Three Hot Meals And A Cot

After what felt like a day and half of mind-numbing interrogation by a strange consort of frightening men in military uniforms, Isaak had finally been cleared of whatever suspicions had been placed on him.

It wasn't until the old geezer that'd brought him into the base, Williams, showed up that Isaak felt himself relax a little bit.

Even though Isaak still knew next to nothing about what he was going to happen to him, he was confident that the old man who had thrown him into his current predicament would be of some assistance.

That much he owed Isaak — that is, if the old man had any dignity left.

At the very least, Isaak wanted to be released. He'd already spent more than a week in a dark cell without any sign of hope. It'd gotten so bad for him that at one point, he had simply wished for it all to end.

He'd gone through the entire song and dance — from outright denial to hopeless despair and everything in between. All he wanted now was to see the outside world and breathe in some fresh air...

"...How are you feeling, son? I hear they put you through the wringer. Sorry 'bout that, but there was nothing I could do about that," said Williams in a low voice as he entered Isaak's cell.

Isaak didn't respond. Not out of resentment, of course. He had simply been too tired to even force a response out of his mouth. Otherwise, he would've made a dumb joke or something of the like.

They'd put him through the full course, so to speak. A never-ending barrage of psychological assessments, physical examinations, full-course interrogations, and a variety of other unknown examinations.

Williams sighed and said, "Looks like you got it worse than I thought. Still, it's better than shipped away to the White Crypt and never seeing sunlight again. You're extremely lucky that I got permission from the top brass to keep you, otherwise..."

Williams shuddered at the thought of what would have happened to the boy had he not called in his favors with the right people. He had no doubt that he would've been dissected like a lab specimen, among other things.

Methodically tortured and experimented on until they got every last valuable piece of data out of the boy.

Williams grabbed a metal tray with cold food and said, "Hungry? I imagined you'd be after being starved for the last four days." When he saw Isaak begin to stir at the sight of the meal, he'd brought he let out a secret sigh of relief.

He hadn't been sure whether or not a normal civilian like the boy would have been able to endure the grueling interrogation that he'd effectively sentenced him to. But it had been the only way to ensure the boy's safety, considering the immense implications his arrival suggested.

In return for sacrificing Isaak's freedom, Williams had guaranteed him a path that would not lead to him becoming a guinea pig for the Federation. Only God knew what kind of wretched ending the boy would have experienced had he not intervened.

Not that the road that he was now destined to walk would be any better, though. In many respects, it would be an even harsher path — one of blood, loss, and ultimately, tears.

"I'm sure there's a lot you want to know but for now, why don't you eat and recover some of your strength, alright? I'll fill you in on the basics so you don't make a fool of yourself in the coming days as a primer while you eat..."

It started off rather anti-climatic — simple facts, a couple of important dates, and new terms — until the old man reached a certain point in his lecture of sorts.

The year 2036.

It'd been an astonishingly important year for humanity and the planet itself, for it was the year that everything went straight to hell in a matter of... seconds.

Mass extinction events were not terribly uncommon on a geologic time scale. They were actually rather periodic but for humanity, it had been a near-death sentence.

It had happened without any form of warning what amounted to a split second.

People across the world had been going about as per usual on a regular Thursday morning of what had once been the country of Peru.

Emphasis on "had been" — not because the country fell apart or anything.

No... it was because the entire country had vanished along with Ecuador, Colombia, and the majority of Brazil.

In the fraction of a single second, roughly more than half of Southern America had perished.

342 million lives. Gone from the literal face of the Earth.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, especially humanity, that life was fragile, unreasonable, and oftentimes... explicitly brief.

And as if to remind humanity of this simple fact, it had been punished twice in the blink of an eye.

Yes, twice.

Not once, but twice.

Not even an hour after the cataclysmic event that had occurred in the southern hemisphere, another one had come to smite the Earth, as if to finish the job.

Finland — Gone.

Sweden — Gone.

Norway — Gone.

Denmark — Gone.

Estonia — Gone.

Latvia — Gone.

Lithuania — Gone.

38 million lives gone in the matter of a split second.

And they had just been the prelude of what was to follow. In the end, the Federation's most advanced AI, Archimedes III, determined that 6.8 billion people died in total since that year.

It was a conservative estimate, though. The actual figure was unknown.

With the Earth broken shattered into pieces, a long and painful era of indescribable chaos emerged. A terrible period of incalculable cruelty and desperation began as mankind struggled to adapt to their new world.

And after that bleak era passed, a different kind of people arose from the ashes and erected themselves a brand new society.

Together, these remnants of Earth's former major nations established the Federation, which now stood as the only formal government on Earth.

A hundred and fifty years later, humanity had still not given into the overwhelming despair of their dire circumstances.

Despite the overwhelming odds, they had not bent the knee to fate and had instead, taken up arms to fight it. This was the Federation's official account in regard to the nebulous era before its inception.

Anything else was considered to be nothing more than a fringe conspiracy, hoax, or unsubstantiated theory not endorsed by the Federation.

It sounded so damn far-fetched, Isaak almost doubted the old man, but knew that it would be better for him to remain silent. A fair bit of what Williams was clearly muddled with blatant propaganda, so he didn't take all at face value.

'Safe to say that he just told me this version to keep me out of trouble. But there's definitely a lot more history — secret history — he hasn't spoken about...'

In any case, it was a mystery that he would have to solve later. Preferably when he wasn't locked up in a cell or under observation by the Federation.

"So the world's fucked? Not surprising. Here I thought we were going to do it ourselves, but it looks like we couldn't even do that right. No, wait. I guess we had that stolen from us, huh..." said Isaak as he scratched his back with a metal fork he'd only recently finished using.

"You're taking it pretty well for someone who's only been in the future for less than a week," said Williams.

"I've had plenty of time to think... or rather, that's the only thing I've been able to do in here. For now, all I want to do is survive. Nothing I can do about what's already happened. My world's gone... The people I care about are long dead. I have nothing left... except my life. So that's what I'll focus on protecting for now."

It was surprising hearing how resolved the boy had become, to say the least. Williams expected that he would've had to coddle the boy a bit and get him back on his feet, given his uniquely shit situation, but the young man had already set his sights on the correct path without any help.

Williams found it admirable, but another part of him felt that it was a sorry thing to behold — how quickly a person could adapt to tragedy.

Not even a week and a half into his new life and Isaak had already begun to adapt, even if it came at the cost of abandoning off his past. But it was the right decision, as his past would only serve to hinder him in the future.

"I commend you for your clear-headed mindset, boy. To be quite frank, I had not anticipated such a firm response from a daisy like you. But you are quite right. We don't have the luxury of pining for the past, not with shit on our plate," said Williams, nodding approvingly.

"Then let's not waste each other's time. Seeing as you're here, I'm probably not going to die, yes? But I'm not going to get off scot-free, am I? You have something for me, I presume."

Williams chuckled and said, "I'm glad you've got an actual brain in that skull, unlike most of the imbeciles here. It's as you've pointed out, there's a catch if you're going to walk out of this cell."

He handed Isaak a digital tablet that had a long document on it and said, "You're going to be under my supervision until further notice. Sign this little bit of paperwork and I'll guarantee you three hot meals and a cot — the best deal you're going to get in this godforsaken wasteland — and we'll be on our way."

Isaak knew that there was probably something nasty hidden in the fine print, but deep down he knew that he wasn't going to get a better deal. Compromises had to be made if he was to survive.

And he was determined to live another day. No matter the cost. That was his only objective.

So Isaak signed it without a moment's pause and said, "Then what are we waiting for? I want those three meals as fast as possible. Just tell me what you need me to do, Chief."

And on that day, a beautiful friendship was born between the two of them.