[PurpleBox]

Ian snorted out a laugh as the pair on the floor talked about the pre Reckoning days… Ian had never thought about what he’d wanted to be… he’d just been a young kid… and then he’d had to focus on protecting his mum… even after his step dad entered the picture and gave them Tristan…. Ian felt cold at the memory that always came up when his step father was in his mind…

They’d been in a sewer drain, hiding from some Growths that did not want to give up on them. Mum was rocking a very small baby Tristan to keep his quite and the man that was the blonds father was holding a rifle in his hands, nursing a wound on his shoulder…. Ian could tell it was a bite…. And by this time he knew that it took at most two days for a person to give into the bite….

“Ian… Ian I need you to do something for me...get your mom and brother somewhere safe… the further from here the better….” The man pressed a hand to his mouth to smother a cough that accompanied his hushed words.

Behind then his mother was already gathering her bag, her eyes red from unshed tears that had been silent. She had known what the man was going to ask of her oldest son, she and her man had said their goodbyes already.

Once his mother had been moved to a safer place, far enough away that any big noses would draw the Growths and Runners away from her and her baby. The man face Ian again, his skin pale and sunken, the bite already looking like it was festering. “Now son…. I want you to be brave for your mom and brother… he’ll need someone strong to protect him in this world… here.” The man handed Ian a pistol, the same one Ian still had now, and closed the ginger lads pale hands over the gun and had those hands point the gun at his head.

“You know what I’m asking Ian…. I don’t want to become one of those things...and my shooting arm is no good…. I hate to ask this….” At his side his useless arm hung, the bite to the shoulder having already deadend the arm, spreading in the man's tissue.

“I can’t do that you to!” Ian hissed out, while young he was still smart enough to not actually shout. The man gave him a strained smile.

“You have to son… you can’t hesitate…. I can feel it taking over my mind….if not for me then for your mom...don’t let her last memories of me be turned into one of those mindless things…. Please.” HIs voice was going soft, like he was losing his use of it as his eyes began to cloud over, his dead arm began to twitch…. This was moving faster than any of the other bites the young Ian had seen.

With shaking hands Ian held the pistol level with the forehead of his step father… the man who was basically his dad after his own had died in the initial outbreak…. Closing his eyes and looking away, he pulled the trigger as he heard the gurgled struggled to make sound. The shot of the gun echoing in the storm drain…. And the recoil of the small pistol shaking Ian’s hands and wrists.

Without looking at the body that hit the ground Ian turned and ran. Ran back to his mum, ran back to his baby brother, the two of them safely up in a wooden tower with a retractable ladder as the only entrance of exit. That night he’d sobbed into his mother bossum as Tristan fed from their mom as well.

Shaking his head to bring himself back to the present Ian kept his face neutral and so did Tristan. “Ah yes here’s your name...yes, good this floor and the third all accounted for then.” The soldier said checking things off on his clipboard.

“Mr Reizian, since there is a empty opening in your unit, we would like to house a youth with you…. There has been a decrease of livable space…. We are looking for any citizens willing to take in one or two people into their units for a few months.” The other soldier said, this guy looked more official and like he had never set foot outside the walls.

Ian grit his teeth together… Aren’s brother had passed recently and they were already trying to foist another person into his space…. It made Ian sick… but he held back his words… without really waiting for a confirmation or a denie to their ‘request’ the pair of soldiers left. Ian only spoke after the sound of their footsteps faded.

“Well… it seems that the fire, whoever started it… destroyed valuable housing… there’s so little still usable… well… you’re welcome here any time…. Weather I’m here or not…” Ian said finishing off his water. Ian knew he’d have other jobs besides this one… and with summer coming up, he’d be in high demand for this sector to try and find goods that the military hung onto tightly.