The cafeteria was busier than I expected, with over twenty people present. Jen and Karla were sitting at one table and motioned for us to join them, which I did swiftly. “Well, I guess I got here right in time for the lunch rush.” I took a seat and glanced around for a moment. “So, do I go get a bowl myself or is there some other procedure?”

“Believe it or not,” Jen said, “but you’re a bit of a local celebrity. Someone will bring a bowl by.”

“Plus,” Karla spoke up then, “we do have a subject that we were not able to cover at last night’s meeting, without you being present.”

Seren slipped down and sat next to me, their leg bumping against mine. “Things did go mostly smoothly.” They glanced over to Edith briefly, before looking back to me. “I think we’re all on the same page about getting everything set up as quickly as possible.” They took in a slow breath. “And we all know that Chad is coming and that we need to get ready for that right now.”

“So,” I said, “what didn’t you get to discuss?”

Karla opened her mouth to speak, but at glares from both Jen and Francis. She snapped it shut. Jen said, “Let’s eat first, then talk about business afterwards.”

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long, as Ewen came out of the kitchen with a large tray, full of steaming bowls of soup. The lanky [Butcher] set down the tray and distributed bowls and spoons to the now quite full table. I glanced around to see others having relocated to nearby tables, to listen in on the conversation.

I decided not to speak but instead ate a spoonful of the soup, making sure to get a bit of the meat, which was tender enough to melt in my mouth. I closed my eyes and allowed the flavor to wash over me. After who knows how long with only protein bars and that one piece of charred deerthing, this was like a revelation of flavor, sparking my taste buds, allowing me to luxuriate in this raw, joyful sensation of a good meal.

I set down my spoon and then looked up to Ewen. “My compliments to the chef. This may be the best meal I’ve ever had.”

Ewen grinned and offered a quick salute before heading back into the kitchen. Before I could continue eating, though, a system message popped up in front of me.

Level up! +10 perk points, Heath/Erg restored

+1 Erg Capacity

+1 Erg Capacity

to feast is the only pleasure we have left, to devour and consume, to tear apart everything we have around us and stuff it into our gullets like the ghouls we have become

I deliberately ignored the system message’s note, and went right back into digging my way through the bowl. It really was quite satisfying in ways that went beyond the expanding of my erg, it was also a warmth in my stomach, a memory of satiation. Everyone else was silent as they ate, as well, surely lost in their own recollections, their own shadowed experiences playing over in the sensation of this simple but satisfying soup.

It was not perfect, there wasn’t enough materials present to really make a perfect soup, but the mushrooms were chopped so fine that they practically dissolved into the broth, and the seasoning was perfect, bringing out the flavors of the broth and the poultry. in ways that complimented each other in the best way possible. Even if I wasn’t half-starved, this still would have been a restaurant quality dish; in my current state, I simply couldn’t imagine any finer meal.

My erg seemed to agree with me, as another system message popped up as I finished the meal.

Level up! +10 perk points, Health/Erg restored

+1 Erg Capacity

+1 Erg Capacity

Level up! +1 perk points, Health/Erg restored

+1 Erg Capacity

I settled back as I felt the changes of the level ups wash over me, working their way through my system. As I looked at my arms under the erg sight, I could see the channels of energy in them expand and grow, forming these elaborate loops through my limbs that connected up with the tighter channels of my hands and fingers. I glanced up and at the others at the table, seeing each of them with even tighter and more expansive patterns of erg channels in their bodies. All of us were changing, becoming something other than what we once were, but in that change came an ever-growing strength.

Even once everyone had finished eating, no one spoke. No one wanted to broach the topic ahead of them. I was about to take the lead there, but Edith spoke up first. “We need to talk about our prisoner,” she said.

“You mean Hank?” I asked. Nods were provided as answers and I sunk my head for a moment, expression thoughtful. “Yeah. I know what I want to do with him, but also my plan might not work.”

Francis surprised me with his swift response. “We should just kill the bastard. He was one of Chad’s right hand men, and there’s no way that he’s going to reform. We gotta get rid of him before he becomes a greater threat.” Numerous voices from the on-lookers joined in agreement with Francis.

“We definitely should keep him imprisoned until we’ve dealt with Chad,” Karla said. “I don’t know if we need to execute him, but no way should we let him out while we have an enemy preparing to assault us.” This brought louder agreement from the onlookers.

“Is anyone feeding him?” I asked, my mind reeling as I took in the opinions. “Denying a prisoner food feels like a war crime, and I’d much rather we not do war crimes.”

“I don’t think the Geneva Convention is in effect anymore,” Edith said with a smirk.

I slammed a hand down flat onto the table. “Just because there is no force to enforce being moral doesn’t mean that we should just forget the lessons of our past.” Edith shirked back at the loud noise and some confused glances were passed among the onlookers. I took a deep breath before continuing. “Has he been fed?”

Ai, the [Forager], who had been working in the kitchen, stepped out and nodded to me. “He’s not been eating as well as the rest of us, but I’ve been making sure that hasn’t been starving. He has the same access to running water as the rest of us, and his room is nicer than a lot of us have access to.” She folded her arms across her waist and leaned against the doorframe separating the eating area from the kitchen.

“Okay.” I tried to find that calm in my center. “Okay, good.” Seren placed a comforting hand onto my shoulder and in the warmth of that touch, I felt my center resolving itself more coherently. I was not alone here. “I understand that you all have doubts about him. I understand that he has done terrible things.”

Loud murmurs erupted from the onlookers and I raised a hand to bring them to silence. “I still think that we should talk to him. If nothing else, Chad maintains a huge numbers advantage, sixteen to seven. While we do have the defense advantage here, bringing the numbers to two to one would be a significant shift in our edge. Like you all have said, Chad is coming, and we have to be as ready as possible.”

“Now listen, kid,” Francis said. “I know you want to see the good in everyone, but not everyone has good in them. You weren’t there, you didn’t go through what I did. He’ll try to trick you, try to make you think that what he did is more easily forgiven than it actually is. I appreciate that you want to avoid bloodshed, that you want everyone to work together, but some folks are just garbage, through and through.”

“The end of the world broke everyone, in ways large and small,” I said. My voice fell soft, just loud enough to be heard. “I’m not denying his deeds, I’m just saying that maybe he was coerced as well, not to the same degree as you all, but to some degree. To some level, he wasn’t fully in control of his actions, because of his fear, because of his doubts, because of the suffering inflicted by this new world.”

“So you’re saying he was just following orders?” Edith sniffed loudly.

“No,” I said, “that’s not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is that perhaps now that he’s under different circumstances, his behavior will be different. I’m not asking you to forgive him, I’m asking that you allow him to be useful.” As more murmurous disagreements exploded, I shook my head. “I’ll bring Seren, they’ll take notes of everything that we say, and then we can discuss that conversation tonight.”

That brought some silence, before I continued. “And if it turns out that he’s lying to me, or if you think that he’s not sincere in what he says, or hell, if he is utterly unrepentant, then we can talk exile. Or execution.” I shook my head slowly. “Definitely agree that if we don’t all,” I repeated the word with emphasis, “all agree that he should be let out, then he doesn’t.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing, kid,” Francis said, but he held no further disagreement. The crowd kept their silence, but was caught in this sort of collective electrification of anxiety, their trauma manifesting in this moment of communal freezing.

Picking up on the mood, I rose to my feet. “Let’s get this done now.” I looked down to Seren who nodded in agreement and rose to their feet. “I’ll make sure to join you all for tonight’s meeting. Having a good meal in my stomach has definitely gone a long way in giving me the energy to stay up.”

There were some scattered chuckles at my poor attempt at a joke, but I ignored the rest of the group as much as I could, instead offering Seren a hand and helping them to their feet. We were soon out of the cafeteria and heading up the stairs towards the third floor. While we ascended, Seren caught my sleeve.

“Listen, they’re not entirely wrong about Hank.” Seren said, meeting my gaze steadily. “He’s not a good guy.”

“Did you know him at all before integration?” I leaned my back against the stairwell wall, my focus intent on them.

“No,” they said, “none of us did really. He mowed lawns for some of the richer people in the area, but he didn’t talk much. He went to high school with some of the others, but according to them, he was quiet back then too.”

“He do any sports?”

“Yeah, he ran cross country.”

“Makes sense.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Imagine this, you’re quiet, but you’re successful in high school, dude was probably a great runner, and may not have talked much in general, but probably would have had a lot more respect from the other runners. Then he gets out of high school and he’s a nobody, doing manual labor for people who think they’re better than him.

“Then the world ends, and he’s powerful again. Powerful enough for the rush to get to his head, for him to not listen to his morals and instead listen to the guy offering him even more power.”

“Nice story,” Seren said, “but even if it’s true, it doesn’t forgive his actions.”

“You’re right.” I said simply before giving their shoulder a squeeze. “But it might be something to work from.” I straightened up again. “I need you to make sure that he’s not trying to sell me a false bill of goods, you know far better than I do what he did.”

Seren nodded silently, then we both stepped into Hank’s room/prison.