Anyone But You- Book One

One

Camp Z was one of the biggest surviving camps in the country. Ever since the Angels had begun "the cleansing" it was rare to find anyone who wasn't hiding away in one of the camps. Camps referring to large groups of people living in apartments (which were more just shacks or cabins built from scraps. But hey, it was shelter.) It of course didn't help with the lack of food and nourishment people needed to survive. Water was a struggle, as the rain was often polluted and sour. Canned food became everyone's best friend, having more tins than clean air particles. 

The smaller camps such as camp Q and P had been destroyed, along with a few other randomly named groups. The human population was down to thousands, and it was all because of the angels. 

The angels believed they were doing a service, wiping out the human race. But we were smarter than they believed, and made Sigils and wardings, hiding us from their angelic powers. We had gotten good at it, but our efforts only seemed to be prolonging the inevitable. The end. 

Then of course there are the "shells." We call them shells, but they are more like zombies, without the being dead part. Or the brains. They were the vessels of Angels, abandoned once the angels went back to heaven. When the cleansing first started, all the angels came to earth. However, angels needed human vessels to be able to exist on earth. So they possessed thousands, millions maybe, so they could either skope out the planet or kill any person and stepped out of line. In the end, it seemed they got bored. Their angelic forms ascended back to heaven, leaving their shell of a human behind. The people left behind however were left damaged, disoriented, and of course aggressive. We tried to find a cure, to try and fix whatever was left of their minds, but they refused to cooperate, insisting that god chose them to continue the human wipe out. That's what made our camps so important. To keep the remaining people safe and sane. 

Back at Camp Z, there was an order. Everyone had a job and they stuck to it. Deana was the head of operations. She knew who left the camp, who gets sick, who curses, mutters or coughs. She was the leader, in a way. The soldiers were second in command.  They would do regular patrols around camp, keeping intruders away and watching for of the angels return. There were cooks, cleaners, carers, mechanics, even vets that took care of the livestock. Everyone knew what their role was. Everyone had a job and a place to complete it. 

Everyone except Cassidy. Cassidy never took the whole "world ending" seriously, as he was mostly too high to even remember half the things that were going on. He would much rather smoke whatever plants he could grow in his cabin than help out doing important, life saving work. Deana had given up giving him tasks, knowing he'd never bother with any of them. And that's why Luiceel hated him. More than hate, loathed.

Luiceel was the perfect image of a soldier. Hard working, confident, never afraid to risk his life. The exact opposite of Cassidy. Luiceel shared a cabin with Cassidy and a few others, though the only times people were expected to be inside was during the night. Cass and Lui had their rooms opposite ends of the cabin house, and rarely bumped into each other. 

But when they did, it usually ended with blood and something broken. 

Cassidy was snarky, arrogant and loved to get under Luiceels skin. Lui was quick to anger, snappy and violent. 

On one faithful morning, Lui had a rather unpleasant awakening to the strong scent of weed. He grunted, rubbing his clammy hands over his eyes as he rolled out of bed. He knew exactly what was causing the smell, and the cause was about to get their neck twisted. 

Lui was ready for a fight, but decided against it for now. It was too early to deal with Casses bull anyway. 

He completed his morning routine, slinking on a tank top and some cargos, he made his way to the armoury for some early morning training. Nothing like the sound of gun shots to get you feeling awake, right? He grabbed his usual rifle, giving it a once over to make sure it was sound before slinking back out the door toward the training grounds. Charlie had beat him to it, giving him a friendly wave as she saw him approaching. 

"Hey. You're early?" She chirped. She was always so optimistic, Lui wished he had some of that. He gave her a curt nod, not in the mood for small talk. She gave him a worried look, then huffed. 

"Let me guess. Cass?" She analysed his tense shoulders, making the decision. Lui gritted his teeth. 

"Yep. Woke up to the whole cabin reeking of weed. I mean, does he actually do anything useful? I say we throw him down a cliff, hope the shells eat him." He muttered angrily, shooting one of the targets marked on a piece of wood. Charlie hummed, amused. 

"The whole camps realised by now. We all put the work in to contribute, but all he does is observe and talk to us like crap. Just the other day, while Annie was trying to chop firewood, he kept "complimenting" her rack." She explained, her tone slightly lowering in case any one heard her crap talking. Lui scoffed. 

"I can't imagine Annie took it as a compliment." 

Charlie snorted a laugh. "Nope, punched him right in the gut. He backed off pretty quickly after that." 

Lui didn't bother hiding the smile of satisfaction at that image. "Good."