Someday.. Maybe

After bidding farewell to Ethan, Grant threw his pack over his shoulder and walked away from the group of survivors.

A few of them had their heads hung low because of how ashamed they felt with how they had treated Grant but a few others were looking at Grant with unabashed rage. Almost like he was betraying them in some way.

Grant had noticed these peoples reactions of course but he never even considered stopping to try and explain himself. He just shook his head and continued on his way.

It was frustrating for Grant to reach out a helping hand to people only for them to demand even more from him.

It made him appreciate Ally, Richard, and Robin that much more though. He had helped them on the spur of the moment but they had returned the favor immediately by saving him when he passed out. Even knowing how strong he was, none of them had ever asked him for anything and never seemed to expect anything from him either. But when Grant did help them, they were always grateful and made sure to thank him.

Grant couldn't help but think about what the new world would look like. It would take a strong leader to maintain a order amid the chaos of the new world.

He knew that when he inevitably started to travel he would come across atrocities such as the one that Ryan and his thugs were trying to partake in, but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to save everyone.

Grant spent the rest of his short trip trying to figure out the best way to handle himself when he encountered those situations. But no matter how much he planned it out in his mind, he knew that living in the moment would inevitably be different from what he imagined so he shook off those thoughts and tried to focus on his short term goals.

When he reached the gun shop, he noticed that the door was still closed tightly and didn't look like it had been opened since he left which made him let out a sigh of relief.

Although Grant knew that he would have to leave them soon, he had still grown attached to the three people he was protecting and didn't want anything bad to happen to them.

After knocking on the door he just stood there for a few moments before he sensed someone standing on the other side of the door. Although he could sense someone there, they never spoke any words so Grant took the initiative to let them know it was him.

"It's me. Open up, I brought back some more supplies."

After he spoke, the door immediately opened and a little girl came flying into his arms.

"Mr. Carrot! You're back! How did everything go?

WOAH that's a big package you got there!

Did you bring me any presents?"

While she asked about a present, she smiled sweetly while looking up at him from below.

Grant just laughed and patted her on the head. It hadn't even been a day since she fought those zombies and lost her dad and yet she was acting all cheerful and happy.

Grant knew it was a façade and she was just putting on a brave face for him but he couldn't help but admire the tenacity of this little girl. No matter how much she was hurting inside, she would make sure that it never showed in her attitude or in her expressions. That would be difficult for an adult, let alone a young child.

Before giving an affirmative or negative response to her question, he walked into the building and placed his bag down and began unwrapping it.

After opening the package, he reached into the pile of stuff and pulled out a pack of socks and went to hand them over to Robin.

"Here you go, little missy. I got you a pair of socks!"

Robin just stood their with an incredulous look on her face. Like someone had just stole her lunch money or something.

After looking at her face for a few seconds, Grant couldn't stop himself and he ended up bursting into a fit of laughter. While rolling around on the floor and laughing, Robin snapped out of her daze and kicked Grant as hard as she could before throwing the socks at him.

If it was anyone other than Grant, the kick would surely have done a significant amount of damage but it felt like a light tap for Grant, which just made him roll around and laugh even harder.

"Meanie! How dare you make fun of me!"

After laughing for a bit longer, Grant eventually struggled to get to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes from laughing too hard.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Your face was just too funny and cute! I couldn't stop myself."

Robin just stood there with her arms crossed looking at Grant with what she must have thought was a stern gaze but she just ended up looking even cuter which made Grant start to snicker once again.

Under the watchful eye of the little girl, Grant once again reached into the pile and this time he pulled out a relatively large baby Yoda plushy and handed it over too Robin.

"Oh my god he's so cute! Thank you Grant!"

Robin, for once, looked genuinely happy with the gift. It was the fake smile she put on to make people think that she was in a good mood, it was the real deal. That was enough for Grant to be happy that he had grabbed it on his way through the store. While he had been walking through the store, he had seen the stuffed toy and since even he thought it was somewhat cute, he had no doubt that Robin would think the same. And since she even called him by his real name, which she rarely did, he knew that she was genuinely happy with his gift.

Grant couldn't help but sigh at the scene, because although he was happy that he was able to bring a genuine smile to Robin's face, he knew that eventually that smile would fade when he took her and Richard out to train.

During the entire interaction, Ally and Richard had just been watching from a distance. Seeing how happy Robin was with the gift, the look on their faces softened even more. The tension of the past few days seemed to dissipate ever so slightly.

Everyone knew it was only a temporary reprieve but nonetheless it was a welcome change of pace.

After a few more minutes of the relaxed atmosphere, Grant decided to sit everyone down and talk about their plans while having something to eat.

Grant proceeded to tell the three about his interaction with his friend Ethan and the plans of the large group of people he had met. He told them about the message on the radio, which prompted them to grab the one located behind the counter and listen to the message themselves.

After they had heard the message, Grant proceeded to tell them what his opinion was on the current situation.

"I am not sure what the settlement is like, how many people they have, how much food and water they have stocked, etc. but what I do know, is that I will not be going to that settlement. The setup that we have no will be sufficient to keep us safe for the foreseeable future.

A friend of mine has decided to go to the settlement with a group of survivors from his church so I will meet with him sometime in the future to get a better understanding of how they are handling the people there. But until I know it is safe, I will not even consider moving there."

Ally readily agreed with Grant's explanation, more so because she was still hesitant about being around other people but also because she was still scarred by the events of the previous day and wanted some time alone with her kids.

Robin didn't have much of an opinion on the matter. To her, the most important thing was being with her family. If her family didn't want to relocate to the settlement then she wouldn't either.

Richard however, seemed entirely opposed to the idea, now and in the future. It seemed like Richard had lost his faith in humanity like Grant had after the incident with Ryan and his thugs, but unlike Grant, Richard didn't seem to believe that anyone other than his own family and perhaps Grant, had any redeeming qualities.

Grant had noticed the drastic change in his behavior and demeaner over the last 24 hours, but he had assumed that it was his way of handling the grief of losing his father. But after listening to him talk about the settlement and other survivors, Grant became concerned that his mental state was far more unstable than he initially believed.

"Alright, then it's decided. We shall continue to use the gun shop as our base. If in the future we determine that the settlement is safe or we find another option then we can discuss once again the possibility of moving.

Having decided that, I have something to do in three days, so I would like to continue Richard and Robin's training immediately.

On the third day I need to venture out on my own and may be gone for at least a couple days so we have work to do before then."