Fang's attempt to swear was interrupted by a gunshot.

Goose's face fell and Maddie swiftly turned towards the startled group. "Okay, we need to get inside! Now!" Her voice was taught with urgency and Goose gestured to a nearby building, which happened to be an old hope ministry. Dead trees lined the front of the redish brick, but the small building was mostly intact.

Frost and Goose held the double doors for the Sioux Rapids group, while Maddie led the way.

"You guys use GUNS?" Atlas wheezed, her heart pounding out of her chest. 

"You didn't see Cavy's?" Goose fired back.

"Cavy's wasn't loaded!" Ryft snapped. "Where'd you even get them?!"

"Police stations, antiques.. you know the loopholes for 'unusable' antiques!" Maddie hurriedly explained. "You have to understand! There are raiders!"

"Raiders?" Cricket stiffened, remembering the Fallout Freaks. 

Soul and Spirit slunk towards the doors in a defensive stance, ready to fight. Jade summoned her sword with visible effort, and Cricket's body, aside from her head and neck, disappeared. Atlas grabbed a nearby folding chair and Fang and Ryft stared down Goose.

"Explain." Ryft growled.

"Okay. I guess you were gonna find out sooner or later." Goose sighed and sat down at one of the round tables in the front of the room. "Yes, raiders. Fortunately, Des Moines is a city with a lot of supplies. It could last us years. However, this is a very attractive thing to those who wish to take it for themselves." A dark look passed his usually cheerful face. "There have been many attempts to steal, but there is one group in particular that has proved an issue."

"Please don't say Fallout Freaks." Spirit muttered.

"They call themselves the Timbersnakes." Goose rolled his eyes. "Like Timber Rattlesnakes but they couldn't be assed to add two more syllables."

The collective sigh of relief in the room was alarming to the Des Moines kids. 

"What?" Maddie managed, eyes widened.

"Oh, no- we were just worried it would be the gang that drove us out of our hometown." Jade reassured.

"Well, I haven't heard any additional gunshots, sooo.. are we good?" Atlas inquired cautiously, no longer wanting to be in the awkward tension.

"Yeah, it was probably just a warning shot." Goose sighed, tired. "However, I still need your names and your evolution status."

---

They were real Des Moines members now. Their jobs would be assigned in one to five days. Until then, they were freeloaders. In this brave new world, there were two categories of human. The evolved and the unevolved. The evolved had developed mysterious mutations, usually useful. The unevolved had not yet developed these gifts. For whatever reason, your 'evolution status' mattered in Des Moines. It showed who people could pick on. Who not to target. Who to take seriously. Who to avoid. Maddie was explaining this all to the teens, seeming to have given up sugar coating their shaky society. It wasn't as much of a utopia as it first appeared, however not quite a dystopia either. 

All at once, a small girl appeared and tugged on Goose's shoulder.

"Goose, I'm sure you heard the gunshot. They were just curious strays that alarmed the guards. They high tailed it out of there as soon as Blue scared 'em." She explained hurriedly.

"Spark!" Goose greeted her, nodding to acknowledge her report. "These are the newbies!"

Spark seemed to only just notice the new group of seven staring curiously at her. She shrunk a little. "Oh.. Hi there."

Spark was an average sized middle eastern girl with long dark brown hair with a few golden highlights. She had almond shaped soft dark brown eyes. She carried herself in a cautious manner and her voice was soft and hesitant. She looked a bit younger than the majority of the teens who resided here. She wore a wrinkled blue T-shirt and black leggings.

"Spark's a bit of a guard messenger." Goose grinned, ruffling the quiet girl's hair. "Show 'em what you can do, Spark!"

Spark shrank even more. "I... don't know.." she looked at the ground. "I can just make it windy sometimes around me.. if I want..."

"It's okay, Spark." Maddie pulled her away from Goose. "You don't have to show them. And you can go if you want."

"Thank you." Spark squeaked and practically disappeared.

"May we go back to our rooms?" Cricket politely asked Goose, not vibing with his high energy. "It was a long night... and day.."

"Sure!" Goose said, nodding. "You're going to have to find your way back on your own, though. Maddie and I have to assign your roles."

---

It was about six in the evening and all nine small town kids were sitting in a circle on the floor of Silver and Atlas's room. Raven was sat on a stool, still uncomfortable with her new extremities.  Everyone had some form of sleepwear on, given to them along with toothbrushes and personal hygiene items. They had an unopened deck of cards in the middle of their circle, as well as a bottle of liquor on the counter which Soul and Spirit had managed to find and smuggle. Somehow. When did they even leave? 

"Let's play truth or dare." Atlas gave an evil smirk. She was ready to forget all of the terrible things they had learned that day, one way or another. 

"Hell yeah!" Agreed Soul and Raven at the same time. Might as well forget terrible things about the world  by learning terrible things about each other.

"Let's spin the bottle to see who goes first!" Silver smiled happily, more or less rested. 

Reaching forward, Cricket flicked her hand to send the liquor bottle spinning clockwise. It slowed down and eventually, the cap pointed to Atlas. 

"Hell yes! FANG! Truth or dare?!" Atlas missed not a single beat. Any chance to torment Fang was a chance that must be taken.

Fang groaned loudly and pretended to smash his head on the back of the kitchen island before responding with a reluctant truth. He was beginning to resent Atlas.

"Do you like, like anyone..?" Atlas spoke in a teasing manner, targeting him only because he was the least likely to talk about his feelings. 

"No." Fang's facial expression went through no change. If he was lying, it would be impossible to tell, anyway. 

"Are you sure~?" Atlas pressed, trying to get a reaction out of him.

"Yes." An eye brow twitched. Good enough for Atlas. "Does it mean it's my turn now?"

Various noises of disappointed agreement sounded the room. What a boring start to a supposedly scandalous game.

"Ryft. Truth or dare?" Fang stared the blond girl in the eyes, as if challenging her.

Taking this challenge, Ryft raised her chin. "Dare."

Fang grinned for the first time in awhile. "Take a shot."

"What? No!" Ryft looked offended. "That's-"

"Scared? Gonna flake?" Fang pressed. Cricket let out a small 'ooooo'

Thoroughly pissed, Ryft stared Fang dead in the eye, reached for the bottle, unscrewed the lid, and took a hearty swig. She made a strained face,  it was everything she could do to not gag. The stuff burned all the way down and tasted absolutely foul.

"Oh crap, Ryft!" Jade exclaimed. 

Atlas was laughing with Silver. Fang was genuinely surprised. Raven struggled to stay on her stool, while Soul and Spirit cheered. Cricket was almost jealous. The room was loud with excited chatter. 

"Give me some!" Soul snatched the bottle. 

The next few hours went about how you'd expect with nine teenagers and a liquor bottle. Uno cards were spread across the floor, both carpet and tile. The room was louder than it had been. Most of the amber liquid had been consumed out of the bottle, mostly by Fang and Spirit. The two were chattering about some VR videogame they were both fans of. No one had ever heard Fang talk as much as he was at that moment. Atlas and Silver, who both seemed to be lightweights, giggled uncontrollably near the window. Cricket, equally intoxicated, was trying to get them to tell her why they were laughing. Ryft was shouting at Jade about some robot from a videogame, and Raven and Soul seemed to have found something in common since both of their usual go-to hang out buddies were occupied. Raven's wings were big and clumsy when she didn't have them pressed to her sides, which made the room seem even smaller.

"The world may be ending, but like, at least we're not being drafted or some shit." Soul said meaningfully to Raven, who nodded in response.

"I'd rather be in a city surrounded by guns." Slurred Raven. "Because shooting one would be bad. I'd rather get shot than shoot, y'know?"

"Hey, no, getting shot is bad." Fang turned his head from a slightly offended Spirit, who had been going on about backpacks and inventory space. "I kind of want a gun."

"Illeeeeegal." Ryft sounded from behind Jade, who was actively trying to convince her that robots didn't have souls.

"Law's gone, mother truckers." Atlas yee yee'd from where she was on the window sill with Silver. She was braiding the smaller girl's hair.

"Gun bad." Cricket said, though somewhat unsure. "My dad had like... three."

Parents were a tough subject for anyone. Avoidance had been the method to escape grief thus far, but it was impossible to outrun heavy feelings forever. The room quieted just a little. Siblings were lost, too. Atlas had a sister. Silver, too. Ryft had three older siblings, which was uncommon in the current year. Most kids were the only ones in their family. But this didn't ring true for all families.

"More truth or dare." Atlas chanted, lifting Silver from under her shoulders. "Come, child."

Fang complied, surprisingly, and the shenanigans continued.