(March 31, 2016 - Floor 19 in The Tower - Harran, Turkey, The Middle East, Europe...)

Hello friend. Hello friend, that used to be lame. Do you want me to give you a name? That's a slippery slope though, because we have to remember that you're only in my head. B*gger, I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm talking to an imaginary person.

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Libby Mason, I'm 16 years old and to other people, I'm just your average teenager who was born and raised in England. But I'm actually not, because I'm on the autistic spectrum and I suffer from two conditions; hearing loss and social anxiety. This affects how I function in everyday life, such as socialising and building a connection with people. Sure, some of the kids in school gave me a chance and I gladly took every one. But...they didn't work out, they never did and that's made my anxiety worse over the years.

Well, at least I had my parents by my side to help me cope ... that is, until two months ago. My younger brother and two sisters are family members too, though they would appear in spirit because ... they passed away before we got to know them.

On a different note, everyone has media productions, topics and people that they are interested in; favourite movie, television show or cute band, you get the idea. My interests were similar, but they were a lot different than the stereotypical teenage girl's interests. Since I was 9 years old, I've been a huge fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. I've played the games I was able to get my hands on, I watched some of the television shows and I bought the merchandise that I could. My former bedroom's walls are covered in video game posters and my childhood plush toys of the characters helped me calm down whenever I had an anxiety attack because of bullying. I also had a little lapis ring which was a gift on my 12th birthday and that helped soothe my anxiety too...

I have no idea what happened to them now. Are they ... Are they still in my old home? I don't know anymore...

That doesn't really matter so much, because I know there's no way back to Old Town. That's where the virus first popped out of the blue, and ... and there were so much chaos when it happened! The infected ripping citizens apart, the bloody sights and families getting separated - some thankfully being evacuated to the United States and others unfortunately being left behind to get imprisoned by a Quarantine Wall!

And like most children separated from their families, I too was separated from mine...

"Libby?"

The familiar voice from my crackling radio snapped me out of my thoughts, prompting me to switch my earpiece on. "Hello?"

"Hi, you okay?" Rahim spoke from the other end.

I found myself smiling shyly. Thankfully, I wasn't alone for very long after the citizens were evacuted and the rest of us were left behind. We decided to quit Old Town in favour of the Slums and during our trip through the sewers, along came the Aldemir siblings and their new friend, Amir Ghoreyshi. Rahim and I are complete opposites personality-wise; so much so that other people here would call it "irresponsibility combining with intelligence". But despite that, he has a genuinely sweet side and he's always taken care of me. Jade has a gentle side too and to put it shortly, she's the bad*ss strong woman whom any little girl would want to look up to and follow. Unfortunately, she's become way more protective of us and whilst we appreciated it, it was starting to grow tiresome because Rahim and I have minds of our own. And more importantly, we can handle ourselves out there. Amir was also like Jade, and he was greatly admired by everyone here...

Jade loved him dearly too. I ... I still can't believe he's gone... I really can't...!

"Yeah," I answered happily. "I'm in one piece as always,"

"Oh, right. Good to hear." My best friend replied with relief, influencing my smile to broaden. You're so sweet, Goggles... "Are you still getting the new room ready?"

"I'm almost done, actually." I said, glancing round briefly at my surroundings. The new room I set up for the newcomer had a small space with a simple blue and white zip-up bed. On top of the latter lay a yellow t-shirt, dark brown cargo pants and a pair of matching combat boots. Nice and simple for now. Might throw in a couple of more things when the new guy earns his keep ... that's if, Jade and Rahim are okay with him hanging round. My smile faded with concern as I continued. "Why, is something wrong?"

"No, no. It's just that... I've got some news."

"Okay?" I responded with confusion. What does he want to tell me?

"I met the newb and I got some sweet well-deserved revenge on him." My best friend revealed excitedly, allowing me to detect satisfaction in his tone. Oh, bl**dy hell...!

Words couldn't describe the warning bells ringing in my head. Rahim had the tendency to be a bit brash and arrogant, which was occasionally powerful to handle. Once we heard that Amir died, the poor guy was beside himself and took his rage out on the new dude we brought in. It was so bad that he wants him dead for "killing" our friend and Jade feels the exact same way! Everyone has different methods to cope with loss, that I understood. But wanting someone dead for a friend's death without learning what their deal is? A bit extreme...

I rolled my eyes with an annoyed sigh. "Rahim, what did you do?"

"What didn't I do?" My best friend exclaimed gleefully, soon breaking into laughter. "I told him that we don't tolerate lazy *ssholes like him and taunted him with the precious radio he so desperately wanted. You should have seen his face Libby, he looked like he was about to p*ss himself!"

For god's sake! Why do you have to be so mean occasionally?!

"Right, I'm on my way over." I sighed angrily, switching my radio off before he could protest, strolling out into Floor 19's main hallway and taking a left towards the main Headquarters.

Why was I unimpressed? Because people shouldn't judge others before getting to know them. I hated judgement due to personal experiences and bonus points go to bullies attacking their victims just for the heck of it. Whilst I understood Rahim's reasons for doing so, I believed that we should hear the new guy's side of the story first before deciding whether to let him earn his keep or give Jade and Rahim their wish.

"Hi, excuse me?" Oh b*gger...!

I slowed to a halt and found myself face to face with a dude who looked like he was in his early thirties at the latest. His brown hair matched his facial hair and eyes perfectly, whilst his outfit consisted of a dirty brown t-shirt underneath a lighter collared shirt, a pair of dirty blue jeans and lightish brown boots. The finishing touch was the black wrist watch snapped around his left wrist. Oh, it's great to finally meet you 31 ... or should I say, discount Sonic the Hedgehog?

"Yes?" I responded, managing to hide my slowly growing anxiety. Just be cool, Libby. Just be cool...

"Do you know where I can find an elevator here?" My new acquaintance asked, prompting me to lean forward slightly with my left ear. A little method I use if I can't hear properly, don't ask.

"Oh, um, yes. If you go on ahead and make a turn, you should see it on your left." I answered politely.

"Thanks. You're the kid who visited me, aren't you?"

Hearing this, a shy look painted my face. Pretty obvious, isn't it? "Yep, I'm one of the Tower's doctors. It's good to see you're still in one piece, 31,"

"Right. Thank you for patching me up and paying me a visit." He responded with a smile. The latter faded into a guilty expression as he continued speaking. "And I'm sorry about Amir."

Huh, is it just me or does this guy seem... nice? Maybe he didn't mean for Amir to die?

"If you're worried that I'm going to blame you for it, don't." I responded with an appreciative grin.

31 flashed a look of complete shock. "W-Wait, you don't blame me?"

"I don't see the point," I explained honestly. "Yes, I'm upset because Amir was a good friend to everyone and he always loved to help them. But you shouldn't judge people and berate them for something they did unintentionally,"

"I gotta say, I agree." The newb replied, before allowing anger to flare up a little. "Though, everyone else could be a lot nicer,"

A concerned frown painted my face, upon hearing his words. Now that I heard his side of the story, this seemed like a whole misunderstanding. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it tragically cost Amir his life. Maybe he could do something to do redeem himself and therefore earn his keep? What about joining the Scouts' team? Oh, that's it! Brilliant!

"W-We have a Scouts team which go out to do missions and assist survivors, even though we've lost too many members recently. I'm planning to join them again and Amir was a part of the team too. You could maybe join and try helping people?" I suggested hopefully. "It will give you a chance to prove yourself and show everyone that you didn't want Amir to die."

"Okay, yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the suggestion, kid," 31 replied, giving me a grin. "I better get going, but I'll see you around?"

"Sure,"

"Alright," With that, he gave a nod and turned away to continue on whilst I did the same ... but then he spoke again, influencing me to turn round to face him.

"Hm?" I asked, trotting over to him. What did he say?

"What's your name?"

O-Oh, wow. I ... I can't say I was expecting that.

"Libby," I answered cautiously, feeling pleasantly surprised as meeting someone in friendly circumstances still felt very rare. "You?"

"Crane," My new friend said with a friendly grin, extending his hand which I hesitantly took. "Good to meet you,"

"Y-You too," I responded politely.

After we shook hands, Crane left to continue down the hallway whilst I turned to venture down to Headquarters. I was... I was quite surprised to learn that he wasn't so bad as he initially seemed. He was nice enough, I'll give him that, and... I think we could get along well here on out, I really do.

Boooy, do I have a story to tell you, Rahim!