The Last Ones, Rewritten

2.

The size of our little group grew shockingly quickly over the next coming months. We had gone from four or five, exhaustingly long guard shifts and a relatively quiet and uneventful life to almost twenty peculiars and subjects living together.

It was only the early days of October and my god, I hated it but at the same time I wouldn't have it any other way. I had friends, people to talk to and see without it feeling forced.

People were there that trusted me to look out for them and in return helped me out as well. It felt right, I had made a good choice staying when Talon had offered all those months ago. If I had chosen, the latter I am almost one hundred percent sure I would have been hollow food.

Hollows, that's what those monsters were called. That's what my family had turned into. That's what has been trying to kill us consistently this entire time.

It turns out I wasn't the only peculiar that didn't know why they survived, there were many of us, just as lost and confused as each other. They came in, one by one, sometimes in pairs or small groups and Talon took them under his wing.

He'd grown softer over these months. I wouldn't call him a softie, but he took pride in his work and the place of safety and security he had created for all these people. These people we called our friends.

Recently we had a string of calm nights, no attacks, nothing out of the ordinary for where we lived. Only what we assumed to be a rat or two, scurrying past our front doors at night. I'd call that a pretty good sign.

The others seemed to think so too, the air in the warehouse was calmer, there were more jokes and banter than usual, people just lounging about talking and chatting. The people that were awake that was, Night shift ended at 5am and it was nearing that time now.

I had been awake for maybe ten minutes or so when someone gently tugged on the curtain separating my room from the rest of the warehouse. When I let them know, I was awake, Oli opened the curtain and slipped in.

The young boys hair was a mess, falling in front of his face and night clothes still on. He yawned, covering his mouth with his sweater sleeve before smiling at me.

"Morning, I just wanted to know if you, you um, wanted anything for breakfast? I'm going to make myself something and just thought I-I uh, I would ask"

I smiled but turned down his offer gently. He came in to ask me every morning, it had become part of our routine to either go get breakfast or a drink together and check our medical supplies for the day.

Working with him was nice, he wasn't one to talk much but the comfort he brought me with just his comfort was nice, this young child was rather important to me.

When he left, I slipped out of my bed and got changed into the clothes I was going to wear that day. I had gone on a scavenging trip with Talon a week or so ago and found a dark green coat, the hood lined with fake fur.

It wasn't much but it made me feel cool and I wasn't ever without it. Besides, the pockets were big enough I could hide a ton of stuff in it if I ever had the urge to. Most of the time I just kept spare bandages and first aid equipment in them.

Opening up the curtain, I tied it to the pole and stepped out into the main section of the clearing. The sky outside was still dark the pale pink-orange glow of the sun was just beginning to seep inside, giving the people a nice natural light to wake up with.

Talon was off to the side, by the kitchen, he was definitely distracted by his conversation with Kassie as he tried to make the first of many coffees he would consume. His hair was tied up loosely, it falling out and all over the place. I'd assume it was yet another sleepless night for that man as he stumbled around.