Chapter 43: Back to Civilisation
Alexandre woke up at dawn. Latika was still asleep, so he got up without making a sound and took a long, hot shower. He dressed, then gathered his belongings—and a few pieces of fresh fruit from the center table—before leaving silently.
Though skilled Hunters could deliberately slow their bodily functions when necessary, their metabolisms were, by default, much stronger than those of ordinary humans. The process of accelerated healing made this metabolism even stronger. As a result, Alexandre's body temperature was several degrees higher than that of a normal human.
Though he didn't feel feverish at all, his breath puffed in a thick cloud of vapor as he strolled down the wintery streets of Hunter's Paradise in the slowly growing sunlight. That same moisture almost immediately dissipated in the freeze-dried air, giving Alexandre a sort of ghostly presence as he walked toward the town's ferry. He briefly wondered if most Hunters became accustomed to stifling their body temperature in the winter, so as not to stand out from others when they wanted to blend in.
Alexandre quickly walked to the island's ferry, which linked the various islands of the archipelago together. His ferry departed at 6:12 am, and though Alexandre had assumed few other people would be up at this time, the ferry was in fact crowded with other people—mostly, it seemed, former candidates who'd taken the offered money to leave and never return.
'I wish you all luck,' Alexandre thought, as though they could hear him. 'You'd better not squander what little you've been given. This world is cruel to those who are lazy and greedy. Hopefully the last few days have driven that truth into your skulls so hard that you'll never forget it.'
But unlike these people, Alexandre wasn't heading back to the archipelago's first island to escape. He'd be leaving, true... but he'd also be back very soon.
***
After the several-hour ferry ride and a short walk, Alexandre finally arrived at the Hunter Island airfield, which was staffed by officers of both the US Marine Corps and Hunter Academy—this was technically an international border, after all, though it was a very unique one.