After resting for a while, and thanking whatever lucky stars or deities each one felt appropriate, Danny rounded his friends and led them inside the house.

It was a fairly large place and was completely furbished. To be completely honest, Danny didn’t care about the fact the house was clearly too big for just himself or whether it had all the furniture one would expect such a home to have to be livable when he rented the place. He only cared about the closeness to the resource depots and the sturdiness and defensibility of the place.

In fact, if not for the randomly spread boxes of foodstuffs and other essentials that Danny had prepared beforehand lying about, no one would expect he had been dwelling in the place for less than a week.

He hadn’t bothered unpacking anything that didn’t need to be preserved specially or stored somewhere specific. He figured he would be staying here alone for the most part, so he didn’t care to keep up appearances. So long as things were not blocking his path and were minimally organized as to allow him to find what he was looking for easily, he was satisfied.

Danny didn’t explain the mess though. He merely made way for everybody to get inside before locking the main entrance behind himself.

“Make yourselves at home everyone. If you want to sleep there are many vacant rooms in the house. Just pick one and get comfortable. The kitchen is to the left and there are bathrooms both in this floor, at the end of the hallway to your left, and upstairs in the master bedroom and next to the balcony”.

Nobody was in the mood to eat after all that excitement, especially since all of them had eaten something at the café before the quakes at least. Donovan also kept quiet and had no intention to stand out. Even though Jane had been nice to him, and he felt welcomed, he was still a stranger to them, so he was content with going through the motions, following the group wherever they decided to go and doing whatever they decided to do.

“I am going to try the radio to see if we can find anything about the situation if anyone wants to accompany me”. Danny finished saying his piece, and without waiting for any response or confirmation made way to his room in the second floor.

He had stashed the most important things in that room. The only radio in the house was there, as well as the tablet and laptop with pre-downloaded information, batteries and other gadgets.

Seeing Danny leaving, the rest of the group awkwardly stood around for a couple of seconds before debating what their next steps should be and what should they do going forward.

Some of them were worried about family and friends, while others were wondering what could have caused such an absurd change to the world. Just because Danny had no one to worry about close by, it didn’t mean others didn’t. Most of them had family living not to far, if not in the city proper, while others had close friends that were who-knows-where when shit went down.

Although they were safe for the moment, no one felt hopeful about their prospects. Worries about the outside world and uncertainties about the future made for poor conversation topics. After a while, the group split into two.

While Janice went after Danny, the rest started exploring their surroundings in order to make sure there were no security risks at the house and to start making sleeping arrangements. It was already nighttime after all.

The security check-up did not mean that they didn’t trust Danny when he said they were safe there, but some things could only be laid to rest if seen with their own two eyes. People would not feel at ease in those circumstances unless they made sure for themselves the truth of the matter.

That was also why, other than Janice, the group didn’t split into any smaller parties, as sticking together would make them feel safer and allow themselves to draw comfort in the fact that they weren’t alone. Humans were social creatures after all.

Janice very soon found her way into the second floor and saw Danny messing around with a portable radio he had just retrieved from one of the card boxes in the room. So far, he hadn’t had any luck finding a frequency spreading useful information. He did hear many requests for help though.

“Any luck?” Janice asked. Ever since their first interaction, it had always been Janice that intermediated the contact between Danny and her closer friends. So, she was also the one that got nudged into talking with him right now.

“No. I found many people asking for help, describing situations not too different from our own, but I haven’t heard anything from the authorities or any instructions about how to respond to the situation”. Danny lowered the radio and placed it beside himself in the mattress he was sitting on, before turning towards Janice who was standing in the doorway, leaning into its frame with crossed arms.

“What can I do for you Janice?” Danny asked smiling.

“What is going on Danny?” Janice asked with one eyebrow raised, in an inquisitive manner.

“What do you mean?”

“Come on Danny. We are not stupid. We may not get the full picture but you clearly know more about what is going on than you are letting on”.

“What makes you say that?” Danny asked with a fake surprised expression.

“I am serious Danny. The unpacked boxes full of supplies, the mysterious hammer you were hiding in your backpack, the fact you simply disappeared from college a few days before this happened. You may say that once or twice it may be a coincidence, but once clues like that keep piling up, it is hard to conceal that something else is afoot” Janice explained patiently but firmly, leaving no room for arguing, and at the same time speaking in a calm and unaggressive tone as to not antagonize Danny. Everyone had secrets after all, it was not a good thing to pry them out forcefully. Janice understood that.

Nonetheless, her stance was clear. She would not let Danny weasel out of this one. Their circumstances were too dire to allow him his privacy. They had to ask him what he knew in order to maximize their chances since their own safety was on the line.

As a matter of fact, not only Janice had realized the suspiciousness around Danny. Jane, Chris and Carl had figured out as well. The fact that Janice came alone to question Danny was a calculated move on their part in order to pacify Danny and to avoid creating the impression they were ganging up on him. That was why they nudged her to come here alone. They also kept Donovan company as to create an opportunity for Janice approach Danny alone, keeping the waiter out of the loop and out of their way.

It was undoubtedly best if Danny came up and explained things by himself, but they felt they could not afford to wait, therefore they chose the gentlest approach they could think of, while being direct at the same time. They didn’t want to fall out with Danny after all. The measured tactic already clearly showcased their good intentions. There was no shortage of smart people in their group after all.

“Fair enough.” Danny sighed and shrugged, dropping the act completely. He couldn’t be completely honest with them, given that he still couldn’t be sure of how they would react if they knew the full truth, but he could tell them a little bit more.

It wasn’t that he was intentionally trying to keep them in the dark, but there was a big gap between saying that he knew some information beforehand, and that said information came from an old demon that had been haunting him since childhood. What would he do if they panicked or worse, considered him a threat they were better of getting rid of? Those were chances Danny wasn’t willing to take.

“To be honest I am not too sure about it either”

“Danny come on, you…”

“Let me finish please, Janice.” She was about to protest against what she thought was an obvious delaying tactic, when Danny interrupted her and stared straight into her eyes, leaving her no choice other than to keep silent and nodding, patiently waiting for him to tell his story.

“It is true that I managed to stumble upon some information beforehand, however things are not as clear as you imagine them to be.”

“For one, when I first learned that some kind of catastrophe was about to happen, my first reaction was skepticism. Besides the fact that the origin of said information was extremely questionable, would you believe it if you someday found out the world would soon be thrown into turmoil? Who wouldn’t think that it was just another crazy person’s rambling or some king of conspiracy theory people made up to pass time or to entertain their own delusions?” Danny asked rhetorically.

Nonetheless, Janice couldn’t help herself but to nod her head along while being stared by Danny’s eyes. It was a very reasonable statement after all. She would most likely be skeptical as well if someone straight up came to her and said the world was about to end.

“Moreover, even if that was true, so what? With no proof and no credibility, no one would believe me if I were to spread that information. Even I myself had no idea whether that information was true or not. Even so, something about the way it came to my knowledge told me that I had to act upon it. It was purely by instinct that I decided to take measures against the possibility of a future calamity”.

“However, even if I suspected something was coming, I had no idea what. Therefore, I prepared myself to the best of my abilities in whatever way I could think of, and now, here we are”.

Janice lowered her gaze, digesting what she had just heard, before raising her head and asking the question she came up with.

“You said that something about the way you came to know about this… whatever this is was what made you decide to take precautions. What was it?”

Danny shook his head at her.

“I am sorry, but I cannot tell you that. I won’t be saying anything else either about how I came upon this information or where it came from. This is where I draw the line”. Danny answered in a calm but unyielding gaze. “Besides, does it matter how I knew this would happen? What is important is what happened and what we can do about it.”

“I guess that is true” Janice answered in an unconvinced manner, but she was not willing to insist. What mattered now was what to do going forward. She agreed to that at least.

“So, you had no idea exactly what would happen and whether that information was true or not, even though you made arrangements to protect yourself, therefore you hadn’t asked for help from anyone beforehand, is that right?”

The unasked accusatory question was pretty obvious in her tone. Danny had covered his ass and hadn’t sought to help anyone else. To put it bluntly, Janice was implying that he had been very selfish in his actions, even though she had not said it out loud. They were not in familiar enough terms to point fingers at the moment, so she merely implied the question in her heart: you would have left us to fend for ourselves, right?

“Yes. Although that answer might not be what you want to hear, I am not ashamed in saying that I had no plans to tell anyone about it. You might have acted differently were you in my position, but I chose to keep quiet about it. Even if I had told as many people I could about it, how many would believe me? How many would think and TREAT me as a crazy person? An annoyance? And all that, remember, for a mere possibility that something may come to pass.” Danny stated and continued.

“I am no saint, Janice. I couldn’t throw myself into such unfavorable circumstances in favor of others I barely knew. Forgive me if you think me as a callous person because of it, but that’s what I felt at the time.” Danny said straightforwardly, showing he didn’t think what he did was wrong.

It was undoubtedly selfish of him to act like that, but wasn’t selfishness the natural response in that scenario? Would you expect altruism to be the default human reaction in that case? Danny thought it wasn’t so.

Janice frowned. She didn’t like what she heard. She never pictured Danny to be a cold person, but she also couldn’t bring herself to condemn his actions. She knew she couldn’t expect someone to sacrifice their own interests and well-being in favor of strangers, but knowing it rationally did not prevent her from feeling a bitter taste in her mouth.

In the end she just asked the question that naturally followed after hearing about Danny’s logic.

“So why did you help us?”

Seeing the house, the supplies, the preparations Danny had made as well as hearing about his own circumstances before today and also his perspective on things, Janice had already figured out that he initially had no intention to meet them or even help them in the chaos that ensued. So why did he do it? Why go out of his way if that was how he felt?

Danny merely grinned, showing a helpless expression.

“I guess you could chalk it up to fate. In the end, I could not bring myself to leave you in the lurch like that after you called me. Hearing your voice, and remembering our past interactions, I kinda just acted on impulse. I am glad that I did that though, seeing everything turned out okay.” Danny answered Janice and smiled at her, happy with his decision. He couldn’t be sure of what the consequences would be when he disregarded his arrangements, but it seemed that luck had been on his side this time.

Hearing him tell her that he discarded his thoughts and plans after hearing her voice and seeing him present such an honest smile towards her, Janice couldn’t help but lose herself for a while, staring at him in surprise before immediately blushing.

“Thanks Danny… I truly appreciate it but…. I am seeing Carl right now so…” Janice avoided her gaze, in a very uncharacteristic cute and embarrassed way, thinking about how to deal with what she interpreted as Danny’s confession. Her discomfort with his previous callous statements long relegated to the back of her mind.

Danny stared dumbly at Janice’s mood swing before facepalming at her clumsy and uncomfortable attempt at a mild rejection. He had no idea how she reached the conclusion that he was interested in her.

“Sigh. Maybe I should have stuck to the original plan after all.”