“Do you want to go?” She asked after a long moment of silence.

Karl watched the corner of his wife’s face as she resumed slicing vegetables.

“I don’t, but she is going ahead without me”

Lisa paused and resumed her work in silence. She expected Karl to keep talking but he didn’t. He had already skinned and washed the meat on the Other Side before he returned so after casually washing it again, he cut it into smaller pieces and put them into the freezer. Lisa was still cooking when he finished so he helped her do the dishes before leaving for the living room where he opened a bottle of beer and relaxed on the couch. He couldn’t stop thinking about April returning to the Other Side and although he kept saying he would never return to those unexplored areas, he felt a faint thrill and excitement when presented with the prospect of it.

Lisa finished cooking and joined Karl on the couch, resting her head on his shoulder and hugging him across his abdomen.

“If you can’t bear to let her go alone, you should try to convince her to stay, she will listen to you” she suggested. She knew how much April loved Karl and it wouldn’t be wrong to say she knew the depths of those feelings better than April herself. While April thought she wasn’t in love but simply seeking a thrill and challenge, she was going over the fact that she had been interested in Karl for over eight years and that was a very long time for anything that wasn’t love to die. April’s feelings however seemed to be growing and stabilizing, from excitement when seeing Karl, she felt comfortable. From admiring simply his facial features and body, she considered his feelings and thoughts. Her feelings were no longer as simple as she thought and in fact, they probably were never simple.

“Not this time. The Survival Area is in dire need of a new food source, if the exploration is not successful, we would be in some very serious trouble in about five years. April would never allow something like that to happen” Karl shook his head.

“Would you?” Lisa asked softly. She hadn’t considered the reason for the exploration before and now that she knew it, she didn’t know what to think or say.

“Lisa I can’t leave you without knowing when I will return or if I will at all” Karl answered and kissed his wife’s head affectionately.

“Let’s have a baby!” Lisa suddenly sat up.

“What?” Karl felt confused but Lisa wasn’t giving him any time to consider her request, she leaned to kiss his neck and climbed on him.

****

The next day, Karl headed for the Explorer Association to find Lisa. The Explorer Association was the most prestigious among all the Associations because they monitored the Survival Area and its needs, and at the same time, they explored the Other Side and marked the dangerous areas as well as areas where hunting was possible.

Being among the first explorers gave Karl a lot of Authority within the Survival Area and also the opportunity to meet some of the most powerful business owners within it. Walking into the multiple level building that was the Explorers Association, Karl took a long look around the exquisite building. The Staff of the Association were the only ones formerly dressed and thus easily distinguishable from the Explorers who while being more neatly dressed than hunters were dressed for outdoors or in their case the Other Side.

As he walked through the extremely spatial hall he turned a few heads due to his unconventional dressing. He stood out from both the staff and Explorers both because of the long black coat he had on and his easily recognizable face. The history of the Associations in the Survival Area was not very long. Before their establishment, there was only the military which maintained order and it was so for a very long time before the need for resources prompted the most influential of the Survival Area to create the Explorers and Hunters Association and Karl stood out the most among the First Explorers because his group was out the longest, explored the most terrain and he was simply the product of a surviving miracle due to the fact that he was only ten years old when he was sent out.

“Captain Karl” one of the Staffers quickly walked up to him and continued beside him with her head lowered. She was feeling quite nervous and understandably so, in the Survival Area where there was no President or leader, Karl’s name was the most widely spread and the most respected.

Karl glanced at the woman beside him who he didn’t recognize. He didn’t come to the Explorers Association often because of his disinterest in unexplored areas but every time he did there was always a different person attending to him.

“Is Miss Sanders here?” he asked maintaining his pace toward the stairs at the far end of the hall.

“Yes Sir, Captain Sanders is in her lab” the Staffer answered quickly. The title of Captain was the highest an Explorer could achieve within the Explorers Association. It was also only recognized within the Association because the Hunters Association also has its ranks for Hunters and Captain was a low ranked one. Thus titles from Associations we’re not recognized by the Survival Area itself and are only useful within the respective Associations.

Karl nodded and they continued to the staircase. The upper floor was just the same as the lower one, only there were more people here, all Explorers of a higher rank than the lower floor. It wasn’t at all surprising since it didn’t take very long to get the first promotion. The higher floors however were more difficult to get into because promotion from the second rank was about three fold the first. Karl and his attendant headed straight for the glass elevator in the middle of the room and as the doors of the elevator were about to close a small hand stopped them and it opened again to reveal a young girl about eleven years old.

“Hi Karl” she smiled as soon as she saw Karl in the elevator.

“Hey, Sarah.” Karl returned the smile.