“You could have at least warned us that it wasn’t beetles.” Kyle admonished, tying the wrists of the last captive with a strip of cloth.

[YOU LEFT BEFORE I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY.] C.H.A.D.D. responded. [MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU’LL WAIT FOR A FULL DIAGNOSTIC REPORT BEFORE CHOOSING A TREATMENT PLAN.] While Kyle wasn’t sure if it was possible for the flat robotic voice to sound smug, C.H.A.D.D. was as close to it as Kyle had ever heard.

“You’ve got to give us at least a bit of a break, these were the first other humans we’d seen in a long time. It’s only natural we’d want to hurry and help.”

[AS A POINT OF CLARIFICATION, DR. MAYHEW, PUTTING YOURSELF AT RISK WITHOUT ALL THE FACTS WOULDN’T BE DEFINED AS ‘HELPING,’ IT WOULD BE DEFINED AS ‘FOOLISH.’] Well, fair point there.

Tugging on the knot to ensure it was secure, Kyle considered their next steps. The people they’d rescued were still huddled in a group, talking in hushed tones. It looked like the man he’d seen get hit earlier was the unofficial leader of the group, and Kyle went over towards him, keeping an eye on the group of bound captives.

“My name’s Kyle, I’m with a group of other survivors making our way to Nierburg. I can only imagine what you’ve all been through, but it’s important that we keep moving. You’re welcome to come with and join the group, otherwise we part ways here.” Selfishly, Kyle wanted them to come along, but he’d seen enough patients in trauma to know the power of offering agency. If he told them they had to come with they would, but that’s an easy way to start fostering resentment. That would go doubly so after watching two powerful awakened dispatch a force that had them dead to rights. There was a pause as the man looked at his group, then he extended his hand as he responded.

“I’m Graham, Graham Paulson. We were also on the way to Nierburg, if you’re willing to let us travel with you we’d very much appreciate it.” Kyle smiled as he took the man’s hand, and the group quickly got to work, following Kyle’s instructions.

A short while later, Kyle had the group of captives moving towards their camp, the survivors they’d saved having been outfitted with the spears. The gun he’d entrusted to a man who went by Gleason, who had claimed he’d used one before. That made Kyle more than a little skeptical – firearms were heavily regulated – but he decided to trust the man with the weapon anyway. He would have preferred to give it to Garth, unfortunately his friend had taken off without helping to organize this group.

Kyle understood why he was upset, though he was surprised Garth hadn’t at least stayed to organize. Putting his concerns out of his head, he turned to Gleason who was walking alongside him at the rear of the group. “Where did you all come from? You’re the first group we’ve seen in weeks.”

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Gleason ran a hand through his short blonde hair, almost seeming embarrassed to answer. “I – uh, I mean we… we were part of a confection team from Nierburg, out on delivery to Albaum. We were doing an inventory in one of their walk-in coolers when everything happened, and by the time we got clear all…. this had happened.”

Kyle wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but a group of pastry chefs certainly wasn’t at the top of the list. Pushing some of his curiosity aside, he asked the most pressing question first. “Albaum is barely a day from here, and the notice to congregate in Nierburg was sent the better part of a month ago. Why are you only getting on the road now?” Kyle kept his tone light, but there was a creeping concern that there might be more than meets the eye here. The man’s blush deepened, his eyes looking towards the ground as he mumbled his response.

“We finally ran out of food. None of us were all that eager to get back and work under DeRosa again, but when the food finally started to run short we knew we had to leave. You won’t tell him, will you?” There was almost a note of pleading in the man’s voice, and Kyle figured that of all the issues he’d have to handle when they made it to Nierburg, sharing the secrets of a group of rogue pâtissiers was probably not high on the list.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve heard nothing.” Gleason looked up and smiled at that, relief clear in his expression.

“I appreciate that, sir. And thank you for your help. If it wasn’t for you who knows where we’d be.”

Kyle and Gleason continued to talk as they made their way back towards the camp, Kyle sharing some of what he’d seen during his travels, with Gleason mostly sharing stories about Councilman DeRosa’s peculiarities. Turnover was quite high amongst his culinary team, and Kyle gained an appreciation for why they weren’t terribly eager to get back under his thumb.

The hope they were holding on to was that with the world in its current condition they would hopefully have more important things to do than work on pastries for the Councilman. C.H.A.D.D. led the group into the clearing where Garth was debriefing Thomas and Dalen on the events, and the two men quickly walked over as Kyle waved in greeting. A grin on his face, Thomas was the first to speak as he approached.

“You sure don’t do anything halfway, do you Mayhew? You got Garth good and pissed off.” Kyle’s smile faded as he met Thomas’s eyes.

“I did what I thought was right. I get that he’s upset, but if I had to make the same choice again, I’d do it all over.” Thomas raised his hands in a mock gesture of surrender, his easy smile not changing.

“Hey, I’m not judging or questioning man. Garth asked us to help you and we will, though you should probably go talk to him. What do you need us to do?”

Dalen nodded his agreement, adding “I’m willing to help so long as there’s nobody here that matched my heroics. Image to keep and all that.” Despite himself, Kyle couldn’t help but smile. These two had been a real breath of fresh air for Kyle over the past weeks, and he was relieved that they were still on his side, despite the tension between him and Garth.

Kyle introduced the two of them to Gleason and Graham, and shared his plan with them. “Look, I know we don’t really have capacity to form a full guard, and I don’t expect any of you to try and fight. Just keep an eye out and shout if something seems amiss. Garth or I are more than capable of handling them if things start going sour, but I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

Graham frowned, “I admire the optimism, but I’m afraid to say I don’t share it. How can you be certain they aren’t going to try something?”

“Because honestly, they don’t have much of a choice.”