"Everything?" Lilly asked with a hint of intrigue in her eyes, "Can you elaborate? Or is this pure speculation on your part?"
"I could, of course, but I won't." he said.
"Why not? Wouldn't it make sense to try and give us a reason to come?" she asked while tilting her head to the side and rubbing her chin.
"Since you have no way to confirm anything that I would say, it's better for you guys to follow me because you want too, not because I've somehow scared you into it." Leo replied.
"Hmmm... interesting.. interesting indeed...." Lilly said as she stared at Leo's unflinching expression.
She continued to stare at Leo for a few dozen seconds, her face shifting from curiosity and intrigue to determination and conviction.
Seemingly coming to a conclusion, the girl threw her hands up and said, "Regardless of what the others decide, I'm coming with you! I'm convinced when I look at you that if I stick around you, then I can experience stuff I never would otherwise!"
"You want to follow me for.. adventure?" Leo questioned.
"Exactly! I was planning on travelling the world after I graduated college, so that I could experience as many different things as possible but with this apocalypse business it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do that!
However, when I look at you, I get this feeling that you are planning to do some pretty crazy things and I really want to see what those things will be!
So, I'll follow you!" she declared ecstatically.
"The path I'll be walking with be littered with death, suffering, and destruction. Will you still follow me?" Leo asked with a stern look on his face.
"Yep!" Lilly responded instantly. "I can already tell this world is heading to hell faster than most people can adjust so I figured as much!"
"You're quite accepting and observant of the current state of things. Why is that?" Leo asked.
Lilly seemed confused by the question. "Isn't it obvious?"
Leo didn't respond and simply waved his hand telling her to continue.
"If you've been paying attention to everything going on, it should be pretty obvious, right?
First: We hear a voice inside our heads telling us that we were found wanting and to fight for our survival.
If that wasn't enough to tell people that things are about to get real bad real quick then they are just stupid.
Second: Even house pets are getting strong enough to break the walls of buildings. That wasn't possible a few days ago, so it means that they are growing stronger by the day.
Third: You're not normal yourself.
You made it here by yourself despite how bad things are outside these walls.
You rescued Morgan and Dan despite how heavily armed their captors were; she told us about them.
Fourth: The system we have now.
The fact that we have levels and the fact that our strength can increase by simply putting in the corresponding effort proves that this isn't some temporary state.
Fifth: If you've ever played a game in your life you know that things are always easy at the start and get harder and harder as time goes on.
To sum it all up.."
"Alright alright, that's enough! I applaud your analyzing abilities as well as your ability to adapt to the situation but damn woman you talk a lot." Leo said when he could take it no more.
"Hehe. I've been told that before... my bad!" Lilly said cheerfully despite the fact she had just been insulted.
'This girl is nuts!' Leo thought, 'I like it! Haha.'
"Ah, also.."
"Leo, can you come inside for a minute?" came Morgan's voice from the doorway.
'Oh thank god..' Leo thought as he quickly got to his feet and walked towards the door.
Lilly took the opportunity to follow along with a smile on her face.
As the three of them made their way down the hallway and into an open lounge area, Leo saw a group of both men and women sitting around a large table all discussing in rather loud voices.
When Leo entered, the voices died down and everyone looked at him with a mixture of skepticism and distrust.
"Thank you for coming, Leo. Please, have a seat." said Robert as he gestured towards and open chair.
Once seated, Leo asked, "Did you need me for something?"
Robert scratched the back of his head as he said, "Morgan told us that you have a place where we can set up a camp and that it would be better for us in the long run if we were to move there?
Can I ask why you think it's safer there than it is here?"
Before Leo could answer, Lilly interjected from behind him, "He could explain but the decision to follow him is ours and ours alone and he won't influence it by trying to scare us into it.
Right, Leo?"
"She's right..." he said with an exhausted look. 'Maybe bringing her along with me is a bad idea....'
"But it's hard to convince everyone to leave here and follow you if you won't tell us why we should." Robert said.
"I think you're misunderstanding something here. I honestly don't care if you follow us or not. I'm here to get Morgan and Dan at the request of someone I gave a promise too.
Morgan is the one who asked if she could invite you guys along and I told her it was your choice to make.
Whether or not you come will change nothing for me so it is entirely up to you to decide.
I will say this however, if you do decide to follow me, you will have to work for everything you are given.
In my camp we do not do handouts.
I think it's safe to say that everyone here has some semblance of experience at this point or have already leveled once or twice, correct?"
Robert nodded his head, "You are correct."
"Well if you want to survive beyond the next few weeks then you need to get to level 10 as quickly as possible and start growing your strength.
Hiding here in this dorm is not going to protect you for long.
I won't say any more than this so it is up to you to decide what you wnat to do.
I will be leaving in 30 minutes with Morgan and Dan whether any of you are coming along or not." Leo said as he stood up and left the area.
He didn't care what this group of people did in the end.
He could hear people in the room cursing him for being heartless along with other insults, but he didn't have the time or willingness to take on dead weight.
As he walked out of the building, Lilly and Morgan caught up with him.
"Are you sure about that, Leo? Don't you think you would be better off with more people? Why not try to convince them?" Morgan asked.
"Do you really think I need the help of some lazy idiots to survive? I thought I told you earlier what happens when you waste too much effort on trying to save everyone?" Leo responded.
Morgan looked downcast. She understood Leo's argument, but the idea of abandoning the people she had bonded with in these tough times wasn't something that she could accept so readily.
Lilly on the other hand, "I'll go pack my stuff! Don't leave without me!" she said without hesitation.
As Lilly disappeared into the building, Leo glanced at Morgan before he walked away. "You need to get used to losing people you know and love, Morgan. Trust me, it won't get any easier."
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Sorry for the late chapters! Had some stuff I had to take care of this morning!
Hope you all are having a great day and thank you for reading!
And as always, every vote is very helpful to getting the novel out there!