~August 26th, 2025~

Maxie followed Okame to an old, worn down, red brick building. His stomach both disturbed by intense excitement and fierce hunger. When was the last time he's eaten? It had been a while; Okame had naturally supposed. He and Okame continued to trek down the vacant streets, thoughts filled Maxies' mind. It was time to meet the pack...Like...actually meet.

For years, the identities of the Brutal Assassins members were all protected by the guidelines of the Internet. Faces hid behind mobile screens to defend themselves from strangers that may want to cause harm to any of them. But today was the day where he'd meet them, face to face, eye to eye. Personalities, backstories, and origins like no other. Maxie, himself had been a delta for a long time.

And Okame, Okame was both an alpha and a beta, the pack called him an alphabeta. He couldn't decide which rank would fit him, as if he were a little kid, indecisively trying to figure out which pair of shoes to wear for a picture day at school. Their alpha had been Sinful. Sinful had disappeared without a trace or hint on where they slipped off into, leaving nothing but Okame and his deltas to keep the pack in line.

Maxie followed Okame behind a few vines that overhung a hidden entrance, he looked around and tried to get his eyes to adjust to the pitch darkness that the deadlights of the building couldn't fend off of. Maxie stumbled a bit but continued to eagerly follow his alphabeta.

"Hey, guys! Look who I found!" Okame's voice rang up ahead, Maxie followed it, soon to be instantly surrounded by kind greetings of his pack mates.

Maxie was overwhelmed by the kind attention of everyone. He was escorted to a room that was dimly lit by candles and a bunch of old scrapped up lamps. Okame sat down on a worn ragged dirty rug as the other BA members, Melon, MaL, Compass, and Crystal sat down as well. Maxie sat down next to Okame.

"This one Maxie, eh?" MaL, a lead healer, smiled. MaL was a tall girl with jet-black hair, from Hawaii. She wore some jeans and a neat shirt. She held a blue sweater close to her chest as if it were the most important thing to her. MaL was 17 years old. She had grown up in Hawaii with a large family. At the time of the outbreak, she had been visiting Nebraska, within days of the virus' surge. The majority of her family had been infected. She was sent away by her ill relatives to reduce the chance of getting sick herself.

"Hey, MaL." Maxie smiled, raising his hand to give a slight wave. Okame squirmed around with joyous excitement next to Maxie.

"Alright, I want you to guess who is who!"He chirped, pointing to Melon, Compass, and Crystal. Maxie grinned, putting on his 'thinking face.'

He pointed triumphantly at Melon, "Melon." He smiled knowingly, confident with his answer. Melon gave a clap, pointing back at Maxie happily.

Melon gave a clap, running over and giving Maxie a gentle hug, excited. "Oh hell yeah!"

Maxie was stunned for a second, then giving a hug back with an awkward smile, Melon returned to her little space. She was around 13 years old, slightly older than Okame by a few months, and taller. Since the fierce outbreak, she had been at Okame's side at the beginning, due to the two only living a few minutes away. She had been an excellent hunter in the pack, later ranked up to a lead hunter after serving the pack in multiple scenarios. Her family was hospitalized and Melon was sent away. Melon had darker skin and coal-black hair that could be described as puffy. She wore a black t-shirt and some dark green camo pants.

The delta gave a laugh, then looking towards the direction of Crystal." hmmm...Compass." He answered, this time, his gaze unsure. Crystal opened their mouth to respond, soon cut off by Maxie. The brown-haired boy took another stare at Crystal, "wait no uhm...my final answer is Branch." He confirmed with a nod.

Crystal gently shook their head with a playful roll of their eyes, "nope. Crystal." They instantly corrected. Maxie gave a laugh. Crystal was about Okame's height and they had chestnut hair that was shaved on one side, the other side was long strands of hair. They were outfitted with a white shirt and some light blue shorts. Crystal had already been near Colorado at the time, making it easy for them to meet up with the others. Crystal had been a warrior, the spots for lead warriors had filled up, so Okame had arranged for them to become a lead hunter, much to their pleasure.

"Nice." He then looked in the direction of Compass, "...Are you Compass?" He gave a chuckle. Compass gave him a thumbs up, she had some tan skin and wore some comfy gray leggings and a neat light blue shirt, also wearing a jean jacket for warmth.

"You got it." Compass smiled, Compass herself had also arrived at the group the same day as Maxie, she was tired from her own journey to meet up with the others. She was a fellow delta to Maxie and had been previously been a warrior and lead warrior, just like Maxie himself.

Maxie smiled at the comfort of the other pack members' pleasant company, he snacked on some bread that he had gratefully received from Okame. To him, the simple taste of the bread was absolute bliss to his mouth and his stomach. The pandemic still roared outside of the pleasant warmth of their new home, the fate of his own family, that was nowhere to be found, was still unknown. But he was in the comforts with his fellow pack mates, with food and now a roof over his head, he was ecstatic.

And that was enough.