The root of all problems

"You aren't going to stay?" Ellin perked up, only to deflate a little in the next moment. He looked at Eve with worry. "Why? Where else are you going to go?"

Eve shrugged and drank some of her compote. It was so watery that it was almost no different from water. "Somewhere with a proper research equipment, for a start, and infrastructure to support it. Beggars can't be choosers, but this place is a rathole."

"I can't argue with that." Ellin grinned. "I guess if you really want to leave, you have much better chances to make the journey than me. At least with your superpower, most zombies would stay away from you, and high-level ones are rare, anyway."

"I still need to some time to prepare and at least a direction in which to go. I want to find a bigger base." Eve scratched her chin. She made little progress on her core's code last night, but she wasn't completely without a clue. She had already found a few places where a small fix would do a great deal of work towards improving her personal capabilities and survivability.

"In Chainsaws Base, you get paid with merit stamps for work. These are basically money. If you get enough, you can buy a paper map and a compass. They aren't very expensive—with your superpower, that would be easy as pie!"

Eve snorted, but said nothing. 'You try to bake a pie in a post-apocalypse era…'

After finishing their breakfast with no further interruptions, Ellin led Eve towards the office where she was given a key to her own small apartment. After that, Eve asked Ellin about work she could do to gather merits.

"You usually get offered one right from the start if you said that you have some useful skills, or you can ask around. But I can tell you from the start that the place you look for is the scavengers' square!" Ellin clapped his hands with a grin. "I will show you everything you need to get… everything you need!"

He brought Eve to a squire with a big noticeboard in the middle. Many people with swords on their hips were looking at the pinned notes, searching for a group or simply mingling with other scavengers. Like everywhere else, Eve's appearance gathered everyone's attention, but she pretended to be unaware of it.

Like an eel, Ellin burrowed into the crowd that surrounded a noticeboard. His blond hair was the last thing to disappear from Eve's view. With nothing else to do, she put her hands in her pocket and waited for him at the edge of the square. She hoped to wait calmly for Ellin to check whatever he needed to, but it, of course, wasn't so simple.

After a minute of staying in one spot, Eve saw a scavenger coming up to her with a fishy smile on his face. It was a bulky man with short, uneven hair and a square jaw. He towered over her and Eve could feel him pushing at her with his stronger presence. It was an unsettling feeling. Her instinct was warning her to get away and prepare to fight or flee, even if her mind told that the man (probably) won't do anything. Not with so many people around.

"Hey, lady, are you looking for a group? What about joining mine? We will give you a great share," the man said and leaned a little closer.

Eve made a step back. "You aren't even going to ask about my superpower first?"

The man did a step forward and his leery grin turned wider. "I could tell from a glance that you are very… capable."

It was impossible to miss an innuendo in his tone. Eve glared at him and increased her presence until it became higher than his. "I could tell from a glance that you are a dog. Not interested!"

The man's smile disappeared. "What a bitch!" He spit under his feet, but backed off under the pressure from Eve.

She looked around and could tell that if some people were discouraged by what just happened, others became only more enticed. It was only now that Eve realised that there were very little women on the square. In comparison, she saw about as many women as men on the outside. She wondered why.

A few more people tried to approach Eve with similar intent as the first one. Some actually looked decent when they invited Eve into her group, but she declined them anyway and kept waiting for Ellin. Some people went away calmly when rejected; others Eve oppressed with her aura into submission.

After what felt like forever to Eve, Ellin finally returned. When he approached her, Eve noticed several unhappy glares thrown at his side and couldn't help but frown.

"Good news, Eve! I found that the base currently pays extra for medicines. We can get a good cash even without a car to haul stuff," Ellin said with enthusiasm. "I know about a few less-explored places where we can check for drugstores. With your bike we can get there and back in a dozen days."

"That works. How's your leg?"

Ellin waved Eve's concerns off. "It's alright if I don't run. It would need a few more days to heal for good, but it works, it works!"

Eve scratched her chin and frowned. 'I'd like him to heal first before going anywhere, but I'm afraid that if Ellin sticks around, more trouble will come. Besides, people in this place make my skin crawl… I'd better be with zombies then them.'

"I want to set off immediately. Can you do that, Ellin?" Eve asked.

"Immediately? Why?" Ellin's eyebrows rose. "We had just arrived!"

"You asking me? Think about it." Eve frowned at him and pursed her lips with obvious scorn. "It's your timer that's ticking, not mine."

Ellin tapped his fingers on his hip and hummed. His hard thoughts were all written on his face. A dozen seconds later, he looked up at Eve with an enlightened expression. "Ah, I get it! You want me to avoid whoever is behind Jayce, right? That's like killing two birds with one stone! Though… we would still need to return, eventually."

"Later is later. Many things can happen until then. And I plan on leaving again right after we get this map. You can come with me. I doubt you will be able to stay in this base for long, even if you wanted to. But I don't think this place is any good even by post-apocalyptic standards."

"Alright!" Ellin nodded enthusiastically. "Let's go pack, then!"

Neith of the two of them needed a long time to gather their things. Just a half an hour later, they left Ellin's one-room apartment with Eve's bike in tow. But before they were able to reach the base's gates, a girl in a light dress suddenly dashed to Ellin from an alleyway and pulled him to the side in a bear hug.

"Lin-Lin, you are alive!"

"Ugh, Xia… If you keep strangling me, this won't last long…" Ellin said in a weak voice.

"I was just expressing my happiness, why are you pushing me away?" The girl pouted, but made a step back. "I was so worried about you when I heard that Jayce returned to the base without you, Lin-Lin!"

"Xia, aren't you too old to pout like this?" Ellin grinned. "Are you actually aging backwards? Are you going to become a complete child in a couple years?"

"Hello, yes, ignore me…" Eve mumbled under her nose. The aura of a loving couple that surrounded these two made her stomach churn, yet she couldn't find in herself to interrupt them.

"And who is that, Lin-Lin?" Xia's eyes turned towards Eve. All warmth that radiated from them moments ago dissipated without a trace; now Xia was examining Eve like a potential enemy.

Eve, in return, examined Xia. She was shorter than herself, with jet-black hair cut in a neat bob and slanted brown eyes. Her presence felt completely ordinary, but her defined muscles showed she was regularly working out at the very least.

"That's the person without whom I wouldn't be standing in front of you now, Xia! Let me introduce you two… Xia, this is Eve Ziffer, she saved me on the outside. Eve, this is Qiao Xia, my good friend."

Eve reached out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you."

After a moment of deliberation, Xia firmly shook her hand. The coldness with which she looked at Eve seconds earlier turned to warmth again. "Thank you for saving my Lin-Lin!"

Then, Xia turned to Ellin with a worried frown and tearful eyes. "I went to look for you as soon as I found you returned to the base. Lin-Lin, that attempt to kill you… It was all my fault!"