Broken

Chapter 16

I sat on the couch, staring blankly at the television as the news played, just waiting for the news to break. 

I hadn't slept well at all. Every time I drifted off I would wake up screaming, in a cold sweat. The last time my neighbor actually slammed on our joining walls, cinching my decision to just give it up as a lost cause. I now sat in the living room with another cup of tea, curled up in a seated fetal position while pretending to pay attention to the news.

About twenty minutes ago I had sent Winter a short 'I am alive, don't come after me.' message, and just sat there, ruminating on my crappy life. It wasn't all bad, of course. I had Yejun. But he wasn't here right now, so I had nothing to distract myself.

Winter hadn't replied back yet, even though it wasn't all that early anymore. It was a weekend, and the day after a very hard raid though and normally I would have slept in as well; especially since I no longer had a day job, and Yejun wasn't here...

I sighed, thinking that I should try to eat something again when the view on the television changed, and I saw the outside of the Awakening Center. A slim woman with dark hair and pretty eyes stood before the moderately sized sub-building of the Raider's Association: Titan Branch, her yellow skirt suit a high contrast to all the concrete and glass in the background. I could see that there were a lot of people milling about, walking in and out of frame as the woman lifted her mic and began to speak into the camera.

"-Been here for over two hours, Markus. As you can see, the crowds are growing in number since the doors opened this morning. As our viewers know, the R.A.T.B is often busy, but with the breaking news of a potential Selection taking place late yesterday afternoon, it is even busier than usual." She stated, a smile on her face as she turned enough to sweep out her free hand and indicate the mass of people entering and exiting the doors at the front of the building. A young man in the background made a face at the camera before dashing inside.

"I take it there is still no news then?" Asked the anchor on the left side of my television screen, his eyebrows thick and scrunched together.

"None. But it's still quite early in the morning, so we may have a while to wait yet. Our affiliates at other Awakening Centers around the country have yet to send confirmation updates either."

"Indeed. And we haven't heard any other country announce the appearance of a Depraved or a Devine yet either. Now, Jessica, I know we heard from an association representative earlier stating that it is suspected that at least six people from Canada had been present, and presumed dead, in this most recent selection. Has there been any further comment from them on this topic since we last checked in?"

Six people huh? I supposed it would be seven if you counted myself. That was quite a high number for one country. Canada wasn't small, but we have always been a country known for its large land mass rather than populace. When I had heard about previous Selections, it was usually high density populations like China or India that got such a high percentage of participants.

"There has been no further word from the Association." Answered Jessica, the on scene reporter. "However, there had been a brief bout of confusion in Russia about twenty minutes ago, as a person claiming to be the Selected merely turned out to be a low tiered raider seeking attention. As for the real Selected, it's all still up in the air. The truth of the matter is that, no matter where the Selected may be, we all may be waiting for several days if they do not come forward-"

I didn't bother hearing any more. I clicked off the television and stared absentmindedly at my cellphone still sitting on the coffee table next to a now cold cup of tea. I was stalling, I knew it. I also knew that putting it off longer would make it worse. The longer I waited the more people would show up at Awakening centers world wide, all of them hoping to get a glimpse, an interview, or be the first contact of the Selected.