Strength was perhaps the most lauded of his siblings, and in his pride purchased a crown, forged of gold and full of jewels. Strength issued a contest: whoever beat him in a contest of strength would gain his crown. Many challenged him, but all failed to his mighty power. Everywhere he went, all would see his crown and know he was the strongest to ever walk the earth.

One day, the mighty Elephant came to Strength. “I would like to win your crown.” Elephant said. “See, I can pull these fifteen carriages. Can you do the same?”

Strength scoffed. “You can pull the carriages, sure -- but you weigh as much as the carriages. I can pull something my own size easily. It is not a fair contest.” And so Strength kept his crown.

The tiny Ant approached Strength next. “I would like to win your crown.” Ant said. “See, I weigh less than a drop of water, but I can lift this entire leaf above my head -- ten times my own weight!”

Strength nodded. “That is impressive, I don’t deny. But that is a feat any ant can perform. You are not stronger than any of your brethren, and I am not impressed.” And so Strength kept his crown.

Finally, Crane visited Strength. “I would like to win your crown.” Crane said. “See, out of all the cranes, am I not the largest and strongest? No other crane can compare to my power.”

Strength looked at Crane’s skinny legs, and laughed. “That may be true, but what is your strength compared to my own? You do not deserve any award.” And so Strength kept his crown.

Strength continued to wear his crown, his might reflected in the jewels above his head. Everywhere he went, all would see his crown and know he was the strongest to ever walk the earth.

- Excerpt from “Fables of the Five Siblings”

The day passes uneventfully as we train our skills and rotate on watch. By the evening the numbness from the bugs’ stings has faded, and Melete is able to talk at a normal volume without pain once again. We sit around our makeshift camp eating dinner as Melete details the plot of her favorite movie.

“And then they met Bill Murray, who I’m actually not too much of a fan of. I mean, have you seen the movie where he’s stuck in a time loop for ages? And they call it a comedy -- as if. It’s a drama if I’ve ever seen one. You know what movie I’m talking about right?”

I consider nodding -- of course I’ve seen that movie. Who hasn’t? But before I even get the chance, Melete continues.

“But then they kill Bill Murray, which is hilarious, of course. Spoiler alert, by the way. Eh, who cares, most movies are destroyed now anyway, I bet. But maybe we can find a mansion stocked with a home theater system…?”

Melete continues to ramble on as I marvel that I ever missed her voice. Her throat is still sore enough that she has trouble hitting the notes she wants, which is keeping her from singing. And apparently if she can’t sing she’s determined to fill the silence in any other way she can.

Pallas is currently on watch, sitting on top of the edge of the gully and watching the horizon. I just finished my turn on watch less than half an hour ago, but I consider offering to replace him.

As Melete takes a quick break in her narration to breathe, Styx jumps in.

“So what’s our plan for tomorrow? Are we recovered enough to move on?” She speaks louder than normal, which allows Pallas to hear from where he’s sitting.

Before Melete can say anything, I jump in on the forced change of topic. “What do you think Pallas? How do your arms feel?”

“Better.” He says. “I think I’ll be ready if you are.”

“Okay, in that case then, let’s plan on spending tomorrow travelling. Assuming no setbacks, we should reach the next town in about a day and a half.” I had spent a decent amount of time earlier today memorizing the map, focusing mostly on the distances and directions between the major landmarks. I don’t want to be lost if it somehow gets destroyed, and the forced memorization had the added benefit of training my intelligence.

“Anything else we need to prepare before tomorrow?” As we talk, Melete has an impatient look on her face, clearly unhappy at having been interrupted.

After ten seconds of silence, seconds I spend frantically trying to think of something important we need to discuss, Melete jumps back in. “I don’t think there’s anything else...but about the movie…”

As she continues to talk, I sigh and take another chip from the bag in front of me. The headache from my increased perception thankfully is gone, but I can feel an entirely new headache forming to replace it.

As the sun dawns the next morning, we rise together and pack our supplies. One of the benefits of spending all of yesterday resting is that we’re fully caught up on sleep and ready to move with the dawn.

The day starts out easily. As carefree as Melete seems, she at least knows to stay aware as we travel. We see no signs of any monsters or people, and aside from the tension in my body from constantly being on high alert I could imagine we were on a pleasant hike.

But by lunchtime I’m sweating from the heat and exertion of pushing the wheelbarrow. There’s almost no shade as we walk and today is unseasonably hot. When we see a small grouping of trees in the distance we don’t hesitate to make directly for it.

Once we arrive, Melete sets up to watch while the rest of us drop from our feet. I relax in the shade and take a minute to close my eyes, enjoying the break. Even compared to the hardest strength training days in school, I’ve never felt quite as tired as I do now. My strength Number is much higher than it was a week ago, but it’s still lower than what I’m used to. And spending every day hiking for hours on end, only broken up by fights for my life, just adds to my exhaustion.

I open my eyes as a bag of chips lands on my chest. Styx is digging through her bag and passing out food to each of us. As I pull open the bag and take a nacho-flavored bite, I grimace -- I’m sure the non-stop diet of canned and gas station food hasn’t helped with my energy levels.

My exhaustion disappears instantly when I hear a voice, different from any of my companions.

“Hello, friends!”

I roll to my feet and pull my machete from its sheath, holding the blade out in front of me. I turn towards the voice.

A man. He looks to be in his mid-thirties, a few inches taller than me and with a slight paunch around his midsection. He’s wearing jeans and a long-sleeve button down, both remarkably clean, and a hat with a logo I don’t recognize on his head. He stands at the edge of our camp, just in the shade, with one hand held in the air in greeting.

We’ve all scrambled to our feet as Melete runs back to the camp from where she had been keeping watch, knives at the ready. I spare the time to give her a glare. How could he have snuck up so close to us without her noticing? It seems like I’ll have to have a talk with her about paying better attention.

At the lack of any weapons or threatening actions, I lower my machete and reply. “Hello...um, what’s your name? I’m Atlas.” I hesitantly speak. We’ve been looking for other people for so long, but now that we’ve found someone, I’m not actually sure what to say. Melete, Pallas, and Styx each introduce themselves.

“My name is Sam.” The man says, and doesn’t comment on our unusual names. “How old are y’all, if you don’t mind me asking.” His voice has a slight twang as he speaks.

“We’re all in high school.” I reply when no one else immediately speaks up. It looks like Melete forgot her previous excitement about getting to be the spokesman for the group.

“Well, you must have been having a tough time of it for the last few days. It’s a good thing I found you. Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit?”

He seems pleased to see us but also hesitant, as if he’s worried about making any wrong move around us. I look around at the number of weapons we are brandishing in his direction. I guess that makes sense.

I slide the machete back into its sheath and sit back down, gesturing for him to do the same. At my motion, Styx and Pallas relax as well, sitting down with me. When Melete makes to join us, Styx mouths at her to stay on watch. Melete frowns before turning and circling the camp again. I can see that she stays within hearing distance though, and regularly glances back at the stranger.

The man watches our interactions curiously before he joins us in sitting on the ground.

“Do you want some food?” I ask. “We don’t have a ton of extra supplies, but if you’re hungry we could probably…”

He cuts me off before I can finish. “No, no, don’t worry about it, I’ve just eaten earlier. And I wouldn’t want to take any of your food anyway.”

I’m glad to hear his statement. While we do have plenty of food to make it to the next town, I’d like to conserve as much as possible in case of any emergencies.

“Do you have any idea of what’s going on?” Styx asks, a hungry look on her face. “Where are you from? We’re all from Clayton. Do you know what happened there?”

I wince at her admission of where we’re from. I doubt it will be an issue -- after all, there are tens of thousands of people living in Clayton -- but part of me is loathe to trust this random stranger with any personal information about ourselves yet. His appearance at our camp without any warning, a good distance from any towns or even the road, is extremely suspicious. Maybe he saw us off in the distance? We weren’t trying to hide as we walked and the land is mostly flat.

“I don’t actually know.” The man says. “I’m actually not from around here. I was just visiting a friend when the Numbers were reset to the base, and then all of these creatures appeared out of nowhere. Been doing my best to just survive.”

He seems remarkably stoic as he says this, as if the apocalypse and alien monsters appearing aren’t huge deals. They’re interesting enough to have a casual conversation about, sure, but not worth getting all worked up over. No different from if we had asked how his week had been prior to the apocalypse.

“Have you heard anything from the government? Do they know at all what’s going on?” Styx asks.

“I don’t know anything, I’m sorry.” He replies, still stoic. “How about you? What do you know? How have you been able to survive?”

I stay silent, still staring at him. When Styx finally realizes that I’m not going to explain, she starts talking after glancing sidelong at me. “We were on a field trip with our class out in the wilderness for a few days when we lost our Numbers. We tried to drive back, but then...the monsters.”

The man is nodding along, as if this is expected.

“We had to run away, I’m not sure...where the rest of our class is.” Styx takes a moment to regain her composure as her voice cracks. “Atlas met up with us later, and we’ve just been trying to find other people, using improvised weapons and skills to survive.”

As she talks, the man’s eyes wander over each of us and our supplies, as if he is trying to take in the surroundings. But when Styx mentions the word ‘skills’, his eyes immediately turn and focus on her.

“Skills? You have skills, plural? Which ones?” The man’s face still has little emotion, but he unquestionably is interested.

Styx hesitates to continue. She finally has seemed to pick up on some of my suspicions, and turns to me instead of responding.

For a few seconds I sit silently staring at the man, something about him bothering me. I can’t put a finger on exactly what is triggering my suspicions -- it seems to be something beyond just his mysterious approach.

“I don’t think we’re comfortable giving you that information right now. After all, we barely know you.” I say, trying to figure out what’s so unsettling about him.

He leans back as I speak. “That’s wise. How have you dealt with the different monsters, if you don’t mind me asking? You don’t need to reveal your skills, I’m just curious. Have you fought them, hid from them…?”

“We can tell you all about that later.” I say. “First, could you tell us a little about yourself? How are you alive? Do you know anyone else who’s alive?”

“I am with my family. We have been hiding about thirty minutes away from here. I have yet to kill any monsters, but we’ve seen some wandering around outside.” He says.

“Would you be willing to take us to see your family?” I ask. My instincts are screaming at me right now, and although I’ve learned to trust them more in the last week I still can’t figure out what they’re trying to tell me.

“Sure, I can guide you to them now.” He stands up from the ground.

In an instant a flash of realization passes through me as I notice what my subconscious mind has been trying to tell me.

I stand up with him, and speak louder than I was before. “Before we go, I have a question for you.” When I’m sure everyone is looking at me, including Melete, I make a subtle movement with my left hand. Our symbol for danger.

“What are your thoughts on Bill Murray?”

S: 100

D:100

W: 308

I: 97 (+1)

C: 56

0

Skills: Adjust:Self