12

I ignored the way the others looked at me as we went through the house. It didn't take long for us to sweep through the whole house. Food was cleared out first, then weapons, and if there was still space in the bags then clothing, and blankets. I filled my own back with a set of kitchen knives, and a blanket. I didn't want to get stabbed if the knives got jostled out of their block. 

Wrapping the full knife block in a blanket was just self preservation. I frowned to myself with a bit of worry in my body language. I was never all that good at hiding my true feelings. Once we were done picking apart what we could of this house it was time to return to the encampment. We departed from the house pretty quickly after that. 

They had new weapons on their belt as well, and their bags were heavy. The weight of the bags suggested they managed to find an ammo box or two. I didn't care much for it. I didn't plan on using any bullets. They were spent way too quickly, and the supplies needed to create them would run out just as quickly even if we learned to make bullets. 

Then again there was a good chance that someone in the camp already knew how to make bullets. I just wasn't interested in being part of that whole mess. Unless I could find my own source of ammo, and my own guns I wasn't looking forward to using guns unless I had to. I frowned to myself as we made our way back to camp. The tension of the group leaned in my direction. 

I could sense the beasts before people could see them so it made sense to a degree. The way back was uneventful for the most part. We encountered a few awakened animals, but those animals fled the moment we put up a fight. They were evolving just as quickly as we were so the danger they posed was going to increase by leaps, and bounds soon enough. The nice thing about monsters was they kept the predatory awakened animals from attacking humans. 

Why attack humans when you could fight something alone that was weaker then a human? Not all monsters were weaker then humans, but they both roamed in small groups, and massive groups. Humans were always in a larger group unless they had no choice. It struck me as odd when I realized I was starting to think of myself as a different species then human. I shook off those thoughts. 

The sudden motion disturbed the people around me. 

"Relax," I snorted, "I got a little too stuck in my head. I'm fine. I don't sense any monsters nearby. Just needed to get out of my head."

There were a few sighs of relief. I didn't realize they were paying so much attention to me. I shrugged it off, and the rest of the walk went peacefully. I had my bow firmly in my grip. Taking advantage of it's visual enhancement ability as much as I possibly could. 

It allowed me to peer into the shadows with ease. I frowned to myself as we reached the wall. The wall opened up slowly as we waited. I walked into the settlement towards the back of the group. I stretched slowly before going to the armory to unload my pack. 

They seemed happy to see so many knives in one place, but the blanket I wrapped them up in had the opposite effect. They handed it back to me, and told me to take it to the laundromat. They reclaimed the backpack. Hanging it on a coat rack along the wall. I wanted to be out for longer so I let out an exasperated sigh. 

I'd be allowed to leave for longer the next time around. There was plenty of daylight left so I decided to go to the alley, and go all out on my exercising since I didn't manage to get any done yesterday. I kept up on the mana revolutions. I'd done a few while we were on the run too. I'd only stopped when I was fighting, and when I'd gotten lost in thought. 

I frowned as I tried to power through a whole weeks worth of power workout in a few short hours. I kept it up well past dark. Switching from push ups to leg work outs when my arms got too tired. I kept on powering through it all while carrying a fair amount of weight. I stopped briefly to go check on the boys. 

They were both sleeping by now, and they seemed to be doing fine. Sam was crying in his sleep, and Johnny had a frightened look on his face. I rubbed Sam's belly gently. That seemed to be enough to calm him. He falls into a deeper more peaceful sleep. 

I reached over to do the same for Johnny, but he wakes up with a start. 

"Shhh," I quiet him gently before he could go too crazy, "It's just me. I just came over to check on you. Go back to sleep."

Johnny nods tiredly. Falling asleep in his cot next to Sam's. He looked more relaxed this time, but it was hard to tell if he was actually having a good night or not. My muscles felt as if they were relaxing, and tensing at the same time. I wanted to get them out of here before Boss man had too much control over them. 

I was pretty sure that they wouldn't fall too far under Boss man's control as long as I was around. I smiled at them sadly before going back to my crazy routine. I had nearly finished with my strength training, and it was time for me to start doing my sprinting. I went straight to my sprinting once I got my strength training done. By then it was after midnight. 

I was tired, but I really didn't care. I only had so much time left before I stopped getting freebies. We all did. I pushed myself well past my limits. I even managed to get a point of stamina.