The four of them took the vial one by one and took 5 ml of antibody injection each. Friz, Geld, and Amy injected themselves with the antibodies right there, but Hob stood looking at the injection intently.
Friz noticed Hob's inactivity and walked towards him. "I forgot you were scared of needles," Friz said while giggling as Amy and Geld also remembered the incident where Hob was acting like a child.
"I... I just can't take it. I'll be fine without it," Hob said, intending to throw the injection into a nearby trash can.
But Friz caught his hand and took the injection from him while Geld and Amy walked over from behind Hob. Hob's eyes widened as he understood what was going to happen to him.
"Don't worry, Hob. We won't inject you without your will. See, my hands are empty," Friz showed her hands in which there was no injection anymore and came forward to hold Hob's head, putting it into her embrace. Geld gripped his left arm at this moment while Amy quickly gave the injection to Hob.
Hob tried to get up from Friz's embrace, but she didn't let go of him until he was injected with antibodies. After that, she finally let go of Hob, who seemed to have a baby face with tears in his eyes. "Y... You lied," Hob said, controlling himself from crying and ran towards his room.
"I'll take care of him; you both go and rest," Friz said as she also started to run after Hob.
"Ah... How I envy her," Amy said, shaking her head.
"Yeah, they're both worth envying," Geld agreed with Amy's statement.
Soon the reception was empty again, all four of them having gone their separate ways.
Entering the room, Friz found Hob laying on the bed, seemingly calmed down, so she went towards him and laid down next to him, taking his arm as a pillow for herself. Hob resisted for a bit but gave up in the end.
Both of them lay next to each other for a few minutes, neither saying anything.
"You okay now?" Friz asked Hob, who seemed to have calmed down.
"Yes, better than before," Hob replied and fell silent again.
"So, do you maybe want to talk about it?" Friz said, turning to face Hob.
"Talk about what?" Hob said, feigning ignorance.
"Maybe the reason you are so afraid of injections," Friz said without giving up.
"Maybe because it hurts," Hob said sarcastically.
"And what, we're made of steel so we don't get hurt? Just go ahead and tell me what it is about," Friz said, trying to get Hob to speak up.
"Sigh... So you won't let it go. But promise me you'll never tell others about it," Hob said, turning to look Friz in the eyes.
"Alright, I promise I won't tell anybody," Friz promised Hob.
"Well, you know how all of us lived in the past. We were all given a room of our own with some people to look after us, and for the most part, we used to stay alone. When I was around 8, the person who used to look after me came to my house with some injections which were supposed to be given to me to reduce the chances of some disease. But I was super scared of injections like any normal kid would be. So, I made a plan to be saved from the injection. I spilled some water next to the door of my room and removed anything they could grab for support. And guess what? That childish plan worked a little too well. That person came in, trying to tell me about how I'd grow stronger with the injection and bad germs wouldn't come around me after I took it. But as soon as that person took a step into the room, the injection in his hand fell to the ground, its needle bare, and somehow ended up inside that person's heart. He died instantly, and I stood there thinking he was doing a prank on me. I thought he would get up and then catch me like always and give me the injection, but he never got up again. He was dead, and I was the murderer," Hob said, gasping for breath as he remembered that incident.
Friz didn't know what to say to comfort Hob, so she held his head and let it rest on her chest while patting his head to calm him down meanwhile she herself also finally felt the horror Hob should have experienced at the time, she could feel Hob's hands shaking from remembering the painful memory and wanted to tell him that it won't happen again that she will not let it happen again and make Hob's fear go away.
Hob, meanwhile, was crying, remembering the horror he had felt that day when the only person he knew properly died because of him. "Y... You know, he used to say that I'd become an excellent hunted because he thought I was good at using pillows to fight. And today, when I'm finally a hunted, he isn't here to share my happiness. I miss him. He was the only parent figure I had all those years. My parents died soon after my birth, and unlike many others, no one used to come visit me. I tried to get him up, calling out to him, but he wouldn't get up. I told him that it was enough and I was scared, but he did not get up. He stayed there like a dead body. That was when realization dawned on me, and I pressed the emergency button we all had in our rooms. Someone came after almost half an hour, and looking at the scene, they were terrified. They asked me what had happened, and I told them how I ended up killing him. They believed me, but the punishment I was anticipating, the punishment I wanted for killing him, never came. I was assigned another person to be my caretaker, but this one wasn't the same. He was always alert around me, looking for things that I may have done that could harm him. So, I never got as close to the new caretaker, and he didn't make much effort to be closer to me either. Once I turned fifteen, I denied having a caretaker anymore and took the supplies they gave me to stay alone. I practiced to be a hunted since then, as it was the only wish that person had," Hob said and fell silent, letting all his sorrow out.
"It's alright, Hob. You are a hunted now, like that person wanted, and I don't think he would've wanted to see you like this either. So, cheer up, and let's work harder as fellow hunted," Friz said, trying to cheer up Hob.
But Hob did not get up, as it turned out he had fallen asleep while clinging to Friz like a child. Friz looked at Hob's childish face and felt the urge to protect Hob from anything that might try to harm him.
It might be the antibody injections, but Friz was feeling sleepy as well. Thus, Hob and Friz fell fast asleep, holding each other in a tight embrace where there were no ill intentions but only pure innocence.
After a long time, Hob woke up, finding himself in the embrace of Friz, who seemed to be holding him like something precious that she didn't want to let go of. Strangely enough, Hob felt good to be held like this by Friz, as if she could erase all his worries just by holding him.
As Hob was thinking about it, Friz seemed to have woken up by Hob's attempts at getting out of her embrace. She woke up and looked at Hob, whose face seemed to be resting on her chest, and blushed.
"If you still feel sad about yesterday, you can continue resting here," Friz said, trying to evade Hob's gaze.
"Since you said so, I'll take you up on that offer," Hob said and got even closer to Friz, so close that they could feel each other's breath on their faces.
"Pervert," Friz said, pouting at Hob.
"Hey, you are the one who let me do it. If you want, I'll just get up," Hob said, trying to act innocent.
"Since you're saying it like that, get up already. It seems you aren't sad anymore, after all," Friz said teasingly.
"Alright then. Thank you for yesterday, it meant alot to me." Hob said and got up from Friz's embrace reluctantly.
"Don't say thanks; we're friends, after all, aren't we?" Friz said, finally getting out of the pleasant sleep she had.
"Yeah, we are," Hob said, realizing that he had someone close to himself once again.
"Let's get ready then. We don't want the commander to have a bad impression of us, do we?" Friz said, reminding Hob of the journey they had to make today.
"Yeah, let's get ready," Hob said, agreeing with Friz.