Leigh had given me a token for the shower room. It was locked from 10pm till 5am but I was okay for a shower.

  “We get one per day, not like everyone else, 1 per week. This is your key to get in. Don’t lose it.”

  “Magic like the water bottle?”

  She’d just nodded. “Some clean clothes out for you. You’re in room 10.”

  I hadn’t had a bath since fall. This, this was something else. There was piped and steaming hot water.

  The moment the water hit my skin, I nearly gasped aloud. Hot water - actual hot water - cascading freely from above. In our years on the road, bathing had meant cold streams or collected rainwater when we were lucky. This simple pleasure, once so common, now felt like an impossible luxury.

  It washed over me, and wiped the dust, the grime, the sweat from working down the drain. The soap was a small hard bar, probably made from plants. It smelled like plants. But it worked, and it scrubbed my skin and soothed the burn from the water.

  An experience I’d never had. But they were obviously so used to it.

  The clothes were big, but thick and dry, and also smelled like plants of flowers.

  I then made my way to room 10. It was open, a bed, desk and chair, and a small closet with a couple more sets of clothes.

  I’d never owned any more than what was on my back, a note on the desk said.

  Clothes outside each night are washed by staff.

  I ran my fingers over the clean fabric, marveling at the simple abundance. Clean clothes, regularly washed - another forgotten luxury. The system here had structure, resources, comfort even. It made the years Reece and I had spent scavenging and surviving seem all the more brutal in comparison.

  I couldn’t quite believe we got food, water, and clothes, just for what… keeping the furnace going. It…

  I turned the note over.

  Without us, there would be no furnace. Work hard, you will be rewarded.

  L

  I was woken in the early hours of the morning, sure I had a bed, a closed in room all to myself. But the reality of it was I was more spooked in here than I was anywhere else.

  Four walls, a door that closed, a soft bed - things that should have spelled safety and comfort. Instead, I felt exposed, vulnerable. For years, safety had meant having my back to a corner, one eye open, knife in hand. The silence was unnerving; I’d grown accustomed to nature’s nocturnal symphony and Reece’s steady breathing beside me.

  Sweat also dripped from every pore. I wasn’t used to this amount of heat. We were always out and about, not inside a building with a furnace under it.

  I moved to the small window and noted the bars. But the window was cranked open and I could smell the burning coal, hear the hum of the compound.

  The sky was dark, only lit on one side by lights from a huge main building.

  I needed to get used to the layout of the whole compound.

  This wasn’t just idle curiosity. If I was going to find Reece and escape, I needed to understand this place completely - its rhythms, its vulnerabilities, its blind spots. Dad had taught us that information was often the most valuable resource. “Know the terrain better than your enemy,” he’d said. “It gives you the advantage.”

  That meant if I worked hard, my time off, I would make notes of everywhere and everything.

  I knew how to do that. It was part of finding a new town, locating all the vital parts of it, what and where we could go.

  Leigh put me with another young girl that day; I’d to shadow her while I learned the ropes of everything.

  She didn’t talk much, and when I tried, it felt like there were real reasons for her fragility.

  I was with her for two days, then an older young man named Alsed. He was strong, and the total opposite of Kat, he never stopped talking.

  That was a good thing for me, though.

  He was doing a good portion of my recon for me without much work at all.

  “Going for lunch now, or after?” he asked, checking the time when Leigh stepped in as replacements.

  “Now,” I said.

  Leigh gave me a sideward glance, but didn’t open her mouth to protest when we stepped out together.

  “Maybe you can show me a little more of the grounds?” I asked over lunch.

  “You want to meet me after work?” He seemed taken aback.

  “Only if you can. Is it breaking the rules?”

  “No,” he shook his head, his long hair almost catching in his food. He cursed and pulled another tie out of his pocket. “Always breaking the damn things.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  I laughed. “They don’t cut it?”

  “I’ve saved for it, but yes, I can get it cut this month.”

  “Saved for it?”

  “Any extra personal care costs, we get a credit a week.”

  The concept of currency, of saving and spending, felt alien after so many years of pure survival economics. In our world, value had been measured only in immediate utility - could something be eaten, worn, or used as a weapon? The idea that one might accumulate abstract “credit” to exchange for services later was both familiar from my pre-fall memories and utterly foreign to my current reality.

  I ate what was in front of me. No matter what it was, it was heaven compared to my cooking. “How long have you been saving?”

  “A few months for this. Just tired of it.”

  I scratched my chin. “And the stubble?”

  “Yeah, I try and keep that short. That was one of my first saves.”

  “I admit it would be different seeing people with short hair.”

  “Don’t you like it?”

  I glanced over at him; he was built by the work he was doing. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll let you know.”

  “What do you need?” he asked. “Anything?”

  “I’ve been given more things here than I’ve ever owned. We carried little. Ran a lot.”

  “It’s not nice out there,” he said.

  “Personal experience?”

  “I’ve been here since I was found, yes. Seven years.”

  “You like it, the way they run it?”

  He went quiet, then leaned forward. “Careful what you say,” he warned. “The walls have ears.”

  I took that as the warning it was, like, off of Leigh.

  “You really want to meet later?”

  I watched him blush. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked. “If I did, forgive me. I’m new to all of this…. And people.”

  He blinked. “Yes, of course you are. Sorry.”

  “So,” I prompted as we cleared our plates away. “What was wrong with it?”

  “Most women wouldn’t look at me,” he said. “Let alone ask to walk out after hours with me.”

  “Why?”

  His embarrassment suddenly clicked into place. Years of isolation had dulled my understanding of social nuances. What I had intended as strategic information-gathering, he had interpreted as... romantic interest? The realization made me feel both na?ve and oddly disconnected from normal human interaction.

  He indicated we walk back to the furnace where I very much wanted to get to the bottom of it.

  “All good?” Leigh asked.

  I nodded, “Food is divine.”

  “That it is,” she said. “Relief will be in at five.”

  “What do I do after that?” I asked her.

  “Whatever you want within the furnace grounds.” She glanced at Alsed, and it was as if she said something to him. Without opening her mouth, he looked away, and when I tried to talk to him, he ignored me for a long time.

  By the time five was approaching, I had outright had enough of being ignored. We put the shovels down, and the relief took up the mantle. When he was about to walk away, I asked. “Can I still see you later?”

  He paused by the door. Without turning around, he said. “By the herb garden at the side of the kitchens, eight pm.”

  Then he was gone.

  I couldn’t understand it at all, but I tried not to worry. I had dinner by myself, showered, and not so patiently waited till it was 7.45 before I made my way out.

  Leigh was at the end of the corridor. “Alsed is a good man,” she said.

  “Seems so, yes,” I replied, wondering what was wrong with all of them.

  “If you plan on leaving, don’t lead him on.”

  I was acting dumb. I knew it. I put my hand to my mouth. “I’m an idiot.”

  Leigh smiled at me. “No, you’ve just not been around people.”

  “He wouldn’t hurt me, though?”

  “He’s a very good man,” Leigh said.

  “Then I will just walk and chat,” I said.

  Leigh moved to the side, allowing me to pass.

  A twinge of guilt passed through me as I left. My motives weren’t entirely innocent. I needed information, allies, a better understanding of this place. Using Alsed’s apparent interest in me to get that information wasn’t something I was proud of, but neither could I afford to pass up the opportunity. Survival had taught me to use every advantage available.

  I really hadn’t thought that Alsed might have thought I was interested in more than that. But I guess so, young woman I was, but naive. When I saw him, I also saw his face light up. “I thought you might have been joking,” he said.

  “I never joke.” I replied. “But I also need to let you know… I’m…”

  “You’re new to people,” he smiled and held out his hand. “I get it. I’d like to get to know you, friends?”

  “Friends,” I said and took his hand in mine to shake. “I have missed friends.”

  “School?”

  “When the fall happened, yes.”

  “No one survived?”

  I shook my head. “No one from our street, I don’t… I don’t think so.”

  He indicated we walk, so we did and all the while; I made notes of everything we passed, and he talked me through the grounds layout he could.

  “I needed to settle for a while when I got here,” he said.

  “You were a teen then. You’re older than me, right?”

  “Twenty-three,” he said. “So, a little.”

  “No gift?”

  “Nope. Just never manifested anything, just dumb luck I found my way.”

  “Not dumb luck,” I said. “You must have experience, just not the same as everyone else.”

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “You’re right.”

  I studied him as we walked, wondering about his story. Had he been like me - surviving on his own, scavenging, hunting, until he found this place? Or had he been part of another community? The fact that he too lacked system abilities created an unexpected bond between us. We were the ungifted in a world increasingly dominated by those with power.

  “The house,” I pointed. “Maggie’s?”

  “Correct. No one can get close without her guards knowing. But if you’re called to her, don’t mess about. Go.”

  “Fair,” I said. “The arena?”

  “All the wrong questions,” he said. Then laughed. “Far to the left. See there.”

  I could see it a massive set of double doors and surrounding wall. “Old horse yard, like this is all old farm, right?”

  He nodded. “They only hold any kind of games when they’ve had new recruits in a while, so your brother will be put in there within the month.”

  “Not good?”

  “Depends. It’s there for a reason. They can’t train or work with anyone who is too weak. It puts a deadly strain on the teams going outside our walls.”

  “Monsters?”

  “Big monsters.”

  My heart sank at his casual mention of my brother being “put in there.” I kept my expression neutral, but internally I was calculating timelines. Less than a month to find Reece and get out. Less than a month before they’d force him to fight, to risk his life for their entertainment and assessment. The pressure to act quickly warred with the need for careful planning.

  Alsed looked at the sun setting. “We’re out of time, will be curfew soon.”

  “We’ve been out almost two hours?”

  He laughed. “Have fun?”

  I nodded. “I have,” I said. “We on the same shift tomorrow?”

  “Yes, Leigh said she’d be happy to leave me with you for the week, or longer, if you think you’ll stick around to partner with me permanently.”

  “Not a marriage proposal?”

  He laughed again, but this time his face did flush. “Don’t get many pretty girls in here. They’re all old like Leigh.”

  “It’s not safe here,” I said, and lowered my head.

  “It’s not really safe anywhere, but at least here you’re fed and looked after.”

  I didn’t want to say anything else. James stood on the other side of the yard, watching us.

  Alsed stopped walking and stared straight back at him. When James walked away, he turned to me. “Is he bothering you?”

  “Not as yet, but he worries me.”

  “He worries a lot of us, Maggie’s dog.”

  “Yeah,” I let out a sigh. “This is good night, then.”

  “If you stick around me, I’ll try to keep him away.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’d like that.”

  Then I ducked inside and went to my room. Knowing he was at least on the other side of the building.

  As I locked my door, I found myself genuinely grateful for Alsed’s offer of protection, even as I recognized that I was using him. The situation was growing more complex - now there were potential allies, enemies, rules to navigate. Life had been simpler on the road in many ways. Harder physically, but morally clearer. Here, survival required a different kind of calculation.

  That night, my dreams were filled with many other things. James, Maggie, my brother fighting monsters, and Alsed, gentle and kind.

  I still woke in the middle of the night in a full-on sweat.