It was the first time I had seen him since the first wave of ships had arrived. Months had passed since I had seen other human beings and I felt as if I was seeing a ghost.
"John, did you know this guy?" I said, surprised by my own voice as much as I was surprised to see him.
"Who, the guy in the camouflage?" Keith asked, after he had walked a few meters from me. I was so overwhelmed by my own surprise that I hadn't realized Keith was close behind.
"Yeah, I thought I saw him before our unit was deployed. I don't know him. He also looks different. He is not wearing his usual blazer, sweater and slacks."
"You're imagining things, John. You know that." Keith turned and walked in the opposite direction from the stranger who was walking directly towards us.
"He was in my unit. You told me you were familiar with him," I said, frustrated that he had not recognized him either.
"We all of our units are full of people you were unfamiliar with. They will be gone tomorrow as soon as we move out."
"You know he was from the original unit."
"Get over it, John, please. It's time to move out. Let me know if you think you see the rest of your unit. We will take care of you." Keith said, as he walked away from me.
I walked to catch up with him, immediately realizing that he was right, it was time to move out. I looked at the man again as we were leaving and I felt an instinct of familiarity that I couldn't shake. Well, a thought of familiarity and joy that he had survived a month into the war.
—
The scene had changed drastically since I had last been in the area. They surveyed us immediately and we were partnered with them a few minutes after we reached the facility. The facility was dark and empty; there was nobody there. The area reminded me of the abandoned buildings in the city, where it had been guarded by an army of zombies. The facility also had the same smell, musty and coated with mold.
"They are here already. They arrived, and then retreated. I think they scared them away. I also don't see anything we can use as weapons." Keith said, as we walked into the great living room. There were broken pieces of furniture, ruined fabric couches and sections of broken walls. A tiny little spider ran near my foot as I stepped over broken glass.
"It looks like they have not been here for a while. We are the first ones here. We should be able to clean up this place. It will be a nice option if we ever need to stay here," I said, as I was looking at the broken coffee table which was speckled with blood. It appeared as if the stains had dried out at least a couple of weeks ago.
"We are moving on," Keith said quickly, emphasizing that we would be moving on before closing the subject.
"I am talking about now. We should be able to set up a nice base here," I said, as I raised my voice slightly to emphasize my point.
"I know you are right. But it will be a waste of our time. We are entering the city. We will not be able to make a new place for ourselves here; we will be invading the city soon. We should not spend time on this. There is no future in it, it is only delaying our progress."
"Are you confident? If we should give up and leave right now, we will still have time to clean up before we go."
"I am not certain," Keith said, as he walked over to the far side of the room which was covered with cracked plaster.
He spread his tattered hand through a small section of damaged wall. There were small lumps of stone on the floor and on top of the broken bricks, and pieces of glass were sticking out of the thickness of the wall.
"John. Let's go. This place is not safe. We can see it is virtually impassable. We will not be able to lay down a foundation for a house if we are surrounded by an obstacle. It will be so worthless, why even bother?" Keith said, as he walked out of the room.
I walked over to a spot on the wall where there was a hole in the brick that had cracked the plaster. Pieces of white stone were sticking out of the wall and I took one of the small stones that was speckled with black bits of dirt. It felt smooth and warm in my hand.
A loud banging noise rumbled through the house and there was shouting from outside. Keith ran off to the left of me and I followed him outside. There was a door in the wall that led through a stairway and into the second floor hallway. He opened the door and I walked into the brightly lit room. It was empty except for wooden panels on the wall. The sunlight was dimmed by some type of filter. We stepped into the hallway and I heard a lot of shouting. The noise sounded as if it was coming from the other side of the first floor.
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