Critical Hit!

Ally jumped through the open doorway and gave Grant a big hug once it registered with her that he was actually there and she wasn't seeing things.

Grant returned the hug while patting her on the back to comfort her. The hug lasted for a lot longer than Grant anticipated so he towards the end he was starting to get confused with what was going on.

After a few moments longer though, Ally released the hug and took a step back,

"I'm so glad you are safe! The kids and I were worried about you since we hadn't seen you for so long! What have you been doing for the past two weeks? Where did you go? Are you okay? Are you hungry?"

Grant felt flattered with the concern that Ally was displaying but he was also caught off guard by the enthusiasm behind her barrage of questions.

"Take a deep breathe and calm down Ally! How do you expect me to answer all those questions? One at a time please!"

He couldn't help but to laugh while he responded to her enthusiastic interrogation.

Ally started to turn red hearing his response. She realized that maybe she was a little too excited to see him again.

"I apologize. I'm just glad you're safe and with everything you've done for the kids and I, it's hard not to worry!"

"Don't worry about it! It's wonderful to see you again as well. Why don't we go inside and sit down and I'll tell you all about what I've been up too. I have some big news for you and the kids!"

Ally just rotated her body to be perpendicular to the doorway and motioned for Grant to come inside. Grant didn't hesitate and walked into the room before Ally closed the door behind him.

After the door closed, Jerrod who had been completely ignored during the entire interaction just stood there in a daze not knowing what to do. Seeing that he was no longer needed and had in fact served no purpose other than to guide Grant to the door, he decided to return to his post on the wall.

Inside the room, Grant and Ally had sat down to continue their conversation. Ally sat on the bed and Grant sat on the chair in front of the desk in the room. The room wasn't big enough to have a dinner table or anything like that so these were the best seats available too them.

"Before I tell you what I've been up too, why don't you tell me what happened with you and the kids? The moment the storm ended I returned to the gun shop to get you guys and that's when I found Richards note. I thought you guys were trying not to come here?"

"Well, after you left, things were going fine at first. The kids actually went out to fight monsters and train on the first day. On the second day, they were planning on heading out to train again but the storm had finally started. We ended up spending the first few days hunkered down inside the shop but on the sixth day a steel beam ended up crashing through the roof.

At first we tried to stick it out in the shop and the kids even removed the beam and tried to cover the hole. But since we didn't have any way of sealing out the torrential downpour of rain we had no choice but to come up with a solution.

At first, I tried to convince the kids that it was too dangerous to move outside in the wind and rain since I'm not strong at all, but they decided that they would find a small vehicle that they could use to protect me and pull me with them.

Since the only place we knew of that could be a potential safe place, this settlement was the only choice available to us.

So with the kids fighting against the storm and pulling me with them, we ended up reaching the settlement.

When we first arrived, the settlement was in absolute chaos. The buildings were being destroyed left and right by the storm and they were struggling to feed and protect everyone from the storm.

When they people here saw how much food and water we had, which we had brought inside the vehicle they pulled me in, they were more than happy to take us in an give us a place to stay.

After we got settled in, the leaders of the settlement asked the kids to help with searching for survivors and supplies in the destroyed buildings.

At first the kids were tentative to help because they were afraid the leaders of this place were trying to take advantage of them, but they eventually helped in the end, because of you actually. They said that when you didn't know us, you still reached out a helping hand and saved us without expecting anything in return."

Grant listened intently to the story and was proud of the decisions the kids had made. He was proud that they were willing to help people they didn't know and didn't take their strength for granted. But he was slightly concerned with certain aspects of the story.

It sounded like the leaders of the settlement knew how beneficial it would be to have people like Richard and Robin on their side so they were only giving them rewards such as the room they were currently in to try and keep them indebted to the leaders.

He couldn't blame them for their way of thinking, if they were smart, then they had realized that they would need strong people in their forces to survive in this apocalyptic world. Eventually the monsters would out-level the people who weren't motivated to get stronger and they would be screwed. Even with guns and other weapons such as them, they wouldn't be able to maintain their hold on the area for much longer.

Grant knew he would have to meet with the leaders of the settlement to figure out their plan. If they seemed like relatively intelligent people with a plan, maybe he could convince them to join a coalition of sorts and work together to improve the current living conditions of humanity.

While Grant was lost in thought, Ally continued on with her story.

"The kids are now responsible for searching for supplies and survivors outside the walls. Since they are some of the stronger members of the settlement, they were asked to undertake the mission.

With the kids contribution, I haven't been asked to do much around here, but I started helping with the food distribution so that I don't feel useless.

Enough about me though, tell me what you've been up too!"

Before he could begin to explain to her about what he had been up to the past few weeks, a knocking came at the door. From the other side of the door came a voice, which Grant recognized to be Jerrod's.

"I'm sorry to bother you two but we are going to serve lunch soon and would appreciate it if you could contribute the food we discussed earlier."

Grant shouted towards the door, "One second Jerrod. We'll be right there." before he turned to Ally and apologized, "I'm sorry Ally, looks like I'll have to tell you my story later. Why don't we go help them out? I promised that I would donate some food if they let me keep my weapon. Also, I made Jerrod promise to let me participate in the distribution of the food I donate."

Since Ally knew how Grant operated, she understood what he was trying to accomplish by watching and participating in the food distribution. Without hesitation she got up and grabbed her jacket before heading towards the door. Seeing that she wasn't going to press for details on why he was donating food, Grant got up and followed her.

When they opened the door, Jerrod was standing there by himself in the hallway waiting for them. He looked a little nervous for some reason but Grant decided to overlook it because he had no idea what he could have done to make him react the way he was.

As they walked down the hallway, Ally ended up in the lead while Jerrod slowed down slightly so he would be walking next to Grant. Once Ally got out of earshot, Jerrod leaned into Grant and, "I'm sorry to interrupt your reunion. I had no choice since we can't put off the food distribution since it takes so long with how many survivors we have here."

Grant just looked at Jerrod with a weird expression on his face because his tone and concern seemed quite odd for the situation.

"It's no big deal man. We were just exchanging stories since I hadn't seen her in a couple weeks. I promised I would donate food and I always keep my word so your concern is unfounded."

Jerrod just shook his head hearing Grant's response.

"Oh good.. I was afraid that I might have interrupted coitus or something."

For the first time since The Path emerged, Grant took a critical hit... emotionally of course.

[This guy thinks Ally and I are together?!]