June 2021 - A New Arrival?

[staymods]

A New Arrival?

For the last two months, arrivals in the settlement have all been the same. First an Otherworlder is picked up by the Finnish government, then they are quarantined and questioned, and finally they are brought to the island. There has been no variance to the pattern, and the familiarity of it gives life in the settlement a kind of rhythm to live by.

Or at least, it did. Up until today.

Because at some point in the early afternoon, the air around the settlement shifts. For a few seconds, anyone outside will feel the hairs stand up on their skin, not unlike a static charge. Then there is a, audible snap, the feeling abruptly disappears, and all returns back to normal.

Except for one important detail: there is now another person in the settlement, standing on the sandy, treeless banks of Snake Island.

Comments

[ghoulserrand]

Zombie apocalypse... living people... get scared... [And frightened people lashed out. He couldn't blame them.] But... that sounds really good... Where does... everyone live?

[maidofmistakes]

The houses in town are all burned out, and we're going to have to rebuild them. So until then, everyone's been sleeping in the Town Hall. It's down that way. There's not much electricity or running water in town, so just letting you know in case you were used to that.

[ghoulserrand]

Hah... Nope... not much like that anymore... [Only the rare light in the city and likely less on the water front. He pauses, then hums.] You must miss it all.

[maidofmistakes]

Yeah... I miss a lot of things. [She looks up at the sky before shaking her head.] But it's okay. We just have to fix this place up and get used to it until they can figure out how to send us back.

[ghoulserrand]

[She says it's okay. He has a feeling that it's not. He debates with himself. He doesn't know the words to say. He doesn't know a lot.]

Would it... help... to talk? What's looked forward to... maybe...

[maidofmistakes]

Looked forward to? Well... we have sheep for the farm now, and we've cleared out the farmland for crops and things. If we can get ourselves making our own food and clothes and stuff, that'll be less things we're depending on the mainland to bring us.

[ghoulserrand]

[He laughs. The sound, even soft as it is, is not entirely pleasant. It's just as raspy as his voice.]

There's that... kind of cool... to be a farmer... but... I mean home... what's to look forward to... at home.