Once Sarah had woken up, they headed out again. The first thing they did was scavenge through the nearby houses, looking for some clothes and shoes for her, as her current attire was far from adequate. The clothes they found were a little old and musty, and the shoes were a little tight, but at least everything was now covered and protected. Greg also managed to replace his shirt, though what he really wanted was a shower. Being covered in blood and vomit was not a pleasant experience.

As they traveled, Greg quickly realized what Tessa had meant about Sarah not having enough strength to make it to the safe zone. Any wall higher than waist height was a challenge for her, requiring both Greg and Tessa's help to get her over them, particularly if it required getting through a window. Out in the residential districts it was fine, as they had the time to handle it, but in the denser areas, Tessa had made it clear that there were times you needed to get over an obstacle as quickly as possible, and any delay could leave you and everyone else in danger.

Thankfully, Tessa knew a safe house by the edge of the business district they could get to. It was apparently an old bomb shelter they'd found and refurbished. It wasn't much, but it had some beds, they'd stashed some food, and most importantly, it had thick walls. They made it there just before dark, settling in for another night. Greg still didn't seem to be able to sleep, but someone had left a few books around, so he was able to entertain himself without doing anything too crazy.

"You do realize those are here for kindling, right?" Tessa commented, entering the small sitting area with a yawn.

"Yes, well, at least you started from the back." Greg replied, continuing to read. "I hate it when I don't know something that the book references. It's why I have to reread the entire series every time a new book comes out." He grumbled, before setting the book down, looking up at Tessa. "Are you sure you'll be okay making the trip alone?"

"It wouldn't be the first time." Tessa shrugged. "Honestly, I'll probably be safer than if I was going with you. There's a lot of things I can do to hide that you just can't."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in Miss Shifty McShaperpants." Greg rolled his eyes. "But seriously, be careful, alright?"

"Don't worry, I will. I know how much you'd miss me if I died." Tessa replied cheekily, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh, well, I suppose, but I was more thinking of the fact that me and Sarah would be absolutely fucked if you don't make it." Greg responded blandly.

Tessa glared at him for a moment. "It's like you're almost begging to be stabbed." She muttered, shaking her head.

"No one's stopping you." Greg retorted with a grin, picking the book back up and going back to his reading. "Enjoy your trip. Bring me back a souvenir, eh?"

Tessa shook her head, a mix of amusement and annoyance warring on her face as she packed up her things and prepared to head out. Right before she left, her expression hardened as she turned back to Greg. "I should only be a few days, a week max. If it gets to two-"

"It won't get to two." Greg retorted, giving her a serious look. "I'll see you in a few days."

Tessa paused, before letting out a sigh, a slight grin tugging at her lips. "I'll see you in a few days…" She replied, before heading out, ready to rush to the safe zone.

A few hours later, Greg set the book down with a sigh. "Okay, now I'm pissed they started with the back… worse than a damn cliffhanger!" He grumbled, before pausing and looking around with a frown. "Huh… where's Sarah?" He wondered, climbing to his feet and looking around. She shouldn't have been still asleep by this point.

Greg headed to the sleeping area, knocking on the door. "Sarah? You okay in there?"

"I-I'm fine." Sarah answered through the door, sounding nervous.

"Okay… well, I'll be out here if you need me then." Greg replied, shrugging and heading back. He stared at the pile of books with a frown. He'd already read through the most intact one, and that was already bad enough, so he decided not to start another one. With a heavy sigh, he pulled out a pack of cards and started playing.

"W-what are you doing?" Sarah asked. It'd been a while now and she knew she had to eat. She peeked into the room nervously, only to see Greg leaning over the table, moving a card every now and then, sometimes removing one. It didn't look like any card game she knew.

"Playing chess." Greg answered simply as he looked over his mock board. The numbered cards were pawns, jacks were rooks, queens were knights, kings were bishops, an ace was queen, and the joker was king. The only issue was the board but he sort of solved that by laying eight cards face down along the top and side, using them as a coordinate system. He glanced over at Sarah. "Want to play?"

Sarah stepped back nervously. "P-play what?!?" She asked, a tinge of fear in her voice.

"Uh, chess?" Greg gave her a weird look, raising an eyebrow, before pausing and cocking his head. "Though, I suppose we could play a more traditional card game, like rummy or poker… though it's kinda hard to play poker with just two people. Hell, we could play fucking 'go fish' for all I care, as long as we do something!"

Sarah gave him an incredulous look. "Y-you just want to play cards? Nothing else?" She asked, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Yes? Do you have something else we could do?" Greg asked, frowning.

"No! No… we-we can play cards." Sarah shook her head violently, as if she wanted to deny there existed anything besides cards.

Greg continued giving her a weird look for a moment, before shaking his head and gesturing to the chair across from him. "Alright then, have a seat. What do you want to play?"

"I-I don't… y-you said r-roomy?" Sarah offered tentatively as she took a seat, still watching him warily.

"Rummy." Greg corrected her. "That's a good one. It has a few variants we can play with too. Let me explain the rules." Greg began to explain how to play Rummy to her as he shuffled the deck and dealt the cards. She made a few mistakes as they went, mostly strategic issues, but she slowly got better and better.

"So, I place the two here, the king here, put down three jacks and… I-I'm done? I won?" Sarah looked up at Greg questioningly, not sure if she'd made any mistakes.

Greg grinned. "Yup, that's a win. Well… technically you just won a hand. There's a whole point scoring system and we'd play a few hands to see who would get the most points, but we don't have a pen and paper, so we can't really keep track of points… eh, better to just take each hand as its own little game." Sarah smiled, bouncing a bit in excitement over her first win as she gathered up the cards to deal a new hand. As they'd played, she'd slowly relaxed, losing a lot of her caution as she returned to the innocent little girl she was supposed to be.

They played a few more hands, and as Sarah got more confident in her skills, they could actually talk while they played. "You've never heard of BTS?!?" Sarah exclaimed, dropping her cards in shock.

"Why is that so surprising?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow. "Were they big?"

"They were huge! I can't believe you've never heard of them!" Sarah replied. "I used to listen to their music every day before… before…" Her expression fell as she got lost in the memories of everything that had happened.

"Hey, hey, hey, none of that." Greg snapped his fingers at her, shaking her out of her funk. "Come on, what was your favorite song? Why did you like it?"

"I-I don't… It was all so good… I just- it made me feel good, and they way they danced…" Sarah mumbled, flushing slightly in embarrassment as she didn't really have a clear answer.

"They danced?!?" Greg responded incredulously. "What, were they a boy band or something?"

"Y-yeah?" Sarah answered, looking confused.

"Oh good lord… freaking tweens." Greg groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright, whatever, we've all been young. You do anything else for fun?" He shook his head as he moved the conversation along.

Suddenly, there was a thud and creak as the door slowly opened, and a group of four guys pushed their way in, quickly closing the door behind them. The lead guy turned, jumping in shock as he caught sight of them. "Jesus! Fuck, you almost gave me a damn heart attack!" He cursed, shaking his head as he approached. "Didn't realize there'd be anyone else here. Name's Mark. Nice to meet ya." Mark grinned, sticking his hand out.

"Greg." Greg replied with a grin of his own, standing up and stepping forward to take Mark's hand. "Yeah, we're just staying here while we wait for the rest of the team to make the push through to the safe zone."

"Ah, I see." Mark nodded, before pausing, giving Greg a strange look. "You're from Downtown? That's strange… I've never seen you around before…" He muttered, looking between Greg and Sarah, who was hiding behind Greg, watching the men warily, reverting back to her usual self.

"Well, yeah, you wouldn't have. Uh, you know Tessa?" Mark nodded. "Tessa got separated from her team and found us." Greg explained. "We're waiting for her to meet up with them to take us in."

"Tessa? Really?" Mark raised an eyebrow at him. "I can see her taking care of the girl, but you? I think she's more likely to cut you than save you. Real, uh, feminist, if you get my drift."

Greg frowned, before shrugging. "Can't say I've noticed. Though… she has cut me a few times…" He muttered absently.

"I was wondering where all that blood came from." Mark chuckled.

"Huh? Oh, no, this came from a feral. I have a pretty good healing factor, so… no wounds." Greg replied.

"Healing factor?" Mark raised his eyebrows in appreciation. "That's a pretty convenient ability nowadays. All I can do is make people dizzy."

"Dizzy?" Greg asked, smirking slightly.

"Yeah, I send out this wave that messes with the inner ear of something. Makes everyone tumble around like a drunk at two in the morning, but not very damaging." Mark sighed, before reaching over to pat one of the other guys on the shoulder. "Freddy here is our damage dealer. He's a speedy little fuck. Runs in and slash, slash, slash till they're done. Benny over there can sense metal. Not very useful for combat, but without him we wouldn't be able to scavenge half of what we do. And Jimmy sees sound… don't ask me how it works, but he's saved our asses more than once." Mark finished, pointing out the other two.

Greg nodded appreciatively. "Not bad. Control, dps, scouting, and utility. Not a bad line up. All you really need is a tank to bring it all together."

Freddy grinned. "That's what I've been saying, but he seems to think a tank would only slow us down."

"I've said it before, I'll say it again, we've come this far by being fast and agile! We don't need some big, hulking slab of meat that can barely even get over a damn wall to slow us down!" Mark retorted with a grumble. The rest of the group laughed, the argument apparently some sort of inside joke between them all.

With the introductions out of the way, the men spread out, setting up their things in the back, settling in for the night. Throughout it all, Sarah refused to leave Greg's side and the men kept glancing towards them weirdly. Greg felt slightly awkward, wondering whether they were misunderstanding something, but he couldn't get Sarah to separate from him, so he just accepted it with a sigh. He didn't particularly care what these guys thought anyways.

Once they were done settling in, they grouped up around the table and ate, while Greg and Sarah moved to the floor to continue playing. Occasionally the guys would glance towards them as they talked, but Greg didn't make much of it. He was glancing at them as well, so he figured it was just curiosity. That is, until Mark came over to talk to him.

"Hey, Greg, can we chat for a bit?" Mark asked, shooting a grin at Sarah. "Won't take a minute."

Greg was confused, but shrugged it off, climbing to his feet and following him a few steps away. "What's up?"

Mark glanced over towards Sarah before leaning in close and whispering. "I'm not exactly sure how to put this… you see, me and the boys have been out here for a while now and… well, you know how a body gets pent up, right? It's only natural, you know? And well, we were thinking maybe if you could help us, we could help you, eh? You scratch my back, I scratch yours, you feel me?"

Greg frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean… you want to fight or something? I mean, I heal, but-"

"Nonono, the girl, man! The-" Mark paused, glancing over at Sarah again, before leaning in even closer. "Just for a bit, you know? Just some stress relief, to get that monkey off our backs, eh?"

"I don't… wait, you want to- dude, she's like thirteen!" Greg hissed incredulously, glaring at Mark. The only reason he wasn't currently cursing him out was to keep from putting Sarah on the spot. With the situation she came from, he didn't think she needed to know what these guys were thinking.

Mark sighed, making a gesture behind his back towards Freddy. "I really wish you would have been reasonable about this."

Before Greg could even react, Freddy had dashed from the table and grabbed his arms, pulling them behind his back and pinning him against the wall. "Greg! No!" Sarah screamed, panicking and trying to run, before falling to the ground, unable to keep her balance as she groaned in distress.

Mark held his hand out towards her, using his ability as he, Benny, and Jimmy approached her, lust filled looks painting their faces as they did. "Don't worry little girl, we're not gonna hurt you. It's just a little bit of fun, right? By the time we're done, you might even have enjoyed yourself!" Mark chuckled as he undid his pants, going to his knees and pulling her close, fumbling with her pants as she struggled.

"You son of a bitch, leave her alone!" Greg yelled in frustration, struggling against Freddy's hold. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mark getting her pants down and reaching between her legs, Sarah shrieking in response. Greg roared in frustration, struggling harder but unable to shake Freddy off. Why!?! Why was he so fucking weak!?! Why was he forced to watch while the strong bullied the people around him!?! If only he was stronger! If only he was-

Suddenly, something changed. Greg's vision went red as a deep, violent roar escaped from his lips. He threw Freddy off of him, sending him tumbling into the table before rushing at Mark, grabbing him, pulling him off Sarah. As Greg's hands gripped the man, his large, sharp claws cut deep into his chest, and he screamed in pain, coughing up blood. Greg barely noticed as he threw the man away, swinging at a terrified looking Benny, his hand unable to clench into a fist as his claws simply pierced into his face. Greg was already moving on to Jimmy, stalking towards him menacingly as he scooted backwards on his ass, pants still around his ankles. Greg snorted at him derisively, lifting his leg and stomping down hard, crushing his pelvis.

Finally, Greg took the time to study his handiwork. Both Mark and Benny were dead, Mark with his chest torn to pieces, lying in a pool of blood, while Benny's head had been obliterated. Jimmy was still alive, but it didn't look like he wanted to be. He'd already passed out from the pain, and from the amount of blood seeping out from below him, he'd probably be dead soon anyways. Freddy had done the best, only breaking a few bones as he'd crashed into the table. He was currently panicking as he struggled to drag himself towards the back.

Sarah was currently sitting up, not even bothering to pull her pants up as she stared at Greg in shock. "G-G-Greg?!?" She asked in a panicked whisper, backing away slightly.

"Rah- eh? Rah… rah! Rahrahrahrah!" Greg tried to speak, but his jaw didn't seem to want to cooperate with him. He looked down at his hands, his eyes widening in shock as he saw the viscous implements of pain they'd become. *What did- how did- nononono, I have to be human! I can't turn feral, I- eh?* Greg paused as he noticed his hands were back to normal. "Well… that was weird."

Sarah let out another shriek, covering her eyes. Greg panicked, looking around for the danger, but not seeing anything. "What? What is it?!?" He asked, getting more and more jumpy as he couldn't find the danger.

"You're not wearing pants!" Sarah cried, pointing at him, keeping her eyes covered.

"Eh?" Greg looked down, noticing his pants had indeed been ripped to shreds, falling off his body, along with his shirt, leaving him completely naked. "Well… that's inconvenient." He sighed, looking around for some replacement, when his eyes landed on Freddy. "Hold that thought." He growled, pacing towards the still panicking man. He tried to remember the frame of mind he was in when he changed before, but it was easier than he thought. The moment he wanted to change into whatever creature he had become before, he did, his vision going red again as he stalked menacingly towards Freddy.

"Nono, please, I didn't mean- we just want- gah!" Freddy's begging cut off with a scream as Gregs claws pierced through his chest.

Greg returned to his human form, humming slightly as he pulled the pants off Freddy before they got soaked in blood, putting them on before returning to Sarah. "Alright, I have pants! You can open your eyes now." Greg assured her in a cheery tone. Sarah peeked through her fingers, catching sight of the mangled corpses surrounding Greg, before covering them with a nauseated groan, retching slightly. Greg frowned as he noticed her reaction. "What? I have pants on now."

"N-no, its- c-can you cover… that!" Sarah waved at the bloody mess vaguely, not even opening her eyes as she did so.

Greg looked down at where she was gesturing, before raising his eyebrows in understanding. "Ah, yes, corpses." He nodded. "Yeah, sure, I can clean them up." First, Greg took his pants off again, so he wouldn't get them all covered in blood. Then he found a large blanket and piled all the bodies on it, before transforming again to carry it all out of the bunker. He had to shift back and forth to get through the door, which was a bit of a pain, but eventually he got the bundle out and tossed it in a nearby dumpster. Once he returned, he put his pants back on, and let Sarah know everything was taken care of.

Sarah opened her eyes again, fixating on the four large blood stains coloring the floor. "W-what about those?" She asked nervously, pointing.

"The blood stains? I'm not really sure… It'd be great if we had a hose or something. We could also use a bunch of towels or something, but… well, I'm not sure how well that'd work, and it really just seems like a waste of towels." Greg commented with a shrug.

"W-we can't just leave it there!" Sarah protested.

Greg sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right… hold on." He went outside again, searching a few of the nearby houses before he found a linen closet with a huge pile of towels and rags. He also managed to find some garbage bags and bleach in the process. Once he returned, he threw Sarah a towel and a garbage bag, gesturing towards one of the pools."Start with that one. Once it won't pick up any more blood, throw it away and grab a new one." He told her, before heading to a different blood pool.

Sarah froze for a moment, looking at the blood nervously, before taking a deep breath, which she immediately regretted, and beginning to mop it up with the towel. After about an hour and a liberal use of bleach, the bunker was mostly back to normal. Greg took another stroll outside to throw the garbage bags of towels in the same dumpster as before, returning with a satisfied sigh. "There, all done!" He grabbed a bottle of water and eased into a chair, cracking it open before pausing as he noticed Sarah giving him a weird look. "What? Did we miss something?"

"No, but… how can you be so… calm?!? Four men are dead because of us, and you act like- like you just did dishes or something!" Sarah exclaimed.

Greg shrugged. "Why should I feel bad about killing someone who needs to be killed? People who would rape a little girl don't deserve to live, and they definitely don't deserve any regret over their passing."

"B-but…" Sarah paused, hesitating as a distressed expression came over her. "What… What if it wasn't their fault?"

Greg frowned. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"I-I have this… ability. It- it makes me… really, really attractive… to men. They- they can't resist it. I-I've had to escape from safe zones because of it…" Sarah explained in a sad mumble, a pained expression on her face.

"Okay… but, so? Just cause you're really attractive doesn't mean it's okay to rape you." Greg retorted, giving her a weird look.

"You don't understand!" Sarah exclaimed in frustration. "I-I don't know why it doesn't affect you, but for every other guy… I-it's like they can't control themselves!" She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "They-they're all dead because of me…"

Greg frowned, before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't buy it. If that shark dude had the self-control not to touch you, I'm damn sure these guys should have been able to resist their urges. They didn't seem like they were out of their minds to me. They knew what they wanted and they made calculated decisions to get it. They deserve what they got."

Sarah shook her head again. "That was different. The- the shark… dude, he- he kept me as… as a… he-he would look at me as he… he just didn't want to ruin me." She finished with a shudder, her eyes going dead.

Greg grimaced. "I am not okay with that… but still, that sort of proves my point, doesn't it? Obviously he was affected, but he resisted the urge. Not for any good reasons, but still. Obviously it's possible to control yourself. I think you've just run into a lot of perverts."

"But- Urgh!" Sarah groaned in frustration. "You just don't get it cause you're not affected!"

"You sure about that?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow at her, grinning slightly.

Sarah froze, looking at him with wide eyes. "W-what do you mean?"

Greg coughed awkwardly. "Well… I wouldn't normally admit to this, but… since you did mention it's part of an ability you have… I may have a slight, er… overwhelming attraction towards you. Honestly, I'm kinda relieved it's an ability thing. I was beginning to worry about myself."

"But-but… you haven't- you never- I-I don't understand! E-every other guy has been- you- you haven't done anything!" Sarah stammered, shocked by what he'd said.

"Well, duh? I do have self-control, you know." Greg rolled his eyes. "Plus, you're like thirteen. Maybe if you were older, I might have… well, no, I probably wouldn't have. I tend not to ask girls out until I'm sure I like them… which is probably why I've never asked a girl out… Huh… thoughts for later."

Sarah brought her knees to her chest, getting lost in thought as she considered what he'd said. If he was right, what did that say about all the guys who'd gone after her before? Were they really perverts or were they just not as strong as Greg? Did lacking self-control make you a bad person? Did it mean you deserved to die? She just didn't know.