Rin rolled his eyes, wondering if Josef had even heard him the first time he'd asked for a cigarette. When he was finally tossed one, he lit it and shut up. It took him a few seconds to really breathe in the fumes. And then he headed towards the entrance. To be quite honest, Rin just didn't want to admit that the world had changed. He wanted to believe that they hadn't gone through all this trouble for nothing.
But, in reality, it might've been this job that saved all of them from nuclear fallout. Now, they just had to survive in the wasteland.
There was a slight decline of a hill towards the electric fence and guards. Rin's speed increased as he tread down. His boots kicked up clouds of dust. He heard the stiffening of rifles. He raised his hands up to show compliance. Rin was armed, but he'd hoped that he wouldn't have to give up his baby in any altercation.
"Woah woah. Sorry to bother you fellows." He continued forward with his hands up. The two looked at each other briefly before returning their glances to the newcomer.
"Registration?" The bigger one asked.
"I-I've got an ID?" Rin was nervous, smiling with a shivering grin.
The second one held open his hands and gestured for Rin to show him. Rin walked up the extra few feet to be in their proximity. He shuffled through his satchel for a leather wallet, cigarette still dangling from his lower lip.
"Ah, here." He was relieved to still have it.
"Its expired." The man stated. His eyes were a cold blue.
"Uh, well you see - I - When did this all happen?" He chuckled with anxiety. The two guards looked at each other, a grin on each face.
"You've got to be kidding boy." The bigger one laughed.
"Five weeks ago." The second just continued to smile, one hand on his gun, the other handing back Rin his ID.
"Oh uh. Well, me and a few friends have been traveling. Looking for somewhere safe. What exactly is this place?" Rin grabbed his ID and took a few steps back.
"Sounds likes someone's been living underground." The bigger one said, his voice had a drawl. Rin gulped at the last word, unsure if they could sense his supernatural friends.
"Well, lucky for you. This is a safe zone. And I presume you and your friends, aren't human." The second one grinned again. It was particularly unsettling because of his missing teeth.
"You, might be correct." Still nervous to admit the truth.
"This here is Natesville." The big one stated. He hacked and spat up something right afterwards.
"Might be the last safe zone for your kind. Might say you're real lucky." The skinny toothless one took a step towards Rin.
"Not sure what you mean, buddy." Rin took a long drag and finished his smoke.
"Where the hell have you been boy?" Both of them ogled the hunter with disbelief.
"You know about the war right?" The skinny one asked.
"The wa- oh. Yeah. I watched some of the stories on the news til the televisions went out." He was telling the truth there. But the televisions didn't just go out. The whole hive went out.
"What sort of friends do you have?"
"Depends, what sort of facility are you running? Are you gonna let us die out here, or are you gonna give us some shelter?" Rin was getting defensive in his nervous state.
"Look, like we said - we's a safe zone. We take mutants, rad sickness, all of it. Just let us give y'all a once over to know where to section you." The bigger one rolled his eyes. Though this was surely the most that he'd had to do all day at his post.
"You asked for registration? What if we don't -" Rin was cut off.
"You get registration once you get sectioned. If you n' your friends haven't been sectioned yet, you ain't got one." He spat again, making Rin cringe.
"Okay. Is that a problem?" He was really getting worked up now. Sweat pooled at his chest.
"Nuh. We haven't met our quota. More people means more funding. You can ask the people at the registrar if you need more information."
"One more question, how many of these places are out there?" The two just smiled eerily.
"Next one's about two hundred miles east. Hard to say how many of these places are up and running. We ain't got no communication. All I know is that lots of 'em will kill mutants, or do wicked tests on 'em. This place ain't about that. We try to research rad sickness in the bay, find a cure. But its gonna take some time... And new patients." The skinny one seemed proud about this.
"Alright. Well if you so far as touch my friends without permission, I will kill you." Rin warned before turning to signal the group.
From the distance, Drishe could only make out the silhouettes of Rin and the guards. She grew nervous as time passed. "Do you think we should help him?" She looked back at Josef. "I mean, they're getting pretty -" Her feet were at the edge of the small hilltop, just as she was about to start down it, she saw Rin waving his hands towards her, towards all of them.
"Yes! C'mon!" As she rolled down towards the guards, she noticed something - they were sick. Well at least one of them was. She noticed a green smog around the both of them. As she got closer, she also noticed the scowl that they gave her and the others. Did Rin tell them? She looked over to him with vindictive eyes.
"The hell's that?" One of them shot at Drishe. "Never seen a mutant with purple skin before. That's serious." They both grimaced. Drishe was entirely confused. One of the two guards walked up to her and began circling around her. "You always been so tall?" He asked naively. Drishe had her fangs bore, ready to bite.
"Calm down, Jessie. Its a Genie." The big one growled, right about them living underground. That's where they'd spent the entire fallout. Now Rin wondered how many people survived, how many were underground now, and if this really was the best place to be. He was a bit ashamed and entirely nervous.