Alexander awoke slowly. It took a lot of prompting, and some light kicking from his mother to get him to awaken. Slowly he brought his hands to his groggy eyes, rubbing the sleep from them as a small breakfast was prepared. Merely the leftovers from the night before the meal would be short and without the fanfare of the night before. Now that the family was once again together they would slowly slide into their patterns once again.

The only difference Alexander noted was the absence of his father. Normally the unit stayed together until Alexander and his father left for the daily hunt. The disappearance of the man simply meant that wouldn’t be happening this morning. Alexander doubted it would ever happen again. The gun that his father had carried faithfully for years lay against the windowsill, gathering dust and soaking in the morning light as Alexander scarfed down the meager breakfast his mother forced into his hands.

The events of the night before seemed more like a dream to Alexander. A nightmare that haunted his waking moments. For a moment he could delude himself into thinking what he had scene were just some kind of illusion. But the disgust that had settled deep within him prevented him from buying into that delusion. No matter how much he wished it to not be true, he knew what he had seen.

He had always known the reason behind the thralls. Alexander could piece it together by the way they were treated. How they had been sold in the markets like little more than cattle at times. That didn’t prepare him for the encounter he had faced the night before. He had come face to face with the horrors hidden beneath his new home, scraped away the veneer and peered into the gloom that made it all possible. The aversion he faced was a deep seated emotion, and it made itself apparent in the very food he ate.

Every bite reminded him of the bites he had seen, every crunch, every sensation of the meat in his mouth disgusted him. Still he ate, forcing his emotions downwards. Despite the disgust he now felt he would never turn down food. He powered through the remembered scenes and finished the bowl handed to him. Even finishing of the scraps that his mother offered him as seconds. He and his body needed fuel for whatever happened that day.

Shortly after the last of the nutrients had been licked clean from his bowl, his mother stood and got herself ready for the day. Hair was once again pulled behind her head, greasy coveralls pulled over only moderately less greasy clothing. Alexander moved to join her, but Diana waved at him to stop.

“You can’t follow me today,” she said flatly, her eyes peering at him. “I’ve got work to do and you’ll get in the way.”

She paused as if thinking about her next words carefully. Only because of the weight they would hold as she assigned his tasks for the day. Something that Alexander had come to expect in his daily life. His parents had always told him what to do from the moment he had awakened to the moment he had slept. There was always a certain amount of free time, but it was regimented, and the list of chores he was always given incredibly lengthy. It was needed to keep everything organized, regimented and controlled in their world. A kid couldn’t be allowed their own freedom, too much was at stake.

“I need you to go back to the clinic. Nicholas made a deal with your father and you have to hold up your part of it.” Another pause filled the air as she hesitated again, weakness leaking through her hardened exterior as she stared at her son. “And, see what you can do about Macy. Your father has been doing what he can, but you know how he can be.”

Alexander honestly wasn’t sure what his mother meant by that, but nodded nonetheless. It was the first time his mother had mentioned his younger sister, and the boy could see the tension it created in her eyes. He assumed it was similar to how she had looked the night of his experience, taught and nervous. Worried and emotional.

With a violent shake, all of that disappeared from her frame. She shoved it deep inside of herself, locking it away as she strapped the last of her tools to her belt with a nod. The hard line of her chin suggested her focus was back onto the work assigned to her that day. It was only the lingering frown that twitched at the corners of her mouth that hinted otherwise.

When she stepped from the room a moment later Alexander was left alone. The dark circles under his eyes received another rub before he too followed. His descent down the steps was uneventful, the gathering humans stepping around him as he moved. The glower on his face, and the confident way he walked made even the children hesitant to cross his path this early in the morning.

The ground floor was almost empty, the exception coming in the form of a face that Alexander didn’t want to acknowledge. An elderly man switching his shift with a much larger man. The old replaced with the new as Alexander passed them both by. The old man attempted to catch his eye but gave up a moment later, noticing the pointed way the boy seemed to turn away from him.

The old man had seen that look many times before. Alexander wasn’t the only person to ever get passed the elderly guardian and into the depths bellow. The truth was already a known factor, but that never seemed to effect the people that came back up the stairs. They always seemed to be more reserved. Quiet, as though they were suddenly aware of some terrible secret. In many ways they were. Only that secret was a well-known fact.

Alexander was the exception in that his disgust seemed to be the prominent emotion that gripped the boy. Most came stumbling up the stairs in a state of panic. Afraid they would be next, or that the fate they would all receive would come quicker because of what they now knew. Alexander was an exception simply because he had faced something like what he had seen before. He had faced it and gotten away, and even now as he passed into the dawn he didn’t doubt his ability to do so again.

The teenage boy conveniently forgot that his last escape had cost him an arm, and the freedom of his family. But that was just his very special brand of hubris.

The route Alexander took back to the clinic was a circuitous one. He wasted as much time as he thought he could get away with. He explored, introduced himself to the neighbours with a customary glare, and generally just made sure he would be late on his first day.

When he finally made it to the clinic, he saw a familiar face waiting for him. Nicholas in all his bat like terror, stood waiting outside the large metal doors. Lab coat freshly cleaned of all but the hardest to get rid of blood stains, the creature waved the boy over.

Hissing under his breath he spoke, waving the thrall by his side over. “Take the fucking umbrella from this idiot, he can’t hold it right.” Nicholas grumbled, his eyes wincing closed as the thrall shuddered into movement. The umbrella hung over the bat beside him, shading him from the worst of the light, though Nicholas was right. The thrall was doing a horrible job at it. Every time the bat moved, it would take quite the long time for the slave beside him to follow. Every wave of his hands or step forwards brought the creatures frame into the sun, obviously something he was trying to avoid.

The day they had found themselves in was quite the welcome change to Alexander. The air was cool, the wind only making it that much more so as it whipped down the busy streets. The sun was low, the dawn still brightening the day, but with no clouds in sight Alexander knew it would be a good one. A day without clouds was a rarity, as the damp ground at his feet would attest too. Alexander didn’t know the reasoning behind it, but he had heard enough complaining from his parents to note the difference in the land they now inhabited. Compared to the past, before the weapons, it rained a lot more frequently. The rain was harsh, tainted and foul, and it seemed to almost be a constant state. A day like today was a rarity, but a welcome one. It would dry the ground out some, burn away the worst of the green mist, and did wonder to heighten Alexander’s mood.

Nicholas on the other hand hated it. Sunlight made his kind nauseous, it burned their skin slightly and was overall a horrible experience. When it was overcast it was bearable, but when the clouds parted and the sun finally reached the earth in all its glory the effect was distracting and uncomfortable. Whenever the thrall hesitated or was slow to move the black umbrella it held, Nicholas was reminded of that fact.

The creature was grateful when Alexander followed his orders, only to regret trusting the boy a moment later. The umbrella was immediately moved from a slow but compliant hand, to a rebellious but quick one. No sooner had the shade steadied over the pale form of the bat, then it had been robbed from him. It was yanked cruelly away, bathing Nicholas immediately in light.

The swearing that followed brightened Alexander’s mood further, the small bit of revenge for last night against the creatures species cheering him up immensely. The smallest victory, even though it was petty and cruel, grew his smile. Alexander eventually began to perform his job admirably, covering the bat better than any thrall could, but the threat was very apparent. Though Nicholas wasn’t happy about it, and though he knew he should punish the boy, he also knew that that would only open him up to much more discomfort.

The small act of rebellion was annoying, but Nicholas could deal with it. The boy did deliver, and maintained the umbrella above the beasts head as they walked so perhaps it was a good trade. As they moved Nicholas explained what they were doing, the rounds they would take and the route they would move along.

Alexander soon found himself interested, though only because he was almost akin to a hostage. He couldn’t escape the situation without being punished. He didn’t know what his parents would do, or even what his new benefactor would do, but Alexander knew it wouldn’t be very good. So because he was forced to listen to Nicholas speak, he was forced to find it interesting. It was either that or spend the entire day in boredom, which Alexander was beginning to dread as his duties were explained to him.

Nicholas was something like a doctor. Similar to his father in many ways, but at a much smaller level. The two of them would go about the camp, tend to small issues, heal and fix what they could, before moving on. Nicholas had trained for many years, and was adept at diagnosing and medicating both humans and bat, but he needed a capable assistant. He needed someone that could achieve what a thrall could not, but he had never had the rank to request a free human. Until the creature had volunteered to rescue Alexander.

Though human society in the camp was stratified, and always below the creatures that ruled them, it paled in comparison to the politics of those above them. Nicholas, who by his species standards was very young, had chosen a profession that came with little in the way of perks. There were many creatures above him in rank and sway, and even those at his level seemed to push the creature around quite a bit. The one who had donated its blood to him had been of a similar rank, so he drew no benefits from his lineage either. Every thrall Nicholas had, every privilege earned, had been gained the hard way. So while he berated the boy, insulted him and swore at him under his breath, he would never give him up. He had earned the right to an assistant, through blood and grit, and he would never give that up. Even if his new assistant was being an insufferable git.

The pair moved off towards their first patient of the day. Nicholas had a plan for Alexander, a plan for his knew assistant. Alexander would be taught the medicines he would be administering. He would be given instruction on how to mend a bone, even as his mended. He would be told how to amputate a limb. Which drugs to give to which thralls to keep them pliant. Which signs were benign, and which signalled the beginning of a mutation. Alexander would become his apprentice, and begin the road to becoming a doctor just like Nicholas had once done. He would serve his new bat master well, or he would be enthralled and pawned off.

The first thing he had been taught had been proper umbrella form, which seemed to escape him quite often as the two made their way into the bright light that now bathed them.