(XLIII) Expansion [2]

"Wait!" Isaac shouted, reaching out for the boy as he missed, grabbing only air. 

Allen dived under a table, sliding to the other side, jumped to his feet, and turned to look back at the group with a smirk as he crashed into Ichiko, falling to the ground and staring up with wide eyes. 

"Sam sent us." She proclaimed flatly as the rest of the group ran around the rubble and approached. 

"Gotcha!" Isaac exclaimed, reaching down as he picked the kid up by the back of his shirt, lifting him off the ground. 

"Hey!" Allen shouted, squirming as he futilely tried to free himself from the young man's grasp, yelling repeatedly, "Let me go!" 

"Shush!" He hissed, raising his index finger to his lips, "Just listen, would ya?" 

"Big Bro wanted us to build a camp here." Nathan said with a smile, staring at the young boy. 

"We're here because he asked us to come." Kaitlyn added, crossing her arms over her hoodie and glaring at the kid. 

"Huh..?" Allen asked, looking around, confused at the group, "You're his friends??"

"Yes." Ichiko replied, kneeling before him as she flicked his forehead, "Now show us where this arcade is?" 

Allen winced, grabbing his forehead and pretending to wince in pain as Isaac placed him down on his feet, exclaiming, "Sheesh! He told you guys about my secret base?" 

"Yup." She answered, looking around at the ruined promenade in the center of the mall, "Now, where is it?" 

"Man..." Allen groaned, huffing as he slouched, walking down the concourse toward the arcade with the rest of the group closely in tow, "First he shows up and scares me to death and then ups and disappears!" 

"Yeah..." Jijo remarked as she ran up next to the boy, walking beside him as the twins ran up behind them, "I think he likes to do that." 

Upon reaching the arcade, Allen turned around, throwing out his hands, "You all can come in, but no girls are allowed in the secret spot, got it?" 

"No girls? That's no fun!" Isaac chuckled, laughing as he passed by the young boy along with the two agriculturalists. 

"Yeah, that's no fun!" Jijo huffed, crossing her arms as she looked at the twins. 

"Isaac!" Amy called out, standing at the entrance to the arcade, looking around in disgust, "Let's go somewhere else; I don't like it here..."

"That's a good idea..." He answered absentmindedly, inspecting the arcade, "You and the girls should go search around the place and see if you can find anything useful..."

"That's not..." Amy started to protest, but one of the young women behind her grabbed her arm and urged her to come along. 

"So I can't enter your secret spot?" Kaitlyn asked, stomping toward the boy, placing her fists on her hips as she glared at him. 

"You can, but not her!" Allen said, pointing at Nathan. 

"What? My sister can, but I can't?" Nate exclaimed, placing his hands on his chest, "I'm the brother!"

"You're a boy?!?" Allen exclaimed, jumping back in shock, pointing at Kaitlyn, "Y-y-you're a girl?"

The twins nodded, looking at each other confusedly as Jijo grabbed her stomach, laughing hysterically behind them. Allen held his head as it started spinning. 

"Nathan, stop messing around and go with Nick and Zach." Ichiko said, carefully stepping around the broken glass and destroyed game machines. 

"Okay!" Nate exclaimed, skipping as he followed the two agriculturalists as they started discussing plans to repurpose different parts of the mall. 

"Jijo and Kaitlyn, take Allen and clean up the trash everywhere." Ichiko ordered as her younger sister grabbed both of their hands, happily dragging them away despite their constant protests. 

Ichiko sighed heavily as she sat down on a leather couch in the corner of the arcade and stared at Isaac as he started moving around the game machines and pushing them against the walls. 

"Now what?" Ichiko asked, placing her leg over her knee and her arm on the back of the couch. 

"Let everyone get some rest, and tomorrow, we will start preparing for everyone's arrival." Isaac huffed, pushing the last arcade as he started looking around. 

"Who's arriving?" Ichiko asked as the young man opened a closet door to find a broom and dustpan and started sweeping up the broken glass. 

"I don't know." Isaac sighed, shaking his head as he swept, "Sam just said there's going to be a lot, and we have a few days to prepare for them to show up..." 

"Tch!" Ichiko clicked her tongue and looked away frustrated, "He really likes to keep his secrets..." 

"Actually..." Isaac responded, kneeling down to collect the shattered glass, sweeping it into the pan before he stood and turned to stare at her, "He doesn't have any secrets to hide." 

"I doubt that..." She scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Everyone has secrets." 

"Not Sam." He replied, "I've known him for almost my entire life, and he hasn't ever asked me to keep a secret." 

"So he tells you everything?" She asked, staring at him incredulously as he nodded. 

"Of course!" Isaac grinned, jabbing his thumb into his chest, "Not only am I his best friend, I was his only friend before everything happened!" 

"Alright, best friend..." Ichiko sighed, standing up as she walked past him, stopping at the entrance, "You're not his only friend anymore..."

Isaac leaned against the broom, smiling at her as he watched her depart, pondering what she had just claimed. She returned later with everyone's sleeping bags. 

Slowly, everyone returned to the arcade, smelling the savory aroma of soup cooking over a small fire. Everyone discussed their work for the next day as they ate before everyone turned in for bed. 

The following morning, Isaac awoke everyone as they ate a quick breakfast of hot oats and started creating piles of junk in the middle of the concourse. 

Nathan was led outside by Nick and Zach and used his magical powers to destroy a massive section of the parking lot, controlling the earth to create a large dirt field. 

The two agriculturalists unleashed their abilities and tilled the soil, planting seeds they had obtained as they increased their growth and small sproutlings rose out of the dirt. 

Nathan used his magic to raise a solid rock fence around the garden, leaving a small gap for a gate to be installed later. He then raised his hands, creating a storm cloud above the field, which started pouring down. 

Everyone else was sent to protect him as he used his magic to expedite nearly every stage of the remodeling of the mall. He was the most important person here, and only Isaac knew it. 

Nathan skipped through the concourse, conjuring flames to incinerate the piles of junk into ash as everyone else shoveled more trash out of the rooms. 

He would occasionally be asked by Isaac to enter a store and create a stone pillar when they destroyed and removed walls to create larger multipurpose areas within the mall. 

A few days later, the mall had transformed completely and was surrounded by two sets of large stone walls. The group of survivors from Indianapolis gasped at the size of the walls as they walked through them. 

Ichiko and Isaac stood side by side as they waited, watching as the group approached.