Life wasn't always like this, it was peaceful and free going. People can go out day or night without fear of getting killed, robbed, kidnapped or turned into something they don't have control over. But everything changed when a huge rock from the sky fell on the capital or should I say the former capital. The impact spread wide, wiping everything in sight to the very atom. It altered the very nature of the geography it is situated, intoxicating everything with or without life. The slightest contact with them will contaminate and condemn you, crushing your will and extending its tendrils into you altering your mind. It'll make you an extension of whatever is in that rock. Chaos spread fast, economies collapsed, millions died, it was a dark age for us nearly driving us to extinction. We tried to bond together and fought back. It failed massively and cost a lot of lives. Everyone fled and hid counting their days, paranoid, going back to their primitive roots, the survival of the fittest. The weak dare not walk alone and even the strong bond together in fear of what the others might do so they keep each other closer, they act like comrades but they wait for the perfect opportunity to pounce on each other and being closer makes it easy for each of them to keep tabs on one another. 

The failure of the last commission led to everyone going each way and form independent communities.

 “ Ouch.” I felt a sharp pain on my head, it felt like metal. I turned my head to the direction of the source, a tall dark skin girl on her hand is a metal bar. “ Why did you— ouch.” Another smack that wasn't painful as the first but it still hurts. “ We have been waiting for you for the past ten minutes, and what are you doing? Daydreaming again let me guess. Ari became a fearsome leader who does nothing but eat and sleep., Or Ari—” 

 “ Oh shut up Nie. I wasn't daydreaming this time, I don't even daydream.” She tried to argue back. But I shut her up by putting a finger on her lips, And use the other finger to point at the cabinets quarters below us. 

“ Shaun's back.” Her eyes widened when those words hit her ears. “ Then what are you doing here? We have to hurry and tell the others before they proceed without us.” She's panicking, emotions mixed with fear and anxiety, She's very easy to read, to me at least. “ Shh calm down.” I placed my hands on her shoulders then squeezed it. “Something's wrong, He came in with bandages and he's the only one that came back.”

Ten men went for parole with Shaun leading them but he's the only one that came back. 

“ Just know, he won't be bothering us anytime soon, so chill out. And even if I ran to the others to stop them it won't change anything. Shaun's a down to detail man, just by looking at the field he'll know something amiss. All we can just pray for is him being quarantined and that takes four months which will be enough to cover up our tracks.” I removed my hands from her shoulders which are now plump down. Why is she acting so sad? She should be praising me now. “ Hey stop acting so sad, it's annoying, and you ought to be praising me for how I figured everything out.” Nie eyes focused on me, her dark iris piercing my skin making them itch. “You're very stupid if you think Shaun isn't coming down to the field.” Nie sprint down, having no other way to stop her. I followed her. She was walking fast, I envy her for those long legs most of the time I feel she's just showing off when she does that. We dug deep into Petar, one of the most prominent communities since the fall-off, you could say we're one of the big four communities brimming with power, resources. We always have a say when it comes to decision making. But lately we've been left behind — maybe something is….

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“ You could have just said something, Ari, even that little time would have helped us.” Nie is angry. I don't know why, Shaun will be too busy to think about the field. Everyone has been busy preparing for a siege and possibly displacement, the infection is spreading fast to our direction bring with it the baggage it carries. “ Nie, you overreact too much that's why I didn't want to tell you. Shaun is not going to kill us when he find out, killing a bunch of kids over shrooms is crazy. Like what's the worst he could possibly do—” Nie stopped in her tracks and turned swiftly to my direction, our height difference clear as day. She was staring down at me, her face really close. I could feel the heat in her heavy breathing. 

“ You don't know him as I do!” 

“ Yes I don't, but stop acting like you're the only one in trouble if he finds out.” Why do you always try to carry everyone's baggage. 

“ I know what he will do and it's — the worst thing you possibly think of.” you keep on saying that. How deep does their relationship go? I raised my head to look at her, heads above me which I wasn't doing before. “You can go and save your head, I don't care! Arguing with me ain't changing shit. You're just wasting time you don't have.” I turned my back on her without waiting for her reaction. The whole place seems quiet like we were the only people present. I didn't hear her footsteps, she was just standing there waiting for me to turn back to her direction but I just kept on going the other way. I felt this pull towards her direction but I ignored it. Sigh it's going to be a pain in the ass to patch up things with her. The scenery above Petar slowing changing, light spitting out darkness. 

The heat getting swallowed up by cold air from the east, I couldn't focus. I just kept on wasting money eating and getting wrecked. I use food as a source of distraction but my thoughts kept on drifting back to Nie.  

“ What did you do this time?” The main chief at the pub noticed me, oh man he's going to rough my hair. He always does that, I closed my eyes and brace myself in anticipation. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw him sitting across the table, a passive expression on his face. I realized he was waiting for my answer. 

“ what did I do — to who?” He doesn't joke around when it comes to Nie, I don't know whether it's love or admiration but he seems so committed to the course. 

“ You know who, I saw her going down to the field, I've never seen her made such a face like that before so what did you do?”

“ How does that imply that I did something? And she was just angry, nothing else.”

“ She wasn't angry” 

“ Then what—” 

“ Just go see her.” 

  I went down the direction of the field, my mind seemed clear I wasn't thinking of anything. SORRY I SHOULD HAVE LISTEN TO YOU. I kept on practicing my apology to her in my head. I wonder what face she would make or will she walk away from me. But I didn't want to dwell on the outcome, I just wanted to apologize. The field came to view, the shrooms weren't even Shaun's, he just laid claim over it and used us to maintain and distribute it through Nie. We did get a few cuts from the profits, but lately nothing has been coming our way. He doesn't talk to us. He never did, I don't know the type of person he is, but Nie's interpretation of him is just……

  I won't take her interpretation seriously because she tends to exaggerate things.He went on parole and did come back for five months, which was weird because the maximum stay on a parole is a week before you run out of resources, so we assumed he was died and took over his business for him, well that didn't go well. The crops were dying, I guess Shaun did something to them in case we try to do something greedy. I stopped on my tracks with Shaun a few feets away from me with his back facing me, so massive I felt so small and intimidated by it. Something caught my eyes. It vibrates and stains the ground crimson, there's no mistaking that it's blood. Everyone was sitting on the floor. They were shocked like they just saw something they shouldn't have. Jacab, Saimth, Tera, Remi and Tesse all wear fierce expressions of shock. But where's Nie?.