Thinking of the possibility waiting ahead of him, William suddenly remembered — the officer had sent him the information about his assigned squad earlier.
He opened the mail and looked over the details.
[Squad 33 | Headquarters Notice]
You have been assigned to Squad 33. Please refer to the notice below:
Squadron Commander: Eliya Solace
Dormitory: Block-D Room 87
Members: 6 members
Status: Commissioned
Casualties: 27 deceased
Authorized by: Lady Azura [HQ Overwatch]
William: "Sigh... I'll be damned.." William complained, clearly disturbed by the number of casualties in a single squad. He could feel a lump building in his throat as he swallowed hard.
He closed the mail on his watch and headed to the location of the dormitory. Throughout the walk, he could hear fellow recruits and senior alike talking behind his back, whispering about the incident that had occurred earlier during the briefing.
He ignored all of them, wishing he could stuff his ears with anything that could block his hearing.
After a while, he finally reached Block-D. The air was awfully colder than anywhere else in the facility. It was probably because the heater in that area was broken.
William: "Aachoo!" He sneezed.
William rubbed his hands together to stay warm — he hugged himself tightly to maintain a normal body temperature, but the air was freezing.
He continued to search for room 87, hoping that they had anything that could produce heat to stay warm. Or at least a sweater to warm up.
After walking down the corridor aimlessly, he finally found his dormitory — room number 87.
But when he tried to open the door, the knob wouldn't move. He tried again, but it seemed that the door was locked from the inside.
William: "You've got to be kidding, it's freezing out here!" He banged on the door.
William: "Hey! Open this door! Are you going to let me freeze to death?!" He kept banging on the door, yet it didn't budge an inch.
With no option left, he tried to use his shoulder to break down the door. But at the last moment, the door swung open, making him fall on the floor with a loud thud.
William: "Ouch.." He rubbed his chin. But when he looked up, he was greeted by a gun's barrel.
The person holding the gun seemed to be a girl. But he wondered why she was pointing the gun straight at his head.
Gunwoman: "Who are you and why did you try to enter our dorm?" She cocked the gun, giving William a clear warning.
William: "You didn't know? I was assigned here." William said while trying to move away from the barrel's sight.
Gunwoman: "Assigned here..?" She thought for a moment. "Ah! Right, I did receive a notice from the Dispatcher that a certain troublemaker would be assigned here. If I'm not mistaken, your name is Roach, right?" She asked.
William: "Uh.. no.. my actual name is—"
He was cut off mid-sentence by the girl.
Gunwoman: "Yeah yeah, Roach, big deal. Look, I don't have time for idle chatting, my name is Eliya Solace. You can call me Eli. Now get inside before the cold air gets in here." She slammed the door closed behind them.
Eli made her way back to the bunk bed and opened her laptop — she clearly didn't want to be interrupted.
William got off the ground and brushed off the dust on his clothes. He looked around the dorm room and saw the other squad members engaging in their own activities.
But one of them particularly caught his interest; a girl was repairing some sort of gadgets on the floor using reusable parts.
He approached the girl quietly while observing her work. But he didn't know how to start a conversation with her.
The girl sighed, feeling uncomfortable with the awkward staring.
Engineer: "Can you stop staring like I'm some kind of weirdo?" She looked up at him. "My name is Mia, I'm the squad's engineer. And you are?" She asked.
William: "My name is William, nice to meet you." He extended his hand toward Mia.
Mia accepted his hand, shaking it firmly.
Mia: "William, huh? Never heard of you." Suddenly, she remembered something. "Oh, I remember now! You are the Roach guy, right? The one who pissed off the Dispatcher?" She asked again, leaning in closer to him.
But before he could retort, two guys suddenly interrupted their conversation.
Shielder: "Now, now, Mia. No need to push our new teammate like that." The man stepped forward; his body was quite tall and athletic as he towered over them.
Shielder: "My name is Grant Geogary, but you can call me Grog. I'm the squad's shielder. Oh, and this guy here is Cliff; he is the squad's tanker and our driver inside the Hollow." Grog pointed down at Cliff.
Cliff: "Hm." He nodded, affirming without saying anything.
William: "Nice to meet all of you. But.. isn't there another one of you?" He asked.
Mia: "Oh, you mean Shou? He's not here currently; he was probably somewhere in the shooting range or something." Mia shrugged casually, seemingly uninterested and focused on repairing the gadgets.
Whoever Shou really was, he would have to wait to meet him in person.
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