Genesis

Chapter 8

The next morning I woke up still pretty tired, and I realised it was probably from how sore my body was. I hadn't even noticed yesterday, with everything going on. I groaned and turned over in bed, looking at the clock. It read 5:47 am. Ugh. Waking up this early is a curse. Over these past five years I picked up the early bird habit, unfortunately. I miss sleeping in.

   Well, I'm up now, might as well clean myself up. My bedroom had a bathroom in it, which I definitely appreciate. I got up, and went in, taking a moment to look at myself in the mirror.

   As I stared, I reached down, turning on the water, before splashing some water on my face. The cold was refreshing, and woke me right up. Again I took a moment to just stare at myself.

Sometimes I don't know who I'm looking at. Slowly I backed up, never taking my eyes off myself. When pretty much my whole body was in view I stripped down, exposing myself to, well, me.

    My body was covered in scars from my grueling trip. Whether it be from the environment, person, or animal. My hand drifted over my body, lightly touching over all the ones I could reach, and I just stared at the ones I couldn't. I felt repulsive when I looked at them.

   A thought of Rico ran through my mind. I remembered a scar he had across his chest, and almost halfway down his stomach. The night he got it I went to the hospital in a panic. He had to get it stitched up, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. When I asked him what happened he just laughed and said "I got in a fight and was winning, the other guy didn't appreciate it too much." Fucking goofball. I wonder how he'd feel about these scars.

     My thoughts were interrupted when I got a whiff of a rather pungent odor. I sniffed around for a second before realising that it was me. Holy fuck, did I smell like this yesterday? Sheesh. Immediately I hopped in the shower and washed the stench of a thousand struggles off of me, and took a moment to just let the warm water fall off me.

    Once I was done I dried off and got ready for the day, getting dressed, and heading out the door. It was 7:30 when I left, so I figured there wouldn't be much to do. I walked through the plaza and the shops were opening up, getting prepped for the day. There were people walking around just relaxing, talking with friends, enjoying breakfast, and just enjoying themselves. This is still so insane to me. They're all so at ease."

" I didn't really know anything better to do so I went to see David. Hopefully he's awake. When I got to the warehouse I went inside and it was filled with a bunch of sleeping MK's, some just waking up and some getting ready for their day.

   I made my way up to the room Toro took me to and knocked. "Come on in." David's voice rang back. Inside I was greeted by David sitting at a table, looking down at something. "Hey. I hope you don't mind me coming by so early." "Oh no, no problem. I'm up at the ass crack of dawn, anyway. Woke up half past five, today. So what's up, soldier? How are you?"

   I just stood there in the middle of the room, looking around and said back "I'm good. I'm great, really. I still can't thank you enough. You uh, you're a lifesaver."

     He smirked and said "Nah, I'm just a decent human being."

   "Yeah, well there aren't too many of those these days" we both laughed and he replied "You got that right. I'm sure you've ran into more than your fair share of people. Sometimes I think they're worse than the animals."

   "Oh yeah. Definitely. I learned that pretty quick." There was a brief moment of silence between us, but before it could get awkward I asked "What're you looking at over there? If you don't mind my asking."

   "Ah. Of course not. Grab a seat, I'll show you." When I sat beside him and took a closer look, I could see it was a map. There was the letter S in the corner of the map, circled. "What's this for? And what's that big ole S in the corner?" His finger tapped the map as he answered me

     "This, this my friend, is a map of a S class zone. Which I know means nothing to you, so get ready for a quick lesson on zones. Alright, you listening? Good. About three years ago I came up with the zoning system, and they're graded by how dangerous they are. The grades start at D, and work their way up to A. Well now I'm sure you're wondering 'Well David, where the fuck did S come from?' Don't worry, my friend, I'm about to get to that. You see D zones are pretty much harmless, you could take a nice little Sunday stroll through there. The entire area surrounding Ricket city, for about three miles is a D class zone. I personally made sure of that. For a C class zone, a regular person would need a MK escort. B class, regulars can't go in, only MK's, and A class zones have to have at least one MKE on the mission. So what's that leave, my friend?"

    He pointed at me and asked. I was busy trying to keep up with what he was saying so I was caught off guard, but I scrambled to get my thoughts together "Huh? Oh, uh, the S class zone?" I replied "Winner winner, falcon dinner."
That's not how it goes, but okay

   "The S class zone. And my friend, do you know what the S stands for? Don't worry I'll tell you." He leaned forward and a serious look swept over his face "Suicide. Because that's what trying to go through a S class zone is. But it's also a right of passage to become an MKE. All five of them have each cleared out a S class zone, and that's what I want from you."