Section 22: Aria Schneider, The Grumpy

Joel walked ahead of me, with Adrian next to him laughing as nothing happens. I'm behind them, I kept my eyes on Adrian all the time. I hope he's up to something good, instead of up to no good. Since that Ellis experience, I have tried not to attach myself to people anymore. This applies to Adrian, I might as well become Joel's bodyguard.

Joel already took the necessary supplies for our base, we already had meds and food supplies ready to be cooked. All that's left is the generator, the electricity for the base.

"So why did you end up with Joel?" Adrian turned around to me.

I looked at Joel, he looked at me back with a blank face.

"I saved your friend from dying, lol" I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

Joel's face turned grim, he sighs as he faces the street head-on. He didn't want to see me I guess.

"Oh! Did he cry his guts out!? That's so funny Joel!" Adrian grinned somewhat mocking.

"Sheesh, stop that" Joel frowned. "How about you Adrian? You're screaming like a little girl, aren't you?".

"Pfft, I'm not you" Adrian smirked mischievously.

"Why are you making a big deal about this?" Joel pouted.

"Cause it's rare to see you scared Joel!" Adrian laughed freely.

Both of them engaged in a lively chat, while I watched their back with silence. Either way, it's funny to see one of our university friends in the middle of this chaos. I'm even being pessimistic about not seeing my friends ever again.

Joel must be lucky to encounter his friend, unharmed, and still smiling as nothing happened.

"So I stayed in a headquarter," Adrian bragged. "Cool big building near the city center".

"Oh yeah?" Joel asked. "Anyone there beside you?"

Adrian nodded vigorously, "Yup, lots of people! Even Glass is there".

My ears tingle when I heard Glass name, did he just mention Glass? Then, Glass is still alive.

"Glass is alright?" I asked Adrian, I am concerned about Glass well-being.

"Yeah, she's good," Adrian smiled. "Her duty is to defend the headquarters".

After that Adrian proudly pointed to himself while he looked up to the sky.

"While me! I'm in a scavenger team!" he beamed like an idiot.

Now that Adrian mentioned this headquarters, he might live with plenty of people there. There's even guard duty and scavenging duty, so my deduction implies that he's working under this one big group with a leader to lead them. The group is probably divided with systematic duty so that it's easier to manage the group.

"Huh, I thought that only happens in a movie or something," I thought carefully about it again.

This seems surreal, grouping, and scavenging for food together in a group. That leaves me wondering about what Ender is doing right now? Why did he leave the hotel? Is there another matter he needs to attend to? It's already evening by the time we walk around the premises to scavenge some items.

"So, what are you looking for?" Joel asked Adrian.

"Oh, I'm looking for medkits and stuff" Adrian beamed. "Our leader said we're on the shortage of medkits, so we better gather them around".

"Ohh, alright" Joel nodded.

That's when Adrian suddenly grabbed Joel's shoulder, an idea seemed to pop in his head.

"Hey! How about you follow me to the headquarters? I'm sure they'll be fine with you" he spoke confidently.

"Fine?" the sentences Adrian just spoke made me feel uncomfortable. What did he mean by fine? I felt like there's another meaning to his words.

"Sure, you mean you want to know whether Aria and I want to join you?" Joel asked the happy man in front of him.

"Yeah, more people, more friends!" Adrian smiled joyfully.

That's when a sudden appearance of a drone interrupted our banter, the same drone types who attacked us in the university suddenly descended from above Adrian.

"ADRIAN!" Joel yelled.

Adrian gasped and immediately rolled over to my side, whilst covering me. The drone was about to bare his Gatling gun, I pulled my knife from my jeans.

"Not on my watch!" Adrian jumped high and crushed the drone vision with a hatchet in his hand. After that, Joel followed Adrian's attacks by hitting the Gatling gun panel with the metal bat so that it's stuck inside.

"Nice going!" Adrian whistled

"Yeah, you bet I am" Joel smirked.

Joel became a whole new different person when he's with his friends, it was as if his confidence returned. He's very awkward and timid with me, indecisive too. However, when he already met Adrian, he looked more energetic than ever.

"Behind you!" Adrian yelled at me.

I was too focused on both of them, I didn't realize that there's another drone behind me. The drone already shows its Gatling gun.

"Oh, no! Run Aria!" Joel approached me.

Before the drone could shoot, a shadowy figure appeared from above. The tanned man with a sleeveless crimson hoodie appeared and rode on the drone courageously. He carried a crossbow on his back and a flick blade in his hand. The man stabbed the drone vision with a sheer force, as the drone dizzily spun in place.

"Aria! Now!" he yelled my name.

That's right when I heard his name-calling for me, I immediately knew who he was.

"Got it!" I ran forward to the wall next to the drone. Using the wall as a stepping stone, I got on the drone back and stabbed it vigorously. Due to our weight and my relentless stab, the drone immediately lost its power as it fell on the ground. The man and I got off the drone, the below parts of the drone already shattered to smithereens.

"Ender" I looked at the mysterious man.

He opened his hood and revealed a smirk, "Hey, Aria".

For some reason, Ender's appearance seems to intimidate both Adrian and Joel. They looked at Ender warily, still gripping their respective weapons.

"Aria, who is he?" Adrian asked me.

"He's Ender, a friend" I answered short.

"Hey, how's it going?" Ender waved his hand to Adrian.

"Uh, good" Adrian answered nervously.

After that Ender shifted his gaze to me, he looked very unhappy with something. Did I do something that made him unhappy?

"You're being careless, what if I wasn't there!?" Ender scolded me.

"Huh!? I can do it on my own!" I glared at Ender, he looked pretty upset though.

"No, you don't! You almost got killed!" Ender shook my shoulders.

That's when Adrian came between us, an awkward grin plastered on his expression.

"Right, don't fight now guys" he sighs. "I already had enough watching Aria and Joel fight".

Ender looked at me, somewhat with an ambiguous look.

"Fight?".

I shifted my gaze away from Ender. I just realized I seem to be the one who invites trouble with other people.