"Hmm..." A masculine voice mused in thought.
"This may be a problem." The voice continued.
A figure standing on the roof of a building looking out over Don and the others muttered to himself as he analyzed them.
"Will it? Why not just recruit them? Especially that guy sitting against the wall. Taking on several wasps, then three waves of zombies, and coming out alive... He's far better than the trash we have with us now." A feminine voice spoke up next with a bit of excitement in her voice. She was sitting on the rooftop's edge with her legs swaying back and forth freely. Her eyes honed on Don as she licked her lips hungrily.
"Him? Well, you have a point. It's not like the others could even come close to pulling off what he did." The masculine voice answered. "Do you want me to follow them?" The woman asked as she looked up at the man, who appeared to be a young adult. Probably around April's age. The man looked normal. His physique was lean, but there was muscle. He had short black hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket that was open, revealing his torso, which was well-built.
There was even a large skull with glowing red in the sockets. The skull had this sinister feel to it. Black jeans and black sneakers were the other parts of the clothing. Aside from a few accessories like a necklace with a half-heart pendant, some rings with skull heads, and a single earring on his right ear, there wasn't much to tell. The man shifted his attention toward the woman.
She appeared to be the same age as him. She had shoulder-length black hair. She also had a black leather jacket that was open to reveal a black sports bra. She had on black shorts and thigh-high boots. She also had a necklace with a half-heart pendant. It was most likely the other half of the one the man had. She was also wearing a few rings with skull heads and even an earring on the left ear.
"Why? Did you fall for him?" The man asked with a cocky grin. The woman giggled, "And if I did?" She remarked teasingly. "I'll crush him." The man replied while still holding his cocky grin. The woman giggled again, "Not if I do first. After all, he may be the first person in this world that can entertain me other than you." The woman added.
She stretched her arms out afterward with a soft yawn. A visible number of 1095 on her hand could be seen. The man snickered, "Very well." He offered his hand to help the woman up. A visible number of 915 could be seen on his hand. "If you lose, though, I get a turn. Don't complain if I kill him either." The man remarked, which caused the girl to chuckle while accepting the man's help.
"Of course, babe." Their bodies began to give off a soft glow before they seemed to disappear suddenly. Among the rooftop they were on happened to be several wasp bodies. Some had holes the size of an arm, some had their limbs thrown around, and others looked as if they were burnt to a crisp.
"Hey Kid, back so soon?" A seductive yet mature voice spoke up from a black leather couch in a nearly empty room. The voice belonged to a woman. The woman was wearing all black. Black shirt sleeveless, black jeans, black combat boots. Her entire face was shaded out, so one could not determine what she looked like. A small three-year-old kid walked in holding a knife with the Ice-Pick grip—specks of blood upon his cheek and arm.
His lifeless brown eyes looked over to the woman. "I finished the job." The child remarked as he pulled an ear from his pockets and tossed it on the floor in front of the woman. "I see...." The woman seemed somewhat displeased. "You know you do not have to do this work. I am fine with just taking care of you." She remarked. "Although, I wouldn't know where to being..." She muttered the last part in a low enough tone to where the boy couldn't hear her.
The boy shook his head at her remark and made his way elsewhere. The sound of running water could be heard from another room. The woman picked up the ear and put it into a plastic zip-lock bag before cleaning up the mess on the floor. The boy came back out a moment later; all cleaned up.
"I don't need anything else. This world is filled with filth. Scum... just like my parents. Someone needs to clean it up. If there is anything I have learned, it is that only evil can fight evil. Those who follow the path of Justice and Righteousness can do nothing against the forces of evil. They are bound by laws that do not allow them to take the necessary steps to take down evil." The boy made his way over to a refrigerator.
For someone so young, he was capable of speaking fluently. He also seemed to hold a perspective of reality that was not suited for someone his age. It was sad, really. He pulled out a gallon of milk, a bowl, and a box of cereal. He needed a stool to get to the cabinets but did so just fine. After getting a bowl of cereal, he went to get a spoon and proceeded to a small table to begin eating.
"Really, now?" The woman had a sad expression on her face. She had only found the boy about a year ago on a mission to assassinate a certain target with high power. At first, she thought the boy was a girl because of how doll-like he looked, but when she took her in and bathed her, she found out that the girl was actually a boy. It disgusted her the way society was. Many people overlooked or turned their heads from the ugliness of society. No one even dared look into the darkness. They would instead remain ignorant of it and pretend it never existed.
'I wish I could give you a proper childhood. I wish I could take better care of you. I am sorry, Kid. All I know how to do is fight and kill. I am sorry that I can not do anything more for you than train you. I hope one day you can forgive me...' The woman muttered internally.
"Well, after you eat, you can come with me to deliver the evidence to our client. Then we are going to do some more training. I have a job later tonight. So, we'll need to pick up something for you to eat." The woman remarked, and the boy nodded in silence while eating his cereal.
Nightfall was slowly drawing in; thankfully, Don seemed to wake up. He groaned softly and looked around. "Don?" April asked softly when she heard him groan and his eyes open.
It took him a moment to remember the events that transpired since he had just finished dreaming about his past. "Ah. Right..." Don muttered and started to bring himself to his feet. "Easy, Don..." April's voice spoke softly while helping him onto his feet. "How are you feeling?" She asked him.
Don shifted his attention towards April. "I'm fine. Were you by my side the entire time?" Don asked in turn. His voice was a little groggy since he had just woken up.
"Yeah." April replied with a soft smile.
Rebecca and Jake walked up to Don when they saw he was up. "Good to see you are up, man." Jake commented with a smile. "You good?" Rebecca asked with worry.
"I'm fine, and it's good to be awake." Don replied to both of them before looking up at the sky. "I think we should head back now." Don saw that nightfall was coming. He did not want to be out in the opening when it did. Who knew what kind of bugs would be lurking in the dark?
"Yeah." Jake agreed.
"Of course." Rebecca agreed.
"Mhm." April agreed.
"But before that, I wanted to ask you if we could bring them along?" Rebecca motioned towards the other group, who decided to linger around. Don was somewhat surprised to find them still hanging around. He figured they would have just left to do their own thing. "Well, I don't see why not. I am sure John's Mother would be fine if people took shelter in her home for the night." Don replied to Rebecca.
The man and his group overheard their conversation and thanked him graciously. "No need. Let's just move." Don stated. "I'll help you." April remarked, and Don nodded in thanks.
Everyone started heading back towards John's place. They made sure not to alert or piss off any insects or undead along the way. Other Contenders weren't on their list of worries at the moment. It was mainly because nightfall was drawing in, and they highly doubted anyone was stupid enough to walk around at night in this world.
They arrived safely.
John had answered the door to let them in, though he was curious about the other four people with Don. He was also curious about the injury Don sustained. For now, he wouldn't ask questions. He figured that Don would fill them in soon.
"John, can you gather everyone into the living?" Don asked while winching in pain and sweating heavily. John nodded, though he had a concerned expression on his face. "You gonna be okay?" John asked. "Yeah. Just need some rest and water." Don replied.
"Let's go to the living. I need to tell everyone the details of what happened and have these four explain their story." Don commented, and everyone seemed in agreeance. They all made their way into the living and waited for everyone else to arrive.
Don would begin once everyone was in the living room. "Let's get this out of the way first. I was grazed by a wasp, but April disinfected and dressed the wound, then patched me up. I will be fine so get those frowns off your faces. I just need rest and water. Something like this isn't enough to kill me." Don boldly claimed.
Everyone's expression cleared up when Don himself said he would be fine. Of course, some did worry in the back of their heads, but all they could do was pray and hope at this point.
"Now then..." Don paused for a moment to make sure he had everyone's attention.
"We planned to get food, water, and other supplies and weapons. We achieved three out of four of those tasks. We have food, water, and supplies. As for weapons, we were going to make our way there when a horde of wasps drew in our direction. Afterward, waves of undead followed. I am unsure where they came from, but I can only assume that all the noise that wasps made is what drew them in. When the coast was clear, it was already dusk, and I had sustained this injury, so we decided just to come back and not risk it. As for those four..." Don motioned toward the three women, one man, and a single child.
Everyone looked in their direction for a moment before looking back at Don, "We encountered them in the discount shop. They were victims of someone or some other group. That much I can say. The rest they can tell you for themselves." Don handed the floor over to them while resting against the back of the sofa. April took Don's hand in her own and held it tightly.
"You will be okay, right?" April whispered. She was sitting right beside him.
"Yeah." Don replied. Rebecca was sitting on the other side of him and saw how worried April was. Hell, she was just worried. No one knew what kind of sting an oversized wasp would cause.
The man would speak up first, "Well... I believe we should introduce ourselves first. My name is Juan Hernadez. This is my wife Catalina Hernadez and our child, Sofia Hernadez." The man, Juan, introduced his family.
Catalina offered a smile and a nod, and Sofia hid behind her mother shyly. "As for the other two. I am unsure." Juan allowed the other two women to introduce themselves, but they seemed to shy away. Perhaps it was fear? It made sense after everything they had been through. John's mother saw this and said, "You do not need to worry. Everyone in this house is nice. No one here will hurt you. You are safe in my home."
The woman's voice was calming. This helped to ease their worries. But that wasn't all; just the fact that there were women here who didn't look like they were being treated wrongfully was another reason they felt they could introduce themselves. "I am Alice... and this is my sister, Sarah..." The woman with blond hair and green eyes introduced herself as Alice. The woman beside her, who looked slightly younger than her, also had blonde hair but brown eyes. She was introduced as Sarah. Both of these women looked around Don's age, whereas Juan and Catalina were more around Rebecca's age.
"Thank you, and welcome to our home. Juan, Catalina, Sofia, Alice, Sarah." John's mother spoke up with a soft tone and a warm smile that seemed to ease them.
"Thank you." They would all show their gratitude.
After this, Juan spoke, "As for our story. I can only tell you about my family. We were on our way to the store to pick up some groceries. We went into a tunnel on the expressway, but we ended up in this bizarre world when we came out. What surprised us most was the oversized bee we encountered. We slammed into it with our car; thankfully, none of us were hurt. We thought he hit someone, so I quickly went out to check, but that was when I found the oversized bee."
"I was confused. I did not know what was going on, but I told my wife to stay in the car and keep our child safe. I decided to look around a bit and even tried to phone the police, but my phone said there was no signal. When nothing came up, I went back to my family. My wife and daughter were just as confused as I was. We didn't know what to do, so we decided to wait in the car. We thought that maybe someone would come to get us, but as we waited, we found it weird that no other vehicles were coming through the tunnel. The longer we waited, the more it felt like a dream to us."
"We saw more oversized bugs moving around. The roads were empty, and there were no other vehicles on the road. As we continued to wait, the night drew in, and when it did, a young boy appeared in our rear-view mirror. He told us that we were in another world and that if we survived for a whole year, we would be granted one wish. The wish could be to go home. At first, we really thought this was all some kind of dream, but as the hours continued to pass, we learned that this wasn't a dream. I knew this wasn't time to despair. I need to keep my child and wife safe, so I decided to look for anything we could use as a shelter with an old map."
"I found an apartment building a few blocks down. We decided to take shelter there, but we needed food and water. I decided to do the scouting. We were able to survive for a couple of months with what was around, but the supplies in the nearby area as beginning to run low. I knew I would need to scout further but I didn't want to leave my family behind. So we decided to relocate. That was when we met that man and these girls. We were only with them for a couple of days before you arrived." Juan explained his origin for his family before speaking to Don about the last part.
Alice picked up where Juan had left off. "That is true. Before you two arrived, we had already been with that man and his group for a few weeks. Far before that, we woke up in this world. Sarah and I were in our dorm rooms at college. We decided we would go out for a few drinks since we didn't have classes."
"We found it weird that no one was in the dorm but figured everyone was sleeping, studying, or already out. However, the moment we left the dorm, we saw just a horrible sight. People were eating other people..." Alice grimaced at the memory.
"Undead." Jake remarked, and Alice nodded.
"We didn't know that first. We tried to call the police, but nothing. As Juan said, there was no signal. We decided to go back into our dorm and wait it out there. We thought that maybe the police were already on their way or at least hoped for it. After several hours that boy appeared on our TV screen. He gave us the same information that he gave Juan. We hoped it was all a dream, and we refused to believe it was anything but that. Sadly, we came to the realization that this wasn't a dream."
"As we sat in our dorm room, we grew tired and eventually passed out. Upon waking up, we left the dorm because we felt it was a dream. Although no one was around. We hoped everyone was just in class or something, but we came across those things as we walked through the campus. We knew this wasn't a dream and we were here. So we decided to take shelter in our dorm room for a couple of weeks."
"It was then that a group of men appeared at the campus. They were ransacking the place looking for food and water when they busted down our door and found us. At first, we happy to use other people, but.... well..." Alice grew silent, and Sarah shook her head, not wishing to recall what happened that day. "It's fine. You do not have to tell us." Don spoke up. He already knew what happened to them and was sure everyone else knew.
"Thank you..." Alice responded softly before continuing.
"They took us with them. Said they would kill us if we didn't go... So we went with them. I will not lie when we saw another woman, we were relieved... We wouldn't have to suffer anymore... but when I saw your daughter... I felt bad. I am sorry..." Alice remarked.
Catalina shook her head and moved to hold Alice tightly. "You have no reason to apologize. If anything, I am sorry that we could do nothing for you. We made plans to help you before that man's friends came back, but before we could take action, gunfire happened, and well... we didn't know what to do." Catalina remarked, and Alice sobbed softly against her. Even Sarah was brushing soft tears from her eyes.
Everyone was silent for a moment to allow them to speak their feelings and let them release all the emotions they held in. When Don felt it was right, he mentioned, "Now. Before I dismiss this meeting. I must ask, are you okay if they take shelter here?" Don looked at John's mother first, and she nodded.
"Of course they can stay here. They can stay as long as they need to." She would reply. Don looked over the rest for answers.
"You already know my answer." April said.
"Same here." Rebecca added.
"I don't mind either." Jake commented.
Everyone else looked amongst themselves before giving Don the okay. "Then that is settled. Now, if you all will excuse me, I would like to get some rest." Don stood up slowly. He could quickly feel how numb his leg was. It wasn't responding the way he wanted it to, either.
"You can use my bed, Don." John's mother spoke up, and Don nodded without rebuttal. "Thank you." Don made his way to the master bedroom, then the bathroom to strip himself and bathe.
"As for you five, come with me. It's a little cramped, but we will be staying in the basement for now since it is safer. Everyone else, you can join us when you ready. Just remember to turn off all the lights and make as little noise as possible." John's mother commented before leading Juan, Catalina, Alice, Sarah, and Sofia to the basement area. Everyone else did what they needed to do before following into the basement. April was still worried about Don, so she decided to check on him, but what she found made her call out his name with worry.
"Don!"