Dean could get some quality sleep for a couple of hours before he was awakened by a knock on his door. He woke up quite disoriented and went stumbling to the door. The knock was strong enough to echo inside his room and make his head spin.
When he finally could reach the doorknob, he unlocked the door quickly and opened it. On the other side was Kevin. No wonder, because he was the only one who could casually knock on a door with such strength.
Dean looked up to him with confusion at first, then he remembered what day it was.
'Oh, my... I nearly forgot that today we are going to start our trip again. Rick probably wants us to be done before the sun appears. Damn it!' He thought in despair. Anyway, he didn't know what time it was, so there was hope that he wasn't too late.
"Good morning, Dean," Kevin spoke, waving his hand.
After he said it, the boy felt that something was off. He didn't know what it was, but Kevin was... strange?
"H-Hi, Kevin. Am I late to the trip, perhaps?"
"No. They asked me to search for you some hours before we start to organize ourselves to leave this dirty place." He explained, entering the room.
His eyes were locked on Dean's, which wasn't something he did often. He seemed somewhat pissed off as well.
"Oh, I see... Well, that's good for me. I wouldn't want to wake up late. After all, Rick would get very angry at me for doing such a thing, hehehe." Dean joked, rubbing his neck, which's hair was all messy.
Kevin didn't joke with him just as Dean thought that he would do. Instead, he just nodded his head, giving one more step inside the room.
"W-Was your trip ok during these days?" The boy asked, without knowing what to say anymore.
"Sort of. Anyway, that's not the point here. I am not in your bedroom just to say good morning, after all. Otherwise, I would have called the maids to do it."
"What's it, then?"
"Rick wants you to take our other member. He is taking care of our horses in a stable on the center of the refuge. It isn't too far away from here. We wanted to keep it a secret that we actually have horses since they are so expensive and robbers adore to steal them, that's why I came to give you this information."
Dean sighed in relief. He couldn't have imagined that Kevin's serious face was because of something like that. He could understand why horses were so precious, and why it was that dangerous to even talk about having one. Still, he thought that Kevin's actions were way too exaggerated.
'Well, I also have something precious with me all the time which I cannot let them know about, so I can understand the feeling he got. After all, if they ever notice the strange volume in my pant's pocket, I will be screwed.'
"Also, we will need the horses, so enjoy this time when everyone is still asleep to take them discreetly out of the refuge. At least three kilometers distant. Stay there and guard those horses with your life. This will be the first mission that we will give you."
The boy nodded to Kevin, giving him a thumbs up.
"Very well, dude. I will go there and take him with me, also as guiding the horses carefully!"
Kevin turned his back to him and began to walk, aiming to leave that bedroom. The boy remained looking to his wide and muscular back, somewhat confused about something.
Losing the battle against his curious personality, Dean ended up calling him out.
"Hey, Kevin! Hm... Is everything okay?" He was finding his partner to be different from the usual self from those six days that they were in the same group.
The bulked man turned to him, then smiled.
"Yes, Dean. Everything is fine. See you soon." He waved, then left the bedroom.
Dean decided not to pursue the matter and just began to put on the other parts of his clothes, also placing the two short swords he had on his back.
He could wash his face and brush his teeth, also getting something to eat in the Major's kitchen. He made everything in a hurry not to lose time and mess with their plans to be discreet.
Dean walked off the Major's big house and headed to the center of the city. Since it was a small city, he was sure that they had just one stable, so he wouldn't mistake it.
When finally arriving there, he couldn't believe the state of that stable. It was unimaginable how horses could actually stay there for a single day. There were some establishments and houses on that refuge which Dean could even discern if the survivors were taking care as much as possible. However, that stable showed clearly that nobody was even trying to do something.
'Well, tamed horses are rare and expensive. They probably have just a few, and the ones they have must be kept on the houses of the owners not to get stolen from them, so it was probably abandoned before Rick's group came here some days ago.'
If that really was the case, then Dean couldn't complain at all. But, still, they could at least break that building and use the materials.
The boy entered in that dirty and smelly stable The doors of that place were worn, one of them nearly collapsing. There were horse excrements everywhere, also as small rats and cockroaches. Those animals probably would become Dreads at some point, but no one could know when.
"Hello? Is there someone inside here? Rick sent me to find you!" He shouted while stepping carefully inside that place.
He could hear the sound of the horses, but no human was heard at all.
His vision began to get used to the pitch darkness of that place. When he realized it, he could see the four horses that belonged to Rick's group.
Also, in a corner of the stable, with his body all dirty, covered in bruises, and malnourished, was a boy about the same age as Dean.
With tears in his eyes, he looked at him with a helpless expression.
"P-Please, don't let them hurt me again... P-Please..."