35 Section 34: The Scavengers

I woke up in the morning with a sore back and hips, last night was rough. Ender carried me home with bridal style. I never thought we would do something like that out of nowhere, that's just too risky in my opinion. However, I followed him along despite knowing the risk.

"I must be stupid" I groaned.

Kallen came inside the vast room, woke me up, and the rest of the scavenger team. The boy crossed his arm, with a frustrated expression. He tapped his foot on the floor, his patience has been limited thanks to Adrian who hasn't woken up. I already waited in front of the classroom, there is Jean and another familiar face at the party. The glasses girl, Chrysant from before.

The next classroom is a men's dorm somewhat, that's where Joel, Ender, and Adrian slept. I leaned on the classroom windows, unsure about my party members. Jean looks like a nice person at the first glance, probably because that night he let Adrian sneak in and told no soul about the stolen meds.

Jean looks like a man in his twenties, early twenty perhaps. The man's silky auburn hair fazed me, he looks like the type of man that takes care of his looks. It wouldn't hurt for Joel to imitate this man's clean look so that Joel learns manners and a proper dressing attire. Then again, in this post-apocalyptic who is going to care for a clean look?

I peeked through the men's dorm window, I saw Joel still unconscious on the bed. He had a bandage around his head. Ender already prepared himself as he walked confidently toward the exit.

"Oops, peek time is over" I walked away quietly from the window.

As soon as Ender exited the classroom, I leaned my back on the window abruptly on the spot. Ender eyed my movement suspiciously, he crossed his arm and sighed.

"What is it Aria? What are you up to?" he sighed.

"Hm? Nothing in particular" I exclaimed.

I could hear Kallen yelling inside the boys' room, he sounds petty and annoyed.

"BIG BRO ADRIAN! WAKE UP!" Kallen yelled.

Adrian has always been that friend who woke up late and felt nothing for his tardiness. He's always been so relaxed in life, he's just incomprehensible for me to understand. I remembered all of his tardiness back then. He was beyond helpful when it came to attendance, he skipped a few classes for the sake of fun.

Despite his negative traits, he's pretty friendly and laid back with new people. I'm sure that's why he's in this brave settlement or something. Adrian finally woke up, he stretched his arm upwards and then he fixed his messy clothes. He walked out of the room with a goofy grin, it's hard to stay composed around this man tardiness.

"Why is it that you're always late?" I growled at the laid back pale man.

"Oh, I stayed up late reading some comics" a stupid goofy grin plastered on his face.

I rolled my eyes in frustration, I knew this man cannot be trusted to have some common sense. Then again, after what Ender and I did last night we're not that much different. It seems like the heinous Tom and Milla are in Ender's team, along with the glasses girl we met in the IT section.

"Chrysant, you're a part of the scavenger team too?" I asked the glasses girl.

"Yeah, besides my brother is smarter than me in terms of hacking skills" Chrysant shrugged. "It's not like he always needs me".

My team consisted of Kallen, Adrian, and Jean. Both teams walked toward the entrance gate toward the pickup trucks. However, Tom suddenly halted us both.

"Uh sorry, I just remembered that we're out of gas" Tom added.

"We are?" I asked Tom.

I still remember what he wanted to do with me, he wanted to burn my eyes with his cigarettes back then. That left a deep horrible impression, he's just a sadistic man, along with that two-faced princess Milla. I am sort of glad that they're not in my team. Even the lazy Adrian is better than the two of them combined.

"So the leader told us before only one tea can use a pickup truck to find gasoline and other stuff, while the others walk on foot" Tom continues. "This is to reduce the usage of the gasoline".

Despite his brutal attitude, Tom seems to be a man of his words. Perhaps though, this may be his outer face. Even the brutal Milla who slapped Joel looks like a normal woman now instead of a psycho.

"Alright, so which one of our teams got to pick the truck?" Adrian asked straightforwardly.

"Them" both Ender and I pointed to each other.

I glared at the man in front of me, Ender only stared at me with puzzled looks.

"Huh? Why me?" Ender asked. "It should be you, you can barely stand!".

His sentences made me baffled, is he stupid or something? Did he just give away the information that we just had sex? I'm sure that Ender is not this stupid, he must be a fake Ender.

"Ender, what are you talking about?" I pretended not to know what he just talked about.

"Huh? What am I talking about? It's about you" he goes on lecturing me while the others watch us in watchful glee.

He's acting unusual from before, he always lectured me but this time his tone is more to concern rather than correcting me as usual.

"Your hips okay? Legs?" he asked out of the blue.

I widened my eyes in shock, and so is the rest of the scavenger team. I think Kallen is the only one who didn't understand the situation, he just crossed his arm impatiently waiting for us.

"What did you guys do last night?" Adrian smirked teasingly. "Aha, is it that 'thing'?.

I covered my face, embarrassment started to take over me. My face is burning with shyness, tomato face is now my nickname.

"You're an idiot Ender! Why the heck are you asking me this!?" I pouted snarkily at the concerned man.

"Because I'm worried!" he yelled.

This amused Adrian more, Jean even smiled at the sight of our fight. Tom and Milla exchanged looks of amusement.

"Reminds me of our younger days" Tom smirked.

"You don't say" Milla smiled.

Chrysant blushed hard when Ender asked about my hips condition, I suppose teenagers already know things about sex.

They smiled nostalgically, reminiscing about their youth. Milla and Tom look like normal adults having a decent conversation between friends. Once again we're all faced with who's going to use the truck.

"Seriously I think the truck should go for the gasoline team and food" I scratched my head. "The food scavenger can walk".

Tom raised his hand, with a sneaky grin on his face.

"I want to collect gasoline," he smiled.

Ender rolled his eyes and pushed both Tom and Milla out of the way, he gazed at me seriously.

"Take the truck, we can walk" a painted smile plastered on the face of the tanned young man.

Ender's team walked away silently, Ender turned around and bowed to me. What's with him and his cool act? Either way, since he let us use the vehicle, I guess it's a plus to us.

"Anyone can drive?" I asked the gentlemen behind me, minus Kallen because he's still a child.

"I can," Jean exclaimed.

"Alright Jean, lead us to the gas station and supermarket for us to leech," I gave them a thumbs up.