It was another day at Settlement 41, though the word day in itself held very little meaning. There was no day in the darkness that blanketed the world, but the inhabitants of the Settlements still kept to some of the old ways out of long-standing habit even if it no longer made much sense. The people of Settlement 41 started to wake at the sound of the bio-luminescent birds who always crowed at a certain time. It was as good a signal as any for them to start the day. Once the Signalman heard the crow, he would sound a loud, rattling alarm from the top of the northern watchtower, where the sound could carry out to the rest of the area where the bird’s crows would fade.

Yunkef’s eyes flashed open as soon as he heard the alarm; waking at the first second of it, in fact. He leapt out of bed and whipped on his ratty, patched coat with an energy that had his tentmate groaning in protest. He thought about explaining himself, but his tentmate, a young man his age named Train, had muttered some obscenities in Yunkef’s direction, and turned around in his bed away from Yunkef. He winced and whispered a quick apology before pulling his boots on and hurriedly exited their small tent. Train would understand, it was hatching day after all.

The Settlement was arranged as a large circle, with high walls of jagged, rusted scrap metal enclosing it. Four watchtowers were posted at the cardinal directions, and everywhere one looked, there was light. Lamps, lanterns, and torches with bare flame burned at all hours and did their best to banish the shadows cast within the settlement itself. It was a simple rule that all the Settlements had to follow for their own good: Keep the lights burning, keep the beasts out.

Yunkef hurried down the cramped paths between the tents, dodging groggy men stumbling off to work at the salvage heaps, or the cranky cook who always threatened to ‘tan the hide’ of the next person who asked him for stewed beast meat. Yunkef couldn’t help but smile, life in the Settlement was cramped, noisy, and repetitive at times, but there was a charm to it.

“Yunkef!” a female voice called out over the sound of voices being raised. Yunkef had to dodge around a brawl beginning on the path as a scrapper made a snide remark about a hunter’s mother. Fists were thrown and bodies were hurled into adjacent tents, collapsing them on their sleeping tenant’s heads, and causing an even bigger commotion all in the time it took Yunkef to take ten steps. Keeping well away from the fight, he pushed open the little metal gate to the livestock pens.

“What took you so long?” A tall, fiery haired young woman demanded Yunkef with her hands on her hips.

Running a hand through his own mousey brown hair and trying in vain to smooth it down, Yunkef shrugged. “I woke up as soon as I could, Nenry. And you can see the brawl from here!”

“You’re usually up even before the first crow. Don’t think I don’t notice.” Nenry replied with a snort. She wiped her dusty hands on her equally dusty trousers before grabbing Yunkef by the shoulders and steering him towards a ramshackle barn. “Well don’t just stand there, you’re going to miss the hatching!”

The barn, standing in the middle of a large clear space with pens and grazing areas for livestock, was constructed from the same rusted sheets of corrugated iron and planks of salvaged wood as the rest of the Settlement’s buildings. The roof sagged in places and there were holes in the metal sheets, but it still managed to be one of the sturdiest buildings in the Settlement. It had to be, as it housed the whole Settlement’s food supply.

Nenry hurried Yunkef into the barn. He moved out of the glow of the lantern-lights outside, and into the smaller lantern-lights inside. A man with short, unkempt brown hair that stood out around his head in a frizzy halo crouched in one of the stalls with his sleeves bunched up as high up his arms as they would go. He tended to a nest of packed earth and scraps of cloth where a clutch of eggs with speckled shells rested.

“Grass, are we late? Did we miss it?” Nenry asked, quickly settling into a crouch beside the man.

Grass beamed back at them with wide, excited eyes. “You’re not late, but they’ve begun to crack!”

Yunkef settled on Grass’s other side and watched the speckled eggs closely. About a dozen eggs lay in the nest, with shells that were spotted in as many different colors. As the three watched, a large bird with a fat, round body and short wings with tips that ended in claws waddled over to the nest. It cawed and looked at Yunkef with its two pairs of milky eyes, and fluttered over to sit on his foot. He gave the bird a few scratches between the shoulder blades. “You did a good job laying all these eggs! Yes you did, you cranky old bird.” he said with a laugh. The bird cawed hoarsely and settled on Yunkef’s foot, tucking her feet underneath her softly glowing body.

“Well she only laid so many eggs because you take such good care of her, Yunkef.” Grass said, his eyes trained on the nest. “You take great care of all the animals here, really. They love you quite a lot, and even follow you around the farm.”

“I don’t really do anything special, I just treat them well and talk to them a little bit. They’re really very sweet if you get to know them, you know.”

“All of them?” Nenry snorted. “You’re forgetting about Old Danger.”

“You’re right, I did! They’re all sweet, everyone except Old Danger.”

Grass suddenly held a hand up and quieted the two. “They’re hatching! Look, there’s a beak!”

Sure enough, as Grass pointed to the eggs, cracks began to spread along the speckled shells roughly at the same time. Chunks of shell fell off, pushed aside by tiny sharp beaks with even tinier teeth. Soon the packed earth nest was covered in eggshell shards and a dozen chicks chirping shrilly. Their bodies were fluffy with soft down that had yet to start radiating the gently blue glow of their mature counterparts. The bird on Yunkef’s foot stood alert as the chicks chirped, and hurried over to the chicks to inspect and calm them.

Grass breathed a sigh of relief. “All twelve of them made it, that’s good. After that disease that hit the glowbird’s pens five months ago, I wasn’t sure if we were going to get any new chicks at all. Looks like the old girl shrugged off the sickness easily.”

“Well you know her, she’s never backed down from a fight. She’d probably even attack a beast if one came through the walls.” Yunkef said with a soft smile. The fat bird sat by the nest and nudged the little chicks to get up and start fluttering about their earthen nest.

“Bravery of birds aside, this means that within a month or so we’ll have another dozen egg-laying birds ready.” Grass sighed. “And we can finally have something other than thin mushroom soup for the first time in five months.”

Yunkef brushed the dirt off the seat of his pants as he stood. “Honestly I’m thankful we have the mushrooms at all. If it wasn’t for this farm, the barn, the animals, we wouldn’t have anything. And the hunters outside have no idea how important this place is!”

“You know how they are. If it doesn’t involve the hunting parties and bringing back beasts, they don’t really care.” Grass stood as well, and he smiled. “Want to see what I’m working on now?”

Yunkef’s excitement earned him a scolding from Nenry, who playfully shooed him away from the nest and the chicks whose downy coats puffed up in surprise. Stammering a quick apology to the little chicks, Yunkef quickly followed Grass out of the barn. Out in the more open space of the barn, Yunkef could survey the fields that were fenced off with more sheets of corrugated iron and wood. Oddly shaped animals with too many limbs, horns, or eyes stood idly in groups in the field, their coats of short, coarse fur glowing with a muted light under the ever present lanterns. The livestock licked bio-luminescent lichen off of rocks or plucked mushrooms out of the dark earth as Yunkef and Grass moved into a smaller building off to the side of the field.

Grass’s workshop bore a sizable rectangle of rusted metal displayed beside the door. Its paint had long been worn away by time, and the faded and rust-stained print now only showed the barely visible warning that it used to hold. It was something about grass and keeping off of it.

“This was your naming sign, right?” Yunkef asked Grass once the two got closer. “I’m surprised you got to keep it!”

Grass nodded as he slipped the key to the shed out of his pocket. “Usually the expectant couple spot remnants of the old world out during a hunt or expedition. The signs are normally huge and immovable, or in dangerous areas seen from afar.” He held the door open for Yunkef, and slipped in after him. The lanterns inside the shed were burning low, and Yunkef went to get the oil canister Grass kept near the door to refill them.

Yunkef completed the thought. “They say we take our names from the signs to try to keep the old world traditions and culture alive, as much as we can.”

“Precisely. But this sign was found nearby, and was small enough to bring back to the Settlement. It was used as roofing material till an earthquake brought down the whole building. Then I took it to build part of my wall. It’s got my name on it, after all.” Grass laughed. The floorboards creaked as he crossed the small room to his work table. A small contraption shaped like an hourglass made of two cans placed on top of each other steadily dripped water from the top can into the bottom, moving a little arm set on a circular piece of card marked at twelve points. “And here we are! What do you think?”

“Well, I know for sure that I don’t know what it is. What does it do?”

“Watch it, closely.” Grass said, peering at his invention. “The water drops through the spout in the top can and into the bottom at a precise, constant interval.”

“The drops move the little arm at a steady pace over to these points… Counting something?”

“Yes! Time!” Grass beamed excitedly. “The water cans are a rudimentary hourglass. Some old texts that have survived speak of how they were made to measure time, and how people used them to plan their days.”

Yunkef’s brow furrowed, unsure. “That sounds great and all, but what would we need it for? We already tell the time and start the day by the bird crows.”

“Yes, we do. I’m well aware. But Yunkef,” Grass started softly, his eyes downcast. “What if another wave of disease wipes out our birds? What if we can’t get another coop’s worth from a different Settlement to restart the population? We don’t rely on the birds just for our food supply, we also use them to tell the time. Without them…” he trailed off.

“Chaos.” Yunkef said. “The mushroom farmer’s schedules would be thrown off, we wouldn’t know how long the hunt would have been out, the trade deals with the other Settlement’s wouldn’t leave when they said they would…”

“Hence the need for all these contraptions, Yunkef. We just simply don’t know enough. We don’t have enough resources. What little we have that survived from the old world don’t make sense to us anymore.”

Yunkef stood by as his friend started to pace anxiously around his small shed, pulling down piles of yellowed paper and holding them up to the lantern lights to read his notes. The shed was so cramped with various inventions cobbled together bits of metal, wood, and wire. There was Grass’s can hourglass, a large bit of cardboard with the beginnings of a map scrawled onto it, and lanterns dismantled and their burning components stuffed into a tube with glass circles. All Yunkef could do was watch and listen patiently to Grass. The man’s inventions were important to him, but Grass tended to forget the present and what was going on around him. He held out a hand and patted Grass’s shoulder and smiled.

“It’s alright, Grass. You have Nenry and me, we’ll help with whatever you need. Don’t worry about the birds either, we’ll take good care of the chicks and make sure they grow up good and healthy!” he said with a big grin.

Grass couldn’t help but laugh. “Enthusiastic as ever, aren’t you? Well, thank you. If you find any books from the old world at the trader posts, please do buy them for me. I’ll pay you back after.”

Yunkef nodded and said he would, but was determined to do no such thing. Looking around Grass’s shed, it was clear the inventor didn’t have much in the ways of money or goods worth enough to be traded. Even if something survived the devastation of the old world and was salvaged by an exploration crew, it would be too expensive for Grass to afford.

The sound of the Signalman’s rattling alarm sounded through the Settlement, marking the passing of an hour. As if on cue, Grass checked his hourglass and nodded in satisfaction. Yunkef bid the inventor goodbye for now and turned to leave the shed.

“Oh, Yunkef, what will you be doing today?” Grass asked.

“Um… I was planning on tending to the livestock today. Gotta help Nenry muck out the stables and stuff.” Yunkef shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“Well you see, I heard that an expedition team is accepting sign ups today. And the hunting parties have returned from a week out in the darkness. You should consider joining them.”

“Me? On an expedition? But it’s outside the walls!”

Grass shrugged. “As are most things worth seeing nowadays. Just see what they have or what they need. Who knows, the expedition might be interesting. I don’t have the constitution for leaving the Settlement anymore though.”

Yunkef shrugged in a con-committal way. He didn’t think he had the constitution for exploring outside the walls either. Hunting and exploration, those were jobs for the burly, rowdy men and women who topple their tents every night in drunken parties and brawls in the street. It was for merchants moving between Settlements using tried and true routes, passing the same way in the darkness over and over again. He had always gotten along better with the birds and livestock of the farm, than he did with other people.

Nonetheless, Grass sent Yunkef on his way after assuring him again that he and Nenry could manage the farm just fine.

The Settlement itself was sectioned into roughly defined quarters. There was the residential quarter, with its many tents and one large gathering space around a bonfire, the industrial quarter near the gates where salvagers haul in scrap that they found out in the darkness and sift through and set aside possible building materials or anything else of use. There was the farm in the production quarter, arguably the most important, as it contained the Settlement's food and water supply. The last quarter functioned as a town hall, where residents could gather to discuss important matters that would affect the entire population. The Settlement had no singular leader, but instead had many a man that thought they were.

"Line up, boys and girls!" Yunkef heard a loud, brash voice boom at the town hall. A large crowd had gathered there, just in front of the structure that served as the main office of the Settlement. A line of people, all clothed in the dirt-stained mismatched wear everyone wore, queued up for entry into the shed.

"Sign up for a hunt of unmatched glory!" Barro bellowed, standing on top of a wooden bench. He was a large, barrel chested man with a scared face and closely shaven head. Yunkef passed a hand through his own shaggy black hair with a wince. There was a long, raised scar on Barro's head that stood out starkly against his skin. "Sign up for a hunt to stick it to those monstrous bastards!"

A group of men standing near Barro laughed. They were similarly scarred and tough looking men, and near them sat an even tougher woman who looked thoroughly unimpressed with Barror's speeches. She kept an eye on the people queueing up for the shed. Following the woman's gaze, Yunkef found a second queue, though it was much shorter than the first.

"Hey! You there! Kid!" Barror's loud voice startled Yunkef out of his reverie.

"Me?" he stammered.

"Yes, you, are you deaf? Come here!" The big man said with a laugh. He stepped down from the bench and pulled Yunkef in with a large arm around his shoulders. "I've seen you around some, you're the farm boy that works with Grass, aren’t you?"

"Uh, yes, I am. How did you know?"

"You get up at the first crow, every single day. First one up and out of the tents most days. Could use a boy like that."

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

The woman scoffed and stood, flicking dull red head over her shoulder. "You're confusing the poor boy, Barro. And crushing him to boot."

"I found him first, Miss Way." Barro laughed and squeezed Yunkef once before letting him go.

"What the big muscle head means by his roundabout ways is," Miss Way continued, "that he could use a vigilant, sharp young man like you. We both could, you see. You know who Barro is, I presume?"

Yunkef nodded shakily. "He's the head hunter. At least ten or more successful hunts, I think."

"Ten or more? Hah! I've at least twenty under my belt already! Ten or more, are you hearing this?" Barro scoffed, and his men laughed with him.

Miss Way waved them off and it was her turn to pull Yunkef closer to her. Her hands were calloused as she grabbed him. "He's good at hunting, yes, but that isn’t all this Settlement needs. I am the new head of expedition, after the previous one sadly perished in an attack."

Yunkef gulped nervously at the news. He didn’t want to think about the creatures out in the darkness that could so easily kill a man, or could leave such ghastly scars as the ones Barro seemed so proud to show off.

"Yes," Miss Way sighed. "And that is why I have to sign new people on all over again. Quite a few abandoned the expedition once we got home without the previous head. Spooked out of their minds, but I can't blame them."

"How did he die?" Yunkef asked in a small voice. "I mean, how did it happen? I thought only the hunters encounter the monsters regularly."

"The hunters do encounter the monsters all the time, but that's because the foolhardy idiots go searching for them on purpose." the woman glared daggers at Barro. "The expedition's goal is to try to map out the world, find better routes between Settlements, and even find new Settlements if we can manage it. But just because we don’t go looking for creature nests, doesn’t mean we don’t run into them from time to time. So I suppose you could say it was just bad luck. Our convoy got jumped by a couple of monsters, and no matter how much we gunned it, we couldn’t shake them. They climbed onto the vehicles, and..." she trailed off. Yunkef didn’t need her to continue.