Concealed Map

"What did you just do?"

"I said... WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" Jarxen raised his voice as he picked Blond up from the ground and ferociously shook him. "ANSWER ME!"

Blond kept a straight face even after Jarxen 'juggled' him to and fro in the air. After a few seconds, Jarxen finally regained his composure, dropping Blond on the floor with a thud. Blond felt as if his insides got mixed inside a blender but he didn't show it in any of his expressions.

"Why? What's wrong, Jarxen?" Blond calmly interrogated. He stayed sitting on the ground since he lost his sense of balance. He could already see himself puking if he tried to stand up.

"Great! Thank your hero over here." Jarxen let out a sigh. He was really trying to keep his frustrations from leaking out of his soul. "Because of him... Because of him, I need to get another batch! ARGH!!!"

"Another batch of workers? Why?" Red's curiosity got the better of him so he just had to ask.

"Look..."

"The humanoid you tested... it's not an ordinary humanoid."

"With that ugliness, I already assumed that was the case." Blond interrupted.

"QUIET! LET ME EXPLAIN!" Jarxen responded with a shout at Blond's interruption.

"That humanoid... that humanoid is a Server Humanoid. It's directly connected to the other humanoids' vast array of networks, the only difference is its real-time learning skill and its high, pre-programmed artificial intelligence. That's why we don't have a programming block here in the Asterisk, the humanoids learn how to fight themselves as their program. Well, it's not like I need to tell you all of this but you're all plunging to your demise sooner or later after the humanoid witnessed such a skill. Argh~!"

Jarxen scratched his head in frustration. Unbeknownst to the teenagers, Jarxen really hated his workers dying, but one thing he hated even more was getting a new batch of recruits since he always needs to start from the ground up teaching them everything.

"This is the eighth batch of the year and now I need to get ready for the ninth. This is the worst." Jarxen mumbled to himself.

"Great! Thank you for not telling us anything before we fought that humanoid. Thank you so much, Jarxen." Blond sarcastically mentioned as he got up and headed straight to the lodging room with utter displeasure emitting from his aura. The group followed suit behind him, leaving Jarxen by himself.

Red caught up to him and smirked. Knowing Blond, he's probably a few steps ahead of us and Jarxen combined. He thought to himself.

"Blond... stop with the act. You already knew that before fighting the humanoid, right? There's no need to hide anything from me."

"I could say the same thing. Now, just tell us what you know about the Outside." Blond responded with a hint of a grin on his face. Blond was back to his normal self as if the humanoid testing didn't even occur in the first place.

"I told you, they're not yet ready."

Red had a serious look on his face, releasing a suffocating pressure that stopped Blond in his tracks. Blond had the urge to stop prying into him with questions so he headed quietly towards his bunk bed. "That's unusual," Blond said in his mind as he looked back at Red. This time, Red warmly smiled at him. "He's crazy, I guess," Blond concluded.

To his surprise, the girl with the long silky black hair was there, waiting for him on his bunk bed. Upon seeing him, the girl suddenly retracted her gaze directed at him. Her face reddened, even more, every time Blond took a step closer.

"What are you doing here?" Blond sighed. He could finally breathe after arriving at a safe distance away from Red's pressure.

"Thank you." The girl muttered. Then she got up and headed to the adjacent bunk bed without saying another word.

"Look... with your skills, I know you could easily take care of that humanoid as I did. What's wrong with all of you... hiding something from everyone when we needed to help each other out in order to get the hell out of here." Blond couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.

... ...

"Blond, I know what you're talking about, but shouldn't you be the first one to open up? You're the one hiding the most out of all of us here." Someone spoke from behind him.

It was Red.

... ...

Colors drained from the girl's face after seeing Red beside her. Even though she was confident in her espionage skills and sneaking up to people, she finally found out her skills were incomparable compared to Red. She couldn't even detect Red walking up to them. It's as if a portion of the wall manifested into Red and if he had chosen not to speak, they wouldn't have sensed him.

"R-Red? How did you... " Blond was taken aback.

"What, I simply followed behind you." Red shrugged, finding a spot on Blond's bunk bed and sitting on it.

Red shot a glance at the black-haired girl. The girl was caught unaware by his sudden surprise act. It was a hard pill to swallow for the girl since she had been sneaking behind Red most of the time.

I only followed Red around since I found him the most mysterious out of the group. That's all there is to it. She convinced herself.

She wasn't expecting the same deed to come around.

The girl dejectedly stared at her feet, as if she just played a game and lost by a landslide.

"The map." Red interrupted the girl's line of thought.

Blond impulsively flinched as he swiveled to face Red.

"Map?" The black-haired girl cluelessly asked, aiming her glance back and forth between Blond and Red.

"Caught you off-guard, didn't you?" Red provoked, enjoying Blond's minute, yet visibly noticeable reaction.

Blond let out a few short breaths likened to short bursts of a chuckle. "Map? What do you mean?"

"The one in your hidden pocket."

Gasp!

Red said the sentence a little too loud, piquing everyone's curiosity. A second later, everyone formed a circle around Red and Blond.

"A map?" Freckles jumped into the conversation with the same clueless expression as the black-haired girl. "What are you talking about?"

Red didn't say anything, he just pointed at Blond and urged him to speak up. "You did tell me not to hide anything from everyone, so I'm starting with this. No hard feelings."

"You're really putting me in a tight spot over here, Red," Blond muttered.

Red smiled in return. "You've probably calculated every possible conclusion on what's going to happen in a few days, but this came out sooner than expected, right?" He said to himself.

"What's this about a map?" Scar seconded.

"Anyone got any food? I'm hungry." Curl complained amidst the debate.

"How about you show us what's inside your hidden pocket first." Blond continued.

"I'm hungry... " Curl repeated.

Tension rose up like a tsunami on its highest point when Blond pointed out something everyone knew about. After a few minutes of silence, the tension turned into a whirlwind of anxiousness as they eyed Red.

"Fine."

Red ruffled his tattered shirt and pulled out a long strip of black and red clothing from it. Red showed two of them, each extending up to sixteen feet in length and with an elastic composition. Red then proceeded to neatly wound it up like a thread to form two cylindrical wraps.

"A Kumpur wrap?" Gadge's face lit up at the sight of it.

"That's the thing you wrap around your fists on a boxing match, right?" Scar added.

"Now, the map," Red repeated extending his hand

"Fine, fine." Blond shook his head in utter defeat. He reached underneath his bunk bed and pulled out a six-by-six inch folded paper and cooly handed it to Red. "Now, care to tell us everything you know about the Outside? And why did you keep a Kumpur wrap of all things?"

"I find it intriguing too, to say the least. It's probably to remind me of my expertise in close quarters combat." Red bit his lip. "Anyways, thanks for the map. I'll tell you everything I know once... mmm... "

"Once everyone's ready, I guess."

"There he goes again... " Blond helplessly sighed.

As Red headed back to his bunk bed, the faces of the rest of the group contorted into confusion. What's the map about? How is it important? How did Blond come into possession of it? As they ask questions upon questions in their heads, the group found themselves diving deeper into bewilderment.

"Red, what's the map about?!" Scar tried to shout but he realized they were probably getting eavesdropped. "How come Red knew about it and not us? Don't you trust us?"

"Well then, care to tell me about that mixed herbs you have on that pouch? If you did, then I will tell you." Blond hurled a question back at him.

Scar took a step backward as his confused expression shifted into a more perplexed one.

How did he know about the pouch? How did he... He asked himself but he couldn't arrive at a single plausible conclusion. Moreover, he never took the pouch out of his hidden pocket.

"I... I don't know anything about it. I discovered it a little after we woke up back in the Dome. I did not bring it up not because I want to keep it a secret, but because I got too engrossed in our situation." Scar fumbled in his shirt and got a pouch. He then tossed it to Blond without a second thought. "If you know anything about it, then feel free to keep it for me."

"That explains why you didn't act as surprised when Gadge pointed a knife at you." Curl butted in. "Honestly, why are you all keeping secrets with each other? The more information we have, the better the chance we have at getting out of this place."

"I agree... "