Chapter 30: Planning things out

Jason went first, carefully scooping up some broth while deliberately avoiding anything that possessed legs. After tasting it and realising Frost hadn’t lied, his expression relaxed considerably.

Eventually, he had to confront the insects. The first crunch made his entire body stiffen.

Frost nearly laughed with food still in his mouth.

"Shut the fuck up!" Jason immediately snapped.

Naomi was next, and then Jennifer.

Adam followed shortly afterwards, while Ryder spent an embarrassingly long time attempting to convince himself that one particular worm was actually a noodle.

"It basically is," he muttered.

"That thing has a head," Cassie said.

Ryder’s spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.

"Why the fuck would you say that?"

Cassie shrugged.

Ryder glared at her before closing his eyes and eating it anyway.

Lois took considerably smaller spoonfuls, carefully chewing each bite before swallowing, while Cassie looked personally betrayed every single time an insect shell crunched between her teeth.

It quickly became clear that the flavour wasn’t the problem. The texture was. Particularly the beetles.

The hard shells cracked loudly between their teeth, and almost every crunch was followed by a grimace, a shudder, or someone briefly stopping to reconsider whether starvation might actually be preferable.

Yet they continued eating slowly, most of them at least, others considerably faster.

Frost was firmly among the latter.

Hunger was a powerful motivator, but it was most certainly because he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

By the halfway point, none of them were even complaining anymore, and before Frost knew it, his spoon scraped against the bottom of an empty bowl.

He blinked.

’...Did I seriously finish that?’

He had.

Not long afterwards, everyone else followed.

Eight completely empty bowls sat across the table.

Frost picked up what remained of his water and gulped it down, using it to wash away the lingering taste and, more importantly, the uncomfortable awareness that pieces of alien insect might still be stuck between his teeth.

"Ahh..."

He lowered the empty cup, and then he noticed everyone looking at one another. Eight oddly serious expressions surrounded the table.

No one spoke, but no one needed to. The meaning passing silently between them was far too clear.

We do not speak of what happened here today. Ever!

Frost slowly nodded.

Jason gave an almost imperceptible nod in return.

Naomi looked away.

Cassie pretended the empty bowl in front of her didn’t exist.

No doubt about it, the food had not been good; it had merely been edible.

But hunger had gradually shrouded some of the disgust along the way, and by the end, all eight of them had devoured that disgusting insect broth like it was the best meal of their lives.

A few minutes later, they returned their bowls, cups, and cutlery before gathering around the same table once more.

Nobody said anything for a while

They were all very tired.

It had been a long day, probably the longest day of Frost’s entire life, and he suspected everyone wanted nothing more than to return to their humble abodes and sleep.

Jennifer eventually cleared her throat.

"Ahem."

Seven pairs of tired eyes turned toward her.

"So..." she began, briefly looking around the table. "It’s good that most of us are here, although we’re still missing seven of the people who survived with us."

The lighthearted atmosphere left immediately.

"We should probably check on the others tomorrow," Jennifer continued. "Make sure everyone is alright."

No one objected.

They were not exactly closely knit, as a class, but they had spent enough time together in college to warrant this much at least.

Jennifer folded her hands on the table.

"I’m sure we’re all exhausted, and I don’t want to keep everyone here for too long, but before we go... I wanted to hear what you guys think about the situation we find ourselves in."

Silence settled over the table, and Frost’s expression became a tad bit more serious. There certainly was a lot to fucking talk about.

"From what we’ve seen so far, this world is vastly different from our own, and I don’t think I need to explain in what way."

Frost nodded slightly.

That was putting it mildly.

"My first question is this," Jennifer continued, looking around the table. "What do you guys want to do?"

She paused briefly before continuing.

"Harod said that once we’ve decided whether we want to pursue the path of an Evolver, he can arrange to have our talent and potential checked. After that... I’m hoping we can check out those hunting grounds he was talking about."

Frost’s eyebrows rose slightly, and he raised his hand.

Jennifer looked at him.

’Why the fuck did I raise my hand?’

Whatever.

"If I understand what you’re saying correctly, you want to make a team from those of us here?"

Jennifer nodded.

"Basically, yes. Harod did say Evolvers commonly work in groups. Parties, he called them, with different roles depending on each individual’s strengths and abilities."

She leaned forward slightly, resting her arms on the table.

"I might be getting ahead of myself here, but I’m hoping each of us has at least a decent amount of talent and the innate energy required to manifest these Runes, and also that our abilities vary and complement each other at least to some extent. As far as we’ve checked, our markings are mostly blank, much like our Statuses, but that’s because we haven’t learned anything yet."

Frost unconsciously thought about his own back. He still hadn’t gotten a proper look at the damned thing.

"Of course, I’m only suggesting this if you guys agree," Jennifer added. "We have to be on the same page, after all. Especially if we’re going somewhere dangerous together."

Jason snorted.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn’t want some useless baggage dragging us down once we actually start."

Frost’s eyes moved toward him.

Jason leaned back against the bench, folding his arms across his chest.

"Once we get our talents checked, I suggest we make a group of capable people only and cut off the useless trash from the very beginning."

His eyes looked directly toward Frost.

Frost’s brow twitched.

’Oh, you motherfucker.’

"As all of you saw today, death isn’t exactly far off in this place," Jason continued. "We lost more than half the class in what, a few minutes? And that was before we even knew what the hell was happening."

The mood around the table turned sombre.

"Harbouring weaklings because we’re friends with them, or because we feel bad for them, is just going to get everyone killed. If we’re actually going to form a party and go into these hunting grounds, then everyone needs to be useful."

Frost hated to admit it, but what Jason was saying made sense.

This wasn’t college anymore.

Being the weakest person in a group wouldn’t simply mean getting a lower grade on some project while everyone else picked up the slack.

Out there, someone could die because of it.

Perhaps several people.

However, Frost’s eye twitched again as he noticed Jason was still looking at him.

’Why the fuck are you staring at me while saying it?’

The implication wasn’t exactly subtle, but Frost met Jason’s gaze, daring him to insult him directly.

He had spent most of his life being called a nerd, weakling, loser, and whatever other insult people like Jason could come up with.

That had been Earth, but things were different now.

None of them knew what their talent was yet, and none of them knew what kind of Evolvers they could become.

For all Jason knew, the hierarchy between them might soon be completely reversed. That thought brought the faintest smile to Frost’s lips.

’We’ll see who’s useless soon enough.’