“Let’s see here, flashlight check, hammer check, spare hammer check, mom’s things check, blood count test…” Danny spoke to himself as he made sure he had collected all the necessary supplies to take with him when he left the place.

It was already late morning of the following day from the demon’s visit and by now Tutu had long disappeared.

Danny woke up later than usual this day, since his meeting with the demon extended well into the night. The questions themselves and the answers that followed didn’t take that long to be honest, but the haggling that came after their talk was protracted and exhausting to say the least.

Danny was determined to make the demon budge on the matter of the crystals and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Although he could do nothing if the demon decided to simply turn around and leave, fortunately that didn’t happen.

Apparently, the demon felt it was very amusing to watch Danny try to reason, beg, and persuade him to change his terms. Danny felt that Tutu enjoyed both his restless attempt to convince him and the art of negotiation itself in equal parts. The demon’s appreciation of the merchant ways was an unexpected discovery for Danny.

Was it simply a personal preference or was it a racial trait? He had no way of knowing, so Danny merely dismissed it as one of the demon’s many quirks.

Be that as it may, Danny didn’t know if the demon’s predilection worked in his favor or against him. He felt it was fortunate that Tutu never left the negotiation table no matter how long they kept going at it, but at the same time, Danny was not sure if Tutu had purposefully dragged on their haggling session just for the sake of it or not.

In the end, he did manage to convince the demon to change his terms over the matter. Danny managed to get his hands on the information he wanted in advance, however, he was now owing the demon double the price he had quoted before.

That is to say, Danny would not be able to ask anything else from the demon before he paid the equivalent amount of ten cups of blood.

Assuming that they kept their meetings limited to one time every fortnight, as they have so far, Danny would take around five months to completely clear his debt.

Danny had no way of increasing the frequency of their meetings without risking his health. It couldn’t be helped as the human body simply did not produce blood fast enough.

His arrangement with the demon was already risky enough as it is, given that if he got injured for whatever reason, and lost blood by consequence, his body would become even more taxed than it already was. Danny would find it very difficult then to keep his part of the deal with the demon, or even impossible. Therefore, he had to be doubly careful.

On the other hand, payment itself was not such a big deal, given that Danny would have to provide his blood to Tutu no matter what according to the terms of their initial deal. That was the price for his relative freedom after all. However, all that time without being able to make use of Tutu’s insider’s knowledge would hurt.

Five months was a very long time. Half a year would already be a considerable amount of time if nothing had changed on Earth. Many things could happen in that timeframe. Even more so now, with chaos installed and the prospective dangers that would only increase as days go by.

One could say five months to be a lifetime and they would not be wrong.

Even so, Danny felt it was worth it. He felt it even more strongly after hearing what the demon had to say about the mysterious substance. It was truly mind blowing.

Although he was glad he had listened to his instincts and insisted on the subject, Danny still felt he was being fleeced. There was nothing he could do about that, though. Like it or not, the demon still held all the power in their relationship, so he should just be glad he got what he wanted and not think too deeply about secondary issues.

He would take the win and do his part faithfully. After all, Danny absolutely did not want to feel that agonizing pain again for missing his deadline. That single instance was already one too many times.

If what the demon had revealed was indeed true – which Danny had pretty much no reason to doubt given their track record – then being armed with that knowledge and being unaware were so different circumstances that they could not be spoken in the same breath.

He felt way more confident in his survival chances now. Unless he made some kind of terrible mistake or had the most terrible of lucks, Danny felt very confident in being able to get by. At least for the near future anyway.

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That did not mean he could start relaxing, however, as things would only get more dangerous for now on according to what Tutu had to say. The only difference was that Danny would be better prepared to handle those hardships from now on.

Danny thought it was funny how things worked. If Carl had not taken action against him at that time and had remained behind with the others, even if only for a single day, then they would be in a much, much better position to deal with the demons and other menaces that they all will inevitably encounter as time goes on.

“Karma is a bitch.” Danny said to no one in particular.

Danny did not believe in karma, but it did not prevent him from saying that and smiling a little bit at the thought.

They all chose to abandon him. It was a fact. That was their decision and not anyone else’s. It did not matter how complicated and tense the situation was.

Danny believed that there was always a choice to be made. After all, even as a kid, with no family and with a monster literally breathing down his neck – even in such dire circumstances – Danny could still choose to fight back and to live or to give up hope and look for an easy way out.

Lack of power did not take away the right to choose, it only made the choices better or worse.

Still, Danny did not begrudge any of them for their actions. He tried to not be too judgmental of a person for their mistakes. He knew that no one is perfect and that a single instance of success or failure does not define one’s value. Even so, Danny could not help to feel a little bit vindicated for the supposed cosmic justice and smirk at how things turned out. Very rarely during his lifetime Danny had things go his way, but the dealt hand favored him this time around.

The smile was short-lived though, as Danny recalled that the others were also dragged down with Carl. He thought it was a pity, especially regarding Janice. She had been kind to him.

Danny still had the crossbows and bolts she demanded they left behind for him. They would come in handy in the following days. Even when stuck in the middle of such an unpleasant confrontation, Janice still took a stand against her armed boyfriend in order to give Danny better fighting chances, without any benefit to herself. Just because she felt it was the right thing to do.

To be a good person and do the right thing was hard sometimes, and even harder when things got difficult. That showed a lot of character on Janice’s part.

It was unfair how she was thrown into that situation, but life is not fair. Danny knew that very well.

He shook his head to clear his head of those depressing thoughts and refocus on the matter at hand.

As a matter of fact, Danny’s current actions were closely related to his former teammates. He was preparing to abandon the house for good.

Even though there was a load of supplies remaining in the place, Danny no longer felt safe there. The location was compromised.

Now that he and the others had a falling out, he could no longer risk remaining there.

Although their parting was definitely unfriendly, it was not to the point of immediately turning into enemies and taking hostile actions against one another. If that was the case, then Carl probably would have shot him when he had the chance. However, would that remain the same as time passes? Who could say for sure what the future holds?

Just because they did not attack Danny then, merely leaving after burning the bridges, it did not mean they would not do so in the near future. Humans are capable of many things in the face of despair. Terrible things that they do not even know they are capable of.

If Carl and the others suddenly find themselves backed into a corner, who is to say that they would not turn to Danny in fear?

Maybe they would feel that the guy with a demon hanging around him was not so bad after all when everything starts going downhill, and try to appeal to him. Maybe they would think that he is their only hope when left with no other choice, and would grab at that chance with fanatic fervor. Maybe they would think that they blew their shot at a peaceful coexistence with Danny when they left him behind, so it would be better to capture him first and then ask questions. You know, just to make sure he cooperated.

What if Danny did not have the answers they wanted to hear? Maybe they could, you know, torture him a little bit to make sure he was not hiding anything from them or playing tricks.

You would be surprised at how quickly a person can regress to something more primal and resort to simpler and more violent and brutal ways. Most people like to think themselves to be rational and not emotional, however, that is often not the case.

Take for example a simple fire. If most people could keep a calm state of mind and act rationally in the face of adversity, then why a stampede is the most common outcome whenever people find themselves amidst a burning building? Given that the frenzy only serves to increase the casualties and injuries, a rational response would be the polar opposite.

In fact, for people to behave properly in the case of a fire and get away from the hazard in an organized fashion, it is necessary for humans to actually be trained beforehand.

Such is the power of fear. Wise men turn into idiots, and gentlemen into thugs.

Danny felt it was prudent not to risk it. By leaving the place he would be abandoning most of the resources he and his former group had managed to scavenge these last few days, but so what? He had prepared two more stashes hidden away for just such an occasion. The house was the spot that he had placed the least number of resources anyways.

It was indeed a pity to leave behind the fruit of all their hard work, but those were just things in the end. They were replaceable.

Resources are meant to be spent, not hoarded. The whole purpose behind gathering stuff was to eventually make use of them later, improving his life or making it easier. Therefore, if he placed himself in danger just to save up on things he could find elsewhere, it would be the height of folly. He would be placing the cart before the horse.

It was important to know when to act and when to retreat. So, Danny wisely chose to flee.