CHAPTER 33 - It’s all about perspectives
About the time of invasion and the wrongs of the world’s politics - Year ???
There are a lot of theories about how the invasion came to be, but what not so many do know, is why the enemies came in waves. Some important figures of the present love to say that they were scared of us, of our technology, but every single one of us should be able to call them either dumb, blind, or naive.
Most of them, in fact, are blind, all their lives they lived thinking they were at the peak. Thinking that they are superior, and special, so they expect everything to go their way and for people to do as they ask.
I, however, will fill you in on something that happened to the people with the same status and positions at the time when the calamity struck. They all died. Well, not all, but most of them didn’t adapt to the sudden changes, expecting impossible things and miracles to happen just to get their way.
A couple of months into the calamity that befell humanity, most of the Earth was barren of human life. People banded together to survive, helping each other and doing their best to survive.
The only settlements that we still have records of, are the ones that thrived in the constant strife that happened at the time. There were no lavish palaces or comfortable villas, no, only fortified bases or hideouts hidden in plain sight. Nothing more, nothing less.
It has already been a long time since then, but somewhere you can still find vestiges of what once was built for that same purpose. Ruins, where researchers have yet to find a concise explanation of why anything that transpired occurred.
Why did we get invaded? Why are there no more than a few books piling dust about it with no relevant information whatsoever? Why our leaders have yet to say a single thing, and the most important thing… Where are all the heroes who saved us from extinction when the disaster struck, and will they still come back if we were to need them again?
Years passed, and those are some of the questions I have been asking myself lately, but all related to that era is still hidden. Buried under a pile of dust, lies, and deception. That’s why I write them for the future, for people to keep looking for answers, looking into our forgotten past that at any moment could become the future again.
* Official Records of the Capitol
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JAKE
We did it! We finally did it! We kept poking the tiger hoping it wouldn’t bite back, and now this is what we get. Honestly, we deserve it, very much so!
We lost him the moment we decided it was a good idea to keep him under continuous watch.
That damned meeting, these damned people with no kind of future insight!
Looking back, it's all my fault. I should be the only one at fault to start with, why would I even hear their absurd plans when we were just fine! Damn it! We even knew he was kind enough to selflessly save us once already when we first crossed paths.
It is all my fault. I should have stopped David the moment he suggested a meeting purely to discuss ways to manipulate him, Leo may have been dangerous, but so was our whole environment. And it is even more now that we are on our own and we can’t get his help.
Meeting called by David - A few days after Leo’s arrival
“Thanks to all of you for coming here in this short amount of time. Here our friend David asked for this meeting to address a matter that worries him. I will only tell you that the only thing I ask of you is to not leak anything of what we are going to talk about in this room.”
I look around the meeting to look at all of them to express just how important this is before finishing saying my part. “Even if we don’t have any ranks you all have something that makes you a bit more of a priority over others, which in turn, makes you a liability for what we are going to discuss.”
“Please take this seriously, this is a matter of life and death and we have to proceed with utmost caution even if we don't end up doing anything. That said, I will leave you to hear what David has to say.”
I am not in favor of all of this, but I can’t deny that it is indeed something of importance. I am not one to order around, but I really feel this is too much. I am, however, in favor of discussing it. Maybe we can get something useful out of this.
David gets up and walks to the center of the table, and he starts telling us his idea, confident in his reasoning.
“You all have seen it, him, arriving at our base as if destiny guided him, suspiciously so. To start with, no scratches, no rags, no signs of fighting or struggling to survive. He arrived here just as he just came out to walk a couple of miles and go back home.”
“However, I can already read your thoughts, about me being paranoid right? Well, let me go on, first, he arrived and roamed around the base, just as if he was memorizing the layout of the base. “
“He doesn’t talk to anyone as if scared of getting too close with anyone, getting in and out of the base with no care at all of being cautious to not alert possible threats or bring back monsters chasing him.”
“He gives us a lot of information whenever he comes back too, but only about monsters, it is as if he is avoiding talking about humans. I think he is either planning to take advantage of us, or even more probable, he is from another group of survivors, and he is just assessing the base to sell us to his buddies.”
Then, one of the people I invited to the reunion asked him the question that a lot of us are thinking.
“David, if you are so confident of him being a threat, how else do you prove it? Do you have something of value to bring to the table? Like a time when he was caught red-handed, doing something suspicious?”
“That’s a fair point, but let me ask you this, if he is so honest and really wants to join us, why not help us with basic things instead of giving us things only useful in the long run.”
“Why is he actively giving us free monster carcasses, that while useful once studied and disassembled into pieces for later crafting, are not useful at all in a couple of weeks time?”
Another guy seems eager to say something, but David cuts him before even starting.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“He could have just brought to us the supplies he got from the supermarket when he saved us, but he didn’t. He could have helped us with the building of the canal, ensuring our protection while digging it, but he didn’t either.”
“Why is he only helping with things that will take place in more than a month when he could just give us a hand in some basic, yet needed things?”
Okay, that’s convincing, I did not think as deeply about the long-term/short-term benefits as he did, but it still seems like a far stretch. David however, sees that a few of the people hearing him are starting to share his opinion and goes on, rising in tone and continuing with his tries to convince them.
He does bring an interesting plan forward, but a risky and disgusting one. Not to mention that most of the people who are following his explanation are more encouraged to do it because of our perilous situation more than anything.
“I am not asking you guys to just outright send him off, try to kill him or something else. I am merely asking for him to be put under surveillance and try to kind of guide him. We should take the chance that he is giving us to make him feel needed in this now barren world.”
“We will give him a reason to fight for, some rewards here and then, and a treatment that gets better with time.”
“The most important thing here is to tie him up emotionally so that he doesn’t want to leave, and instead enjoys what he is doing. That way we can get his help and he will get his benefits, just over time, as he gets our trust.”
At that point, I feel like this is taking a turn for the worse and feel the need to join.
“David, I get what you are saying, but Leo is a very talented person, and for now he has not displayed anything else other than at the very least good attitude and some camaraderie. Everyone, are you sure this is what you want? You know that only one mistake on your plan and it will all go down the drain right?”
I feel the need to at least try one last time to show them how this course of action can only escalate into something bad, pretty bad.
“Leo has some issues with socializing, sure, but this is not a good way to solve our misunderstandings. You should give him more time to open up.”
It isn’t David now, but it is another woman of the group now the one that gives her opinion instead.
“Jake, we all know you have the best of our interests in mind and that you care a lot about everyone in here, but that doesn’t mean you are always right. I want to hear what David has in mind.”
David, thrilled to have someone agree with him, doesn’t waste his chance.
“Well, you see, I think that I have already told you that my wife was a psychologist. She sometimes came home with a bad stomach ache caused by the difficult situations that arose at her job, and I was someone who was there to listen to her, to hear some of her problems at work and give support, so I have a lot of experience in this type of thing.”
“Going by what she told me a lot of times, most of the people that went to her with something like the death of their family or friends have a lot of problems due to lack of emotional support.”
“Leo said already he was searching for his family, and we all know that there is no way that they are alive in all the chaos inside the city. We need to fill up that void and be his support.“
“I know it is cruel, but we can’t help him get over it completely. That’s why we need to ensure that no one in the base gets too close to him, just enough to make him feel safe, but for him to feel lonely and in need of validation the moment he leaves us for too long.”
Not happy with that, David nails the coffin with one last try.
“You probably already experienced it for yourselves by now, that feeling of loss when your loved ones die and you are unable to do anything. If we manage to pull this off, with some effort, and yeah, some sacrifices, we will have the best thing we could ask for, a loyal fighter who will willingly put his life on the line for us.”
“Sometimes we need to see the bigger picture, what is one person in comparison to the whole base?”
And that seals the deal. We vote, and the choice is nearly unanimous to follow the plan.
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Leo
“Ugh…”
I feel discomfort and pain all over my body, but mostly in my head. The annoying sensation makes me wake up and open my eyes. Only to discover that I am lying face down on top of the pebble bank of a river.
My head feels like it's about to explode. It is better than what was before when actually using everything to fight, yet some of the pain still remains. The fact that instead of sleeping in a bed I passed out while falling into a river may be part of the cause.
I try my best to get a hold of myself when I feel my arm being moved by something warm and moist, only to look at it and see a huge frog in the process of eating me.
“Hey fucker, I am still alive!” I jump in fright and give him a bonk in the head to let go.
‘Just how far have I fallen… from being chased by humongous monsters and strong warriors to nearly being a frog snack.’ I am pissed off by the situation, but not at the frog, the frog is good, I look at it and I can feel at peace.
It must sound like me going mad, but the frog just feels… at ease. Seconds ago it was trying to swallow me, an obviously impossible feat for it taking into account the difference in size, and now it is just chilling there, not even moving.
I look at the idle creature and try to breathe slowly. I close my eyes to try to think about useless things and look up at the sky so that I am able to feel the sunlight even through my eyelids…
I stay like that for a moment… I try to relax just for once and feel the nature around me.
“Arghhhhhh!!!! Fuck! Screw you! Screw all of you, you fucking bastards!”
I can’t hold it in anymore and only manage to save the poor frog from my fury by venting my frustration on the nearest tree. I pound with both fists the trunk of the tree that is in front of me nonstop.
I do not think about the consequences, I just hit it again and again, first with the right, then with the left. I don’t even try to use anything at all apart from my bare fists, which start to bleed.
Not caring at all, I go on and on, getting splinters on my hands and only stopping myself from punching it to start kicking it as hard as I can. The tree isn’t able to hold in the end and falls to the ground not far from me, leaving me frozen in place, with an absent expression on my face.
‘What am I even doing?’ I think so as I look at both my hands, now even in a worse state than before.
In between my ragged breathing, damaged knuckles and leg, it gets better. I start calming down and thinking straight again.
I look all around me in search of any danger just in case. Not seeing or hearing anything, I choose to leave the area for now and look for a nice place to rest and get a proper nap.
Before leaving, I take a closer look at the river, which I get closer to. I crunch on the river’s edge and look at the water. There are no monsters around, the water is crystal clear, and with
no trash or leaves floating on it.
I can even see my reflection looking back at me as I get closer to wash my face and help me spur back into action. I do so and prepare to leave. Looking around, there is not a single trace of other humans, monsters or sadly… my equipment.
‘Fair enough! I am alive, can't ask for more.’
I look one last time to where I woke up. Then at the river and both directions where I can follow it.
I look uphill, or at least to where the water is coming from, and I don't see a thing. I look downhill, where the water is flowing too, looking for a path or something, but nothing either.
‘Whatever.’
I don’t even have the energy to care right now about going back to somewhere I am familiar with, right now the only thing I want is to sleep. That way, hopefully, I can forget about everything, at least for the moment.
I choose one direction at random and start walking into the forest surrounding me.
‘’Let’s hope I don't get ambushed by anything while looking for a safe place, I am sleepy, hungry, thirsty, and still damn annoyed.”