The Cursed Soul Reaper

In their minds, Harry was a weak, cowardly person who would cower in the face of any form of confrontation. Just shouting at him would be enough to make him apologize to you just so he doesn't have to get into a fight.

So to hear Harry speaking evenly back to one of his most frequent aggressors was like whiplash for them! They thought Harry had lost his mind.

Judy was staring at Harry like he was just seeing him for the first time all over again, and Judy blinked in surprise when he noticed something else that he missed.

'Has Harry been working out?'

Harry used to be one of the thinnest of their small group, but looking at him now, Judy could tell that Harry's shoulders had broadened and he was definitely a little taller than two weeks ago. What in the world happened while Judy wasn't with Harry?

Jake tilted his head when he heard Harry's tone. Jake was also surprised by the fact that Harry spoke back to him, but his surprise was nothing compared to the anger he was feeling as he suddenly shoved Harry back!

"Hey, say that again if you've got the balls."

Jake's voice was low and deadly with the promise of pain. Harry had heard it many times in the army, it was the voice of someone who was prepared to swing at the next bit of provocation.

Harry gritted his teeth as he glared up at the taller boy. Harry knew that if he said a single word, then Jake was going to take a swing at him. As Harry was now, he didn't have the strength needed to take on someone far stronger than him.

Jake wasn't like the other boys that Harry beat up at the lake earlier. Those boys had been untrained and they were around the same age and size as Harry. They only relied on their size to threaten him, so it was easy for Harry to manhandle them by turning their weight against them.

But Jake was different. After years of scavenging, Jake had every muscle an eighteen-year-old could have, and there was good balance and core strength in Jake's stance. Harry would not be able to challenge him in a straight fistfight and come out on top.

'If only I had a weapon.'

Using weapons would be a different matter altogether, and Harry was certain that if he had a knife or axe, he could inflict enough damage on Jake to make this a fairer fight.

"You're still looking at me, you trash!? You want me to fucking smash your head into the ground!"

"Hey, that's enough. People are watching."

Terence spoke up from behind the two of them as he grabbed Jake's hand before Jake could take a swing. Jake turned around to tell Terence that it wasn't over yet, but Terence gave Jake a hard look.

Terence's position as the leader of the group and his track record over the past years had made even someone as stubborn as Jake respect Terence, so when Terence pulled Jake away from Harry and told him to get back to the others, Jake only spared Harry a glare before moving to do as he was told.

Once Jake was gone, Terence turned to look down at Harry with an inquisitive glance. Harry stared back at him unshaken, and Terence huffed.

"I don't know what happened to you, but you better make sure you throw that ego of yours in the trash when we get to the ruin. I'm not going to let your bullshit fuck up the team dynamics. If you don't want to do this, then you can get out. There are hundreds of kids who would do anything to be in your position."

"Of course, he wants to do it! He wants to do it for sure. Isn't that right, Harry!?"

Judy quickly came up when he realized what was about to happen. Losing this job was going to be a big blow for him. He didn't have the strength to work as a Scavenger, and being one of the Carriers was the only way for children to earn good pay in the Lower Valley.

Judy turned to Harry with an angry glare when Harry didn't answer for a few seconds.

"Harry. We understand. Don't we?"

Judy spoke through gritted teeth as he urged Harry to answer him, and after a few seconds, Harry finally relented and nodded in acceptance. Judy grinned wide and turned to give Terence the biggest smile he could muster.

"We'll be on our best behavior, boss! I promise!"

Terence was still looking at Harry inquisitively, but after a few seconds, he nodded and turned around to join the other members of the team in their conversation.

Once he was gone, Judy released a sigh of relief and shoved Harry on the shoulder while asking Harry what the hell he thought he was doing! Harry ignored him and continued to look around calmly.

The area that they were in was a small square at the center of the market. There was a gate on the east side of the square where groups of scavengers were passing through to reach the Land of Ruins. On either side of the gate stood a soldier with a semi-automatic rifle in his hand.

The men in front of the gate were part of the Military in this world, and Harry felt his eyes gravitate towards them once he realized what they were. Harry glanced at the guns they held and he was surprised when he didn't recognize what the model or make was.

Harry shoved Judy a bit to grab his attention, and Judy turned to look at what Harry was pointing out.

"What gun model is that?"

Judy frowned.

"Gun model? Dude, how the hell should I know that? I'm not some sort of gun nut. If you're curious then ask Terence. He'd know. No wait, don't ask him now. He might still be angry at – Harry!"

Harry was already walking towards the leader of their group before Judy could finish his sentence, and Terence turned around curiously when he heard Harry call his name. Harry asked the same question again, and Terence frowned and turned to the gun that Harry was pointing at. Why in the world would Harry want to know about guns?

"That's a Drifting Jaeger model 5. It's the most common gun used around the Lower Valley. Why are you interested in that?"

A Drifting Jaeger? What sort of name for a gun was that?

Harry didn't recognize the model or name of the gun, but his hand itched to fire it. Memories of his time handling Desert Eagles and high-recoil machine guns in the army were making him homesick.

Terence ignored Harry again after Harry didn't answer his question and turned back to the other group members.

The group waited there for a few minutes for their appointed time to arrive.

Every group of scavengers was mandated to register with the Lower Valley police and receive an appointment time and date before they could make their way into the Ruins. The gate with the soldiers in front of it was the only path leading from the lower Valley to the Ruins, and once a group was in the Ruins, there were no police or soldiers to protect them from whatever they would meet in there.

The Land of Ruins was a vast expanse of uninhabitable land that stretched for thousands of kilometers after the gate. This land was littered with various buildings and structures that had once been lived in by humans, but after the war against the Yofou, the land was never rebuilt before humans began to make their way off the planet.