CHAPTER 15: Johan.

Theo slowly awoke to the sounds outside. There was no window that he could look through so he could only deduce what was going on from what he heard.

People were yelling and the gate opened and closed. Then came the usual check to see if anyone was wounded.

Apparently one of the new people that entered had a bite. This person was sent off to a closed off cabin like the one Theo was in right now. The only difference was that this person was separated from their group and placed in complete isolation.

Theo didn't think much of it. There was nothing that he could do from here, so why would it interest him one bit?

It didn't take long for Gwen and Timon to wake up after the whole scene.

Despite being awake, everyone was still tired form their time outside. And that combined with no reading material or any other objects in the room except the lamp and some bland furniture, resulted in just staring blankly into empty space until someone let them out.

When the door finally opened with a soft click everyone excitedly shot up.

Standing behind the door was the same man who had let them in the day before. He stood there with a warm smile and waited for them to come outside.

"Good afternoon. Do any of you display signs of being unwell or injured?"

"No, I don't think so." Theo bluntly replied as he stepped through the door.

"That's great. I will guide you through the camp and then you three can adopt a task of your choice that'll benefit all the survivors here."

As the man guided them through the camp Theo couldn't help but notice how many tents and other makeshift whereabouts there were, when even the mansion itself should be large enough to hold at least a hundred and fifty people.

"Everything has to stay separated so that diseases won't spread" The man explained once they walked past the barn where all the food was stored that stood approximately a hundred meters away from the closest tent. "In times like these we have to take the least risks possible. As you know by now anyone that enters needs to be kept separated from the rest for at least a full day. That also counts for people who go outside for supplies."

Suddenly Theo heard someone call his name behind him.

He turned around with a bright smile to see his parents run towards him. The moment he got in their reach they almost knocked him over when they pulled him in a hug. At this point he was almost sure that his ribs would break soon.

"Don't you ever dare to get kidnapped again!" Joost said while not letting go of him.

"Sweety is everything fine? Did you encounter some of those… things out there? Are you hurt in any way?" Lisa asked as soon as Theo had enough freedom to breathe again.

"Yes mom, I'm fine. And we did meet some of those walking corpses. But we got away, so there's nothing to worry about."

"You fool! You were gone for days! Of course, we were worried!" his mother replied.

"Wait you really had people that looked out for you?" Gwen rudely interrupted their conversation. "And here I thought you crawled out of the fiery pits of hell, just to bully me."

"Of course, I did. And I was merely correcting you since you felt too good to even stand guard. The entire kingdom will know when I'm actually trying to bully you."

Out of nowhere the man who had guided them and had happily been watching the reunion signalled them all to bow while he himself kneeled.

A man wearing high grade metal armour that shined like diamonds in the sun walked towards them.

He proudly stroked some stray dark brown hairs out of his face. The man looked like he was in his early thirties, yet he still seemed to house the energy of a small child.

"Greeting Lourens. I see that you are giving a tour to the new survivors even if it is past your duty. I truly respect how devoted you are."

The man brightly smiled as he looked at Timon and Gwen. "And if I'm not mistaken, you two are Gwendalin and Timon Livor, correct?" without even awaiting their answer the man continued. "My name is Johan Greenhunter. I am a close friend of your parents. It is quite a pleasure to see that some of the Livor family is still alive after all that had happened."

Then he turned to Theo. "And you. You are just straight up beautiful. If you had been a human, then you surely would have a lot of young maidens following behind you."

For a moment he briefly glanced at Joost and Lisa. "How do I put this? Is this your pet? You two should know that if you keep anything from the ruins you first have to ask for permission from all of your clients. You could have gotten into big trouble. Luckily, I am here to help you out. I will take the blue beast and you two will be free from any penalty following your crime. How does that sound?"

"Yea I don't think so." Theo spoke while he slowly approached the man. "You see, I'm not some glorified pet. I am a person. You don't have the fucking right to claim that you can own me."

Johan just smiled. "Oh, so you two actually taught him to speak. Does he know what he says or is he just repeating words like a parrot?"

"Of course, he knows what he says." Lisa yelled out. "And I won't let you take him. We finally have him back. Don't you dare lay a finger on him. He belongs with us."

Johan non-gallantly pushed Theo to the side and approached Lisa and Joost. "Dear Lisa and Joost Tryonfus. Why don't you understand that on my land certain accidents can happen if you don't follow the rules? And besides, having a companion would work in my profit when I'm out hunting. You don't want your most reliable source of food to be taken out by those zombies out there, right?"

Theo could quickly deduce from the way the man spoke that he was in charge. And he probably only went outside so that people would respect him more so that he would stay in charge. To summarise it, his parents really had disobeyed the rules by taking him in. And if he wouldn't play along, they would be 'rightfully' punished for that.

Both Theo and Johan knew that Lisa and Joost truly had no way to fight back, or they would have the whole camp against them. Even Gwen and Timon were at his mercy. They needed his approval to stay here. If they were to be kicked out, they would have nowhere to go and would surely die.

They were all at the mercy of Johan.

Without any further interaction Johan grabbed Theo by the shoulder and took him with him.