The Saviors (accepting/started)

Burns, mutation reverser,

We set up shop in the bunker. It is spacious on the inside, half-buried in the ground, and well stalked with food, clean water, and weapons. Lots of weapons. Guns, clubs, knives, bows, bullets, grenades, you name it, it's there. There is a kitchen space, bunks, and a large open room that has nothing. Shae is sniffing around excitedly, while Blue, Ayleth, and Sadon are taking stalk of what we need. I feel kind of useless, but since I can't see, I'm of little use where packing is concerned. Instead, I take the rabbits that Blue caught and I fry them up in the kitchen area. I take some spices from my pack (whenever I happen to un-mutate something edible, I ususally take a sample, and with herbs, I make sure I always have a bunch) and add it to the meat, and the bunker is soon filled with the smells of cooking meat. I bring the food out to the others, and we dig in ravenously.

"Good, that," Blue says, smacking her lips contentedly.

"Yeah," I say, sighing. Shae is gnawing happily on some bones and I pat her on the head. Sadon and Ayleth don't seem talkative, but I address them anyways.

"So where were you two from?" I ask, turning my head in their general direction.

"Doesn't matter," Sadon mutters, and Ayleth doesn't say anything.

I shrug, "Suit yourself. I was from somewhere in Europe, I think. Took for bloody ever to get here."

Mathilda Blue
"Suit yourself. I was from somewhere in Europe, I think. Took for bloody ever to get here."

I laughed. It felt good to talk to someone again. "I'm from Canada, or what's left of it anyway. Only good thing about that research facility was that it was surrounded by trees. I've been running around in the woods as long as I can remember."

"They let you outside?" Burns sounded a bit surprised.

"Yeah." I took a huge bite and swallowed before continuing. "I didn't fancy the scientists, and the only way they could keep me somewhat manageable was letting me out from time to time." Or something like that. I wasn't quite sure. Couldn't remember much of what had happened in the facility, but I did remember the days that I spent in that forest.

I was full, and still had a lot left, so I gave the dog some. "She's real cute," I said with a smile, and then realized that Burns wouldn't know who I was looking at. "Your dog, that is." I glanced over at Sadon and Ayleth, hoping that they might say something, anything, but when they didn't I continued. "I had a mutated squirrel once, but it went rabid so I had to kill it."

"Oh." Burns looked slightly amused.

"Yeah.. So anyway, how are we going to do this? The cleaning up, I mean. Do we take one are at the time or..?" I looked at the others.

Ayleth

I listened to their conversation, not trusting myself to speak, I just knew if I did I would stutter, and I couldn't bear the looks of confusion, then sympathy. So instead I listened, watching Mathilda Blue. She was so confident, so at ease with herself. I couldn't help the feelings of jealousy that I felt, and then I felt even more guilty. I shouldn't envy other people, I'd heard somewhere that it was one of the "seven deadly sins" and while I wasn't sure what that meant, deadly frightened me.

I elbowed Sadon lightly when she asked a question and he gave me what I knew to be a longsuffering look, but to anyone else probably looked like a glare.

He sighed and looked back at Mathilda. "That would make the most sense, don't you think. That way as soon as we leave a spot it won't immediately be overrun."

I twisted my hands, half hiding behind Sadon again as their gazes were turned to us, and felt my face start to go red.

Burns,

Sadon speaks for the first time.

"That would make the most sense, don't you think? That way, as soon as we leave a spot, it won't immediately be overrun."

I nod, "You're right. We should spend a while here, and work out in rings. We start near to the bunker and make sure that the area is secure, and then move further and further out."

Blue stands up, "Sounds good," she says, yawning, "But we can start in on that in the morning. Now it's time for some shut-eye."

We all nod in agreement. None of us use the bunks in the other room, instead choosing to spread out bedrolls on the floor in the big room. Shae curls up next to me, and I lay awake for awhile, scratching her ears. So, this is it. These are the people who I will probably spend the rest of my life with. Not too bad, considering. They are dedicated, I can tell that much, and easy to get along with. It could be a lot worse. In the bunker, there is an illusion of safety, and eventually, my eyes close, and I drift off to sleep.

Nicholas
I have waited all day for the supposed saviours to get themselves together enough to move into their new home. Now, as the darkness of night conceals me, I creep up to the clearing by their bunker. One of the mutated trees closest to the cleared area offers perfect footholds for climbing. I scurry up and sit high in the tree, in the fork of a branch and the trunk. I am concealed to all below by leaves and my black hoodie, but there is a window in the leaves big enough for me to see anyone who comes or goes from the bunker. That likely won't be anyone until morning, because the most fearsome creatures come out at night. Up here I am out of the way of most of them but a tree so easy for me to climb would be a cinch for some of them. I tell myself to stay awake, to watch for predators or saviours, but I nod off anyway.

Mathilda Blue
I was tired, but I couldn't sleep. I didn't know if it was because of the bunker, or the fact that I was laying beside people I hardly knew, but I couldn't. Instead I decided to take a walk. Some fresh air should clear my head.

I went outside and took a deep breath of the cold night air. At first it was filled with toxins, like always, but after a while the air around me cleared, and I could feel the scents from the nearby nature. It was silent tonight. Almost too silent. Normally you'd hear crickets and some birds, but not tonight.

A sudden thump from underneath a nearby tree startled me, and I realized that I had left my rifle inside the bunker. At least I still had my knife. I heard someone curse from the same tree. A human? "Hello?" I called. The deadly silence returned. "I know you're there already, so you might as well come out." Still no answer. "We have food?" I tried one last time.

Nicholas

I wake up in the middle of the night to to sound of a door opening. A girl has emerged from the bunker. I hadn't expected anyone out until morning. She wears no gas mask, naturally I assume she is one of those Saviours supposed to clean the air just by breathing it. I start growing excited. The loneliness of the night offered perfect cover for me to sneak up behind her and slide my knife between her ribs. I try to jump down softly from the tree, but hit a branch on the way down and land awkwardly with a thump. She must have heard, because she looked straight at me. I curse as I stand up. There goes my element of surprise. "Hello?" she calls. Aw, how cute. She thinks I'm friendly, when really I'm about to kill her.

The thought strikes me oddly, and I stand in total silence, shaken by a sudden gut-wrenching sense of morality. She calls again, "I know you're there already, so you may as well come out." Fine, conscience, you win this round.

"We have food," she said. What does she think I am, a puppy? I check to be sure my hood is up, and then slink from the shadows. She can't see my face because of the gas mask, but even that is hidden, except for the respirators at the bottom, as I keep my head down stepping into the moonlit space. "Oh, hello," she says.

I walk up to her, my stride cool and even. Just when I am within an arm's length, I reach out and grab her by the throat. My masked face is so close to her bare one she can surely feel my breath. My other hand presses the tip of a jagged, makeshift knife into the skin just below her jaw, not breaking it - yet. She scrabbles at her belt for something, probably a weapon, so I make this short. "Watch your back, Saviour. Animals aren't the only things you have to look out for. We are coming for you, all of you." Why I make myself out to be "we," I don't know, but it works.

"Who are you?" she asks, no longer scrabbling. She has a hold on her knife.

I lean my face in until I am staring right in her eyes, press on the knife to draw just the slightest drop of blood, and say, "The mutants." I release her and sprint from the clearing. I climb up into the trees and swing away, ape-like.

So my Internet connection might be quite patchy over the next few days, so if I don't post, that's why.

Mathilda Blue
I watched him run away, not knowing how to react. Should I have run after him or called for the others? No. No, I shouldn't wake the others. I could tell them in the morning. Besides, that guy hadn't tried to hurt me, so he couldn't be that bad.

I hadn't known that there were others out here. Why hadn't anyone told me? I sighed. This meant that I couldn't go out without my rifle.. And someone needed to keep an eye out if there were more of them around. Since the others were asleep I guessed that that someone had to be me. At least for tonight.

I went back inside, picked up a rifle and sat down on a chair facing the entrance. This was going to be a [i]long[i/] night.

.....

I don't know how many cups of coffee I had fought my way through that night. I hated the taste of it, but at least it kept me awake. The others were finally starting to stir. I offered them some hot coffee and told them what had happened during the night. "Did you know that there was others out there?"

Ayleth

Sadon and I woke the same time we always did, with the sun, and as I sat up Mathilda offered us each cups of coffee. That was so kind of her.

"Did you know there were others out there?" She asked, and I felt my heart skip a beat. I sent a terrified look at Sadon, who was waking up in his long and quiet way. He tensed slightly, the only indication of what I knew he was feeling. Had they followed us?

Sadon nodded slowly, accepting the coffee and took a long swig before speaking. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

I whipped my gaze back to her and scanned her for any mortal wounds, heart stuttering in my chest. I just couldn't bear it if someone as kind as her was hurt by the mutants, that would be just awful.

She didn't look terribly hurt, maybe bruised around the throat a little, but not bleeding out, thank goodness.

Mathilda Blue
"You aren't hurt, are you?"

The girl looked horribly worried, so I smiled reassuringly at her. "No, I'm fine. He didn't seem like he actually wanted to hurt me.. Or maybe he did and chickened out." I laughed even though I was very well aware that he could have killed me easily, if he so wished, and I probably owed him a favor or something. On the other hand he had threatened me, all of us in fact. No, I did not owe him a favor.

"We should probably keep watch while we sleep, take turns and all that." I leaned back on my chair with a satisfied smile. "And since I kept watch until now, I get to sleep tonight." I wanted to go to bed right now, but the sun was already up, so there was no point. Instead I clapped my hands together, trying to wake myself up, and more or less jumped up from the chair and walked to the kitchen area. "So, who wants pancakes?"

"I do." It was Burns who had gotten up, the pooch right behind him as usual. I gave him a cup of coffee too.

The other two didn't raise any objections, so I got started at once. The only thing I had to do was ad water to the pancake mix, and voila! I even found some sirup in the pantry.

"Did you hear what I said about our visitor?" I asked him before stuffing my mouth with the sweet sirupy delight. I hadn't eaten anything sweet since.. Was it three years ago that I had persuaded one of the scientist to give me some chocolate?

"Yeah, I heard."

"So? Did you know about these mutants that are apparently out to get us?"

Burns,

I should have set a watch. I curse myself inwardly. I'd been worried that this would happen, though not so soon. I sip my coffee.

"Did you hear what I said about our visitor?" Blue addresses me, and I feel a little ashamed.

"Yeah, I heard." I stroke Shae's ears and inhale the scent of my coffee.

"So? Did you know about these mutants that are apparently out to get us?"

She asks the question without a hint of accusation, but I feel myself reddening anyway. I tilt my head in their direction, addressing all three. I sigh.

"I had...suspicions. They talked about mistakes in the Savior program back at the facility where I trained. I always figured they had been terminated, but then I realized no one would waste resources on that. They must have been released."

"They were," Ayleth says softly, and Sadon makes a noise of ascent. I let out a breath.

"So out job just got a hell of a lot more difficult." Blue says, finishing up her pancakes. I nod and stand.

"We had better get started, then," I say, picking up my supply bag, "We should move as a group so that those of us who need air purification can work without masks. I vote we work in a circle around the bunker, and move out in a spiral. We can start with the very edge of the clearing today."