World Filter

Mark moved through the busy paths ways, winding between tents to the less congested areas. Boe trotted happily next to him. He was heading towards the civilian tents. He wanted to see if he could find Andy.

He still had a promise to keep and at this stage, he was free to do what he wanted until seven tonight. That was provided Davis came through for him, he wasn't worried Ava seemed pretty confident when she made the offer so until then he had some time to kill and energy to recover.

When they got there it was an easy jump to find Andy's tent. The numbers were painted on each tent to make it easy to find. Mark traveled up the line and entered through the flap of a large, tent that held around forty double bunks all placed neatly in rows.

When he entered he only spotted a few people hanging around and very few personal possessions in the tent at all. Though to be fair, with the introduction of the inventory one could carry basically all their stuff around with them.

Mark went over to where Andy’s bunk was and saw a man that stayed on the bunk next over.

Mark asked him if he knew where Andy was.

The man responded that he was out on a shift. Andy had gotten a messenger job, because of his speed, so he could be anywhere across the whole park at the moment. Though the man did know Andy finished his shift at around three during the shift change.

Mark had to regain as much energy as possible and decided here was as good a place as any for him to do just that.

He hopped onto the top bunk and dropped into [Meditation]. He felt Boe jump up and the bed depressed next to him as he got comfortable. It was close to 11 AM when he sunk into a deep meditative state.

The flow of energy was incredible around here and he could feel himself soaking it in like a dry sponge. He wondered if it had to do with the number of people in the area. Time flowed by and he felt his Prana growing rapidly. His core chittered happily as if like a muscle, warmed and ready for action.

Distantly he heard someone calling his name and rose up out of the flow of energies. Slowly coming to.

Source: Mediation (+2 Prana, +4 exp points)

When he opened his eyes four smiling teenagers were surrounding him and one of them was a little too close for Marks-liking.

“What’s up, dude? Told you guys he was the GOAT didn’t I?”

Mark smiled widely.

“Sup Andy, it’s really great to see you made it. This is the family I presume?” Mark said as he matched the distant figures in his memory to the faces currently in front of him.

Andy blushed but said.

“Yeah, this is Noah, Sophia, and Jackson,” he said pointing at each one of them in turn. They all waved hi.

He check his level at the same time and was surprised to find he was full on Prana. He must have been at it longer than he thought. Checking his phone he saw it was already a little past four.

“Last time I saw you, you were surrounded by like an army of zomboid’s. Now you rock up here meditating on my bed like Mister Miyagi. How’d you get out?”

Mark laughed at that and was about to answer when his stomach growled to the world. Singing the song of its people.

Sophia giggled and said.

“Well, you sound hungry and we just got off work so how about we go to the canteen and grab something to eat? It would be our thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire. Literally” Sophia said. She gave off a tomboyish air but she clearly held some kind of motherly role in the group.

They all nodded and Mark still had time before night watch so getting some grub sounded great.

“Alright, let's head out,” he said.

Together they traveled to the mess hall. Along the way, the four of them bounced energetically around Mark. Asking questions with unceasing energy.

Jackson was probably the quietest one but he seemed really focused on Boe and walked right beside him the whole way, patting him whenever he could.

When they arrived they entered the massive tent and he looked around. It gave off a simplistic cafeteria feel.

There were tons of people in here right now. They moved to the back of the line. Right away Mark saw a meal cost 1Sp.

Now the system didn't offer complete meals. It catered to prepackaged junk food or raw food ingredients, so at the end of the day, someone still needed to do the cooking if they wanted to eat a decent homemade meal.

Mark didn't really mind it was cheap and with the ingredients and time, he was sure they were not making much profit off this.

What was mind-boggling was the scale at which the army had gotten everything running. It had been days since the fall and the army already had a small economic system in place, housing, power, and protection. Organizing this must have been a logistical nightmare.

They got their food and Andy paid for Mark. When they went to sit down Sophia chose a table near the back of the room and they sat down to eat some lasagna.

The taste was great actually. In fact, the whole meal went down well. Mark thought he detected a small surge of Prana from the food, but he quickly got distracted when they started grilling him for details about his ‘heroic escape’. Mark shared the details of his battle with them choosing to leave out the gory bits and in exchange he found out about their mad dash for the Safe zone. They had originally been hesitant to come here, but having finally been pushed to, they explained that it had been better than they expected.

They were treated fairly, like any member of society, and their skills were very much appreciated here. So they were doing well for themselves. They all expressed their thanks during the meal and Mark acknowledged each one of them in turn.

They were basically done with their meal and were just chatting with full bellies. When Mark noticed one of the soldiers from Davis’s squad walking towards their table.

It was Galahan if he wasn't mistaken. Aura user, Big silent type. Mark caught the end of his sentence as he spoke into a two-way radio.

“Found him, he’s in the Mess hall”

When he reached their table he nodded in Mark's direction and sat down.

“Mark, hope you are doing well, listen could you come with me, Sam has been looking for you, but you weren't in your tent,” Galahan said in a very business-like tone.

“Mmm, sure you know if everything is okay?” he asked suddenly worried that Jonathan had pushed himself too hard again.

“Everything is fine, but they just got out of a briefing and wanted to speak to you,” he said.

“Well okay sure-” Mark started to say.

“Woah. Wait, Mark are you with S.A.G.E? ” Andy asked with excitement in his voice.

Mark didn't know what that was, but if he had to hazard a guess he would say it was a branch of the military.

He noticed Galahan wore the same uniform as Ava.

“Um, no. Listen I’ll see you guys soon. I’m just going to go see what this is all about” Mark said, content now that he had seen they were safe and happy.

“Sure. See you around Mark” Andy said.

The rest of them said their goodbyes and Mark and Boe followed Galahan out of the Mess hall. Though he did not miss the glances thrown his way as he was led out. He noticed that there were a number of soldiers in here, but none of them had the definitive red trim on their uniforms like Galahan had.

Mark tried asking him what this was all about, but he had just responded that he was supposed to fetch him and that anything after that was above his pay grade.

Their walk was short but soon enough they arrived at the soldier's quarters.

Mark noticed there was another wall here built around the camp zone itself. Probably a fallback point if the outer wall was breached. Again magic was definitely used in its construction. Although there was a large gap in the wall, which served as a semi-permanent passage for the flow of soldiers moving in an out of the area. Galahan took them right past the men keeping watch and deeper into the zone. Near the center, they arrived at what looked like a slightly larger tent or command tent if Mark had to guess.

Galahan went up to it and moved the flap aside. Calling inside that he had brought Mark as requested.

Whatever he had expected he had not seen this coming. So as not to keep the occupants inside waiting he entered.

Galahan let the tent flap drop behind Mark closing off his escape route.

Well, whatever this was he was here now. May as well see what was going on.

He walked deeper into the tent letting his eyes adjust from the bright outside light.

The room was simply decorated and looked familiar like he’d seen it somewhere before. It was like one of those mobile war rooms one would see in the movies. With maps of the surrounding area all showing different territories that made no sense to Mark.

There were three people in the room.

The first was Sam, who was currently spilling over the maps on the center desk.

While Jonathan was laying exhausted in a large beanbag chair of all things.

The last person in the room was someone that Mark recognized but had never met before. It was the Major he had seen in Sam’s video. He was currently filling out forms from behind a set-up writing desk.

Mark's eyes flicker to the room once more and realized why the room looked so familiar. This was the room that the video had first been taken in.

When he entered Sam smiled and was the first to speak.

“Hey Mark thanks for coming so quickly,” she said standing up from the maps.

“Sure,” Mark said.

Jonathan gave him a thumbs up from his beanbag throne but otherwise didn't move.

The Major stopped writing and looked up at Mark.

“Good afternoon Mark Young, I am Major Karter Dureal, it's good to meet you, please make yourself at home we have a lot to speak about,” he said in a firm yet fatherly tone.

Right away Mark made the connection. He had seen Sam’s surname in the system rewards, they were the same.

This was her dad sitting in front of him or at the very least a relative. It suddenly made sense how she seemed to have such a close relationship with the army and yet not be a part of it. When she had been marked she probably went to this man for assistance.

“So… Is there a reason I’m here. It can’t only be to fix Jonathan, though gotta say you look like shit my dude. ” Mark said breaking the ice.

“Yes, you will need to get him in shape if you want him up on the wall with you tonight. I got a request from Staff Sergeant Michael Davis for authorization to allow a civi on the wall during night hours. He clearly saw something in you out there. I approved it for now however this would be a whole lot easier if you were part of our unit” Major Dureal said.

“Daddy, I said to let me be the one to ask him!” Sam said while pouting.

“Sorry darling, but we don't have time to be mincing words,” he said.

“Is this about S.A.G.E? Because all I know right now is that you exist” Mark said.

Sam nodded and started.

“Right, so we are part of S.A.G.E or Security and Augmented Guidance Enforcment. I know the name needs some work but gimme a break. Really it's just a subsidiary of the military my father is helping create. Essentially we’re a specialized unit made up of high-level system users both military and civilian that take on difficult missions for the government. Other than that we are free to go about things as we see fit. There is some red tape we need to navigate, in exchange for military assistance but that's where my dad comes in.” Sam said in a flurry of words as if Mark would interrupt her at any moment.

“Right… and you want me?” Mark asked the room.

To be quite honest he had never even thought of joining any major groups. He just wanted to find his friends.

Jonathan broke the silence.

“Well, duh. You saw how we kicked ass out there together. Having your level of healing on the battlefield would be amazing. Speaking of which, you think you could throw some of that my way, my chest is still killing me.”

Mark nodded and walked over to his beanbag chair, taking hold of his outstretched arm.

Mark knew the problem here so he didn't hesitate and flooded Jonathan with Prana. He jolted from the sudden life force and then relaxed. Mark kept the torrent going while he formed a response.

“Hmm, I’m not uninterested, but I need some time to think about it. My main goal right now is to find my friends” he told them.

He said that to buy himself some time. He didn’t know the political landscape here just yet and thought it would be foolish just to jump into something without knowing more first.

“Hmm. Don’t take too long to decide. Things are changing here daily. I’ll have my men keep an eye out for your friends.” Major Dureal said.

Mark appreciated it and didn't ask how he knew who to look for. Guy had probably already looked through Mark's file. Though he didn't get a creepy sense from the guy, he seemed like a competent leader.

One that looked like he had earned his position through respect. Whether Mark was right about him or not remained to be seen.

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Mark said.

He felt the flow of Prana to Jonathan slowing. He had taken nearly 50 Prana so far. Mark broke the connection wanting to save some of his resources for tonight. He was 80% fixed, his Aura would have to take care of the rest.

“Good, I'll be expecting a positive response however time is short so on to our next order of business.” Major Dureal's voice took on an even more serious tone.

“Have you met the entity known as the Caretaker?”