For several long moments Noah just sat there, at a complete loss for words; the chaos that ensued, the soundless vehicle that hovered high above them, dropping a clustered stack of three crates─everyone mistook the sound of the crates crashing for gunfire and proceeded accordingly, rabid dogs so desperately out for the kill. It made Noah's heart sink. His gut twisted. Made him realize just how badly he hated being right.

       Everything they went through, every cruel moment spent surviving, every kill, every life sacrificed─it had all been for their survival, which was quickly blowing up in flames. It was as if it were meant to happen, like everything had been carefully ordained, right down to the smallest letter. It all seemed too forced, the moment too right. And somehow a single boy managed to calm everyone no sooner than the blight of chaos spread; a still silence hung dryly over the landscape with brooding wings and sharpened fangs, as if all the sound had been mercilessly cut to shreds. Everyone's eyes fixated on the boy.

       He stood tall, a lanky Asian fellow with slicked blond hair and narrowed hazel eyes, his jaw square and his expression fierce. "Have you all no shame," He finally asked, breaking the eerie silence; his voice had an air of authority laced deeply within that Noah just couldn't explain. "We are living beings. People! Not the animals we've been so crudely caged and treated as! For the love of Christ, have some dignity and respect!"

       From a top the crates he eyed everyone who'd been fighting wearily, each of which simply refused to meet his gaze, the embarrassment too much. No one dared to make another outburst. They were too afraid to hear his response.

"Now we're going to open these crates and make do with whatever's inside. Any objections?" Silence was the immediate response, earning everyone a small smile. "Guess not..."

       All the others were quick at work scanning the contents of the crates, attempting to process any and everything they laid their hands on. Again, Noah found himself overcome by silence; the three crates contained food and supplies, clothes, and a multitude of weapons, all in that order. The populace was split in between what to go crazy over first─some carelessly poured bottles of fresh water over their heads, others eyed the contents of the weapons' crate intently, and the rest went into a full frenzy over the clothes, Noah carefully among them, doing his best to not arouse any attention.

       He grabbed at what a vast majority seemed so eager to push to the side, a ragged, black trench coat─combined with fitted, dark blue jeans, undergarments, and a pair of boots that brought the outfit nicely together, Noah eased in and out rather swiftly, not bothering to place any of his clothes on as he headed to the nearby stream to wash up. Much to his surprise, every male appeared to be so eagerly doing so; the girls stayed behind, eyeing each and every one with heated hostility, even Noah.

       Once out with his clothes on, Noah tied the strands of his red hair into a ponytail using a piece of string he found─unlike the others who had grown stubble, his face contained not a spec. The lengthened strands of his hair seeped a little past his nose, the ponytail easily reaching to his neck; he had the second longest hair of the male percentage in his group, the Asian fellow the first.

Everyone began to huddle together shortly after everything was swiftly sorted out. Noah stood a short distance away, his back softly pressed to a tree, only close enough to allow his ears to overhear the things currently being said.

"I'm Rylan," He barely caught the gist of the Asian boy's introduction. "Like everyone else here, I don't remember much, at the moment only my name. But we were sent here for a purpose, and I expect everyone to willingly comply by becoming well acquainted with one another, starting off with introductions." His expression turned sour when a few others refused. "This isn't up for debate. Get on my bad side and I'll see to it personally that you regret it."

       Although hesitant at first, the cluster surrounding Rylan soon began to comply. There were eighteen remaining teens in all, including himself, way too many names for Noah to calmly process in one setting; he made it a moot point to only remember the names of those who easily stood out, those of which commanded strength. Rylan effortlessly ranked first on that list.

       He heard a variety of names come to the surface, both weird and generic. For instance, the chestnut-haired girl introduced herself as Nikki; her clothing was simple, a wool hoodie that appeared to be wearing her and wool boots that climbed her bare legs, stopping a few inches below her knees. The babe beside her chose a more fashionable approach, exotic clothing similar to a model on a runway─she even looked every bit the part, cherry-colored gloss smoothly coating her lips and her dyed pink hair neatly tied into a bun. She introduced herself as Rosary.

       A dark-skinned boy, bloated and tall, revealed himself to be named Miles. His large blue eyes were strongly complimented by a turtle neck of matching color. Beside Miles stood Hugo, a tense Mexican fellow, only shorter than Miles by a mere inch, his expression fierce. They were clearly the giants of the group.

       The final person Noah took note of was an eccentric blond by the name of Lilly, by far the most charismatic of her peers. Her introduction was the longest and most heartfelt, rambling on about how she hoped to get along with everyone and such. She easily became the center of everyone's attention, from the cute way she tilted her head whenever she laughed to how she tried her best to extend a hand of welcome to everyone who remained on the borders of the cluster, not drawing much attention to themselves.

Noah was one of those people, however, he went entirely unnoticed by Lilly─it was Rylan who called him out mere moments after the last person finished their introduction.

"You there," His voice grew heavy with authority. Everyone's eyes were immediately glued onto Noah. "Did you not hear a word I said about compliance? This isn't up for negotiation. Introduce yourself. Now!"

Noah bit his lip. Despite his best efforts to not draw any attention onto himself by hanging back, even going under Lilly's radar, he did entirely just that; he felt a frustration arise from the pit of his stomach, made his eyes narrow. "Noah."

"Oh? I don't like your tone. Is there anything in particular that you'd like to add, Noah?"

A few quickly stepped aside as Rylan made his way towards Noah, earning him a sour grimace from the boy. "I'm not one for idle chatter."

"And I'm not one for idle silence," The man didn't miss a beat. "If you have something you want to say then say it. I'm not moving until you do." Noah was beginning to lose his cool, felt anger slowly poisoning his mind and heart.

       It was clear to him that Rylan intended this to happen, maybe from the very start. He needed someone to make an example out of, to rope the others into following him without question, and he was doing a spectacular job at it.

       With a weary sigh, Noah dismissed the man's presence altogether. He couldn't exactly explain how, but he felt as if he'd dealt with him before, or at the very least someone similar─he knew that people like him couldn't possibly exert their influence if there wasn't someone to exert that influence on.

       Rylan needed Noah to look like the bad guy, wanted to get in his head and cause him to do something irrational; Noah could only cast an exhausted eye to the sky, a flash of lightning briefly catching his attention.

"It's going to rain soon," He eventually decided to speak up, diffusing the air of anxiousness looming so heavily about. "I think I speak on behalf of everyone here when I say; we'd prefer not being caught in the center of a storm." Noah pointed towards the stream; in the short distance beyond it resided what appeared to be an abandoned mansion, alongside a few tumbled vehicles and the vast undergrowth which masked the sight altogether. "I say we take shelter in that building until the storm blows over. We can decide our next moves from there."

       A few others quickly nodded in silent agreement, much to Rylan's displeasure. If he gave Noah's proposal even a slither of thought at all, he clearly didn't show it, choosing to continue baring his fangs instead. "And just who made you leader? You really think you're qualified to be dishing out orders?"

"No more qualified than anyone else here," Something flashed behind Rylan's glare at his words. "And it wasn't an order, just a suggestion. If you have any better ideas then I'm all ears. Otherwise go bark up a different tree, baka." Something within Rylan snapped─he shoved Noah just as the boy began to walk away, once more earning him a silent grimace, quite possibly something more.

Noah felt himself lose it. Like a striking snake, he launched at the man, coming to an abrupt hault when Lilly intervened.

"T-This is stupid," Her soft voice quaked in protest. "We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves!" But Rylan didn't seem to care, his arm reeling back.

       Noah quickly pulled her out of the imminent danger of the man's fist, roughly catching the full brunt of his right hook. He stumbled a bit, blood dripping heavily from his nose, its bitter taste on his tongue, but he dared not fall; the boy's scowl deepened upon taking further notice of Rylan's hardened grimace.

The hook grazed both his nose and chin─he felt a twinge of pain slither down his spine, made his head dizzy and his legs shake, all masked behind the seemingly permanent scowl he forcibly plastered onto his face. "You'd raise a hand to a girl?"

"Anyone who gets in my way deserves to be trampled. Have these last few weeks taught you absolutely nothing?" Noah didn't answer, simply because, as much as he hated to admit it, Rylan did have a point.

       When it all boiled down to it, that's exactly what the past month had taught each and every one of them─to do whatever it took to survive, even if it meant trampling over the pride and bodies of others. Judging from the slew of silent nods and pitying glares, some of which hesitantly turned a blind eye, Noah knew full well that Rylan succeeded in winning over the favor of the majority. He'd dug his own grave; provoking the man any further would've been pointless.

       Another stroke of lightning colored the sky purple, followed behind the ominous crashes of thunder; Miles and Hugo intervened shortly before things could get anymore out of hand, Miles keeping the two of them separated as Hugo singlehandedly carried the weapons crate towards the mansion.

As they did so, Noah noticed a small smirk secretly tug away at Rylan's lips.