System Hunt: Regalia

It was dead-o-clock in the morning when a mad knocking and banging at Sam’s door jerked him out of bed. He tossed the covers away, wore his fluffy slides on the wrong foot as he ran out to the kitchen to snatch a knife from his drawer. He’d seen this day in his nightmares and had even bought a dedicated knife for stabbing any would-be intruders though there haven’t been any that dared in the five years since he’d started living by himself.

The banging continued without any rhyme or reason and Sam worried for his door. Nyx hissed and growled at it all while standing between his legs, he dashed out towards the door, each bang or knock trembled its hinges.

“Who are you!” He yelled, knife gripped in hand and his feet ready to burst out towards the intruder should they succeed in breaking in. Drops of sweat rolled down his spine as the banging stopped at the sound of his voice.

Did they not think there was anyone here? Come to think of it, when he’d returned from the Doom Suppression Force underground base he’d found his apartment complex shockingly empty. The proximity to the quarantine zone was sure to drive away sensible folk even if the estate security, army and police assured that the chance for Doom Tower threats didn’t exist close enough to harm them.

But even then, he’d had about three other neighbours living nearby that suddenly weren’t there anymore, their apartments stripped of furniture and any sign that someone had been living there. He’d met each door swung open and very few forsaken mementos from them.

The only thought Sam had given to it that afternoon was that he’d finally have the apartment building to himself, be able to play his sad tunes without ‘depressing’ his next door neighbour Jacob who’d just as well disappeared.

But now…What if being alone isn’t such a good thing after all? Sam glared down at the door and repeated his question, “Who are you, banging at my door at…” he glanced at his clock hung over the TV, “Five AM?”

“Sam! Open up, it’s me.” Alex said from the other side.

His knife arm dropped at his side as he screamed, “Are you fucking kidding me Alex? Is that how you knock? What the fuck!”

Sam felt quite silly as well, the knife in his hand would be useless against an intruder with half the skills and competency Alex had but there was one thing no human on earth was prepared for and he’d forgotten he had it.

“Just hurry and open up!” She said, impatient.

Sam set aside his paltry knife but brought forward the sensation of broken glass that was buried under the fog of sleep and adrenal fuelled fear. Sam sensed the broken glass he’d rearranged in the drawer and felt reassured as he unlatched the door for Alex with a frown.

She stood there in the hallway between the stairwell and the next apartment, she was fitted in brown joggers, fine running shoes and a sports jersey for a team he’d never heard of.

Alex met his frown with one of her own as she eyed him in his pyjamas and fluffy slides, “Don’t you have anything…I don’t know, exercise oriented?”

“Is that really the first thing you should be saying to me?” Sam deadpanned, absolutely not having it with folded arms. Nyx hissed at Alex behind him.

She rolled her eyes and let herself in to sit on the long couch with a sigh, “Sorry, I had a feeling you’d still be in bed so I had to wake you up.”

“You could have called or y'know, told me you’d be coming by at this unholy hour. Why are you even here?”

Alex smirked, “You’re the new recruit and I’m your Sergeant, training time. Come on, get something on you can sweat in, the car is parked quite some ways from here so we’re jogging back or running, whichever that Regalia wielding heart of yours can handle.”

Sam’s first instinct was to decline the invite but as with so many things with the DSF he figured this was not an invite at all. Besides, as he’d remembered that the world was turning upside down and he had powers, there was work to be done at Alpha Ring.

“Sure, but just for the record…I don’t like this one bit.”

Her smirked blossomed into a grin, “No one ever does.”

***

“Did you have to bring the cat?”

One foot after the other Sam kept jogging up the steep hill that led into what used to be one of the busiest streets in the estate. Nyx sat in a backpack he wore face-ward and all around him were the dead, abandoned businesses that the quarantine zone had seized.

He glanced at the jelly donut place, a place literally called ‘The Place’ and sighed at the annoyance rearing up in the pits of his very empty stomach. Alex hadn’t let him so much as boil a cup of tea before they left, agonizing about seizing the first rays of sunlight or whatever but he was starved now and his backpack only had his Regalia, cat treats and some shards of broken glass for protection.

“Yes. Did we have to leave without breakfast?” he coughed, it was a cool morning and so he wasn’t sweating all so bad but his lungs were begging for a break.

Alex shook her head, she hadn’t so much as sweaty hands much less a forehead, “What’s the point of a breakfast when you’re going out for a run? You really don’t exercise, do you? And you’ve got such good gear for it too!”

When he’d first move in Sam had the delusion he would be different from the person that lived under his parent’s roof. He’d gotten all sorts of things from dumb bells, a pull-up bar and even a complete exercise outfit that was on sale at the gym he’d only been a member at for a month.

Sturdy running shoes he sometimes wore out on special occasions, workout shorts he wore around the house, and a graphic tee with the gym’s logo and name printed on it. Being honest, Sam was enjoying the chore of exercise, it felt renewing and quite in line with the changes he wanted to make now that he’d decided to fight for a brighter future. Plus, if he had Alex banging at his door every morning like this one, he was certain he’d see improvements sooner rather than later.

He gave her a tired side glance as the asphalt hill began to peak, “Where…where is the car?”

She made a surprised face, “Oh, I said it’s just over this hill not that it was at the top.”

His body trembled at the response and he had to stop, bend over with his hands at his knees and after a few seconds even crouch as the pounding in his chest wouldn’t calm down.

“I suppose we can take a break.” Alex sat across him, stretching so she reached the tip of her toes as she flexed about.

Nyx licked some of the sweat of Sam’s face and cooed little encouragements up at him, he chuckled, finding his breath a little easier as the seconds passed by.

The sky was bleeding a warm orange from the sun rising over the horizon. Without a sound to be heard in the quarantine zone, it was blissfully calming so he sat back and took a proper break. The breeze was soothing against his skin, easing his sweaty pores and soothing a rising headache to nothing.

“We didn’t bring any water,” Sam said.

Alex grimaced at that. “That’s actually my bad but in my defence, there’s water in the car and I really thought we’d make it there in one go.”

“Next time then…I could actually go for some coffee instead.” There was a tea house right down the street, its sign still had some power so it glittered alluringly.

“Thought you preferred tea?”

Sam shrugged, “I don’t mind either but tea is what I keep at home. Coffee though, after all this…being bolstered to keep going would feel so good.” He could practically taste it, feel its effects seize his brain and energize his will. “Always had coffee on bad delivery days and I’m guessing every morning is going to be like this now huh?”

Alex had her waist twisted around as she stretched, she flashed back a smirk as she proudly declared and snapped back to form, “You know it! Though, if you want to be bolstered…”

Sam blinked, waiting for her to complete her sentence but then he remembered. “Right, Regalia.” He mirrored her smirk, “Yeah, let’s see how strong Bolster is.”