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Reya was shaken awake by another member. She blearily opened her eyes, adjusting to the figure in front of her. She shook her head awake, finally waking up enough. Not too far from her stood a figure clad in tattered clothes and probably a mess, judging by the blood and dirt on their limbs. She raised her eyes. A tall blonde with their hair tied up—albeit messily— with specks of blood on the person's neck. Sharp but gentle hazel eyes, an upturned nose with a high bridge, a slim face, and built shoulders and arms. Who else could it be, except-
"Arnie, get your dirty hands off me. You haven't even washed up!" Reya exclaimed.
So much for the grand entrance. Reya slapped away Warner's hands, the man holding his hands up in response. Warner, the techy one of the group. Almost like an engineer, one could say.
"My bad. The group just got back from a mission, and we needed to wake you up for a meeting. Quite urgent." Warner simply explained calmly, unfazed by the "welcome" that was bestowed upon him. Reya reluctantly sat up, the ice pack on her back rolling off. It had long since melted, probably during sometime in her nap. Sighing, she walked out of the room, and there she reunited with the other members that just returned from a mission.
A slightly tall male with straight black hair and black eyes wearing a placid expression—Jun-Liang, the main fighter of the group, with Reya being the second. Another one, shorter and sporting wavy brunette hair and green-tinted eyes—Thalia, their strategist and planner. Lastly, a familiar tall figure with straight, dark brown hair and green eyes—Evonie. The entire group was there together. Yet, Reya stared them down with an inscrutable expression before addressing each one of them with an irritated tone.
"Arnie, Jun, Lia. Each of you better wash up before you proceed with a meeting. And Ev, don't get me started on you. Why in the world did you let them get all the way here without telling them to wash up first?"
With that, Evonie sighed and crossed her arms, mumbling in response, "I tried to. They're just too stubborn."
All in order, Reya had called out the members by their nicknames. It seemed they were quite big on the nickname thing. Well, it mostly started from Thalia, who thought it would be quite nice to have some nicknames for Warner and Jun-liang. Evonie had her nickname given by Reya many years ago, back when they were closer. The other members first noticed Reya calling Evonie Ev, but they felt odd whenever they used such a personal form of address, so they stuck with the normal name. And of course, Reya didn't get the whole nickname thing and told them to just stick with 'Reya.'
Anyway, her fellow members began exchanging a few sighs. But they seemed to understand how filthy they were, and so they set down their things and proceeded with cleaning up. Once again, it was Reya and Evonie who were left together after having been in the base for a while already.
Reya cocked her head and glanced over at Evonie, who decided to settle down at their meeting table—which, by the way, was just a simple white counter. It was rather silent with just the two of them present—not that Reya felt the need to break it, though. After a thought, she decided to sit down on one of the chairs at the counter, settling down and flitting her eyes over the various pens, papers, and other objects strewn around. She picked up a pencil with downcast eyes, twirling it offhandedly.
"When did they get here?" She asked blankly.
Evonie rested her elbow on the table, propping her chin up with her hand as she looked at Reya.
"Not too long ago. Though, it was enough time for them to notice the presence of the new kid in the other room. The main topic of the meeting, from what I overheard from their muttered grumbles."
"Spared me the breaths I'd have used to break the news to them, I guess. It was only a matter of time till they had to find out."
Evonie continued to study Reya's expression. With that tone, Reya seemed like she couldn't care less about the situation. However, Evonie knew Reya well enough to tell she was probably quite concerned about what to do next for the kid. Regardless, she couldn't help but poke at her playfully.
"Hah, You sure wouldn't have made me tell them the news in your place? You act like you'd have the guts to casually tell them you saved a kid out of the goodness of your heart-"
"I wasn't trying to be good, nor was I planning to leave a kid to get mauled by a feral. Besides, I am perfectly capable of updating them on pressing matters and explaining myself as needed."
Reya seemed to have remembered something, and she raised her downturned eyes to look straight at Evonie's.
"Speaking of explaining, what exactly were you doing at your dad's lab? You obviously went alone earlier, and considering the new mutations, you would have waited for either Jun or I to come with you."
Evonie blinked, a strange flicker in her eyes.
"Ridiculous. What else could it be besides the usual research? And I don't always need to be accompanied. Don't forget, I'm a survivor of the apocalypse too."
"No… you don't go alone often—if even at all. Something's up-"
Reya was distastefully cut off as Jun-liang walked in with a freshly showered appearance, his damp hair slightly messy. He raised an eyebrow and slid onto a chair, situating himself right in front of the duo at the table.
"Damn, what's with the glares? What are you guys arguing about?" Jun-liang questioned them casually, his eyes narrowing at them to study their expressions.
Both Reya and Evonie stared at him blankly, slowly shutting their mouths. They subtly faced away from each other, their sour expressions written over their faces. Not a second too late to their silence, Warner had somehow snuck up and ruffled Jun-liang's hair, water droplets flying around.
"What the hell, Arnie!? I'll rip your head off!" Jun-liang exclaimed, struggling against Warner.
Finally, Thalia arrived soon enough to catch this sight. Both men almost kissed the solid counter as Thalia shoved their heads straight down in a short jerk.
"You fools, you're going to get the paper blueprints and plans wet!" The small woman scolded unhesitatingly.
Reya watched this whole scene and decided to lean back on her chair, eventually earning a repressed wince as she realised she had forgotten about the bruises on her back. She slowly sat back up straight and pushed the ache aside, finally deciding to settle down the noisy group.
"Just settle down already. Didn't you all wake me up in the first place for a meeting?"
Reya shot them a glare, her eyes frosted with her irritation. But all the group members were survivors who had just returned from a mission with direct contact against ferals. Would a simple glare still be able to chill their scar-littered skin? Regardless, they decided to settle down and get to the matter at hand.
"We saw the kid in the guest room. She probably woke up a while ago. Mind explaining what in the world happened while you went on a mission, one to just scavenge for supplies—no less?" Thalia started first, a lengthy sigh escaping her mouth. She was quite perplexed by the situation.
Reya thought for a moment on her encounter, eventually simplifying her explanation to keep it clear and short. After speaking, the other members seemed to think for a moment. They didn't seem particularly against her actions. She just saw a child, after all. A survivor, just like them.
"Hm… When we scouted the area, we were sure there were no ferals. We didn't exactly check for a survivor, however, as there seemed to be little-to-no activity." Warner mumbled, leaning forward on the counter.
"The kid was pretty timid and messed up. Something happened in the building, and we'll need to ask Fiora," Reya responded.
"Fiora?" Warner interjected curiously.
"The kid. Her name's Fiora."
Thalia, having been in thought for a while, eventually spoke up as well.
"We'll need to have some planning before we enter that building again. It's better to directly question the kid about as many details as we can before we try entering again, at least she's already here…"
Evonie nodded at Thalia's suggestions, quickly hopping off her chair and excusing herself to call over Fiora. Not too long after, a scrawny kid walked out with her, seeming quite rough. Although not relatively filthy, the child had messy hair, and her once colourful clothing had been dulled by dirt. Her limbs held no open wounds, but had a few bruises.
Jun-liang stared at the kid, his eyes narrowing slightly. Being a fighter himself, he knew that the child had probably gotten into some situation. No open wounds meant she didn't directly fight with anything, but bruises meant she either got hit by a few things or struggled against something.
"Fiora, how old are you?" Jun-liang asked calmly.
Fiora stared at the group of people before her. The timid girl almost shrank away, but she grew a little confidence upon seeing Reya. She stepped back forward and clenched her fist, replying clearly.
"I'm 9!"
Reya lazily flitted her eyes over the kid, her eyes lingering over her bruises and messy hair. Thalia noticed Reya's gaze, tilting her head and speaking blankly.
"We can clean her up after questioning her."
Thalia then looked over at Fiora, eventually calling her over to come closer.
"Say, Fiora. Why were you in that building?"
The girl stared at the seemingly nice lady in front of her, blinking slowly. She eventually answered, taking a few pauses to articulate her thought every now-and-then.
"I… lived with my mama. She was very nice. But mama… she started to act weird. She would become very angry and push me away. Then one day, she locked her room and never went out again. I was very sad… I didn't want to leave her, but mama stayed like that… for a long time."
The group exchanged looks with each other. So… her mother became a feral. Deciding not to prod at the story for too long, Thalia hummed and patted Fiora's head.
"Alright, Fiora. Thanks for telling us."
She raised her head and turned back to the other members, finally deciding on a solid plan.
"Alright, so we'll just have to deal with a new member, them. It's no use lazing around to eventually try and find an overcrowded shelter to take her in. We might as well just have one more mouth to feed."
The others nodded. It wasn't like they were short of any rooms due to the current building that they stayed in. Evonie's dad had equipped the structure quite well. As for resources, they were easily able to scavenge for supplies. The reason they were able to be in the building in the first place was because they were also survivors who were found by Reya and Evonie. After a bit more clarifications and role-assigning, they finished their meeting. They had eventually planned to return to the building the next day to see what they could find for research. Thalia and Evonie went ahead to clean and patch up the poor kid, while Reya and Jun-liang prepared for the upcoming mission.
According to their plan, Thalia, Reya, Evonie, and Jun-liang, would go to the building to see what they could find. They were thinking of bringing back either a specimen to research or get supplies. Warner would stay back to watch over Fiora, since he sustained quite a rough burn from their latest mission. One of the devices he had engineered had worked a little too well against a feral, and he was caught up in the small explosion. It would be best to let it heal without any more factors that could introduce infection.
And so, the rest of the day went on in such a fashion.
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