Kain drove for some time, stopping only when he felt the eyes had stopped staring at them.

Evening fell. There was no way for them to go back to the previously designated area. They were too far away. If not for the upgrade, Kain would turn around and go back to the Sanctuary.

Unfortunately, he cannot. So he needs to make the water his bed and the sky his ceiling.

He found a place to anchor. At six in the evening, being on water, there wasn’t really much they could do. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

After eating, the boat was unusually silent.

The seven who had simply been watching others roam around all day couldn’t help speaking up.

None of them went to Kain; they approached the other members. They were huddled together laughing, completing ignore the "normies."

They couldn’t be completely blamed for their exclusion. Some things can and cannot be said when they are around.

Paige heard someone clear their throat behind her. The chatter stopped, and everyone turned to face the seven.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Paige asked.

A man stepped forward. "We were wondering if you would mind us sitting with you."

She glanced at them, then back at the others. Seeing no opposition, she invited them to sit.

As they shuffled into the circle, the surroundings were quiet. The children were below deck doing who knows what. Amelia and Kain had gone off to a corner to spend time alone.

They were the only ones sitting so openly on deck.

A throat cleared, "We’ve all been living in the same place, and we don’t know much about each other. I’m Dillon..." he introduced the others.

Paige and the others also introduced themselves.

"We know. It’s hard to miss any of you. We’ve known your names for a while," Dillon said with some chagrin.

He cleared his throat again, obviously unsure of how to broach whatever topic the seven of them had talked about before.

"If you have something to say, say it," Marcus’ harsh words filled the silence.

Dillon released a breath, "Okay. We were talking, and we wanted to know if any of you know why we’re here. I mean, why were we asked to come on the boat today?"

They stared at him. The Nightfall crew. Just as Kain had considered them a part of Nightfall, they had also considered themselves the same.

It wasn’t spoken directly, but after the fighting together, it had become an unspoken thing.

Ian looked at them, confused, and answered. "We left because the boss said we needed to leave. Do we need to know the reason?"

Dillon’s face looked constipated. He hadn’t expected such a simple answer. He wasn’t sure if the answer was serious or if they treated them like fools.

"That’s..." he opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he said, "That makes no sense. You just get on a boat because someone says so?"

"He’s the boss," Iam shrugged.

A pinch of frustration found its way into his tone, "Do you just do whatever he says?"

Ian shook his head.

"Then why did you just pack up and leave? I haven’t seen any of you ask a single question all day."

Jaylin answered this time, "What normally happens when you don’t do as he says?"

The question hung there. There weren’t many times they didn’t listen to Kain, but the few times they didn’t listen, something went wrong.

In the quiet, she responded. "When you go against his wishes, bad things happen. He doesn’t cause them. It’s more like he knows the problem and gives you an option about whether or not to trust his decision."

"And if one day he leads you into danger?" This time it wasn’t Dillon, it was the woman who spoke, Hannah.

Silence fell, and this time Marcus spoke up, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

The conversation didn’t continue.

His answer wasn’t because he trusted Kain. It was because he could make him stronger. From his observations, Kain was not the type of person to put himself in unnecessary danger.

Meaningful danger, now that’s a different story. The man looks like he would swim in tar if there was something he needed inside.

People like that, to Marcus, are people willing to fight to the death. He didn’t mind following for a while.

The conversation had gone cold, and the atmosphere was getting awkward. Before things got too tense, the sound of a horn made them snap their heads up.

Kain suddenly appeared when they heard the sound. He stood watching the barge approach. His posture was lazy, like that of a sated beast.

His eyes narrowed as he watched the barge approach. The sun had almost completely set. He could see the small lights on the barge.

Amelia appeared later. She wrapped her arms around Kain from behind.

"What are they doing?"

"Not sure, maybe searching for something?"

Then a voice sounded. Loud in the quiet waters. "Hello, you there. Do you need help?"

"Rescuing people?" he murmured.

Dominic, Ashton, and Avery scrambled out from the lower deck. When they saw the large barge, they couldn’t help being excited.

The people on the barge must have seen them because they called out again. This time they asked about the children.

After stopping some distance away, Kainw watched as a smaller boat detached from the barge.

When it finally came to their side, Kain looked at the people before him.

The people on the rescue boat stared at the people on Kain’s boat.

Their faces were complicated as they anchored beside them.

They didn’t look like the desperate, hungry refugees they were expecting to see.

They had only seen them from afar, then saw the children waving and decided to take a look. But as far as they were concerned, the people here seemed to be on an outing rather than looking for help.

Kain walked to the side of the boat. He scanned the man standing on the other boat. His clothes were clean. After more than a month, he could still maintain muscle. His clothes were wrinkled, but not dirty.

Kain looked at the man, half-lidded, "Hello, may I ask, who are you?"