Ethan's Struggles

After talking for a little while longer, Grant eventually left to head off to take care of his own stuff and left Ethan standing alone on the third floor.

Although Ethan complained every time Grant loaded him up with more work, he was more than happy to take on the tasks that needed to be done because it allowed him to feel like he was making a contribution to society at large.

For the first time since before The Path's emergence and his time working in South America, Ethan was finally feeling like he had a place in the world.

It had been a massive struggle for him to cope with the deaths of the people who had been with him at the initial outbreak of the apocalypse. And then to face a crisis of faith during everything only made it that much harder for Ethan to keep himself from falling apart mentally.

By throwing himself into work, Ethan was able to forget, if only for a moment, all of the tragic things that he had experienced in a mere three weeks.

Before returning to the tasks currently assigned to him, Ethan paused a moment for some silent prayer and reflection.

[Lord, please grant me the strength to face the trials that you have placed before me.

I will believe in you and the plans you have set in motion for me, as you said in Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

May I find your light shining through the darkness in this world.]

After a moment of silence, Ethan opened his eyes to refocus his mind but was suddenly embarrassed.

Since he was standing aimlessly in the middle of the hallway on the third floor, people were giving him strange looks as they walked past, going about their own tasks.

Turning a slight shade of red at all the people gawking at him, Ethan cleared his throat and turned to head in the direction of the stairwell.

His first goal was to go down to the cafeteria and store as much food as he could in the pack that Grant had once again left with him.

Since Ethan had no need for Grant's armor any longer, he had also placed it in the bag so that he could move about without drawing too much attention.

Clearly, his plan had backfired initially, but he hoped to remain inconspicuous for the rest of the time he was in the hospital.

As Ethan descended the stairway, he passed many different people that were going up and down the stairs.

Although most of the people appeared to be weak and frail due to hunger and dehydration, not a single person seemed to pay it any mind and moved with a palpable strength radiating from their eyes and facial expressions.

When he passed by these people, Ethan couldn't help but think about how inspirational all of these people were, considering the things they had been facing just a day before.

Occasionally someone who Ethan had met and spoke with during his short time in the hospital would stop him to exchange pleasantries but Ethan made sure to keep the conversations short as to keep himself on task.

When Ethan reached the first floor, he realized that he had no idea where he was going. Seeing the receptionist that he had met when he first arrived at the hospital was still sitting at the desk, he decided to walk over and ask for her help.

Seeing someone approach, Aubrey put on a cute smile and spoke first, "It's good to see you again sir. How may I help you?"

Ethan, although having already met the young lady briefly, was stunned by her cheerful attitude and cute appearance.

When he had first arrived at the hospital, he had been too absorbed in making sure to save the people Grant had told him about, that he had basically ignored the receptionist. Now that he had taken the time to actually notice her, he was immediately smitten.

Since Ethan didn't say anything for a full minute, Aubrey once again spoke, "Are you okay sir? You're bright red and you haven't said anything for almost a minute?"

Realizing his mistake, Ethan quickly averted his gaze and cleared his throat to try and distract from his embarrassment.

Since she was not some naive teenager, Aubrey caught on fairly quickly to why Ethan was acting the way he was, but she tried to remain professional the best she could, only letting out a small giggle at Ethan's behavior.

Hearing the young lady giggle at his expense, Ethan turned an even darker shade of red before coughing again, even harder this time.

Knowing that their was no recovery from the situation, Ethan forced himself to speak in an attempt to conclude the conversation as quickly as possible.

"I'm sorry, I must be overworking myself.

It's a shame their is no time to rest...

Grant asked me to go to the cafeteria, can you point me in the right direction? Unfortunately, I do not know where I am supposed to be going.."

With her now trademark smile, Aubrey rose to her feet and pointed down the hallway to Ethan's left, "If you head down that hallway there and then head down the second hallway on your right, you will eventually run right into the cafeteria."

After receiving the information that he needed, Ethan quickly expressed his appreciation for the young ladies assistance before speed walking way from the desk.

Aubrey didn't say anything more and simply watched Ethan walk away.

Unnoticed by Ethan though, Aubrey's smile had seemed to turn from her trademark professional smile into one of actual genuine happiness.

While following the directions that Aubrey had given him, Ethan arrived outside the cafeteria after a minute or two.

When he approached the doors however, he realized that he could hear people inside. Grant had told him that he had left the doors open for Ethan but he never said anything about having allowed any other people in.

[Did that carefree idiot not even consider that people may find the food and try to steal some?

Even I am not so self righteous to believe that people wouldn't try and take advantage of such a golden opportunity...

Seriously... that man is going to end up in a world of hurt one day if he doesn't start using his brain.

As the Lord said in Jeremiah 48:7, "For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures, even you yourself will be captured;"

Whatever, that mans arrogance and faith in his own strength is a matter for another day. Their are more pressing matters at hand.]

Knowing that he was unlikely in any danger, but still remaining vigilant, Ethan entered into the cafeteria only to see a few families sitting in the chairs that were still left, surrounding a table that was overflowing with open cans and other prepackaged foods.

When Ethan entered, every single individual froze in place and looked at Ethan with pure fear in their eyes.

Since it appeared that the families were not looking to take food out of the cafeteria and were simply desperate for a meal, Ethan dropped his guard ever so slightly and approached the table.

As Ethan got closer to the table, the kids that had been sitting in the chairs, scrambled to their feet and hid behind who Ethan assumed were their parents.

Seeing this, Ethan raised his hands into the air in an attempt to defuse the situation ever so slightly.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. I mean you no harm."

With his gesture and words, the tense atmosphere dissipated ever so slightly before one of the older men walked forward. Before Ethan could say anything though, the man dropped to his knees and bowed down until his forehead was just above the ground.

"I am so sorry! The kids came in here while they were exploring and found all of the food! They were asking if they could eat some of it and since the door was wide open and no one was guarding it, we figured that we could eat some of it!

Please don't kill us!"

Momentarily stunned, Ethan quickly regained his composure and walked forward before kneeling down and helping the man to his feet.

"Please, you do not have a need to apologize. Although this food is meant for the whole camp and will be used to feed us for the coming weeks, I would not kill you for trying to sate your child's hunger.

You do not need to worry, I will not tell anyone about what has happened here.

However, I advise that you finish quickly or other people may become jealous of your extra meal and try to take it from you."

The older man just bobbed his head up before saying, "Thank you for your benevolence! You are truly kind! We will not linger here any longer. The kids have had their fill and we do not want to obstruct your work!"

Even after seeing the half eaten food on the table and the reluctance in the kids eyes to walk away, Ethan still did not attempt to stop the man as he quickly forced the rest of the families out of the cafeteria and into the hallway.

Ethan knew that the old man didn't truly believe that they would be allowed to live after having eaten some of the food stash and that's why he had shuffled everyone out quickly, but he didn't have the time to assuage the man's fears.

After the families were gone, Ethan walked into the kitchen where he took the pack off his back, in preparation for storing the large amount of food, which prompted the item description to appear in his peripheral vision.

{General Good: Rucksack

Name: Eternal Wanderer's Rucksack

Grade: Epic

This Rucksack was forged with the purpose of providing ample storage for famous wanderers throughout the history of the universe. The style of the rucksack has been altered to blend in more easily with the fashions of Earth. Appears as a rucksack similar to ones used by military personnel across the Earth. Nullifies the weight of items when they are stored inside the internal space. Can not store items too big to fit in the opening of the bag or items that are considered to be alive.

Storage Space: 100ft x 100 ft x 100 ft}

No matter how many times Ethan read the description for the pack, he was always amazed at the sheer size of the space inside of it.

Knowing that he had already wasted a large amount of time though and given the fact that he had to load each and every item individually, Ethan quickly discarded his awe and got to work.