CHAPTER 12: ANTICIPATION
Day 12 Post-Impact
One day until the celebration.
Sarnav woke with Nisha already stirring beside him, her body warm and soft in the early morning light. They'd fallen into a pattern now, their rhythms synchronized, their bodies knowing instinctively how to fit together.
"Morning," she murmured against his chest.
"Morning."
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow."
She lifted her head, meeting his eyes. "Are you nervous?"
"A little. Are you?"
"Terrified." But she was smiling. "The good kind of terrified. Like standing at the top of a roller coaster."
"I've never been on a roller coaster."
"Really?" She propped herself up on one elbow. "We went to Sunway Lagoon together in Form 4. You definitely rode the roller coaster."
"I closed my eyes the whole time. Doesn't count."
She laughed, the sound bright and unreserved. "You're ridiculous."
"You love it."
"I do." She leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "I love everything about you. Even the ridiculous parts."
They lay together for a few more minutes, savoring the quiet before the day's demands pulled them apart. The morning light grew stronger, sounds of activity filtering through the walls.
"We should get up," Nisha said reluctantly.
"Probably."
"The new arrivals need integration. Chen Wei wanted to discuss defensive formations. Mei Ling has supply reports."
"All very important things."
"Very important." She didn't move. "Five more minutes?"
"Five more minutes."
It was closer to fifteen before they finally extracted themselves from bed.
Breakfast was a crowded affair.
The twelve newcomers from Chen Wei's group had begun integrating with the community, their initial wariness fading as they realized they were genuinely welcome. Food helped. Regular meals, after days of scavenging, did wonders for trust.
Sarnav sat beside Nisha at the leadership table, their shoulders touching. Across the cafeteria, he noticed Chen Wei watching them with an expression that might have been approval.
"The defensive formations we discussed," Chen Wei said, approaching their table with a plate of rice and vegetables. "I have some suggestions. Based on what worked in Cheras before everything went wrong."
"Please, sit." Nisha gestured to an empty seat. "We're always looking for better strategies."
Chen Wei outlined his ideas between bites of food. Layered defense zones. Awakened positioned to support each other's abilities. Baseline humans in protected positions where they could contribute without being exposed.
"Lightning and plant abilities have good synergy," he noted, nodding toward Nisha. "Your vines can conduct electricity. Create area denial that's lethal to approach."
"We haven't tried that," Nisha admitted. "I've mostly used my abilities for barriers and entanglement."
"You should practice. Before the next attack comes." Chen Wei's expression darkened. "And attacks will come. The void creatures are getting bolder. More organized. What hit Cheras wasn't random monsters. It was a coordinated assault."
"Coordinated how?"
"They came from multiple directions simultaneously. Cut off escape routes before closing in. Like they'd planned it." He shook his head. "I've never seen void creatures behave that way. Something's changing out there."
The warning cast a shadow over the morning. Sarnav filed the information away, adding it to the growing list of concerns that kept him up at night.
"We'll increase patrols," he said. "And start practicing combined ability tactics. Better to be prepared."
"Agreed." Chen Wei finished his meal and stood. "I'll work with your awakened today if you'll permit it. Share what I know about combat formations."
"That would be appreciated."
As Chen Wei walked away, Nisha leaned closer to Sarnav.
"He's intense," she murmured.
"He's experienced. There's a difference."
"Maybe. But he reminds me of soldiers I've met. People who've seen too much." She paused. "I'm glad he's on our side."
"Me too."
The morning brought training.
Chen Wei proved an effective instructor, his military bearing translating into clear, precise teaching. He worked with the awakened on formation tactics, positioning them to maximize their combined effectiveness.
Sarnav partnered with Nisha for the exercises.
"When I create the barrier," she explained, vines sprouting from the ground around her, "you cover the gaps. Anything that gets through the plants, you take down."
"And if there are too many?"
"Then I channel through the vines while you hold position." She grinned. "Chen Wei says lightning through plant matter creates a shock field. Want to test it?"
They practiced the combination on training dummies. Nisha's vines wrapped around the targets while Sarnav channeled borrowed electricity—a minor ability he'd picked up from one of the F-rank awakened—through the organic matter.
The result was impressive. The shock field extended through every vine, creating a web of electrified plant matter that would devastate anything caught inside.
"Good," Chen Wei called from the sidelines. "Very good. Your abilities complement each other naturally. With practice, you could hold a corridor against dozens of lesser creatures."
"Hear that?" Nisha bumped her shoulder against Sarnav's. "We're natural partners."
"Was there ever any doubt?"
"None whatsoever."
They continued training through the morning, refining their combination, learning each other's rhythms. It was different from the intimacy of the bedroom but connected to it somehow. Trust built through combat, through knowing your partner would be there when you needed them.
By lunchtime, they moved as a unit. Sarnav on offense, Nisha on defense, their abilities flowing together seamlessly.
"Impressive," Hafiz commented, watching from the edge of the gymnasium. "You two fight like you've been doing it for years."
"We've known each other for years," Nisha said. "The fighting part is just an extension."
"Still. That kind of synergy usually takes months to develop. You've had what, a week?"
"Something like that."
Hafiz shook his head. "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. The Sect could use more pairs with that level of coordination."
Lunch was interrupted by an alarm.
The siren wailed across the school, a sound everyone had learned to dread. Perimeter breach. Something was attacking.
Sarnav and Nisha sprinted for the west gate, joined by Chen Wei and half a dozen other awakened. The guards on duty were already in defensive positions, their weapons trained on the tree line beyond the wall.
"Report," Sarnav demanded.
"Movement in the trees," the guard captain said. "Multiple contacts. They haven't attacked yet. Just watching."
Sarnav extended his senses, pushing his awareness beyond the wall. He felt them immediately. Void creatures, at least a dozen, lurking in the shadows between trees.
"Scouts," he said grimly. "They're assessing our defenses."
"Since when do void creatures scout?" Nisha asked.
"Since whatever changed them started making them smarter." Chen Wei's expression was hard. "This is how it started in Cheras. They watched for days before the main assault."
"Then we don't give them days." Sarnav vaulted over the wall, ignoring the startled shouts behind him. "I'm going to have a conversation."
He landed on the other side and strode toward the tree line, not bothering with stealth. Let them see him coming. Let them understand what they were dealing with.
The void creatures emerged from the shadows. Dog-like shapes made of darkness and hunger, their eyes glowing with cold malevolence. They spread out, surrounding him, cutting off retreat.
Sarnav smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile.
"You want to scout? Let me show you what you're scouting."
He moved.
The first creature died before it could react, his fist punching through its skull and dispersing the void energy that held it together. The second fell to a spinning kick that shattered its form. The third, fourth, fifth—all destroyed in a blur of violence that lasted less than ten seconds.
The remaining creatures hesitated. They were predators, used to being the threat. Facing something that treated them like prey was outside their experience.
Sarnav walked toward them, his pace unhurried. "Run. Go back to whatever controls you. Tell them what you saw here."
One of the creatures lunged. Sarnav caught it by the throat, crushing the darkness in his fist, watching it dissolve into nothing.
"Or don't run. Your choice."
The remaining creatures ran.
Sarnav watched them go, then turned and walked back to the wall. The guards stared at him with something between awe and fear.
"That should buy us time," he said, climbing back over. "But Chen Wei is right. They're getting organized. We need to be ready for a real attack."
Nisha grabbed his arm when he reached the ground, her eyes wide.
"That was insane," she said. "What if there had been more? What if they'd been stronger?"
"Then I would have adapted." He covered her hand with his. "I'm fine. Not a scratch."
"That's not the point. You can't just throw yourself at danger without—"
"I can. That's exactly what I should do. I'm the strongest person here. If I can't face threats directly, what's the point of my power?"
Nisha's expression wavered between anger and something else. Fear, maybe. Concern.
"Just... warn me next time. Please." Her grip tightened on his arm. "I know you're strong. I know you can handle things. But watching you walk into danger like that, not knowing if you'd come back..."
"I'll always come back. I promise."
"You can't promise that. Nobody can promise that."
"I can." He pulled her close, ignoring the audience of guards and awakened. "Because I have too much to come back to."
She melted into him, her anger dissolving into relief. "Idiot. Romantic idiot."
"Your romantic idiot."
"Yeah." She pressed her face against his chest. "Mine."
The rest of the day was consumed by preparation.
The scout encounter had rattled everyone. Chen Wei's warnings about coordinated attacks suddenly felt much more real. Every available awakened was pulled into planning sessions, defense drills, supply checks.
Sarnav found himself in endless meetings, discussing patrol routes and fallback positions and supply caches. Important work, necessary work, but his mind kept drifting to other things.
Tomorrow was the celebration. Tomorrow was the night they'd been building toward. And now there was this new threat hanging over everything.
"We could postpone," Nisha said quietly during a brief break between meetings. "The celebration, I mean. If people are scared about the attack..."
"No." Sarnav shook his head. "If anything, we need it more now. People need something to look forward to. Something that reminds them why we're fighting."
"And us?"
"We need it too. We've been waiting long enough."
She looked at him, something soft in her eyes. "You really want this."
"I really want you. All of you. In every way possible."
Her cheeks flushed. "Sarnav..."
"I know. Not the time or place." He glanced around at the busy hallway, the people moving past. "But I wanted you to know. Whatever happens tomorrow, whatever threats we face, you're still my priority. You'll always be my priority."
"Same." She reached out, squeezing his hand briefly. "Whatever happens, we face it together."
"Together."
Evening brought a different kind of preparation.
With the day's crisis handled and tomorrow's celebration still ahead, Sarnav focused on what he could control. Namely, making their first time as special as possible.
He enlisted Mei Ling's help for supplies. Candles, salvaged from a nearby convenience store. Clean sheets, hoarded from the integration supplies. A bottle of wine that had somehow survived the apocalypse intact.
"Planning something special?" Mei Ling asked with a knowing smile.
"Maybe."
"For Nisha?"
"Who else would it be for?"
Mei Ling laughed. "Just making sure. You two are cute together, you know. The whole camp is rooting for you."
"Great. No pressure at all."
"Exactly." She patted his arm. "Don't overthink it. She loves you. That's all that matters."
Easy to say. Harder to believe when the weight of expectations pressed down on him.
He spent an hour arranging Nisha's room while she was occupied with evening duties. Candles placed strategically around the space. Clean sheets on the bed. The wine chilling in a bucket of water from the bathroom.
It wasn't fancy. There was no way to make anything fancy in the post-apocalyptic world. But it was an effort. An acknowledgment that what they were about to share mattered.
When he finished, he stood back and surveyed his work.
"Not bad," he muttered to himself.
Now he just had to wait for tomorrow.
Nisha found him on the roof after dinner.
The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and red. The ruined cityscape stretched toward the horizon, beautiful and terrible in equal measure.
"Mei Ling said you were up here," Nisha said, settling beside him. "Needed some air?"
"Needed some perspective." He gestured at the view. "Sometimes I forget how much has changed. Up here, I can see it all at once."
"Does it help?"
"Sometimes. Other times it just makes me feel small."
They sat in comfortable silence, watching the sun descend. The light faded from orange to pink to purple, the first stars appearing in the darkening sky.
"I'm nervous about tomorrow," Nisha admitted.
"Me too."
"I keep thinking about everything that could go wrong. What if it hurts? What if I'm bad at it? What if you're disappointed?"
"I could never be disappointed with you."
"You say that now. But what if—"
"Nisha." He turned to face her, taking her hands in his. "Listen to me. Tomorrow isn't a test. It's not a performance. It's just us, being together in a new way. Whatever happens, however it goes, it'll be perfect because it's us."
"You really believe that?"
"I really do."
She studied his face, searching for doubt. Finding none, she relaxed slightly.
"Okay. I'll try to stop worrying."
"Don't stop completely. A little nervousness is healthy." He smiled. "Besides, I'm nervous too. First time for both of us."
"Wait, you're a virgin too?"
"Did you think I wasn't?"
"I assumed... I mean, you seem so confident. So sure of yourself."
Sarnav laughed. "Confident doesn't mean experienced. I told you before, every girl I dated, I compared to you. Things never got that far because it never felt right."
Nisha's expression shifted, something warm and wondering blooming in her eyes.
"We really have been waiting for each other."
"Looks like it."
"That's either incredibly romantic or incredibly sad."
"Can't it be both?"
She leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder. "I'm glad. That you waited, I mean. That we get to discover this together."
"Me too."
They watched the last of the sunset fade, the stars growing brighter above them. The world was ruined, monsters roamed the darkness, and tomorrow was uncertain.
But right now, in this moment, everything was perfect.
They slept in separate rooms that night.
It was Nisha's idea. "I want tomorrow to feel special," she explained. "If we sleep together tonight, I'll be too tempted to start early."
Sarnav agreed, even though part of him protested at the separation. After days of falling asleep with her in his arms, his bed felt cold and empty.
He lay awake for a long time, thinking about what was coming. The celebration. The first time. The next step in a relationship that had been building for a decade.
And underneath it all, the awareness that there was still so much he hadn't told her.
The full truth about the Harmony System. The requirement for multiple bonds. The path that would eventually lead to other women.
He'd have to tell her. After tomorrow, after they'd solidified what they had, he'd have to be honest about what being with him really meant.
Would she accept it? She'd said she didn't like sharing. Said the thought of him with someone else made her feel possessive. How would she react when she learned that sharing wasn't just a possibility but a requirement?
The uncertainty gnawed at him. But there was nothing to be done about it tonight.
Tomorrow would bring its own challenges. Tonight was for rest.
Eventually, sleep claimed him.
Day 13 Post-Impact - Morning
The celebration day dawned clear and bright.
Sarnav woke with a sense of anticipation that bordered on anxiety. Today was the day. Tonight was the night. Everything he'd been waiting for, everything they'd been building toward, would finally happen.
He went through his morning routine on autopilot. Washing, dressing, checking his equipment out of habit. The motions were familiar, grounding, helping to center him.
Breakfast was brief. He saw Nisha across the cafeteria, their eyes meeting in a moment of shared understanding. She looked as nervous as he felt, but beneath the nervousness was something eager. Something hungry.
Tonight.
The word echoed between them, unspoken but understood.
The morning brought work, as always.
Patrols were increased after yesterday's scout encounter. Training sessions continued, with Chen Wei drilling the awakened on rapid response formations. Supply inventories were checked and rechecked.
But underneath the routine, there was an undercurrent of excitement. The celebration wasn't just for Sarnav and Nisha. The whole community was looking forward to a chance to relax, to remember that survival wasn't just about fighting and scavenging.
By mid-afternoon, preparations were in full swing. The cafeteria was being decorated with whatever colorful materials people could scrounge. A cooking team was preparing a special meal, using hoarded ingredients that had been saved for exactly this purpose.
"It's like a festival," Mei Ling said happily, directing a group of teenagers as they hung paper streamers. "Remember festivals? Before everything changed?"
"Vaguely," Sarnav said. "Seems like a different lifetime."
"It was a different lifetime. But we can still have good things. We can still celebrate." She smiled at him. "Are you ready for tonight?"
"I think so."
"You think so?" She laughed. "If you're not sure by now, you never will be."
"I'm sure about Nisha. I'm just nervous about... everything else."
"The everything else usually takes care of itself. Just be present, be attentive, and let things happen naturally." She patted his arm. "You'll be fine."
Easy for her to say.
Evening came slowly, then all at once.
The celebration began at sunset, people gathering in the decorated cafeteria for the special meal. Music played from a salvaged speaker system. Laughter and conversation filled the air. For a few hours, the apocalypse receded, replaced by something almost like normalcy.
Sarnav sat beside Nisha at the leadership table, but neither of them paid much attention to the festivities. They ate without tasting, talked without hearing, their awareness focused entirely on each other.
"You look beautiful," Sarnav said quietly.
She'd changed for the occasion, wearing a simple dress that someone had found during a scavenging run. It was nothing fancy, just clean fabric and flattering lines, but she looked stunning.
"You clean up well yourself," she replied, her eyes tracing over his fresh clothes. "Very handsome."
"I try."
Their hands found each other under the table, fingers interlacing. The contact was electric, charged with the knowledge of what was coming.
"Are you ready?" she whispered.
"More than ready."
"Then let's not wait any longer."
They stood together, making quiet excuses to the people nearby. Nobody questioned them. Everyone knew, or suspected, what was happening. The knowing smiles and subtle nods followed them as they left the cafeteria.
The walk to Nisha's room was both endless and instantaneous.
Sarnav opened the door for her, revealing the transformed space. Candles flickered throughout the room, casting warm shadows. The bed was made with clean sheets. The wine sat waiting on the desk.
Nisha's breath caught.
"You did this?"
"Mei Ling helped with supplies. But the arrangement was me."
"It's beautiful." She stepped inside, turning slowly to take it all in. "I can't believe you did this."
"I wanted tonight to be special. You deserve special."
She turned back to him, her eyes shining in the candlelight.
"It's already special. Because it's with you."
Sarnav closed the door behind them, engaging the lock. The sound was soft but significant. They were here. They were alone. And there was nothing left to wait for.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too."
The space between them disappeared.
[SCENE TRANSITION: INTIMATE ENCOUNTER IMMINENT]
[BOND STATUS: NISHA RAMACHANDRAN]
[RELATIONSHIP: LOVERS]
[EMOTIONAL READINESS: COMPLETE]
[PHYSICAL READINESS: CONFIRMED]
[ANTICIPATION LEVEL: MAXIMUM]