Before Ted left his house, Denzel packed some of the loads that he had there. He moved them to Grayson's house, and then he bid Ted goodbye.
When Denzel fully moved to Grayson's, he spoke with him, about the whole thing, pleading to Grayson to allow him to live with him.
"I have no one else in Hilldale to live with, I would want to stay with you, I don't know if you are okay with that," Denzel hated begging, so his head was faced down the whole moment he spoke.
"I am okay with it, but do you think you would be able to handle it?" Grayson replied him, taking a cup of tea that was on the table thereafter.
"Yes, I can, or what do you mean?"
"I mean the Zoo Keepers, if they find out that you are living here, you won't have any other place to run away to,"
That was all Grayson had to tell him, and Denzel saw the truth in it. He thought about checking out the one-room flat he stayed at when he schooled, but thinking about the people living close to him, he was sure that they were going to loathe him, and the Zoo Keepers would eventually find him.
That was when Denzel changed his mind. He decided to go back to his home at Oceandire and live with his dad. 'It isn't like I school here anymore,' He thought as he lay on the bed, facing up with his eyes glued to the ceiling.
The next day, Denzel woke up as early as he could, called Zoey to inform her about it. She said she was going to wait for him at her bus stop, and Denzel agreed.
Denzel got there earlier than she expected. 'It's me that has to do the waiting,' He thought when he left Grayson's lodging.
After about an hour, he saw Zoey walk elegantly from afar. She didn't know he was already there until she came a bit closer. She began to run.
"When did you get here? I am sorry if I kept you waiting for so long." Zoey ran, huffing as she did. When she got to him, she smiled at him, moving to sit near him afterwards.
"I didn't wait for long, I just decided to get here early, I needed some time to think."
"Yeah, I should thank the Heavens that I even saw the chance to meet with you before I left. I mean, I forgot to give you this," Zoey took out a can from her bag, it looked like a spray.
"What's this?" Denzel stretched his hand to collect it, a bit perplexed so he took a quick look at it.
"It's for the snake-headed guy, made of cinnamon, garlic, onions and lime and some other stuff that Oliver knows, well, this would be helpful, I also tried it out on a snake at night, and the results were quite decent," Zoey pointed at the can as she spoke, teaching Denzel about the ingredients, but Denzel really care about all of that, all he knew was that he was going to use it on Sony.
"Ohh, I see," When Denzel was done surveying through the body of the can, he opened the lid and wanted to spray it, but Zoey cautioned him to not use it anyhow.
"The fragrance is a bit nice though," Zoey said to him, smiling.
That was when a bus pulled up at their front, and they both walked to it. Denzel made sure to have his hood on his head, his head facing down so that people won't recognise him.
"Both of us," Zoey placed a card on a device in the car, and they both strode in, to sit next to each other.
The whole journey to Oceandire was a quiet one, Denzel dozed off the moment he got to his seat, he had not been able to sleep well for days.
*****************************
"Ryder, Sony..."
The two got up to their feet instantly, answering the voice that came out from the screen.
"Why is it so hard for you to get M.D? Two weeks now, and you haven't finalized your job,"
"Sir, we have been trying our best to get him, but, it just seems like each time we want to find him, he somehow gets away, he has a habit of fleeing."
"All you have is excuses... We have people looking for an opportunity to replace you guys, maybe we should give them a chance. But then, it isn't like they can defeat you both. All you were ordered to do was get him here unconscious, but, you think you were ordered to toy with him."
"We could have done that, but... A guy interfered,"
"Be quiet when the boss is talking, Sony," Oscar shrieked at Sony.
'Damn, Oscar only gets thoughtful at times like this,' The guy that wore the mask of an antelope thought to himself, placing his index finger on his chin subsequently.
"Oscar, let him talk, it's not bad to let them spit out their excuses at times, right?" Zero presumed, doing his usual thing, smiling.
"Ryder, you are in charge of this mission, even when your colleagues use a day or two on theirs, you waste about two weeks on yours. So, Ryder, tell me, what progress you have made to find him since the last two weeks?" The voice from the screen blurted out, it sounded angry.
Ryder was about to start talking when the screen said something, "I made an oversight, Sony, please, explain that to us,"
The guy that wore the mask of an Antelope, Ethan, chuckled a bit, looking at Ryder thereupon.
"We would have gotten him then, but there was a guy that interfered in our battle. We haven't been able to find him since then. M.D might probably be staying with that guy that intervened in our battle. We would find that guy's residence and get him"
"I have listened to everything you have to say, Sony, but I would want you to correct what you said earlier. With what I saw and heard, you didn't want to capture him. M.D was obviously weaker than you, but you just derived pointless joy toying with him when it wasn't needed. And that was why that guy was able to interfere with your battle. Or do you have a justification for it?"
Sony opened his mouth to say something, but he kept shut when Ryder lifted his hand.
All of them in the room did like they didn't see him. They were expecting Sony to say something, and Sony was about to talk.
"Yes, Ryder, what do you have to say?" The voice from the screen interrupted Sony when he was about to talk.
"Yes. I don't have much to say. Give us another chance, I promise that we won't misuse it."
"Okay, seems Ryder is promising us, let's give you guys the last chance. If you misuse it, the mission would be transferred to another person, and your ranks would be dropped." The lights in the screen turned off afterwards, it was time for them to leave the room.
*******************************
"Dad, we should begin our preparations now, at least we have all the ingredients down, and the cake we ordered is already here," Carrie held something in her hands. It was a frame.
"It's still early, we still have till nighttime, so let's get a little rest, and arrange your room while you are at it," Miller Chris, Denzel's dad explained.
Carrie didn't want that, she wanted them to start preparing for what they wanted to do.
She walked to her dad to disturb him till he had gotten up from his bed, but, he didn't answer her.
They continued until they heard a knock on their door.
"Huh? Who could that be? When last did anyone visit us?" Zoey said as she walked towards the door. Opening it, she was shocked at who it was-Denzel.
"Hi Carrie, I'm home," Denzel said, smiling.
Carrie could almost cry, his smile was still the same. She felt Denzel's hand on her head and that reminded her of the past when he always pats her head like she was some kid.
"Is this really you? Denzel?"
"Yes, how have you been?"
Carrie jumped on Denzel to hug him immediately.