Old John

"Haa!"

Evo threw the stone with all his might. With its current trajectory, it should be able to reach Jun's location with no problems at all.

Everything was going fine until half of the stone's journey. The small stone suddenly expanded and became a huge boulder that's at least two meters in height. With its weight, it immediately dropped down to the ground, losing all of its forward momentum.

"Seems like bowling with stone isn't possible," Evo muttered. "But maybe, I can use this as rolling stones when I have the high ground."

With an earth-shaking thud, the boulder fell a few meters in front of Jun. Evo couldn't even see him as Jun got utterly hidden behind the boulder.

Jun's panicked voice and non-stop cursing came from the other side of the boulder. When Jun appeared on the corner, uninjured, he quickly looked for the culprit, while shouting profanities.

Seeing Jun still alive and kicking, Evo sighed in relief.

"Hurry! We're hiding in that building!" Evo ignored Jun's ramblings like he was already used to it, then turned around and ran towards the building.

Jun, who was far behind him, actually caught up. "Are you trying to kill me? Are we really friends? Just because I unfriended you on Social, doesn't mean we're not friends!"

Evo ignored the hysterical Jun as he opened the glass door. There's a lot of furniture blocking the entrance, and so they had to worm their way in slowly. Jun looked around the area as he clutched his knees, trying to catch his breath, then he smiled sheepishly.

They're currently in the lobby of a two-story motel. A stairwell that goes to the second floor was on the right side beside the reception area. The place seemed empty since there were no humans or infected in sight. Though there were signs that people have stayed in the area, there's currently no way to tell if they're still here; dead or alive. Jun carefully trudged forward, looking for anything that might be dangerous.

"Are you sure they went here?" Jun said.

"Of course! Maybe they're checking the place for infecteds."

As they were chatting, a commotion came from the second floor.

***

Adrian stood in front of the group. They stuck firmly to each other and looked around for anything suspicious. When they entered the motel, the first thing they did was to secure the place. They went by three's and checked every room on the first floor. Afterward, they grouped up and searched the second floor.

They thought the place would be empty just like the first floor, but they were mistaken. There's a group hiding inside on one of the rooms, and both groups were clearly surprised to see each other. Before Adrian could react, a pistol was already pointed at them.

On the other side of the room, there are three people of varying ages. There's an old man, a teenage girl, and an early twenty's burly man. The old man and the girl hid behind the burly man.

The burly man glared at Adrian's group.

"Don't come any closer."

Instead of cooperating, Adrian glared at the man while unsheathing his knife.

"Lower your gun, right now," Adrian said menacingly.

Sheila stepped forward, not happy with Adrian's way of doing things. "Please lower your gun. We're friendlies. There's a horde of infected two blocks away, and we don't want them hearing any gunshots. We'll just hide here until they leave. Please?"

Everyone has their own traits. Usually, it wouldn't have any effect on our daily life, but after the world changed, they become essential. One of Sheila's trait is gentle, which makes the opposite gender act kindly in front of her. Due to this trait, the seemingly uncooperative man hesitatingly lowered his gun.

"Thank you." Sheila gratefully said.

The man looked at her, then huddled closer with his group. They then started whispering with each other.

Sheila turned to Adrian. "What's wrong with you?" she said before walking away.

Their group warily sat on the other side of the room. Although Adrian's group have the number advantage, the other group had a gun. A single shot could kill them if that man chose to.

Just then, two people walked in. The leading person warmly smiled as he stood in the center of the room, facing the unknown group.

Strangely enough, his group members finally sighed in relief and were already feeling safe with just him standing there. His back seemed wider and reliable as if it could protect the whole group from any threats.

Jun smiled as he walked forward a few steps. He stopped when the gun-wielding man stood up and pointed the pistol on his head.

"Old John, you never changed, huh. I see that you still prefer the innocent ones. This is the first time I saw this guy. Is he new here?" Jun said. Ignoring the fact that there's a gun on the side of his head, he walked a few steps forward with a smile on his face.

Old John was the owner of this motel. He's also one of Jun's regular customers and source of income.

Running this kind of business attracts some sort of people that aren't very well mannered. To keep the business running, Old John chose to pay for protection fees.

Sometimes, there were customers who intentionally cause trouble, and he had to call for Jun secretly. A group of bystanders will then accidentally pass-by then beat that customer. Old John would then protect the customer, and the customer would feel indebted to him. Some gave him money while others cursed as they limped their way out.

Old John angrily cursed at him. "Starry head, don't go spouting nonsense! This is my niece. If you want to tarnish this gentleman's image, even if I'm old, I would have to fight it out with you. That man is for security. I hired him a few days ago, and after all this shit, I think I finally managed to make some good investments."

"Your group sucks at protecting properties! I want a refund on my protection fees!"

Jun smirked. "We don't ask for any protection fees. Those were donations that people willingly gave to us. By the way, if he doesn't lower his gun, I'll beat him up."

The old man signaled for the guard to lower his gun. The man complied and went to the old man's side.

Jun gave a bear hug to the old man then whispered, "Fess up, old man! Is she really your niece?"

"Of course! Why would I lie about that!"

"Then, is that guy a professional? How did you find someone like that?"

"Apparently, he likes my niece."