BioHazard

Whenever Ariana fell asleep she would dream of better times, memories of her past life played inside her mind like an old cinema movie. It never ceased to fill her with such powerful nostalgia that her whole body would ache. Her memories showed Ariana how her life had been torn away from her by war and the Smog, but it served as a painful reminder of just how badly she and the rest of the world ruined everything for the next generation..including her daughter.

 

Ariana's body lurched when she felt a cool hand press against her forehead. Her eyes opened for her to see her daughter leaning over her. There was a tiredness to the girl's face, and once again Ariana thought that she shouldn't have that look about her. The girl needed to be energetic and happy but instead their travels had left her weary. Ariana's eyes glanced around the bunker that they had stayed in and noticed that it seemed even more bleak than before due to the contrast between what had been and what was now. The realization left a bitter taste in her mouth.

 

"Yes Saren?" she murmured tiredly as she started to sit up while rubbing her forehead. Saren's eyes had a particular glint to them as she looked over her mother briefly before she spoke.

 

"Jason wants to leave now," she said simply before she straightened her legs and walked off. Ariana sighed and shook her head as she considered wrapping her hands around Jason's throat and squeezing until the veins in his forehead bulged out and his face was blue. They never saw eye to eye on important matters and it was not uncommon for them to verbally tear each other apart when Saren turned her back to them.

 

After she had delayed getting up for as long as she could, Ariana stood and fixed her mask over her face before she walked to the main room of the bunker. She pulled her backpack off the coat hanger before she fixed the oily straps over her shoulders. After that she armed herself with her assault rifle. Apparently there was no time for breakfast or perhaps they had run out of rations again. Ariana wasn't sure for that was Jason's department, not her's. Her job was to protect them from the Feral.

 

"Took you long enough," Jason's voice sounded from behind her and she turned her head to look at the crippled man. His face looked as though someone had taken a chunk of clay and carved a face in it with a spoon. Despite that Jason was confined to a wheel chair, he still looked rather intimidating.

 

"I hadn't noticed," Ariana responded as her fingers tightened around the weapon. "I'll be sure to jump up at the first call next time," she added moodily before she turned her back on him. Despite his inability to walk, Jason managed to prevent himself from being ‘dead weight' as he put it. His skills in repair, mapping and tracking supplies did make him a valuable asset to their small group. Alongside that he was good at keeping Ariana in check as he prevented her from doing anything too drastic or stupid.

 

"You always do when it involves killing someone, if I didn't know any better I would say that you were feral," Jason said and Ariana hissed out in response as her eyes darted over to her daughter who was thankfully out of ear range at this point. Instead she sat off in a corner looking through a book with browning pages with a look of curiosity on her face as she quietly mouthed the words.

 

"It's kill or be killed Jason. I will not put my daughter's life at risk by being a hesitant coward," with that she turned around and picked up her daughter's gas mask before knelt and called her daughter over. The ten-year old walked over and Ariana began to fix the gas mask over her face. As she did this she could feel Jason's eyes burning into her back with fury.