The museum was becoming well known as one of the largest places in the city that had a decent size population. All of this was mostly due to Ryan running it efficiently. He already had a large amount of supplies and on top of that he had created a system where people would go out in groups and search for even more supplies.
Then there was the fact that the museum group had recently gained another area that they could use, the hospital. Rather than moving all of the medicine, Ryan had transported the sick patients to the hospital, while leaving a small group to run the place.
The hospital wasn't far and it allowed the group to cover more ground and be alert if there was any more trouble coming their way. However, the group did suffer a great loss, Brandon.
Brandon was head of the defence team, he was in charge of the squad members that had been trained for situations similar to this. They all followed his word without a second thought.
When two newcomers had arrived and explained what had occured, it was a sad day for the squad, but not just for them for Ryan as well. In truth there was a bit of infighting between members after that happened, but Ryan knew it was them just expressing their feelings of their loss.
What Ryan was surprised about was how all the squad members had come to him the next day, stating that they would continue to protect the place. The people relied on them and most importantly Brandon trusted Ryan, so in turn they would follow in his trust.
Sitting in the cafeteria and enjoying their food, was Cody and Kelly, they had been here for a while now in this safe place. They were the ones that had passed on the news as to what had happened with the others.
"I can't believe that Pink and Kun just left like that." Kelly said. "I thought they would at least decide to stay after hearing the story about Zain."
Cody scoffed down some baked beans. He was a growing teeneager after all, and the food here was tastier than any he had on the street. Once he was done he sat back in his chair.
"You have been saying the same thing for the last week, ever since we got here. Your story about Zain may have changed the minds of a lot of people, but everyone makes mistakes." Cody said. "You should think about the number of times he has helped us now, rather than his past."
Kelly had to admit, there were two sides of herself that were fighting against each other. The one where Zain had saved them multiple times, and the one where she knew his history.
"It... explains a lot about how he is though, and you know what he really is right?" Kelly asked.
"Yes." Cody nodded. "But not just him, Pink and Kun as well. Put it this way... we know nothing of Pink and Kun's past yet you openly trust them, but because you know about Zain's you are wary and unsure, does that make any sense?"
Kelly was silent for a moment, and one could tell she was feeling guilty about what she had said. What was she trying to do... telling everyone about Zain's past, which was none of her business, before the others left.
It was almost as if she wanted everyone to have the same fear as she did when being around him. Everytime she looked at Zain, it shook her very core, and yet everyone was praising him.
"Let's talk about how you are feeling, have you noticed any other changes." Cody asked.
Since leaving the hospital, Cody had noticed a lot of things that happened to Kelly. One of them being that she was able to heal at an incredibly fast rate. Attacks that should have knocked her out, or broken her bones, did next to no damage.
It was almost as if she was becoming a superhuman, the doctor's final exprement might have actually worked, or maybe it was all the torture she had been put through before.
"I don't have much of an appetite these days, I can get by on little to no food, and I don't sleep much, but the thing is... I feel completely fine. If I'm honest, I'm scared." Kelly said, putting both her hands together, they were shaking slightly.
"Scared... you're turning into a superhuman. You have more chances of surviving this apocalypse, more than others. I... of course don't want to go through what you have been through, but I wouldn't mind getting few superpowers myself." Cody smiled.
At heart he was still a teeneager.
"Even if it meant turning into something like them?" Kelly asked.
Now that Cody thought about it, there was that special footage, the one where Zain was eating a particular body. In some ways, Cody was looking at just the good not the bad, while Kelly was doing the opposite.
"You know, this might be a weird thing to say, but I think the person who would be able to help you out the most, if something does happen to you, is Zain." Cody stated. "There is something about him, I think he might be the one who solves all of this mess in the end."
Kelly smiled, she liked Cody a lot, even if he did look up to Zain like a type of superhero, she didn't think it was entirely a bad thing.
Just then, a large pain could be felt running up and down Kelly's neck. She was squinting her eyes, and held onto the table tightly, bending it.
"Kelly, is something wrong?" Cody asked worriedly.
At the same time, the sound of bullets could be heard raining from outside.
*****
Thank you for all the support so far on LUZ. LUZ will be continuing on, and I hope I can do more chapters for all my series as time free's up in the future