18 Contemplating Departure?

L walked back down the halls to where Wen and Ethan sat patiently. When he reached the heavy door of Wen's room he opened it with trepidition, startling both of the men inside.

L walked in with an unreadable look upon his face. "Guys, we should leave the asylum."

"What, why?" Wen stood up and walked towards the man. His voice contained hints of confused judgement. L towered over Wen by a few centimeters but Wen was assertive with his stance, powering over the taller man.

"I saw a huge monster in the asylum." L started, he didn't know when they started calling the creatures monsters, but the word seemed fit to a horrifying extent. L bit his lip unconciously, it was a common practice for him when he was thinking and didn't have a pen he could tap. "This place isn't safe anymore, were going to need to move soon."

"The only monster's we have seen were the one outside and the one who jumped in. It doesn't make sense for the creature's to appear in here." Wen narrowed his innocent looking honey brown eyes. His arms were crossed, making him seem like a mom who was interrogating their child.

"I have a feeling they 'grew' here, it was a mash-up of human skin with a few labcoats. It might have been from the bodies we gathered."

"Well... that would be a problem I suppose, but isn't this a good thing that we decided to take all the bodies into one area because now we have one big monster and not multiple tiny one's who can attack us from all angles."

That analysis caught L off guard. Wen was actually really smart and not cloudy minded like most of the asylum patients he'd heard about from Ethan. I mean, it was a bit off topic and wouldn't really help them but he was still very intuitive.

L nodded slowly. "Either way we can't stay here. We also won't be able to walk out the front door with the monster guarding the hallway."

Wen shrugged. "I've heard windows make great doors."

L furrowed his eyebrow, casting a side glance towards the eccentric man. "Hopefully you can fly because the clouds won't save you."

Wen mocked a laugh at the mans theatrics. L continued, looking at Wen's window. It was a small rectangle window angled above L's horizon line, thick metal bars distorted the image of the world beyond it, "Plus with your sized window I don't think we could make it out."

"Who said we were using my window?" Wen turned to him with a devilish smirk, highlighting his roughish appearance. It sent a weird feeling traveling through L's body.

That's when L remembered and reciprocated Wen's smirk. "You know what... you're smarter than you look."

As much as Wen wanted to punch L in the face for that remark, he knew he couldn't, so he shot fire back. "And you're dumber than my dead goldfish, she was really stupid by the way."

L didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Ethan, on the other hand, was feeling confused and left out by their joking. He was really thrown out at sea when he was with these two, feeling somewhat like a third wheel.

Yet again they rubbed the fact that Ethan couldn't speak much, be it intentionally or not, in Ethan's face, and he had to suck up the pain of being a third wheel. Jealousy panged in his heart, he felt like a chandelier. Delicate and heavy yet hanging only by a single chain. Maybe someday that chain would break.

L and Wen continued to shoot insults at each other. They acted like they have been friends for a while even though they just recently met under the conditions of the apocalypse. I guess the apocalypse does that to people, when you find people you can really trust, you'd want to hang onto them the most in dangerous times.

L broke it first, shoving Wen's face to the side with his large slender hand. He cleared his throat, making way for the words to file out of his mouth before giving his order. "Ok, we'll leave tomorrow, lets get everything packed up today. We shouldn't have stayed anyway since we let a monster go who knows our location, that was foolish of me."

Wen nodded and got to work, heading straight for the food. Suprizingly if it was something he cared about, he would work for it. He still felt reluctance in his heart dispite the impending danger inside. The danger outside would be much worse but if all comes to worse he'll just sacrifice the others and save the food of course.

That was Wen's brutal thought process yet the other two were oblivious to this. Living their life in sweet sweet ignorant bliss.

L kneeled at Ethan's feet and untied him, he was unsure whether he would attack again but the man seemed stable for now and he needed help packing everything up. Ethan stood up but immediately went down on his knee's with a dull thud.

Gravity was feeling really kinky today.

Ethan tried to stand up but his weak noodle arms were no match for gravity. He could feel the nerves sending signals up and down his legs and arms, as if they were crying for not being used in two days. The static pain whenever he moved brought tears to his eyes and he looked up at L apologetically.

"Uhm... maybe just take a moment." L awkwardly patted the man's black haired head, sending black strands swaying in Ethan's vision.

Ethan watched the other two work efficiently and a sense of giult and self-loathing mended it's way into his tears. Life was really unfair! Out of all people it had to be him?

He furrowed his eyebrows in determination and tried to stand up but his body wouldn't cooperate. 'Don't tell me I'm going to be a usless cripple now?' He huffed and slammed his small hands onto the concrete floor. The floor was grainy and coarse, conveying how poorly managed the place was, as sharp small rocks dug their way into Ethan's palms. The pain conversed with his nerves, sending a wave of sharp static up his arms. 'I'm really useless, ah-. I can't even walk let alone protect myself."

He was so lost in his head that he almost didn't hear the patterned knocking that came from the room door, drawing all three of their attentions.

"Who..."