Preparations

Soren took a second look at the text that Issac had sent him. He should have expected Issac to go above and beyond, but it still seemed crazy. Issac had messaged him, half an hour after arriving in Raytown, to say that a group of twenty were headed his way. No timeline. He had mentioned that they were walking.

Soren figured that they would pick up a vehicle, or two, before they left. It would make the trip quicker and safer. Odds were good that they would arrive by evening at the earliest. Now he just had to get his side of things prepared.

He had debated it at length before he came to the conclusion that he would not hide what he is. He could say that it is because he wants the humans to trust him, that's simply a beneficial side effect. It is simply because hiding what he can do, what the other's can do, would be too tiresome. By telling the humans first he can get rid of those who are unable to handle the fact that they shared space with mutants.

The next part would be the important part. For the moment he only had a handful of humans he had to speak with. He could get away with more when his audience was so limited. The more people they brought it, the harder it would be. In the end, though, he knew it would be better. Plus, the humans could help him keep an eye on the others. They would all know to recognize when an evolved was about to go feral.

Soren firmly reiterated to himself that he was not going to force evolve anyone that had been a mutated for more than a few minutes. They had been the most troublesome to deal with so far. He liked Madelyn well enough, but he would not allow her to continue living if she could not gain better control. Speaking of, he made a mental note to have Fry check on Madelyn later.

Soren found everyone sitting outside at the front of the house. They were watching the kids play while baby Neve was passed around. Makeshift chairs had been made from the chopped wood and set up in a semicircle. Ethan had joined them and seemed to have made fast friends with Ashton and Darcy, the latter of which was looking a little better.

Soren moved to stand in front of the group.

"The kids seem to be handling things well."

Kelly looked up at Soren and smiled, "Kids have a way of adapting quickly."

Soren looked over at Ethan, who seemed to get the hint and brought over a piece of wood that he could sit down on. Soren waited until Ethan was sitting before he started to speak.

"I have a few things that I need to cover with everyone as far as rules and whatnot. Right now we're building a safe place and waiting to see if anything changes. Most of the rules here will focus on cooperating with everyone and assisting each other. I have one man out there trying to rescue as many people as he can to send this way."

Soren glanced at everyone in turn before continuing.

"Because I want everyone here to understand that you are safe here I won't hold back on telling you the truth. The one responsible for this mutation outbreak is my father."

There were quite a few gasps for that revelation. Soren knew that he had their full attention now, but it seemed that Charlotte, Jordan's mother, was especially attentive.

"I haven't seen him in eight years, having run away from home myself when I was fourteen. So I don't know the details of his plan. He did all this with the goal of destroying humanity. While he was working on the virus he experimented with the versatility of the virus. The peak of his experimenting is here, sitting right in front of you. Out of all of my people, only Avery is human, the rest of us spent time as a mutated before evolving. What we are is not completely like a mutated, but neither is it completely human."

Charlotte frowned, "Is this why Jordan won't come down?"

She knew that Jordan had refused to come down to see them. Soren had been making excuses for him and settled on the fact that Jordan was scared to see her.

"My father experimented on both of us, but what he did to Jordan was visible for the world to see. Jordan is scared that you'll take one look at him and be afraid of him. Not only does he physically look different, but his mutation took away his ability to speak. It's not such a big deal with us because we are able to communicate telepathically."

"If you were once like them, do you still…"

Kelly looked at Soren with her head cocked to the side, her arms hugging her body as if she were cold. She tried to not look over at Fry who was holding the baby.

"Yes. I'm not going to sugar coat this in any way. We have a mixed diet, but the important part of our diet is exactly what you think it is. I know that it seems counterintuitive to say that no one here will be harmed. But, no one here will be harmed. I wish to save as many people as I can. Maybe it's a little petty when you consider that my father wishes to destroy everyone. What I'm doing is the opposite of what he wants.

"Out of the six of us, only one chose to be an evolved. He did it in order to have the strength to survive a trip through Kansas City and hopefully save his sister. In one way or another, the rest of us did not choose to be like this. And, yes, we are stronger and faster than humans. We are stronger and faster than the mutated."

Soren paused to give them a chance to process everything. They had seen Soren's group in action, and had seen how they had easily taken out the mutated running around.

"So, the only reason you're doing all this is because of your father?"

Ashton was not certain if that was a good enough reason, not when faced with the fact that Soren was technically one of the monsters. Would such a shallow reason keep them safe? He did not know if Soren was even telling the truth. He could just be crazy and lost in a delusion.

"It's one of many, and the least altruistic. I could throw out there that one of the reasons is because the little ones don't deserve to have their childhood taken away. They should be allowed to be kids as long as possible."

Soren glanced back at the kids playing, his mind focused briefly on the fact that he had never been allowed to be a kid.

"How do we know that what you're saying is the truth? I mean, you don't look like them."

Soren chuckled, "That's a good question, Ashton."

Soren stared at Ashton as his pupils changed from brown to red then spread out to fill the whites of his eyes until all that was left was blood red eyes. Ashton found himself unable to breathe. Next to him, Darcy let out a cry and fell off the make-shift chair.

"Fuck… fuck…"

Darcy had had an up close view of the mutated and found himself on the ground, frozen in fear. Kelly let out a gasp and held a hand over her mouth. Charlotte and Bentley barely had a reaction, neither of them had seen a mutated up close. To them it was strange, but not fear inducing like the other's.

Soren returned his eyes to normal before he spoke again, "Is that enough proof?"

"Y-yes, more than. How can that be? How do you go from looking and acting like a mutated to this?" Ashton motioned toward Soren, "No offense."

"We have two shots; one that makes you immune to the virus and one that brings you back after you've mutated. The latter is limited and I won't use it on just anyone. If someone has remained in a mutated state for too long they will never fully come back. They will look human, but the action and thought process will be the same as a mutated. It's a very small window in which to save someone who has mutated.

"Now, I won't force anyone to stay here. If you're not comfortable being around us then I'll make certain you have enough supplies and send you on your way. This is also why I want to be open about what we are. I can't imagine it's comfortable being around us after everything you've gone through. At the same time, we have a better chance of guaranteeing everyone's safety because of how strong we are."

"I'm staying. You didn't have to save us, you could have kept going and left us to starve to death. That's enough for me to trust you, all of you."

Kelly spoke up, looking at Fry and Ethan as well as Soren as she spoke. It did not mean there was not a little fear deep down, but she knew that most people would have kept going and not bothered to save a bunch of strangers.

Charlotte nodded, "I'm not going anywhere. Jordan is here and soon the rest of my family will join us. I just found him, there is nothing that will take me away."

Ashton looked down at Darcy who seemed to be struggling the most. Ever since witnessing his brother being ripped apart Darcy had been quiet. The cursing he had done after falling down had been the most he had said since yesterday morning. They had been saved by Soren's group. Maybe not as dramatically as Kelly and the kids, but saved nonetheless.

"What do you expect from us?"

Darcy looked at Soren, a chill went down his back as he remembered the red eyes but otherwise he managed to remain calm.

"Honestly, I'd like some help finding more people and bringing them here. I'd like to set up teams that go out and rescue people. If you joined a team you'd be given some training and given a chance to kill the mutated while out."

Darcy liked that idea. He would get a chance to fight back against the monsters that had killed his brother and other innocent people.

"We'll stay. I would definitely like a chance to kill the bastards."

Ashton nodded his head in agreement. This made Soren smile.

"Excellent! First things first, we need to arrange things in the basement and the main floor. My man in KC sent me a text saying that about twenty people are headed this way. He couldn't give me a timeline of their arrival, but I give them this evening at earliest."

Everyone suddenly found themselves assigned a job and went about setting up the house to receive more guests. Even the kids were involved, helping to set up cots in the basement, in the room that had no bed.