…

As instructed by the leader, Hendricks picked up Jonathan over his shoulder to bring him back to a tent.

This time, however, Hendricks answered Jonathan’s questions.

“I saw the insignia on the back of your bullet-proof jackets, so you guys are cops?” Jonathan asked nonchalantly.

His actions weren’t quite what was expected from someone that was recently captured.

Hendricks was silent for a bit, but he eventually answered.

“Yes. I was a police officer before all this.”

“Really? You don’t seem like the typical cop.” Jonathan comment seemed non-important, but it was in fact a sharp question.

“True. I’m also a member of the S.W.A.T division.” Hendricks caught on what Jonathan meant. He had no reason to hide his past, so he revealed everything.

“So that explains how you guys have so many guns. What city did you work for?”

“New York.”

“That means that we were neighbours! I come from Montreal. Perhaps we even saw each other in the street the few times I visited New York.”

“I highly doubt it. I don’t often go to patrol, or at least I didn’t. I prefer acting as an instructor or being in a high pressure operation.”

“How many operations have you gotten in?”

“In my career I’ve been in plenty, but most of them are false calls. If you only account those that I acted in … probably ten operations.”

“Only ten? Isn’t that bit too low.”

“I used to be healthy like you until I took a bullet in the knee. After that, I stayed as an instructor.”

[WN: For anyone that gets the reference.]

“But here your knee…”

“Yes, it’s fully healed here.”

“So this place isn’t that bad after all. We don’t have hot showers and luxuries, but we have advantage like healed injuries. Furthermore, we can still find enjoyment in being with others. That’s even more the case for someone like you. It must feel great to help people, right? Instead of helping against criminals it would be against the force of the nature.”

“Helping people.” Hendricks smiled when he heard this. “Yeah, it does feel good helping others. If everyone went solo here, half of humanity would be dead or in depression from loneliness by now. Helping others is a stress relief and it bonds everyone.”

“Well said. Is everyone here cops thought?”

They had already arrived at Jonathan’s tent when he asked this.

Hendricks froze for a moment, seemingly contemplating if he should answer.

Jonathan caught on to this but said nothing.

“We are already here, and you need as much time as possible to rest. We’ll continue our discussion after you heal up. “

“Oh well, you’re right. It is a shame that we can’t exchange more though.”

Hendricks dropped off Jonathan on a pile of leaves inside the tent and stared at him for a bit. He didn’t answer to Jonathan’s last reply and instead changed the subject

“I’ll drop off your meal twice a day until you can get up on your own. It shouldn’t take much time since you heal faster.”

As he said this, he left the tent without turning back, his huge frame disappearing from Jonathan’s view.

At the same moment, Jonathan entered deep thoughts.

‘It seems that Hendricks is more of the good guy type, unlike their leader.’

This was a good thing for him, as Hendricks would be the one supervising him while he was here. If he had a brainless brute as a superior, he would be in for some trouble.

However, this wasn’t his priority right now. After all, even if Hendricks was his superior, he was still a subordinate to the leader, Louis.

‘That man, Louis…’

Jonathan could help being apprehensive towards the leader as can imagine of him came to his mind. He could see Louis sitting on his chair, with his dark eyes that pierced through everything in front of him. Behind his charismatic smile, something not far from Satan could be induced.

‘Although Satan would be a bit too much, that guy definitely isn’t a good person. Bad guys don’t give free favours, so why would he pick me up and bring me to their camp? Perhaps it is to serve in battle? Or is to get me stuck as one of those labour workers for my whole life?’

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Although he was no great thinker, Jonathan took pride in being able to read others despite his low age. The problem was that he could evaluate others based on things from his previous world. For example, the concept of money or electoral favour allowed him to understand why some companies or parties were so “nice.”

However, he had nothing to base himself off here. He didn’t know how things functioned at all. In fact, he was more inclined to think that all his conjectures were wrong. After all, he could’ve never thought of the scene when all of humanity was transported to the white space on his how. If one couldn’t understand the origin, how could they analyze the after effects?

‘No matter the reason, it isn’t looking too bright for me.’ Had events not unfolded how they did, Jonathan wouldn’t have been so weary right now.

‘Thankfully, his plan messed up and forgot to control his subordinates. I’m not too sure who said it since my mind wasn’t all there, but I definitely heard my name.’

He clearly remembered someone calling him by his name when he was getting out of the pit.

This what made Jonathan so confident about knowing that the leader was not to be trusted. Furthermore, it would be hard for the leader to know if he was bluffing or not on the spot, making it so that he didn’t change his plans.

‘It’s impossible for a subordinate to know my name without the top dog knowing it, so he was dishonest for sure. However, that’s only one thing. The other issue is how he got my name. Did Yamina or me say it while we were unconscious?’

Although he said this, he already knew this was not the case. It wasn’t possible for someone to talk while unconscious. At most, they could do slight responses like eyelids twitching, but Louis wouldn’t be able to guess his name so he could respond.

‘Here, phones are useless, so they can’t find me online. Hendricks said they came from New York so they have never met me. The only way to get my name in this forest other then me and Yamina is…’

He had a sudden thought and his body slightly shook.

‘No way … the others? Could they have met my old group?’

This wasn’t very likely, but it was much more realist than the other options. As such, this was the conclusion Jonathan came too.

‘So I got attacked by those bees and fell unconscious. Then, on of the two groups found me … at that point, they must have entered a fight or something. Considering that they have guns, if they were ten, they could have easily killed my entire group… If that’s the case then they are all dead. Steph definitely went to look for me … I hope she’s alright.’

This stung at his heart deeply. He couldn’t imagine Steph getting pierced by tens of bullets. After all, no matter how fast or agile you are, you can’t escape a bullet coming straight at you.

The fear of this happening was so strong that Jonathan almost shed a tear. He wasn’t someone who cried, so this showed what type of place Steph occupied in his heart.

Still, he was able to quickly recover his mood. As long he didn’t see it for himself, he wouldn’t believe that she was dead.

‘After all, there’s still the option that the conflict didn’t end in total fatality. After all, bullets are limited here. In a confrontation, it would be smarter to threaten the enemy from range.’

Suddenly, Jonathan entered a state of trains and one of the only attribute usable with a body like his went on full throttle. Using his mental processing, he imagined many situations that could’ve occurred.

After a full thirty minutes later, his eyes focused again, and he returned to his regular thoughts.

‘ … in any case, the leader was willing to get into a fight to acquire me. This shows how big my importance is for him. Since this importance is undoubtedly malicious, it shows that things are worst then I thought for me. For sure, I’ll need to leave this place at one point. But how much time do I have until my “usefulness” is required? A month, a week or a day? Hell, I could even get killed in the next moment.’

His expression darkened as he thought of his precarious situation. One of the worst things for him was to have no control on his outcome and as a temporary cripple, he was exactly in this position.

‘The truth is that there is no point of me worrying too much as it’ll only tire me mentally. I must prioritize my recovery and if I can, my strength development. After that, I can only face what fate has in stock for me head on.’

As he said this, his eyes closed.

Since he knew what to do, he wouldn’t waste his time staying awake.

Since he was a person that was always in full control of himself, he had long since understood how stress was not to be a detriment but an aid for him.

Instead of stressing non-stop and being so scared as to not sleep, bringing only negative effects to himself, he would use his stress to get the most efficient recovery possible.

In his logic, if he was awake and someone wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t be able to stop that person. So why stay awake? Instead, he would recover and be able to face anything. If he died in his sleep, then so be it.

A few seconds after his eyes closed, Jonathan fell into a deep sleep on the pile of leaves inside his tent.

Using his mental processing for so long and having his body constantly recovering took a huge toll on him energy-wise, so he had to recover.

However, his sleep seemed to be quite different from his positive and wise thinking. His eyelids were constantly twitching, and he had a bad facial expression that changed every few minutes, as if he was going through multiple nightmares.

…

When Jonathan had gotten dropped off at his tent, a man was walking back to wherever he was required.

Hendricks seemed to be a bit in a daze compared to his usual self that would always live the current moment.

“You alright man?” Another person asked him. This person was also wearing a bulletproof vest, but as Jonathan asked, he was not an officer.

He had wanted to act nice with Hendricks as he noticed his weird attitude, but his attire instead brought a negative opinion of himself to Hendricks.

This always caused a weird feeling in Hendricks. These jackets originally belonged to his friends and brothers that were also police officers, but they were now dead. In addition to the representation of the duty and ethics of an S.W.A.T officers, they also represented the effort they had all put in these past few weeks.

However, many of those brothers were now dead, making it so that outsiders like this man wore these vests, dissipating the honour they carried.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” Hendricks didn’t pay any further attention to that person as he continued walked with a bit of disgust in the corner of his heart.

He once again entered his daze.

‘Jonathan is a smart kid, perhaps even smarter than me.’ As an officer, Hendricks knew how to identify people’s personalities quickly. Furthermore, he didn’t have much arrogance, so he had fairly unbiased opinions.

When he looked at Jonathan, he could see the shadow of Louis. Smart, decisive and precise. They were almost like brothers’ personality-wise.

However, Jonathan didn’t have the bloodthirsty determination that his so-called “leader” had. Instead, he had driven to simply live the best he could.

‘Hopefully, he can achieve some things despite his age… I hope he’ll be able to truly integrate with us. After all, change comes from the inside…’