Josh was lying in his bed with his arms being used as pillows. His eyes were wide open and focused at the ceiling, well not really; he was more so in deep thought. Josh was going over what Don had told him about the End of the Year. It sounded different from what was currently going on, and if he had to describe it in a single word, he would have to say this.
War.
From what Don told him, people would end up going to war with themselves. The World Government would collapse, and it would be a free-for-all. Bugs and Undead were one of the many things they would have to fight, and on top of that, they would end up fighting themselves. Small factions would be created, and they would fight against other factions or even go against one another in their factions. It wasn't like that now. Sure, people were doing their own thing, but everything seemed a bit tame. It wasn't a slaughter-fest.
He could only deduce this thanks to the many stories that Natalie, Rose, Tyrone, Jessica, and Ion talked about. The many outposts and how people would generally try to avoid one another or avoid needless violence. It seemed like whatever Don went through only came about because he had April with him. Josh was disgusted that women were treated like that. Even if he had trust issues and problems with women, he wasn't a woman-hater, nor did he ever wish any ill on them.
Josh did wonder why the End of the Year was going to be like that, though. It sounded like it was always like this, no matter what run Don had been on. The end was the same; the only thing Josh didn't understand is how Don could live through all of it. If what he said was true, then Don was a lone warrior amongst a field of war. Was Don truly that strong? Was he a one-man army? The more Josh thought about it, the more he thought about Don's powers, his recollected memories, and how he came back to life.
Eventually, he started to feel drowsy. Even if his mind was currently going over various thoughts, his body was fatigued, and he was feeling it now. He ended up passing out, and when he opened his eyes again, the same ceiling would be there. The place had been lit up to show that it was daytime and the first thing Josh did was go out for some fresh air; however, he had stopped.
It was pouring outside. Not just simple rain, but heavy rain. He recalled Don had said something about a storm brewing in soon, but since Don was off about it, he figured it was just Texas weather being Texas weather. However, now that it was storming, he indeed did feel like it was just Texas weather being Texas weather. A sigh escaped his lips, and he shook his head. "What a Bi-polar state..." Josh muttered.
"It's been like this since early morning," John said as he approached Josh from behind.
"Early morning? How long have I been out?" Josh asked. "Presently, it's around ten," John replied, and Josh sighed softly. He didn't expect to sleep throughout the early morning. "Is everyone else up?" Josh asked, and John nodded. "Yeah. Don said not to worry about the exercise until the storm dies down. So everyone is with Noah right now." John expressed.
"Noah?" Josh asked curiously.
"Mhm. Noah used one of the rooms in the back as a forging area. He has several tables there and several blueprints strung up. Everyone is asking Noah about the cells and when the renovation will take place." John replied.
"I see. I almost forgot about that. Well, I suppose with nothing to do, everyone is thinking about setting the place up to make it feel more like home." Josh responded, and John nodded. "Shall we?" John added. "Go with them?" Josh inquired, and John nodded. "I suppose. What about Don and April?" Josh asked.
"Don and April are in the office. Don is going over something and drafting up plans. Something about making preparations, but he'll fill us in more when he has the final drafts completed." John answered. Josh knew what John was talking about since Josh asked Don last night. Don truly was preparing everyone for his absence as well as the End of the Year.
"Okay. Well, let's head to Noah then." Josh said. They would go to the room Noah was stationed in, and once they entered, they noticed everyone was in here talking with Noah about the things he could do. Dillian was standing beside him since he was the one who would be breaking down the walls between cells with his Seed Power.
"I think if we add some kind of support in the corners of the cells and remove the gates to create a wall of its own, we should still be able to keep the cells from collapsing," Noah said. Apparently, some people were scared of the cells collapsing, and even Noah wanted to make sure there was enough support. "I have to agree, but what about windows?" Alice asked. "Windows? You do realize the thickness of a prison wall is meant to keep prisoners inside. If I were to add a window, it would look weird, but if you really want the space for one, I can see about it." Noah replied.
"Well, if not windows, could we decorate the inside of our rooms?" Sarah inquired, and Noah nodded. "I don't see why not. Paint it whatever call you want, put up whatever decor. It shouldn't be a problem. Even if you drill a hole in the wall, it should be fine as long you don't make a hole the size of a door." Noah expressed.
The two girls were content with their inquires. "Can we decorate the inside?" Sofia asked cutely. "The inside?" Noah asked, and Sofia nodded with a bright smile. "The place looks gloomy and dull. Can we put up flowerpots and stuff?" Sofia asked once again, and Noah smiled and nodded. "Of course!" Noah replied, and Sofia jumped for joy then began talking to Catalina about everything she wanted to do. The others found it cute, and no one stopped her.
"So, when he did become the architect?" Josh asked since it seemed like Noah was the one people were to ask about changes to their new home. John just chuckled, "Not sure. When people started asking Don this morning if they could do stuff to the base, Don just told them to run it by Noah." John replied. "Ah, I see.... It does make sense. Noah does seem like the kind of person who could work on a house or build up from the ground up." Josh replied.
"He did," John stated. "Oh, that's cool," Josh said, then paused for a moment, then turned to John when he realized what John had just said. "Wait, what!?" Josh exclaimed, which got everyone's attention. Josh said he was sorry and told them not to worry before looking at John, who had a smirk across his face. "Yeah. The little farmhouse outside. Don had Noah draw up a blueprint yesterday to create one. With the help of Dillian and April, they made it in as little as a few hours." John replied.
"Wait, won't it flood?" Josh asked. He was impressed that Noah could do something like that, but wouldn't it flood or even turn into a soft muddy substance due to the rain? John shook his head. "No, it won't flood. Dillian created little drainage holes. He even created a drainage system that would allow the water to gather into a large pool in another area." John explained. "When did he do that? How did he do that?" Josh asked with curiosity; however, he was also impressed as well.
"Yesterday, when you went to talk with Don. Dillian decided to create a drainage system. Since his Seed Power is evolved, he cannot only manipulate the earth, but he can also change its property. He can have the earth became steel or harden into cement and concrete. He can even change it into any other type of metal. If he wanted, he could even extract certain minerals from the earth." John explained to Josh.
It seemed like John had asked Dillian about it, which was why he knew so much. Even Josh didn't know Dillian could that do. This also answered his question about the farmhouse. If Dillian changed the substance of the farmhouse, then perhaps it wouldn't become muddy and break down. When thinking about this, Josh came to a realization that Dillian was going to be their builder. Someone who would build their defensive and keep them updated. Sure, Dillian could use his Seed Power for battle, but it seemed better suited for defensive.
"Couldn't he upgrade the walls of our base?" Josh said his thoughts aloud. John's brow rose curiously. "You mean Dillian?" John asked since he heard Josh. "I must have been thinking aloud, but yeah. Couldn't Dillian turn the concrete into metal, making the walls more durable and harder to penetrate through?" Josh inquired, and John would shrug.
"Don't know. You would have to ask him yourself. Anyways, I've said my piece to him about the base. If you want to run anything by them, now would be a good time." John said, then turned on his heel. "I got things to do," John added before leaving. Josh would nod and make his way over to Noah. Most of the people in the room left after getting their answers and whatnot, so it was just him, Noah, Tyrone, Dillian, and a couple of others.
"Glad to see you are finally up," Noah said with a smile, and Josh nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Sorry. A lot happened yesterday, so I guess my body was far more tired than I thought." Josh replied. "Anyways, I wanted to ask. Is there any way we can upgrade our walls?" Josh inquired. He truly wanted to know because it would be a major improvement in case they came under attack.
He recalled what Don had told him, that eventually, people would start looking for them. If they found them, they would either attack them or try to negotiate with them. Either way, Don wanted to be prepared, which was why he was doing what he was doing. Josh thought it would be good to have better walls due to this.
"Uhh... what do you mean?" Noah asked, and Josh explained his thoughts. Dillian would chime in once Josh finished explaining. "It's possible. I wouldn't be able to do the entire base in one night. It would take me about a week or two, and that is with helping elsewhere." Dillian stated. Josh nodded. "I think it would be a good idea. We still don't know what's out there. The Molten Spider was one thing, but what if we come across something else? The Berserker broke through those brick walls with ease, so they might even be able to break through our walls. I just want to be prepared and ready." Josh stated.
"I understand. I didn't say no. I just said it would take time." Dillian responded. It seemed like Josh was in a hurry, and he noticed it but decided that maybe Josh was just a bit overcautious. After all, Josh usually was the one to think into the future about things like this. "Thanks," Josh responded, and Dilian nodded. "No problem."
"Anything else?" Noah asked, and Josh began to think if there was anything else. It made him wonder just what Noah could make, and he began to think about what they could use to make their defensive stronger. "You know... The New World Government created a robot, right?" Josh stated, and Noah nodded with a puzzled look. "What if we create our own robotic turrets? Maybe even electric fencing and other defensive devices... Do you think it would be possible?" Josh asked.
Noah looked to Dillian, who would shrug. This one was beyond him, then he looked to Tyrone, who was on his other side. Tyrone looked just as clueless as Dillian. Noah sighed heavily, "I can look into it." It seemed like Noah had a lot of work cut out for him, but he didn't mind. Even if he had training and knew how to properly fight, it didn't mean he wanted to be on the frontlines. He had his own talents and uses that he was best suited for. "I won't make any promises. I don't know how to create such things, so I'll have to do it from scratch before mass producing them with my Seed Power. It could take weeks, maybe even a month, before I get one up. If that is okay with you, then I'll go through with it." Noah added.
"Good. As long as we have them, we should be fine." Josh stated. "Anything else?" Noah asked, dreading if there was. He already had a backlog of things he needed to do, and adding more would just increase that backlog. Still, it meant he was going to be a busy man, so at the same time, he was okay with it. "No," Josh replied, and Noah nodded. "Good, then I'll get to work on the building. We'll start with the cells, okay?" Noah said, looking to Dillian, and Dillian agreed. Both of them went off, and Tyrone followed just in case they needed him for anything.
Josh decided he would head off to do his own thing, checking over their supplies and seeing what they had. He knew Noah was going to need materials of all kinds to create a robotic turret. If he had to guess, a lot of different types of material. For things that they didn't have, he made a list to look out for them.
Alice and Sarah were in the kitchen. They were going to be the cooks and gardeners. So they were preparing lunch for everyone. Thankfully, everything was already set up. They could just begin cooking just like they did at their old base.
Katelyn and Lily were looking at their cells, thinking of what they put in them. Whereas Catalina, Sofia, and Juan decided to do some cleaning and let Sofia play around. While they were cleaning, Sofia was talking about where she was going to put what. Flowerpots here, pictures there, sprinkle some color here and there. So on and so forth. It was cute, and they were glad to see that their daughter was happy. In truth, they were thankful to Don. They felt that the only reason their daughter was safe was that they had met Don. He was a good man, and they wanted to do whatever in their power to show their appreciation.
Rebecca decided to take Ryan, Sussan, Jake, and Tim to do some patrolling. They didn't need wet suits because Ryan could cause the rain to drift around them, which created a dry space for them. Sussan was there with a small flame in her palm that was spreading warmth and keeping the area lite around them. Tim was there with his greatsword in hand, and Jake had his own Undead walking around the base. Interestingly enough, Jake managed to bring forth a few new types of undead that no one had seen yet. Zombie dogs, which had terrible eyesight but a great sense of smell and hearing. An undead that had a single large eyeball for a head. It had great eye-sight but zero sense of smell, taste, or hearing. Lastly, this one looked like an eldritch horror. It had a human body and walked on all fours, but the head was one giant mouth with razor-sharp teeth and a long creepy tongue. It looked as if its tongue was meant to detect presences. No one knew about this new undead since Jake had kept it to himself after doing some experimentation. He came to find out that if his imagination was wild enough, he could create an entirely new type of undead. Still, the wilder it was, the less of it he could create, which was why the zombie dogs were the majority of the undead sulking around. Whereas the Eyeball Undead was few and the Eater Undead was only one. Rebecca had a shotgun in hand; she was still trying to figure out her Seed Power.
"So, you all follow Don, huh?" Tim asked to strike up a conversation since everyone was quiet. "Yeah," Rebecca responded dryly as if it wasn't obvious. "Hey, I am just asking. Don's a good man. I can see why everyone would follow him. Even I look up to him." Tim said with a warm smile. Jake looked towards Tim. "You look up to him?" It was surprising. He only knew that Tim met Don through April, but Don never talked about Tim. So he figured they weren't that close.
"Yeah. Even if Don looks like some stone-cold killer on the outside, he is different on the inside. He does what he needs to do for those he loves and cherishes. Not many people would do something like that. If push came to shove, most people would watch in horror or abandon them. There may be a few, but it wouldn't be on the scale or level as Don." Tim explained.
"I honestly feel like it's a respectable thing to do. Your enemies know not to mess with you, and your allies respect you." Tim finished, and Jake thought about it. Everyone did, actually. What Tim was saying made plenty of sense. The only thing that came after them was that robot, and that was after several months. The World Government has yet to even send in the Sin Squad. So maybe they fear him?
"Perhaps, but Don is only human. He can't shoulder everything himself." Rebecca said to break the silence. "True, but isn't that why you are all here? So he doesn't have to." Tim stated bluntly, and everyone had this look of realization. Was that why they were here? Not just because Don was strong and could protect them, but because they also wanted to protect Don? It was so plainly obvious that they hadn't even realized it themselves. Sure they told Don about it and talked about it, but doing it was entirely different.
"You are right," Rebecca said, and Tim nodded with a warm smile. After that, he would begin talking about many things. Why he respected Don. How he came to admire him and whatnot. Eventually, they called Tim Don's personal fanboy because that's what it seemed like. Tim just accepted it, but he told them that he would stand by Don's side one day, and if he could, he would strive to surpass him.
While that was going on, two other people were also out in the rain. They had been making their way to a watchtower for some seclusion. It was John and Rose. Once they arrived, Rose used her Wind Seed Power to dry them off. "So, what did you want to talk about that you needed to drag me off into seclusion?" Rose asked. She wasn't showing it, but her heart was racing. She had come to enjoy John's presence, and all the conversations they ended up having. She was starting to like him.
"I wanted to ask you something. It's about Don's parents and that robot. Do you know anything about them or it?" John's question came as a surprise to Rose. She felt a bit let down. She didn't know why, but she did. Her heart rate slowed as well, but she was curious. Why was John asking about that?