Chapter 32: The next day

Frost woke the following morning with one very important discovery: His back was fucking killing him!

"Ugh..."

His eyes slowly opened as a dull ache spread from his lower back all the way to his shoulders.

He simply lay there for a while, staring blankly at the ceiling, wondering why his entire body felt like he’d spent the night sleeping on a slab of concrete.

Frost’s expression gradually darkened.

"Oh, right... The bed."

He attempted to sit up, and a terrible stiffness immediately ran through his back.

"Fuck!"

Frost froze halfway upright, one hand instinctively reaching behind him.

His muscles felt stiff as hell.

After slowly forcing himself into a sitting position, he twisted his torso from side to side, producing several satisfying cracks from his spine.

"Ahh... Fucking hell."

He looked back at the bed with genuine resentment. Calling that thing a mattress was an insult to mattresses everywhere.

It had somehow managed to be simultaneously thin, uneven, and hard enough that Frost was reasonably certain sleeping on the floor wouldn’t have made much difference.

He stood, stretched his arms above his head, and immediately regretted it when another ache travelled through his shoulders.

’Great... Nearly killed by monsters yesterday, defeated by a mattress overnight.’

At least he was alive.

That thought had become disturbingly useful whenever he wanted to stop himself from complaining.

After freshening himself up as best he could with the limited facilities available, Frost left his room and made his way toward the meeting point Jennifer had suggested the previous night.

The settlement looked slightly different during the morning. It was definitely not better, just easier to see.

Which, unfortunately, made the dirt, rusted structures, rubbish, and general state of decay considerably more obvious.

By the time Frost reached the others, several people had already gathered.

Jennifer was there, along with Jason, Naomi, Cassie, Lois, Adam, and Ryder. There were also three others from among yesterday’s survivors.

Eleven people altogether, including Frost.

He hadn’t expected that many, honestly.

"Morning," Jennifer greeted with a blank expression on her face.

Frost gave her a tired nod, running a hand through his messy head of black hair.

"Morning," he groaned.

Naomi was stretching nearby, one hand pressed against her lower back.

"Whoever made those beds deserves to be arrested."

"You too?" Frost asked.

Naomi looked at him.

"My back feels like I’m seventy."

"Thank God."

Her eyebrows rose as she shot him a questioning look.

"Not that your back hurts," Frost quickly clarified. "I’m just glad it’s not only me."

"It isn’t," Adam muttered. He was standing strangely straight, as though bending his spine even slightly might kill him.

Cassie rubbed one shoulder.

"I woke up three times."

"My neck hurts," Lois added quietly.

Even Jason looked noticeably stiffer than usual, although judging by his expression, he would rather die than openly admit that the bed had beaten him too.

Frost felt considerably better.

’Shared suffering really does bring people together.’

He looked around again.

"Wait. There are eleven of us?"

Jennifer nodded.

"The other four didn’t feel up to coming."

"Oh."

"They’re alive," Jennifer quickly added. "I checked."

That was good.

"They just..." She hesitated. "They need some time." Frost understood what she meant without needing further explanation.

Yesterday hadn’t exactly been something a person simply slept off.

The fact that eleven of them were standing here preparing to learn how to fight monsters was probably stranger than the five who wanted nothing to do with it.

"I left them alone for now," Jennifer continued. "I’ll check on them again later."

Frost nodded.

"Probably for the best."

There wasn’t much else to say.

After waiting another few minutes to make certain nobody else was coming, Frost said hello to the three new additions, all of whom did not seem very talkative.

It also seemed like the ladies had made an effort to find cloaks to cover themselves, wearing them over their normal clothes.

Everyone was, of course, in their designer clothes, shoes and sneakers, though they were a bit ragged and torn in some places because of yesterday’s events.

The same couldn’t be said about everyone, though; Jennifer, for instance, somehow managed to look quite decent, even in this place.

Though he had noticed the previous day, the fancy high-top shoes she had been wearing had been replaced by a pair of simple flip-flops.

How she had managed to find those in this place, and when, was a complete mystery to him, and he didn’t dare ask.

Lois seemed to also have changed out of her torn top; she was now wearing a very loose, dark grey top. The material it was made out of seemed to have quite a rough texture to it.

’It seems the ladies went for a shopping trip after hours yesterday.’

For them, there were apparently more important things than immediate rest. Though he would have to ask how they had gone about acquiring that stuff without any money.

He was willing to bet that Samuel had been of some help.

Perhaps their temporary privileges didn’t extend to just food, water, and places to live in.

In any case, the eleven of them went looking for Samuel not long afterwards.

Fortunately, finding him wasn’t difficult.

The old man was already awake and moving through the settlement, dealing with whatever responsibilities came with being the liaison between the newly arrived Earthlings and Linden.

Jennifer explained why they were there.

"We want to take the talent assessment."

Samuel’s eyes slowly moved across the group.

"All of you?"

"Yes," Jennifer answered.

Samuel remained quiet for several seconds. Frost was beginning to realise the man enjoyed making silence unnecessarily awkward.

Finally, Samuel nodded.

"Follow me."

And that was it.

No speech or any questions about whether they were certain. He simply turned and started walking.

Frost sighed quietly.

’Conversational as ever.’

The ten of them followed.

Their journey took them through several sections of the settlement Frost hadn’t seen yesterday.

Morning had brought considerably more activity to the streets, with people emerging from their cramped homes, vendors setting up makeshift stalls, workers moving toward the city, and groups of armed individuals travelling in both directions.

Earthlings were much easier to notice now as well.

Frost spotted dozens during the walk.

Most of them looked lost, and others looked exhausted.

A few had already begun interacting with the locals, trading or working despite having apparently arrived only days earlier.

It was strange.

Humanity was adapting, and perhaps that shouldn’t have surprised him.

What other choice did they have?

The farther they walked, the better their surroundings became.

The tightly packed shacks gradually gave way to more permanent structures.

Dirt paths became sleek paved roads, the smell improved considerably, and the unstable lights hanging overhead were replaced by proper fixtures.

They were approaching Linden.

Not the city proper, Frost quickly realised, but its outer fringes.

The difference was still ridiculous.

It was almost as though someone had drawn an invisible line separating two completely different standards of living.

Behind them lay the slums.

Ahead stood clean metallic buildings, elevated pathways, strange vehicles, glowing signs, and the distant towers of Linden rising impossibly high into the morning sky.

The differences and changes became clearer and clearer the deeper into the city you went.

’Talk about inequality...’

Samuel eventually led them toward a large building positioned near the boundary between the settlement and the city outskirts.

Unlike most of the structures Frost had spent the night around, this one looked properly maintained.