Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure by Sinclair, Kevin (black female authors txt) 📗

annoyed I didn’t have the same gadget, but then why would Ogun give me a map when I had a fucking Mental Clarity of two percent. Once she’d studied the device for a short while, she was able to lead the way.

The others all had guns. Only Ember and I had melee weapons, and I admit to feeling like an idiot. Why didn’t we bring guns? We looked like the untrained noobs we were.

We finally came to, what Cassia described as the stopover quarters. There was a canteen with food making facilities and living quarters, all of which looked eerily similar to the Thoth’s.

“We might as well take quarters. We don’t know when we will be picked back up,” she said.

I had to admit I was impressed with Cassia’s trust that Ogun was coming back for us. Or, at least faking the positivity to keep all our hopes up. I had no such trust. In my head, we were abandoned here forever. She continued talking, “We’ll keep all our rooms together in case of emergencies.”

We went and looked through the quarters. They were all identical: A couch, a sink with a mirror, and a super king size bed because apparently, all Fystr were huge.

“We’ll take this one,” Mick said. I expected Cassia to remain in the room with him, but it was Gus who stayed. I was surprised. I hadn’t realized they were a team like that. They seemed as distant as the rest of us when we were hiding, but I suppose abject terror does that to you.

“Okay,” Cassia said. “I’ll go next door.”

“We’ll be in the next room,” Ember said, then led me away to a third room.

Once the door had closed behind us, I turned to Ember. “Really? You sure about this?”

“No, not at all. But there’s a couch there for you if I change my mind. And this doesn’t mean next stage antics, okay? Maybe a few cuddles, though,” she smirked.

“Sure thing. Fine with me.”

“Good,” she said firmly.

“I do feel I should bring up that by day two of leaving the game I thought I’d be back settled in my shitty little apartment. And though this place is as pokey as my old place, this is definitely not my fucking apartment. I feel like I was mis-sold on this whole therapy thing, and if I ever see my doctor again… we're having a conversation.”

Ember laughed, “Yeah, when they said they’d arrange somewhere for me to live, this is not what I’d envisioned either. Still, it’s better than my old home,” she paused, turning to look at me. “I really don’t know why I’m not freaking out as much as I should. Our minds must be really changed.”

“I get what you’re saying. I mean, our old lives were bad, but they must’ve been really bad if we're finding this crazy shit a better alternative.”

“Being trapped on a random deserted planet wasn’t exactly what I thought I’d be doing once I got out of Anatoli. But!” she emphasized, “being here with you is pretty cool and a definite improvement on my past life. So, fuck it! Let’s just enjoy the ride and hope we stay alive. Now, I’m off to sleep, and expect some of those cuddles we discussed.”

I couldn’t help but grin at that. “Sounds good to me. But before going to sleep, will you help figure out a way of blocking and locking this door?”

“Yeah. That’s not actually a bad idea.” She went over to look at the control panel by the door and started messing with it.

I tested the couch for weight and found, though it was heavy, I was stronger than I’d ever been in my entire life, outside Anatolia of course. I hauled the couch up and walked over to the door with it.

“Right, I think I’ve got it locked, that should be…” She turned to see me carrying the couch over. “…paranoid much?” She chuckled.

“Just another line of defense for our little alien planet sleepover,” I said, leaning the couch up against the door.

“You know what’s most funny about that, don’t you?”

“No, but as always, I’m sure you’ll fill me in.”

“You’ve got telekinesis, Shaun. You bloody idiot.” She started laughing. “Imagine if you’d put your back out!”

“Yeah. Totally forgot.”

“Come on, dipshit. Bedtime.”

“So romantic,” I said, then we lay on the bed and snuggled in. It wasn’t even that awkward. Probably helped that we were physically and emotionally smashed to bits, and it didn’t take long to fall asleep in each other’s arms.

The next morning, there was a knock at the door. Ember quickly moved the couch with telekinesis and went over to unlock the door, while I was putting my armor back on and my axes back in their holders.

“Good morning, Cassia,” Ember said. She was being disconcertingly nice to Cassia, who looked at her oddly.

“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a good morning.”

“Maybe not, but it was a good night.”

I shook my head at her. She was obviously trying to make Cassia jealous for some reason.

“What’s the plan this morning? What are we going to do?” I shouted over Ember’s shoulder, mainly to get things moving along and away from the awkward atmosphere Ember had created.

“We’re going to try and rustle up some communications devices, more weapons, whatever we can really. We need to make ourselves as safe as possible while we’re here. Hopefully, it will be Ogun who comes for us first, but if not, we must be prepared. We should be ready to defend ourselves down here.”

“I’ll agree with that,” Ember said.

“Me, too. Let’s get going,” I added.

“First, we need to try and find some detailed plans and maps of this facility in the control center. Then, we will be better placed to collect the resources we need. I remember the location of some basics from what Ogun used, like fuel, oxygen and FSU crates, but I’m unsure where anything else would be.”

Going through some double automatic doors, we entered a large office space, filled with desks and terminals. Gus