An air of normalcy seemed to have taken over the base. People gathered in clusters and went about their day. The barricades had been reinforced as well as they could have been, all windows on the first floor had some sort of barrier and also on the windows of the buildings surrounding our perimeter. The group had done an amazing job given the lack of proper tools and materials.

The first floor was mostly a large empty area, with the exception of the supply corner. Dozens of backpacks were organized in neat stacks while being under constant surveillance of four members of the group. I had gotten so used to seeing Will in charge of it that I found it weird when I saw the new faces. Will was most likely off training with John.

A few tables lined up with the stairs leading to the building’s exit. Neatly organized assortments of weapons were placed on top of them, waiting for anyone who was going to come out to just grab one. There was no remarkable weapon on it, to be fair, they were mostly tools that could be improvised as weapons. Hammers, crowbars, wrenches and even a shovel. I am sure the group had a better assortment of weapons, these must be the lowest of the low at our disposal.

Reaching the upper floor I saw Mrs Aya offering water to the few injured still resting on the impromptu medical ward. Ciara and Gabriela were close by, but seemed content to let Mrs Aya do it while they had a chat. I made my way to one of the windows in the workshop. This space was still pretty much empty, aside from a few workbenches. I wondered how they planned to make proper use of this place.

I leaned onto the window sill and looked out as people moved about on the perimeter, with the odd group going out of it. Were we settling in? Was I? After all the day’s adrenaline, I felt suddenly bored. I didn’t want to push my body anymore without giving it a proper rest, and the defenses seemed to be as good as they would be. What else was there for me to do?

I spent some time looking out and just thinking about the events of these last few days. How much I had gone through with little to no time to stop and breathe. Today I had almost died, I got much closer than I would ever be comfortably with, yet, by some magic, my body seemed to take it just fine. The previously missing skin was reddish pink and tender, but there was no pain and nothing to stop me from being at one hundred percent after some sleep.

The memories of being under that press of bodies, powerless and alone, terrified me. They also angered me, and I promptly made an effort to accept and move on. It happened, I didn’t die, there were a lot of other things for me to worry about. It wouldn’t do me any good to dwell on these emotions more than what I already had. I still had to settle my issue with John, but that was something I still didn’t know how to approach. Hopefully I would eventually have an epiphany.

At some point I decided that being alone and in my head wasn’t such a good idea after all. I saw Mrs Aya talking with Gabriela and Ciara, I decided to join them, they seemed to be in a good mood as Ciara giggled at something Gabriela said.

“May I join the conversation? You ladies seem to be having some proper fun in here.”

“Hahaha, of course. Sit down, sit down.” Gabriela welcomed me cheerfully as Mrs Aya smiled and Ciara looked at me with curious eyes.

“Oh right, you haven’t met Ciara yet, right?”

“Not officially, no.”

Gabriela wasted no time and introduced us in her outspoken way. Ciara didn’t seem bothered by the sudden interaction and I wasn’t either. We greeted each other without much fanfare.

The conversation moved on and they went back to their previous topic, Gabriela didn’t seem to care one bit that I was between them. They were discussing the recent passes that some of the guys in the group tried on Ciara. She was quite nonchalant about it, and didn’t seem to be bothered by the attention. With the gender proportion so skewered, it was to be expected. People had also been mostly polite about it, one comment here, another there, which Ciara was happy to feign ignorance about.

Gabriela made one jab about Johann that seemed to get a reaction out of the irish nurse. She promptly denied that there was anything between them, regardless of how long they spent together. ‘We are always talking about the group’s wellbeing,” she claimed. Gabriela didn’t buy it, me neither. Mrs Aya joined Gabriela in making Ciara uncomfortable with some precise comments about things she saw happen between them. I was surprised by how perceptive she could be.

Most of the time I just listened. I didn’t feel like I had anything interesting to add since most of the life in the base had been going over my head. No one seemed to have made a move on Gabriela as of yet, but Ciara wondered if it was because she was pregnant or because of how much time she spent around Noah. Which, eventually, led to Ciara poking Gabriela about her relationship with Noah. That, I was very interested in knowing as well. If nothing else, just to have something to defend myself from his jokes.

“You know, I thought he was into me. He was just so careful, always worried about me and trying to make me laugh. Despite my situation, I really thought he was.” Gabriela spoke as she rubbed her growing belly. “But that’s just how he is really. When I asked why he gave me so much attention, he said I reminded him of someone important to him. He is a great guy and a good friend, so I just left it at that.”

‘Huh. I didn’t expect that from Noah. Is he playing some sort of long game here? I wouldn’t put it past him.’

Ciara didn’t buy it, but there was nothing else that Gabriela could say. Mrs Aya jumped into Gabriela’s defense saying she had met people like that, with a strong sense of protection. The conversation moved on and went back to general gossip about the camp. They never spoke about the waves, the fights or anything negative. I was thoroughly distracted and happy to be taken along for the ride. Eventually, though, the conversation gravitated towards me.

“What about you, Leo? Have someone that caught your eye? Maybe our fiery doctor over here?”

“Ugh. You know I don’t like that silly nickname. Just ignore her, Leo.” Ciara rolled her eyes at Gabriela’s jab.

“I haven’t really spent much time around here.” Being put in the spotlight so suddenly made me a little uncomfortable. Gabriela seemed to sense weakness like a shark smelling blood on the water.

“You are here now, right? Ciara is gorgeous and a doctor to boot! She is quite the catch, you know? Or are you saying she isn’t good enough for you? Or maybe you are not into girls?” Gabriela fired her questions faster than I could answer. I was sure it was on purpose.

“Gabriela, ugh. Please stop, you are embarrassing yourself.”

“What? I am just joking. Leo doesn’t mind, right?”

“Well, I do.” Ciara was quite surprised at being taken out of the equation.

As the conversation seemed to move away from me I was glad to be saved by their own antics. There is something about being interrogated about your love life while being surrounded by women that is deeply terrifying. It’s an experience that can only be appreciated by those that have been in the position. Before Gabriela had a chance to perform CPR on the subject someone called us away for the start of the 12 sky o’clock meeting.

We met with Noah and a fairly large gathering of people on the ground floor. He joined our small cluster as we found space in the forming circle. Meetings, apparently, were held on the ground floor with an encirclement of the two leaders. A few chairs were brought for some of the attending injured and elderly. I made sure Mrs Aya had one, despite her protests.

Johann was already in the center speaking with a couple people I wasn’t familiar with. John soon joined him, his injured arm cradled in a sling, and the people around Johann left after a brief moment. I spotted Chen standing beside Will and some of the guys in John’s unit. With a loud clap of hands, Johann called the collective to attention and started the meeting.

The first order of business addressed was the food situation. The people responsible for the supply runs had found a sufficient amount of food to feed everyone for one day and a half. Which seemed to lift everyone’s mood, but there was a catch. They were having to go so far from the base in only two days that soon they would have a lot less time to do the looting. Johann, and John, had come up with a solution to offset that.

Starting tomorrow, everyone who was fighting would have to donate one day’s worth of food every two days. This wouldn’t solve the problem, but it would allow the collective to stockpile in case of an unusual situation like yesterday. They were living with very little buffer from starvation. The plan was met with some complaints. John invited people who were against it to come forward, but no one did. The resistance was probably expected, not everyone was happy to ‘donate’ the few points they made out of the wave to the collective. Especially since there were still a number of noncombatants.

I saw the wisdom in it, so I was more than happy to contribute more than that. I had half a mind to just summon a hundred points worth of food, but I didn’t want to be seen as more arrogant than I probably already was. A part of me wondered how John would react to this. But it would most likely backfire. It was also incredibly childish of me to do so.

With that out of the way, Johann invited Chen to come and present some of his findings. He spoke some about the group’s current fighting power and the progress made throughout the day. We have forty seven combatants, out of which nine are too injured to fight. Of the remaining thirty eight, eleven had reached level two in the wave earlier today. John and I are the only ones at level three. Today’s training yielded twenty new stat points across the entire group, John’s group included. This was, obviously, not counting the points from the level upgrade.

At this point I think Chen’s information was mostly going above people’s heads. I could see in their eyes as they tried to understand in practical terms what he was trying to say, and I think he caught that as well, because the next thing he said was the percentile increase of the group’s overall fighting strength: 6%. Which doesn’t sound like much by itself, but if it can be replicated or even improved, how strong would they be in a few weeks? That was Chen’s answer to some people’s less than enthusiastic response, to which most people chose to get caught up in the idea of living like this for weeks.

Johann intervened and tried to make everything sound better. Chen seemed disappointed, if not a little frustrated with the general mood. He had been quite enthusiastic when presenting the information. I understood and even shared his feelings. Some people were really hard to get through to. Before Johann could dismiss him, he shared the information I had given him earlier. By Johann’s and John’s reaction he hadn’t told anyone about it beforehand. While Johann seemed curious about it, John frowned, deeply. He even threw a glance at me, but I ignored it.

Voices of opposition were few as both leaders agreed with Chen’s proposition that everyone should invest at least one point from a level up in willpower. I wondered if it would have been that smoothly if it had come from me. No one was even willing to question how Chen had found this information, they just took it as a matter of fact. I wasn’t sure if he realized it yet, but he had found himself in quite a position of respect within the group. Maybe he did, he was smart and mature enough to know so.

Johann thanked Chen for his input as a dismissal and the boy was more than happy to join back into the fold. I wondered if he still wasn’t used to the spotlight. The meeting moved on and minor issues were addressed next. Who was going to be where, food distribution, small complaints about the types of cans each people liked and disliked. A couple of brawls had broken out during the day and were addressed in public. John was the one to handle those, but people seemed more than happy to keep an overall sense of order.

By the time the meeting was approaching one hour, Johann and John had decided to call the end of it. But one loud voice wasn’t happy with it. A familiar accusing finger had found its way to point in my direction. Spotted beard and an overall unlikable countenance, Igor stepped into the meeting’s circle.

“What about him? Are we going to ignore what he did today?”