A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 7: A new home(Part-2)

"My back.", Ryan moaned in pain as he fell on the ground with a huff from the sudden pain that flared up, Nikita who was the newest members of the Wolves having joined a few weeks prior to event, her specialty being a field medic handed him a bottle with a worried look on her face.

"Are you alright, Ryan?"

Ryan groaned as he spoke, "No I am not, as my back is killing me now."

Nikita gave him a small smile as she helped him to turn around making him lie on the ground face first as she began massaging his back a bit as she spoke in a soothing voice, "I am glad you have already finished your work, and also thanks for your hard work."

Ryan turned his head a little before greeting Nikita with a blissful smile as he spoke, "I have so much to do but at least we will have power for the time being no matter how little it may seem to be, also damn sister you should have opened a massage parlor your hands are heavenly."

Nikita gave a mock salute at his compliment before offering a small smile to Ryan as she spoke, "So how does it look."

Ryan turned his head as he casually looked at the group of 10 wind turbines he had managed to put up as he scanned them using his powers, Nikita noted Ryan's eyes glow briefly with slight bluish hue something she added to report to her superior about Ryan's mutation, that is all she was doing nowadays gathering as much data from all who have mutated and compiling a report to her superior Ruby who had the mad scientist vibe going on hard nowadays making her shiver in fright.

Name: Wind Turbine

Tier: 1

Output: 100KW

Range: 10-75Kmph

Durability: 250/250

Ryan sighed at that as he spoke, "Well it is nice and all but the durability is too low and it will be worn out sooner than later not to mention a good explosion will take them out."

Nikita looked up as she squinted her eyes as she spoke contemplating about everything Ryan had informed her, "Well but it works for now at the very least."

Ryan snorted at that as he spoke, "Well they work as long as the wind blows although I do not in way posses the means to regulate the electricity it produces nor do I have the ability to store the it, so the voltage will rise and fall unregulated and worst of all if the wind blows at much higher speed it will tear the windmill apart."

Nikita gave him a sympathetic squeeze as she spoke with a comforting smile, "But if you have already said that if you keep on evolving yourself then you might create a better way to create and store right?"

Ryan grinned back at her as he spoke, "Yup I hope so but I already have another way unfortunately it uses fuel and now I am going to put a few of them up, if when the wind turbine fails we can power them up and they can generate power for sometime before they run out of fuel but running them is akin to feeding a herd of elephant."

Nikita simply patted him on his back when all of a sudden they heard a loud rumble of thunder, it was so loud that it almost deafened them as they looked up they were greeted by the sight of acidic green looking cloud with lightning flashes that made it look extremely dangerous, Nikita gulped as look towards the menacing cloud as she spoke with a twinge of fear in her voice, "I believe it is time for us to take shelter I do not wish to be guinea and test what those clouds could do."

Their so called shelter consisted of small shacks that looked like they have been hastily put together, as he entered the place he was greeted by others as the rumble of thunder grew closer as many were forced to cover their ears to decrease the noise, he quickly took a seat near his older sister who beckoned him towards her with a smile as more and more soldiers took shelter in it.

The shelter had been build in such a way that they were not only clustered together they were interconnected, the soldiers had worked alongside the members of small town to erect them under Ryan's guidance, as such now most of the civilian woman were huddled together with the younger girls in the center, soon the storm was over them, Ryan bit his lips as he looked a bit tensed as the light from the bulb flickered now and then.

Ciara looked at him as she spoke, "Is something the matter son?"

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "Nothing mother just that I fear that the windmills that I have made will not be able to hold under the storm."

Ciara simply smiled at him as she spoke while tousling his hair affectionately, "Well you yourself have said that as you grow stronger so will your creation as such stop feeling inadequate you are already helping us a lot with your power, today your structure might not stand but tomorrow the storm itself will bow in defeat to you."

Ryan cracked an embarrassed smile at her at his mother's word's only for another loud thunder boom to be heard extremely close, it was so close that the group of shacks shook from it as the civilians shouted out in fear, one of the soldiers grinned as she spoke, "Rain water damn I haven't had a good bath.", her words made many of them grin with happiness, as Zhan spoke in an urgent manner, "Stop we do not know if the rain has changed or not look at the cloud can you say that the rain water might not be different."

In spite of the warning the soldier did not heed it and no sooner did she stepped outside she screamed from the pain as she jumped back into the shelter, every place over her skin that had come into contact with the rain water looked as if it were scalded badly by boiling water as painful looking boils appeared soon after, Ruby had her immediately lying on a the ground as she began checking her with Ryan approved flashlight.

Zhan grunted in frustration at that as she rebuked the injured soldier, "I ordered you not to yet you defied my order do not forget you are still part of this family and this family has some rules and I will enforce it private."

Donna frowned at the scene that had occurred in front of her as she spoke, "If the rain water is dangerous now then what would happen to the drinking water?"

Everyone froze at that water was a very very vital resource that was needed by all living beings and the dangerous rain water would definitely pollute it and such they would lose any and all form of drinkable water, as such chaos erupted only to be silent by the crisp voice of Ciara, "Silent everyone", her voice manage to make everyone quite as she spoke while looking everyone directly into their eyes, "We will discuss this like civilized members of the society and I believe we will surely reach a solution to our problem.

Ryan closed his eyes for a moment as he searched through the ever increasing pile of blueprints that has popped inside his head before he nodded with a smile, "Mom I believe I might have found something interesting that would be of great help."

Michalina looked at her brother spoke curiously, "What is it brother?"

Ryan's face lit up as the lightning flashed and the power went out, he quickly took out his flashlight that he lit under his face making him look like some comic book villain as he spoke, "What do you say about creation of a headquarter with much better facility and sturdy walls surrounding it that can protect us better."

At that everyone's eyes widen as Ciara spoke, "You can build something of that scale already?"

Ryan nodded at that as he spoke with grin, "Of course I can I stumbled upon its blueprint while searching for the solution for the drinking water."

Ciara shook her head in exasperation as she spoke, "The more I hear about your power the more headache inducing it becomes.", Ryan gave her a small smile which she returned before sending a glance towards Ruby who simply gave her a small nod, Ciara was extremely worried about Ryan she did not know what to think of his power specially when he claimed that every time he meditated he would find himself in a room full of blueprints and he was following them to create various things but where did the knowledge of the said blueprints come to his mind? How did he know things he was not supposed to know? But more importantly who and how is the knowledge being provided to him, this questions hammered her like a battering ram with no answers inside and that made her frustrated and at the same time scared for her son nothing is this world is free so what will the price he will have to pay for such a power that seemed even more outlandish than the other mutations she had seen so far and it made her afraid for her child as such she had asked her friendan all too eager Ruby for help though sometime she thought it was a very bad idea for her to get involved.

It had been few hours since the thunderstorm and Ryan had just finished creating a water purifier from the salvaged metal parts, ceramic, rubber amongst many other things the process had been painfully slow taking near about three-quarter of an hour and then he had to somehow had to managed to walk trying hard not to accidently step into any acidic puddle that had formed as a result of the thunderstorm the windmills were already ruined and he knew that he had to repair or in some cases might have to rebuild them but his current focus at the moment was the drinking water. The acidic puddles were making it difficult for him to move as he feared for his shoes, well his only pair of good shoes that he had until and unless he could create it.

Michalina decided to follow his brother in his quest for clean water as they were nearing their source for drinking water Michalina noticed that his brother was bit glum as such she could not help but ask him, "is something wrong dear brother of mine?"

Ryan looked at her before he spoke with a sigh, "I was just worried about my classmates and school mates, I am worried about them this apocalypse this disaster how many of them are alive, how many of them are safe and how many are suffering like those were in that thrice damned town, I feel so helpless, it is true there were some whom I did not get along with and there were many whom I never know another nameless face in the crowd but I cannot help but wonder about their fate."

Michalina frowned hard before she placed her hand over his shoulder as she spoke, "Do you remember brother when we were younger and there was an incident and mom was dispatched for months there was no news of her."

Ryan nodded it was an extremely difficult time for them, their mother had been deployed to some place and they had no news of her, and it was the scariest period for them each day they would wake up waiting for some news any news of their mother as Michalina continued as she gained a nostalgic smile on her face as she began to reminiscence those days for a moment before she spoke, "Think of it like that, we might not know what happened to them and at present there is no way of knowing but we can hope that they are well and health and have faith in their ability to survive, and may be one day in the not too distant future you will meet them again."

Ryan nodded at that as he spoke in a melancholic tone, "Hope and Faith can move mountains."

Michalina parroted his words as she added, "Father Joseph was such a nice person it was a damn same he died."

Ryan shrugged as he spoke, "Well no one can beat old age and even if his passing was a bit abrupt one day he went to sleep and never woke up."

Michalina nodded as she spoke, "So true he was a nice person way better than his replacement."

Ryan scrunched his face as he spoke, "Well anyone can be better than father 'I-look-like-this-because-I-am-constipated-for-three-thousand-years.'"

Michalina giggled at his brother's antics before she spoke in a serious manner, "Well we are here so what do you need to do?"

Ryan looked towards an earthen platform made courtesy of Donna as he spoke, "Well I will simply have to put them there and then supply them with power from the poles that have already been connected, nothing more."

Michalina looked at the small lake they were using for water, but now it has a greenish hue on the surface making her frown as she spoke, "Brother please be careful the water does not look friendly."

Ryan bit her lips as he spoke, "I know", before he turned towards her as he gave her a small smile, "But I also know that you will be watching over me."

Michalina gave him an encouraging pat on his back as he stepped forward towards the edge of the platform with the intent of setting the water purifier and a place to gather water along with it.