10 Night 2

The house Don was currently in was lovely. It was a large house with a kitchen area, a dining area, a living room area, a master bedroom, two other bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement, and a garage. The only reason Don knew this was because he had been inside of this house once before. The halls were decorated with family pictures. Some held child versions of John and Josh, and others had the entire family in them. There were even some pictures of elderly folks who could probably be seen as John and Josh's grandparents.

The woman led them through the home and down a hallway that seemed to connect from the living area to the kitchen area. She stopped in the middle of the hallway right beside a door. "Down here in the basement. We've cleaned it out and are currently using it to bunker down." The woman spoke as she opened the door.

A fleet of stairs was revealed, and the woman continued down the steps. Don and the others followed her. Lights lit up the stairs automatically so no one would miss a step. Once they reached the base, a voice called out, "Who is there?" Don recognize the voice and damn near spoke up; however, he left the speaking to the woman.

"An interesting fellow. He even brought some friends." The woman smiled with her response. She made way for Don and the others to enter the basement. John was slightly confused by what his mother meant, but when he saw Don, the confusion vanished. "Don!" John exclaimed. Josh was sitting down against the wall in thought.

He looked up when John spoke Don's name. "Don?" Josh inquired. When he saw Don, he rose to his feet and made his way to Don. John made his way to Don as well. "It's good to see both of you." Don smiled. One could see the relief in his eyes. Since John and Josh were safe, that was one less worry out of his mind.

"I see you also brought a little platoon with you. I guess you are a leader no matter where you go, Don." Another voice spoke up. It wasn't from John or Josh, nor was it from the woman earlier. Don's eyes shifted from John and Josh to focus on the person behind them. "Jake!" Don exclaimed. Don was happy to see the man was well. A sign of relief washed over him once more in knowing that his friends were okay.

"While it is good to see you too, it is a shame that you were brought here as well." Jake commented. "Ha, Don can handle himself." John remarked. "Truthfully." Josh added. The others behind Don nodded in agreement. "So, who do were have here?" Jake asked.

Josh and John looked past Don to take note of the others. "Other than April, I do not know the others. Care for some introductions, Don?" Josh asked. "Right." Don nodded before introducing everyone.

"The woman in the back is Rebecca. My favorite store owner and the person who always has the best cigs on sale. The guy next to her is Noah. I don't know him, but Rebecca does. Apparently, he was caught up in this mess. The other kid is Tyrone. Just met him. He is the reason we actually came to investigate your house. I also know nothing about him other than the fact that he has been here for six months, and as you all know. This is April." Don gave the introductions to keep things short and brief. John, Josh, and Jake greeted everyone respectfully.

"Hey, that wasn't much of a greeting!" April complained. She took hold of Don's arm. "You should introduce me as your wife!" April exclaimed with a bright smile. Rebecca whistled sharply. Noah was a bit taken back by the sudden claim. Sure, he knew April was in love with the man, but enough to want to marry him? That was on a different level. As for Tyrone, at this moment, he came to the full realization that any chance he had with April was nill.

John and Josh chuckled lightly and Jake began egging Don on, "Yeah... You should've said she was your wife." This teasing gesture caused Don to sigh heavily and shake his head. He had noticed three other people in the back when Jake approached so would ask about them to move on from this spectacle.

"Setting that aside, who are they?" Don motioned toward the three that looked glum. Two guys and one girl. All three of them had a defeated expression and kept their glances to the ground. John and Josh looked at Jake. After all, it was his turn to speak up now.

"They are my friends. After work, I decided to go chill with them. I stayed the night there. You can probably already guess the rest." Jake shook his head dismissively at the thought. Part of him clearly wished that he was not here. That all of this was a dream and that when he woke up, none of this would matter. However, this was no dream. This was reality. Jake knew that but still had his reservations about it.

"I see. What about you two?" Don asked John and Josh.

"We came back home. When I woke up, I was going to run to the store and grab something to make breakfast, but I saw the overgrown garden when I stepped outside. So, I called out Josh, and we trimmed it down to size. I thought it was odd it had grown that large overnight, but when saw the oversized bugs during our trimming session things started to piece themselves together. We rushed back inside to check on mom, and when we did, we caught word of an odd voice. Mother was sitting in the living room watching the TV with the boy on it. From there, I assume you can piece together the rest." John explained.

"After a while, I decided to do some recon. I wanted to see just how much of a replica this planet was. When I did, John decided to tag along. We walked around Harris, encountered some undead. Beat them back into the ground and managed to avoid the bugs. However, that damned stalker found us." Josh narrowed his eyes in disgust as he spoke of a stalker. April shivered a bit at the mention said, stalker.

"You mean that asshat? Don't worry about him. I dealt with him. Aside from that, I also retrieved something for you both." Don reached into his pocket and pulled out John's Necklace and Josh's Ring. He offered them to the guys. Both of them were happy to see their belongings. "No way!" John exclaimed. "Well, I'll be damned..." Josh remarked. They put both on their respective belongings then turned to Don and thanked him.

"Wait, but how did you retrieve these? When we were attacked, we had to retreat since they had pulled knives on us. Everyone knows that fighting barehanded in a knife fight does not go well. Especially if you are outnumbered." Josh spoke up. No one replied to Josh. The silence was a given answer to his question.

"Yes, what you are thinking is correct. I killed them." Don admitted with no remorse in his voice.

"Ah, I see..." John confirmed.

A moment of silence befell them. The tension in the atmosphere shifted from light and airy to heavy once again.

"Well, there is nothing that could be done about it. I am sure John and Josh would have done the same in your shoes. We all know how much of a scumbag that guy was. Stalking April.... waiting for her after school.... showing up at our workplace just because she frequented there, and even going so far as to assault her. Disgusting." Jake would grimace.

No one reprimanded Jake for his words. Even if it was silent, everyone seemed in agreement. Even Tyrone, who had just joined. From what he could gather, the man Don killed was April's Stalker, and he did some nasty things. If if it was anything on the level of what he experienced, then sure... he could come to terms with the man's death as well.

The silence was finally broken when John's Mother spoke up, "I'll go get some drinks and snacks. If you want, the showers are working as well. I am sure you two want to bathe." The woman was referring to Rebecca and April, who had a refreshing smile on their face. "Oh, yes, please!" Both of them answered at the same time. They looked at each other before chuckling lightly. "You go first." Rebecca stated.

April shook her head, "I insist that you go first. I want to shower with Don." April bluntly commented. Jake was the one who whistled sharply this time. Noah doubted he could get used to April's overly blunt affection for Don, and Tyrone was... well, sulking. April smiled warmly and turned her attention toward Don while awaiting an answer.

"Well?"

Don shifted his attention toward April. "No." That was all he answered with.

"Then I guess I can just invite one of the other guys." April teased Don. She knew full well how to push his buttons and when to push them. Don remained silent. He even closed his eyes as if daring someone to speak up. Don knew that April wasn't that sort of person. "Well, how about it. Anyone wanna join me?" April asked while looking at the other guys.

Don crossed his arms and slowly begin to tap a finger upon his forearm. He didn't need to speak up. Everyone could see it quite vividly, a reaper staring at all of them. "Yeah... April... I think you should quit the joke before you get someone killed." Jake spoke with a wry smile. April sighed lightly. "Fine, fine. I just wish Don would spoil me sometimes." April whined playfully.

"Yeah, Don. You should spoil her!" Rebecca called out, which caused Don's brow to twitch. April looked back at Rebecca and mouthed, 'Nice follow!' with thumps up, and Rebecca gave April a thumps up in return. A groan left Don's throat. "Fine! But we are wearing bathing suits! There is no room for discussion. Do you understand!?"

Don shifted his attention to April once again. No one actually thought Don would follow through with this. Even April was surprised, so much so that her cheeks tinged brightly. "Oh... umm... s-sure..." She fumbled her words. Don shook his head and move to stand firmly against the wall.

Rebecca cleared her throat to break the sudden tension as best she could, "A-Anyways, I'll head up first. I'll let you know when I am done. Can you show me the way, ma'am?" Rebecca shifted her attention to John's mother when she referred to her. The woman nodded, "Certainly." She headed back up the stairs and led Rebecca to the shower before prepping some beverages and snacks.

April approached Don and tug at his sleeve to get his attention. Don had his eyes closed and looked somewhat agitated, so she wanted to make sure that he was okay. "Don, you know you do not have to. You know I would never actually shower with anyone other than you, right?" April had this feeling that maybe Don had taken what happened earlier seriously. Don shook his head to dismiss her worries. "There is nothing to worry about. I know you would never do something like that. That isn't it..." Don remarked.

"Then what is bothering you?" April asked.

"I..."

'I do not want to corrupt you...'

'I do not want to hurt you...'

'I do not want to taint you...'

'I do not deserve you...'

"It's nothing. Don't worry." Don replied with a soft smile.

April could easily see past his facade. Something was indeed bothering him. The painfilled look in his eyes was more than enough to tell her. She just did not know what it was, and that bothered her. "You have your swimsuit, right?" Don asked to turn the conversation elsewhere.

April was trying to figure out what was bothering Don when he suddenly asked her such a question. This caused her to blink rapidly while realizing that Don was serious about the showering thing. "Oh... Um... Yeah. You know you don't have to. I was just messing with you." April expressed timidly with her gaze cast downward.

"Oh? Then I guess I won't." Don replied bluntly.

April looked up quickly in defeat which caused Don to chuckle lightly. "I am kidding. If you really don't want to, then that is fine. If you want this, that is okay as well. Just let me know, okay?" Don remarked. April nodded softly before smilingly lightly. One of the things she liked about Don was that he was considerate at times. What the others did not know was that Don spoiled her a lot, actually.

He bought her ice cream when she wanted it. Took her out to the movies and even to restaurants when she wanted to get out of the house. He even helped with her homework when she asked. As long as it wasn't something beyond his limitation, Don would abide by her wants and needs. There were even times when Don would buy womanly products for her. She found it rather endearing that he cared that much about her.

When she had nightmares and woke him up in the middle of the night to sleep beside him, he never got angry or upset with her and just comforted her. There was so much no one knew about Don that she knew. How he hated beer, but if someone offered him one, he would accept it as a show of respect. It was because she knew so much about Don that she could never see him as a heartless monster or even a murder.

"Looks like you two made up." Josh commented while making his way over to them. John had proceeded to speak with Tyrone and Noah, and Jake went to tell his friends what was going on. "Makeup? Did we have a fight?" April asked innocently while looking up at Don, who shrugged.

Josh was stunned for a moment at his own misunderstanding before laughing about it, which caused April to give Josh a confused look. "Nevermind then. Anyway, I am sure you have some questions. So, feel free to ask away." Josh said. The reason he came over was to actually answer any questions Don may have had.

"I do." Don did indeed have some questions.

"First, how do you have power and water? I mean, we did the night this happened to us; but I figured the electricity and sewage would fall." Don asked his first question.

"Oh, well, I am sure you noticed our solar panels on the roof, but we also have a generator. Right now, it is off. We charge it during the day and start it up around night. As for water, we have our own filtering system implanted in our house. We were skeptical at first about the whole replica thing, but we found that this house still has the same system upon investigation. Just like our defense system." Josh answered

"I see. Okay, next, what about food? Have you check all of the nearby stores?" Don asked.

"Not all of them. It does seem a bit odd, though. From what John and I found out, canned goods and bottled water are well within the expiration date. Other perishables like frozen meat and vegetables are spoiled, though. The odd part is that it seems like they perished a while ago, like maybe a year, but the canned goods and bottled water doesn't seem that well-aged. Naturally, wine is also still good." Josh answered.

Don found this interesting. Sure canned goods and bottled water had a long shelf life, but even so... from what Josh said, it seemed like those two items, in particular, had been stocked up Maybe even restocked. Don put this aside for now and move on to the next question.

"What about ammunition and weapons? Guns? Blades? Even knives?" Don was asking if Josh had seen anything like those around.

"No. We never ventured to any of those shops. It was on our list of things to do, but we encountered that scumbag before being able to." Josh replied with a shake of his head.

"I see. I guess we'll have to do some recon later. I want to find Noah something he could use." Don remarked. "And Tyrone," April added as a means of showing them that she was still there. Though she did not have any questions of her own at the time.

Don nodded to her before continuing. "One final question, Have you seen or heard anything from Jen and Boss?" Don inquired.

Josh's brow rose at this inquiry, but in the end, he shook his head with a no. "Nope. Why, did you have plans on seeing if they were here as well?" Josh asked, and Don nodded. "Yeah. I wanted to check in and see if everyone was brought here. Then I wanted to form a group and then find an outpost to stay at and survive in until we could all go home." Don answered.

Josh had this impressed expression on his face as he listened to Don speak of his plan. "I see. Boy... you really do have Leadership Skills. Sure, I was gunnin' for Shift Lead, but it seems like that role was better suited for you." Josh remarked, which caused Don to sigh heavily and shake his head. "Do not remind me; besides, that position doesn't matter anymore since we are no longer on that planet," Don replied with a dismissing hand gesture that caused Josh to chuckle.

John, Tyrone, and Noah regrouped with Don, April, and Josh. Jake and his friends came over, and everyone started the introduction once again since Jake's friends were not properly introduced. April chatted with the girl and Noah and Tyrone would speak with the guys. Don, Josh, John, and Jake started to catch up with each other in more detail. John's mother eventually arrived with juice and snacks that everyone partook in. Except for Rebecca, who was presently enjoying a nice, hot, and steamy shower. This brief respite would continue on into the night.

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