They had continued onward. Killing off the pesky simple bugs and normal undead as if they didn't matter. Truth be told, they didn't. The group had completely changed and became stronger. The workout that Don put them through wasn't easy. Some had passed out, others hurled, and some even broke their bones. The first time they had gotten lucky, it was mostly because of Sofia and her Seed Power: Warmth, but the second time they started to feel it; the pain. Some tripped, and others passed out; however, Don wouldn't let anyone rest. Even if they passed out, Don woke them up. His Seed Power allowed him to ease the tension of muscles for a moment and reduce the stress on the body; however, it wasn't a permanent solution. It was just to wake them up. Ion or Natalie would have to help them out afterward.
When they broke something, Ion and Natalie helped them. They healed the bone, but they were forced to bear through the pain and continue their workout. Due to this, everyone had become stronger. Some did complain and feel like it was impossible, but Don always asked them one question.
"Do you want to watch someone else die again?"
They didn't. No one wanted to watch someone else die. If they could help it, they wanted to try and save or protect them. No one wanted to feel helpless and lost. So they endured Don's hellish training and came out stronger. The Seed did play a role in keeping them from dying. It was like an artificial heart, allowing them to perform inhumane feats. Don only knew this due to his previous runs. Someone had said that the Seed inside of everyone was what allowed their body to adapt. When Don listened to the boy before, the only thing he thought was 'Second Heart.' Yet, it was more than that. It had to be.
Regardless, this is why they were stronger. They continued onward, talking amongst themselves and doing what they needed to do until Don found another place for them to bunker down for the night. Everyone had their tasks; everyone except for the new people. Don told them to just help wherever they could, and they did just that. This allowed them to talk with others and get to know them even better. No one was distrusting, but they weren't so trusting either. Sure, Don knew them, and they trusted Don, but that didn't mean they would easily trust strangers.
Meanwhile, April approached Don. "Don, can we talk?" She asked. Don had been outside. He picked up Mark's pack of cigarettes and lighter when they decided to bury the corpse. Interestingly enough, they were the same brand Don smoked. He hadn't had a cigarette in forever. There just wasn't time, and Don was finally able to have one.
Before April approached him, he was going through the process of lighting a cigarette up. Although, the lighter that Mark had was a fancy Zippo lighter with a cool dragon-looking design on it. Don knew that Zippos needed to be refueled, but Don wasn't stressing over it. He had collected the fluids needed to refuel the lighter. He would flip the lighter closed and partake of the cancer stick while playing with the Zippo by rolling it in between his fingers as if he were playing with a coin.
When April called out to him, he stopped playing with the Zippo and exhaled toxic smoke from his lungs. He shifted his eyes towards her. She was beautiful in the moonlight. Even if her clothing wasn't modest, it didn't matter to him. She could wear whatever she wanted. Still, she looked beautiful. Even with that look in her eyes, she appeared beautiful. Don felt his heart skip a beat several times just looking at her, but he didn't show it.
"Of course. What's on your mind?" Don asked while pulling the cigarette from his lips and holding it away from April. April stood beside Don and cast her gaze downward. She was thinking of how to ask the question. Clearly, something happened, but she didn't know if she should just outright ask. Wouldn't Don tell her nothing is wrong?
"I know I asked earlier, but I am worried. You didn't look like yourself. You looked upset. Does it have something to do with that robot?" April asked. She had decided to just be honest and upfront. She always was and felt no need to change. Don closed his eyes and brought the cigarette to his lips. He thought if he should tell her. Upon taking a drag and exhaling the toxic fumes, he came to a conclusion. Melissa said that he should go ahead and just tell her.
"That robot was created by two people who have the same names as my parents. James Douglas, and Francine Douglas." Don stated. April's eyes suddenly went wide, and she instantly looked up at him. If it had to do with his parents, she understood why he was upset. He hated his parents. He was disgusted with them. So it made sense; however, something didn't seem right. How would his parents be able to do anything like that? If they were that smart from the beginning, then wouldn't Don have had a better life? Wouldn't he have been a different person?
"Are you sure?" April asked. She wanted to confirm it. Don shook his head. "No. They just have the same name, but I just have this feeling that they might be." Don's eyes narrowed. He would crush the entire cigarette in his hands. "If I find out that they are, I will kill them. It won't be quick and easy. I'll keep them alive and torment them. Break them. I will show them that just how true their words are. That it was a mistake to bring me into this world." Don dropped the cigarette into the ground; his hand burned due to the ashy tip but was healing thanks to his Mutated Seed.
April frowned at Don's words. In particular, the last part. April stepped in front of Don and rose onto her tiptoes to cup his cheeks in her hands. She forced him to look at her—a sorrowful expression on her face. "Don, you are not a mistake," April stated firmly. Don saw her. For a moment, April looked like her usual self. The light was in her eyes; it was bright, warm, caring, and gentle.
"I..." Don wanted to say something. He couldn't agree with April. He had brought so much pain to everyone. It started with his trainer. If he had never met his trainer, if his trainer never saved him, then wouldn't she have still been alive? As for Rebecca, wouldn't she have found a man, got married, and had children of her own? Instead, she had sacrificed the majority of her own life just to raise him. Then there was April. He wasn't worthy of her, and yet she still chose him for whatever reason. He couldn't understand it.
His current friends were also suffering. For some reason, he felt like the only reason they were brought here was thanks to him. After all, many that were present was connected to him in some way or another. He had nine years' worth of memories to think on. Nine years' worth of memories to back up his thinking. Don could only blame himself.
"April, you are wrong." Don finally said. He placed his hands upon her shoulders and shook his head. "You could have had a better life without me. You could have met a better man. You would have never been in this mess. The same goes for you, Rebecca, and even my trainer. Even Jake, Josh, and John. John's mother would most likely still be alive, and yet because of me..." Don was going to continue, but he felt a stinging pain across his face.
"LIKE HELL!" April shouted.
Don's eyes went wide. He looked back towards April to see tears were flooding her cheeks. "Stop blaming yourself for everything! Not everything is your fault! You've done nothing wrong! You are a great man! So much so that I fell in love with you!" April exclaimed. Her words drew the attention of others.
"April..." Don was about to reject her claims, but she shook her head. "No!" She shouted. "This is the one time you are wrong! Stop thinking you are some monster or heartless person! Stop blaming yourself! Stop carrying all the burdens yourself!" April exclaimed and looked Don in the eyes. He could see it. The Light was there. Bright and warm. It caused his heart to beat rapidly.
People listening in knew what April was talking about. They all understood. Training with Don helped them understand even more about Don. He was someone who shouldered a lot. He was someone who would blame himself if something bad happened to those close to him. Don wasn't insecure but genuinely believed that if anything bad happened, it was because he wasn't strong enough to keep it from happening.
Don exhaled a shaky breath and pushed off the wall he was leaning on to embrace April. He held her close and tight. He said no words aloud but instead whispered something to April. "Thank you." His voice was shaky, and it sounded off. It was because he was crying. The shadows hid his crying face. April could tell her words reached him. If she got that reaction from Don, she knew he understood what she meant. She would, in turn, comfort him. Hold him tightly. "I am here, Darling. I will always be here. Even if the entire world goes against you, I will forever remain at your side." April spoke softly in return.
Everyone looking at this scene was reminded of the old days. If anything, it looked beautiful. More so beautiful due to the clear moonlight shining upon them. They were reminded that April was Don's Light. Reminded that Don was stuck in the darkness, and the only one who could actually reach him was April. It was refreshing in a way. It meant that April was still April and Don was still Don. They eventually decided to return to their tasks. Since Tim, Katelyn, and Lilly were curious about what was going on, Rebecca decided to explain it to them.
Don and April returned after their extended embrace. Some teased them, and others asked if they were okay. Don decided to tell everyone else what was bothering him. Everyone agreed with April that Don needed to be more open and stop shouldering everything. They were strong too. So they could help Don with that weight. It warmed Don's heart. He was truly blessed to have such good friends and a wonderful wife. After thanking everyone, they went to sleep.
The day came, and it was time for everyone to move out again. First, of course, everyone had breakfast that was prepared by Alice and Sarah. Noah was in charge of making all the items needed to create a small makeshift kitchen. When they finished and packed up, they began moving out. Don looked up at the sky and noticed something off. The air felt chilly. The winds were picking up, and the girls who were wearing skirts tried to hold their skirts down. April decided to be bold and step in front of Don so he could see her underwear which caused Don to shake his head with an amusing smirk. None of the boys dared to look in April's direction, and Catalina shielded Sofia's eyes from the sight.
Don leaned over and whispered something to April's ear, which caused her cheeks to burn brightly, and nod softly in a docile manner. When he stood up firmly again, he would speak up, "It's going to rain. If not today, then later in the night." Don expressed. No one found it to be a bad thing. In fact, they thought it was just rain, so what was the harm? Don decided to tell them about the Special Undead. Instantly they felt the need to hurry along. Don stopped them from wasting their energy.
"Even if it rains, it won't storm. So at first, for day one, we will be fine. We should arrive at our new base by nightfall. So we won't need to camp out. The plans are to rest for a moment when we arrive, then set up the basic necessities. For now, be vigilant of everything around you. We aren't out of the clear." Don said to his group, and they all agreed. Everyone continued moving through the city. Several hours had passed, and Don knew they were only getting closer, but something was off.
Don hadn't detected any bugs or undead for a while now. "Tyrone, can you see if there are any bugs around?" Don asked. Tyrone would nod and begin using his Seed Power. He closed his eyes to focus and extend the range of his Seed Power. The evolution allowed him to extend the range even further than before and even allowed him to befriend bugs and control them. Finally, he caught wind of a bug but felt an immense amount of pressure and an uneasy feeling. Still, he called out to it.
'Hello.' Tyrone said to the bug and waited for a response.
'.....' No response.
'I was wondering if you could help me.' Tyrone said to the bug and waited for a response again.
'....' No response again.
'If you can hear--" Tyrone was interrupted by the bug.
'I can hear you just fine, human. No, I won't help you. But you can help me. You see, even after eating everything in the area, I am still hungry. Sooo...' The bug paused. Tyrone didn't like this feeling. Instantly he turned around, and when he did, he saw a large spider. It was rocky in texture and blazing red. It had large fiery wings, and its entire body looked like molten lava itself.
'Can you be my meal?' The bug finished. It looked as if it had appeared out of thin air.
Tyrone canceled out the call and quickly shouted, "Run!" Don instantly brought up a spatial barrier that came just in time to block the Molten Spider's attack. The Molten Spider threw up flames that collided with the barrier. Don kissed his teeth. He wasn't prepared to deal with this. "Everyone stay behind me!" Don exclaimed as he moved forward. The Spider continued to spew flames from its mouth in hopes of breaking the barrier, but when it realized nothing was getting through, it stopped and jumped into the air. Its wings fluttered carrying it, but not a sound was made.
Not only was it quiet, but it was also fast. It moved behind Don and around the group. "Ryan!" Don shouted, and Ryan fired off a massive hydro blast. The pressure of water hit the Molten Spider and caused vapors to form, creating a smokescreen. The Spider screamed in pain and fell from the sky. "Rose!" Don called to her name, and she created a vortex of winds which fused with Ryan's massive blast creating a vortex of wind and water. It picked up the Molten Spider. "If only we had an ice ability..." Don groaned. "Keep it there!" Don shouted and kicked off the ground. The vortex looked like a massive tornado.
John had increased gravity around them so they would be picked up by the massive torrent of wind and carried inside, but Don didn't seem to be affected. Don knew John activated his Seed Power, so he wouldn't need to worry about the others being pulled in. "Don!" April shouted and reached out to him when she saw him race towards the tornado. He kept kicking off spatial barriers he made from the air, and finally, he entered the tornado. Inside the tornado, he saw buildings, lamposts, street lights, and other things that had pulled into the tornado.
Don created a spatial barrier for him to stand on; he also manipulated the space around him to ensure he was pulled with the massive torrent of wind. Finally, the Molten Spider managed to piece together various building parts to make a platform for itself. However, the platform was still rotating and spinning.
"Human... you are brave." The Molten Spider spoke to Don. Don's eyes narrowed. He wasn't shocked that the bug could speak the human language. He knew they could, but only certain bugs could. Those that evolved into a stage three mutation of their original form could speak the human language. The Molten Spider was a mutation of a normal Spider. It was a Spider that had survived being burned alive and ate a lot of Red Seeds. As a result, its body adapted and changed. A mutated bug was known as a second-stage mutation. All the normal bugs were known as stage one mutations, considering how they are oversized. The third stage of a Molten Spider was dangerous. Not only could it speak, but it was also smart.
Their bodies were more durable, and their flames could be changed into molten lava itself. The only reason the Molten Spider didn't try to spew out molten lava was that it wanted to eat them. If they burned into nothing, then the Molten Spider wouldn't get its meal.
Don didn't say anything. Instead, he would activate both of his Seed Powers: Timeless Flow and Spatial Distortion. He maxed out their power so much so that a distortive clock began to appear below his feet, and the distortion around him began to bend and twist his body abnormally.
"Oh? A strong human. I wonder what your Seed will taste like." The Molten Spider stated, then spewed out a ball of fire at Don. Don kicked off the spatial barrier and created another for him to land on. He kicked off of that one and landed on another, doing this over and over to evade the Molten Spider's fireballs. The problem was, he was evading the ones he had already evaded before, in addition to the new fireballs since the vortex was causing them to circle around. The fire was too strong for the water to put them out; even with the steam, the wind would only carry it around and spread it out. Don was using his Timeless Flow to keep track of the other fireballs while still evading the ones that Molten Spider was spewing at him all the while he was trying to get closer. There was only one way he knew how to kill them without freezing them over, and that was to distort the inside of their body, but to that, he needed to touch it. It wasn't easy back then, and it wasn't easy even now because the Molten Spider was fast. Faster than a cheetah at top speed and extremely smart. It also had a resistance to Don's Timeless Flow. Meaning that they could still move quite fast, just like Ire did. It was only because of the stage the Molten Spider was at.
On the outside, everyone was wondering what was going on inside the vortex. They could see flares of flames and steam coming from the vortex every now and again. No one knew what to do either. They didn't want to just willing jump into the vortex. They feared what would become of them; however, one person was willing to do it. April wanted to jump into the vortex. She wanted to be by Don's side. Fight alongside him. She couldn't stand being away from him and just knowing he was fighting something that even seemed to cause him to isolate them from it. It meant that the enemy was strong. Images of Don's death flooded her mind and she shook her head and ran towards the vortex. "April!" Katelyn shouted, but no one could stop her. She had already jumped into the vortex.