Chapter 5:

“Michael, come help me in the garage. Alana and Zack, you prepare sleeping arrangements and dinner.” Ordered Oliver to his new subordinates. Michael and Alana had finished fitting into their new “uniforms.” Both wore gray cargo pants, boots, a shirt, and jacket without a hood. Of course that wasn’t the full extent of their uniform, just the bare Alana's.

“Understood boss” said Zack.

“Yup” replied Michael.

“Okay then” said Alana in a happy tone, she smiled when Oliver had said “Dinner.”

They got to work, Michael and Oliver went to the garage to check out the EOV. Meanwhile, Zack and Alana moved some shelves, hung some tarps, and made four little rooms for everyone. Then they work by boiling some water for their instant meals.

“How do we make a fire?” Asked Alana. “Is there any kerosene?”

“Hmm, I’m sure there is somewhere, but I want to try and make it myself with my Fire affinity. Speaking of affinities and magic, why don’t we practice? We have some water already here, but you’ll be supplying us with water in the long run with your Water affinity.” Said Zack.

“Okay, let's go out into the passage outside and practice.” Replied Alana

“Ha, sure, let's become super powerful for our new Boss.”

“Okay!” Alana said with optimism.

***

“Sir, what’s with the huge box?” Said Michael to Oliver.

“It’s a car, or a vehicle of sorts, I’m hoping it will work for us.” Replied Oliver.

“How is that possible, didn’t all the cars disappear.” Asked Michael.

“Yes, but I think that in order for something to disappear, it has to fill requirements. Such as a car needs an engine and wheels to disappear, so there are tires still in the world and parts sitting in warehouses.”

“I see, but even if this is a car, how are we going to drive it? I’m not sure if you realized this, but the world is all overgrown, or at least the cities are, where are we going to find gas.”

“Hey, one problem at a time, now start taking all these parts out of this box.”

“Fine, but I want extra food during dinner… Boss.”

“Sure, just get to it, I want to start exploring this city ASAP!”

They got to work, well, Michael got to work. He took out all the parts, most weren’t too heavy, the plastic covering every single part was annoying to peel off, but the job was relatively easy. That's what Michael thought, until he reached the end of the box, well the box would be putting it lightly, it was more like a small cargo container. At the end of the container lay the largest part of the EOV, the body of the car.

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“Damn it, how am I supposed to move this thing?!” Shouted Michael to Oliver.

Oliver had started to fall asleep and bolted awake at the muscleman scream. “What are we talking about?” He headed into the container. “Why did you shou— Oh, that’s not moving with just your strength.” He said.

“Yeah, want to give me a hand?” Asked Michael.

“Sure, the sooner we get this done, the better.” Replied Oliver.

Both Michael and Oliver used all their strength to move, no, drag, the body of the vehicle out of the container. Once they got the body out, both collapsed to the ground.

“Well, that's enough work for today, we’ll continue assembling it tomorrow.” Said Oliver

“Yeah, good idea boss.”

“Hey, boss, look at what Alana and I just did!” Shouted Zack as he ran into the garage. “Why are you two on the floor?”

“No particular reason, right Michael?”

“Yes, it’s just as the boss said.”

“Anyway, Alana and I were practicing magic outside in the passage when a monster came up to us, but we defeated it with all our haste!” Proudly announced Zack.

“Who, that's impressive, what kind of monster was it?” Asked Michael lifting himself up from the floor.

“Oh, it was a big rat, the size of a freaking dog.” Said Alana entering the room.

“That is cool, where's the body?” Asked Oliver.

“Still where we left it.” Said Zack.

“Great, go get rid of the corpse when we’re done eating dinner… you did make dinner right?” Said Oliver.

There was a brief moment of silence in the room, Oliver's face went dark and he asked once again. “You did make dinner, right?”

“Hehe, now that you mention it… we… may have… forgotten.” Said Zack holding up his hand in anticipation of a fireball to the face.

Oliver breathed, suppressing the thought of chucking a fireball at Zack's face; he knew it wouldn’t solve anything, except his boredom.

“Go make dinner now! And make enough for five people, Michael gets double portions for being helpful!” Shouted Oliver to Zack and Alana.

“Heheh, sure thing boss–” Both ran quickly to the Storeroom and into the makeshift kitchen they had made when making the rooms.

“Sigh, was it a mistake taking on subordinates?” He asked Michael rhetorically.

***

When Zack and Alana had finally finished boiling water and pouring it into the instant food pouches, Oliver and Michael sat down on the floor.

“This is pretty nice, not only did you two make each of us private rooms with the tarps and empty shelves, but you also made a kitchen and a common area.” Said Oliver in an approving tone to Zack.

“Heh, yes, we thought that you’d like some privacy when sleeping.” Said Zack, bringing three pouches of instant food to Oliver and Michael. “Here’s your meal.”

“Thanks, here's a tip!” Michael punched Zack's shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks.” Said Zack rubbing his shoulder.

“Where’s your meal?” Asked Oliver taking the spoon inside the pouch.

“Alana is bringing it.” Replied Zack.

“Yumm, this is a true delicacy, you’re a decent cook!” Said Michael shoving food down his throat. “It’s not entirely filling, but that's okay, I get two shares anyway.”

“Yes, yes, I’m aware.” Said Zack grabbing the pouch from Alana who had just entered the room.

Oliver and his group sat down and ate their food, an eerie silence covered the room for a couple minutes as they ate.

“So, Boss, you never showed us your stats.” Said Zack.

“Yeah, show us!” Said Alana

“Oh, really. My bad–here.” He opened his status and continued to eat as the three looked at his impressive status.

Status:

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Strength: 6 (Avg 10)

Agility: 4 (Avg 10)

Luck: 13

Mana: 1950/2000

Affinities: Earth, Water/Ice, Wind, Fire, and Bone

“What the hell, why do you have so much mana and every single affinity! That's amazing!” Said Zack.

“Yeah, how many points did you even get?” Asked Michael putting down his food.

“Well… I think I got 10, like everyone else.” He replied.

“What, that makes no sense—, wait what's Bone affinity? I didn’t see that in the affinity store.” Said Zack.

“Huh, what do you mean by Bone affinity, there's no— wait, how did that get in there?” Said Oliver confused.

A memory suddenly flashed in his head from when he spoke to the disembodied voice… “Yes, is that not enough, then I'll give you something extra. Something that only you will have.”

“How did I forget about that? I don’t remember it being there when I looked at it earlier.” He thought. “I wonder what it means?”