9 Day 3.8

After everything started to calm down a bit, they regrouped with Don. In particular, the kid was standing behind April, as if she were some kind of protective shield. Don had finished off a few cigarettes while he waited. He turned toward them when they approached. Even if they did not speak on it, it was still evident. The feeling... a clear emotion...

Fear.

Although, It was not as strong as before. Maybe they used some time to come to terms with what happened. "Are you all ready?" Don asked, mainly referring to April. Earlier, she was a shivering mess. Don knew precisely why and did not blame her for it. "Yup, but can we bring him along?" April asked cutely after giving her answer and stepped aside to reveal the dark-skinned teen from earlier.

He looked average in both build and height. Other than the fact that the teen had pissed his pants and cried his eyes out, there wasn't much to say. "Do you trust him?" Don shifted his attention back toward April after evaluating the kid.

The kid wasn't someone they knew, and while he may have been a teen, that did not excuse the fact that he could easily be trusted. The kid stepped back out of fear. After all, he had just witnessed Don murder four people. While Rebecca, Noah, and April may have come to terms with it even a little, the kid wasn't.

"Well... Umm..." April knew what Don meant when he asked such a question. Could some random stranger they knew nothing about truly be trusted? "Yes." Rebecca's voice resounded, which drew everyone's attention to her. "Don... contrary to what you just did; I truly believe you are not so heartless as to abandon a kid. Plus, I can tell he is a good kid. Just scared."

Don ran through some things in mind before turning on his heel. "Fair enough, but get him a change of clothes. Here." Don offered his bag to Rebecca. "He may have to roll up the cuffs, but there is a pair of pants that should fit him." April smiled softly when she noticed how thoughtful Don was being.

"Thank you." April joyfully expressed, making Don shake his head slightly before checking over his guns and magazines. Rebecca set the shotgun aside and took the bag in hand. The weight of the load caused her to damn near drop it, but she managed to keep a grip on it so she could set it down slowly.

As she went through Don's bag, she noticed some shirts and pants, some underwear, a good amount of bottled water and canned goods, a bottle of painkillers, and a lot of ammunition. Not to mention there were even some stun grenades and smoke grenades as well as regular grenades. This did not even include the three boxes of slug shells he spoke of earlier.

Seeing all of this made her realize why the bag was so damn heavy in the first place, but what impressed her even more, was that Don had been running and fighting while carrying this bag. So much so that it didn't even seem to bother him. She pulled out a pair of pants and offered them to the kid.

"Here, we'll stand to watch, so change really quickly." The kid took the pants with a nod. Noah and Rebecca gave the kid space to keep the lookout while turning away. April took this time to approach Don and place a hand on his arm, which caught his attention.

When April touched his arm, he had finished sliding in the mag of his 1911 Rugar. His attention shifted to his side. "I am sure John and Josh are okay. From what you told me about them, I doubt they would go down easily." April tried to comfort Don with a soft smile. As if she knew what was going through his head at the time. Don found it somewhat scary... but relaxing at the same time. Putting the 1911 Rugar away, he released a soft, shakey breath, "Yeah."

"Are you talking about those brothers?" A timid voice peered from behind them. Everyone shifted their attention to the kid who had just finished changing. "If so, they are still alive." The kid would continue if he were given a chance.

"They are!?" Don asked hastily, which made the kid flinch back. April tugged on Don's shirt to get his attention. "Let me take over, okay?" April spoke softly, and Don nodded lightly. He could see that the kid was still scared of him, so he let April handle this.

"You said they are alive, correct? Do you know where they are? You see, those two are Don's friends." April slowly approached him, and the kid relaxed when he saw her. "Uhh... I do not know where they are." He responded timidly, "However, I do know that they are alive. They ran off in that direction." The kid would point in the given direction he spoke of. Everyone turned to see it was the direction that they were headed.

"I see..." Don muttered. "Thank you." April softly smiled, which seemed to warm the kid's heart.

"Let's go." Don spoke firmly after moving to get his bag. "Alright!" Noah and Rebecca called back, and April moved beside Don, who had just started moving onward. The kid was in a moment of silence when he saw how they just quickly followed someone who murdered four people in cold blood. At the same time, it was a confusing sight to behold. The smile that April gave him when she turned back to ask if he was coming reassured something inside of him. Maybe it would be safer to be with them. So, he hurried along.

Noah had something to say a few moments into their journey toward the direction Don had initially planned. "Hey so, we haven't gotten your name yet. My name is Noah." Noah greeted the kid with a smile. The timid kid returned his greeting, "My name is Tyrone. Pleased to meet you." Tyrone introduced himself. "Before I met up with you all, I was taken hostage by that man. I do not know why they took me along. I figured it was to use me as a meatshield or bait for the bugs. Before that, I was resting with a group of people I stumbled across when I first arrived here six months ago."

Everyone seemed shocked at the length of time he had stayed here. Even Don was surprised that the kid lasted this long. April was the only one who slowly began to tremble. Recalling the man they encountered when Tyrone brought him up. "So you know about the Seed?" Noah asked rather excitedly, to which Tyrone nodded.

"Of course. Everyone has one inside of them. I am not too sure how it got there, but each Seed is different. From what I can tell, the Seed will grow accustomed to its body and take the form of special power. For that man, I believe it was Power of Speech. I saw it happen when he had one of my original members execute another. All he did was talk about killing, and she killed someone. After that well..." Tyrone grimaced at the recollection.

"I see. Well, there is no need to recall such horrifying memories." Rebecca interjected.

"My name is Rebecca, by the way. Pleased to meet you, Tyrone." Rebecca added. Tyrone nodded with a soft smile. April had taken some time to compose herself. She recalled Don had shot that man in the head, so that man should be dead. Even if it was terrible, she felt relief knowing such a horrid person no longer existed. "I am April! It's a pleasure to meet you, and this ball of fun in front of us is my Darling Don!" April happily exclaimed to keep the atmosphere from remaining in a negative state and appease her mind.

It seemed to work since everyone had some form of a smile on their face now. Tyrone nodded before his brow rose in confusion at something, "Wait... Darling?" The kid inquired. "Yup." Noah chuckled as April took hold of Don's arm happily. "I thought he was maybe her, bro--" Tyrone couldn't finish that sentence.

A chill ran down his spine, and he could have sworn he saw the Reaper staring at him from Don's back. A heavy gulp came forth, and Rebecca sighed heavily and shook her head. "Best not to bring that up. In short, April loves Don." Rebecca could see the look in Tyrone's eyes; the chills he felt were the same as when she brought up the same statement.

The misconception wasn't because they looked like they were siblings; it was more just the feeling people usually seemed to get. Don was protective of April, and April was close to Don. Rebecca remembered that Don gave her the nastiest death glare the day she brought it up. It was a touchy subject. For whatever reason was beyond her, and since that day, she knew not to ask.

Tyrone felt defeated. Someone he was crushing on was in love with someone else. That someone else, no less, was the Leader of the group. "Well, if she's in love with the Leader, then there is nothing I can do," Tyrone muttered. "Leader?" Don perked up. He wasn't oblivious to everyone's conversation; he just decided not to chime in until now. "Are you not the Leader?" Tyrone asked when he heard the confusion in Don's voice. Everyone seemed to focus their attention on Don. "I don't remember signing up for that position," Don stated as a matter of factly.

"Oh, come on, are you telling me that you aren't our Leader?" Noah spoke with a matter-of-factly tone of voice. "Yeah, you seem like the perfect fit." Rebecca teased. She knew Don hated those titles, so she laced her words with a playful tease. "Now listen here... you are more than welcome to follow me; however..." Don was going to turn around and address them, but when he saw April's face and how much faith she had in him, he couldn't do anything. "You are more than qualified to be our Leader, Don," April said with a bright smile.

Don wanted to disagree for various reasons, but April's look made it difficult to do. After much struggle, a heavy breath escaped his lips, and he agreed, "Fine." April gave a cute jump with a yay, and everyone nodded in agreement. "We believe in you, Leader." Rebecca teased Don once more, which caused his brow to twitch. She could easily see how much it bothered him to be in such a position and felt like messing with him.

At this moment, no one thought of Don as a murderer, just another human. It wasn't like Don had tortured those guys, and clearly, those guys were terrible people. Don was the one who made a difficult decision and followed through with it, but in that same line of thought, he was also the one who was bearing all the burdens.

"Oookay... So now he is the Leader. So umm, if you do not mind me asking, when did you all get here?" Tyrone's inquiry turned everyone's attention to him again. "Well, Noah and I arrived nearly a month ago. Woke up, heard the boy, and at first, we didn't believe it. The moment we stepped outside, though, was a whole different story. Damned oversized roach." Rebecca recalled having to take out the overgrown roach with a metal pipe. Noah shivered at the recalling memory himself, and April shuddered a bit.

"Ah... yeah... those..." Tyrone looked elsewhere, trying not to recall the memory of one of those overly large things. "What about you two?" Tyrone asked, looking toward April and Don. "I was sleeping with Don when it all happened." April spoke like they did the deed, which caused Rebecca to speak up, "Wow, Don, finally let her get it?" She teased him, knowing full well that Don didn't. Noah blinked rapidly, a bit shocked at how someone could just blatantly throw something out there like that, and Tyrone seemed even more defeated than before.

A sigh left Don's lips since everyone had the wrong idea, "No. She was sleeping beside me. We did no such thing. We woke up to a loud banging sound from someone. Said person was killed by the bugs since he drew their attention. Afterward, the boy popped up, telling us what was going on, and we made a plan. Now we are here." Don reiterated, emphasizing when he said April slept beside him.

"I see. If you don't mind me asking, aside from Don... do you all partake in combat?" Tyrone asked, leaving the ground open for anyone to chime in. "I don't. I can't use a gun, nor do I know how to fight. I can however craft things." Noah was the first to speak up. "Oh? Like what?" Tyrone asked. "Well... I can make modifications to April's bow if she would like. I could also remodel Don's guns so he could add attachments to them. As well as recreate an entirely different gun." Noah answered proudly.

Don's interest was piqued, but he refrained from speaking up. "Umm... No thank you. This bow was a gift, but thank you anyway." April replied to Noah. "A gift?" Noah asked curiously.

"Yes. It was from my late father. He was a Ranger. I spent more time with my father than I did with my mother since she was always working. My father taught me many things, such as tracking and hunting. Sadly, he lost his life in a hunting accident. He stood up with his bow drawn back and was going to take aim when a hunter behind us hit him in the back. The hunter rushed my father to the hospital, but it seemed like it was too late. The doctors could do nothing. The hunter apologized over and over to me and my mother. We knew it wasn't done intentionally, so we forgave the man after a long while and even allowed him to join us in mourning when we buried my father. After that, I do not know what the man did or even where he went." April answered solemnly.

"Wow..." Noah was stunned.

"I am sorry for your loss." Tyrone apologetically said with sorrow.

Rebecca and Don remained silent but did show signs of grief and mourning.

"It is okay. It was forever ago. I just wish father could have met Don at least once. But I know he is watching over us now." April said with a joyous smile on her face.

"Well, as for me. I just run a small shop of assorted goods. Nothing special. Both my parents are alive and well. Noah was someone I hired to help around the store just before all of this went down." Rebecca commented: nothing special aside from owning a store.

"In my spare time, I would do some weight training to stay in shape. I also knew my way around the ring since I took some MMA classes. Then there was the time I went to the range to learn how to properly hold and shoot a gun. Aside from that, nothing much else." She kept the part about where she looked after Don a secret. "So, you all know each other already?" Tyrone asked. He had gotten that sort of feel.

"Something like that. Don and April were my regulars. Don always came in to get some cigs since my store was the cheapest. April always came in for some ice-cream bars when she was on her way from school or if she was with Don. Aside from that, they do not know Noah since he was hired just before we were brought here." Rebecca replied. "Yeah, the prices at the other stores were just too much. If you had gas, I could have filled up my bike as well." Don pitched in. "Uh-huh." Rebecca gave him a [oh really?] look.

Tyrone shifted his attention to Don now. He was the most mysterious of them all. His earlier fears were starting to fade as well. The more everyone threw his name out there, the more Don seemed like an average dude. "What about you?"

There was an apparent silence after Tyrone asked his question. No one spoke up. Everyone knew who Tyrone was talking to, even without him having to address him specifically. "What about me?" Don replied in question without looking back at Tyrone. "I know about April, Noah, and Rebecca, but I know nothing about you and you know about me. Before this, I just went to school and played games as well as hung out with my friends and studied. There isn't much to tell and everyone can easily see that." Tyrone remarked, seeming a bit bolder now.

"There isn't much to tell. I worked at a fast-food joint before this." Don replied half-heartedly.

"Okay, but what about your combat ability? Where did you learn to use a gun? I also doubt that knife isn't simply for show either." Tyrone added. No one had said anything, and no one stopped him either. They were also curious.

"I was trained to use a gun when I was a child. The same goes for how I use a knife." Don was vague with his reply. It was clear that he did not wish to divulge anything more. Noah was surprised by this. April was wondering who trained him and why. As for Rebecca, she held this sad expression. She had first encountered Don when he was nearly eight or nine, beaten and bruised. She never trained him how to use a gun or a knife, and she did not know anyone that did. She figured that he must have been younger when he learned to use a gun and a blade which made her sad. She was sure Don didn't learn for the sport of it either.

"I see... But who--" Tyrone was interrupted by April. "You will tell us everything when you are ready, right Don?" April could see it upon his face. Since his back was toward them, no one else could, but Don looked uncomfortable. When Don heard April's voice, he shifted his eyes to her. He relaxed and felt at ease, "Yeah..." Don answered.

"Promise?" April added with a cute slight head tilt. "Yeah. I promise." Don smiled softly, and April just nodded happily. "Good." No one seemed to interrupt this little moment, and no one said anything further. Even Tyrone decided not to question Don further, even if he wanted to. It was clear to them that April would stop them if they did. It was also made evident that April was the one who seemed to understand Don more than any of them did, maybe even more than Rebecca.

It was already afternoon when they arrived at their destination. It was a nice looking home in this lovely neighborhood, or well, excellent for what it was. It had solar power panels on the roof in various places, and the garden looked beautiful aside from the dusty and aged look here and there. The group went through the fence and up to the front door. The windows had metal sheeting on the inside, which blocked the view and the door also had a metal plate in front of it.

Don recalled John talking about some kind of home defense system they installed, but this seemed a bit much. After all, how could a replica even replicate a home defense system? Shaking his head, Don pressed the doorbell button. He could hear a soft 'bing' coming from inside. His eyes shifted towards the door cam in the corner. "Hello. This is Don. Is anyone home?" Don called out.

It seemed no one would answer for a moment until the metal plating slid up, and the door was opened. A beautiful brunette woman was at the door in a comfortable-looking dress. "Don..." The woman had this luscious voice as she spoke. "It is good to see you. Please come in." Don looked back at everyone else, who gave the nod, and Don entered. "Pardon us then."

The woman made way for them to enter and once they did, she shut the door, lock it, and reset the metal plating outside. The house lights were on along with the A/C. The place looked spotless as well. "Umm is..." Don was going to get right to the point even if he had some questions. "Yes. Follow me. Everyone is downstairs." The woman knew why Don showed up and knew that the fastest way to answer his question was to show him. "Everyone?" Don's brow rose curiously just before he decided to follow the woman's lead.