Still Here

"MOTHER!" I screeched as I watched my mom die for who knows which time now. Tears streamed down my cheeks as my seemingly frail twelve-year-old body trembled. "No please don't leave me," I desperately shouted. I took a step back, only to feel the familiar sensation of falling taking over my senses. My screams were silent as I fell, wind rushing past my limp body. The ground met my back too soon and pain radiates up my spine causing my back to arch up. A gasp escaped my mouth as I threw my head back. "That looks like that hurt," a worried voice interrupted my self-pity. I rolled over and let out a small groan, "What, the memory or the fall."

The familiar voice chuckled as I sat up, my eyes narrowed as I looked at the ghost-like figure that resembled my father. I stood up and brushed off my night attire, "Well, this is just a dream so I guess none of it really matters." My father smiled sadly before pulling me close, "You need to move on, you have friends and an epic life to lead. We lived ours, now it's your turn." I hugged him back before sighing, "You've been saying that since seven years ago. I just don't want to let you go until all of this blows over. Every night I dream you're still here. Every evening I worry that I won't, that I'll never get to see you again, but you're always here, and I don't want to let you go. " I shrugged and pulled away, a frown on my face. This dream was so recurring that I had memorized it, well other than the fact that sometimes my father has different reactions to my words, "Goodbye fatherly figment of my imagination, I have a camp to lead."

....

I opened my eyes while letting out a strangled groan. It had been seven years since my first kill, since then my friends and I had 'transferred' to an abandoned school. While there we had 'adopted' a couple of people we found on the streets. Our numbers have been booming, and I thanked my luck for letting us find a middle school right next to a high school. It could easily hold our numbers, we also had an underground tunnel that we carved that led us to the high school, when the surface was dangerous. It wasn't the prettiest but it got the job done.

I crawled out of the mattress and stretched, then I changed into a tight wrapped top. The part that went over was a dark blue and the part underneath was black. The sleeves were long and skintight with the end pulled down to wrap around my center finger. The sleeves were black with silver threads spiraling up to my shoulders where they turned into a wing made of spirals. I then pulled on my dark blue leggings which had silver thread going down the sides in waves. I put my combat boots on next. The leather was pitch black and the laces were the same shade of dark blue, with silver spikes decorated the top. I put on a necklace with a bronze key hanging off of it. The key belonged to my old house, and I couldn't bear to part with it. Then I put on my hooded cloak. The cloak had an open front which was held together by a single silver thread which ended in a loop. On each side of the cloak was a silver button with dark blue spirals on it. The cape itself was dark blue with silver lining the inside. My grey eyes scanned for my double scabbards.

When I found them I put them on and pulled my blonde hair up into a ponytail. I had taken the High School principal's office, while Aarin took the other principal's office in the high school. Kari and Ember took the two teachers' lounges. The older kids took the high school for dorms and training areas, while the younger kids took the smaller of the two schools. The smaller school was protected by Kari and I since the kids (sixteen and younger) were still training, and because Aarin and Ember can't stand kids.

I strolled over to the cork-board that I had moved over the window to look at my schedule for the day. After my mom died I couldn't stand being in the house anymore and decided to take my new friends to the school that was just across the high-way. Luckily we didn't run into anything dangerous, and made it to the twin schools unscathed, well other than the fact that I tripped and scraped my knee but that's beside the point.

Breakfast first, then I have to look over the children in the nursery until lunch. After lunch I clean up the cafeteria and cook dinner. I nodded, I had created my own schedule the day before on account of requests from my friends who ran the other jobs in the camp, we also worked together to create the other members of the camp's schedule. It wasn't that hard seeing as there were five of us and only a hundred or so people.

I let out a tired groan before crumpling up the piece of paper and throwing it into the nearby waste bin, it's not like I'll need it past today. Finally I headed out of the door for breakfast. The halls were empty but I could faintly hear the sound of my camp members chatting in the cafeteria. I chuckled lightly as I strolled up the ramp to the two large glass doors that only partially covered the chaos beyond. I rolled my eyes before slamming both doors open in a dramatic entrance.

Most of the people were standing in a circle, I assumed that they were watching a fight, while the other people looked like they were just tired and wanted to go back to sleep. I chuckled, "Hey! Who started the party without me?" It took everything inside of me not to roll my eyes when everyone spun around to look at me. Immediately the crowd made a path for me, causing me to be face to face with the two culprits.

My face was stern as the two sixteen-year-olds jumped apart to stand at attention, "He started it!" They both shouted at the same time. I kept my expression neutral, "I don't care who started it, the both of you know that fighting between camp members is strictly forbidden. Now, tell me what happened." Immediately both of them opened their mouths, but before either of them could speak I interrupted, "You first."

The child to the right smiled triumphantly as I pointed to him, "He said that I will never be able to lead a group, since no one will respect me due to my short height. I got mad and told him to shut up. Then he shrugged and began to walk off, so I punched him." I nodded, "It's not your height that will lose their respect, it's the fact that you rely purely on instincts. You need logic and instincts to lead a group." The other child smiled until I turned to him, "Is his story true?" He gulped and nodded, "You are not allowed to antagonize your camp-mates, they are your most important survival tool. Height has nothing to do with anything. Now, both of you apologize to each other."

I watched as they bowed their heads and turned to each other. Both of them were silent as the trainee on the right held out his hand. I nodded in approval as the other trainee grasped his hand in his own and gave him a firm shake, that's how I taught them to apologize, since it held more respect for the other and it's not just some flimsy words. The rest of the group applauded in approval before returning to their food.

I groaned and sat down at my seat, noticing that Kari and Aarin were already there, "I hate kids sometimes. I guess Ember's sleeping in again." They both nodded. I rolled my shoulders before standing up again, "I'm going to get some coffee, you guys want some?" Again, they both nodded. I spun around on my heel and headed into the lunch line. The people on breakfast duty handed me the three coffees without a word causing me to chuckle lightly, two black coffees and one with vanilla cream, a rarity nowadays. I thanked them and headed back to our table, already feeling energized from the smell of caffeine.

Aarin was leaning against the table, they were wearing their favorite outfit which consisted of a black long-sleeved dress shirt with silver buttons holding it together. Their left sleeve fanned out to cover their hand. They had a red brooch on their shoulder that I had given to them the previous year. Stretching out from the brooch were three more silver chains, they went around the arm to connect at the back of her shoulder blade. Their collar was red with silver lining, matching the cuff on their right wrist. They were wearing a black and silver belt over their red pants which clothed their crossed legs. Going up to their knees was a pair of black boots with silver swirls. They looked taller than they actually were due to their three-inch heels. They brushed some of their vibrant crimson curls out of their face, and smiled at me.

Kari was in front of Aarin talking to them through her grey mask. A large scarf covered her upper torso, the threads reaching lower and wrapping around her arms. Her sleeves were long with a darker shade of grey as well as lighter grey fingerless gloves. Under her scarf was a dark grey shirt that connected to the same shade of shorts. Black studded suspenders came out from under her scarf to connect to her brown stockings. Her dark grey combat boots reached barely below her knees.

Ember was sitting at the table as I approached and immediately opened her arms when she saw the coffees in my hand. She had red fingerless gloves that reached her shoulders. She wore a matching sleeveless top that was more like a swimming suit if not for the skirt. The skirt was only connected at the back but open at the front. Hanging down from here shoulder blades were three ribbons designed to look like fire. She had platform heels that were orange to cover where her foot was but black all the way up her thigh.

I rolled my eyes, "No Ember, the last time you had coffee you almost killed us all." Ember let out a small, 'hmph' and crossed her arms, "I was just making a few small bombs, nothing too deadly." I handed Kari and Aarin their coffees before responding, "Ember, you almost blew up our camp, that would have been deadly and we would have to find another shelter." Ember groaned, "But we could use them against the demons." I sat down with my own coffee, "That's your argument every time, and every time I have to remind you that Fisher cannot build a bomb that will remain stable enough for us to find where they live and blow enough of them up, plus there might be humans there. No matter what you say, we need as many humans to be alive by the end of this as we can."

I sipped my hot coffee, loving the sting of the warm liquid on my tongue, 'if it ever ends, that is.' I heard the thud of someone sitting beside me, "Are you two arguing again?" I chuckled lightly and turned my head to see the cheery blonde, "Hey Lexi." She smiled, which lit up her bright blue eyes through her blue leopard print glasses, "Hey Lea." She took a small sip of her own caramel coffee before looking over her own schedule.

Lexi was dressed in a bright blue t-shirt with a cartoon character from the old world named Stitch on it. Lexi was obsessed with things from the old world and she tended to ask the scavengers for clothing like the one she was wearing now. She also wore denim shorts with some threads hanging down. She wore light blue tennis shoes with white laces and the rubber thing that went around the bottom part was also white. Tied around her waist was a light blue jacket which hid her knife belt. I always found it amusing when she fought our enemies, the look of shock on their faces always made for great stories.

"Dawn shift should be coming back soon, I gotta get their report and give it to Ryker," I said with a groan, leaning back in my cheap plastic chair. Aarin snorted, "Ha, sucks to suck." I rolled my eyes affectionately, "It's your turn next so shut it." The rest of the table laughed gleefully causing me to smile as I headed to the double set doors to the school. I threw the styrofoam coffee cup into the trash as I passed it so that my hands were free. "Hey Lea."

I looked toward the voice to see the head of the dawn shift walking toward me, "Oh, there you are Julian, I was looking for you. Did you find anything?" Julian shook his head, "That's what I wanted to tell you about, I'm worried, we haven't seen any demons, vampires, werewolves, nothing. What if they're planning something?" I frowned, "That doesn't make sense, the demons hate humans, and the vampires and werewolves are humans that have been infected, maybe the vampires and werewolves are fighting? That just leaves the demons, which I wouldn't worry about, demons work alone, so it's natural that it'd be hard to track them."

Julian looked down, his expression downcast, "Okay, I'll go get some rest." He turned around to leave but before he could I put a hand on his shoulder, "If you feel like there's a threat you have my permission to caution the others." Julian gave me a grateful look before running off to tell his squad. I groaned and headed back to my own squad, "Nothing, the dawn shift is getting worried." Aarin shrugged, "I don't blame them, we've dealt with demons day after day and suddenly they vanish? It's troubling."

I nodded and checked the time on the wall, "We should get going, Aarin and Ember, you're on guard duty, as always, Lexi, Kari, and I will take care of our toddlers." Ember rolled her eyes, "Yeah we know, it's not going to be that difficult, we only have three of the little shits." Lexi and I hit her at the same time, probably for different reasons though. Ember glared at me causing me to back off. While Ember wouldn't hurt Lexi or Kari, she wasn't against hurting me.

Kari finally spoke up, "You look good today, no more nightmares I'm guessing." I shook my head wearily, "No I had another one last night." Everyone gave me a sympathetic look. Lexi put her hand on my shoulder, "Hey, it's okay. The past is in the past, we can't change it, but what we can do is take care of those cute little babies." I sighed, I knew she was trying to be nice but I hated sympathy, it made me feel weak. I shrugged, "Yeah, whatever." She gave me a huge grin, "Alright, let's go!"

I laughed at her excited squeal, "I'm so glad we found you." Lexi shrugged with a smile, "I mean I'm surprised no one else thought to hide in the schools." Suddenly a short laugh interrupted our conversation, "That's because we just escaped school, it was the best thing about the apocalypse, no one wants to go back. Plus the first thing in apocalypse 101 is never go to large populated areas." I rolled my eyes as I turned around to see Ryker and Fisher, "That's for zombie apocalypse 101, not demon apocalypse 101." Fisher laughed as Ryker glared at me, "Fine then, be that way."

Ryker was wearing a loose white v-neck t-shirt with a grey skull on it. Tied around his waist was a grey-blue leather jacket. Bad B*tch was painted in bright pink paint on the back of the jacket. He also wore leather pants with all black combat boots. Around his right hand was a makeshift glove made out of leather straps. On his left arm was a rope necklace wrapped around four times with a pearl in the center. His hair was almost a buzz-cut and black in color. His eyes were a chocolate brown which lit up whenever he smiled.

Beside him, Fisher wore a much more simple outfit. He wore a denim jacket and a grey to black gradient shirt with sparkles. His legs were covered by blue skinny jeans and his feet were covered by some baby blue vans. Fisher wore a giant smile which complemented his darker skin perfectly and his hair was a messy milk chocolate brown.

Ryker's terrible acting definitely lightened the mood. When we finally finished laughing Ryker spoke up again, "So, I need the dawn shift report." I rolled my eyes, "Sorry bud, no signs of demonic activity, nor infected activity." Ryker groaned and flopped dramatically on the table, "How am I supposed to know everything about demons, if none of them will show up." I shrugged, "This is the apocalypse Ryker, not a game show. It's not like we can go, 'Mirror demon, come on up, we would like to know everything about you, please take this survey.' Yup, that'll definitely work."

Ryker sat up and glared at me, "I need to know everything about mirror demons, they're so difficult to study." I frowned, Ryker had a point, all we knew about mirror demons was that they show up in a mirror and possess you. Ryker's theory is that it's any reflective surface, but we're not sure, "Yeah, they piss me off, I thought demons were all about strength and then those fuckers show up." Lexi hit me hard on the shoulder causing me to stumble to the right, "Ouch." Lexi crossed her arms smugly, "Well don't curse then."

I rolled my eyes, "Geez, I get it. Now let's go." Lexi chuckled and we all began to walk to the nursery. The nursery was where one of the old science rooms where, of course we cleaned it out before moving the three toddlers in. Across the hallway was the other science classroom, which we turned into a medical room. I waved to a couple of the nurses as they passed by before entering the nursery, leaving Ember and Aarin to discuss how much they hated this job.

Instantly a familiar female toddler waddled up to me. and hugged my legs tightly, causing me to laugh. "Lee, lee!" The toddler shouted excitedly as she clapped her hands together. "Hey Faria, how are you today?" I asked as I knelt down to pick her up. "Good, hehe. Up, up," She giggled as I raised her high into the air. I laughed with her as I spun her lightly around, ignoring Lexi and Kari as they hugged the children that they were charged with.

Faria continued to laugh hysterically even when I put her down, allowing her to wobble dizzyingly around. I looked up to watch Lexi excitedly run around with the male toddler Erson, while Kari hugged her male toddler Gabriel. "Fara, lea, Kar, Leci, I wanna play Demons and humans!" The twin male toddlers shouted excitedly. I rolled my eyes before shouting, 'not it' and sprinting away from Faria who whined. "Not it!" The twins shouted, causing Faria to squeak. "Come on guys, we have to run from the evil demons. Then we can plan our attack." I pretended to run and hide behind a bunch of play cubes, the twins right behind me. Lexi and Kari squatted beside Faria as she started to count loudly, occasionally being corrected by one of the two. "Okay," I started, "Gabriel, you're the fastest so you have to distract Kari, their fastest before attacking her, Erson, you're the strongest so you attack Faria. I'm the smartest so I'll go against Lexi, got it team?"

The twins yelled excitedly before splitting up, each of them going to different sides of the room. I stayed hidden watching as Faria finished counting and she as well as her teammates scouted the area. Suddenly Gabriel dashed out in front of Kari before rushing off, right past Erson's hiding spot, who jumped out right as Faria ran by. Instantly the two began play fighting, but I had to turn my attention to Lexi, the fox in their group. Lexi's eyes scanned the room, leaving the fight to her teammates. I knew she was looking for me, but we couldn't attack each other until the toddlers were watching. It was my idea so they can get early training in the form of play.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Gabriel tackling Kari's legs before taking his makeshift weapon, a stick, and holding it to her neck, something I showed him. I nodded in approval and watched as Erson pinned Faria onto her stomach. Good, they were now waiting for us, I stayed crouched and made my way towards Lexi, using the shadows, the furniture, and my black clothing to blend in and make my way towards her. Lexi planted her back against the wall, now it would be easier for her to see me, but she just trapped herself. Novice move. I hid behind a nearby toy crate before lunging at her. I bent backwards, avoiding the stick attack, then I pushed myself up with my arms and grabbed her arms, successfully trapping her against the wall.

The twins clapped excitedly, but Faria was fuming, "How com de humans alwaz win!" I nodded at Erson to get off of her before kneeling in front of her, "Faria, if humans lost even one time, we have no second chances. We would die, forever." Faria frowned, "But wha abou de demons?" I ran my hand delicately through her fiery red hair, "When demons die, they can come back." I remembered the day we captured a demon, after saying that he could come back and kill us all he chewed and swallowed a cyanide pill. I shivered as I remember his black eyes turning grey as he fell and started to convulse on the floor.

Faria nodded before letting out a tired yawn, "I'm twired." I chuckled and picked her up, standing myself in the process. Faria let out a tired giggle and snuggled into my chest causing me to raise an eyebrow, "You didn't sleep like you were supposed to, did you?" Faria stuck out her bottom lip, "I was excwited to see you." I smiled and walked over to a nearby table, before sitting in a nearby chair. I cradled Faria against my chest, watching as Lexi and Kari played with the twins.

I soon let my mind begin to drift to this morning, it wasn't uncommon for Ryker to want to study demons, but he almost never talked about Mirror demons. I don't blame him, Mirror demons were the hardest to find and study, we don't know anything about them really. What we know was because of something that happened about a year ago.

I was on a patrol with my group, Kari, our medical officer, Ember, our scavenger, Ryker, our researcher, Aarin, Lexi, and I, the banishers. We ran into a human, he was cowering in the corner of a store. Eryn and I approached him when he shouted for us to get back. The man was looking straight at a mirror when suddenly a demon, recognized by the black eyes, crawled out of the mirror. I took a step back when the demon looked at me and smiled before grabbing the man by the throat and disappeared.

None of us knew what to do when the man stood up and looked at me with a bright smile, "Hello Lea." His voice was smooth and calm, nothing like the terrified man he was earlier, "I've been wanting to meet you for so long. You know, you're quite famous to us demons." I stepped back and grabbed one of my swords. His eyes were still the same chocolate brown, but this was no man. His smile seemed to trap me as he walked towards me, I didn't know what to do, he was a demon, that's all that went through my head as I raised my sword and killed him. I was terrified as blood started to pour out of his wound, his eyes went back to scared and his mouth gaped open, pleading.

I remember crying out and I rushed to help him, to do anything, I completely ignored the demon as it climbed back into its mirror. I remember holding his limp body as he raised a bloody hand to my cheek and spoke his last words. Then he fell limp, his eyes void and numb. His words stuck with me, even though I didn't believe him. "I'm sorry, but it's not your fault," that's all he said.

I didn't even know I was crying until I felt a small hand on my cheek. I looked down to see a tired and worried Faria. "It's okay," she whispered, "It's all rwight, I'm here." This little girl who didn't know about anything that happened, was comforting me. I smiled lightly and held her tightly against me, "I know. Thank you." Faria yawned and let out a small, "No probs," before falling back asleep.

....

After we fed the toddlers and tucked them into bed, we headed to the cafeteria for lunch. The group and I just chatted as we piled food onto our plates causing one of the people on lunch duty to laugh, "Despite the fact that you just hung out with infants all day, you still eat the most." I placed a hand on my heart mockingly, "Are you calling me a pig? I'll have you know that I'm still growing." The girl giggled lightly before waving me on, "Understood Lea."

I chuckled and headed towards my table when I was interrupted by a familiar face, "Hey Miss. Lea, I'm sorry for the disturbance we caused this morning." Beside him another familiar face sheepishly shuffled his feet. I let out a light laugh, "One, never call me that again, two, there's no reason to apologize, I mean it happens so who cares. Three, what have I told you two about apologizing." They both sheepishly chuckled before turning around to head off, "Oh yeah, what are your names?" They both stopped and turned simultaneously causing me to laugh again, "Um, I'm Elijah." I nodded at him recognizing him as the one I talked to first when the other spoke, "Alexander, but I just go Alex." I nodded, "So you guys are going to be banishers soon I'm guessing." They both nodded, again simultaneously.

I nodded, "Well I'll be seeing you two this week for the exams." I smiled as both of their eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, I forgot about that, and you're watching?" Elijah sputtered out. I nodded, "Yup, I'm leading group A, so be prepared." Alex and Elijah grinned from ear to ear before rushing off laughing together.

"They're so gay," Aarin muttered causing me to snort loudly. I burst out laughing and nodded, "Oh yeah, when they get into a relationship, I won't be surprised." Lexi laughed, "I bet you'll be the one planning their dates." I shrugged, "Hey, I'm not against the idea." The whole table laughed joyfully which drew attention but I didn't care, honestly I never did. Suddenly I felt a pair of hands land on my shoulders, causing me to jump, "Watching your next targets, huh" I turned around to glare at Fisher, "They are not targets, I just think that they would look quite cute together, not like they could be cuter than Aarin and I." This caused Ryker, who was right behind Fisher to laugh, "Sure, just don't go and start stalking them." I crossed my arms, "Now when have I ever done that?"

Instantly the whole table burst into laughter once again, causing me to roll my eyes jokingly, "Okay, maybe once or twice. Can you blame me though? It's the only thing that'll make me happy." The laughter was quieter this time due to the truth in my words, but hey, misery has no other use than to laugh at. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, my mind drifting. It was at times like this where I actually relaxed. My mind then drifted to Aarin, who I'd been dating for about a year now. It was nice, knowing that I had someone to rely on, and that I wouldn't be lonely. Of course they weren't always affectionate, but that was fine by me.

I smiled lightly as Lexi and Kari began to get into a playful fight about who's toddler was cuter. I could almost see Aarin pinch the bridge of their nose and let out a barely audible sigh. Ryker and Fisher were chatting about their studies and blueprints. Suddenly I heard the soft tapping of claws against the tiles alerting me of the incoming dog, even before he let out a loud bark and jumped on an unsuspecting Ryker. "Oof," he exclaimed as the St. Bernard sat on his lap and pressed his back against Ryker's chest.

I opened my eyes to see the familiar dog, causing me to laugh, "Hey Goliath, how ya doing boy." The dog gave a happy bark, spilling slobber all over the table. "Well thank Lady luck that we already finished our food," Ember stated. I chuckled, "Oh come on, don't be so sour." Goliath let out a happy bark at my words, causing the whole table to laugh again. I heard a groan come from Ryker as he pushed the heavy dog off of him.

Goliath jumped onto the floor and sat down as Ryker laughed and began to pet him. We found Goliath as a puppy about a year after we met Ryker, who quickly became Goliath's dog dad. After some training from the whole group, Goliath became our search and rescue dog. When we believed that a human was nearby we would ask him to search for them. This also helped Ryker's research, he believed that all of the creatures have different scents, a werewolf had the scent of a wolf mixed with the scent of a human, a vampire had a sweet smell, used to attract their victims, and demons smelled like sulfur, for obvious reasons.

This system also helped Goliath tell us when one was nearby, one sharp bark followed by another bark meant werewolf. Two rapid barks with a pause and another two barks meant vampire. Rapid barking and growling meant demon, the most dangerous of the three. Sadly we haven't found any other dogs, my guess was that they hid away in allys and forests. Goliath was a lucky find, and we only found him because he knew that he would die if he didn't approach us. Goliath has been loyal and grateful ever since, so he was a great addition to the team.

I smiled and stood up, "I'm going to put up our trays so you guys can get ready." Ryker snorted, "Fisher and I don't need to do those chores since we're the only researchers." I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Just don't tease us about it." Ryker swung his arm around Fisher playfully before pointing to the other school, "Onward! We must leave these losers and go to our lab." I growled, "Careful what you say Ryker or I'll start shipping the two of you." Ryker let out a very unmanly shriek and pulled his arm away as if he burnt it, before running away.

I nodded, satisfied, before picking up the metal trays and taking them to the kitchen area. At this time the cafeteria was clearing out, as people went to their next jobs. The afternoon patrol was starting to head out, their expressions joyful. I waved, "Hey guys, good luck. Make sure to stay safe, and report to Ryker when you're done." One of the banishers gave me a nod, "Will, do. We'll also tell you if we see any signs of human disturbance." I nodded, "Thank you, it's much appreciated." I watched them leave through the glass double doors before turning around and picking up the trays, "Alright let's get to cleaning"

The next couple of hours were spent with us cleaning the cafeteria, this included wiping down the rectangular wooden tables plus sweeping and mopping the floor. Fisher had gotten the computers to work and he hacked the demon's internet so that we could listen to music on something called a website, this website was called YouTube. It's how the younger generation learned more about Earth's culture before the apocalypse. It was interesting to say the least, but the videos, as Fisher calls them, that showed humans summoning demons angered me. Now who knows how many people have died because of stupid things like this.

Right now Aarin and I agreed on rock music and the whole room was filled with the fast-paced violent sounding songs. Multiple of them I related to the situation we were in now, so I wondered if people somehow knew what might happen and were giving warnings, or if they thought the situation would be fun or cool. Some of them spoke stories of misery and loss, and others were just screaming. The songs were extremely loud so we kept them at low volume, even then they were easy to hear. It makes me wonder what more I could've enjoyed of the old Earth, before this whole mess happened.

I wiped some sweat off my forehead before putting the supplies in the 'janitors closet'. The brass plaque that used to be on the door was worn away, and the writing that used to be on it was illegible. When I first got here, the plaque had been dusty but the writing you could make out, if barely. Now, since I never found the need to take care of it, it was ready to be thrown out, or melted down in Ryker's lab and turned into something or another.

Personally I prefer the other cafeteria, since it had a bar and it was bigger, however since there are children here, I was forced to stay. Though, I would like a bottle of whiskey now that I think about it. I sighed and closed the door before turning around and headed to the kitchen. Our head chef gave me a happy smile, causing her dimples to show. I gave a hesitant smile back before heading to the small cabinet that held the gloves. We had so many gloves in this camp that it wasn't even funny, but hey hygiene was necessary.

I took out a box of plastic gloves and got myself a pair before putting the box back in. The head chef bounced over, "Today the scavengers got us a bunch of beef, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce so I was thinking of making spaghetti." I nodded, that was a recipe I knew by heart, "Do we have plenty of noodles?" She nodded, "We have about seventeen boxes of bow-tie noodles, eighteen boxes of angel-hair, nineteen boxes of farfalle, and twenty-one boxes of the shells." I nodded, "Seems good, these are for both camps right?" She nodded happily, "Yup." I gave her a light smile, "Good job Marie."

Cooking dinner went smoothly, we had plenty of herbs due to the greenhouse in the back, and no one messed up. Surprisingly, I didn't set anything on fire. Marie was quick in the kitchen, and she helped me quite a lot. In the end, the food smelled and tasted great. I wiped my forehead and sat down as people started to pour in. Marie, who was still full of energy, piled people's plates with a smile.

I grabbed myself a plate and watched the doors for the afternoon patrol. The front doors weren't used much since the older camp-members stayed in the other cafeteria, and the younger people weren't allowed to go over there. After a while of waiting the doors opened and the afternoon patrol walked in. The head banisher looked at me in the eye before shaking his head. I frowned, it was odd that there wasn't anything dangerous around. Well I guess we can sleep easily tonight. Aarin gave me a worried look and I just shrugged. They sighed as they slid into the seat beside me, "Hey Lea." I smiled, "Hey sweetheart." They rolled their eyes slightly, "Wanna do something together tomorrow, we just have morning shift and then a free period." I smiled, "Of course, what do you wanna do?" They shrugged and gave me a light kiss on the cheek, "I'll leave that up to you." I smiled and opened my arms for a hug, grateful when they accepted.

....

I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and ran my fingers through it. Today had been a pretty lazy day, and honestly I didn't mind. I rubbed my eyes tiredly before flopping onto my bed, having already changed into a more comfortable set of clothing. My eyes were glued onto the ceiling, looking at all the patterns engraved in the tiles. I let a sigh escape my lips before rolling over to face the battered koala. It's fur was dull and matted, but it's eyes were as bright as ever. I ran my fingers over its head gently before pulling it to my chest. Immediately I felt a sense of comfort wrap its arms around me.

It was this time that I hated the most. The moment where you're waiting for sleep to pull you under. The moment where your brain decided to remind you of every bad thing, to torment you and make you feel guilty. I hated that time. I sighed, was I really doing the best thing? I was training people to kill, I was training them to be the very monsters that plagued our Earth. No. I shouldn't think like that. These are demons, we're only protecting ourselves. Right? I mean they attacked us first. I sighed and pulled the koala closer, right as the protective arms of sleep pulled me into safety.