Upon leaving the lab, Philip noticed Dina had held his hand again and had a slightly satisfied smile on his face.'This girl.' He sighed inwardly. He may not be the best at reading signs but he'd need to be denser than a black hole to not realize that Dina had feelings for him.When he thought about it, he felt conflicted. On one hand, he really didn't mind Dina's company, and the knowledge about her feelings for him didn't seem repulsive in any way.But on the other hand, Philip's mind was against anything related to relationships. He was thoroughly traumatized by what happened with Valerie, so while he had no issues with Dina's feelings, the thought of starting a relationship just felt too off for him at the moment.Hence, when they entered the jeep, he gently but firmly removed his hand from hers. He observed her reaction through the car window and saw her become visibly disappointed.'Sorry, I just can't yet.' He apologized inwardly.***When the duo got back to their residence, t
In the blink of an eye, a whole week had passed.The group was getting more and more accustomed to their new residence and life in the settlement. It was weird since they were so used to finding an infected at least once or twice in a day, so returning back to a somewhat normal life was a little foreign.However, they did still adapt to their new lifestyle quickly. So when they were confident, they all finally decided to look for something to do.Also, Frank hadn't stopped collecting blood from Philip, and according to the bags under his eyes and the excited expression he had on his face each time he invited Philip to his lab, Philip judged that his blood was indeed helping.He had tried to watch Frank work but gave up almost immediately as he failed to understand anything he was doing.On the other hand, Andrew and Dina had been socializing with the other survivors in the settlement. Most of them were pretty hospitable and had no problem in getting acquainted with the duo.There was
In the blink of an eye Phillip was already at the front lines where the soldiers were assembling themselves and putting on their gear. They were spooked when he suddenly appeared out of seemingly thin air. “Who’s in command here?” Phillip asked the slightly frightened group in front of him.“Well based on what’s just happened wouldn’t that be you sir?” A voice said sarcastically from behind, generating a slight chuckle from all the members behind him.He was an average heighted man with well built muscles, a full face beard and ebony black skin and a shiny bald head to top it off.Phillip asked that question to know the hierarchy of the group and who’s responsible for what. “That’s very funny, however I don’t know if you are all aware but that alarm means there’s a swarm of infected rushing towards this base, correct?” He asked while turning his gaze to all of them who were staring at him.“Yes we know, we also know we don’t need one of those freaks to tell us how to do a job we’ve b
“Are you sure you want to join the SLF Xander? You are still quite young, I am sure there are several other divisions you can contribute to in this settlement.” Greyson said to Xander as he sat in his office.He had come to meet him directly after being told that he was too young and didn't meet the requirements to join the SLF. However he was adamant, hence his audience with Greyson.He simply told the recruiters that he wouldn’t give up unless he had seen Greyson personally and so there he was, however, his plan seemed not to be going well as even he didn’t want Xander to work in such a dangerous unit at such a young age.“Respectfully sir, I don’t want to work in any other unit other than the SLF.” Xander said in a composed manner, one that almost seemed too mature for his age.“If I may ask, why are you so determined to serve there? You’re still young. In a year or two you’ll be eligible to protect the settlement.” Greyson tried to point out.Xander took a deep breath and thought
“Where did you leave her?” Christopher asked his son in between breaths while simultaneously clutching his side.Xander zoned out for a moment and looked a bit closer at the area he thought his father had originally gotten injured before, it almost seemed to be becoming… darker-“Xander answer me! Where is Hailey?” Christopher asked again, bringing Xander back to his senses. “Yes, yes I’ll take you to her right now.” Xander said as he opened the door to the bakery and rushed into the kitchen.“Hailey, you are still here right?” Xander asked as he knelt down next to the cupboard he left his sister in.A moment passed and he could hear her subtle sobs through the wooden door. “Sniff.. yeah... I am... sob.” The little girl said and a wave of relief washed over both Xander and his father.“Come out for me sweetie.” Christopher said obviously sounding relieved and quickly the little girl rushed out and ran to hug her daddy.“Daddy… sob... I thought you were gonna get hurt.” She said as sh
An hour had passed by now, and Xander had managed to put Hailey to sleep. She spent most of the night crying, he spent most of the night consoling her.He wanted to cry as well, but breaking down at such a crucial moment wasn’t negotiable. He was the man now and he had to act like it. Hailey had gone through enough, he needed to be able to support her.She slept on one of the beds in the room while he sat on the floor, laying his back on the wall with the gun on his lap. He managed to get her to eat some bread and drink water before she went to bed.To confirm the worst he went back to the room they left their father and took a peek. As he thought, he was gone. He laid there, on his back arms crossed and facing upwards. He looked peaceful, Xander’s breath began to shake once again but he stopped himself and made his way back to the room with Hailey.So much was going through his mind that night, but one odd thing that kept happening was the footsteps that regularly came to the front o
Xander took deep and violent breaths as he stared down at Mark who was now bleeding from his mouth.He was filled with rage, the events of the previous day were still haunting him and Hailey as well. They weren’t even done mourning their late father and here this guy was trying to constitute a nuisance.‘I should just blow his head clean off!’ He thought inwardly, bloodlust clouding his mind. But suddenly something came over him, perhaps it was realization or pity. He could now clearly see the fear in Marks's eyes. Although they wanted to take their weapons and food they never outrightly tried to kill them.The world had already fallen apart due to the monsters causing havoc, why should he contribute to that?His breathing slowed and his reasoning returned back to him. Hailey was okay which was the most important thing. He had decided that it wasn’t worth it, there was no need to kill him.“I don’t know why you decided to do this. But I’m going to let you go. When I get up, you and y
Xander fell to the ground once again, his body was screaming at him. Mark's body lay on the floor, and Adrian’s body lay in front of him. He rested his head against the wall behind him and clutched his side once again. He looked towards where Hailey was sitting and saw her crouched against the wall with her legs tucked against her chest.He used a larger part of his energy to lift himself up and move over to his crying little sister. She leans into him and continues sobbing. Xander felt terrible. Not just because of the pain he was feeling, but because of what his sister was experiencing.She was barely thirteen and she had just killed a man and lost her father a day ago. He was barely holding on so he couldn’t imagine how traumatic it was for her. He looked at the horrific sight in front of them, with Mark's body and Adrian tied up in the corner. ‘Things won’t get better as long as we are in this same spot.’ He thought inwardly.He slowly got up and gently raised his sisters up in