The next day, I awoke by myself. Thankfully, I wasn’t late. The sound of everyone packing up and preparing to go was enough to wake me up, and by the time they were ready to set off, I was prepared as well. We began to work our way down the street, heading down a path I had only traveled once before with Jacques and his team. This time, we were far deeper in the city, and there were a few attacks from ferals.

The MGV virus that ultimately wiped out the planet turned most people into ferals, which was a fast-moving zombie of sorts. They weren’t intelligent nor were they difficult to deal with, although I had heard that some of them were intelligent. After a few years, certain ferals had a chance to change into a mutant. Mutants were intelligent, capable of using weapons and strategizing, and we were thus much more difficult to deal with. I had only ever dealt with Beasts, and I had once seen a small group of Revenant. The other types had remained out of my sight up until that point.

What I had seen of the mutants so far, I was quite happy not to have to deal with them. Beasts were large creatures filled with muscle and anger. There was a beast colony we’d be passing along this route. All I could remember about Revenants were their claws and teeth. They were long and sharp enough to even make a Murder Dragon proud.

While the route through the city was a bit more active than the route to the Rink and the occasional firefight broke up the monotony of a long walk, it was still pretty boring. Although I could usually chat with the Fire Ravens about random stuff, they remained fairly quiet and serious. Even they were feeling the pressure of this route. As the sun went overhead and the sky started to dark, a few people in the caravan even started to look around nervously.

Katarina had also been squeamish about moving around at night. There was a tangible feeling in the air that these mutants would make their moves if anyone was caught out after dark. This was part of the reason why the route was set to take three days. The Rink would be the first stop, and then they would stop one more time along the route to Twin Elms. When we came up upon a familiar location, the hospital, I couldn’t help but feel a bit more relaxed.

“We’ll stop here.” Tom declared.

“Is that wise?” I blinked.

When I had traveled there with Jacques, they had selected a random building much farther back. This hospital might separate the mutants from the route, but it still felt odd to take a break right on their doorstep.

“I believe we owe the safety of this building to you, Daniel.” Tom declared. “In the past, the hospital’s security was set to shoot anything and anyone. Since you set it to target mutants specifically, it’s been an ideal stopping spot for caravans.”

“That might be… but the mutant colony nearby…” I responded uncertainly.

“Of course, we should remain silent. We won’t make a fire tonight, and we won’t incite their anger. As long as we remain low, this is the safest place for us to stay the night.” Tom lowered his voice as if he was already taking his advice.

Tom was an experienced caravanner, so I could only take his advice. It looked like others has been here since the time we left. At least, the lobby had been partially cleaned up. A lot of the filth and gore that had been left behind by the beasts from when they were occupying the hospital were swept away and the pungent smells that still haunted my dreams were severely diminished. They quickly set out a camp right in the middle of the hospital lobby, the turrets watching over the location and keeping it safe.

By the time everything was set up and they started handing out rations, the sun had already mostly set. The sounds and cries of beasts and mutants seemed to fill the night. It sounded much more vivid here than in my buildings. I wasn’t sure if that was because we were closer to the city center, or because I felt less safe.

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I still felt like I could go a bit before I’d need sleep. Each of these routes was set up so that there was a little risk you’d be left out at night even if you were delayed. Thus, there were a couple of hours of wiggle room as the sunset and darkness took over the land. I wasn’t someone who was going to sit around and drink like the caravanners or do drugs like the Fire Ravens. I walked up to Raven, who was just starting to pull out a needle from a bag.

When she saw me, she immediately dropped it back in and spun around. “I wasn’t…”

She looked like a kid who was caught with their hand in the cookie jar. I ignored what she was doing, and instead made a gesture.

“Let’s go.”

“Go?” Her face suddenly flushed. “Someplace private?”

“Hmph… lovebirds.” Husk spoke quietly, but it was still enough that both of us heard.

“Not that.” I hissed. “I want to give the hospital a run-through.”

I had looked through the hospital once before after we took it over, but I was crunched for time and had accumulated many injuries. Once discovering the digitizer and an assortment of ingredients necessary for making medicines, I hadn’t looked any further. Yet, I still wondered if the hospital might contain anything else that we could use. After seeing that underground bunker under the mall, I was especially interested in going to the basement. If we were lucky, we could find more turrets and robots. I wouldn’t take them with me, but I now understood the importance of maintaining a safe trade route, and so fortifying this hospital would be beneficial too.

Raven gave me a look. “This hospital has already been scavenged a million times. Even since you last came, I’m sure dozens of people have searched through for any last remaining treasures.”

“Yes, but maybe I can get to some areas others cannot,” I responded, not wanting to bring any particular attention to Cecelia or the Perco.

Raven still looked doubtful, but she stood up and headed out with me. The location I headed to first was the security room. This was the room that gave control over all of the security droids. Before I left, I had locked it with the master code. I opened the door and then connected once again.

“Cecelia, can you find any areas of interest?”

The main difference I had between this time and the last time I had been there was Cecelia. She could quickly plow through the files and look up information that I couldn’t even understand. One such piece of information would be a complete map of the hospital, but another would be the flow of energy. Anything that was being fed energy by the fusion generator might have some security role. It was a quick way to identify if there were any locked doors or hidden safes, and it was something only an AI like Cecelia could do.

“Hmm… I do see some power being diverted. There is quite an underground complex here.” She spoke into my earpiece.

“Bingo!”

I unplugged my Perco and turned around, nearly running right into Raven. Her face flushed slightly.

“You found something?” She asked.

“Possibly. Let’s go.”

I started walking down the hallway, heading in the directions that Cecelia was giving me. Raven followed behind me, quickening her step to keep up.

“Daniel… about earlier…” Her voice sounded slightly stressed.

“What about earlier?”

“It was… it was just dret.” She responded.

“Hmm? The drugs?”

She bit her lip. “I know you don’t take any drugs… it’s probably because you come from a colony, right? It’s just, I tend to get depressed. I’ve lost a lot in the past, and it helps cope with the pain.”

“Alright.” I frowned, stopping as I found the area Cecelia was telling me to go was blocked strategically by a large medical machine.

This made my eagerness even more excited. The entrance to the basement had seemingly been hidden by someone at some point. That meant that this place under the hospital was previously unexplored. The likelihood of finding something down there was much higher than any other part of the hospital. I knew it was worth looking into. I reached out, trying to push the machine to the side, but it was extremely heavy and it wouldn’t budge.

“Daniel, I just… what you think of me matters,” Raven said uncertainly.

I finally glanced over at her. “What you do on your own time is your choice. I can tell you what to do and I’m not going to make you do something you don’t want to. Now, can you help me move this?”

She blinked, not looking entirely convinced, but she still reached out and grabbed the other end of the machine, and it slowly dragged across the floor, making loud screeching noises.

“Will this be heard by the mutants?” She asked nervously.

“Even if it is, they won’t know where it’s coming from.” I used an excuse Jacques had once given me for why I could shoot the gun on the rooftop.

I wasn’t sure if it was true, but I was determined to find something while I was there. The machine was finally over enough to expose a hidden door. It was locked, but my Perco quickly overrode the lock and it opened with a click.

“What is this?” Raven had finally grown more interested in what I was doing.

We both peered into a long stairway leading into the dark.

“Hopefully… worth it.”