I awoke to pressure against all over my face. Blinking my eyes open I find Zared pressing gentle kisses waking me up. I was cuddled a bit beneath him as he had wrapped himself around me in bed. It was a nice feeling to be honest, being cared for like this. I wasn't used to it, actually I wasn't used to it at all.

My past hookups never required any other physical contact than the sexual need. Beyond that we didn't touch each other, and I always quickly left since I didn't feel comfortable staying longer than what was needed. Not once was I ever cuddled by anyone. I never gave them a chance too. But judging by the assholes I hooked up with, they weren't the type to do that anyways.

And it took me a minute to realize our situation and where we were currently at. I was still dead tired and going by the brightness in the room I could tell it was daytime. How much sleep did we get? A few hours? By my body's reaction I would say it wasn't enough.

I groan closing my eyes again not wanting to get up out of bed.

"I know, but they're heading out and I know that you wouldn't want to miss going." He says to me gently as he takes my arms and lifts me into a sitting position.

My body was screaming at me for not getting enough rest but if the others were heading back out there then I wanted to join. I needed new clothes. Besides, we needed to find out what we could about Christina and the other two that showed up last night.

So, I force myself off the bed, putting my shoes back on, all while trying to keep my eyes open from the exhaustion that wanted to take over. Zared takes my hand and pulls me up to follow him out the door.

"Oh, um...Rissa knows about us by the way." He quietly states as we head for the stairs.

I stop in my tracks and stare at him with wide eyes. I was just about to ask when he says,

"Who do you think woke me up? I wouldn't have gotten up either without her barging in and staring down at us like a creep." He sighs, pulling me after him further into the hall.

"How would that make her think-"

"Jinsen." He stops to deadpan me with a stare. "We were all over each other in our sleep. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out after seeing that."

I close my mouth shut after hearing him say that.

"Don't worry, she didn't say anything since her look said it all. I don't think she'll say anything to anyone though, not until she talks to you first." He reassures me.

But that didn't make me feel any better. The fact I never said anything at all is what she will be most angry about, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that conversation. I blindly follow him, my hand still in his until we stop right in front of Mateo's room. The door was wide open, and I hear low talking as we approached.

"We're leaving in ten minutes. Let the two of them sleep, they could use it." I hear Lacy say to whoever else was in the room with them.

Zared lets my hand go and I felt the sudden distance between us in that moment and I didn't like it. I was the one who started this, the one who thought to hide what we're doing and yet I felt hurt by the action. Fuck, was this how he felt when I did it to him all day yesterday? I'm such an asshole.

"Hey." He says to the room at large, making everyone look over to us.

It was just Lacy, Mateo, the two young ones that came with Christina that were still passed out, Chuck, and Seth.

"Hey, how are you guys holding up?" Chuck asks us as he looks dead tired.

Seth and Lacy didn't look any better. In fact, did any of them get any sleep at all?

"They look like shit." Seth chuckles. "Just like the rest of us. Two hours isn't as nearly enough sleep." He yawns, making me yawn in turn.

"Bro, don't do that." I grumble, my eyes drooping a little.

"My bad, I can't help it." He rubs his face like that would get rid of his exhaustion.

"We'll be leaving here in a minute. If we want to find the others before night fall, then we need to leave now." Lacy points out and my interest suddenly perks up.

"Wait, we're rescuing the others?" I ask, with hope lacing my words. "But you said it was pointless."

Her face becomes a bit grim. "I know. But last night made me realize something that I didn't think of before."

"What's that?" Zared asks next.

She sighs as she crosses her arms and looks down at the ground before saying, "That we aren't going to be able to make it on our own with just a few of us. It took more than half of us to keep those lights on. We couldn't even switch out during the night because there wasn't enough of us to do it. No offense to Chuck, but he isn't as young as we are, and your friend here is injured. Not to mention that we now have three young kids to look after. We need more people to help us safeguard this place."

"How were you guys able to do it last time?" I ask.

"We didn't. This is the first time we've ever had to stand watch like that before." Chuck pitches in.

I frown at him. "Wait, you've never done that before? In all your three months here?"

"Son, this place was already built like this when my group discovered it. We added a few safety measures here and there, but it was already a fortress by the time we showed up."

I stare at him with that knowledge. A cold dread feeling entered my body as the understanding finally hit that it's possible that this situation has been going on a lot longer than any of us could have thought. Was it possible that it's been going on for years? Decades? Centuries?

The thought of never leaving this place, of staying here for the rest of our lives didn't sit to well with me at all. Not to mention that whoever built this place was no longer around was disconcerting. What had happened to them? Where did they go? Were they out there somewhere still trying to find a way to get home? Or were they already dead not able to survive after all? I needed to get out of here. We needed to get out of here.

"Mateo is going to stay with these two-" Lacy started out, pulling me from my dark thoughts when Seth interrupts.

"I'll be staying behind this time as well. I'm not fit to go out there right now." He sighs tiredly.

"That girl Christina told us that there were others waiting for them." Lacy looks back to us.

"Did she say where?" Zared asks, a little hope in his voice.

"Yeah, and that's the problem. Honestly, I don't know how the three of them made it as far as here without dying or at least getting hurt."

"I didn't take Christina to be one to venture out in something like this." Mateo mumbled as he frowned.

"The thing about survival instincts is that you'll do anything you thought you'll never be able to do." Chuck states as he stands up with a bit of difficulty and starts heading out the door. "I'll take up residence in one of the other rooms. I need to get some sleep."

With that he was gone.

"So, where are we going then?" Zared asks after the man disappeared in the hall.

Lacy looks right at me with a slight scowl on her face. "You're wish is coming true, Jinsen, because we'll be heading downtown. Pack lightly, the two of you. We won't be heading back by night fall."

With that she too leaves us. I turn to the others with wide eyes. "Why does she always single me out in times like this?" I ask, feeling a bit annoyed.

"Maybe because you're the one who always has a stubborn opinion on what we should be doing?" Seth shrugs, making my feel even more annoyed.

"Come on, let's go find what we can before we head out. Besides..." Zared steps up closer to me and whispers, "We can finally get medication for Mateo."

I turn to my other friend just in time to see him wince as he tries to move his injured leg for Seth to lay down by his side. He was right, I just wished that this decision was made a day ago to where he shouldn't have to be in so much pain as he was in now. But if we can get the medicine then he'll be able to heal a lot faster.

"Okay." I whisper back.

We head to the room that Lacy was currently in as she was thrashing around looking for things. As soon as I headed inside first, I'm suddenly slammed with an empty backpack thrown nearly in my face.

"Pack anything you find essential for the trip." Was all she says as she throws one to Zared with more finesse than with me, then goes back to doing the same with her own pack.

If she turned to look back at me, I was sure she would see the scowl on my face as I turn to look to see what I could find that would possibly help. They mentioned that guns didn't do much against their armor. But from what I've seen so far some of those creatures didn't have any hard shells on their bodies that I could see. So, just in case I grab a shotgun that was lying right there in front of me along with a few cases of bullets. I open the gage to see it was empty.

As I open one of the cases and place two bullets in Lacy snaps at me, "I told you that weapons like that don't work on them. It's pointless to bring it."

I don't stop what I'm doing as I reply, "You stated yourself that you've never been downtown. You don't know what could be lurking there. Who's to say that not all of them are protected against this thing?" I snap the gage back into place and sling the gun over my shoulder, then look at her.

"I would rather have this and discover it doesn't work than have nothing at all. At least I have something that could still be used as some form of a weapon. Bullets don't penetrate, fine, then I'll use the barrel to poke its eye out or maybe use the end part and crack its skull."

"And if its jaw, full of razor-sharp teeth, is coming down on you, then what?" She huffs, looking beyond irritated with me.

"Easy, I can just jam the thing either down its throat or use it as a barrier." I lean over to snatch a few glow sticks that will definitely come in handy later.

I hear her sigh in annoyance, but she doesn't say another word to me and leaves me to look around to see what else would be a good idea to take along with us. I turn to see Zared a little further in as he maneuvers through the large stacks of boxes as he tries to find other things we may need.

"Is this food?" He suddenly asks as he lifts a square package that looked compressed in blocks.

"Yep, military grade. We keep them in here for outings or until we're cleaned out in the kitchen with nothing else to eat."

I raise a brow at him as he takes a handful and throws me a few. "These crates are filled with them."

"Chuck thinks that whoever was here before him must have raided a military base. A lot of the things in here can only be obtained in the barracks."

I stare at the ugly brownish colored package. It was a bit hard and the reading on it stated peanut butter and jelly graham cracker. I used to have these in the morning at school. The other package he threw at me was a bit squishier. That one read mac and cheese. Huh, interesting. I shoved them in my pack.

For a few more minutes we looked around grabbing whatever we could use if we needed it. I almost left the room when I spotted a rolled sleeping bag. I wasn't sure we needed it but if we were going to be out there past sunset, it might come in handy. Even though I was sure I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing I could be eaten alive. I grab it and sling that over my shoulder as well.

Lacy doesn't say anything more as she leaves the room with us following her. When we reached the stairs, Zared slips his hand back into mine again and I clutch it tightly as I pull him after me down the stairs. I wasn't sure I wanted to let it go when we faced everyone else.

But we do anyways as soon as we reach the lobby, and the others turn to look at us. I missed the feeling of his fingers intertwined with mine. But I don't get to overanalyze it as I see that both Rissa and Vi were packed and ready to go as well. I frown in their direction.

"Before we head out, there are some rules to follow. Especially since this is a bigger group than what I was expecting." Lacy calls out to us all.

I come to stand next to my best friend, who raised an eyebrow at me then swivels her eyes to look at Zared then right back to mine. I couldn't help the heat rising on my cheeks wondering what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. What did she think of our newfound relationship? Was she mad that I didn't tell her? And how was this going to affect the friendship with her other best friend, that was standing on her other side giving Lacy her undivided attention with a look of uneasiness on her features?

All I could do was shrug at her before we both looked at Lacy while she was in the center of the circle that was suddenly created. There was me, Zared, Rissa, Violet, Christina, Leo, Jacob, and Lani. We were all holding a pack other than Christina, who looked exhausted and worn down. With her cheeks sullen and her skin a bit gray, I was surprised she was standing at all.

"We stay close together. If we set out into a building for any reason, we take a person or two to tag along. We don't separate unless absolutely necessary, which hoping that won't happen. We're heading into hostile territory and according to her," She turns to point at Christina, "They're heavier the closer we get to downtown."

"I'm not going to sugar coat this. If you get lost and can't find the rest of the group, then you're on your own. Risking lives is already hard enough. You have to remember it isn't just about you out there that needs saving. We get her group as soon as possible and get the hell out of there."

"We decided on a destination point to meet up in case this happens." Leo pitches in, suddenly pulling out a map then placing it on ground where we all could lean in and see where he was pointing.

"This right here is the Security Bank building. It's the tallest and oldest one that we have downtown so no matter where you're at in the city you'll be able to spot this place. Head there. If none of us shows by mid-morning don't wait and head on back here."

"Whatever you have chosen to put in your pack is the only things you'll have for survival. If you choose to go inside one of the buildings to retrieve anything that could be useful know that you'll be doing it at your own risk. This is a get in get out mission. We find her group and bring them here before night falls. If you know you won't make it, then hide. Don't risk the lives of your group or the lives of the people here. Got it?"

Lacy looks right at me as she says this, and I couldn't help the sudden anger that she would think I would ever risk any of them for that kind of stupidity. I may be stubborn, but I wasn't stupid stubborn.

"And once again, in case any of you have forgotten, remember the four rules. Don't make a sound. Daytime isn't so bad, especially out in the open but at night you best believe to keep your mouth shut. They hone on their hearing and can even pick up a single pin drop."

"Don't let out your scent. So, no wearing any kind of perfume, deodorant, or anything that isn't your natural smell. If you're sweating, wipe it then discard it. Their noses are just as good as a dog hound." Jacob spoke up next.

"Don't travel at night. That one's a given. Light of any kind is deadly to them, so they come out in the dark. Once that sun is gone the place becomes their playground." Lani then states.

"And the most important rule of them all. Don't get eaten. As long as you follow the other rules you should be safe." Jacob pitches in looking to each of us with a serious look.

"I'm also adding another rule." Lacy quickly interjects.

We all look to her, both Lani and Jacob frowning. Lacy slowly walks up to me, staring me down. "This goes for anyone dumb enough to do it. Rule five, don't be a hero."