Chapter Seven

Carson was currently having a good dream; he was with his wife and kid on a private beach.

He enjoyed the warm white sand underneath his feet, with the sun high overhead and the beautiful sound of the ocean waves overlapping each other.

In his dream, he was chasing his son in a tag game while his wife enjoyed the comfort of the sun while she bathed under its warm embrace.

At that moment, he felt the happiest he'd ever felt in nearly twenty years when the great Calamity befell humanity.

Carson bolted out of bed when he heard a loud banging noise coming from inside the house he was currently staying in.

All the joy he was experiencing from the dream he just had, evaporated, replaced with extreme caution.

One did not survive long in a world where constant danger lurks around every corner, without being able to react to the danger at a moment's notice.

Carson did not live this long by being careless; even in sleep, he never truly let his guard down.

Before Carson's foot had even touched the ground, a sword materialized in his right hand.

The sword started materializing from the hilt first and coming to a stop when there was a 3-foot blade with a sharp point.

The blade's width was 4in at the hilt and thinned towards the end. His foot made a soft thump as it touched the ground, making almost no sound at all.

Even before his toes hit the carpeted floor, he took in all of his surroundings in less time than it would take someone to blink.

He noticed the room he was in was secure and activated his ability, becoming invisible to the naked eye. Even his sword vanished along with his body, leaving nothing of his presence behind.

Carson tiptoed to the wall and stuck his ear against it, listening.

The other side of the wall he had his ear up against was a long hallway.

He could hear the faintest of footsteps going down the hallway with his keen hearing.

So I'm either going up against a professional who can keep their footsteps light..or it's someone very light.

Either case, he wasn't going to allow anyone to get the drop on him.

Carson heard metal grinding noises now, which sounded like they were coming from the laundry room.

So what am I dealing with? Beast, Wild One, or something worse.

If it was a beast, he could easily dispose of it. The beasts in this region weren't too dangerous, mostly just mutated rats, cats, and dogs. This was not something a normal human could handle, but relatively easy for Carson to handle.

If it's a Wild One, he could just ignore it.

Wild Ones are what the civilized people call the scavengers that live outside the protection of the heroes and the walled cities.

The people who decided not to migrate towards society after the big calamity hit became detached over the years of constant danger.

They never speak, and they live life from one meal to the next, almost like mindless zombies.

He once met a Wild One's group in a national forest while heading towards LA on a mission when attacked by a mutated tiger.

Every one of them scattered, leaving behind a little girl to her death, She wasn't much older than his 8-year-old son, at that time.

He managed to decapitate the tiger before it got to the little girl, who then stared blankly at him, not uttering a single word before walking away as if nothing had happened.

Carson heard a bat screech as it flew down the hall, and then footsteps enter the kitchen a little later.

He crept towards the bedroom door, opening it quietly, not making a single sound.

He took quiet, slow steps as he walked towards the kitchen; he peeked around the opening and saw a red-haired woman facing away from him, digging through the kitchen cabinets.

He sighed mentally when he saw that it was just a Wild One.

What a relief; it's just a scavenger looking for food. He was about to turn away and start his journey to New York City when the woman turned around, letting him get a good look at her figure.

He felt his jaw drop open when he noticed she was completely naked. He didn't notice her nudity from her long hair covering her backside when facing away from him. Still, now everything was on full display for his very own eyes.

Even though the woman was covered from head to toe with dirt and grime, he could still tell that she was a rare beauty who could turn guy's heads when she entered a room.

But what captivated him the most was the stunning pair of sky blue eyes of hers that seemed to glow with power.

Carson hesitated for a while before deciding to observe the Wild One, for a few minutes before leaving for his mission.

Something about this Wild One seemed different to him, aside from the alluringly gorgeous body that was captivating to watch.

No, it was something about the way she carried herself, it was unlike any Wild One he had ever seen before, and the eyes held a bright glimmer to them that stood out from the rest of her kind.

Most Wild One's eyes were lifeless and dull from the many hardships they endured daily.

Carson was watching her stack cans of food and water on the counter as she plundered the kitchen.

Those cans of food couldn't still be edible, by now it's been 20 years, and they weren't stored properly in the first place.

Of course, Wild Ones did not care for the condition of the food they ate.

After many years of scavenging and eating whatever they could find, they built up immunity in their digestive system to survive the garbage they called food.

He frowned when the woman dropped a half dozen pots and pans over her head. It wasn't from the lack of response from her, that it was normal for a Wild One to never shout out, no matter how much pain they endure, lest they attract something lurking nearby.

No, it was the fact that she made such a rookie mistake to make so much noise in the first place.

How has she survived this long? I've heard raccoons make less noise than her. Maybe she was in a group at one point, and they decided to abandon her for her clumsiness.

He was looking out the window just in case the woman attracted something with the noise she was making, when he heard a growling noise behind him.

He looked in the direction of the noise and noticed it was coming from the Wild One's stomach, which just got done scavenging the kitchen contents.

He could have sworn he heard the woman speak after clutching her stomach.

He blinked, Wild Ones never spoke, but he heard her say something under her breath.

Carson watched her open a can of food and then dump the contents into the sink.

His deductions of her being a Wild One were slowly being rectified.

First, she spoke, now she's wasting food!, that settles it, I'm gonna have to keep an eye on her.

There was no way he could abandon someone that did not know the dangers of the outside world.

But there was one thing that was bothering him, why was someone like her out here by herself, and how did she make it this far away from any civilization? This was at least 60 miles from the city wall of New York City.

Carson continued watching her. She was currently in the garage, moving a table to one side.

What is she doing? Rearranging the garage? How strange.

His mouth dropped open when she lifted the carpet revealing a trapdoor.

"Jackpot," the woman said when finding the trapdoor.

He had been in this house a dozen times now, and he had never noticed a trapdoor there before, not that he thought of looking underneath the table.

He would come to this house cause he knew it was safe and had a pretty nice bed to sleep on. He watched her walk down some wooden steps, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.

He waited for a while before following her.

Carson cursed to himself as he walked down the steps, it was completely dark, and he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

However, he could see the faint glow of the woman's red hair in front of him.

He couldn't understand how she could take one step after another without tripping over her feet. He had to slide his foot as quietly as he could just to find out where to step. Yet, she took each step with confidence as if she could see what was in front of her.

Carson felt his foot hit the solid ground; he couldn't believe how far this tunnel went. It took them several minutes to reach the bottom.

He sat on the bottom step and waited for his eyes to adjust.

Eventually, his eyes adjusted enough to make out the room he was in.

A naked woman was currently sitting in a bathtub in the middle of the room, about to dump water on top of herself with a five-gallon jug of water.

He walked back up the steps until he couldn't see the woman; now that he knew she wasn't a Wild One, it felt wrong to invade her privacy like that. He had a wife that would not be ok with him watching some random woman bathe.

Carson was reliving his dream he had when he heard a strange noise. He quietly walked back down the stairs to the entry, not wanting to alert the woman to his presence.

Just because she wasn't a Wild One, Carson wasn't about to trust the woman.

For all, he knew she could be dangerous, and he was kinda stalking her; any woman would take a huge offense to that.

Still invisible, Carson watched as the woman ripped open a can of food right before dumping the contents down her throat in one huge gulp.

So that explains what the noise was; she's ripping the tops of the cans off with her fingers.

That one little action sent Carson's mind racing.

He thought of several scenarios of what the woman's background could be, but only 3 of them were feasible.

Either she's A: an escaped villain, B: an exiled citizen, or C: someone being transported to another city, who then got separated from the group.

He was hoping against option A or B. If she were an escaped villain on her way to New York City to be prosecuted, he could be in danger, but he doubted that was the case. She did not strike him as a villainous type.

Option B wasn't much better, though. They did not like to exile people for just a misdemeanor; no, they only exiled people for the most heinous crimes, like murder or rape.

Carson did not believe she could be a murderer, so he was going with option C. In that case, it was his duty as a Hero to make sure she arrived at the city in one piece, or at least safe behind the city's outer wall.

Carson was sure of one thing though, this woman was an Original, which meant she was far more dangerous than she appeared.

An Original lived before the calamity, which wiped out most of humanity and inherited their powers through what researchers started calling Soul Gear.

Soul Gear was theorized to be departed souls, or essence, of the deceased, still clinging to life after being hit by the Nova Wave.

If the Soul Gear accepted you as a host, you would be given incredible power and the ability to do the impossible.

Soul Gear could be differentiated by other normal objects by the faint pink glow they contained.

Not knowing what a Soul Gear was at the time, Carson saw his father's old antique sword glowing with a faint pink aura and decided to examine it. When his hands touched the pommel, a message appeared before his eyes as if written on thin air. It read: would the host like to make a contract with this soul? Yes/no.

Of course, Carson hit the yes without much hesitation and a new message popped up: the soul has accepted the host's contract, beginning soul synchronization.

The next thing Carson remembered was waking up on the floor after passing out, having the ability to become invisible.

Carson snapped out of his memories when he noticed the woman was moving around again.

His jaw dropped when he got a good look at the woman, no, girl's face when it was spotless.

He couldn't place the girl's age when her face was covered in dirt and grime, but now he would place her age at 16.

Dammit, I'm going to burn in hell for this, aren't I?

He cursed at himself mentally, for previously he was admiring her figure and the way her lovely curves swayed every time she took a step.

But one thing was clear to him now, she was not an original. She could not have been born in time to be one.

After two years had passed from the great calamity, Soul Gear that wasn't contracted faded away, the items stopped glowing, and there were no more contractors from that point on.

Carson averted his gaze, but not before noticing how perfect her stunning facial features were, it was so stunning and innocent-looking, that Carson made a personal promise to himself, to make sure no harm befell this girl.

His eyes landed on the shelf that held the canned food, and he almost yelped in surprise at the dozens of empty cans now sitting on the shelf.

Holy cow, maybe she was exiled from civilization, not from being a murder or rapist, but from being such a glutton.

He went over towards the metal door and sat down to rest against it.

After a few more minutes, he could hear snoring sounds coming from the girl. He looked over to see her lying down on the bed sleeping.

He also noticed she was still naked and sleeping on top of the bed without any blanket.

Carson wasn't sure if he could handle being down here without any clothes on. It felt like it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit down here.

Carson grabbed a folded blanket in a pile in the corner of the room and draped it over her body.

He then started tucking her in as gently as he could so as not to wake the poor girl from her sleep.

He sat at the head of the bed, deep in thought, trying to figure out the best way to reveal himself to the girl without raising any alarm bells.

The last thing he wanted was to scare the girl off.

No, he needed to come up with a plan to reveal himself in a trustworthy way.

Maybe I could lure a dangerous beast to her location and gallantly save the damsel in distress.

But he didn't want to put her in harm's way, so he immediately threw that plan out the window.

His mind wandered with several ideas before he, too, had fallen asleep.