Conviction

Dawn saw a group of people leaving the residential hall. Issac had already brought his car over, the cooler stored in the trunk, and had brought over a van that he had found left with the keys in it. The doors had been left open with a pool of blood on the ground near the van. It did not take a lot of imagination to understand what had happened to the driver.

Issac was keeping Roy near, not trusting him to keep quiet and not cause trouble. For the most part, the other man had kept quiet. Roy was not a man who was willing to put himself in danger. Reece and Ava Marsh went with Issac, sitting together in the back seat of the car while Roy sat up front with Issac. A young woman by the name of Lilly was sitting in the back with the Marsh's.

Three people had chosen to stay. Counting himself, Issac was bringing fifteen people to Soren. Loading ten people into a van only meant to hold seven was interesting and meant that a few people were sitting on the floor. It would have to work because throwing a third vehicle into the mix was just asking for trouble, at least that's how Issac felt about it.

He had with him the people he had been tasked to find, so he was not worried as much whether or not the van made it safely. Issac knew that he should not be thinking like that, that every life was worth saving, but he just felt numb about the whole thing.

Issac had tried to send a text to Soren, but he had quickly discovered that his phone was not working. No one who had a cell phone was able to text or call out. He did not know if a cell tower had been taken out, or if something else had happened. It could be that it was just the area they were in. Either way, it seemed that technology was no longer in their favor.

"Follow as close behind me as you can. If you come across a mutated, run them over. If we come across someone, and we can safely take them in, we will. But, if we can I would rather avoid any stops. Our destination is an hour away, at minimum, and requires us to make it through two cities. Be safe."

Issac gave his little speech then jumped into the car and took off. He was ready to be done with his mission, with everything. Everytime he slowed down, all he could see was his sister's body. It had haunted his dreams, his waking hours and had worn down what little control he had over his hunger.

It was bad enough that he had been forced to eat out of the cooler early that morning, and he had still eaten a sizable meal of regular food. Not that it did anything to appease the hunger. The food that Soren had given him barely sated the hunger. No, Issac had a feeling that his emotional state had a lot to do with his threadbare control.

The fact that Soren had entrusted him with this mission, with bringing Jordan's family back safely, was the only thing keeping him going. There was a large part of him that was ready to give up everything and join his sister.

*******

Soren stepped out of his room, closing the door quietly behind him. He had been a little extra rough and had decided to let Avery sleep in a couple extra hours. He could not sleep in, there were new people to meet and plans to make.

His first stop was Jordan's room. His friend was already up and moving about.

"Morning. How did the reunion with your mom and sister go?"

~Well. It went a lot better than I'd expected.~

"Are you ready for the next step?"

Jordan shook his head and turned to look out the window at the early morning sky.

~I hated being locked up in the dungeon all this time, but being out in the open is scary shit. At least while I was hiding no one could look at me with fear or disgust in their eyes.~

Soren moved further into the room and sat on the bed, maintaining distance from Jordan while still lending support.

"Once they fully understand that you're here to help them, they will stop thinking about how you look. It's not your fault that you look so much like a mutated, it's his fault. I refuse to rebuild this world if you're not there with me to enjoy it."

Jordan turned to look at Soren with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

~You'd step back and let it all burn if I didn't want any part of it?~

Soren laughed, "Fuck, yeah."

Jordan's smile broadened and this time it reached his eyes. It was a scary smile, though, with his pointed teeth showing and eyes red.

~Let me know when you're ready for me, I'll stay out of sight until then.~

Soren nodded and stood, then left the room. His next stop was Ethan's room. Here he did not bother to knock and simply opened the door. Ethan was still in bed, asleep.

"Time to get up."

Soren spoke up while standing at the end of the bed. He chuckled at the sight of Ethan quickly sitting up, eyes only half open.

"Boss, is it necessary to do this all the time?"

"It is when you sleep in so much. Get up, you'll be the one introducing me to the new group."

Ethan looked like he wanted to say more then changed his mind and started to get up. Soren moved to stand outside the door while Ethan got dressed. Five minutes later they were walking down the stairs.

The living room was covered in cots, with just enough room to walk in between. There were some still sleeping, others were sitting on the couch and around the coffee table talking. Soren caught a whiff of sausage and could not help but approve of whomever had decided to make food.

One of the benefits of having more people meant that Soren could delegate things like cooking. It would leave him free to act more in a leadership role. He was ready for that.

Ethan led Soren to where people were sitting. Soren recognized Darcy, but the rest of the group was new. There were five people altogether, counting Darcy. One of the five was a young boy.

"This is Mason, he's the one who led the group. This is Soren, the man in charge here."

Mason stood and offered his hand and Soren reached out and shook it.

"You're younger than I expected. I figured if you were someone Issac was working for you'd at least be government, but that's clearly not the case."

"Not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not."

Mason chuckled, "I'm not sure, either. Issac sent me here and suggested I talk with you. I want to work with you to help people."

Soren took Mason to the side, out of earshot of everyone else. He left Ethan with the group of people. He wanted a one-on-one with Mason to get a better feel for the man.

"I can offer you a position, but it's not easy to get. The people that work for me aren't human. There is a lot of benefit to it, such as increased strength and senses."

Mason put his hands in the front pocket of his jeans and looked off into the distance behind Soren. He was quiet for a long time before he focused back on Soren.

"Did Issac go through all that?"

Soren nodded, "Yes, Issac is no longer human."

"If it'll give me the means to better help people, then I'm willing. I can't help but wonder if I was stronger, would I have been able to get to Carol faster and be able to find her."

"Are you close with Issac's sister?"

Mason smiled, "The three of us were in the same foster home. That alone is a strong connection. Add on the fact that I've been in love with her since the first time I saw her. She doesn't like me in that way and I've accepted that I'll only ever be her friend."

"Would you still be willing to lose your humanity if she wasn't in the picture?"

"Yes," Mason replied without hesitation. He glanced back toward the living room, then in the direction of the kitchen. "As much as I love her, there are too many people being hurt by what's going on."

"Good. It's necessary to have that conviction. What we're building is a sanctuary, a place where we're responsible for protecting the people from not just the mutated, but from other humans. Once things fully settle in there will be humans out there that will seek to exploit the weak. I need people willing to work toward that goal, willing to take orders from me."

Ethan walked over, "Issac is here, boss, and he has a group of people with him."

"I'll go meet with him. You two should go help in the kitchen. We should make certain there is enough food to cover everyone. The kids should be getting up soon so don't forget to cover them."

"Will do, boss."

Ethan left with Mason and Soren turned to head out. He was surprised to find Avery coming down the stairs, notebook held in his left hand. He had meant to leave him sleeping but it seemed Avery had other plans.

"Come. Issac has returned and I have a feeling he comes with bad news."