8:00 AM, Day 13
Viktor felt a throbbing pain in his shoulder as he slowly woke up from the darkness, but he forcibly pushed it down, and, for the first time in two days, he opened his eyes again.
"So I'm still here in the school, apparently." Viktor thought, getting up and looking around.
"Hm?" Anna said, getting up. "Oh, Viktor, you're awake."
"How long has it been?"
"Two days since you fell unconscious, and 13 days since Reunion took over."
"What's changed?"
"We have a new group member, the Natalya you mentioned, and we have participated in 3 more engagements, luckily only gaining some minor injuries."
"Good." Viktor said, walking over to the warehouse window. "That's a lot of bodies."
"Everybody wants to steal from our group."
"Hm… My staff?"
"Here." Anna walked to one of the shelves and took Viktor's staff off it, before handing it to him.
"So, do we have any plans for the near future?"
"No, we do not. We are just training and waiting for you to wake up."
"I see. Next time, you should suggest some things to Sonya."
"Well, we do have to stay here and protect you, of course."
"Good point. So, now that I'm awake, any plans?"
"No, not really. I guess we just wait until the others wake up."
"Anything else you want to talk about for the time being?" Viktor said, finding a seat and sitting down, Anna likewise sitting down on a seat next to him.
"Our pasts, I guess."
"Oh, no. What am I supposed to say?" Viktor thought, struggling to maintain a calm face.
"Alright, my past isn't really significant. I was the best student in the class for almost every year, and generally, before Reunion took over, I was just the stereotypical good student." Anna said, thinking back to her past.
"My past is really just the past of your everyday normal stuck-up noble, but after Reunion took over, I started to realize that really, there was no difference between me and commoners." Viktor said, immediately choosing the most believable backstory.
"I see. What made you think there was no difference between you and us commoners?" Anna asked curiously.
"Please don't burrow deeper…" Viktor thought.
"Well, it happened when I saw nobles and commoners fighting, and I realized that when everything goes to hell, ranks and titles don't matter anymore."
"I see. Hmm… What else do you want to know about me?" Anna asked.
"Could you two stop being sentimental?" Sonya interjected as she got up. "Let's plan for the future."
"We already have a basic plan." Viktor said, gesturing towards the still-sleeping Lada and Rosalind. "But we need everybody to vote on it."
"Fine. But not the noble, alright?" Sonya said, sitting down on a nearby chair. "How about we go check the outside while they are waking up?"
"Sure, I'll stay behind to guard the place and Natalya." Anna said.
"Alright, let's go." Viktor said, walking out towards the direction of the exit to the school.
"Why that direction? You do realize that the exit is still guarded, right?" Sonya said, standing at the entrance to the storehouse.
"Yes, but how long has it been since you have checked?"
"Five days… Yeah, sure. Let's go take a look." With that said, the two started walking over to the exit of the school.
10 minutes later
"They're… gone?" Sonya said, looking at the now unguarded exit.
"How about we go investigate further?" Viktor said, walking towards the exit.
"Hey, wait up!" Sonya said, following along.
Viktor pushed open the doors and walked out, half-expecting to be randomly ambushed by a Reunion solider out of nowhere. None were to be seen, though. The region outside the school was also an absolute mess; Reunion graffiti and trash everywhere, as well as the still-smoldering remnants of fires.
Viktor walked over to one of the firepits and touched it, feeling the still-warm stones. "Still warm. They haven't left for long."
"So we're the first students to see the outside of the school in weeks?"
"I think so, yeah."
"Let's check if they really are gone, then. There's an apartment building there." Sonya said, pointing to an empty apartment building nearby. "Race you there!"
"Fine…" Viktor said, picking up speed and running towards the building.
3 minutes later
Viktor and Sonya arrived at the same time, panting.
"Alright, so now we climb the building?" Viktor asked, out of breath.
"What are you waiting for, you idiot?" Sonya said, walking into the building and starting to climb up the stairs.
"What do you think we should do next, Sonya?" Viktor asked, catching up.
"Ask yourself. You and Anna are the ideas people."
"Fine. I don't really have a plan myself, apart from wander the buildings until we find a rescue group." Viktor said, confident that Rhodes Island would find them.
"Eh, alright." As she was talking, the two finally made their way to the top of the building, looking around at the desolate, empty buildings that once were a city.
"Looks like a lot of stuff happened when we were in the school." Sonya said, pointing towards the fires in the distance.
"You want to head back?"
"Yeah."
5 minutes later
Viktor and Sonya were just rounding the corner towards the school when another group came out.
"Who are you?" A girl, wearing a tattered school uniform, asked them.
"Students." Sonya said, walking forward and assuming command.
"Hand over all your supplies right now or we kill you. We outnumber you eleven to two."
"And why do I care?" Sonya said, charging forwards and punching the girl, breaking her nose. With that, Viktor also charged forwards, swinging his staff hard despite his injury, killing two students outright, before jabbing at the head of a student that came too close. Seeing the student fall, he charged forwards again, and bashed another student's head in with his staff. Just as he was about to attack the next student, though, the student lurched forwards before collapsing face-first on the ground, Sonya behind him.
"Please don't kill me…" The final student said, slowly backing off.
"Shut up." And with a swing of Viktor's staff, another student was silenced.
"Was that necessary?" Viktor thought, following Sonya back to the classroom, old dilemmas rising up again.
"Whatever. That's the eighth group, right? Ugh…" Viktor thought.
"For what seems like the thousandth time, I guess now's not the time." Viktor put a lid on his thoughts, and shifted his hold on the staff, only for the pain in his shoulder to flare again as the adrenaline in his system slowly disappeared.
"I should not have done that." Viktor suddenly said.
"Done what?" Sonya asked, opening the doors to the main entrance and walking in.
"Used my shoulder before it was fully healed."
"Calm down. You should be fine…" Sonya's voice trailed off as the bandages on Viktor's arm slowly became red.
"Blyat! We need to get back to Anna, fast!" Sonya said, voice rising as she took Viktor by his uninjured arm and started running back.
"Nice to know that you care for me."
"Shut up."
5 minutes later
"Anna, we have an emergency." Sonya said, throwing open the doors to the storehouse.
"What?" Anna asked, chewing on some bread.
"His wound reopened." Sonya said, gesturing towards Lada. "Could you get her over?"
"Sure." Anna motioned for Lada to come over.
"Alright, what's the problem?" Lada asked. "Oh… I think I need to take the bandages off and take a look."
"Sure." Viktor said, starting to unwrap the bandages on his arm, exposing the bloody but luckily uninfected cut underneath.
"Alright." Lada grabbed a first aid kit from one of the shelves and came over, rewrapping his arm in bandages. "Done."
"Alright, thanks." Viktor said, feeling in the pain in his shoulder reduce significantly.
"So, what did you find?" Anna asked.
"Well, we found that Reunion left, and we went out for a bit to confirm that they had actually left but got into a fight on the way back." Viktor said, laying his staff down.
"So we can leave?" At that, everybody in the room perked up.
"Yes."
"Then what are we waiting for? Everybody pack up as much food and water as possible, and let's go."
20 minutes later
Anna walked out the school, taking a look around at all the trash.
"So we're finally free?" Anna said Sonya.
"I think so. Viktor?" Sonya said.
"I believe so too. There appears to be no issue with escaping right now." Natalya said, speaking to the entire group for the first time.
"Possibly not." Viktor said, pointing to the dark cloud emanating flashes of red lightning that was slowly nearing their region. "I think that's a Catastrophe."
"SHIT!"