"You'll help…Strangers?"
"I don't think we have the choice to say who's a stranger and who isn't anymore."
"I disagree."
Kadyn's eyes widened at his response.
"W-What?"
"You might not have the choice, but I already have my group. And I sure know them better than you."
Ezra paused, leaning back a little, still looking with suspicious eyes.
He tilted his head, asking another question, "How can I trust you?"
"Y-You can monitor me until you can trust me. I don't mean any harm."
"Well, you were acting like an idiot burying that chicken or whatever."
'Why is he being so mean?'
"Duck."
"Huh?"
"It was a duck."
"Same thing."
The boy rolled his eyes, uncrossing his arms and placing a hand on his hip.
"Any more with you?"
Kadyn paused for a moment. It was weird how he didn't answer immediately. A question like that shouldn't be hard to answer.
'Well, if I tell him I am with someone… I wake up Keon and then tell him, "We're moving to a camp with complete total strangers and a man I met 10 minutes ago."
Keon's gonna be pissed…
But if I don't tell him yes and leave Keon here, then I'm just abandoning Keon…
I could never do that to Keon—not to my brother.'
"I have a brother."
"Great! Now go wake him up."
"Wh— How did you know he's sleeping?"
"I wouldn't be able to survive in this new world if I couldn't tell that lump covered in animal hide near the cave entrance was someone sleeping."
'I… Should've told Keon to sleep more inside the cave.'
"That was Test One," Ezra stated, lifting up a finger.
"What?"
"To see if you would lie or not. Luckily, after your whole minute of obviously thinking how to answer, you made the right choice."
"…Thank you?"
"You're an idiot."
"I-I'll just…Go wake him up."
'Ignoring the insult seems like the best choice.'
Kadyn would poke the body before slapping it on the shoulder and hearing a groan.
"Keon? Are you awake?"
"Well thanks to your rudeness."
"It's urgent."
"What? Is something happening?"
"I—It's nothing bad… We're just moving camp!"
"Did you do something…"
Keon's eyes started to focus. A blurred figure standing near Kadyn kneeling down began to become more clear.
"Who…?"
"Ezra."
"He said he has a camp with people from his neighborhood and that we could join them."
"Why would we do that? We're perfectly fine on our own…"
Keon began sitting up, sighing.
"I mean… If we have more people, more progress can be made!"
"What progress is there to make?"
"Like civilization… Food… Stable source of water… Finding more about this disaster…"
Keon rudely pointed to Ezra, squinting his eyes.
"Alright, alright I get it. But who's to say he's trustworthy?"
"He seems…Nice!"
'He's not.'
"Seems or is?"
"I'm very nice. And especially nice for offering you guys the chance to join my group."
Keon sighed once more, dipping his head and thinking.
'Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say ye—'
"Fine."
Kadyn's eyes lit up as Keon agreed. 'Finally more people!'