Will you help us?

Alex awoke to the scent of fire and blood. The world around him had collapsed the day before, and for a brief moment, he thought it was merely a bad dream, but it wasn't. This is his reality now. He sighed heavily as he got up from the sleeping bag on the floor and gazed at Emily's sleeping face.

Due to the lack of space, Emily and Alex shared a holding cell. However, there was only one cot; as such, Alex decided to sleep on the floor. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but at least they were safe.

Emily was still asleep, and as such, Alex decided not to wake her. He got out of bed and dusted himself off before exiting the holding cell. The uniformed men sleeping in the cell across from him were no longer present; rather, another group of men lay sleeping in their place.

Alex recognized some of their faces from the night before; they must have switched shifts sometime in the early morning. He moved as silently as possible out of the holding cell area. Upon exiting the area, he immediately came into contact with a man in his thirties.

The man had a suave yet battle-worn appearance. Bandages covered his forehead and arms. He had a neatly trimmed beard and bags under his brown eyes. His shoulder-length chocolate hair was well-groomed and slicked back. The attire he wore was ragged, and he had an AKM slung around his back. In his hand was a mug filled with coffee.

The man studied Alex's appearance and nodded in approval

"So you must be the level four from last night that everyone's talking about?"

Alex had a cold expression on his face as he greeted the man

"I'm Alex, and you are?"

The man grinned and reached out his hand in friendship "Brandon, Level 3. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Alex accepted the gesture and shook the man's hand.

Brandon noticed Alex staring at his coffee mug and chuckled, "We have limited supplies; only slayers get access to things like coffee."

Alex looked at Brandon with confusion.

"slayers?"

Brandon took another sip from his coffee before explaining

"Not everyone has the capacity to fight monsters. Captain Hunter came up with the term to distinguish guys like us from the refugees."

The confusion in Alex's eyes started to disappear; he began to understand how things worked around here.

"So these slayers, are they all police?"

Brandon chuckled and gestured to his appearance

"Do I look like a fucking cop to you?"

Alex laughed as well; this guy in no way resembled the police. At this moment, the door to the Captain's office opened; Captain hunter and a group of what Alex guessed to be slayers walked out. Alex overheard the authoritative voice of the Captain from where he was standing.

"You have your mission, dismissed!"

The slayers nodded and walked out of the station. At this moment, Captain Hunter noticed Brandon and Alex chatting about in the corner and began to approach them.

"Mr. Smith, if I could have a word?"

Brandon patted Alex on the back and grinned.

"I've got to go do a mission anyways. It was nice talking with you."

with that, he abruptly left, leaving Alex and the Captain alone in the station. Captain Hunter walked with Alex into his office before beginning to speak.

"I suppose you have any questions, so go ahead and ask."

Alex took a few moments to collect his thoughts before asking his questions

"What do you know about the current situation."

Captain Hunter sighed heavily as he rested his elbows on his desk

"Not much; at roughly midnight on Christmas morning, a city-wide blackout occurred. It affected every electronic device in the city."

"Around the same time, monsters started appearing and brought with them a wake of destruction."

Alex nodded he knew this information more or less

"How did you manage to turn this place into a compound?"

Captain Hunter took a sip from his coffee mug before answering

"I was working overtime like usual when everything went dark. There were a few officers in the station with me."

"Our phone lines were dead; our vehicles stopped working. We had no idea what was going on outside of the station."

Alex listened silently as Captain Hunter continued

"Within minutes, we could hear screams and see the fires spreading throughout the city. So I sent a few officers out to help. They never came back."

Alex sighed heavily

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Captain Hunter drank from his mug once more.

"After a while, those monsters started appearing around the station. We found out our handguns were useless against them. The bullets practically bounced off. Only our patrol rifles seemed to be effective. We eventually pushed them back but at great cost."

Alex clenched his hands; he knew too well the horror that the monsters were capable of, Captain Hunter continued his tale.

"Afterwards, I had the station boarded up and sent out squads to clear the surrounding areas. They brought back survivors and some supplies. Those who could fight we put to work, the others... Well, we've been looking after them."

Captain Hunter looked out the window and sighed heavily as if reflecting upon his actions over the past 24 hours. After a few moments of contemplation, he spoke up once again.

"So now that I've answered your questions, it's only fair I ask one of my own."

Alex nodded in agreement.

Captain Hunter's solemn gaze shifted to an authoritative glare as he spoke with great authority.

"Will you help us?"

Alex took a few moments to think about the question. If he and Emily set out on their own after a day he was not sure if they could survive. However, by aiding the compound he could have a safe place to rest every night, and enough food rations to survive.

After a while, Alex answered the question with another question

"What do you need me to do?"

Captain Hunter's lips curved into a smile as he looked at this youth with greater admiration "

"You're a level four, aside from me you're the only one here capable of fighting some of those larger monsters. I need you to work with the other slayers to look for supplies and survivors who can aid in the function of the compound."

A large smile spread across Alex's face, this seemed like the perfect job for him, it would allow him to continue increasing his power while fighting powerful enemies. Now that it was the apocalypse he sure as hell wasn't going to hide in some corner while others went out and fought.

Alex also had poor management and planning skills, he would be useless working inside the compound. As such he quickly agreed to the conditions however a thought crossed his mind before doing so.

"What about Emily?"

Captain Hunter patted Alex on the shoulder "Don't worry about the girl, we'll find something for her to do. She should be safe in the compound."

Alex nodded in agreement, this was the best choice, the girl was obviously distraught over having to fight her way out of the Campus, she was not a natural fighter, it would take a lot of time and effort to train her into a slayer.

Alex reached out his hand as a token of friendship and grasped Captain Hunter's

"I look forward to working with you."

The two shook hands as Captain Hunter smiled in response

"I as well."