Turned World (On Hiatus)

7 - Expidition

"What's the horde season?"

Sophia was unpacking her gun and its attachments from out of a carrier. She had just asked the question to Hana, who was standing at the door to the room.

"It's the time of the year when the Turned start moving together in one direction."

"Every year? So do we know where they go?"

Hana shrugs. "All reports have come back showing that the direction they go to changes randomly each year."

"I see..."

Hana watched, amused, as Soph fought the gun back into its case.

"So what do we do during the horde season?"

"That's when we get in contact with the other Sanctuaries."

"Huh?"

"We send out a team during the horde season that goes directly to Sanctuary B. All the other Sanctuaries do it as well. It's how we manage to gain information and tech. This year it's Sinu's team that will be going."

Soph snorted when she heard his name. Hana looked at her, confused.

"You don't like Sinu?"

"I wouldn't say I don't like him, but I'd try my best to avoid him. He's... not the kind of person I'd want to be around."

Hana smirked and walked over to Soph who was still fighting the gun. She raised her foot and stomped on the gun hard. With a loud thud and a click, it was finally in the box.

"Who else is going? On the team I mean."

Hana brings up a holographic display on her left wrist and opens some tabs and scrolls. Her expression changes as she looks up at Soph. She frowns and rechecks the display. She smiles nervously and runs a hand through her hair.

"What's wrong?" Soph gave her a worried look.

"Um... when did you join Sinu's team?"

There was a short silence as Hana's words sunk in.

"Huh?" Soph was confused now. "Join... Sinu's... team...?" It sunk in. "Wait, what?! I'm on his team?"

"Yeah. List of all the members of his team. Your name, Sophia Glennor, was just updated on the list."

"But- but, I didn't reque-. Sinu. He must've added me."

"Oh, yeah. That could be it."

"No! I don't want to be on his team! I want to be on your team!" Soph pleaded.

Hana shrugged and ran her fingers through her hair again.

In truth, there was nothing she could do currently due to a rule stating that recruits to any team have to spend a minimum of two weeks in said team before transfer is eligible. And with the team heading off to the Sanctuaries Meeting, the two weeks would end with Soph outside of the sanctuary.

"Since I'm just joining, is there no way for me to not take the mission?"

"No... This actually counts as 'first hand experience' so I would be seen as restricting you from training." Hana sighed, "He played his cards well, I have to give him that."

Soph began sulking. Not only was she heading out into the open, away from the only home she'd known all her life, but she'd be in constant contact with the same person she wanted to avoid.

Whatever Sinu was after, he was doing his best to get it, and that though alone made her sick.

"C'mon I'll help you get your gear." Hana stood up and walked out the door.

Soph caught up to her and the two began walking side by side. They exited the dorm buildings and were stopped by a woman.

She was just a bit taller than Soph, with white hair, and a cold look in her eyes. She looked Soph up and down very judgingly before a half-assed concealed look of disgust appeared on her face.

"So you're Sophia. The girl Sinu personally requested for."

"Y-yes?"

"Why? What did you have to offer him? Or did you promise to let him do you if he let you join?"

"What?! No! Never! I told him to stay away from me!" Soph was getting angry.

"Yeah, right." The woman snorted and walked off.

"That's Amala Uri. She's been in Sinu's team from day one. And apparently she feels that Sinu belongs to her. Every woman that'd joined the team was treated like sh*t by her."

"So why don't they do anything? If she's that bad, Sinu must've done something."

"He doesn't listen. To him, Uri is a perfect girl who can do no wrong. So he just gets angry at the ones who complain."

"Isn't that kind of stupid?"

Hana smiled. "Some people are stuck in the past. For them, clinging onto the memories of a more pleasing past is not only better, it's become an addiction. For some people, the memories they cling to aren't even pleasing."

"Clinging to memories..." Soph repeated absent mindedly.

"C'mon let's not waste time. You need long distance travel gear for the outside."

Hana brought her to a storage department and began going through the stuff she would need and their uses. Hana gave her two portable, 20 litres oxygen tanks and explained that the outgoing team would be given a Miniature Sanctuary Deployer, a tool which generates inaudible sonic waves that it emits around it that pushes the toxic gas away from it. She states that it also works as a miniature air filtration device and can be used to refill oxygen tanks.

"Woah... who made this?"

"A young girl who used to work as an engineer at Sanctuary B. I don't remember her name though."

Hana gave her a kevlar laced, long sleeved shirt and pants. They were, she explained, strong enough to withstand two powerful bites to the same spot from a turned. She handed her some pellets that could corrode weak flesh with small explosions of nitric acid.

Walking over to a shelf with random boxes, Hana took out two capsule despesers and handed it to Soph. The green one despensed nausea reducing pills while the red one was for pain numbing.

"These are to give you a short adredailne boost, but they sap your energy afterward, so be careful with these." Hana said, handing her a small pouch with six blue pills in it.

"Adredaline boost? Ok, that sounds... useful..." Soph said, looking down at the pills, doubtfully.

"Don't worry about it. Better to have and not need than need and not have."

"I guess..."

Hana took Soph's hand's measurements and gave her some gloves with friction and grip increasing properties.

"There you go. Your expidition suit should be ready by tommorow. They're moddeling it using your gear from the practical. You recived your ammunition supplies already and you have...that." Hana notioned to the rectangular shaped bulge in Soph's pocket.

"Do you know how to use it?" Soph took out the object, looking a it closely. She squeezed the same area as before and the box unfolded, same as last time, stretching out to dreploy the plasma blades in their arc shape.

"Hmmm..." reaching around her to avoid the super hot blades, Hana took the object from Soph and looked it up and down.

Without warning, Hana turned and tossed the object with all her might, at a metal bar. She watched with child-like glee as the weapon cut right through the bar, burning out a wide around it, without slowing down.

"What are you doing?!" Soph quickly retreived the weapon.

Hana walked over and picked up the two heated peices of the bar, a smile etched on her face. She turned to Soph, showing her the damage. "This bar had Ileinium properties in it. That weapon in your hand, I don't know how he made it, but thats a very pwerful plasma cutter."

"He?"

"Huh? Oh...n-nevermind that. Come, I'll show you how to use it."