If one were to imagine a beggar hanging on to a car, Dock Houffen certainly fit the image.
It hadn’t even been an hour since the apocalypse began...
Dock Houffen had never been normal since he was a child, and he definitely was not normal now that he was approaching middle age. He entered college when his peers had just entered high school, and he had been studying and experimenting since then.
Because of the lack of self-care and the excessive exposure to various chemicals and experiments, he looked like he was already in his 40s when he was just in his 30s.
He never cared, of course; his experiments were most important!
Anyway, this way of growing up caused him to be a bit antisocial and self-absorbed, not really caring what others thought and just going through whatever the hell he wanted.
He had plenty of patents under his name, but there were more that should’ve been his, but were scammed out of him.
For example, one he exchanged for a laboratory, but it ended up just being a room with only the most basic equipment. Then he exchanged another for more equipment. He didn’t really understand the value of these things, so he accepted the deals. He accepted things quickly as long as no one was bothering him or showing their annoying faces in front of him.
All he wanted was a quiet place and complete equipment and materials to experiment to his heart’s content. Was that too much to ask? But there were idiots everywhere.
Some stupid boss tried to take his credit; he made a scene, and then some coworkers annoyed him; he made a scene again.
He got stuck with a few experiments, and the higher-ups thought his value was lost. To them, he had finally gone past his peak and had encountered the infamous block.
How could Dock, who had been smooth sailing in terms of academe, accept this? To summarize, he showed attitude, and he did not employ tact.
People became less and less tolerant of his moods and, two years ago, he was fired.
He found a place in his old hometown to settle and do his work. His family was gone, but they did have properties, so he just took over.
The change of scenery seemed to have opened the flood of inspiration in his mind, and he found another thing to apply for a patent for. It was just that there were many delays, and then he got a letter that he was about to get assassinated!
The second part was even more stupid, saying the apocalypse was coming! It made things even more unbelievable.
But then he felt like he was being stalked for the week or so that followed, making him paranoid. But he corrected himself, thinking that his fear was probably due to the confirmation bias created by the letter.
However, on the same day, he stepped on shit and stopped his walk to try and wipe it off. Who’d have thought a pot would fall down on him immediately after?
It missed him because he slipped. If he hadn’t, the pot would’ve fallen down directly on his head!
That one accident could’ve been a coincidence, but he was so creeped out he left the town in the middle of the night, not even taking his things with him. Anyway, there was not much there.
He hid away since then, making a living online by editing or making other people’s theses. A month passed by in the blink of an eye, and the so-called apocalyptic events indicated in the paper he had ignored started happening.
Sad for him, he threw the paper away without reading beyond the first page. All he knew was that the meteorites were just the beginning!
He had never regretted anything before. That was the first time.
...
He suffered for a while, almost dying due to the earthquake, getting caked by the soil he fell down onto. He knew he must look horrible, so he was very surprised when the car stopped and he was taken in.
Knowing his appearance and situation, this movement was very suspicious. Normal people would either ignore him or question him first before letting him in, right?
Directly pulling him in without a word made him imagine he was going to end up in parts soon.
Unexpectedly, when he looked at the people inside, he saw no malice (not that he was an expert in detecting it). It looked like they really just let him in because he knocked on their door.
People were so kind? Then again, what did he expect by attaching himself to a random van?
"It’s good that you’re alive." The lady in the shotgun seat said, looking at him with a knowing expression on her face.
"Ya’ know me?"
"Did you read the letter I sent you?"
It took the genius Dock Houffen to lag for a few seconds. When he reacted, he shot up from his seat and his head bumped on the car’s ceiling.
"OW—THAT WAS YOU!?"
"You’re welcome," Naia said. "To show your gratitude, why don’t you join and work for our group?"
...
Dock, of course, nodded without hesitation!
When he received water and bread, he nodded three more times, as if to show that he was really agreeing to this deal!
At the side, Kael looked at Naia in curiosity. She wasn’t the type who’d randomly save people, let alone actively invite them to her group.
She nodded. "He’s one of the best chemists in the country," she told him. "We need many intellectuals from different fields as much as fighters to rebuild."
Rebuilding was a bit idealistic, considering the destructive power of the aliens. But even so, wasn’t doing the work towards that goal good enough? It would keep people wishing to remain alive, hoping to see the time they could recover.
"Besides, he’s the type who doesn’t care about going out," she said, giving a sly smile that caused Kael to go into a daze, his azure eyes fixed on her lips.
"If I get complete lab equipment and provide him with materials, don’t you think he’d be willing to be our personal potion maker?
"The kind who can be willingly ’locked up’?"
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