It wasn't long before one by one, they joined him outside the gymnasium. Some of them even being armed. Like the gym-uncle, Nathan, and the older bodyguard.
'Good, hopefully, I won't have to carry them too much.'
Ian, standing against the wall, lazily waved his arm over in greeting. "Yo."
In response, he received various greetings of 'hey', and 'hello', and multiple nods of acknowledgment.
"Is that everyone?" Asked the older bodyguard, axe in hand. The gym-uncle positively acquiesced while holding a large, heater shield. "Then good, we should probably get going." The older man suggested.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Ian said as he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. "Before we go on our little excursion, we should introduce each other. I can't keep calling you by your physical features in my head."
"I-is th-that fine though? Shou-shouldn't we get going?" The youngest one of the group hesitantly asked, making everyone look at him. Blushing, he ducked his head in embarrassment, and hastily added. "I-I mean… it's supposed to be super dangerous outside, right?"
"Just standing outside the building like we are should be fine."
"And if it isn't?" Nathan loudly questioned, scoffing.
It is.
"Evangeline stated that monsters are incapable of even littering around a safe zone. So far, she didn't lie about anything and I don't see a reason why she would about this detail. But just in case, you should remain on your guard, check your surroundings, and assume that some monsters may ambush us at any given mom–"
"We're putting ourselves in needless danger while wasting our time standing here in the open. Remind me again why are we literally listening to this kid in the first place?"
"Orrr," Ian trailed off, frowning. "Don't."
"For fuck sake!" Nathan raged, ignoring him. "Are we just going to follow his lead? He didn't even think further than just going outside and winging it! I'm the only one bothered by it?" He asked rhetorically.
He blinked, puzzled. 'Where is this coming from? Is this about me snubbing him earlier? Or...' Tilting his head in thought, his eyes switched to his companion, the one who seemed to lead this group. Their gazes briefly met.
Ah.
The older man was sizing him up, assessing him, and looking at him for a reaction. It was the same for the blonde woman beside him and everyone else to a certain degree.
'It's a prob.'
Alright, apparently we're doing this. Sighing, Ian put his bat on his shoulder and began speaking. "Look, If you have a problem with me talking and making suggestions, then fine. It's cool. No problem. You don't have to listen." At this, he nodded at him in acknowledgment.
"However," he raised a finger. "Let's make something abundantly clear here. I didn't beg, nor did I even ask you, or any of your friends here — to come with me. I fully intended to go out, scout outside, fight some monsters, earn some points, and then come back to buy something interesting. But I admit it, there is safety in numbers. So I proposed to like-minded people like myself to team up if they were interested in working together and making something out of this shitty situation. And from there, an even better plan was put on the table. You are one of those like-minded people that agreed to this plan and decided to board this wagon. So d–"
"And? What if I am? What's your point?"
"My point," hissed Ian. "Is that if you're going to bitch every. single. damn. time. I'll suggest something, then you may as well fuck off and go on your damn merry way– because I'm sure as hell won't stop making suggestions whether you like it or not, nor do I have the patience to tolerate any of your bullshit."
Vein popping on his forehead, Nathan lowly asked, growling. "What did you say?"
"Did I stutter?"
"You, little shit!" He snarled, storming toward him.
"Nathan! Stop!" Shouted his friend, restraining him.
"Whoa whoa whoa, things are heating way too much, let's all calm down." The gym-uncle said as he quickly stepped between them, waving his hands.
"Fuck it, let me go, this little sh–"
"ENOUGH!" Roared out, Michael. "Are you not ashamed of how you're acting? Calm yourself or I'll make you."
Turning to look at his friend, Nathan stopped. Scowling, he huffed. "Fine."
Tutting condescendingly, Ian shook his head while muttering about 'youth's foolishness.'
Nathan growled.
Michael frowned, staring at him.
Everyone else except the blonde woman was awkwardly staring at them. Not knowing what to do or say.
"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful, it's just like herding school children all over again… " The gym-uncle muttered, voice brimming with frustration.
Sighing, he pinched his brows. "We clearly all got on the wrong foot here. And yes, the kid is right, you didn't leave the first best impression, knock it down, and stop being needlessly antagonistic if you want to work with everyone here," he said, pinning Nathan with a hard stare.
Nathan turned his head.
Ian smirked.
Upon seeing his smug smile, the man rounded on him next. "And you kid! Wipe that satisfied smirk off your face! And tone it down with the attitude. We even talked about it earlier!"
Ian blinked, pointing at himself as if saying 'who, me?' before putting on a sufficiently-chastised expression.
'Ahhh, the nice perk of somewhat being seen as a kid. You can act as petulantly as you want without it coming across as too weird.'
The gym-uncle's lips thinned at his act. "Most of us present here don't know each other. So I think it's best if we start with presenting ourselves first," he nodded to everyone. "I'll go first, I'm Brian. Brian Williams. I'm a bus driver from San Francisco. Nice to meet you all."
A chorus of 'Nice to meet you' was heard.
"Guess I'll go next." The older bodyguard said. "Michael Stewart, from Chicago, U.S." Then nodded toward his surly friend. "And you are already acquainted with my friend here, Nathan."
Nathan crossed his arms, frowning. "Nathan Scott, 22 years old, also from Chicago."
Smiling demurely, the woman of the trio introduced herself. "Olga Čakarević. Enchanted."
Michael and Brian expectantly looked at the people that haven't introduced themselves yet. Those concerned, exchanged quick glances between themselves, waiting for someone to go first. In the end, it was ŧhe Latino-looking man who decided to step forward.
"Hello, I'm pleased to meet you all, I present myself, I'm Alejandro Suárez from León," At the mostly blank look he received, Alejandro quickly clarified. "León de Los Aldama in Mexico. I'm a farmer but I also breed cows, goats, and chickens. Nice to meet you all."
The farmer then nudged the youngest in the group.
"Huh… H-hello…" who greeted timidly, "N-nice to meet you! My name is Àlvaro López, and… I… I'm 14 years old. Huh… I don't have any awesome job or anything, I'm still going to school…" Receiving several nods of encouragement, he continued. "But, ah, yes! I'm from the city of San José, in Costa Rica. Thank you for letting me join…"
Next, came the second woman of the group. "Laura Rousset. Fort-de-Fort, Martinique. Ex MMA fighter." She said crisply before crossing her arms under her breasts.
Àlvaro curiously asked. "Where's that?"
Before she could respond, Ian answered. "It's a territorial collectivity, an Island belonging to France situated somewhere in the eastern Caribbean Sea if I correctly remembered my geography. Though is it more correct to say that the island is under France's umbrella?"
"That's… quite right." Confirmed Laura, looking at him with some slight surprise.
Seeing Laura's surprised expression, he explained. "My grandfather from my mother's side was French."
She nodded at that.
Ian smirked, clapping his hand. Making everyone look at him. "Well, I'm the last one to go. Ian Bosworth, freshly-graduated high school student from Montreal, Canada. Pleased to meet you."
As soon as introductions were out of the way…
"Now that we're done with the introductions, we should probably get going," Olga Čakarević voiced as she looked at the only other woman in the group. "Laura, can you please?"
"Yes," the woman in question took out a folded parchment out of her pocket and opened it. "This is a scroll. An interactive map that I bought earlier at the terminal's store. We tried it together with Olga, it basically works like Google's map. We can directly input a search for a precise location and the map will show us where it is along with the shortest path toward it."
The entire group excluding Ian, gathered around her to look at the scroll. They made 'oh', 'ah', and 'whoa' sound of exclamations upon looking at the quickly shifting images displayed on the map.
Michael said, showing a point on the map. "The nearest safe house is 3,1 km away from us. That should take us more or less 1 hour to reach if we're making good time."
Beside him, Brian opined. "While walking, if we can find a convenience store or a grocery store, we can make a stop to stock up on food and water too."
Michael refuted. "I doubt we'll find something like that. If it was the case, there wouldn't be a need to drop supplies is there? Besides, there isn't a single food source marked on this map."
"... I guess…"
"We can still keep an eye for it while walking." The older man reassured, patting him on the shoulder.
Nodding, Brian asked. "How should we proceed?"
Before Michael could answer him, Ian butted in, making the older man frown in annoyance. "I'll take point, you have a shield so you should stay back to intercept any monsters if we encounter one."
Everyone gaze locked on him.
It was Brian who asked, doubtful. "Are you sure? It's quite dangerous. We have no idea what we'll face. Michael or even I, are much more fitting for this."
"Yes, I am. I'll take the lead, spot anything dangerous in advance, and bring its attention toward myself," he raised his hand, halting the protests coming his way. "As I said, you have a shield, and him an axe, you can bash anything with it and Michael can finish the rest. It's better this way. If you're both together and also in the group, you can efficiently ensure the safety of our group in case of danger. I can take care of myself just fine. I'm fast, in the worst-case scenario I'll simply retreat."
Still not entirely sure, and he wasn't the only one for that matter, Brian conceded. "If you're absolutely sure…"
Nathan said, scoffing. "Let the kid do it if he insists that much."
He got several glares for his comment.
"No false bravado and be careful, at the slightest sign of danger, you run back, understand?"
Cute. Ian saluted. "Yes."
On that note, the group departed.