It was late afternoon when the truck left the base with its new passengers. Of those five, three had varying expressions of wariness, one looked laid back and arrogant with either overconfidence in himself or disdain regarding the six civilians he'd found himself stuck with. Granted one was Chang Min, but most of those who'd interacted with the oriental man knew that he was a bit of a weirdo. This man especially thought that this whole deal between them and the base was pointless; these guys should have simply been sent packing.

The last fellow had sparkling, bright eyes filled with excitement and had absolutely no barriers raised it seemed. He reminded Dexter greatly of Patrick, just much taller and happened to have olive toned skin and black hair rather than Patrick's pale, easily burnt skin and a mop blond curls, that had only become obvious over winter. After all, there were no barbers amongst their group!

"Are we really going to be able to strengthen our powers?" This excited solider couldn't help but blurt out. He earned eye rolls from the arrogant Lutz.

"Pfft," the man muttered beneath his breath. "You really believe that?"

"And I take it that you do not?" Cole sneered. He'd taken an instant dislike to the man named Thomas Lutz. Chang Min has told him that this man had an earth ability, like themselves, but it was not strong. Thus Chang Min had attempted to take him under his wing and teach him. Just that fact alone made Cole somewhat uncomfortable, but to know that Chang Min's kindness was not only rejected, this man dared to continue to deny the help, pissed him off a lot.

"Please," the man's face twisted into one of ridicule, "I read my fair share of superhero comic books and manga as a teen. I know the truth between reality and fiction."

"And yet, fiction became reality," Harry mocked, pointing out a zombie hovering by the roadside. The monster barely had half a face left, it's skin peeled to reveal chunks of muscle and bone. It's eyeless skull seemed to just stare at the passing truck, but otherwise it made no other movement. In a way, this was more freaky that having zombies launch attacks upon them.

"We were like you," Dexter admitted aloud, thinking that it had been about a year since their fates crossed with the man who could be said to be at least half of their reason for surviving outside a large community like the American army base for so long. "We had no belief either..."

"Except for Patrick," Harry chuckled.

"Yeah well, I'd say Patrick was open minded," Dexter ridiculed without any heat behind his words, "but he's just a kid at heart and more than willing to want to play hero. Speaking of him as an example to prove you wrong," he directed his words back at the cynical Lutz, "Patrick didn't awaken any abilities at the end. I added him to my squad... well I think I just felt sorry for him, seeing as he just really wanted to be useful to our original base. Now I could say that he's an important member of our family."

"Family?" Lutz snickered, while Patrick number two, also known as Luke Marsh, looked a bit melancholy. The other three glanced at each other, but their expressions varied.

"That's right," Dexter reasserted. "The people of our base are my family. So I would appreciate that you don't do anything out of line." He held up his hand and condensed a ball of plasma in his palm. The flickering sphere of lightning bolts naturally caught the attention of the soldiers. "I am very protective towards my family, you know."

Their eyes remained unmoving, staring at his palm. They also knew of others with lightning abilities, but none seemed as bright and instinctively dangerous as this tamed electric ball. Luke's eyes began to sparkle anew, while the others became more on their guard. Even Thomas Lutz lost a little of his previous composure.

The rest of the journey was made in silence... well as quiet as it can get with the hum of the engine and the clucking of caged birds. The hens and rooster had black cloth tossed over their cages to reduce the disturbance they were likely suffering due to transport, so even if the creatures felt the rising tension in the air, fortunately they were not frightened to death by Dexter's display. His 'family' would have killed him!

As the truck pulled up to the wall, the gates were opened as those on guard identified them and they entered their home base with an inward sigh of relief. Arthur jumped out of the passenger side first even as Winston, who'd been driving commented lightly that they needed to find fuel before their next outing. They hadn't completely drained the cars remaining in the village yet, but some contained petrol while others had diesel, so it wouldn't be long before they required a new source.

Monika was on the front wall with Eraj, though only the former held a weapon. She looked rather relaxed as she called down to the men exiting the truck; "How'd it go?"

"You could say that we got more than we bargained for!" Winston joked as Arthur rolled his eyes before unlocking the back of the truck. The first thing Monika and Eraj noticed was the sounds of like chickens, causing them both to smile cheerfully, but these smiles froze as five strange faces left the back of the truck with their friends.

Before they could question anyone, Chang Min called up to them; "Is Master no longer patrolling the wall?" Ren Zexian had been on duty in the morning, even seeing them off with an amicable nod and a wave of his sword, decapitating the zombie that tried its luck when the truck sped out of the gates.

"Ah, Ren heard about Dexter and Autumn's date," Monika grinned, "and he was taken with the concept."

Eraj's whole face seemed to brighten in awe as he added; "He leapt outside of the wall, self-handedly took on several troublesome zombies that we had been keeping an eye on all morning, then once things were more or less clear, he took off to find Nathan."

"Reckon he can convince him to leave the greenhouse?" Harry chuckled, while the others exchanged knowing looks and sly smiles. The five soldiers were at a loss, but could only remain in the dark for the time being. They were in foreign territory effectively without knowledge of the lay of the land. Could only continue to observe.

However, Faith, the woman of the group, felt the tension in her body lessen at the sight of another woman with a gun. It showed that for all the testosterone displayed in the truck, they did not look down on women. She inwardly sneered recalling a survivor's account of how some prehistoric specimens tried to take his daughter from him when he was living in a base that later fell. There were hints dropped from those people that few surviving women ought to be gathered up and 'nobly protected' so that their wombs could be later used for repopulation (not in so many words of course). That father had some nasty fire abilities and suggested the bastards see what happened if someone tried to touch his child! Poor kid had been around thirteen, still a child herself, how could she be expected to raise another life at her age! It was obvious what the bastards had been after! Maybe it was no surprise that he didn't help defend the base as it fell, just fled to keep her safe instead.

*****

As Monika had mentioned, Ren Zexian had thought that a date with his Nathan was a fine idea and while the other had no real feelings about the notion either way, it was not as hard to draw him from the garden and his beloved plants as might be imagined. To check the condition of the flora in the abundant second garden was a wonderful idea! Nathan had noticed some new plants that he had never seen before that time he had visited to plant vines and ivies, but hadn't the time to take stock and observe.

His large sapphire eyes sparkled like the gems in sunlight as he examined what appeared to be a type of nettle growing in the shadows of the trees to the rear of the garden. Ren Zexian watched on lovingly as the youth knelt down to look more closely, before sharing his joy with the older man with a bright smile. "It looks like a normal stinging nettle," Nathan said excitedly, "but it isn't!" Ren Zexian knelt beside him and was drawn to glance at the tooth edged, tender leaves, noting the ever so slight white edges of the leaf veins and stems, which reminded him of something that Long Wenwen once told him about nettles... what had it been again...

Twin softness brushed against his lips and he quickly snapped from his thoughts to see his Nathan's honest expression. He didn't know what had come over his innocent love for him to be proactive at this time, possibly someone mentioned something in the house; there were very few secrets amongst the closely living men and women and Nathan had sensitive hearing, could easily pick up spoken things. However, he wasn't about to pass up such a sweet gesture and gently cupped Nathan's jaw in one palm as he encouraged a repeat performance.

Kisses that had been chaste for so long had slowly become more over the past month or so; lips pressed together for more than a few seconds, tentative movement, a little opening of the mouth ready to deepen things further. Nathan was honest, he liked the kissing and liked sharing the heat of the man who lay beside him at night. When this man touched him, it felt right and safe.

But now, as Ren Zexian's tongue slipped from its confines to tease his lower lip, his first thought was to wonder why his physical state was awakening that first thing morning way, something he'd experienced a bit in his teenaged years and a bit more frequently of late. But it surely shouldn't happen now, should it? It was not morning now...

A bird leapt from the tree above startling the two men as the leaves rustled in its wake. Ren Zexian instinctively glanced up to note that it was just an ordinary bird and sighed with relief. However, Nathan stood suddenly and backed away from him some paces. "Nathan, are you alright?" Ren Zexian asked him more calmly than he actually felt. Had he pushed too fast this time? He admitted to himself that coaxing Nathan took a great deal of patience, but even at his age, such wore eventually thin.

"I..." Nathan's cheeks had become rosy and his large eyes glistened with a sheen of water. "I need to take a shower," he blurted out before hurrying away, leaving Ren Zexian to stare after him in a slight state of confusion.