NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: The New Routine
The person about to give the announcement was none other than Indie, now standing on the stage in front of all the new guests, but this time only using a small microphone connected to some speakers to give the news. She adopted an affable attitude, with a more enthusiastic expression instead of her serious, often numb face that she usually shows. As she grabbed the microphone and prepared to speak, a tiny smile formed but faded after a brief second when she saw she had all eyes on her.
–Good morning, everyone. I hope all of you are getting accustomed to the base and find comfort and safety within our walls. If not, I’m here to share some information to guide you through this recovery process and teach you all about the various activities and duties we have to take care of daily…– Indie spoke with a clear, firm, but somewhat mellow voice, looking over everyone in the courtyard to acknowledge their presence and include them in the conversation.
She didn’t have an issue gaining their attention with the power of her voice, but as soon as she began talking, some guests turned a bit more anxious than curious to hear what this announcement was about. This effect created a long, tense silence around the middle of the courtyard, where most of the guests were gathered. And as she pulled out a paper to keep speaking, she noticed the general reaction from the public but didn’t give it a second thought; she just broke the silence with her breath before resuming her speech, now reading from the paper.
–First, I’d like to tell you about the importance of teamwork in our faction. Contrary to what some might say, every person here plays a crucial role and contributes significantly to our never-ending search for survival and peace. From the technicians to the guards to our special forces and medical assistants, every single one of us has something to do in order to keep our faction working properly. We’ve had a rough few months… This war has taken a toll on all of us, even us. But without the common effort of all of us, we certainly wouldn’t be here. We would turn into the monsters that terrorize your villages. We wouldn’t be strong enough to defeat our enemies every day, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to deal with all the tragedy and loss we’ve suffered throughout these dark and long years. That’s why it is essential for each one of us to contribute something, no matter how little it might seem…– Indie added with more spirit or passion, complementing her earnest and inspiring voice, while also emphasizing some keywords to drive her point. The audience started to understand the idea, but as they all seemed a bit unsure of what it all had to do with them, they kept paying attention to her in silence, barely containing their curiosity or concern in some cases. That was until she stopped reading and turned to the audience to talk directly to all of the new faces.
–That’s when you come in. Now that we have you here, we want to provide you with everything you need to continue your lives as normal. We know you have been through a lot recently, but so have we. To survive, we must stay strong together, and work as one to defeat our common enemies. That’s what drives us. It doesn’t matter what is necessary to keep fighting, we always give everything to continue in the battle and ensure we get a chance to one day finally see a bright new era of peace and prosperity. But in order to accomplish that, we have given small pieces of ourselves throughout many years, losing many things in the low points of our lives. There sure have been many of them during this war, and it is also safe to say that there will continue to be losses, but we don’t see that as an excuse to give up. We endure those harsh moments by staying together, and we support each other to persevere and move forward…– Indie followed up, turning up the energy in her tone to encourage the audience, and starting to spark some hope and inspiration in many of the new guests. The courtyard started to burst out in cheers and applause to support the cause, and while Indie seemed proud to achieve such a reaction, she didn’t waste time and continued speaking right away, now going straight to the point.
–We invite you all to be a part of our team… of our family. We would like to be able to help you move forward, but we also expect you to join us on this strenuous journey by helping us in return. Regardless of what you might think of us, even if everyone around you seems like total strangers, we ask you to please collaborate with the people around you to push forward, and move past this dark moment that I’m sure might still be affecting you…– Indie continued to talk directly to the audience, but for a small moment, she looked in Scott’s direction, who got a bit flustered, not only by her stare but mainly by her words. Despite her seemingly talking specifically about him and growing nervous, Scott smiled at the idea of working together with a new family to move past all the tragedy that the war had brought him and those around him. And apparently, all the other guests seemed to relate to and be encouraged by Indie’s words as well, since they started talking to each other enthusiastically and generally showing more support for her speech. But even with the positive sentiment from the audience, Indie had to quiet them down to continue elaborating on her idea of teamwork, now going back to reading from the paper.
–Now that you all hopefully understand where I’m going with this, I will share with you the plan that we have made to include you in our faction and make sure you all play a significant role like the rest of us. What I’m about to read next are some of the roles, or jobs, if you will, that we will assign to you. Keep in mind that these are voluntary. You will all get to choose a job, and we will be flexible, so don’t worry, we won’t ask much of you, yet…– Indie stated in her regular polite and solemn tone, making the audience a bit anxious again, but it wasn’t enough to kill the enthusiasm or feeling of hope that we gave them. While not many seemed too thrilled, Scott was eager to get a job, even though Cookie was weirding him out a little with an overly excited grin on his face.
–Beginning with the less demanding jobs, we have positions for general maintenance, which include barracks cleanup, main courtyard cleanup, storage loader, and storage stocker. For our slightly harder jobs, we have wall rebuilders, inventory accountant assistants, kitchen assistants, supply carriers, mechanic assistants, weaponry stockers, and laundry crew. And for our advanced jobs, we only have positions for guard substitutes and medical assistants, for anyone who is actually qualified for these positions…– Indie announced, and upon hearing all the different jobs that the saviors offered, the guests didn’t seem as excited as they were before. A few people continued to cheer here and there, but for the most part, everyone seemed to be reconsidering their stay at the base. Indie got a bit discouraged to see their change in reaction to the news, but she remained composed and only a bit sterner as she continued speaking.
–We will begin the inscription process right away. Remember to choose any of these positions, or else you will be assigned one of our choosing. Also, if you want to apply for the advanced positions, we will be hosting exams in the central building. Thanks for your attention, you can now resume eating or apply for jobs as soon as I’m done speaking, which is now…– Indie finished her extensive announcement in a slightly bitter and unenthusiastic tone, yet the audience still clapped for a few moments, but only until she walked away and left their sight. As soon as she left, everyone stood up, and in a frenzy, they started running to the soldiers hosting the job inscriptions at the right side of the courtyard, behind the barracks. Still a little perplexed by the information, Scott remained seated, watching everyone else run to get jobs. Seeing this, Cookie lightly tapped his arm to get his attention and pointed at the inscription stand where everyone was gathering.
–Come on, bud. You better get a job now, or else you will be stuck with a horrible one like barracks cleanup. Trust me, you do not want to be stuck cleaning bathrooms here…– Cookie urged playfully while Scott kept thinking about what Indie said. But after listening to Cookie’s warning, he is driven to stand up and head to the inscriptions with a resolved look on his face.
Scott ran to the large crowd that was quickly forming next to the stage, where there were three booths to sign up for jobs. Two long lines have formed leading to the booths, with a very short one in the middle that seemed to be for advanced jobs. Scott joined the first line he found without even checking what it was for, solely based on the length of it, as it looked like everyone wanted to be on the other line. He squeezed his way into the line and began waiting anxiously. Cookie followed him, standing next to the line to be able to talk with him, but as Scott was more focused on checking if he would actually get a job or if he joined too late, he ignored him and began panicking slightly since he was the last one on his line.
–Are you excited to get a job?– Cookie asked casually, being ignored at first, but then getting a frantic nod from Scott, who tried to peek over the people in front to see what jobs were left, though he was shorter than average so, he couldn’t see much.
–I remember when I first had to do silly jobs. I’m so glad I was able to rank up and get out of the base, although I don’t think we will be able to leave anytime soon…– Cookie added more thoughtfully, seemingly reminiscing in his mind, unaware that Scott wasn’t paying attention. However, one thing did seem to stand out for him, as Scott quickly turned around with interest, but at that point, Cookie was already distracted with something else.
–What do you mean by that?– Scott asked curiously, but he then noticed that Cookie was staring at Tricky, who was calling him from the balcony. As soon as he saw her, Cookie ignored everything else and became excited, backing away from the crowd to leave in a hurry, but not before saying one last thing to Scott.
–I’ll tell you later, I gotta go. Remember to choose a good job… Oh, and don’t do anything stupid to get fired!–Cookie advised in a hurry as he started running to the nearest stairs to go to the second floor of the central building. Scott didn’t even get a chance to react; he just watched him run away in confusion. But as the line he was in started moving fast, he quickly turned back to see that the remaining jobs were running out fast. He could only wait and pray that he could get lucky with a decent job, but the thought of it made him anxious. And it was so much so that he started shuddering a little, cowering once again now that he was alone.
When Scott finally made it to the booth, he realized he was in line for the second-tier jobs. He couldn’t go back now; the other booth had closed, so there was no way to choose an easier job. However, unlike everyone else, he seemed pleased to get a more advanced job, although it looked like the only one left was the laundry crew and barracks cleanup. He had very little time to make his decision as the person in front had just signed up, so he only got to make his choice based on the one thing Cookie told him.
Signing up for the laundry crew, the soldier at the booth gave him instructions for where to go and who to follow. Getting out of the line, he had to step into another one with all the laundry volunteers. After a bit of waiting and awkwardly looking around to kill time and not have to talk to anyone else, Scott finally got moving when the rest of the guests had all signed up for jobs. With the entire group gathered, two soldiers led the laundry crew back to the barracks, but instead of going to the rooms where the cleanup group was already starting to work, they headed to the basement through a staircase located at the back of the building.
Crammed with about twenty people, Scott stayed at the back of the line and followed blindly without getting a good idea of where to go. The basement seemed to be very basic, having only one type of room. They kept walking through a couple of hallways of storage rooms until they reached a more open section with laundry stations, each one with their own basket full of dirty clothes, cleaning supplies, and what looked like a conveyor belt connecting all of the stations, going through the back wall and into another part of the base. The laundry crew got to look around the room for a while, but as Scott was at the back of the group, he didn’t get to see much until everyone shifted their attention to one of the soldiers who started speaking.
–Hello everyone, let’s not waste time with introductions. I’m going to be your sort of coach to teach you how to wash clothes properly. Now, it is very important to remember that...– the laundry coach explained briefly, a short, chubby guy in his late twenties. He was uninterested in his job and downright depressed, barely putting any effort into looking at the new volunteers as he began to lecture them about their role and how important it was to smell good. His boredom was reciprocated by the audience, as everything he said fell on deaf ears, especially for Scott.
Without getting a good view of what the coach was trying to point out and explain, Scott was left to imagine what he had to do. But after losing interest quickly, he found himself curious to see some young faces in the crowd. Most of the other volunteers were older, around the same age as the coach, except for a couple of teens who didn’t look like they belonged. Scott’s attention was caught by one in particular, a small teenage girl a little younger than him standing a couple of meters away.
She was staying at the left end of the group, allowing Scott to get a good view of her from behind, or at least her general appearance. He fixated solely on her dark, short hair fixed into two ponytails that he followed with his stare as they moved slightly. Despite the size of her thin body and generic looks from the profile view he had of her, he continued staring and picking up more details as she turned slightly in his direction. She had a small nose and a rather weak chin, but it was her pretty eyes and the cute, awkward smile formed by her tiny lips that seemed to intrigue Scott.
He tried getting a bit closer for a better view, now lowering his eyes to stare at her petite figure. Everyone else was trying not to fall asleep, so he was able to sneak right through the group to get a few feet closer to the girl. But right as she turned in his direction, he stopped staring right before she saw him and pretended to look at the laundry stations behind him. Peeking from the corner of his eye, he waited until the girl turned around to keep approaching, now pretending to get in a better position to listen to the coach, who kept talking about random stuff as he showed how to wash clothes in one of the stations.
The coach only gave a few simple, slightly vague tips about their job, but it was nothing enough to grab people’s attention. But after successfully washing a piece of underwear, he threw it on the conveyor belt, where it slowly made its way to an intersection of all the stations, only for it to be sent somewhere else that no one could see. Despite not understanding fully, it looked like the last step was displayed pretty well and got people’s interest again, except Scott, who was trying to stand right next to the girl as everyone finally began listening closely. With her not noticing, he tried to hide his nervousness and pretended to blend in with the crowd. But right as he was about to make his move, the coach ended the demonstration and signaled for everyone to start working.
–Alright, now that you all saw how it’s done, get to work– the coach announced, causing the group to disband. While everyone walked over to their laundry stations, Scott stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. He looked at the coach in confusion as he walked away, and while it was just a second, he had completely lost sight of the girl.