33 Section 32: The Brave Settlement

After I left the brother and sister, Kallen led me to the front gate. I saw Glass on watch duty as usual, like when we first arrived here. I called Glass from below, I waved my hands as high as I could.

"Glass!" I called her.

Glass's turned his gaze upon me, her smile brightened as she saw me standing below. She went down through the ladder, as fast as possible. She then flashed me her sincerest smile, as if she was glad to see me.

"Aria! Long time no see!" She patted my back. "I'm glad to see you!".

"So am I" I grinned at my inflexible friend, Glass.

"I'm worried about you, I heard about what happened to you and Joel! I'm pretty worried! Thankfully Joel is going to be alright" she sighed in relief.

"Do you know anything about Joel's condition?" I asked Glass.

"From what I heard, his condition is not stable yet" Glass shook her head in dismay. "He's still unconscious too, I don't know for how long though".

I clenched my fist, Joel protected me when I was distracted by that boy in white. My head always felt as if it would crack into two pieces, the more I tried to jog my memory, the more I felt incredibly nauseous.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about your friend, Joel" Kallen frowned. "I don't want you to worry about him so much, it's my father's fault that Joel is in unstable condition".

Kallen felt apologetic for what Vladimir did, it should be the other way around. I don't know how Vladimir got Kallen to call him father, that manipulator doesn't deserve an honest child like Kallen. His sole motivation to get stronger seems to come from the little girl, Candice. I wouldn't want anything to happen to those two for some reason.

I am usually very wary of the people around me. However, meeting the little Candice and her protector Kallen made me feel that not all people are horrible. Despite Vladimir's tyrannic rule, the settlement seems peaceful. Other than that bloody deathmatch, nothing is out of the ordinary.

"OPEN THE GATE!" a loud yelling could be heard from across the gate.

Glass immediately pushed a button next to the gate. The gate slowly opens, a pickup truck comes in with a bunch of supplies on the back. I saw Ender at the back, trying to keep the supplies steady. From the looks of the supplies, it doesn't seem to be ours. Maybe they haven't found our love hotel base? If they haven't then it's good to know.

"Huh? Aria!" Ender got off the truck and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"You're alright! Thank God!" Ender hugged me tighter.

I patted Ender's shoulder, a little bit breathless I must say.

"I'm out of breath, stop hugging me so tight!" I stuttered.

Ender pulled away from me, he looked pretty shy after hugging me. He asked my condition, like a worried brother.

"Is your head okay? I noticed that you've not recovered yet that morning" he asked. "How about now?".

"I'm fine," I smiled. "Joel is still not stable though, I'm worried".

Ender leaned his head on my shoulder, he looked worn out. Also, he somehow managed to pull me closer to him. He circled his arm around my hips and closed the distance between us.

"I'm so exhausted," he sighed.

Glass coughed awkwardly, she waved her hand to me, "I'm going to go back to my post".

"Alright, take care, Glass" I waved back.

Ender and I walked closer, he held my hand tight in his grasp. He is somewhat needy today, I'm not sure why. The fact that he's needy made me feel suffocated and shy from his touch, I tried to get away from him. However, he followed me wherever I went. Kallen followed me around too, as if he wanted to say something but obstructed by Ender's attitude.

"Aria, are you sure you're not hurt anymore?" Ender asked.

"I'm fine" I sighed as I looked at Ender puppy eyes.

I went to the classroom, I laid myself on the comfortable dusty bed. Dusty is better than nothing I suppose, and I'm sick and tired of not having a shower.

"Are you tired?" Ender's voice surprised me.

I forgot that he's still following me around, worried about me. Kallen came between us, he looked at me with a serious look.

"If you're already fine, you'll be assigned to the scavenger A team at 7 am sharp," Kallen explained. "But if you still feel unwell, that's a different story".

Kallen is acting like a proper adult despite his young age, there's a sense of responsibility and power in his words. Even so, he's still a child nonetheless. He's still a middle-schooler, and yet he looks more responsible than any adults I encountered.

"I wonder what's the source of his strength?" I thought.

"So how is it? Big sis Aria?" he asked me.

"I'm alright, I can join! I feel better already anyway" I flashed my sincerest smile to the young boy.

Something about him made me want to protect him, this feeling seems foreign. Kallen smiled at me, he no longer showed me that scared expression when Tom intimidated me. He looks like a regular young teenage boy. After the conversation with me, the same little girl from before pulled Kallen's clothes. She approached Kallen cutely, she tiptoed to him.

"Kallen, help me pick some flowers" Candice showed us her writing on her drawing book.

"Alright, I'll go" Kallen caressed Candice's hair gently. "Talk to you later, big sis Aria and big bro Ender".

Kallen is starting to open up himself to us, I wonder why. Maybe he thought we will be close friends since we're staying in this Brave settlement. This so-called Brave Frontier seems like another agenda for me to overthrow Vladimir's father. I suspected that Vladimir will use this frontier to get the throne of the presidency from his father.

It is only mere speculation for now though, I am not sure with what that Vladimir is planning for. I even suspected that this major drone terrorism was caused by him as well. I sat on the bed, brainstorming every idea that popped into my mind.

"Hey, you're ignoring me" Ender sat next to me and leaned to my shoulder.

"Geez, someone is needy today" I looked at Ender who leaned on my shoulder.

"I'm not, I'm just worried" he replied sullenly.

That's when he suddenly stood up and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me close to him and whispered.

"Hey, wanna see something cool?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked the good looking Ender.

"There's a place that I want to show you, so follow me" he dragged me outside the classroom.

"Huh? But Ender! This is past curfew! It's almost eight!" I panicked.

"Come on, it's not like anyone will know about this, right!?" he grinned at me.

"But we're sneaking behind their back!" I scowled at the man who forcefully dragged me outside.

"It's fine, seriously" Ender's tone started to change. He sounds like he's annoyed by my panic state.

He leads me to the cage where we were imprisoned before. Then he turned right, to the corner of the school walls that were made of brick. There's a hole behind the bushes, in the corner of the wall.

"A hole?" I asked the ecstatic young man next to me.

"Yeah, I kinda dig that up while no one is looking" he smiled mischievously.

"You and your sneaky attitude haven't changed a bit" I shook my head in amusement.

He looked at my cosplay cop attire then blushed in tomatoes.

"I can crawl first, then you follow me behind" he coughed. "How's that?".

I nodded, "Sure".

Ender crawled beneath the small hole, it barely fit a muscular adult. It seems like the hole only fits people with average built or even smaller than that. Ender is buffed, not as buff as those military people in the settlement though. I crawled in the hole, the skimpy outfit made me realize that I needed to find other clothes to wear. When I managed to get to the other side, Ender offered me his hand.

"Here, grab my hand" he gleamed.

I shyly grabbed his warm hands. My hands trembled in shyness, I didn't know why we would sneak outside, it's dangerous.

"You're nervous?".

"Of course I am! What if we get punished!?" I pouted at the carefree young man in front of me.

"No worries, I'll protect you if that happens" Ender smiled.

However, when I heard the words 'protect' my heart shaken. Joel appeared in my mind, I haven't checked how he's doing. The memory of bloody Joel that morning made me feel guilty, he shielded me from those men.

"Joel, I wonder how's he doing" I clenched my fist as Joel's pained expression flashed in my mind.

My thoughts are interrupted by Ender who dragged me in a hurry to an unknown place. The streets are full of the stench of death. Even so, we didn't pay any mind to those lifeless corpses on the streets. It's like we're already used to the sight of dead bodies. Ender grip is tight, and I could feel his possessive eyes focused on me.