Nathaniel rocked back and forth on his heels - as he often did while deep in thought. Nearby Diana lounged in a camping chair, looking up at Nathaniel. Her sky blue eyes were wide with amazement and her mouth full of questions. She stayed silent at first, but after several minutes she decided to speak up.
"Nathaniel?" called out Diana tentatively.
"Yes Diana?" replied Nathaniel, halting his rocking and looking up at Diana.
"How are you standing on the ceiling?" asked Diana with a slight tremor in her voice.
"Who are you talking to?" interjected Vincent, sitting in a camping chair beside Diana.
Diana pointed upwards with one hand. The old man's metallic grey eyes followed her finger and widened rapidly. Nathaniel was standing in thought, which is not too abnormal. However it is very bizarre when a person is standing upside down on the ceiling, metres above your head.
Vincent sighed heavily, "Damn".
"Nathaniel and Eddie and their fantastical fucking magical physics-defying abilities." cursed Vincent, shaking his head while smiling at the comicalness of the situation.
"I actually have powers too." said Diana with a small smirk.
"And what can you do? Teleport? Control the mind of everyone named Kyle? Give Gilbert Einstein a stroke?" asked Vincent while rubbing his eyes.
"I can see 60 seconds into the future. It uses a lot of energy so I can only do it a couple times a day." answered Diana.
"Are you kidding me?" said Vincent in disbelief, "What am I going to say next?"
"Well, I can't." laughed Diana nervously.
"What do you mean?" asked Vincent, stroking his chin.
"I can only see 60 seconds into the future, there's no sound or anything like that. Only vision. Also my future vision does not account for human choice. It's like a snapshot of what the future would be if other people didn't interfere. I've tested it with Nathaniel a bit, but I can only use it a couple times a day so far. If a person knows I can see the future they could change what they do after I use my power which is kind of obvious since my eyes flash blue when I use it. Or if they change their decision purely because they saw me use a power even though they do not know what it does. Despite this I can still confirm random chance things. Like, if I use my future vision on dice before they are rolled I can know the result… unless the person rolling them decides not to or to roll it differently because they or someone knows about my future vision changes something. Or they did something differently because they saw me use a power. Which since my eyes glow when I use it makes it obvious that I'm using it if someone knows what my power is. Does that make sense?" explained Diana, blushing slightly after realising she had talked for so long.
Vincent smiled, "Don't get so flustered. I'm genuinely curious. It sort of decreases the power and usefulness of your ability but that is still monumentally useful. You can determine the outcome of any random event and guess the actions of others. Even if they know you can see the future, it still makes it tougher for them. That is very cool, young lady. And, honestly, I'm very jealous."
Diana now smiled as well, brushing a lock of blue hair from her eyes. "You're very skilled Mister Vince, I don't think you really need my ability." she replied.
"Still," thought Vincent out loud, "it would be cool. I wish I had your power"
"I wish I could walk." whispered Diana, sighing softly and slumping in her wheelchair.
Nathaniel immediately dropped down from the ceiling and landed beside the distraught girl. He wrapped his arms around her, embracing her tightly. Diana slowly calmed. "I'm useless," she said, bleary eyes looking up at Nathaniel's own.
"You saved my life Diana. Your ability may be limited for now, but it has the potential to be impossibly powerful. How you use it, your own ingenuity and intellect is your greatest tool. Your mind is sharper than anyone else here and you have so much room to grow. You have years of life to empower yourself with knowledge and skills. And," Nathaniel gestured to the rest of the group, "we are all here to help you."
Blinking away her tears, Diana attempted a sheepish smile. "Really?"
"Yes, really." replied Nathaniel with a smile of his own.
"Definitely." injected Vincent, causing the girl to smile properly.
"Alright everyone, time for our morning meeting." called out Eddie, "Today we need to-"
Eddie was suddenly cut off by a knock at the Museum's grand front door which was located only a dozen or so metres from the group's main meeting space. Eddie put a finger to his lips, his face darkening before lighting up with a smile as he opened the heavy wooden door. Behind the door stood a man in cheap black slacks, crinkled white button down shirt and black business tie half-hidden behind a bulletproof vest. He looked like an office worker. The label on his vest read "ArmSys Rep 33". His brown-gold goatee was neatly trimmed, as was his hair. Horn rimmed glasses graced his pale blue eyes as he flashed an enthusiastic smile.
He also held an ArmSys All-Calibre-Rifle Mark 4 with confident hands.
"No religious recruiters, slimey salespeople or greedy government workers including soldiers. Unless you've brought pizza, no thanks." greeted Eddie, eyes flickering down to the rifle and back to the visitor's face. Eddie knew the ArmSys All-Calibre-Rifle Mark 4 well, he had even used one once. Known as ACR-4s, they were one of the most advanced and expensive firearms made in the modern age. Designed with a revolutionary and expensive automatically adjusting internal barrel size as well as firing mechanism using an integrated computer, ACR-4s were capable of firing bullets of every and any round size below 80mm. If you had bullets, you could fire. They also came with selective firing modes such as full auto, semi-auto and burst fire as part of the stock model. However very few knew about its most frustrating feature unless they were in a handful of spec ops units that had the budget for them. The ACR-4 was biometrically locked to its user. This meant only designated users could use the rifle, even if recovered by the enemy. The ACR-4 also had an onboard C4 charge that could be detonated remotely by authorised users or automatically if an unauthorised user attempted to use it. No one had ever managed to successfully recover an ACR-4. The gun itself was one of the first smart guns developed by ArmSys and the first to include biometric locking and remote detonation. [I've never gotten a chance to use them in the field] thought Eddie with a grin, [I am getting this man's gun, even if it takes weeks].
The visitor laughed, showing a mouthful of clean white teeth.
"I'm not from any religious organisation and I'm technically not a salesperson - I don't sell anything. I'm more of an informant. Also I'm not from the government but I am still here to help. " replied the man in a smooth voice.
"And what are you here to inform us about and help us with?" asked Eddie.
"ArmSys Limited, the former arms and vehicle manufacturing company, has survived the apocalypse. We've set up a base at Heathrow Airport, patrolled by dozens of guards even more armed than me. There's fresh food, clean and hot water available. Plus there's plenty of space. We're essentially a settlement now and we're looking for skilled people such as yourselves to join us in our quest to rebuild humanity." spieled the man, his eyes widening and voice quickening with excitement.
Eddie nodded his head slowly, hands resting on the sides of his belt a mere inch away from the handle of his Colt Revolvers.
"Not interested, we have most of that here already. I'm not accepting some sketchy offer from a random guy who showed up on my doorstep." declined Eddie bluntly.
"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Clayton, a resident of Heathrow Airport that has volunteered to spread the news of our settlement." elaborated Clayton, peering over Eddie's shoulder to the stacks of manga and manhwa strewn about. "We have a fully functioning market place too. It's mostly a barter system, but there is a bookshop full of comics, manga and such. We're also working on getting electricity up and running. Safety in numbers, there's over 100 billion Undead. You have clearly survived by teaming up, think of this as joining an even larger team."
Eddie slowly raised his eyebrows and glanced over his left shoulder to look at his team.
[This is different from last time,] thought Nathaniel, [Mr Sharpe never started a settlement, only kept his company going as the supply centre of the new world. Interesting, we could get some useful supplies and could use the planes at Heathrow to leave Britain. This works out great.]
"Well Mr Not-A-Salesperson, you have us sold." he laughed, "will you help guide us there or do we have to make our own journey?"
"Sadly you'll have to go on your own, at least all the highway signs help." Clayton then withdrew a neatly folded map from his pocket and gave it to Eddie, "here's a map to help you get there. I took quite a few from the airport, they are very useful."
Looking over his shoulder, "See you there!" called out Clayton as he quickly proceeded down the stairs and down the snow covered streets.
"We better get packing for our trip.", began Eddie with a smile, "Heathrow Airport isn't as far as walking almost the entire length of Britain like you did Nathaniel, but I'd rather be stocked up just in case."
The group then began packing up, storing the majority of their supplies inside Eddie's pocket dimension before setting off. Little did they know they would regret ever going to this settlement, especially Nathaniel.