A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

'Thump' 'Thump' 'thump', the sound of hitting of the hatch door came to his ears making him snarl in anger, 'What are those idiots doing now?'

'Damn it if I leave it as such, my trailer would be damaged because of this Neanderthal savages.'

He snapped his finger as the hatch finally opened allowing Michalina's head to pop up as Ryan spoke with a scowl on his face, "Why were you banging at the hatch door, it was not locked or anything and could have been opened with a simple push, so why were you banging the hatch door so hard."

Michalina was taken aback by that, she had never heard such a tone from her brother before.

"What are you trying to pull Ryan?"

"What do you mean Michalina?"

The warmth associated whenever he called her 'Sis' was missing and that sent warning bells in her head as she spoke with a frown, "I mean what are doing here, on top of the trailer alone."

"Eating Michalina, I am hungry."

"And where did you get meat from."

"I hunted it from a creature that got too close, so what do you want?"

"You are eating an unknown creature they could be toxic and poisonous, you could die."

"So, people die every day that is nothing new."

Michalina was taken aback by his callous attitude to his own life as she snarled at him, "You will drop that piece of meat and get down from the roof this instance so help me."

Ryan looked at her before giving out a snort as he proceeded to dig into his food only for Micahlina to grab it and throw it away.

Ryan looked at his food as it fell on the ground as the trailer drove away, he starred at it longing he steel felt the pangs of hunger as anger, hatred and sadness welled up his chest he looked up at Michalina before closing his eyes as he spoke, "I see.", with that he stood up and went down the hatch.

The others looked at him with curious eyes but Ryan did not pay any heed to them, he went straight to the workbench and began tinkering with something that they could not make head or tails about except it was a large box with various parts lying about.

Michalina took the plate full of food that Nikita had prepared for him and placed it near Ryan.

It had been a couple of hours since then and Nikita frowned as she watched Ryan had not only touched it but he was busy meditating, "Damn it, he has not eaten anything since yesterday."

"And whose fault is that, Nikita."

"Well, I did not hear you protesting when we all discussed his punishment Nigella."

Michalina frowned at that as she watched trees passing by before she looked as if certain realization had struck her hard, "Shit, I forgot that once time his biological sisters had once tied him up and left him inside a room for a day just for fun and I might have triggered that mental trauma.", she finished with a sheepish smile.

Nikita gawked at her as she spoke, "Michalina you are hopeless, what if he stops eating altogether then what."

Michalina frowned as she spoke, "Of course he would."

Nikita snorted at that as she spoke, "He is stubborn as a bull as such the only way I could see not is if you pry his mouth open and pour the food."

"Tch, troublesome well when he comes out of his meditation we will talk."

It had been a few hours and Ryan had finished making a blueprint for his new vehicle, 'Now the only thing I need it to make it, but unfortunately I do not have a place where I can work safely without any distraction, well this is a rough blueprint and it would be a while before I make the complete one maybe after a couple of more levels I will be easily able to create a vehicle and leave, I gave Michalina chances many times but she blew it all up.'

'Oh well whatever I no longer care about you all, I only became your acquaintance because of my aunt and I have no longer have any problem of not being acquainted with you all, now about my second project.'

"You have to admit that Ryan is an excellent driver."

Angela nodded at Jessica's words as she spoke, "It took us over ten hours to go back and return to the point where Ryan had stopped his trailer if you look it in another way he is a hell of a driver, he covered the distance in just a couple of hours, not to mention the carnage he left behind."

Nigella nodded as she spoke, "Yes, you are correct, I was angry at that time but if he would have driven a bit more carefully I would have been not been so angry with him, the way he drove it made me suffer heart attacks more often than not."

She then looked at Ryan and frowned he had not moved from his position for some time now as he was in deep meditation and that worried her, they had reacted badly and had acting in a way that made them feel guilty, they just hoped Ryan that would be forgiving to them.

A few hours later an angry Michalina growled as she glared at meditating Ryan, the land had been plunged into darkness as night had descended upon them, it had been a while since then and Angela was the one who had prepared the dinner and every one of them were waiting for Ryan to wake up from his meditation.

Michalina was feeling pangs of hunger yet she kept quiet, today she had not only prevented him, brother, from eating but also snatched the food from his mouth, 'I know it was wrong but he could have fallen ill.'

'I feel hungry yet my baby brother did not eat anything since last night, I am the worst sister he could have.'

"Do you think we should wake him up from his meditation, Michalina?"

Michalina sighed as she spoke, "Let us wait for a few more minutes before I will wake him up."

Seeing her upset Jessica gave her a comforting squeeze as she spoke, "Do not worry everything would be fine."

Michalina just gave her a small smile as she looked at her brother when she first met him she was enraged, she thought he was taking her only lifeline in the world, her adopted mother and she lashed out towards him, but slowly and surely Ciara helped her to realize how wrong she was and thus she gained her precious baby, whom she swore to protect with her life and now she hurt him, and that was inexcusable.

Her inner ranting was stopped when he saw Ryan opened his eyes for a moment, she gained a small smile on her face as she stood up from her chair only to be replaced by one of horror.

Ryan opened his eyes before his face morphed into a grimace before it turned blue as he fell from his chair, but before his head could hit the floor Michalina was already cradling him as Nikita stood by her side.

"Put him on the bed."

Jessica quickly prepared the bed as they laid Ryan on top of the bed.

From the looks of it, he was struggling to breathe, as the strange wheezing noise came from his throat, while he was jumping like fish out of water gasping from the air.

"Hold him down, he is moving too much."

"What is happening to him?"

Nikita bit her lips as she spoke, "I do not kno….huh.", her face morphed into confusion as she ran her stethoscope over Ryan's chest for a moment.

"He is upgrading himself again, I will bet my life on it, and for some reasons, his lungs are acting in a rather funny manner.", her brows furrowed as she spoke, "Quickly turn him to the right, Angela bring the waste bin fast."

As soon as Angela brought the bin near Ryan he began to vomit blood that looked more like tar than blood into the bin.

A few minutes later Ryan laid on his back as Nikita gently massaged his chest, he looked a bit more healthy than before, she looked up to Michalina as she spoke, "Mix a couple of spoonful of sugar and a pinch of salt in a glass full of water and bring it to me, it will help him a lot then for food I will fix something when he is well enough."

"How are you feeling now?"

Ryan replied with a wince, "Not good, I feel awful."

Seeing his raspy voice made Nikita frown as Michalina brought the glass to Nikita, who took it before supporting Ryan by placing her hand behind his head, she helped him to drink it.

As the cool concoction touched his lips Ryan felt relieved, he had not eaten or drunk anything for a long time and the getting the sweet substance down his parched throat felt great.

"I will prepare something for you to eat and you will eat that otherwise I will shove it down your throat now rest."

Ryan gave a small nod since the introduction of liquid into his system most of the anger, frustration, disappointment and hatred seemed to be melting away at an incredible speed, 'I like the sweet stuff, hmm, they are not bad, I had missed sweets for such a long time maybe if I play my cards right and manage to wrangle something like this…..hmmm, time to plan.'

As the others moved a bit away from them Michalina spoke with her face full of shame, "Brother I am sorry."

"Your driving style harmed us, frightened us but at the same time it saved us, yet we all forgot that and we punished you unjustly for that I am sorry, I do not know how and when you would be once again be able to forgive me but I will try my best to earn yours at whatever cost it might be."

Ryan just cracked open an eye as he looked at a Michalina who sat with a defeated look on her face as she continued, "The way you drove was remarkable but you did without warning us as such we had to suffer bodily harm not to mention there are objects in this trailer that are lost and when you drove it bounced off from its place and hit us, Jessica was hit by the kettle on her face if it were a bit higher her eyes would have been destroyed."

Ryan wanted to speak but was stopped by Michalina who placed a figure over his lips as she spoke, "Do not speak brother you are tired, hungry and injured, now where was I, oh yes, Ryan mom taught you well extremely well if I were in your place I would have caused an accident, but you should warn us before pulling another such stunt as so that we can be prepared not to get caught up in such a manner."

"Was your punishment needed? Yes, was it excessively cruel? Yes, we went too far with it and caused emotional distress to you so, I once again apologize, now you rest while Nikita brings something for you to eat, and once again thank you for saving our lives."

With that Michalina stood up and left leaving Ryan to ponder on her words as he closed his eyes to rest, normally he was incensed and would have not listened to her at all but the sweet drink worked wondered for him and his anger melted away completely.

As Michalina made her way to the front of the trailer, Jessica who was sitting on the passenger seat spoke with a curious tone in her voice, "So how did the talk go."

Michalina's' shoulder slouched as she spoke in a depressed voice, "I am a monster."

Jessica simply patted her back as she spoke in an amused voice, "There, there, but you were able to convey your message, right?"

"Well I prepared his drink with eight spoonfuls of sugar, hell he will even sell his soul to the devil for sweet and if it comes to worse I will simply wear him down with sweets."

Jessica gawked at her as she spoke with a tired sigh, "You are a monster."