The figure of light was once again taking care of the sick boy. As always, a dark wall was surrounding them while hurling insults.

But this time, something was different. The boy realized that most of these curses were not aimed at them, but at other people in the wall.

Sometimes, a gunshot could be heard, followed by loud screams of both people and sirens. Finally, after a few hours, the wall collapsed, releasing a flood of blood-stained water.

Lich woke up. Alharir was already making breakfast from canned food they found after entering Ghanzi. It was once a city that produced over 90% of Botswana's beef, so there was more than enough preserved meat to eat even 12 years after the war.

“Here's your portion.” after a few minutes, Lich received a piece of fried meat with some sugared water—One of the wasteland's classics.

A simple meal with both nutrition and calories that tasted good was impossible to prepare in the middle of a desert, thus people had to pick what's most important. Because of that, the world was graced with the presence of culinary wonders like 'Sweet water steak', 'grilled grass stake', and 'grilled Sweet water grass'. A full-course meal like 'Sweet water grilled grass steak' was a privilege only the richest could enjoy.

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They quickly finished eating their food, and started walking in silence.

Lich used the time to think about his dream. For the first time in his life, he dreamt of the day almost everyone in the bunker died. It was also the day Cape City became a city once again.

A wife attacked her husband, while the brother was shooting at his sister. Everyone just went mad, and Lich survived thanks to Sophia's sacrifice, and the fact he looked like a dead body.

“You're not an overgrown thirteen-year-old, so where were you during the end?” Alharir started the conversation. 'The end'. 'Day zero'. It had infinite names, but everyone knew what they were referring to. “I stayed in Cairo, but not in the community shelter. I was in one of the private, but still cheep bunkers.”

Cairo was the only city in Africa that built places for even the poor to survive the war, thus it was the biggest population hub in the continent.

“Cape City.” Lich answered without even looking at him. “But I wasn't in the bunker. I entered it a day after.”

Alharir opened his eyes wide, and dropped his jaw low. He didn't know what surprised him more. Hearing that Lich was in the only bunker in the country (which was very expensive to get in), or that he survived one of the most destructive bombardments he ever heard of.

“How did you survive the bio-nukes?” bio nukes were a special type of experimental weapons. They would both irradiate the area, and spread an infection among both plants and animals.

But Lich would only find out 12 years, 11 months, and 30 days after being affected. Tomorrow, they would celebrate the 13th new year of the new world.