What was so great about mornings? Was it the tweeting of the birds, the sunshine in one’s face, or was it perhaps the refreshed body, ready to take on the world? Troy wouldn't know. He had none of the aforementioned, muttering harsh words, as he walked in the cover of the trees, trying to force his weak body into lifting a heavy bucket of water without spilling anything. It was hard to do, extremely dangerous with the weight difference, and Adam always made sure to tell him it was bad for his knees.

‘You are moving out of proper form again.’

“There is literally no difference in how I’ve been carrying this bucket for the last ten minutes!” Troy came close to shouting. His body was without that much air, however, making it hard to really shout anything at all. The last parts came out with a sigh included, as the bucket swayed a bit more to the side than it was supposed to.

‘I can quite clearly see you putting too much force on each individual leg. It is not-’

“-good for my knees. Yes, I have understood that quite clearly by now. Thanks for reminding me, though. I just needed to be sure of it for the tenth time today,” Troy said, trying to nod his head aggressively, but only getting close to losing his balance in the process. God, he hated this.

As one would have it, the water at the house had been deemed much too unclean to get close to. It was contaminated by some chemical or other. Troy couldn't remember the name, other than it would give humans the gift of a near-permanent bad stomach. Or brain-eating amoebas. Charlie had not been too clear on which it was. For that, the young man feared it all.

And, therefore, somebody had to bring over water for the whole group every morning. Since Charlie doing it would equal Dr Hale being left alone, it was clear who had gotten the role of that task. It was just his luck that the closest natural, clean stream of water was a whole two kilometres away from the house. The trek to it was easy enough. However…

Stepping over one of the larger branches, Troy accidentally got some of the water splashed on his pant leg. Immediately, it stuck onto his leg, with the cold not being too far behind. He needed to quicken his stride if he wanted to remain in good health.

How he loved the lack of a proper road down to the stream. There had been one, once upon a time. Yet, after a good decade of not being used or maintained, the natural had grown around it. Or fallen on it. Several trees blocked some of the path in some places. Troy couldn't remember how many, even if Adam liked to count them each day out loud.

‘This is the thirteenth and final log we will pass by today. Please remember to tread over it more carefully next time,’ Adam said, giving his usual reminder about keeping safe. Troy had begun to hate those, really. Many times had he asked the AI to stop doing it, but the guy just never stopped with them. It was apparently in the best minds to keep safe at all times, never taking unnecessary risks. The young man found that ironic in some way, even if he never said why.

“I would have liked it to be the permanent last time I got over it, but who cares about my opinion on that matter?” Troy continued to mutter. He liked muttering in the morning. It was a stress-reliever. Back in the first days of doing so, Adam had always asked if he needed help or had tried to give advice on the situation. Nowadays, even the AI ignored what was being said. Or, if that was even possible. It was more likely that he was just refusing to answer them now.

Troy did tone down on his quiet complaints, however, when he got close to the house again. Complaining in front of the two others felt a bit… evil to do. Charlie was up constantly, tending to Dr Hale’s basic needs. And Dr Hale… well, there was no need to think too long about that. It was clear that few were in a worse position than her.

Getting through the door was one of the harder parts of the journey. Opening with his elbow, it then required him to walk backwards a few steps before he could safely put down the bucket. If done earlier, the combined forces of an imbalanced floor and a door would push it over, spilling all the water. That had happened once and only once. Nobody had learnt a lesson faster than Troy on that day.

The pain of bringing two buckets full of water over on a single day had been more than anybody should have endured. Maybe it would be better if the bucket had a proper handle? It was not the most comfortable grip he had now, the thin iron slate working as a handle digging into his skin when he moved his hand around. Since he was going to have another run a bit later in the day, maybe he could look and see if anything there was to his liking? It would just require some rubber tubing to make the experience so much better.

On the talk of scavenging… earlier that morning, Troy had brought up Adam’s point about the alarms. The two others had been fine with it, to a degree. Charlie still wanted them to remain with what they had, while Dr Hale did see the point. Neither encouraged it, but it was deemed fine when all other methods were exhausted. It was not like they had much choice in the matter. With each new store showing off as empty, they all began to feel a bit more dread in their systems.

Charlie was there to take the water bucket. While the man rarely left Dr Hale’s side, bringing the bucket into the living room was one of the exceptions. Troy had to take a few breaths before he felt comfortable following. He winced slightly when he stretched his fingers. His palm had small red lines. It was barely enough to draw blood, yet it was more than enough to cause pain. It was annoying, and he knew there was no chance of it disappear for at least a few hours. They had bandages, yes, but those were saved for another time.

After getting a new pair of pants on, Troy sat down on the chair adjacent to the sofa. Charlie had been offered that seat many times, but the large man had always refused it. The younger one was beginning to think he had grown fond of sitting on the floor. Or maybe there was a whole other reason entirely. Not like he would be told.

Charlie handed him a piece of bread along with the daily morning-MRE. Well, a part of one at least. They hadn't been eating too much of them as of late, supplementing with alternative food sources. One of Troy’s scavenges had been in a food store, during their first couple of days in the city. Having brought a bag that day, he had taken enough to hold them up for a few weeks, if mixed together with what they already had. And, if that ran out, Troy supposed they could start on the canned food. Some of them were a bit dented, but he was sure that was fine.

One of the actually good things about the morning was just about now. Dr Hale was usually in better spirits in the mornings, able to sit without trouble, and having enough energy to talk freely. One could say that the longer she was awake, the worse her life became. Troy did not like it, but he knew he should have just been happy with the time they had during breakfast.

“Where will you be going after today?” Dr Hale asked. It might have been out of curiosity, but Troy guessed that the woman was more bored than anything. She was not immune to that, even if one might have thought it. Charlie would probably have entertained her if she asked.

“Something on the outskirts. Not sure where exactly yet,” Troy answered. Usually, he and Adam would brainstorm ideas on where to go while walking there. It was a long trek to the city, after all, making it stupid to wait in the house while thinking about where to go. The young man knew that there were still a few good places to go before he would have to survey the area again.

“A good idea,” Dr Hale said. “Try to choose those right by the forest-line. In a chase, you would have the highest chance of escaping.”

“Higher? yes. Good? No. Trust me, the police force of today have enhancements just like you two. Though, I am not too sure how fast they are. Faster than me yes, but not nearly the speed of a car or anything,” Troy said, trying to think of any good examples. Deciding against it, however, he chose to once again use one of the better calculators reality had to offer. “Adam, how fast was the police officer?”

‘From the footage that I could parse together, it would be a minimum of forty kilometres an hour. Though, I need to point out that this was recorded not long after she started running. It could be more.’

“Adam says it could be a bit under the natural cap at a minimum estimate. Not too shabby,” Troy said. That did cause Charlie to look at him for a moment.

“You do realise you can escape from that still?” Charlie asked. That… was not what Troy expected to hear, really. Just how was he expected to run away from somebody who could outrun several dog-breeds?

“I think you overestimate these legs of mine. Just because her speed is under the human limit does not mean I can reach the human limit,” Troy said. He would need to be a bit taller for that.

“I know perfectly well how weak you are, thank you,” Charlie said with a straight face. If that was meant as humour, the man needed to be applauded for his lack of showing it. “I mean, we have brought gear that can stop them. Not permanently, of course, but for enough time to let you get away.”

Huh. That would be nice to have. It seemed that the day might just have turned out a bit better than Troy expected it to be.