"See you later, Zero. Bye Zane," Carol said as she walked towards the train station in the east of the island, her bag slung over her shoulder. In the distance, she could see the city and the bridge that connected the island.

"See you! I'll pick you up later".

"Yep! See you! And good luck, Zane!" waved Carol to both of them.

"Thanks! I'll do my best!" he called after her with a raised thumb.

"Aren't you a bit early, Zero?" Zane asked when Carol had disappeared from their sight. "You don't have to go to the Academy so early."

"Yeah right, because of the exam most of the classes are cancelled, so I'll use the time until then for some, uh ... errands."

"Aha ..." Zane knew what Zero meant, it was something that some in the city who knew about it despised him for. Ben and the city government also knew about Zero's 'errands', after all he passed through the monitored checkpoints. But since there had been no problems so far, he was allowed to go.

Zane wasn't exactly thrilled either, but he respected Zero and decided not to discuss the matter any further.

"Ok, see you later Zero! And thanks again for the breakfast," he said goodbye and turned towards the academy, which was located in the northwest of the island.

"Good luck! Asagi and I will cheer for you!"

"Thanks! Don't be late!" he called to him while Zane started to run.

"That's your job. I'm never late. "Zero laughed and waved after Zane.

Zane ran towards the Academy with a mixture of joy and nervousness. Today was the day of the final exam. Today was the day he would get closer to his dream.

Soon he would be like the heroes who ended the war 22 years ago.

Soon he would be able to protect everyone.

A smile crept across Zane's face at the thought.

It was a childish dream, yes, Zane knew that, but he didn't care. No matter how much he was teased and ridiculed for his dream, nothing stopped him. On the contrary, it only motivated him more and today was the day he could show everyone that his efforts had not been in vain.

Zane ran through the streets full of energy, it was early in the morning, so there were many others on the streets next to him. Mothers taking their children to school, clerks on their way to the office, and merchants delivering their parcels. Ghosts, little ghostly creatures, flew through the streets as Zane passed shop windows and advertising holograms.

But one group made it clear that the world was far from peaceful. Soldiers patrolled the city.

You would think that policemen would be keeping the streets safe, but not on Nykara, and especially not in a peripheral city like Halsion, which was the last major city before the Red Zone.

Redzones were one of three general classifications for areas on Nykara.

Bluezones described safe areas, they were usually highly technological and had the necessary infrastructure. Due to the high level of security and comfort they offered, most people on Nykara lived in such areas.

These were followed by Yellowzones, which were mostly sparsely populated and marked by fighting. While most of the walls in the Bluezones were left over from the Second Outbreak, the walls in the Yellowzones were mostly the result of those battles. Another effect of the fighting was that outside of cities such as Halsion, only the most basic infrastructure was available, and the buildings tended to have more practical backgrounds. They were mostly cheap and kept rather low, in contrast to the kilometer-high skyscrapers you would find in some Bluezones.

Finally, there were the Redzones, which made up the vast majority of the zones on Nykara. These were areas of unexplored wilderness where monsters still roamed, and where the occasional remnant of a city from the Second Outbreak could be found. Many adventurers and explorers were drawn to the Red Zones in search of adventure and knowledge. The Redzones were also of interest to governments for reasons of expansion.

Halsion was located in a Yellow Zone and therefore had only a small police presence, but a relatively large military presence. In the cities deeper in the Bluezones, the police took care of law and order within the city, while the military took care of external defense. In general, however, the police on Nykara played a rather subordinate role compared to all the regular military and private military contractors (PMCs) present.

The reason for the military taking over most of the security in the Yellow Zones was the increased risk of attack from local flora and fauna, as well as from other parties. But the situation in the Bluezones was also tense; the factional fighting had never really stopped, and Nykara was their new battleground. Even if they were only minor skirmishes compared to the Colonial War or the Second Outbreak.

Even before the Second Outbreak, the factions had been fighting for control of the planet, its resources and its secrets.

The fear of a third outbreak was omnipresent.

Zane walked past one of the holographic bulletin boards that took up an entire wall of a house. It reported on the latest military developments in New Horizon.

New Horizon was the largest city and the first colony founded on Nykara. Most of the other cities were separated by the Red Zones, so most of the battles were fought in the Yellow Zones on the edge of the area. Unlike New Horizon. It was one of the few cities where the factions clashed directly, and the battles for control never seemed to end.

Reading the report, Zane realized once again that he too would soon be fighting in the battles that raged everywhere. His goal to join the military mages would lead him to the front sooner or later. But Zane didn't want to fight for the sake of fighting.

What Zane wanted was to protect the humans. As he had once been protected.

Determined to achieve his goal, Zane clasped his hands together and turned back towards the Academy.

 

⬢

 

It was 8:23 when Zero passed through Gate Two on the south side of the outer wall and was registered by the surveillance systems. As in every city on Nykara, every entrance to Halsion was monitored. The threat of spies, saboteurs, terrorists or monsters in human form was omnipresent, and so the people had become accustomed to the constant surveillance.

The Gate itself was a massive structure within the walls, actually nothing more than a block that acted as a passageway. Between the city and the gate was another wall with a gate, dotted with watchtowers, but much smaller than the massive walls that surrounded the city. The space between the walls was empty, with only the road running through it, so the towers had a clear view of all vehicles and could open fire immediately if necessary.

The main gate itself could be barricaded with several heavy armored doors, which were regularly closed at night to keep the fauna of the area out of the city. It also acted as a control station, checking all vehicles and people entering and leaving the city. To this end, the ceiling of the gate was fitted with sensors and other detection devices that x-rayed vehicles.

Zero passed through the gate without a problem, the guards were used to him driving his pickup into the outskirts of the city. At first Zero had to explain exactly what he was doing there, but by now it was known and the soldiers simply waved him through after a quick scan of his pickup.

The buildings along the road were shabby and some were in such bad shape that they should be torn down before they collapsed and buried someone. The reason no one bothered with demolition or possible repairs was that no one lived on the outskirts. They were originally built with the intention of one day building a third ring wall around the city.

However, for various reasons the plans have been put on hold, and as a result the residents have left the outskirts to live under the protection of the inner walls. As a result, only a few, mostly merchants who used the cheap warehouses, came to the outskirts and let the other buildings fall into disrepair.

Zero, on the other hand, was a frequent visitor to the outskirts. His black pickup bumped along the dirt road. Any other vehicle would have simply compensated for the bumps with the stability function of the levitation drive, but not Zero's car. His pickup still had wheels. It wasn't uncommon to still have wheels, but they were usually used in vans that had to carry heavy loads, so a suspension drive wasn't cost-effective for them. However, small private vehicles with wheels were rare, being a more practical piece of equipment used mainly by the military or adventurers.

Zero turned into a side street and the pickup came to a halt at the side of the road. As Zero got out and walked to the right rear door of his car, he realized he was being watched.

A little girl rounded the corner from behind the wall of the next house. Her clothes worn and her skin covered in scratches and dirt, she held on to the ramshackle wall of the house as if to see who it was that had got lost on the outskirts of the city. In the slums of the big cities she would be mistaken for a homeless orphan, but something set her apart from the ordinary orphans, her unnatural red eyes.

Zero, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind being watched by a little girl in an officially uninhabited suburb. Zero opened the back door to reveal several paper bags of groceries on the back seat. He took out one of the bags and turned to the girl watching him, waving at her.

The little girl nodded, smiling, and looked back down the alley from which she had looked out. As if the little girl had given an order, more little girls suddenly came out of the alley and rushed towards Zero.

"It's Zero."

"Yay, Zero is here."

"Hi there!"

"Zero."

The lively group greeted him with smiles and Zero greeted them with a smile.

"How are you?" He asked as he took rolls out of his bag and gave them to the little ones, who accepted them happily.

Zero often visited the little ones because no one else cared for them. They were orphans, but Zero didn't know if they had been abandoned, or if their parents had died, or if they were even living behind the wall. No one would even talk to him about the children.

The eight girls in front of Zero were all between four and maybe thirteen years old. He didn't know their exact ages, as they had no IDs or anything else that could reveal their age or where they came from. When Zero first met them, some of them didn't even have names.

The only thing that united the girls and at the same time set them apart from everyone else were their piercing red eyes.

 

Infected.