Kael glanced at the twenty-year-old girl beside him, fast asleep in the passenger seat. Her long blonde hair, tied in a ponytail, fluttered in the wind coming through the open window of the pickup truck.
He turned his attention back to the road ahead, rising and falling with the landscape.
His thoughts drifted to the question she had asked before falling asleep.
"Kael… Why do you know more than I do? I mean, you know which shard goes with which core and how to break them. And how did you know there would be survivors in the Lindenburgh subway and not anywhere else in the city?" She had asked while nervously opening and closing her fists—a habit of hers.
He kept his eyes on the road, silent for a few moments before answering. "For the shards and cores, I figured it out through trial and error. As for the survivors in Lindenburgh, it's just logic."
"Logic?" Thalia shifted her body to face the young man beside her. He was attractive, with brown hair and brown eyes, though a bit too thin to be her type.
"Yes," Kael replied without looking away from the road. "You just have to think about where people would gather when attacked by that many monsters."
Thalia pulled her legs up onto the passenger seat and stared at him—her big brother figure.
For a while, there was only silence. Kael glanced at her again and saw that she had fallen asleep.
A faint smile appeared on his lips. He kept his focus on the road until they finally arrived in Lindenburgh.
There, they quickly gathered food and drinks from any stores they could find, especially chocolate, following Kael's advice.
No monsters were around, which didn't surprise him. He reasoned that among the survivors, there had to be some Awakened like them.
They must have cleaned the subway area of those monsters by now.
Then Kael drove on with Thalia and the food supplies, parking near the subway entrance.
Before heading inside, he warned her not to share what she knew about shards, cores, or anything else they had learned.
She should also stay close to him to avoid trouble—after all, these survivors were desperate to stay alive.
Thalia, with her blonde hair and violet-blue eyes, simply nodded and followed him inside, carrying large bags filled with supplies.
***
The room beyond the subway stairs was dark, but light seeped through from deeper inside.
This subway was far larger than the one in the city where Kael had worked, with more buildings and platforms.
Generators were scattered throughout, powering the lights and other essentials.
Of course, not all were running—fuel was scarce. The air smelled of blood, sweat, human waste, and the residue of burnt oil from the generator.
The entrance to the inner rooms was blocked by various objects, leaving only a narrow passage wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.
As they approached, a tall, broad-shouldered man emerged from the tight gap, gripping an automatic rifle.
Bullets glinted in the dim light, strapped across his chest and waist.
"Who are you?" The man barked, his thick beard and messy mustache shifting with the movement.
Kael stepped forward. "We're just survivors like you. We brought food and drinks."
The man's eyes flickered to the plastic bags in Kael's hands, then to the ones Thalia carried.
"Names and where you're from?" His voice remained firm, though his expression softened slightly.
"I'm Kael, and this is Thalia. We're from Ozark," Kael answered without breaking eye contact.
The man continued to scrutinize them, still suspicious since they were both armed. But after a moment, he stepped aside from the narrow entrance and said, "I'm Zeon. You can go in and meet Kelvin."
Kael gave a nod and gestured for Thalia to enter.
"Thank you, Zeon," he said as he followed her through the tight passageway.
Zeon didn't respond. He simply resumed his post at the entrance after the two newcomers had gone inside.
Inside the subway, several people sat or lay against the walls, resting on whatever they could find—cloth, cardboard, plastic, even scraps of paper.
Their eyes followed them as they walked in, their gazes lingering on the large plastic bags filled with supplies, full of hope.
Kael didn't acknowledge them, nor did Thalia. They continued walking toward the deeper part of the hideout. He knew they wouldn't try to snatch the food and drinks from their bags—fighting over supplies was strictly forbidden here.
And he already knew exactly who they needed to meet: Kelvin.
Kelvin was one of the Awakened and the leader of this place. This was where Kael had first sought refuge after returning from his hometown of Ozark, staying for several weeks.
Kelvin wasn't anyone special at first, but he had trained in martial arts at the Shaolin Temple since childhood. He had only been visiting his parents in Lindenburgh when the disaster struck.
His combat skills were unmatched, especially after he had accidentally consumed Ambrossia. Perhaps now, Kael's own martial arts abilities were finally catching up.
Kael walked past a group of people, making his way toward another cluster—two women and four men seated around a table, which looked like it had once been part of a restaurant.
Among them sat a burly man with blond hair and a newly grown beard. His powerful build made him stand out.
Kelvin.
As Kael stood beside the table and set down the large plastic bags he had carried, everyone seated around it turned their attention to him—including Kelvin.
"Who are you?" one of the men asked, rising to his feet, his tone challenging. But when he noticed the contents of the bags at Kael's feet, his expression softened slightly.
"I am Kael. And this girl," he said, glancing at Thalia, "is a survivor from Ozark, just like me. We managed to bring food rations to share with everyone here."
Everyone at the table immediately stood up, grabbing the large plastic bags they had brought and placing them on the table. Of course, Kelvin simply watched in silence as they unpacked everything.
They immediately unpacked everything and arranged the supplies, drawing a crowd. The gathered survivors stared at the food and drinks, their eyes filled with longing, some swallowing hard at the sight.