Tanya hadn't had an alarm clock since the apocalypse started. She'd never used the traditional ones, instead just walking up to that incredibly frustrating iPhone music that she never remembered to change.
But today, alarm or not, she felt like she would have woken up before it went off.
She immediately had an urge to get up and move so she jumped out of bed and slinked out into the flat. Mrs Eceer was lying on the sofa bed on her back, arms down by her sides and head tilted back. It was suspiciously morgue-esque. Tanya didn't have to worry about her being alive though, considering she was snoring loud enough to be mistaken for the bin collection truck.
Tanya smiled and wondered if that's what had woken her up. The drone of the bin collection down the street often had her waking in cold sweats as she realised her over-filled rubbish bin wouldn't be taken unless she stumbled down there to pull it onto the street in time.
She crept to the kitchen and spotted a list in beautiful handwriting.
Ishita.
She picked it up and smiled, looking down the list of when they could eat what. So much of it had been crossed off because of how quickly the fridge and freezer had died. She guessed that the power had died before the heating, as otherwise, maybe more of the food would have been salvageable, chilled from the winter weather.
Opening and closing a couple of cupboards, she realised they were mostly empty. The food must be downstairs. She laid the food plan back down on the way past. It was strange having Ishita's handwriting and stepping over Mrs Eceers' shoes on the way down, but it was nice all the same. Shuffling the cupboard out of the way of the door was painful without screeching its feet across the floor. She moved it just enough that she could wriggle past, sucking in her stomach.
In the light of the staircase, Tanya winced, covering her face with her hand.
The door at the bottom was more propped up than shut. She'd been too tired—
Last night.
Shit.
Tanya remembered Ishita blocking the door behind her.
I really hope Ishita's an early riser.
The street looked empty, basked in the glow of the rising sun. A bird somewhere behind her tittered, and the sun warmed her face. If she closed her eyes she could pretend this was just like before. Although, part of her was glad today wasn't a normal workday. She had no idea what scavenging would entail, but the word reminded her of running across beaches as a kid with a bucket full of stones and shells. Lining them up along the television stand of whatever holiday home was the best part. They always ended up out of line, although by her brother's antics or whatever crustaceans she'd not noticed within, she was never sure.
The sooner the shop was cleared, the sooner they could get out. She sniffed, filling her lungs. The fresh air in her nose was a stark reminder of everything she craved from days inside.
Result.
Tanya could hear movement inside. She rapped on the door with one knuckle and heard the shifting of the bookcase. She'd expected it to be Fahad, with Ishita's condition the night before, but it was Ishita's chocolate brown eyes that met hers as she slipped into the parlour.
"You!" Tanya exclaimed, opening her arms.
Ishita smiled and hugged her. "You," she said back.
Tanya pulled away, holding her by the shoulders. "You look—"
"Terrible?" Ishita laughed. Her hair was greasy and mattered to her forehead and the brown shine of her hair had dulled. It was the kind of hair that had looked black in the dark before but brown in the light. Now when sunlight hit it, it just looked grey. With sunken eyes and bags that could rival Tanya's during her apprenticeship, she would be hard to recognise, even by family.
"No," Tanya said. "You look much better. You're up. You're—" Tanya looked around. "Tidying?"
The tattoo chair was spotless, every spot of blood cleaned to perfection. It looked strange in the wrecked room. The monster corpses were still piled by the kitchen door, although a couple had been shifted to one side for better access.
"I know it isn't much. I tried the bodies but I couldn't lift them. This was the least I could do." Ishita walked around as she spoke, kicking a floorboard back into place and picking up her mug from next to the sofa. She looked like a host whose dinner party guests had turned up too soon.
"No, no," Tanya raked a hand through her hair. "I thought I'd be the first one startin'. You beat me to it."
Tanya walked further in and wiped her hands against each other, studying the room for where to start. Looking at it was daunting, but smelling it wasn't helping. It wasn't anything awful, just that stagnating smell of something sweet going off and spreading through the shop overnight.
She spotted Fahad, swinging his legs and eating spaghetti hoops with his finger clamped on his nose. "It smells," Fahad insisted.
"I told you babu, it must be the monsters, but I can't smell it," Ishita said.
Tanya studied the pile, thinking of the best way to carry them out. They had a sloshiness to them and if it was like their blood, it would eat through their clothes and burn their skin if they touched it.
"I can smell it bud," Tanya said over her shoulder. "It's not the nicest, but we'll have 'em out of here in no time."
Ishita looked between them, eyes settling on Fahad powering through his spaghetti hoops with difficulty. "I have a good sense of smell. Are you sure it's that strong?"
"Did you pick Concentration when you… you know?" Tanya asked, sucking the inside of her cheeks as she remembered Fahad was there.
"I didn't choose at all," she murmured, her eyes glazing over as she checked her Interface. "Yes, you're right," she said briskly, before slipping past Tanya, getting a cloth, and scrubbing the floor like her life depended on it.
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"Huh?" Fahad said.
"Nothin' worth worrying about," Tanya said
Fahad narrowed his eyes, "Uh huh," he said suspiciously.
Being back in the parlour again brought it all back—the fighting, Ishita's arm, and most importantly, the level-ups.
She'd not had a chance to decide before the monsters busted in, and the feeling of them pulsing in the back of her head was exhilarating.
Monster bodies first.
She needed these moved quickly and she wasn't sure how to yet.
Once they're gone and I'm scrubbin', it'll need less brain power.
If Tanya had been alone, she'd have let herself squeal, but surrounded by the others she just grinned like a silly person.
Before starting, Tanya stared down at her hand tattoo. If Assistant wanted to be present for all tattoo parlour work, then she'd try to remember. It shifted from side to side, surveying the room. Then, seeing how little had been done, it staggered across her arm and clamped onto her shoulder. It felt like a hug.
"Time to bag some monsters," Tanya said. Assistant stamped once enthusiastically.
Tanya settled on bin bags for moving the monsters, double-gloving her hands and Assistant's before she started. She tried shoving one using a plank, then scooping it inside by positioning the bag just right. Doing it like making a bed worked best. She turned the bag inside out with her hands holding the inside corners like a duvet and gripped the monster, before lifting it in one hand and pulling the bag down until it was covering most of it. Assistant pulled down the far side or held up the top when she needed a break from the weight. She huffed and puffed the whole way through, blowing stray hairs off her face.
• • •
Alert!
Through your efforts, you have increased the following Attribute:
Strength +1
• • •
Tanya pushed the notifications away before they tempted her further.
"Well, that's a silver lining," Tanya said, more to herself. "Just got a Strength for doing this."
"Really?!" Fahad exclaimed, jumping up. "Mum, pretty pretty please." He held his hand in a prayer position and crouched, shuffling towards her on the floor.
She laughed. "Okay, as long as you stay inside."
Fahad dashed over, rolling his sleeves up and hiding the disgust on his face. "Mum never lets me train! I want to be big and strong and have huuuuge Attributes."
Ishita raised an eyebrow at him, pausing her onslaught on a particularly gnarly black stain near the sofa from the original snake tattoo. "That's not true babu—you can train however you like, just no—"
"Fighting or going outside. I know, Mum." He turned to Tanya. "I can do like fifty push-ups now. It stopped giving me Strength so quickly though."
"I think it wants a range. Kinda like how Dexterity is drawing and running and balancing on a tightrope."
Fahad's face lit up. "So I just need to find every single way each of them could mean and tick them off?"
Tanya bagged another monster, well, half a monster. They were coming off in pieces from her touch like a really messed up tenderloin steak, so in each bag she'd get a couple of limbs or a torso, the rest splashing to her feet. She grimaced and shrugged. "I guess that's one way of doin' it."
She didn't want to hype him up more than he already was, but that was a damn good idea and she wished she'd thought of it.
Dumping the bag to one side, she sighed, wiping her forehead with her arm. Skin peeked through the newly expanding holes and her palms stung. She'd need a new set already.
"Lifting these has to be Strength, maybe some Dexterity too if you're lucky. Maybe Will if you push for long enough," Tanya wondered aloud.
"Woahhh, I could get three from just this." He bowed his head and held out both hands. "Teach me your ways."
Tanya snapped three pairs of rubber gloves over each of his outstretched hands, then dug a bobble out of her cupboard to stop them gaping so much at his wrist.
Assistant offered Fahad a high five and he accepted. Then he stared down at the black goop Assistant had smeared on his gloved hand and laughed. "Ewwww."
"Never touch them without protection, yeah?" Tanya said.
He nodded, expression determined. "Right!"
Tanya saw Ishita smiling over his head as she went to clean the cloth. She had no idea how Ishita was coping with all this. It was bad enough on her own, never mind with a small child.
"Tanya!" Fahad said.
"Huh?" Tanya looked back down.
Fahad groaned, but he was smiling. "I said, how do you bag the goop?"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Lemme show ya."
Tanya talked him through it step by step, and eventually, they found an even more efficient method. Fahad would coat his arms in multiple layers of bin bag and shovel them into the bag Tanya and Assistant were spreading open. It halved their time, and soon the pile of monsters were lines of bin bags and a pile of black slop that was too liquid for them to pick up.
Not that it stopped Fahad from trying.
"No—I can do it," he said, scooping the black liquid up with the bag wrapped around his fingers. Every new scoop had more of the previous liquid trickling down the outside.
"We can do that with cloths an' stuff instead."
"But what if this gets me Dexterity?" he breathed. He looked hilarious there. His hair was standing on end, spikey with sweat, and he stared at her in excitement whilst cupping the strange black liquid in his hands.
Tanya snorted. "Don't think so bud."
"Why won't this come out!" Ishita exclaimed from the other side of the room.
Fahad snickered. "Same reason as last time you asked, and the time before, and the time before that—"
"I got it, Fahad," Ishita replied.
Tanya leant in and whispered, "Ooooh. Full name this time."
He grinned. "Shuddup."
Tanya pulled off her gloves, tossing them into an open bag. "If you're determined to shovel, at least use somethin' better than your hands." Tanya grabbed a chipped bowl from the kitchen and passed it to him.
"Awesome," he said. "I'll get Dexterity in no time—you'll see!"
Assistant stayed to join, grabbing his own shovel—a plastic takeaway container.
Mrs Eceer entered, yawning.
Tanya hadn't bothered to put the bookshelf back properly this time. With the three of them all awake in here, and the street still empty, Tanya had used this as an opportunity to crack the door and try and let some more smell out.
"Morning sleepy head!" Fahad called. He giggled, clearly hyper.
Mrs Eceer's eyebrow twitched. "You should have woken me."
"Nonsense," Tanya replied.
"You were up so late reading through all the new information," Ishita added.
"Hm," came Mrs Eceer's standard reply.
Tanya checked her Attribute haul, flopping onto the sofa for a break.
• • •
Attributes
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 24
Vitality: 18
Concentration: 14
Will: 21
• • •
Two Strength so far today. Not bad.
She couldn't help herself, scrolling back up to look at the words she'd been so excited to see—combining Abilities.
Grab a cloth and get scrubbin'—I want to look at these now!
Ishita was scrubbing by Tanya's feet. She noticed as she stood up. "If you're gonna try and get an impossible stain out, you may as well level your new hand whilst you do it," Tanya said.
Ishita groaned. "It just doesn't do what I want it to."
"That's what practice is for," Tanya said, trying to sound encouraging rather than patronising.
Ishita huffed and the hand fell from her shoulder. She held her wrist up to catch it mid-fall. It pulled itself to the end like a magnet.
"Neat trick," Tanya said.
It was stranger in daylight. The hand itself looked almost like a galaxy pattern if you looked closely, except grey rather than black. It was semi-translucent and you could just about see the wrist through it when the light hit right. The henna was the darkest part—opaque and black rather than brown. It created a strange effect alongside the transparency, allowing for hazy shapes from the palm's henna to be seen through the skin itself.
"Hand's back! Hand's back!" Fahad yelled. Assistant stamped its fingers in time.
"Volume lower," Mrs Eceer said as she walked past, sitting on the tattoo chair with a mug.
"Sorry Mrs Eceer," Fahad replied, in a sing-song voice.
Tanya grinned and leant into Ishita again, eyes flicking over to Fahad "At least one of you likes the new hand."
Ishita's mouth opened and closed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—"
"Nah, I'd hate it too."
Ishita relaxed. She flashed a forced smile and passed the cloth from her human hand over to her tattoo hand.
Her interface was still open, the level-ups tempting her as they danced on the edges of her vision.
Mnemonic Etching caught her eye.
She sighed. Level-ups would have to wait a moment longer.
"Actually, maybe there's somethin' I can do to help."
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