Alex felt an immense amount of peace under the water. Above her she could faintly hear the sound of the waves breaking on the surface, crashing into the shore with relentless determination. Beneath the waves however, it was like time stood still, and the worries of the world outside seemed to drift away with the current. Alex loved the water. She often cursed the fact that she was born human, with a limited ability to stay beneath the surface. She sometimes wished she could stay down here forever, floating along with the current. It was the closest feeling to flying she could imagine, another pastime she dreamed of frequently, sometimes incredibly vividly. She would often startle herself awake after dreams of soaring the skies, and be immediately disappointed with her current state of groundedness. So instead she spent much of her free time in the water, soaring through the ocean rather than the sky. She would hold her breath to draw out the experience as long as possible, but the human necessity for oxygen always sent her rocketing to the surface, and back to the real world.  

It was a cool day and as soon as she broke the surface she instantly felt a shiver run down her spine at the cool ocean breeze whipping around her. It was only mid-way through autumn, and already she could feel winter’s bite approaching faster than she would have liked. Soon it’d be too cold to swim in the ocean around her quaint little island home, but Alex would milk the experience as long as she possibly could.

Looking back to shore, Alex realized she had drifted out quite a way. She was thankful no one knew she was here at the moment. If her father had known she was swimming out this far, he’d have given her quite the lecture. But Alex knew this beach. She knew this water like the back of her hand. She knew high tide wouldn’t be arriving for quite some time, so she knew she would be safe. Besides, even if she were to be caught in the current, Alex also knew how to handle that situation, so she wondered why her father even worried at all.

A splash to her left drew Alex out of her thoughts. The familiar streak of black fur followed by small whimpering sounds indicated to Alex that Nyx had followed her into the water, and must have been looking for her while she enjoyed her underwater bliss. Alex whistled in the direction of the beast and suddenly two black ears stood to attention. Within seconds Alex was greeted by two bright amber eyes and plenty of licks to the face from the happy creature.

Alex remembered the first time she had laid eyes on the wolf pup. It had been 6 months ago and her father had returned from the mainland along with the scouting crew from her village. Her father always brought her gifts back from the mainland, a promise that one day when she was old enough, she would join him on his journeys. It was this thought alone that got her through the often long periods of loneliness when her father would be gone. He was the only family she had and so spending weeks on end away from him was always hard. She had Meredith, her father’s partner, and while she quite liked the woman, she wasn’t really family. The other people of the village also did little to satiate her loneliness. The loneliness had lessened after this particular trip though.

Alex had always loved animals. Her father said she had always had a special connection to animals, and so it was only natural that she fell in love with the tiny, jet black wolf pup at first sight. She’d been begging her father for a pet for the better part of 14 years, and now she’d finally been granted that wish in the form of the small, scraggy furred creature before her. Her father knew she would enjoy the gift, but Alex never quite thought he understood her instant bond with the creature that she herself found hard to explain. When she looked at the wolf pup, she saw something more in those bright amber eyes, and she could have sworn the young wolf reacted in the same way. It was like they were staring into each other souls, like they were old friends from a past life, finally being reunited after lifetimes apart. It was in that moment that Alex knew she wouldn’t feel the same dread fall over her upon her father’s next journey to the mainland. She was not alone anymore.

Alex thought it would take her weeks to name her oddly familiar new companion, but it was her father speaking about the pup the following day that prompted the name.

“We found it curled up beside its dead mother in the forest. It was the only survivor of the litter, tough little bugger. As soon as I saw it I thought ‘I’ve never seen a wolf that colour before.’ And so I knew I had to bring it back” He had said. “As black as night.”

And at that, Alex had it. She had always had a particular fascination with the ancient mythology tales from before the collapse, so she appropriately named the pup after the Greek Goddess of the night: Nyx. Looking into those bright amber orbs, she knew that name was fitting. It was a few weeks later that they discovered that Nyx was actually a boy, but Alex loved the name too much to change it. “Who cares?” She thought. It was a good name.

Alex was brought back to the now by said wolf pup splashing around her and trying to get her attention. He really wasn’t so much of a ‘pup’ anymore though. He was already much bigger than the wolves Alex had read about before the collapse. Her father had said many animals had either become extinct after the collapse, or their physical attributes had been altered as a result of the virus. As such, relying on the pre-collapse books as a realistic source of information wasn’t always the case. Then again, Alex had never seen many different animals in real life before Nyx, certainly not wolves. The only animals that frequented the island were small game like rabbits, squirrels and birds, as well as the village’s farm animals. And there were fish. So many fish. At the thought of fish, Alex’s stomach grumbled loudly. Fish was her favourite. She looked over at Nyx who was trying to snap at a school of small fish that seemed intent on teasing him. She looked back at the shore, regretting instantly that she’d swam out so far without her fishing spear. She could go back to the shore and get it, but that would require a level of excursion that she just couldn’t find in herself to use. The light ripples were way too comforting. So she ignored the rumbling of her stomach in favour of more relaxation.  

She splashed in the direction of Nyx, hopefully sending him the message that his attempts were futile. The clever little fish were far too quick for his still untrained jaw. As if to prove something, the wolf looked up at Alex, and Alex swore she could see the creature huff in frustration, only to return to his previous task with more vigor than before. Alex swore that the wolf seemed almost human to her at times. Like he understood exactly what she was saying and replied with human-like emotions. It was like they had an unspoken bond, like they could read each other’s thoughts as easily as they could swim. Apparently this was a special bond that only the two shared however, because when she brought it up to her father or anyone else, they would mock her, saying that she “probably spends too much time with the wolf and not enough time with people.” As much as Alex would never say it out loud, she knew they were right. She didn’t really get along with the children her age, much less the adults. The only people Alex really got along with were her father and Meredith. People were complicated. People were loud and arrogant and always demanding something from her. Nyx was peaceful. Nyx was comfortable. And so Alex would always answer them with the same signature rolling of her eyes, which got her into trouble with some of the other adults. Especially Mrs. Hendricks.

As if the very thought of her summoned the banshee-like woman into being, Alex suddenly heard the familiar, impatient calling of her name from the shore. The thought of ignoring the woman briefly flashed in Alex’s mind before quickly being squashed down by the reasoning that she probably didn’t want to be in toooo much trouble before her father came back today. Reluctantly, Alex slowly began to drag herself back to shore, whistling for Nyx to follow. She could see the disappointment in Nyx’s body language at having to abandon his task. All she could think was “Me too buddy. Me too.”

After what seemed like too short a time, Alex was already reaching the point where she could stand in the water. She knew it had been longer than that though. She had deliberately dragged out her journey to the shore, savouring every second of peace before the volcano of a lecture that was about to explode before her. She tried again to remember that she was somewhat behaving today though, for her father’s sake. However that didn’t mean she was going to give the scowling woman before her the satisfaction of doing what she was told too promptly. Something about seeing the woman before her so wound up that her jaw seemed to lock in frustration gave Alex the tiniest bit of gratification. It almost made the inevitable lecture worth it.

Finally Alex made it to the shoreline, but instead of heading straight to the woman in front of her, who was now tapping her foot in frustration and staring daggers into the girl, Alex instead headed over to her bag and threw on a t-shirt over her dripping wetsuit to block the breeze that nipped at her. She then picked up a piece of cloth and began drying her hair somewhat, to prevent the droplets from wetting her t-shirt any more than necessary. Deciding that she had probably wasted enough of the woman’s time, she finally turned around, walking slowly towards her impending doom.

“Would you care to explain to me young lady why you are down here, wasting your time taking a leisurely swim, rather than being in your morning classes?”

Alex looked up at the woman, her tight, annoyed expression and pointed glare, and it took every fibre of her being not to roll her eyes into eternity. Holding in a sigh, Alex did one of the things she did best: lied.

“I was unaware that I had classes this morning, Mrs. Hendricks.” She replied with a sweet smile that she knew set of flares in the other woman.

The woman before her took a deep breath, as if calming herself before replying “It’s funny how you always seem to forget about my classes Alex. Isn’t it?”

Alex knew she shouldn’t bite. Not when her father was returning today and would be met with a string of profanities about his ‘bad parenting’ and how his daughter needed to ‘learn some manners’, but the need to cause mischief was too strong, so Alex bit. “Maybe I just think that learning about poetry and handwriting is pointless and has no practical applications and my time would be better spent learning survival techniques in the real world rather than wasting my time in a pointless class. Mrs. Hendricks.” Again she smiled her sweetest smile at the now seething woman.

Alex could practically see the cogs winding unbelievably tight in the woman’s head, and she knew that she might have gone too far. Instinctively, Alex rolled her eyes, and that was it. Now she was in for it.

“I’ve had just about enough of your attitude young lady!” The woman practically shouted, before stepping forward to grab Alex by the wrist. She only took half a step before Nyx was at Alex’s side, growling lowly in his throat at the woman seemingly threatening his human. His friend. Mrs. Hendricks doubled back on herself, even taking a step back. Alex couldn’t blame her really. While she never felt anything but love for the creature beside her, she had to admit that she understood other’s apprehensions around him. He now stood at about a metre tall on all four legs, and he was only 6 months old. That coupled with his jet black fur, glowing amber eyes and sharp canines; let’s just say he could be a little intimidating.

Mrs. Hendricks looked even more annoyed now, if that were even humanly possible, but now she made no attempts to move towards Alex, thanks to her friendly companion. “You should really train that mutt of yours better young lady!” Whined the woman.

Alex figured she had probably given the woman enough grief for the day, so she made a show of berating Nyx for his ‘bad behavior’. “Bad wolf Nyx. We don’t growl at lovely ladies.” She said in mock sternness and flashed the woman another smile. Nyx stopped growling, but didn’t back down from his protective stance. Alex stared up at Mrs. Hendricks. “See? Controlled.”

Mrs. Hendricks eyed the wolf suspiciously, before replying “We’ll see.” At that she turned around abruptly and strode up shore towards the village, muttering not so quietly under her breath. “Damn mutt. Noah should have never brought it back from the mainland! Uncontrollable beast!” As she reached the tree line, she stopped and turned back to the teenager still standing with the wolf. “I had better see you ready for you next class in twenty minutes or you’ll be getting extra work for the next month!” She shouted, before turning around, feeling happy with herself upon seeing the girl’s mouth fall slightly agape in horror at the words, and continuing back to her class.

Alex watched the spiteful woman disappear into the tree line and sighed in relief when she was gone. She looked down at Nyx standing beside her and noticed that he too relaxed as soon as the woman was out of site. She affectionately gave him a scratch behind his ear, which he enjoyed immensely. “God I hate that woman.” She breathed out quietly, fearful that the banshee might hear her even though she was way out of hearing range. It wouldn’t surprise Alex in the least if the devil of a woman had some bizarre super-human hearing, allowing her to hear every word muttered behind her back. Maybe that was why she was so uptight? Nevertheless, Alex decided to play it on the safe side. In his almost human-like way that Alex had grown so accustomed to that she didn’t even see it as strange anymore; Nyx huffed in what seemed to be agreement with the girl.

Alex stood there for a few moments longer, before collecting her belongings and moving up the sand dunes herself, Nyx in tow. “That woman is not going to ruin this day for us Nyx!” she said with determination as they approached the tree line. Before she passed through however, she stopped and looked out to the ocean, hoping to catch a glimpse of her father’s boat, but knowing that he was likely still hours away and out of sight. Sighing, she whispered a “See you soon father” before passing through the thick tree line, cursing for a second time that day at the commitments of being human.

Noah stared across the vast sea before him. It would only be a few hours now before he’d be home. He picked up the old silver compass which hung around his neck and stared at it affectionately. I had been given to him by his father, and while the antique showed visible signs of wear and tear, it still worked as if it were brand new. He delicately opened the hinge to reveal the arrow pointing out the way.

“Due East.” He said to himself, a reminder that he was on his way home. Their scouting trip had lasted 9 days, and he was beginning to feel homesick. He also knew that a certain teenager would be missing him back home.

Noah allowed himself to stare out at the serenity of the calm water for a few minutes longer, before switching back into captain mode. The scouting crew were well trained in sailing by now, so little was needed to be actually spoken aloud. Each man or woman knew their task and carried it out accordingly. They had sailed this path so frequently that it was all ingrained into them now. Noah did however have members who had been injured on the scouting trip, so he thought it’d be best for him to check on them.

He ran into Henry first, who was conveniently avoiding being looked at for any serious injuries. Noah approached the smaller man seemingly fleeing from below deck to get some fresh air. As he approached, he raised his eyebrows towards the other man, to which Henry replied with a roll of his own.

“I’m fine Noah, I swear! It was just a scratch!” The man defended upon seeing Noah’s questioning look.

“I’ll just get it stitched up when we get back home. Besides, you know I hate being stuck below deck.”

Henry suffered from claustrophobia, and so he spent most of his time outdoors. He was a driven man with a passion for exploration, always excited by the prospect of new discoveries, and a hell of a tracker. He always demanded to be at the head of the scouting crew, lest one of the less ‘talented’ trackers miss something he wouldn’t. Noah’s mind briefly flicked to the attack earlier that day and couldn’t help but see the irony in that statement now.

Noah sighed before inspecting the other man’s wound. The cut ran down his left forearm, but didn’t appear to be too deep. The bleeding had stopped relatively quickly once bandaged, meaning no arteries or veins were hit. Seeming satisfied, Noah nodded his approval, before adding jokingly “Fine, I’ll let you leave it as it is for now. But if we get back and Meredith says it’s worse than it is, you’ll have to deal with her wrath on your own.”

Henry laughed and added “But won’t she be mad with you for letting me be so careless?”

“Trust me; she knows how stubborn you can be!” Noah retorted, before patting the man’s back and moving towards the open hatch that led below deck.

Upon hitting the ground, Noah’s eye’s briefly skimmed over to his right catching a glimpse of the still unconscious man lying at the far end of the ship. Noah then continued to the left, approaching the small group that was located at the end of his path.

“How’s he doing Andre?” Noah asked the tall dark man standing closest to him from the trio.

Andre looked down at him, as the man stood at least a foot taller than Noah, and replied “He’s lucky. If the cut had been a centimeter deeper Dot said he could have lost him arm.”

Andre then looked back to the younger man seated in front of him, before adding teasingly “I guess I should be thankful you finally learned how to aim, ay son?” Andre then flicked the young man’s forehead, much to his annoyance.

Derek had turned 18 only 2 months ago and, desperate to follow in his father’s footsteps, had earned his spot on the scouting crew. He’d been so excited to see the mainland for the first time, so excited to experience the wonder with his father. Noah chuckled slightly at the thought of another teenager who was desperate to see the mainland. The chuckle soon turned to a small frown however at the thought that in a few short years, his own child might be the one risking their life on the mainland, having to arm up against a potential threat. Derek was only 18, and on his first scouting trip and he’d already had to use his weapon against a savage. Noah shuddered to himself, before he was brought back to the now by the sound of Derek’s voice.

“I hit the target back home plenty of times old man!” he whined in retort.

“Yeah, the non-moving ones!” Andre replied jokingly again, although Noah could see in his eyes the sinking feeling that he also felt. Derek was so young and already he’d had to take a life. Right now he was probably still reeling from the shock of the fight, but neither of them could know how the experience would affect him later on. The guiltiest part of Noah was thankful that it was not Alex who’d had to experience that.

Noah now looked up to the third person in the room, a young woman who was quietly chuckling with Andre whilst bandaging Derek’s arm. She looked up to Noah and nodded her head to him, confirming what Andre had said before adding “I’ve stitched up the gash and applied some salve. It should hold well, but it’ll be best if he checks in with Meredith once we get back.”

Noah nodded his head in acknowledgement before replying “Thanks Dot, I’ll let Meredith know.”

With that, Dot collected her equipment and headed towards the hatch, while Noah inspected Derek’s bandaged arm. Just before Dot popped open the hatch, Noah called out “Hey Dot, Meredith might have to watch her back! Looks like we’ve got a new healer in town!”

Dot smirked and chuckled to herself before exiting above deck.

Noah looked back to find Andre smirking at him with raised brows. “What?” Noah asked defensively.

“So my sister has some competition does she?” He asked jokingly, receiving a punch in the shoulder from Noah. “Meredith is the only woman for me, I assure you.” Noah reassured the man in a light tone.

The two men chuckled some more before Andre pat Derek on the shoulder and told him to get some rest. Once Derek was lying down, Andre gestured with his eyes for Noah to follow him so they could talk in private. They made their way to the bottom of the ladder that lead above deck, before Andre asked the question that had been burning in both their minds: “What the hell happened out there today Noah? I’ve never seen savages travelling in groups like that before.”

Noah thought back on the events that had transpired. They had been on their way back to the boat, maybe 20 metres inland from the shoreline when they were attacked. No, attacked wasn’t the right word. It was almost like they were ambushed. “Ambushed.” Noah thought to himself. The idea was ridiculous, and yet the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t describe the attack in any other way. It was like they had been waiting for them, knowing that they would return via the same path they’d entered the forest. The first one to attack came from the front, resulting in Henry’s injuries as he was heading up the team. Before anyone really realized what was happening, 5 more attacked from different sides. Noah’s team had the number advantage, but savages were brutal, non-human. They fought without relent and it was as if they didn’t feel pain. The only way to really stop them was to kill them, and do it quickly. Derek had learnt that lesson first hand when one had jumped on top of him from the trees. Luckily he’d already had his hand gun out at that point. Noah had never seen this level of organization within the savages before. Usually they were for the most part mindless and crazed, travelling in groups of two or maybe three at most. What had changed? What had drawn them together so suddenly? If it weren’t for the sword-wielding man…

Noah didn’t want to finish that thought. He refused to. Too many people relied on him, on the whole crew. For resources, information. No. He would take the win today, and think about the maybe tomorrow. For now he needed to get his crew back to their families and friends. He looked up at Andre’s musing expression thinking he must have reached the same conclusion. “For now we get our men home. Once we’re settled we’ll organize a council meeting to discuss our options following this attack.” Andre nodded, satisfied with this reasoning.

A sharp gasp followed by a banging sound alerted the men’s attentions to the other end of the ship-long room. Their guest was awake. Deciding that caution was probably the best measure, Noah approached the smaller man, who had seemed to startle himself awake, slowly. The smaller man snapped his head towards Noah, instinctively going on alert, but calmed once he collected his bearings and seemed to remember where he was. Once Noah was sure he was calm enough to approach, he pulled out his drinking flask and offered it to the stranger. “Drink” he offered kindly yet sternly. The man eyed Noah suspiciously before slowly reaching out to take the flask. He sniffed the contents of the worn metal casing slowly. Seeming satisfied with his inspection, he proceeded to take a few gulps of the water before slowly passing it back to the taller man.

Noah leaned back against the wall and observed the man in front of him. He looked tired and ragged, but also hardened. Probably an inevitable side effect of being alone for so long. They hadn’t gotten much out of the man so far, but Noah had been patient enough to learn that the man hadn’t been around other people for years. Noah couldn’t imagine how someone could possibly live in such isolation for so long. The constant battles and hardships he must have faced. The thought of it dragged up a repressed memory of a beautiful blonde, with piercing green eyes that were all too familiar, but he quickly pushed the thought aside, instead focusing on the man in front of him again.

From what Noah could guess, the man was of eastern decent and in his mid-60s. He stood about a 10 centimetres shorter than Noah, and had obvious battle scars covering his body. Noah shuddered at the thought of what battle scars he must also carry beneath his skin. He noted the sheathed katana that lay securely strapped around the man’s body, but decided to ignore it for now, not seeing any form of a threat judging from the man’s body language. Noticing the man wince slightly from the pain in his arm, Noah cleared his throat and broke the stale silence.

“We will be arriving at our village in a couple of hours. Our healer there will be able to set your arm and wrap it properly like we talked about. We’ll leave for our next scouting trip to the mainland in another month. You may choose to join us on this trip if you wish to return to the mainland. Like I said before though, you’re more than welcome to join our community.”

The man said nothing, so Noah decided to try a different approach. “I have to thank you again, for what you did back there.” He stated genuinely, hoping the man before him would truly hear the sincerity and truth in his words. “I would have lost many of my people in that attack if it weren’t for you. I owe you their lives.” Again, the smaller man did not speak, but this time he offered a small nod of acknowledgement. Noah nodded in return before pushing himself off the wall. “I have to go and check in with my crew. If you have any questions, feel free to come and find me or Andre.” He said, pointing over to Andre who was standing by the ladder stiffly, obviously hesitant to trust this stranger. Turning back to the man, he then added “My name is Noah by the way.” The stranger seemed to study Noah for a moment before replying quietly “Katashi. My name is Katashi.”