Caden ran away from that room until he finally reached his dorm. It was empty, and that's what he needed right now. Space.

He pulled up a plastic chair and placed it near the window. He sat down and stared into the empty fields and contemplated what he'd just seen. 

"I can't keep coming here" He remembered Arthur saying. It obviously meant he was working on something in secret. But what? 

He replayed their conversation in his head over and over again, but could never seem to make any sense of it. He knew from the beginning that Arthur was shady, this just confirmed it. 

Suddenly, his back jolted up from his crouched position. An uneasy feeling washed over him as he remembered something that had happened earlier. 

"I saw you in one of those secret rooms yesterday"

"It's confidential" 

He tried to push the thought away, he was just being silly. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Gabriella had always complained about not being recognized, what changed? 

While he knew for sure that Gabriella's wasn't one of the voices he heard, it didn't mean she couldn't be in there standing silently. Or maybe she knew about everything and was covering for Arthur. 

He shut his eyes tight, trying to find something in defence of his sister. But he couldn't avoid the fact, Gabriella could be involved in this. His heart began pounding, he was so excited to be under the same roof as his sister, but now he felt terrified. 

His thoughts were all over the place, he still believed that Gabriella would never hurt him but her behaviour and reluctance to tell him anything made him believe otherwise. 

"Caden?" He heard a female voice say and turned back, startled. 

"I didn't expect to see you here," Renee said. Noticing his face, she went closer and sat down beside him. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost" 

"I- I don't know what to think," He said, not knowing whether he should tell her or not.

"What's wrong, Caden?" She asked, concerned. He looked into her warm brown eyes, filled with concern for him. He decided to tell her, after all, she'd never given him any reason not to trust her. 

"Don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?" He said, with a serious face. Renee nodded in response. After her confirmation, Caden told her everything he heard. 

"Are you sure it was Arthur?" She asked, flabbergasted. 

"A hundred per cent sure" He replied firmly. Renee fell back on her chair's backrest, looking shocked. 

"And that's not all," Caden said with a deep sigh. 

"What do you mean?"

"I think Gabriella's helping Arthur," He said. 

"What? Why would you say that?" She asked surprised. Caden practically worshipped his sister, for him to doubt her like that was very unnatural. 

"She's been in and out of these secret rooms a lot. And she refuses to tell me anything about what's going on there" Caden said, lowering his voice. 

"That isn't exactly solid evidence. You've told me that she never tells you anything anyway" Renee said, unconvinced. 

"That didn't convince you? What about the fact that she works right under Arthur and is doing all of his work while he's plotting something" Caden said, gritting his teeth. 

"Well, have you tried talking to her about it?" Renee asked. 

"What's the point? I know I'm going to get nothing out of her," He stated.

"You're not exactly helping here. You suspect something strongly and are not willing to talk to her about it, which seems to be the only way we can get any further information. What exactly are you suggesting?" She asked. Caden remained silent for a few seconds before responding.

"I'm starting to think we were safer out there," Caden said, looking back into the open fields. 

"You're joking, right?" Renee said, getting up from her chair. 

"At least out there, we knew what the danger was and had our weapons to protect us!" Caden exclaimed.

"Out there, we had to face the undead, which by the way, haven't gone down in number," She said, furious that he was considering this.

"We can find another hiding spot. Sure, it'll be hard, but we'll be safe" Caden said. 

"You don't even know what Arthur's plotting, don't draw conclusions like that" She warned. "And, the safe houses are almost filled up. They don't have space to accommodate more survivors. We could never get this chance again"

"You have a point, but I can't help it. I'm just worried about what they're plotting" Caden said. 

"Will you feel any safer if we have our weapons back?" She asked. 

"Maybe," He said "But if Gabriella's working for Arthur, she would never give them to me"

"It's only been two days since you asked her" Renee chuckled "You'll have them soon" 

Caden smiled reassuringly at her as she walked out the door. Even though Renee made some valid points, he couldn't shake off this feeling in his head. 

He wasn't safe. 

»»————-　☠　————-««

Gabriella sat anxiously in a corner. She wanted to get the weapons back for Caden, but couldn't do anything with the others around.

"What's our agenda today?" Edmund asked. 

"Oh, nothing too big. We have to do a headcount of the people here as well as prepare for the next supply hunt" Janelle responded. 

"Alright, in that case, I'll go do the count," Edmund said and walked out. 

"I'll do a weapon check," Gabriella said, trying to use this as her opportunity. 

"Oh, we don't need to do that until tomorrow," Janelle said "Maybe you should get a ration list from the kitchen people" 

Gabriella shrugged and left. She was upset that her plan didn't work, but couldn't let it show. Otherwise, they'd all know she'd up to something. And she could still use this opportunity of being away from everyone to snoop around. No one except Arthur and her teammates would question her. 

She walked down the hallways confidently and kept an eye out for Caden, just to check in on him. She entered the kitchen and asked the lady about the food that needed to be brought in. This was usually done by any seven people assigned by Arthur and so far, Gabriella had never been picked to do so. And she didn't mind honestly, she wasn't interested in grocery shopping. 

She got the list from her and walked out. Then she decided to walk around, looking for any room which might have the weapons. That's when she saw Caden walk out of his room.

"Hey, Caden!" She said walking towards him. 

"Oh... hey," He said.

"I finally got away from those annoying people. I can snoop around for your weapons" Gabriella said with a wink. 

"Oh, wow. That sounds great" He said, awkwardly. 

"What's wrong with you?" She asked noticing his unusual behaviour. 

Ask her. Put this to an end.

Those were the things Caden kept telling himself. He opened his mouth to ask her about it, but he found himself lying to her. 

"Nothing, my head hurts a little," He said. 

"Oh ok, I'll catch you later," She said and walked away to continue her snooping. 

Caden knew he should've asked her. She would've been able to clear his suspicions. But what if he was right about them? What would she have done then? 

He wasn't ready to find out yet.