Stryker looked to Aaroon to say whatever it was he said, after confirming he can say it in front of Austin.
"I thought I was just seeing things at first," Aaroon admitted, his voice deep for a 16 year old. "but then, I came back, and Caesar confirmed swears he saw it, too, roaming near the Gates, when he first started Gate duty earlier today."
"What?" Stryker asked, curious. "What did you see?"
Reya whispered something in his ear that caused Stryker to appear very disturbed and surprised by whatever she said. He then turned to Aaroon. "Hey, Aaroon, give Austin the rest of his tour, Reya and Alyssa, come with me. I need to see it for myself."
As they walked off, Austin couldn't help but to worry, curious as to what was going on. What did Aaroon and this Caesar guy see that made Stryker behave that way.
"Wait a minute," Suddenly, something struck at Austin. "If no one's allowed in the Labyrinth, why, then, are you?"
Aaroon just laughed, as if the question amused him. "There are 7 responsibility types here. Those who practice culinary duties like cookin' we call them 'Preppers.' 'Wippers' are like the janitors around here; they keep this place clean. We have our 'Bandagers' too; they're basically our healers, and I reckon Stryker's already told you about the Gatherers and Herderers, yeah? Ya got it?"
"Not really, but a little, I guess," Austin admitted, mentally noting these odd things down inside his head.
"That's good, cause you will," Aaroon said, as they continued with the tour, heading towards the northwestern wall. "At least, eventually, Newbie."
Austin had to mentally stop himself from protesting the nickname Stryker had given him, that Aaroon seemed hellbent on saying. He had a feeling that if he protested, the guy would never stop calling him by it.
"You said there were 7 duties, but that was only 5," Austin stated, curiously, as he tried to distract himself from his thoughts. "What're the rest?"
"Technically speaking, there are only 6 duties, as overseers aren't really jobs as more of a responsibility, but what the fuck, right," Aaroon turned to Austin, smiling toothily. "Aside from overseer, the final job is called 'scouter,' — Which is what I oversee. Scouters are the ones who run the Labyrinth, searching and mapping it, tryna find a way outta this place. Its the most dangerous job in the Meadows, not only because of the possibility of running into Savagers, but also the Bane Brothers and Daylighter Annihilators."
"Have you seen once before?" Austin asked, curious. "An Annihilator, I mean? Stryker said they're mostly active at night, and that few people have seen one and lived to tell the tale…"
"The key word in that sentence is 'mostly,'," Aaroon answered with a knowing smirk, making Austin wonder if he was really being dismissive and arrogant or if he'd just smirk so much that it was a default facial setting at this point. Austin had a gut feeling that all of the above was right. "I know I've lost some good scouts to Annihilators that didn't follow the sleep patterns. They survived the initial encounter but they weren't alive enough to tell us what the suckers looked like. Or sane enough, for that matter."
"Sane?" Austin repeated. "What do you mean by that?"
"Bitten. Stung. Their toxins and venom cause insanity," Aaron's gaze was afar, as if remembering an unpleasant memory. "You get bitten or even sung by one of those suckers and you're done for. I've encountered them once, but the shadows obscured much of the beasts. No one is actually certain how they look like; no one's lived long enough with the sanity to tell just what they looked like. Not to mention those who weren't savagely shredded to pieces, and walked away alive after the encounter — they were never the same. I blame it on the venom and toxins in the bite and stingers — They cause their victims to…change. There's somethin' in them stingers and bites, I don't know."
Austin thought for a minute, as they walked towards the tents, where he was told everyone there slept. This place was insane. Scary. Who would put kids in place like this? And why? Was it punishment? A part of some twisted game? Is that letter he got – is it relevant? Is it a part of Operation Blueprinting? What was that about, anyway? There were too many questions and not enough answers.
'This place… is so fucked up,' Austin thought to himself, clenching his fists.