[i][b]Edward Vates – 8 Months Ago[/b]
Where was he? Why had he been walking here? How long had he been walking for? Vates’ mind was dazed and it was only due to Janus that he began to regain conscious. [b]“Edward! Edward! Listen to me! You need to focus! You’re leading us into a trap!”[/b] pleaded Janus from within Vates mind, his voice barely piercing the dull hum that clouded Vates hearing. The voice shocked Vates, causing his eyes to open wider and his blood to pump faster. Suddenly he began to become aware of his surroundings and the voice from inside his head for once was not the biggest issue. He stood in the centre of a courtyard boxed in by derelict buildings, their walls barely visible underneath a coat of flora. As he took a step he felt an unpleasant damp and squidgy sensation and realised he was standing on a patch of mold. Quickly he stumbled onto a clear section of stone floor and continued to look about his surroundings as his mind came back to him. 

“What’s happening?” Vates asked his kage out loud. He had been doing his best to ignore Janus – to pretend he didn’t exist – but now he had no option. 
[b]“A conduit is nearby. There is something about this fungus. The scent it is giving off lured you here. As it did many others…”[/b] As those last words were spoken Vates involuntarily turned (at Janus’ will) to see odd pieces of bones among a patch of mold. As Vates looked upon the bones his vision distorted, for a moment it was like heat distortion, but then a flash and a vision:

[indent]The courtyard was dull and bare save for a few puddles. The buildings were in disrepair but there was no flora, no mold. All was quiet for a moment save the small echo of running feet. A young girl no older than twenty emerged from one of the buildings in a hurry, but tripped as she ran through a puddle, slipping on the wet mud beneath. Her landing was made worse by her upper body slamming onto the stone path. She winced in pain and rolled over to see her pursuer emerge from the same door. A tall slim man, made heavy from the draping of moss that hung off of him. His pale face was free of obstruction and housed yellow eyes and a sharp toothed smile. The young girl fumbled desperately at her holster for her pistol but it was in vain. The conduit before her lunged forward into a crouch, placing both his hands palm down into the puddle. As he did so the water turned dark and corrupted, and quickly was engulfed in mold, sweeping towards and over the girl like a wave. She struggled as the mold spread onto her skin, her body beginning to thrash around in short bursts until eventually going limp. Her eyes and mouth slowly filled with fungus as the corruption continued. The conduit laughed uncontrollably at the devouring of the soul.[/indent]

As Vates re-entered his own present he shook his head and took a moment to allow his eyes to readjust. By this point Vates and Janus had only experienced a few visions, and ones like this they called a tear; it was not forced, but rather found, and witnessed involuntarily. “What do I do?” asked Vates inwardly, suddenly more aware that someone may be watching or listening. 

[b]“Run.”[/b][/i]

---
[b]Edward Vates – Present Time[/b]
Vates was in an old school with two men, Marvin and Jeff, whom he believed were part of the group from the Market. “My name’s Monroe. I’m with a group of five others who are back at our camp. I’m not a host and I’m not hostile. Can we talk?” Vates put on the façade of a desperate survivor in the hopes the men would try to recruit him. “I have food and pills in my bag you can have too”

Jeff and Marvin shared a glanced before nodding at one and other. “Let’s see what you’ve got,” said Marvin cautiously, “just erm… take it off slowly, place it down and slide it over.”

Vates did as he was told. Jeff tilted his head in disbelief, “Most people are smart enough not to give away their food. What’s to say we won’t just kill you?”

Vates shrugged, “There’s not much I could do to stop you. I thought you’d eventually find me lurking around anyway. To be honest I’m just glad to see some more human faces – you don’t look like conduits.” In reality Vates knew that there was no ‘look’ to a conduit, and he knew that neither of the men before him were conduits anyway. This was a risky strategy for him to play but he needed information. Many would have attacked the men, threatened them or even tortured them for information, but Vates knew better; not only were such measures immoral, but were ineffective and thus unnecessary. Better to build rapport and trust.

Jeff nodded in response, his own fear of conduits reflected in his eyes. Marvin stopped his search of the bag and looked up at Vates “So Monroe? You said you were with a group of people. There’s no one waiting around is there?” 

“No. As I said, they’re all back at our camp. We’ve taken up in a sewer a few blocks over; it’s a closed one so we don’t have to worry about other sewer dwellers stumbling across us.” Vates tailed off providing as much false detail as he could, knowing that it made the lie all the more believable. He had never been one to struggle with remembering such things. “What about yourselves?” 

“What about us?” Jeff retorted. 

“How are you guys surviving?” asked Vates, doing his best to use an open ended question – such questions yielded more answers than yes/no questions. 
Marvin looked over to Jeff and made a motion with his hand, signalling Jeff to lower his weapon. “I think we can trust him; if he wanted to get a jump on us he wouldn’t have announced himself. There’s a whole gang of us, we’re held up at the Market down the road. We’re out looking for gear and survivors.” said Marvin with a smile. 

Vates did his best to look surprised and hopeful, “You’re looking for survivors? To help them?”

“Yeah. Chief (our leader) wants us to bring to him what survivors we find” replied Jeff. There was a pause for a moment, then Jeff cleared his throat and continued “You don’t happen to have come across a man named Vates have you?” 

Vates couldn’t help but find the question amusing and he struggled to fight off a smile, rubbing his face to hide it just in case. “Name rings a bell actually. Why do you ask?”
Marvin struggled to read the man before him, his response was surprising. “He’s a dangerous guy, got a conduit. Chief has given us ordered to kill the bastard at any costs. If you know where he is you’d be helping us out.”

Vates mind rushed with possible replies before settling on Janus’ least favourite “I think you’re after the guy living over in the Heights District.” It was a risky move, but then again the associated risks were more manageable. If nothing else the information brought him trust. More importantly it meant what forces ‘Chief’ had would be focused in one area that Vates knew well, rather than scuttling around all over the place. 

[b][i]"I had to pick you. The one who tells the bad guys where we live. The one who likes to jump out of a 18th floor windows."[/b][/i]

Jeff laughed in excitement, “Well then mate! I think you’ve more than earned yourself and your friends a place with us!”

“No.” came Marvin quickly, “He’s helped us out Jeff, we could at least do the same for him. You don’t want to cross us Monroe. Chiefs a nasty guy and a conduit, anyone we bring him he kills to make himself stronger or whatever it is they do. Do yourself a favour: take your friends and get away from here.”