The moment they arrived, they were separated. Tundra was taken straight to his father’s office while David was bought… who knew where. The office was bland. Expensive looking furniture, all aligned to perfection. Not a pen out of place. Not even a photo. No personality whatsoever.

‘‘Alice. You’ve grown. You’ve… changed.’’

‘‘Don’t call me that, Craig.’’

‘‘I would be more inclined to call you the name you chose if you called me ‘dad’ like I asked you too. And if it was an actual name. A biome. You named yourself after a biome.’’

‘‘I can name myself whatever I please and that is none of your fucking business.’’

‘‘Language !’’

‘‘Oh, go fuck yourself…’’

‘‘I said, language ! As long as you are in my facility, you will respect my rules. Is that understood ?’’

‘‘In that case, I guess I’ll just leave…’’

‘‘Absolutely not. I had you bought here to keep you safe and…’’

‘‘Why ?!’’ he interrupted. ‘‘You have never cared about me before so why now ?!’’

‘‘You can’t say I never cared ! Just because I wasn’t there doesn’t mean I didn’t care ! It’s not my fault your mother took you away ! I did my best ! I sent you money every year for your birthday, I tried my best, Alice !’’

‘‘That’s not my name ! And my birthday is in July, not June !’’

‘‘It’s in July ?’’

‘‘Yeah. I was born on Friday the 13th of July 2007. July. And you weren't there, if I remember correctly.’’

‘‘Oh…’’

‘‘Right. So now, I’m gonna leave this place, with my cat and my friend, and you’re not gonna stop us. Ideally, you’re not even gonna try, because some guys out there have my brother and I will do anything to get him back. Anyone who stands between me and him will regret it one way or another.’’

‘‘You have a brother ?’’

Silence. For a really long time, Tundra just stared at him in disbelief. How could this man claim to care about him yet not even know about his brother ? He didn’t have any illusions, he knew his father didn’t care, but he hadn’t realised it was to such an extent.

‘‘You can’t tell me you care about me after this. You didn’t even know I had a brother. He is the person I care about the most in the whole fucking world. I would do anything for him. That’s a threat. Do not stand in my way.’’

‘‘Calm down. I have considerable resources. I’ll get him back here with you. In the meantime, you are staying here. And you can’t appear in front of my associates like this. My assistant will take you to your room. You’ll find a shower and some clean clothes. Be presentable.’’

‘‘Oh. I get it now. Why you sent people to bring me back here. That’s what I was so confused about, but I get it now. It’s for appearances. You want your ‘associates’ to think you’re a good and responsible father. Well fine. I’ll play along for now. Be presentable. But I want my stuff as well. My pack. With all of its content intact.’’

‘‘You can’t seriously want to keep all that old disgusting stuff. You have a jacket that’s covered in paint. It’ll be better to just throw it away…’’

‘‘You went through my stuff ?! You had no right ! If that jacket is not in the exact state I last saw it in when I get it back… There’s sentimental value to it. I doubt you’re capable of understanding that, but that thing is important to me. So you better not have done anything to it.’’

‘‘Your precious paint covered jacket is fine. You’ll get it back if that’s really what you want. But I don’t want to see you wearing it around here. In this place, you only wear the clothes I give you. Is that clear ?’’

‘‘I’ll respect your rules if you respect me. That means you forget that other name. My name’s Tundra. I'm your son, despite all evidence to the contrary. Oh, and also my cat stays. And David too. Are we clear ?’’

‘‘David ?’’

‘‘The guy who came with me.’’

‘‘What’s your relationship with this man ?’’

‘‘Uh, we’re a team. Like, we stick together out of convenience because it’s easier to survive in a group out there. He stops me from dying, I stop him from dying. Simple as that.’’

‘‘Well, you’re safe now. You don’t need him in here.’’

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

‘‘I’m not staying here forever. I’ll need him when we leave.’’

‘‘You are not leaving ! I said we’ll bring your brother here !’’

‘‘I’m not raising Oliver anywhere near you !’’

‘‘That’s right, you’re not raising Oliver. You’re not his mother ! It’s not your job ! We’ve got women here to do that. Understood ?’’

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

When Tundra got home, it was well into the afternoon. The house was silent. He found Oliver sitting on the floor in a corner of the kitchen, hungry. When he saw his older brother he gasped happily and jumped to his feet to hug him.

‘‘Thundra ! You’re back ! I’m hungry…’’

‘‘Didn’t you eat ? Where’s Mum ?’’

‘‘She’s in her room. She yelled at me when I asked her for food.’’

‘‘What ? She did ?!’’

He immediately went to check and found his mother asleep. There were several empty bottles lying around the room. She was loudly snoring. He immediately felt angry. He wanted to yell at her but she was asleep and it would be pretty pointless. He went back to the kitchen.

‘‘Hey, I’m sorry Ollie. I’m gonna make us something…’’

He opened the cupboard and found a can of ravioli, which he emptied into a bowl and heated up in the microwave oven. Soon, they were sitting at the kitchen table, Oliver hurriedly stuffing his face.

‘‘So, Ollie. Have you been watching TV at all today ? Did you see the news ?’’

‘‘No. I couldn’t ask Mum if I was allowed…’’

Tundra sighed and stood up to find the TV remote. When the screen switched on, they were met with an official broadcast telling them to stay inside and wait for further instructions. It didn’t actually explain why, but Tundra already knew from his phone.

‘‘Thundra, what’s going on ?’’

‘‘An alien spaceship landed on Earth.’’

‘‘What ?’’ he asked, his eyes narrowing. ‘‘I know you’re lying ! Your tricks won’t work on me !!’’

‘‘I’m not. There’s an alien spaceship. Aliens ! They say they come in peace, but we should still be careful. We don’t know if they could be lying. But imagine this, Ollie ! People went to meet them ! They met aliens and the aliens said they want to share their knowledge with us ! These beings have achieved space travel beyond what would be possible for us for at least thousands of years still ! We cannot possibly conceive the extent of what this will mean for humanity ! This could change everything forever ! There will be no coming back after this ! We may solve humanity’s greatest problems ! We-’’

‘‘Thundra, I don’t understand…’’

‘‘Right, right, sorry. Thanks to the aliens, we could probably solve most our problems.’’

‘‘Will they make Mum normal again ?’’

‘‘Oh, er… I don’t think so, Ollie. That’s… a more complicated problem. I meant things like people not having enough food. Or not having enough space.’’

‘‘Then I don’t care. I just want Mum.’’

‘‘I’m sorry Ollie. That won’t be such an easy problem to solve. But you know what, it doesn’t matter. You have me. You’ll always have me. I’d do anything for you, you know that ? Anything…’’

He ruffled his hair.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

‘‘So, you think it’s a woman’s job to raise kids ?’’

‘‘Yes, obviously…’’

‘‘Okay, well, be consistent in your shitty world vision because just a few moments ago you were treating me like one. And whichever it is, I’m raising Oliver because he’s my brother and I have looked after him since the beginning and I promised him that I would always take care of him. I’m not leaving him in the care of some stranger. So, if you want to help me get him back I’ll gladly accept that but we’re not sticking around after.’’

‘‘Well, you can try to leave… Now, Charlie will take you to your room. Shower. And wear what I gave you.’’

‘‘Hi, Charlie. I’m Tundra.’’

Silence.

‘‘Did you get here before the apocalypse, or after ?’’

Silence.

‘‘Are there many others our age ? Are you always this silent ?’’

Silence.

‘‘Does Craig make everyone wear suits ? Because I’ve seen an awful lot of those so far…’’

‘‘Yes. And women wear skirts.’’

‘‘But you’re not wearing a skirt…’’

‘‘I’m not a real woman.’’

‘‘Not a real… Hey, what’s your actual name ?’’

‘‘Charlie.’’

‘‘No, I mean the one you want to be called.’’

Silence.

‘‘My name’s Mia.’’

‘‘Nice to meet you, Mia ! I’m Tundra !’’

‘‘The boss said your name was-’’

‘‘Craig was wrong.’’

Silence.

‘‘Tundra, do you wanna be friends ?’’

‘‘Yeah.’’