He gestured to the door. “And time for you to eat.”

  “Sounds good, thanks.” I didn’t look at him again, as I made my way to the door. Stretching and twisting as I grabbed for the door latch. I moved my hands through my hair, and it ended sooner than I was expecting. I still wasn’t used to the chin-length bob I had recently cut. And it was also black now, since I had come across a rare box of hair dye on a supply run.

  I moved down the steps easily, my footsteps echoing in the stairwell. One of the perks of joining this group had been the workout program. Or torture, as it was more commonly referred to, but it had been the push I needed.

  The Community had enough people to survive pretty well, and we didn’t often go hungry. And the workout regiment was a requirement, which turned out to be really good motivation. No workouts meant no survival group, which in turn meant no food. It’s simplicity had been refreshing.

  Once I reached floor five, I pulled on the key ring I kept attached to my shorts. It was tied to one of those wire pull cords like what security guards used to use. I inserted the correct key, and turned the latch on the heavy fire door. The screech of the hinges filled the stairwell. Only opening the door enough to sneak by, stopped the screech before it became a howl.

  Down the hallway, second office on the right. My “room”. Of course, like everything else these days, it was pretty much just the basics. A mattress on the floor, some bedding, candles. I did have some books piled on the desk above the mattress as well. Some were useful—repair manuals and the like. Some were fiction, even a couple volumes of non-fiction, though it wasn't my preference.

  I grabbed some jogging sweats, and changed out of my shorts. Leaving my tank top on, I tied my hair up into a very small pony tail. Returning to the hallway, I turned right, ducking into the bathroom. It was a single room, once gendered, but there were two to three per floor, so we didn’t typically have to worry about that. At least for washing up. On the second floor were the actual “washrooms”. And a rotating shift meant the buckets were emptied twice a day, and everyone had to do that job at least once every two weeks. Gross, but better than having to leave the safety of the tower in the middle of the night when you had to go.

  Locking the door behind me, I dumped some water from a clean bucket into a “grey water” bucket to wash my hands. On one of the lower floors, we’d also set up a shower system using some camp showers and stoves to heat up the water. It still meant most days you had cold showers, but about once a month or so, a warm shower was a nice treat.

  I left the washroom, and took the stairs two at a time, going down to the lower floor that held the actual washrooms, and then back up to the third floor to what we’ve dubbed “the Kitchen”. In reality, a year ago it was just another office floor. But now, with some modifications, we have a few people on rotation to provide the group with food. And some days, it was even edible.

  There were long tables set up with bench seats, and a few were sitting down at them, chatting. There were others standing, various cups and bowls in their hands. I smiled to myself. In all of the office floors we had searched, not one of them had had a matching set of cutlery or plate-ware. Which also meant that everyone had a preference of what cup was “theirs” or “made the food taste better.” It was the little things these days.

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  I smiled and exchanged a few nods as I passed the groups. Most I didn’t know well, but you see a lot of familiar faces after a while here.

  “Evening, Cain. Corn and meatloaf. Someone even scrounged up brown sugar this time.” Eddie winked. He was one of the older members of the group, but was good at daily tasks around the building, including fixing objects that always seemed to break.

  “Sounds good.” I told him, and he gave me a slice of the meatloaf with dark brown liquid all over it. We had this same meal towards the end of last year, back when ingredients weren’t so hard to find.

  Moving to a table, a girl’s arm shot up at the other end of the room and waved at me. I nodded and started towards her. Cher, short for Cheryl, had a spot next to her, and I gladly took it.

  “Just finished Lookout?” Cher asked as she took another bite of the meatloaf from her plate. She had pale skin, blue eyes, and her natural red hair was almost always pulled back like it was now. I nodded, putting my tray down and trying some of my own food. I closed my eyes for a moment.

  “I know, it’s amazing, right?” She said, talking fast, as I nodded again. It was definitely up there as one of the best meals I had had recently.

  “Brown sugar. I wonder who found it.” I commented. Cher glanced at me from the side, and pursed her lips. “No, you? Really? Where?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Somewhere.” Cher answered. I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.” She whispered, glancing farther down the table where others were sitting.

  “Ah,” I said, understanding. It wasn’t that there were places we weren’t allowed to go, just places we were encouraged to avoid. If she wasn’t telling me, it was for a good reason.

  We lapsed into silence then, and she finished her food first. Stretching her arms above her head, she moved her neck from side to side.

  “You have a shift?” I asked in between bites. She nodded.

  “Training.” She turned to face me and grinned wide. Cher loved picking on the new recruits. Not that I could blame her.

  “Be nice to them.” I said as she stepped over the table’s bench to get up.

  “Never.” She winked and walked away with her tray, leaving me alone at the table. I thought about my shift tonight and if there was anything I would need to put into my report. Nothing major had happened tonight, though there had been an increasing amount of people setting fires lately.

  For all of my complaining, we were lucky here. And I was lucky to have found them. A year ago, things had been—better. But now, supplies were running low everywhere. It was one of those things that we tried not to think about too much.

  In the beginning, there had been a lot of controversy about what had caused the EMP that took out all of the electronics and technology. And truthfully, we still didn’t really know. Most people suggested political agendas, wars, that sort of thing. Though there were also those who thought it was related a solar event. All we really knew is one day our whole lives revolved around electronics, and suddenly—it didn’t.

  On the one hand, it was hard to adjust to. For all the reports of the negativity that electronics had caused us, there was a lot of anxiety once it was gone as well. Worrying about friends, family, the rest of the world. There was suddenly no contact, no way to reach out to those that you knew, outside of anyone you were lucky enough to run into face-to-face.

  For me, I think it makes things simpler. There was no longer the option of spending hours absorbed into a story about your country’s financial decline, or riots, or natural disasters. Not to say those things still didn’t happen, but you’re not watching it 24/7.

  Ignorance at its finest. Though the loss of electricity made us very unprepared for everything.

  And now my days were filled with different shifts as needed, and a hot shower once a month.

  But it also meant that I hadn’t heard from my family since The Change. My brother, if he’s still alive, had been living in a nearby town. In the beginning, I had thought about trying to find him, but that was before I ended up here.

  I finished my food and said goodbye to the few people left in the Kitchen. I headed back up to my room, but in the stairwell, decided I wasn’t ready to go to bed yet. So I turned and made my way up the few flights of stairs to go check on Cher.

  I walked in, and class had already started. Cher lifted her eyebrows to me, and I waved before crossing to a side wall and sitting down on the floor. Cher checked a boy’s stance and made him do a move again before nodding approvingly and walking over closer to me.

  “They’re not bad.” I offered, and she shrugged.

  “They’ll be better once I’m done with them.” She crossed her arms and yelled “push ups” triumphantly. While I was not a personal fan of push ups either, I could admire her joy. It wasn’t something often found these days.

  “So, what’s up?” She asked me. “You looking to join?” Motioning with one arm to an empty punching bag. I moved my neck from side to side, and stretched out my legs in front of me, gauging my body.

  “Sure,” I said. I figured the activity would exhaust me so I could sleep better.

  Cher yelled at the students, and me by association, to do sit ups next. I found my own spot and started doing curls, not pushing myself yet since I wasn’t as warmed up as the rest. I reached 30 before she called to switch. I hopped up on my feet while most of the others sat up, then got their knees before standing. They looked tired already, but that was the point.

  Part of Cher’s training was building muscle memory. Out there, you had to be prepared. You needed your body to know how to respond even before your mind had it figured out.

  We ran through sets of different punches, and Cher made sure to correct every small flaw in my movements. I had already been through the basic training, but part of the being in the group was that you were mandated to do workouts at least three times a week, unless you were doing a supply run.

  It felt good to move, and I thought back to the almost two months I had been stuck laying in bed, broken. I shook my head and focused back on punching, grateful for my ability to move.