It doesn’t take long for Sira to remember that they don’t know where they’re going and can’t be the one in the lead. Their feet come to a halt in the hallway. The sound of Karim’s boots against the floor echoes close behind them.

  “Hey,” he starts once he reaches their side, his voice firm. “Do you need to talk about what happened back there?”

  They don’t move to face him. The more conversation that they have, the more time there is between Sira and getting to finally rest on what they hope is a bed. Their growing impatience makes their shoulders curl upward.

  “I don’t even know what happened,” they state simply.

  “It’s like you turned into a statue once that needle went in. I’d say ‘deer in headlights’ but I think that’d be an understatement.”

  He’s not going to drop this, is he?

  “I was gone for a second,” they reply. “That’s all I can describe it as.”

  Sira looks at him out of the corner of their eye to help drive the point home. A twitch of something – either uncertainty or suspicion – pulls at the edges of his lips, but he quickly corrects it.

  “As in…another gap in memory?” He suggests.

  Sira shrugs. “Maybe. It could just be the fact I’m really, really tired. Does it matter?”

  It’s a stupid question, they know. They’re pretty sure most of the people around them would freak out if they lost their memories in the way Sira seems to have, but they’re reaching their breaking point for the day when it comes to worrying about everything.

  Karim crosses his arms and stands with his feet further apart, a more ‘in-charge’ stance, much like the one he took when Sira first saw him in the street. “It’s pretty important. If you have that kind of reaction every time you get poked with a needle, well…there are only so many strings I can pull.”

  “So you’re saying that’s not the end of it.”

  Another wry smile. “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen, because you’re supposed to be an impossibility. You’re something like a medical marvel.”

  Sira frowns. “I’m not going to get…dissected, am I?”

  He stares at them blankly for a second, before his face cracks. “Oh – oh, Christ no,” he manages to get out. “That’s something I can promise won’t happen with one hundred percent certainty.”

  The mirth is genuine, but oddly enough, it doesn’t ease any of Sira’s anxieties, partially because they don’t get what was so funny about that statement. They let one of their arms drop down to the side.

  “With the way you talk about this stuff, it’s almost like you don’t want me to cooperate, or like you want me to dread it,” they say. This conversation is already going on longer than they’d like, but they’ll have to work this out one way or the other. “I don’t get it. I feel like, normally, someone in charge would be trying to convince me otherwise.”

  Or push me into things with force. Best to leave that part out, Sira decides.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “What can I say?” The amusement leaves him, going back to the wry smile. “I’m an honest man when I feel the need to be. I’ll probably get flak from the boss for it later, but it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

  Sira stares at him. “You’re pretty weird.”

  Not what I expect when I think of the word ‘captain.’

  “You’re one to talk – but I usually get ‘annoying,’ so I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says, waving them off as he makes for the clinic’s exit. “Now, let’s get a move on, shall we?”

  –

  The winding halls of F-6, for the most part, become a blur. Sira is much less inclined to look around than they were before, but they can’t help but bring their attention back to the environment once they pass into a much larger room than any of the others – in addition to being noisier.

  The space looks like it was once some kind of low-end eating establishment. Rows of tables with chairs – some wood, some metal – are lined up in the middle of the area. A series of counters sit in a row on the left side of the room, putting a barrier between the dining area and a long opening that looks like a peek into a kitchen beyond.

  The sides of the counters facing the tables are half-covered by clean panes. The counters themselves look to host various pots and other containers where a few people behind the panes spoon out their contents onto metal trays and other dishes brought up to them by the other staff of F-6.

  People sit at the tables, mostly in groups that chat away with one another much more casually than Sira would expect. Some are even playing cards or other games. Sira wouldn’t say that it’s crowded, but it’s enough to cause a hum of indistinct speech, and it’s certainly the largest gathering of people Sira has seen thus far. It causes them to slow down a little. They almost want to stop entirely, taking in all the details, but their exhaustion nags at them to keep going.

  Karim notices, and slows his own pace, but he doesn’t stop either. Their target looks to be a pair of doors on the opposite side that must lead out of the room.

  “Feeling hungry again? The doc did say you should have something else.” Karim has to raise his voice to be heard above the ambiance of the room.

  “No,” they reply, “just…this place seems more alive than I thought.”

  Sira barely catches his chuckle. “I mean, this is one of the smallest bases we have, so this is nothing compared to what you’ll see at the bigger places, or even in one of the larger settlements that we don’t operate.”

  “So…not everything is bleak?”

  “Of course not. Funny, right? Even though the world technically ended, people still eat together. That’s something to remember to help keep you sane.”

  Sira purses their lips, not saying anything else. Both his words and the sight before them bring up a mix of feelings that they couldn’t begin to articulate even if they tried. They turn away. They’ll save any further digging into that for some time after they’ve slept. They notice the pairs of eyes that have flitted their way. Some of their gazes linger longer than Sira is comfortable with.

  “I’m being stared at,” they rasp.

  “That’s gonna happen,” Karim responds. “Do you know how often they see a random civilian walking around here? You’re going to draw attention. If this place was more eventful, they probably wouldn’t bat an eye.”

  “That’s not comforting.”

  “Nope, but there’s not much we can do about it. Let’s just be thankful that most of them know better than to ask questions. They’ll gossip, maybe, but they’re not usually inclined to disturb their peace beyond that.”

  There’s also the fact I don’t exactly look normal. The thought of being gawked at like a zoo animal adds a layer of bitterness to their thoughts on being a ‘medical marvel.’

  The pair pass through the doors to a quiet room with bare floors, humming lights, and some couches with a table arranged in the center. A few people are sitting down or standing around, but Sira doesn’t pay them the same attention as they did as the attendees of the cafeteria. In return, these people don’t seem to pay them nearly as much mind as the others did. A pair of staircases flank the left wall, and that’s where Karim guides them.

  The second floor consists of halls and fairly normal-looking doors with numbered plates attached to their surfaces. Karim stops at the one labeled ‘106’ and gives it a firm knock. There’s a brief shuffle of movement on the other side.

  “Boss?” The muffled voice sounds like Lionel.

  “With our guest this time,” Karim replies.

  The knob turns and the door swings open promptly. Lionel has since changed out of his armor into the bare-bones of a black uniform. A pair of dog tags hangs around his neck. The look on his face is one of restrained anticipation.

  “How’d it go?”

  The entire first arc (chapters 1-13 & bonus) is all on Patreon, in addition to some of the chapters from the Part II - Initiation. These will get removed from Patreon as they're posted publicly, but subscribing means having early access!