Chap #17 A Box of Biscuits

Keneric jumped from the counter back to the ground and walked toward them. Rune was already terrified of him, so she rotated around Joy, keeping her body between them at all times. But Keneric just walked past her to the spot where he'd first found Rune hiding.

"Hey, that's mine—" she tried to protest, but Keneric silenced her with a simple, "Shut it."

He crouched down and reached under the counter, inside the cabinet. Then he pulled out Rune's yellow bag, opened the zipper, and said, "Ta-da," showing the contents to Joy. Her eyes lit up with a new spark as she saw canned beans, biscuits, chips, and a few packs of instant cup noodles. Oh, and one box of cereal too.

Keneric pulled out a box of Tim Tams and tossed it to Joy. She caught it but resisted the urge to tear into the delicious biscuits right their and then. Instead, she squatted down beside Rune and asked with innocent puppy eyes, "Can I have some of these? I haven't eaten anything in a while."

Rune melted instantly. "You can have anything you like, sister. Just don't give it to him." And by "him," she definitely meant Keneric. Next she hid behind Joy again to avoid engaging with the scary man.

Keneric, however, didn't take anything for himself. "Don't worry, I can't eat these," he said, closing the bag and placing it back near Rune.

Joy caught his wording. Now that she thought about it, Keneric hadn't eaten anything since they met — only sipped from his water bottle. There was much to explore there, she thought to herself.

But Keneric cut in, "Time to move," and walked outside the dark cafeteria first.

Joy and Rune followed after a little while, holding hands. Both were happy — Joy got her food, and Rune got back her precious yellow backpack filled with edibles.

Keneric watched them from a few meters ahead, arms crossed and asked, "How's the food situation in the camp?"

Rune knew she had to answer, so she spoke in a low voice. "It's running low," she nodded. "That's why I'm here. And so are many others, scavenging for food. Also, I'm small and can hide easily, so I picked this job."

Joy caught on quickly. "So they're using a job system to collect food? Then what are the benefits and drawbacks of taking or rejecting a job?"

Keneric already had an idea, knowing the person in charge, but he waited for Rune to speak.

"Well, every day you spend in that barricaded shelter, you spend contribution points. By doing jobs from the contribution board, you earn these points."

"So what happens to people who have no contribution points? Or people who just joined the camp?" Joy asked.

Before Rune could answer, Keneric said, "They're obviously kicked out."

"That's horrible. But if they're collecting food, can't they just live alone? Why join the camp at all?"

Rune replied, "Well, people find comfort with others. There's more manpower to face scary monsters that might attack. Outside, there's too much uncertainty."

Joy still seemed doubtful, but Ken added, "Let's say you were on your own and got attacked in the middle of the night. What would you do? Clearly, Nawatt's made arrangements for this — there's probably always someone on watch. There's more safety in numbers. And people are more likely to trust adults in this situation."

After getting a little more information, Keneric said, "Check her."

"Make sure she's not infected."

"Ken!" Joy protested.

"Infected?" Rune was more curious than alarmed. "Oh, you mean the mutation."

"You know about it?" Joy asked.

Rune nodded. "Yes, many people came in contact with that cursed water and turned into monsters… like the one that was chasing me." She glanced around to be sure it was gone.

She didn't know it was dead—killed by Keneric himself. "But I haven't been in contact with any bubbly water, nor was I bitten by any monster."

As if to prove herself, she showed her arms and legs to Joy. Keneric turned his face in the opposite direction.

After checking her, Joy asked, "Say… what happened to people who were bitten? From your tone, it sounds like you've seen a lot."

Rune nodded and covered herself back up. "They die. Then they come back — like in those zombie movies — but instead of zombies, they're faster, smarter, and more powerful." She shivered remembering a scene.

Joy looked at Keneric curiously. "Was there someone who survived after getting bit?"

Rune just shook her head. "What do you mean? Every single person I saw who came in contact with the green stuff or a bite turned into a Ravager. Oh, that's what we call them at the camp. Do you think someone can survive that mutation? That's too optimistic, sister."

Keneric had heard enough. "Let's go," he said.

But Rune hesitated. "Go where? You don't mean…"

"Yeah, let's go meet Professor Nawatt and see what he has to offer," Keneric smirked. "By the way, how far is this camp of yours?"

"If I was alone, about three hours. But if you guys are tagging along, I'd say almost double — with the number of paths we'll need to change because of the Ravagers."

Rune now felt fine talking to Keneric. She trusted Joy to stop him if he tried anything extreme. But when Keneric smirked at her response, Rune didn't like the sound of that at all.

She had a weird feeling that Keneric would do something excessive — if not to her, then to something else. And after a while of traveling, she found out exactly why she'd felt that way.

Her fear toward Keneric returned.

And this time, it was worse.