Rook sat, pinching the bridge of his nose. He scowled as he looked through the device he had perched up on his lap.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEi6qgDPA5Y
“Application declined, declined, declined. Why is it so hard to get a job?”337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbX5xSFpDH8
He yelled it across to practically no-one, his head sunk in shame. “This sucks.”337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwLZRPF7mE
He continued browsing through hopeless streams of emails, but one in particular caught his eye. He read its bold title, sliding his mouse over to click it. He began reading.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZQ7sB9PfG
He huffed as he read it, eyes widening. “This can’t be real!”337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIl4n7UJtjO
He slammed a handful of paperwork in his crooked hands down against the floor, continuing to read in a somewhat disbelief.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBWdFb04IJ
As he got further, it made one thing clear; he’d no longer be alone.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSEKQmznIg
Sliding slowly down the wall, he grinned. No longer would he be squatting in a lowly first floor apartment; that was slowly beginning to decay with the wallpaper slowly drooping and the floorboard creaking tiredly. A new start, and what kind of a man would say no after however many years of dodging patrols and living a terrible life? It certainly wouldn’t be Rook that was for sure.
Rook packed his minimal bags, including his rusting and old laptop that he had kept since he was a kid, and followed to the address that had been on his brain the entire day, as if it was written on the palm of his hand. He bashed himself against the door, jarring the hinges that held it upright and causing it to swing open. It lead to a dead quiet cul-de-sac where buildings towered over him, making him look like a spec of dust. Tugging on his luggage, it followed him like a lost dog and did not stray for one second. Sunken eyes scanned the area and the pale skin of the man stepped out into daylight. Most of the buildings surrounding him were in poor condition, rubble dusting the floor for an age; some of it he’d remembered from when the invasion first happened was still there! He took a knee, taking out a water bottle from his tattered backpack, continuing to scout ahead for any danger.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30UJnohjbT
It was calm, almost too calm. That made him hesitant, but he still took a weary step forward, his backward foot stuck to the ground as his knee rotated to place the other one back down.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCta35okvNj
It was a rather large step to be taken in the misty day, the rubble being in treacherous piles of the landscape. Broken cars, almost smashed to rubble made up most of it, and he did wonder why. Perhaps it was logical; The RSR did not want anyone escaping, they wanted everyone on their side, which from some people’s perspective was rather smart. But it wasn’t always the best decision.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSRIfXgR7V
Rook planted his fingers between layers of rubble, dirt and grime coating his fingers as he pushed himself up. Despite having been practically homeless for some time, he still had relatively good core strength and balance due to him working out inside the squat home. He felt sorry for the civilians, mainly; the place they had once called home had been taken over in the space of a year, many of the former residents dead, crippled or dying.337Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbo01bCP3k6
This was what it was like to be on Gliese now, but that weren’t to be said what seemed like eons ago.
Rook struggled up, planting his feet anywhere that he could find, even if it weren’t stable enough. It could not hold his weight forever either, and he knew that when the rubble started to crumble. He eventually found himself nearly at the top of the pile, so he crouched down. He slithered a small blade out of a small holster, pulling himself upright and slipping the bag back on his back as he finally made it to the top of the rubble.
He began clambering down, knife at hand. He jumped off at the bottom, which appeared to be a car and landed in a squatted position, gathering the strength to stand back up as he stood on an old street, looking down onto more houses.
Sudden movement grew attention to Rook, footsteps closing in on him. Rook spun his head around to the direction as the only thing he could muster was suddenly spoken. “Run.”
He ran at full speed away from the incoming patrol, diving into an old abandoned warehouse to his left. It was worn and run-down, probably not used for at least a decade. Moss covered most of the building, but Rook couldn’t care less. He needed to hide, now.
He scoured around the building and found a normal door besides the actual hangar part of it, crouching down as he waiting for the door to open and slid inside.
He tiptoed forward, careful not to make any noise as the door closed behind Rook. “That was close.”
There was yet another set of footsteps however, this time inside the building. Rook drew the knife as the intruder drew closer, taking out his torch. Eventually, the footsteps were just outside his hiding place. He squashed himself against the door behind him.
A vague shadow wandered in, as Rook shone the flashlight into the intruder’s eyes. They let out a high-pitched cry of terror.
“Don’t kill me!” the person hissed. Only now did Rook realise this was a woman, who happened to have brown platted hair that fell in front of her face. She wore a midnight hood and cloak, but the platted part fell over her shoulder so it was visible. Rook kept the knife raised, pushing it against the woman’s throat, almost making her bleed.
“Who are you, what are you doing here?” Rook growled ferociously. He could kill her in seconds if he wanted to, but to his surprise, the woman kicked him right where it hurt.
He now found himself rolling around the floor in pain until the woman placed her foot down on his chest to keep him still. “You might want to stay silent, outcast. You would’ve been far better treating me as a threat rather than an unknown person. Had I’d been one of them, you’d be dead.”
Rook struggled under the fierce boot of the woman, until he finally dragged her down. She hit the floor with a clank, dodging the fallen knife by only a small gap. The woman then moved her foot off him and pulled Rook up. The woman removed their hood now.
Beer strands of hair complimented piercing light blue eyes, watching his every move. “Then why haven’t you killed me yet?”
Rook was unsure about this woman.
