[right][color=lightgreen]Monday, June 1[sup]st[/sup], 2111[/color][/right][color=wheat]
	It was a gloomy and depressing morning full of dark clouds that slowly tumbled across the pale sky of the breaking dawn. Grass and ferns glistening with the early morning dew bent beneath the quiet force of a frigid breeze. Eli stood, a dark silhouette against his window looking out into the once bustling suburbs of Federal Way. He only saw the tall, thick jungle growing out there. He looked out at the towering, twisting trees with canopies so thick entire sections were devoid of light. Trees with mile long vines dangling and snaking through their limbs. Trees with trunks that burst through buildings indiscriminately, ripping apart the once hard earned livelihoods of a race that seemed bordered on the precipice of extinction. It was all wrong.

	The chill breeze whispered through his open window and ran its icy fingers across his skin, making Eli shiver. Overhead the clouds rumbled thunderously loud. Eli jumped, his mind immediately recalling similar sounds he'd experienced during his previous life. His clenched hands relaxed with a soft whir, but they still shook softly. He took a deep breath, and retrieved a cigarette from his nightstand. He could hear the sounds of movement down below—That would be Aiyana making breakfast. His stomach rumbled, as if to emphasize his thoughts and Eli finished dressing quickly. Gear and boots in hand, Eli strode down the stairs to greet the older of his two sisters. No doubt Joanna was still fighting off the last vestiges of sleep by refusing to get up. As he passed by Jo's door, Eli slammed his boots against it without stopping. He was satisfied with a series of grunts and the sounds of shit falling from her nightstand.

	"Fucking Asshole!" She shouted, but Eli only smiled fondly.

	Eli stopped against the threshold to the kitchen on the ground floor. It wasn't much, they had the basic amenities with the added bonus of peeling wallpaper and grime building up just about everywhere. This house had needed a few good days of restoration long before the apocalypse had ever hit. Still, it was home, and being greeted by the smiling face of his sister in the morning is all that Eli really hoped for. Keeping them safe had been his only priority for a short period of time, though back then everyday felt like an entire year of struggling to live. He could still remember how scared they both were. Aiyana had been worse, but then Jo had always been a strong willed gal.

	"I almost pissed the bed you fucking pencil-dicked mother fucker," Joanna muttered angrily, stomping past Eli into the kitchen. Eli chuckled at her, she'd always had a colorful vocabulary ever since she had hit puberty.

	"Good morning Jo.. oh, and you too Elly!" Aiyana chirped, scuttling around the kitchen with all the visage of a proper housewife.

	Eli returned the greeting as he plopped into an uneven chair to lace up his boots. A delicious smell wafted across his nose, making his mouth water. Even with the rations, Ai had always managed to brew up something mouth wateringly delicious. Jo often joked you could give Aiyana a can of dog food and she'd hand back a gourmet cut of meat. Being the college dorm chef he was, Eli could really only make out the scents of what were probably canned oranges and the undertones of eggs. Aiyana had found someone here in Refuge with chickens, and Eli helped her scrounge up valuables to trade. Though, she aspired to buy one of the chickens herself someday.

	"What.. No bacon?" Jo scoffed.

	Aiyana flashed her pretty smile over her shoulder, "Don't be picky Jo-jo," she admonished. 

	Eli, the pseudo-father of this little family, chuckled as Joanna let out a string of discontent grumbles. Another body stumbled into the room, eyes dark from lack of sleep and a hand running through his unkempt, scruffy hair. They all voiced another round of greetings has the fourth member of their household took a seat. His name was Eugene Sullivan, and he was a Lieutenant under Elijah's command. Elijah coughed politely, pointing towards Sullivan's neck. The other man returned a curious look as his hand fumbled around his collar, before he found what Eli was hinting at. Joanna immediately exploded into a cacophony of snorts and cackles, which only served to grab Aiyana's attention, who turned the exact shade of a freshly picked tomato.

	"I ah..uh..  ...uh.." Sully stammered, pulling the wrinkled pink garment over his head—He had been wearing it like a necklace.

	"I always knew you were into some weird shit," Eli said with a shrug, inciting another round of cackling from Joanna.

	Aiyana said nothing, but Eli could see her tensed shoulders as she quivered with embarrassment. They thought it was a secret, and maybe it had been from Joanna, but Eli was too well trained to let something like that slip by. He'd known Sully was sneaking into Aiyana's room at night, and he didn't mind really. Sully was a good guy, he had a level head and a fierce sense of loyalty. He was a fine match for her, Aiyanna needed a strong column of support to lean on. Eli glanced towards the sniggering mess that was Joanna. As for her.. well, Eli wasn't sure what she needed. She'd probably need somebody who could take a few rather strong hits.. and maybe a lamp. Eli snapped out of his parental thoughts and noticed Sully was still trying to stammer out an explanation, while slowly making his way out of the room. Eli just chuckled, cracked a joke about a shotgun wedding (Which had particular support from Joanna), and turned towards the freshly delivered plate of food from the still red-faced Aiyanna.

	She stopped next to him, noticing the backpack at his feet. "Going out today?" She asked. The mood turned immediately somber, and even Joanna cast a particular look towards her brother, and apparent future brother-in-law. 

	"Yea.. Brass wants us to go out towards The Commons," Eli explained, shoveling a bite of eggs and some ground up mystery meat into his mouth.

	"The Commons.." Aiyanna paused, tapping her chin in thought, "Oh! ..oh.. that's kind of far isn't it? Down by the freeway right?"

	"Federal Way," Sully explained. Eli noticed he'd disposed of the underwear somewhere, "Mayor Guzman and the V.P. are worried about how little supplies the scavs are finding out here. They want us to go further out." The V.P. was actually the Head of Military Affairs, but he was also the second most powerful member of Refuge's government, thus the nickname V.P—Shorthand for Vice President.

	"Tsk," Jo voiced, "Why not use the boats and go across the water?"

	"We tried that," Sully continued, "But some of the mariners are expecting too hefty of a price for using their boats."
	
	"So just take them," Jo said simply, as if it were that easy.

	"We could, but we have a fragile society as it is, and we depend on the fish they bring in. This isn't a dictatorship."

	Jo only harrumphed in reply, but Eli nodded. The boy, as Eli thought of him despite only being a few years younger, would make a fine Captain someday. He had a very level-head indeed. Breakfast wrapped up with some small talk about their days, and coming events. Eli's sisters weren't looking forward to having the house to themselves for the next few days, if everything went to plan. Elijah and Sully would be putting together a squad to escort a team of scavengers and three trucks. It wasn't going to be easy out there, and Eli was already compiling a mental list for the things they would need.

	Aiyana collected the plates, and kissed Elijah on the cheek goodbye as he shouldered his pack. He couldn't help but notice that Sullivan got a rather intimate goodbye, and a few whispered words that made him grin. It was surprising how far Aiyana had come, Refuge really made her feel safe and Eli was glad she had Sully. Deep inside however, he dreaded the day either one of them didn't come home. Sully clapped Eli's shoulder and nodded towards the road with a goofy grin. Eli returned the gesture and together they set off towards the command center.


	[center][h3]• Later •[/h3][/center]


	Eli stood bent over a desk, his eyes fixed on a scattering of dossiers as he lit yet another cigarette. He knew he should quit, but this world was likely to get him long before the drawbacks of smoking did. Sully was at his own desk, tapping away on a roughly pieced together terminal jacked into the private network. Refuge was an amazing place, especially for the short amount of time they had to come together and secure their community. They must have had hundreds of hands helping, which only increased his respect for Mayor Guzman's leading power. Though they didn't see eye-to-eye at times. Guzman was a fine leader, friendly and affable but with a sharp mind that was apt for leading a settlement. It was an incredibly fine balance she had to manage and Elijah was not envious of her in the least. Sully had once joked during a night of drinking that Eli would make a good leader for Refuge too, but Elijah didn't share the same sentiments.

	"So, this is what I've got," Eli muttered to himself. Sully was used to this however, and could pick up Elijah's murmurs from across the room where he sat.

	"Not looking good Boss?"

	"Eh.." Elijah started, retrieving his mental list, "There are some fine people here. It's going to be hard to keep them all safe."

	"Why not pull some enforcers?" Sully asked, using the slang term for Refuge's Law Enforcement.

	"That's the best choice. We still need mechanics in the case the trucks break down. We also need a team to move rubble and cut away the undergrowth from our path, I'm sure the roads are particularly bad seeing as these this jungle bullshit seems to regrow in a matter of days. I also heard one of our brains wants to come along."

	"Ah," Sully chuckled, "Glad to see science is still prevalent in this world."

	Eli shot him a look, "That's a big word for you Sully."

	They both chuckled for a moment, before Elijah paused to tap the papers and puff on his cig. "Then we still have the scavs themselves," He said, exhaling a thin, wispy cloud of smoke.

	"How many?"

	"I'm not sure yet. I don't want idle hands so I'll likely separate us into two, maybe three groups once we get there.. with the scavs managing the whole operation."
	
	"Taking orders from a scav?" Sully exclaimed sarcastically, "My, how the mighty have fallen Eli."

	"They know their shit," Eli explained, "I'm just there to shoot the bad guys."

	"It's a crazy world, ain't it boss?" Sully sighed as he leaned back and laced his hands behind his head, "Ya'know the other day I saw a chick with two heads? Kinda weird but she had a fine ass."

	Eli gave him a stern look, to which Sully put his hands up defensively, "Hey man, look don't touch that's my policy.." Eli let the look linger a little longer before laughing.

	"If you hurt my sister I may just leave you out there one day."
	
	"I know man. I won't, we already talked about it. She's cool with my [i]'Wandering Eyes'[/i] as she says."
	
	Eli quirked an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

[center][h3]• Later •[/h3][/center]

	It was the middle of the morning now, and Eli was standing outside the Command Center. Before him stretched a decently sized parking lot. Three large [url=http://imgur.com/R02N0Vm]trucks[/url] were lined up before him, resembling the old style canvas trucks but they were fitted with large metal cages instead to protect passengers. Additionally, those cages protected whatever goods they would bring back. Currently there was only a wide array of empty boxes strapped into the last two, everything from metal to wood and in plenty of sizes and shapes. The first truck was for the crew. Elijah had also requisitioned a truck for the clearing crew with a raised roof and open side so they could get in and out easily, but still have some moderate protection. Finally, there were two [url=http://imgur.com/3XPSZMK]humvees[/url] positioned at the front and back of the column, with the front one having a mounted gun. All in all Elijah had gathered some serious hardware, which Mayor Guzman and the V.P. weren't too happy about.

	Currently, he was watching a team of basic laborers load up the equipment they'd be needing into the side-storage of the trucks. Food, camping gear, spare ammunition, and a whole host of other items Elijah forsaw the slight, possible need for. This was going to be the farthest he'd ever taken a team of civilians, and the whole ordeal was giving him a bad case of anxiety. He'd been down that way before, but that was with a squad of trained operatives. This situation now.. well, he was more than uncomfortable with it to say the least. But Refuge needed supplies, people had to eat and stay warm. It was June but instead of warm summer rays, they were getting cold autumn winds. Brass was predicting that they couldn't expect the weather patterns to remain the same, and that it was getting colder as the days wore on. Just more items Elijah needed to acquire. He looked over to the front of the Command Center where he had set up a table with an array of warm clothes for the workers, including a spare set for each person.

	There were a lot of eyes on this operation, and all of them were looking at him. Worse than that, everybody knew about it. Information had been leaked to the public about what they were planning. If they failed, there could be some civil unrest. Which was dangerous. Tipping the balance of the social structure would only end with lost lives, and probably a change in power. Refuge could easily become something far worse, under the regime of some cruel dictator and his lackeys. Elijah would probably die trying to prevent that. Refuge was home now, it seemed like the only real safe place left. He didn't know if Aiyana could handle being out there again—The memories of those days soured his mood.

	The loaders were nearing completion. He was just waiting to see who would show up. Refuge didn't like to force people to do things, but the pay for this operation was going to be substantial. Hell, the incentive pay was enough to live off of for a week at least, maybe two if they budgeted. There were a lot of meal tickets being thrown around. There was a crowd gathered already, though they were being kept out of the way by Enforcers. Some wanted to watch the whole setup, others were nearby in hopes that they would need extra hands. Which they were probably going to, Elijah already had some tickets allocated to pull people off the street as temp scavs if they needed to. 

	His mind flashed back to the pile of dossiers, all those pictures of ragged, worn faces, and some lengthy descriptions about their lives and skills. He'd hand picked a few of them, Sully the others, and even the V.P. had thrown in his recommendation. Now, how many would show up for what could very well be a suicide mission?[/color]