[39] Future of a New World

The scarcity of tobacco was becoming a problem for me.

Not a serious one, at least compared to essential supplies like food, medicine, ammunition and fuel.

...Or maybe they were. For smokers, being forced to quit cold turkey in the middle of a zombie apocalypse felt like its own kind of death.

I watched three men sitting beside a half-collapsed storefront pass a cigarette between them, each taking only a few drags before handing it to the next. A month ago, nobody would've thought twice about wasting half a pack in an afternoon. Now one cigarette could get you a decent meal. A full pack? Depending on who you asked, several days' worth. Even back at our camp, command had started limiting the smokers. First it was one pack every few days. Then half. Then nothing unless somebody found their own.

My eyes lingered on the carton sitting beside one of the men.

Could probably get away with taking one...

I immediately looked away, deciding against it.

Staff Sergeant Yerin's face returned to mind.

"Escort him properly."

She'd leaned across the table when she said it.

"Don't lose him. Don't piss him off. Don't let anyone else piss him off either."

Then, after staring at me for several seconds—

"And don't do anything stupid."

She'd looked nervous saying that last part.

That Yerin? Nervous? That alone had convinced me not to ask too many questions.

I glanced behind me.

The man I was supposed to escort had slowed his steps near the entrance.

Jun. That was all the name I'd been given. He was dressed plainly in a dark jacket, trousers and well-worn boots, nothing that would've stood out among the survivors here. He stopped just beyond the rebuilt section of the gate, staring at what remained of it. His eyes travelled across the welded plates, the overturned vehicle reinforcing one side, then towards the empty space beside the checkpoint.

Like he expected somebody to be standing there.

"...Something wrong?"

"No." He walked forward.

I didn't ask. Most people coming back here stared at something.

A building. A bunk. A chair. Sometimes an empty, charred patch of ground.

Better not to ask unless they started talking first.

The woman beside him followed. Blue hair. Small frame. Pretty enough that I'd noticed her before I even noticed him. His girlfriend, probably. Maybe wife, they stayed close enough.

"You'll know him when you see him. Looks like he hasn't slept properly in a month. Dead eyes. Heavy eyebags."

She hadn't exaggerated. If anything, she hadn't gone far enough.

The guy looked completely drained.

Not sick. Just... Empty.

I glanced at the woman beside him again.

Ah. Lucky bastard.

My eyes lingered a second longer than they should have, and perhaps the woman caught that as she suddenly turned towards me. Her cyan eyes met mine directly.

"..."

Then she smiled, and bowed politely. I almost felt bad.

Jun glanced towards her, reached over and gave the top of her cap an affectionate pat.

She immediately leaned into his hand with a brighter, softer smile.

I cleared my throat.

"Right. Staff Sergeant Yerin sent me."

Jun looked over.

"I'm supposed to bring you to your two companions."

That got his attention, as he nodded with a subtle, "Thank you."

I turned and started walking.

"Settlement's a mess, so don't expect the same place you saw before."

He followed without saying anything. Neither did the girl. The deeper we went, the clearer that became.

Entire sections had been cordoned off with rope and scavenged fencing. Burnt-out rooms were being emptied onto the street. People moved broken furniture, timber and sheets of corrugated metal into piles while EDF personnel checked buildings one by one.

Some walls still carried black stains from the fires.

Others had been marked with numbers. Bodies recovered. Bodies still missing. A group of teenagers hauled bricks from a collapsed shopfront while an older woman shouted instructions at them from a plastic chair.

Two EDF soldiers were helping reinforce a barricade farther ahead. Nobody had enough people.

I caught Jun looking around.

"Your companions split up this morning," I explained. "Miss Lina is farther inside."

I pointed towards one of the wider roads.

"They've got her helping with the recovery teams and security."

Jun raised an eyebrow.

"Security?"

"Things got ugly after the attack."

That was putting it lightly.

"People lost family. Supplies went missing. A few fights started over food and sleeping space. Some idiots tried breaking into storage."

I shrugged.

"Your friend is... good at stopping arguments."

The first time I'd seen her separate two grown men, she'd lifted one by the back of his shirt like he weighed nothing.

I honestly thought I'd seen it wrong. I trained regularly enough to have some idea what that should've taken. She wasn't built like a powerlifter either. Fit, sure, with more muscle on her than you'd notice at first glance, but nowhere near enough to explain that.

Maybe she's just freakishly strong for her size.

That was the only explanation I had.

"She's also been going into damaged buildings with the search teams."

Jun gave a small nod. "I'm glad we could be of help."

From his reaction, he probably already knew what she was capable of. There was an ease in his eyes that made me think they'd known each other a long time, which made Miss Lina approaching me earlier that morning stand out. From what I'd seen of her around camp, she usually kept to herself.

"When he comes, bring him to me first, alright?"

She'd been unusually firm about it too, before slipping me a sealed can of coffee for the trouble.

Either way, I hadn't forgotten what she'd asked.

I pointed towards the old community hall ahead.

"The blonde one's in there."

I'd noticed her around before. Charmaine. She'd been a secretary for some big company before all of this, and she was good with people. Good at getting them moving too, squeezing more out of what little manpower we had.

She'd approached me with that easy smile of hers even earlier than Miss Lina had.

"Please take good care of him, okay?"

Then she'd handed me a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The cigarettes were gone within days.

Somehow, she'd known about the escort before Yerin even told me. That told me enough; she seemed unusually invested in this guy too. There was something intense about her despite the smile she always wore. A little out of place, maybe. Still, she was useful, so nobody seemed interested in questioning it.

"She's been helping organise things."

Jun followed me, as I brought him in deeper into the settlement.

...Come to think of it, they're all women, aren't they?

First the strong one. Then the blonde. The blue-haired one brushed against his arm again. Jun barely seemed to notice, but his hand still found the top of her cap every so often, giving it an absent-minded pat. She smiled every time.

Looking at him now, I still couldn't see what had made Yerin so nervous. Just some tired-looking guy walking through a ruined settlement with his girlfriend. Then again, looks could be deceiving. The zombies that had claimed so many lives looked slow from a distance too.

I looked past him at the streets ahead. This place had lost more than half the people here in one night, and it was supposed to be one of the bigger settlements that survived. EDF reinforcements were holding things together for now, but there were only so many resources we could spare before we were deployed elsewhere.

...Nobody talked much about taking the country back anymore.

These days, keeping one road open or one settlement standing another week counted as a victory.

Maybe that was what being a soldier meant now. Just keeping whatever was left from falling apart.

I looked at Jun once more and pushed the thought aside.

The country was still burning. We needed every man we could get.

Ethan hated the wheelchair.

I could tell from his face whenever somebody looked at him for too long.

"Morning, you two."

An elderly man sitting outside the medical building lifted a hand towards us. His wife smiled from the chair beside him.

"Taking him out for some air?"

"Mmhm."

I adjusted my grip on the handles and smiled back.

"The nurses said it'd be good for him."

"That's right. Can't stay inside forever."

The man's eyes drifted towards Ethan before quickly moving elsewhere.

People had gotten better at that. Not staring.

Ethan's left sleeve had been folded neatly against his shoulder. The right ended above where his elbow used to be, both wounds still wrapped beneath his clothes. A blanket covered his legs.

He had no hands left to grip the armrests, so his jaw tightened instead.

I felt the wheelchair shift slightly beneath my hands.

"Come on."

"..."

I pushed him forward.

A few nurses were still working inside, but there weren't enough of them to spend all day moving patients around. Ethan's wounds were stable now, and his legs mostly needed time.

That meant I could take him outside.

He couldn't move the chair himself. Couldn't stand. Couldn't even complain properly.

A low sound escaped his throat as one wheel bumped over a crack in the road.

"Ngh—"

Ethan immediately winced.

"Sorry, Ethan."

I slowed down.

The damage to his throat still hurt whenever he tried making too much noise. The doctors weren't sure how much of his voice would ever come back.

"You shouldn't force it."

His eyes shifted towards me.

"...I know. Hehe."

I gave him a small smile and kept pushing.

The settlement was busier than it had been over the last few days. People were carrying timber, clearing broken furniture and moving supplies between buildings. Soldiers passed us occasionally, usually too occupied to pay much attention.

The civilians noticed us more. An old woman carrying folded sheets smiled warmly when she saw Ethan.

"Looking better today."

Ethan stared ahead.

"Thank you," I answered for him.

She gave me an approving look before continuing on. Another person moved aside to give the wheelchair room. Then another. Everyone was trying to be kind. That seemed to make Ethan more miserable. I watched the side of his face while I pushed him.

Before all of this, he hated people treating him like he couldn't do something.

Now people opened doors for him. Moved chairs out of his way. Spoke to me when they wanted to know how he was feeling. Sometimes they even talked about him while he was sitting right there.

...I wondered if that bothered him most.

His eyes met mine briefly.

I smiled.

"...What?"

His brows tightened.

A strained breath left his throat.

"Mmgh..."

"Don't."

I placed a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"You'll hurt yourself again."

He stopped. Given the go ahead, I pushed him onwards.

The morning wasn't particularly hot yet, so I'd tied my beige jacket around my waist. Underneath it, I wore a fitted black long-sleeved top with the dark olive cargo trousers I'd found among the donated clothes.

I'd done my hair differently too. Half of it tied back, the rest left loose around my face.

It made me look a little older.

I caught my reflection briefly in one of the surviving shop windows as we passed.

I straightened slightly, then kept walking.

"It's a good day outside isn't it, Ethan~"

Ethan only watched me in silence.

We passed another damaged block, the settlement looking smaller, emptier after the attack. There were places where I remembered seeing groups of people that now had nobody there. Ethan stared at one of them for a while.

I knew what he was thinking about.

Maybe Linda. Maybe his brother. Maybe himself. I didn't ask. A nurse had told me grief needed time, so did broken bones. We had plenty of both. I continued pushing him until something blue caught my eye farther down the road.

My steps slowed, and Ethan's chair stopped with me.

"..."

Blue hair. Small frame. A cap pulled low over her head.

She was walking beside someone.

My heart gave one hard beat.

I leaned slightly around Ethan.

Dark jacket. A tired posture. Messy hair. ...And that face. Even now, I couldn't quite fit it over the man I'd known as Voss.

Even then... these feelings are the same.

My hands tightened around the wheelchair handles.

Ethan shifted. His head turned as far as it comfortably could, first towards me and then towards where I was looking.

A rough sound crawled out of his throat.

"Nh..."

I barely heard him. Jun was walking through the settlement like it was nothing. His wife stayed beside him, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched whenever the crowd narrowed around them. An EDF soldier was leading them somewhere. Jun hadn't seen me.

I felt strangely relieved by that. Then disappointed.

I started moving again, not towards him. Just... in the same direction.

Ethan looked up at me.

"What?"

His eyes narrowed.

"I wanted to walk this way anyway."

He couldn't answer me.

The EDF soldier brought Jun towards one of the wider roads. A woman was helping several people near a damaged building ahead.

She turned. Dark hair, tall, beautiful—Lina. I'd seen her around enough to recognise her. The moment she noticed Jun, she stopped what she was doing. Her entire expression changed.

I slowed the wheelchair again.

Ethan's eyes closed for a moment.

Maybe he was tired.

"Wait here."

His eyes opened immediately.

I parked him beside the wall.

A large glass window stood a few metres ahead, cracked through one corner but still mostly intact. I walked over and stood beside it where I could see the road more clearly.

Behind me came a strained sound.

"Nggh..."

I glanced back.

Ethan was staring at me.

"What?"

His breathing had quickened slightly from the effort.

"You need something?"

He couldn't point. Couldn't tell me.

After a moment, I smiled.

"I'll be right here."

"Mmm! Mm...!!!"

I turned back towards the window. The two met near the edge of the work area, Lina leaving the others behind as she closed the last few steps between them. I leaned a little closer to the glass, watching every interaction they made. My breath warmed the surface, leaving a faint patch of mist in front of my face. I wiped it away almost impatiently, not wanting to lose sight of them for even a second.

I pinched my cheek, trying to stop myself from grinning like an idiot.

Lina stopped close enough that I found myself holding my breath with her. She said something I couldn't hear through the glass, and Jun answered with a tired smile. Her eyes lingered on him before she reached up to straighten the front of his jacket, fingers smoothing the fabric with a familiarity that felt just a little too intimate for someone standing beside another woman.

Yet Jun let her. The way Lina looked at him made it obvious enough. She knew he belonged to someone else, and she didn't seem willing to let that stop her.

...Or maybe I was reading too much into it. Still, with the possessive Yoru standing right there, Lina's touch felt almost brazen. Dangerous. Forbidden. And the longer I watched, the more that strange little thrill in my chest grew.

Then Lina leaned in.

For one second, I thought she was going to whisper something to Jun.

Instead, she kissed him. My heart reacted strongly to that scene, and perhaps it wasn't just me who felt that way. Even from here, I could see the surprise on his face when Lina pulled away, looking far calmer about it than he did. Yoru reacted strongly to it, she caught Lina by the front of her clothes and hauled her up with enough force to lift her onto her toes. A low, ugly sound came from her throat—not quite a growl, but close enough that I instinctively stiffened behind the glass.

Jun reacted immediately, catching Yoru's arm.

"...!!!" His mouth moved quickly. I couldn't hear what he said, but Yoru's grip eventually loosened.

Lina landed lightly on her feet, as Jun turned to her next and said something else.

"..." Whatever it was, Lina simply lowered her head in a small bow. Jun eventually pulled Yoru away, one hand still resting against her arm as he guided her with him. She went, though not without throwing Lina one last hard look over her shoulder.

I stayed there for another moment.

My cheeks felt warm.

...Is this what it means to fight for someone you love?

Before those thoughts could settle, I noticed Lina hadn't gone anywhere. She was looking straight at me. My breath caught. In the short period of time since I'd known her, that distant, aloof expression was gone.

There was a small smirk on her lips.

Like she'd known I was watching the entire time.

I pulled back from the window almost immediately, suddenly too aware of how long I'd been standing there.

My chest felt strange.

I hurried back to Ethan and caught the wheelchair handles. For a moment, I told myself we should probably head back. Instead, my eyes drifted towards the road Jun had taken.

"...Let's go this way."

I started pushing.

Ethan made a strained noise behind me and shifted hard against the chair, trying to resist with what little movement he had.

I knew what he meant. My smile widened anyway. I knew he was hurting, and I knew exactly what he wanted me to do.

...I just didn't want to.

"I'm sorry, Ethan... just for a little bit more, okay?"

"...!!! !!!"

So I kept pushing, following the road Jun had taken.

A similar scene unfolded again not long after, this time outside the old community hall.

By the time Ethan and I reached it, Jun had already found the blonde woman.

Charmaine. She stood near one of the tables set up beneath the awning, papers changing hands around her while people came and went with boxes, lists and whatever else needed organising. Even from a distance, she looked perfectly at home in the middle of it.

Then she saw Jun, and something in that pleasant smile shifted.

My chest tightened again.

...Those two aren't simple either.

She handed the papers in her arms to someone beside her and walked over.

I slowed behind Ethan's chair.

Charmaine barely made it halfway before her foot caught awkwardly against the edge of a broken paving stone.

"Ah—"

Jun reached for her on instinct. Instead, both of them went down. Charmaine landed first, Jun catching himself over her with one knee against the ground and a hand planted squarely against her chest.

"...!" Charmaine stared up at him for half a second before that pleasant smile returned. It had looked completely natural.

Jun scrambled off her almost immediately. Charmaine got back to her feet with that same pleasant smile, one hand drifting to her chest where he had landed as she gave him a coy little look.

Yoru's expression tightened, but Jun had already stepped between them.

Whatever passed between the three of them ended quickly after that. Charmaine gave one last smile, Jun said something I couldn't hear, and a moment later he was already leaving with Yoru beside him.

I moved before I really thought about it.

My hands closed around Ethan's wheelchair again.

"...Come on."

He made a strained sound, but I was already pushing.

Jun and Yoru kept moving towards the edge of the settlement. I followed at enough of a distance that I could still pretend we were simply taking the same road. At least, until Jun looked back.

Our eyes met, and my heart jumped painfully against my chest.

I straightened myself immediately and gave him the most composed smile I could manage, lifting one hand in a small wave.

Jun seemed mildly surprised to see me. Still, he gave a short nod in return before he turned away. Yoru too, gave me a small nod and a brief wave before turning back to him and following him out.

I watched until the two disappeared beyond the gate, and only then did the flutter in my chest begin to settle.

"..."

The sun had dropped considerably by the time I finally turned the wheelchair around.

"Sorry Ethan... let's go back now."

The trip back was much quieter. Ethan didn't try making any more sounds. He simply sat there while I pushed him through the settlement, staring ahead without much expression. People still smiled when we passed. An elderly woman held a door open for us.

Someone asked how he was feeling. I answered for him, as always.

"He's doing better."

Ethan's eyes shifted towards me. I smiled. I was becoming more natural at being his caretaker. Deciding when he needed rest. What he ate. Where we went. Telling the nurses whether he'd slept properly. Speaking on his behalf. 

...Ethan now had no choice but to rely on me for everything.

We reached the room they'd given us before the light outside disappeared completely. I wheeled Ethan beside the bed and locked the brakes. He looked exhausted.

And I... After today, I couldn't pretend anymore.

Watching him had made one thing painfully clear.

Whatever kept me here with Ethan wasn't love. It wasn't empathy either. And it definitely wasn't duty.

...Somewhere along the way, helping Ethan had started feeling good for reasons I didn't want to admit. The way he depended on me. The way he had no choice but to follow when I pushed him somewhere. Even the way his eyes changed whenever I made a decision for him.

Maybe this world had brought something ugly out of me.

Maybe it had always been there.

Strangely, admitting that made my chest feel lighter.

I was tired of pretending otherwise.

"Ethan."

I crouched in front of him.

"...You remember, don't you?"

His eyes moved towards mine.

"A week."

Something changed in his face.

He remembered.

Back then, he'd asked for time. And I'd made him promise.

I rested my hands against my knees.

"Well..."

Ethan stared at me.

For once, there was nothing he could say to fill the silence.

My smile softened.

"You don't have to give me an answer anymore."

His eyes widened. I watched the meaning settle in slowly, as tears started to fall out of that bloodshot gaze.

"Mm...!!! Mmmm!!!" His breathing had changed. Faster.

Ah... even that look sends a shiver down my spine.

Eventually, like always, that shred of resistance slowly faded.

I stood and moved behind Ethan's chair, his reactions now subdued.

I placed both hands gently on the handles.

"...Don't worry."

I smiled down at him even though he couldn't see it.

"I'll still take care of you. I'll keep taking care of you..."

The room went very quiet.

Ethan lowered his head.

That made me feel even better.

He couldn't run away anymore.

Couldn't leave me behind.

For now, wherever I pushed him...

He came with me.

By the time Sergeant Kang Min-jae returned, the sun was already beginning to disappear behind the buildings.

"Good work, Sergeant Kang."

He straightened slightly in front of my desk.

"Go wash up and get some proper rest. We've got someone important coming tomorrow, so I want everyone on their best behaviour."

His expression tightened.

"...How important?"

I raised an eyebrow, and he caught himself almost immediately.

"Important enough that I'm warning you now."

"...Understood."

"And don't drink tonight."

"Yes, ma'am!"

He answered quickly enough, but the look on his face said he'd been thinking about it.

Morale was slipping, and now even good soldiers were starting to hesitate before following simple orders. If that kept spreading, discipline would go with it. After that came desertion, theft...

Maybe worse.

"Dismissed."

The door closed behind him, and I sighed immediately.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed at my eyes.

Another day gone. The desk in front of me had somehow accumulated even more paper since morning. Casualty revisions. Ammunition counts. Fuel estimates. Requests for antibiotics. Requests for manpower. Reports about structural damage. I picked up the handwritten note Sergeant Kang had just left.

Another person with that man this time.

I tapped my pen against the desk.

What happened here couldn't happen again. Someone had deliberately drawn infected towards the settlement. If one group had figured out how effective that was, others eventually would too.

I'd have to bring it up with command. Better perimeter warning, better observation posts, maybe higher walls if we could spare the materials. Anything that gave us more time before another mass of infected reached the gate.

My eyes returned to Jun's name.

I was grateful to him. More than grateful, really. What could have happened to me that day if he hadn't come along wasn't something I wanted to think about. But gratitude wasn't why I'd kept exchanging information with him.

That was business. He gave us information. We gave him information. Sometimes he handled problems before EDF personnel had to. I still didn't know how Jun and two women had wiped out that entire group, and I wasn't foolish enough to think it had been luck.

Independent groups like his were going to become more common. Maybe stronger too. The longer this went on, the less certain I was that the military could keep every one of them under control. Eden wasn't a large country to begin with, and we were already stretched thin trying to hold what remained.

Better to know people like Jun now than meet them for the first time later. And if that left a little goodwill between us, I wasn't going to complain.

Miss Lina was the only one I'd seen enough of to make me genuinely suspicious. Even then, I couldn't prove anything. That day, exhausted as I was, I'd thought she'd appeared out of nowhere before putting down one of the remaining bandits.

Maybe I had imagined it.

Since then, I'd watched her around camp and received enough reports from patrols to know what she was capable of openly. She could crush infected with blunt weapons without seeming particularly tired and handled herself better than most trained men.

Yet some part of me kept insisting she was holding back. Three years in combat had taught me not to dismiss that feeling.

Then there was the device Jun had given me. Our technicians had looked at it twice. Neither time had they found any safe way to open the casing without risking destroying whatever was inside. No obvious access screws. No familiar assembly. Nothing they were willing to force.

The device had never failed to reach him, regardless of how far away he seemed to be. Through it, Jun and I had traded enough useful information that I stopped caring quite so much about how it functioned.

Every route he cleared was one less patrol we had to send. Every threat he dealt with was ammunition we didn't have to spend.

For now, leaving him alone benefited both of us.

"...Haaah." I sighed again, before the radio on my desk crackled.

I reached for it.

"Yerin."

"Staff Sergeant. District command."

I straightened.

"Go ahead."

"Confirmation for tomorrow. The delegation is still coming. Advance personnel should arrive before noon."

"Understood."

"Updated casualty figures before then. And make sure the camp is presentable."

"...I'll do what I can."

"See that you do. Thank you for your service, soldier."

The line clicked dead.

"..."

I set the radio down and leaned back in my chair.

Outside, another generator hummed somewhere in the dark.

I closed my eyes.

My shoulders ached from hunching over the desk all day. I rolled one slowly, then the other, loosening the stiffness before reaching up to undo the top button of my uniform.

A few strands of dark hair had come loose around my face; I tucked them behind my ear and stretched my legs beneath the desk.

"God... what a fucking mess."

I opened the bottom drawer, took out one of the cigarettes I'd been saving and slipped it between my lips.

A minute later, I was outside the tent.

The evening air was cooler now. I lit the cigarette, took a slow drag and watched the sun sink behind the broken skyline.

For a few seconds, I let myself stand there without thinking about reports, casualties or tomorrow's inspection.

Then the smoke left my lungs.

"Fuuu..."

The more reports I read, the harder it became to picture where I'd be a month from now. Whether this post would still be standing. Whether there would still be an EDF left to give me orders.

A uniform only meant so much once people stopped respecting what it represented. I'd already seen what that could mean for a woman, no matter how strong she thought she was.

I took another drag, watching the men move about the camp while my thoughts wandered back to that day, when violence had become its own law.

The future of a new world... would there still be a place for us?

A private jet cut quietly across Eden's darkening evening sky.

Patches of light still clung to the city. Government compounds. Military installations. Hospitals. A few districts fortunate enough to still have power.

Everything between them had gone dark.

From higher up, the gaps looked even larger.

The cabin lights were dimmed as the jet descended towards the runway.

Inside, the low hum of the engines filled the spaces between conversation.

A long table occupied the centre of the cabin. Maps, folders and handwritten reports had been spread across it, held in place beneath glasses and whatever else was heavy enough to keep them from shifting with the aircraft.

Red markings covered much of the country.

Several circles in blue stood apart from the rest.

Near the window, a bald man lowered a satellite handset from his ear.

The call ended with a soft click.

For several seconds, he remained staring at the name written beside the line in his notes.

SEO YERIN — LINCOL DISTRICT EDF

He drew a line beneath it.

Beyond the glass, the remaining lights of the country drifted slowly beneath them.

"Lincol?"

The question came from across the table.

The man who posed that question was unmistakably foreign. Caucasian, perhaps in his early forties, with blue eyes and naturally blond hair combed neatly away from his forehead. Even after weeks of disrupted supply lines and emergency travel, his clothes remained remarkably well kept.

"Still standing," the bald man answered in the same language.

"For now?"

"...Yes, we're handling it the best we can. Given the circumstances..."

The foreigner gave a faint smile.

"That's about as much as anyone can ask for these days."

The foreigner didn't elaborate, turning his attention towards the map instead.

For a moment, only the engines spoke between them.

"How are the States?"

The blond man's finger stopped over one of the blue circles, pausing at the sudden question.

"We're managing."

The bald man waited. Nothing else came.

"That's all?"

“I’m not here to brief you on the Columbian Federation.”

The answer was smooth, almost casual.

"...I see." The Eden representative let the matter drop.

The foreigner returned his attention to the map.

"My concern is Eden. What condition you're in, what assistance would actually be useful, and whether providing it is worth the commitment."

"...So this is an assessment."

"Naturally."

"And what have you assessed so far?"

A faint smile touched the man's face.

"I'd rather hear that from you."

The bald man leaned back, weighing his words.

He gave him the broader picture. Manpower was thinning faster than it could be replaced. Ammunition and fuel were already being rationed. Food remained manageable in the better-secured districts, less so elsewhere, while medical supplies had become a problem almost everywhere.

The roads made everything worse. Every convoy needed fuel, escorts and ammunition. Every unit assigned to protect one route left another exposed. Local administrations still functioned on paper, but more districts were beginning to operate on their own simply because communication with the centre had become unreliable.

The foreigner listened, occasionally jotting something down. The longer the bald man spoke, the worse it sounded. Eden's small size had once been an advantage. Sitting along some of the busiest maritime routes in the world, its ports had turned the country into a hub for trade, finance and logistics despite having precious little in the way of natural resources.

That worked when the ships kept coming. Now almost everything they lacked had to come from stockpiles that were steadily running out. A single blocked road could isolate half a district. A settlement falling meant survivors spilling into the next one... assuming they were still survivors by the time they arrived.

Lincol was no exception. More than half its population had been lost, yet abandoning it wasn't an option. The surrounding roads, industrial areas and remaining civilians made the position too valuable.

The blond man glanced towards the window as the jet descended over Eden.

"And tomorrow I'll see it myself."

"That was the arrangement. We'll see to your security, Ambassador Whitmore."

The bald man studied him for a moment.

"...Then perhaps afterwards you'll tell me whether the States are willing to help."

The foreigner's expression barely changed.

"We'll see about that, Director Kim. Afterwards, I'll have a better idea of what help would accomplish."

Polite enough. Still the answer of someone who knew he held the stronger hand.

Ambassador Whitmore glanced down at the map.

"There is something I'd like answered."

Director Kim followed his gaze towards the blue circles.

"These impact sites."

His expression tightened slightly, but years in government had taught him how to keep the rest of his face still.

"...What about them?"

"Our satellites have recorded several atmospheric entries over Eden since the outbreak began."

Director Kim said nothing.

"Small objects. Too slow in some cases, too controlled in others. Your reports keep calling them meteorites."

Silence.

"...Director Kim?"

There was no point denying what the man could already see from orbit. The only choice left was how much of their hand to show.

Kim exhaled quietly.

"...That's what we thought they were."

That finally seemed to interest Whitmore.

"We've reached a few of the sites, usually too late. By the time our teams arrive, there's nothing left except the impact site itself."

Kim tapped one of the circles.

"We've only recently started putting together proper teams to investigate them. The first recorded attempt at securing one was improvised—the object came down close enough to a military installation that a nearby unit was sent over before anyone really knew what they were dealing with."

Kim paused.

"A witness saw a man approach it and reach towards the object. There was... a woman inside."

The implication of that sentence kept the two silent for a brief moment.

Both men lowered their eyes briefly to the map.

"Then both of them disappeared."

After that, orders had gone out not to approach the objects unnecessarily, much less touch them. Secure the area, observe from a distance and wait for personnel equipped to handle the recovery. There were two forms in the reports so far. One was roughly cube-shaped, metallic and compact. The other was much larger, rectangular, closer to the size of a small container.

"So far, that hasn't worked particularly well either," Kim continued. "By the time we get enough people and equipment to the site, there's usually nothing left."

Whitmore's pen remained still.

"We don't know whether someone is reaching them first, or whether whatever's inside is capable of leaving on its own."

Kim looked at the blue circles again.

"There was one exception. An object remained in place long enough for a settlement to grow around it, so we thought the constant activity might have made a difference."

He paused.

"That one disappeared recently too."

Whitmore's gaze lingered on the mark.

"There's something else," Kim added. "...Not long before that, the settlement reported receiving some kind of signal."

That drew Whitmore's attention immediately.

"What kind?"

"We're still trying to understand it. Somehow, it restored limited communications access across the area."

That seemed to pique his interest even more. Whitmore looked down at the map again, this time at Lincol. Several of the blue circles overlapped around the district, turning that part of the map into a crude heatmap of the recorded drops.

Lincol stood out immediately.

"When we arrive tomorrow, I want to speak to whoever witnessed that first."

Kim studied him.

"Before the district briefing?"

"Before anything else."

His finger rested beside the blue circle.

Director Kim looked towards the window, feeling slightly worn from the exchange.

Eden stretched beneath them now, its surviving lights broken apart by long sections of darkness.

He had spent the past month watching reports turn red one district at a time.

The man sitting across from him might be Eden's best chance of securing outside help.

Kim rubbed slowly at his temple, searching for a question Whitmore might actually answer.

"Ambassador."

"Hm?"

"You said these incidents were only happening here in our country."

"As far as we can verify."

"...I see."

The cabin lights shifted as the aircraft began its final descent.

Kim looked down at the map again.

Of all places, it had happened to Eden. One of the smallest countries in the world, already struggling to hold itself together with barely enough land, manpower or resources to spare. At least the phenomenon had forced larger countries to pay attention. Eden needed that attention now more than Kim cared to admit.

Whitmore gathered the papers in front of him, leaving the map open.

"Get some rest tonight, Director Kim."

Kim glanced at him.

"You may not like what we find tomorrow."

Yes. Eden still had something to prove. They needed to remain useful to the States, an ally still worth saving.

"Of course. Please rest well too, Ambassador Whitmore."

Whitmore turned towards the window.

Below them, Lincol sat somewhere beyond the dark sprawl, marked on the map by overlapping blue circles.

Kim looked at them one last time.

Tomorrow, they would start there.