𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵

'Scavenging.'

The Incident: Book 7, Part 5.

W/ Karis, MSG. Smith & Cpl. Williams.

Setting: In the tent, with Cpl. Williams standing outside..

No One's POV/3rd Person:

"I... Think I might know him." Karis said, MSG. Smith froze as he looked at her. "You serious?" he says, looking completely flabbergasted. She tore her gaze away before only nodding. He stood up. "How do you know him? Where is he, and do you know if he is alive?" MSG. Smith demanded. Karis opened her mouth and closed. "I... I don't know." She sighs once more, she hated that she just told him that She knew who his Son was, but she didn't have the answers for him. MSG. Smith glared. "Don't gatekeep things from me, If you know where he is, you tell me. We're taking you in without making you owe us. This is the only thing I'm asking from you, So I expect an Answer." MSG. Smith's tone became increasingly stern. Karis seemed frustrated. "Sir, I keep telling you that I Don't know where he is! I don't know if he's alive or anything! Just understand that The last time I Saw him, he wasn't exactly in Mint Condition!" Karis snapped. She didn't want to worry or stir panicked thoughts in the Older guy, but she had to get this through one way or another. "So Though I might have known him, My friend, to be exact. Doesn't mean that I know exactly what happened to him or where he is right now. If he was, I Would tell you. Please understand that." Karis seemed exasperated with the olders' constant persistence on trying to get answers. MSG. Smith turns away, not responding to that.. An agitated look on his face. . "Look.. I know you are worried about him, I am too. But if he's dead, it'd be the best option for him to be dead, No one wants to live in this kind of world. At Least not anymore. But if he's not, well then, it's bad either way. Honestly, If your asking me." Karis says, awkwardly. Not sure what to say at that moment. "But.. who knows. Maybe he's alright." Karis adds. Soon enough, Cpl. Williams entered the tent. "You two alright?" He looked between MSG. Smith and Karis. Karis nods. Cpl. Williams gave a quick, friendly smile. "Well, I'm gonna try and stock up on our stuff. Wanna come with?" Cpl. Williams asked, and Karis nodded. MSG. Smith stands up, and follows Cpl. Williams out.

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An Hour later, scavenging for supplies and anything else to stock up on.

"You sure we'll be able to make it back?" Karis asked, Cpl. Williams seemed pretty confident of himself. "Of course we will," he says reassuringly. "Know my way back like the back of my hand." Cpl. Williams says to Karis. He looks over at MSG. Smith, who was high on alert and scanning the area for any threats. Cpl. Williams put a hand to signal them to stop walking. They came across a straggler capybara. "You think we can catch it, eat it maybe?" Cpl. WIlliams asks, looking over at Karis. MSG. Smith was almost ready to shut down that idea, before Cpl. Williams smirks and jokingly looks at the older guy. "Wanna bet?" he says, and Karis was slightly tempted.. Though MSG. Smith didn't seem too fond of that idea. "What would we even bet on?" Karis chuckles. Cpl. Williams shrugged, and returned his gaze back to the capybara. "Nothing. I don't know. Don't even ask why I said to bet. But, it would be a quick and easy meal." Cpl. Williams says. MSG. Smith disagrees. "Not exactly. We would have to carry something that's extremely heavy, and that'll be more strain on this trip. Let's not get side tracked, and just keep our minds on getting what we left for." MSG. Smith says, and Cpl. Williams raised a brow. "Seriously?" Cpl. Williams seemed irritated, and Karis just looked between the two soldiers as they had a slight debate. "Look, we should just keep moving. Let's ignore it." That was practically an order now from MSG. Smith, eventually, Cpl. Williams let the topic go and followed, along with Karis.

They trekked along the woods, then the plains. Then more woods. It seemed like a repetitive loop,And Karis was seriously starting to wonder how much farther they were going to go out. It completely seemed like humanitys' been wiped out. They saw no signs of life, other than the capybaras. 'I guess I really didn't realize how bad our situation and world we're living in right now is.' 'Maybe since we've always been so busy focusing on surviving, we really never took the time to take in the scenery... not like there is one.' Karis thought to herself. "I Finally see a river. Maybe there's fish or any deer near there." Cpl. Williams pointed out. And there was, in fact, a River not too far from them. "Uh, do you think we should race there?" Cpl. Williams says to Karis. For a soldier, he sure was chipper, childish, even. She wondered how old he was at this point. Maybe he was older and more mature than he acted, maybe he was acting all gentle and sweet and talkative with her because she was younger, trying to treat her like a little kid. She really hoped that wasn't the case why he was so overly-nice to her..And she'd much more want the reasoning behind it to be that he was just naturally a nice guy, even as a soldier. "Negative. We should take our time on this. We need to be cautious and not blast towards there." MSG. Smith intervenes. Karis glances over at him. He really was always one to shut things down real quick. Even if she's known him for a couple of days. They started to approach the river, as they scanned the rushing water, and A thought they all most likely shared was that if they could catch anything out of it. As MSG. Smith And Cpl. Williams contemplated about catching anything out of this river or not. But Karis's mind drifted elsewhere, to the destroyed building. She could've sworn she saw something move in there, but she soon tore her gaze away and looked back at the river. She hoped this would be an In and Out SItuation, but she knew luck was never one to be on their side in this world.

To Be continued.

Word Count: 1074