MIRR/OR/ED

|Chapter 10|

Chapter 10. Seashore view

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"This has to have been left for some reason.." Devin starts to reason, as my eyes are plastered to the screen, scanning the list of names that seems to be never ending. Words blur together at a point as the piercing pain has returned to my temples-- great.

I edge my finger on the mouse's cursor, gliding it down until the screen blips out and fades to black. The imprinted image of a white box pops up and reads 'This file has been terminated, please dismiss error 204'. It only allows a few seconds to read the sentence before the fan gives out and the monitor whines down to a plain black screen.

"What the fuck?" Tom curses beside me.

"Shit!" He punches his fists to the desk, the vibration radiating through my palm still resting on the mouse. "There goes the possibility of searching that." His fists shoves the desk back causing the table to lift up and slam back down with a thud.

I twist to face Tom. His palm is pushed to his eyes, dragging it down to the gray patchy beard as he begins to pace with his other handheld tight to his hip. Stopping dead in his tracks he turns to us, showing the blank expression he has plastered. Reflecting the sheer turmoil that is raking through his mind. And I can't help but connect with his expression, feeling the same way myself.

"We'll figure this out later, I gotta give out duties." His words come out shaky, as I notice his eyes reach for answers to the questions left in the room.

I don't have the moments I need to gather a response before Tom makes his way to the doorframe and steps out without a second glance. The slight gray to his hair grows in hue as he steps through the shadow.

"I know this was said already, but what the fuck?" Devin breaths softly.

"Let's go." I stand from the chair and Devin reaches for me in reaction. His hard grip wraps around my arm to steady me as a shiver goes down my spine at the connection.

"I'm okay," Assuring him, connecting with his eyes beside me. There is a glint to them as he releases his grip. Regret is laced in my heart but I push past the emotions as I know they are not my own... but yet I still feel the twinge in my subconscious wanting to reach out to him.

Getting over my residual dizzy spell we step into the hallway and make our way to the crowded room. There are Liberties milling about, bringing in large bags of goods from the local markets.

Each move and every other week they are sent out to the markets to get relief packs that are a combination of food items and living essentials. They were known to be given out for Veterans back before the split in territory. And as the nation has morphed and the Veterans have banded together in camps the markets have kept it going for us. Whether they know they are standing against their nation or not they keep it to themselves.

I've wondered what it would be like to live out there, with the rest of the population. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

My eye catches Blake stepping through the stairwell that leads to our sleeping corridors, pressing his way towards Tom huddled around a group in a corner of the room. Camp members begin to file in seconds later gathering for the afternoon meeting.

"So, duties... What's that?" Devin asks next to me, as I lean against the wall aligned with the hallway door we stepped through. Lily's familiar blonde head bounces down the steps, followed by the newest pick-up Maria, pacing patiently behind her. Lilly finds my eyes and gives a small smile and a wave; I lift my hand in return.

"Daily tasks they assign. Everyone gets something to do, keeps us busy. They randomly assign them if you don't already have some type of experience. Like ones with nursing experience can do infirmary work, though it's pretty dull. Not that it isn't worth the pay. It's about 10 silver a day, which is better than the ones we're assigned. Duties are only 8 silver a day." I say, nonchalantly.