Kai packed some simple necessaries into his backpack, got on the bike and rode towards the city.
After 10-minute ride, Kai finally reached the outskirts. There were some simple houses here, but he still didn't see anyone. He decided to knock on some of the doors of these houses just in case someone was here.
Disappointingly nobody was here. Kai looked around some more, but found nothing of interest.
Some houses looked as if people just suddenly disappeared while living their lives like normal. Some TVs were turned on with snacks on the tables, some half-done food was lying in the kitchen, the water in the shower was on, etc. While other looked like people hastily leaved them with their door open, clothes lying on the ground, as well as opened closets and cabinets.
It was really weird. For now, Kai decided to ignore it and went deeper into the city. He moved towards the store he always visited. It was decently big with everything you need in it. There was food, tools, daily necessaries like shampoo or toothpaste and anything else you needed.
While getting closer to it he noticed actual humans standing in front of it. Excited by finally meeting someone else, Kai got off his bike and slowly moved closer.
"Hello!" Kai greeted them from afar.
"Stop! Who are you!" Screamed one of them.
"I'm Kai! I live in Outer Neighbourhood!"
"An Outer?" The other asked.
"Can I come closer?"
"Yes, but move slowly, so that we can see you clearly." The first one answered.
Kai moved slowly just like they wanted. Fortunately, it seemed they didn't discriminate much against Outers. The neighbourhood Kai lives in is called "Outer Neighbourhood" and people living there were called "Outers". They weren't really welcomed here.
Before Kai stood two men. One of them was a policeman with blond hair and handsome face, Kai noticed a gun hanging at his waist. The other one was muscular, bald man with friendly smile on his face.
When Kai got close to them, the policeman introduced himself.
"My name is James. Nice to meet you, Kai."
"And my name is Wayne. "
"Yes, nice to meet you too. What are you doing standing before this store?"
"We are guarding it." Said James.
"Guarding? From what?"
"From those monsters roaming around."
"I see."
"You didn't get to shelter on time as well?" Asked Wayne.
"Shelter?"
"You don't know?" Wayne looked weirdly at Kai but then remembered that he was Outer.
"Ah, you probably didn't know, because you are an Outer. The military swarmed the streets 4 days ago and asked all civilians to evacuate to the closest shelter. But they were panicking, because of the monsters that appeared after the Violet Day. They closed the shelter only an hour after the announcement. Some people like us didn't get there on time." James explained.
"Violet Day?"
"Yeah, the day the sky turned purple." This time Wayne answered.
"Ah!"
"A lot of people disappeared that day. Afterwards those monsters appeared and some humans even got weird powers."
"Humans with powers?"
"Yes, like me." After saying that, Wayne's body grew double in size.
"Wow!"
"I can double the size of my body, proportionally increasing my strength."
"Do you happen to have a power as well?" Asked James.
"No, I don't think so." Kai decided to lie for now, since he didn't trust these people yet. He was trying to get as much info out of them as possible.
"That's a shame. We could use some other powers to help us defend ourselves."
"Are there more of you inside?"
"Yes, there are. There's even one Outer among them."
"An Outer? Who?"
At that moment someone opened the door of the store and peeked outside.
"What's happening?" He asked. Then he looked in Kai's direction.
"Huh? Kai is that you? Kai Sullivan?" He asked with cheerful voice.
"Roy?" Kai asked back.
"Yes, it's me. Kai it's good to see you're alive!"
"Yeah, good to see you're alive as well."
Roy was Kai's neighbour living next door. It was the first house Kai checked to see if there was anyone alive inside. And the reason for that was them having something similar to friendship.
Roy was Kai's age and they were going to the same college. Kai pretty much talked only with Roy inside and outside of it. Roy was a bit smaller than Kai, had brown hair and blue, shining eyes.
"Are you going to be staying with us?"
"I don't know?" Kai looked at James, while saying that.
"If you help us with guarding, I see no problem with it."
"Yeah, I agree." Added Wayne.
"Alright, I can help you with that." Kai thought that staying here for a while might be a good idea, so he immediately agreed.
"Yay!" Roy screamed with Joy.
"Alright, for now Roy show him inside. You will start your guarding duty later. We will explain what exactly you have to do then."
"Sounds good to me."
"Haha, follow me, Kai."
James and Wayne made way for Kai to go inside. They were still somewhat wary of him, but being a friend of Roy and needing more manpower, they let him stay here.
"We use this store as our base, since we have everything we need here. Though we still go to scavenge nearby houses from time to time. The more supplies the better!"
Kai looked around the store. There was surprising amount of people here. Around twenty? They were of all ages. Some grannies, middle-aged men and women and even few kids around eight years old.
The children were running around the store and laughing, probably not realizing the situation they were in. Adults on the other hand were discussing amongst themselves with grim faces.
They then noticed Kai and Roy, and immediately grew wary of him.
"Haha, don't worry guys, he is my friend Kai."
The kids stopped running and looked at us.
"The one you always talk about? The smart and handsome one?"
While Kai was pretty smart, having top 3 grades in his class, he wouldn't call himself handsome. His face was a bit above average with short, black hair and black eyes.
"He isn't that handsome." Though being told that straight to his face still hurt a bit.
"Haha, what are you talking about. He is the most handsome guy I know."
"James is better." The kids continued.
"Haha." Roy just laughed at that, but didn't say anything else.
"Right, come I will show where we sleep." Roy suddenly remembered what we were doing here in the first place.
"Alright."
They went deeper into the store. Kai could still feel stares at his back, as they entered the staff only area.