We Rule the World

XII

Month Six, Year One

6:01AM

The warm spray of the shower was always welcome especially when outside of the bathroom right now it was considerably colder, the few snowfalls that had happened had brought with them a spine-shivering cold air that always hung around now. Forgetting about everything happening out there Silas withdrew inwards looking to his old memories of what things were like before the Event, there was so much he missed but there was also so much here that he liked as well, he had adapted so adeptly that he had enough foodstuffs to get through winter without trouble even as he was feeding so many other mouths.

With the steam encasing him Silas felt as if he was in the safest place in the world and for a moment, he even believed that nothing could penetrate through the thick steam, then the spray turned to ice shards of water that battered against his upper chest. Silas screamed surprised before launching himself at the nozzles and turning the shower off, leaving himself surrounded by a fog of steam that was starting to dissipate and leaving the feeling of toddler-like safety behind.

After patting himself down with the towel and scrubbing the mirror, Silas studied his upper chest to see if there would be any scaring believing that those streams of water were icy shards. Finding no sign of the damage Silas turned away before something nagged at the back of his mind shooting his gaze back to the mirror. The nagging sensation die once he realised that his body had changed, the muffin-top he once had now gone replaced with a muscled body as he arms were just as toned. For a long moment he admired himself seeing what months of Effy's diet and her forced exercises and the heavy lifting from his prospecting trips all combined made.

Leaving the bathroom with only his lower body clad in underwear and jeans as he fumbled the shirt in hand, Silas wanted to bait the others and hopefully someone would say something. Stepping out into his portable he was meet with beds almost staked on beds as most of Blairs group had taken residents in Silas's room, this was until they found a truck with a cargo bed big enough to fit them which turned out to be harder than it seemed.

He drew all of their attention as he came out with the steam following behind him. Standing in the kitchen speaking to each other were Effy and Anthony Dames with a coy smile on his face as he flirted with her, Silas had no doubt that right now he was trying his hardest and not even realising that she was making fun of him, she had a great wit that reminded Silas of his sister, a family link he wasn't expecting to see from her. Like always Ralphe was right at her feet sitting on his ass looking like he was expecting a treat any moment now.

Wolfgang, Bradley, Nate & Blair sat around one of the mattresses as they engaged in a game of poker, more often than not Wolfgang peered over his cards at the others with watchful eyes taking note of anything the others done or didn't do, Bradley kept an obvious cage to his movements so it wasn't noticeable when he looked at Effy with infatuation, Nate's attention was solely focused on the cards in one hand as he without focus twirled the butterfly knife in-hand every-so-often missing a mark and hitting himself but at this point he barely paid any attention to the pain, Blair appeared to be the only one there that was bored with the game with his own attention jumping from one point to the next without care if people noticed.

On Silas's bed sat Hugh Daya, a pair of baggy hiking-jeans and boots on his lower body as a black jumper inlaid with white fur covered his body, the quiver for his arrows peaking over his right shoulder as the stripes crossed over his chest and the gloves on his hands were special designed for arches. His attention was focused on the bow as he tested the string tension before studying the bows curves in depth to make sure nothing seemed out of the ordinary with his weapon on choice.

Finally, as all attention shifted away from him, Silas reluctantly, very reluctantly conceded and put the grey V-neck shirt on with one last look around to see if anyone was finally going to say anything. His vanity and ego were hurt a little but nothing that couldn't mended with one of the games he had gained through prospecting, at least in those they would say that he's a hero and special and can kick ass like nobody's business.