At Worth Street Subway Station, the underground sanctuary.
"Dad, what are we going to do now?" Stephanie asked her father as a spokesperson for the group.
David Dolan –who was setting down his tent and other things– quickly acknowledged and answered, "We wait for now. We need to set up a system that works for everyone but the thing is… we can't do it without 'him'."
"Why?!" The tanned skin, dark hair and brown eyes – Julian, retorted. "So 'cause of some fellow we're just gonna sit here and wait for those creepy things to kill us?"
He wore a beach buttoned shirt and beige coloured shorts and black sandals.
Stephanie grabbed his hand, "Julian what are you saying? This isn't like you. Everything dad is doing is for everyone's safety. Don't you trust him?"
The 19-year-old Hispanic boy looked down into the eyes of David who was sitting on a small chair, then cast his gaze away.
"Tch. I'm going up." He turned around and walked away with his hands in his trouser pockets.
"What is wrong with him? He doesn't usually act like this." Stephanie said as she watched his back get smaller in the distance.
"Sigh, it's understandable. Everyone is afraid." David said as he busied his hands.
…
Julian was walking up north to Spring Street Subway Station.
"Tch. They're all stupid for blindly putting their lives in the hands of another man. He even made us walk outside with no form of protection. It was like him trying to make us dinner for those bastards."
He kept talking to himself until he got to the stairs that led up above ground.
'What's the point in going above ground unless I want to die…' He kept walking forward. His destination, unknown.
He didn't even take more than ten steps forward until he started hearing growls from behind him.
"Grrrrr…"
A skinny demon rolled down the stairs and landed with a thud.
"Hieck--" Julian was scared out of his wits as he tried to run forward.
Crack… Crack… Crack…
The skinny demon rearranged its bones that twisted due to rolling down the stairs as it tried its best to stand up straight.
Huff… Huff… Huff…
Julian ran forward then stopped as he turned back to see the skinny demon just standing there.
'…Would I be able to go around it?' He thought to himself as beads of sweat were dripping down his face.
"Grrrr… sa… ve… me…" It twisted its head up, down and sideways as it forced itself to blurt out but this only served as fuel to the fiery fear Julian was feeling.
"Aaaahhh!" He didn't think of how to go around it anymore and just charged forward.
"Sss… aaavvveee… meeee…" It bent down on all fours and joined the pursuit.
"Hieck--" Julian glanced behind him and let out a shriek as he saw how the skinny demon ran on the wall on all fours to get to him.
Thud… He lost his footing as he glanced and tripped.
'D-Damnit… Why did I leave? Why did I do all that useless crap?' He held his sprained knee.
"Grrrr…" It charged forward and jumped.
"Ahhh!" Julian cowered over and closed his eyes.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang aloud as Julian's body shook to the rhythm of the shots. Damian missed the second shot.
"Krrr… sa… ve… me…" The skinny demon was still standing although it had been shot with two bullets.
Mark, Rachael and Michelle looked at Damian, waiting to see what he would do.
Damian stared at it, and without thinking twice,
Bang!
"Not bad for this being my first time."
"Did… Did it just… speak?" Mark asked solemnly and dejectedly.
"You're imagining things." Damian crossed over Julian and headed for the dead skinny demon.
Mark dropped the luggage he carried with his hands but left the one on his back and ran forward.
Boom!
Mark pushed Damian against the wall as he was heading for the dead skinny demon.
"It was partly alive so there was still a chance to save the person! You knew this so why the hell did you shoot?"
Rachael went over to help Julian but she looked up when Mark asked that hoping to also know the reason why.
She shared the same views as Mark in regards to being able to save the already demonised person that still maintained a certain amount of lucidity and intelligence.
Damian looked down at Mark and had his default apathetic expression that makes it seem that the whole world is beneath him, then, he smirks.
He raised his right hand and grabbed Mark's left hand.
"What the…" Mark was constantly growing weaker and weaker and eventually wasn't able to keep his grip on Damian.
Damian just shoved him away and dusted his black overcoat and adjusted his loosely worn tie.
"Never in your life." He continued walking forward, not minding whatever happened to Julian or giving Mark the luxury of a reason for his actions.
Mark regained his strength and was finally able to stand up with the load on his back.
"Asshole." He muttered to himself as he went back to carry the load he dropped before.
Rachael and even Julian who was cowering in fear just watched as Damian's back got smaller in the distance.
Michelle pursed her lips and muttered to herself, "Weird uncle is worried."
* * *
Damian and the rest arrived back at the base.
Julian went back to his area after thanking Rachael. He didn't dare come close to Damian and even kept his distance.
Stephanie first saw Julian pass and noticed how frightened he looked.
She was a little bit worried about him so she ran out of her tent in hopes to ask him what happened then she turned her gaze to where he came from and saw a man with black hair, wearing thin squarish glasses, a loose black tie hanging on the white buttoned shirt in a black jacket*.
She didn't even notice the other 3 people with him as her expression turned grave.
She retracted her gaze and turned to her father who was still sitting on a small chair.
'Phew…' She heaved a sigh of relief as she calmed down, 'Since dad is here everything will be fine…'
Damian got close enough and swept his gaze over the whole area. He saw Harry in the tent Stephanie just came out from and remembered where his tent was.
He passed David Dolan and didn't even give him face as he went over to his and Arthur's tent.
The zip was already open so Damian bent down a bit to look in.
He was met with about five people. They were chatting while Arthur was curled up in one corner.
One fat dude was sitting on Damian's pillow, while another used his blanket to clean his sweat due to the heat in the tent.
As they saw Damian looking in they froze on the spot, then one of them spoke up,
"Hey dude what are you doing just standing there and looking? This one's already full, so get outta here and stop stopping fresh air from coming in. Tch, stupid four-eyes."
They burst out laughing and picked up their bottles and cheered with the guy that spoke.
Damian recognised the drinks as the ones he personally hand-picked and liked the best, and brought along with his other supplies.
He took a deep breath and brought out his gun from his underarm holster then pointed it at the person that spoke.
"B-Bro it was just a joke." The man frantically said as he and the other guys drew their breaths.
Damian looked at him for about 20 seconds. For them, it felt like hours. Damian looked like a calm sea with a raging storm above it.
The fat sweaty dude that was sitting on Damian's pillow mustered up the courage, "Hey! What the hell is wrong with you? Drop that fake gun, we know you can't do sh*t to us."
He raised his drink and gulped down.
Damian noticed the silver wristwatch that he gave Arthur around the fat man's hand.
Bang!