The motorhome was parked beside the diner. Daniel unlocked the doors with an electronic click, and the interior lights came on automatically.
Kenny helped Sara up the metal steps. She stumbled once, but he held her firmly by the arm. Kristi climbed in right after, guiding her to the couch with the precise movements of someone used to handling unstable patients.
"Lie down here," Kristi instructed, helping her settle. "Try to relax."
Sara obeyed, sinking into the soft leather.
Kenny sat on a nearby swivel chair, his eyes fixed on Sara with a genuine concern that made Daniel roll his eyes internally. So predictable, he thought. The good guy worried about the damsel in distress, without knowing the damsel hears voices telling her to gut people.
The drive to the clinic was short. Less than three minutes of smooth driving. Daniel drove with deliberate calm, avoiding bumps, but his eyes constantly flicked to the rearview mirror, watching Sara's reflection.
She lay there, staring at the ceiling, her breathing still uneven. Her hands clutched the fabric of her dress, crumpling it repeatedly. A nervous tic she couldn't control.
When they stopped in front of the clinic, the air brakes let out a soft sigh. Kristi got out first, opening the side door with professional efficiency. "Come on, Sara. Slowly."
Sara sat up with difficulty, every movement seeming to take twice the normal effort. She accepted Kristi's hand to step down, her fingers cold and trembling at the touch. Kenny climbed down right after, staying close, ready to catch h
"Thanks for the ride, man." Kenny looked at Daniel after closing the door, genuine gratitude in his tired eyes.
Kristi also nodded, already with half her attention on the patient. "Thank you, Daniel. Come by later if you need... well, anything."
"No problem," he replied, but his eyes never left Sara.
Sara didn't say a word. She didn't look at him. She kept her head down, shoulders hunched as if trying to make herself invisible.
"Sara."
Daniel's voice came out serious.
She stiffened instantly, as if shocked by electricity. Her head turned toward him slowly, reluctantly, the vertebrae in her neck seeming to lock.
Her eyes met his through the open passenger window. They were tired, rimmed with red, but there was something else there, vibrating just beneath the surface.
Pure, primal fear.
Daniel stared at her for a long moment. His expression remained neutral, almost bored, but his eyes were sharp.
"We need to talk later."
The tone wasn't threatening. It didn't need to be. The absolute calm with which the words were spoken carried far more weight than any shout.
Sara's blood froze in her veins. The world around her, the clinic, Kenny, Kristi, vanished. There were only Daniel's eyes, piercing through her mental defenses.
She blinked, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Her mouth opened slightly, dry lips trembling, but no sound came out.
He knows.
The certainty hit her like a runaway train, crushing any hope that she had been discreet, that she had gone unnoticed.
He knows it was me.
Daniel said nothing else. He simply turned the wheel and drove off, heading back toward the diner. The engine purred softly as he pulled away, leaving her standing there, frozen like a statue.
Kenny, standing beside her, frowned. Confusion was clear on his face. "Sara? Are you okay?"
He had also been surprised by Daniel's serious tone. It was different from the usual sarcasm and irreverence. There had been something heavier there, something Kenny couldn't identify.
She blinked again, forcing her legs to move. One step. Then another. Mechanical. Automatic. "I'm... I'm fine."
But she wasn't.
The lie came out so weak that even she didn't believe it.
Kristi guided her inside the clinic, speaking comforting words that Sara didn't process.
Before crossing the door, she looked back one last time.
The motorhome was already gone, disappearing from view.
But she knew, with absolute and terrifying certainty, that there was no escape anymore.
Eventually, Daniel would come for answers.
---
As the vehicle glided over the city's worn asphalt, the silence inside the cabin was broken by a familiar sound in Daniel's mind.
[She's definitely freaking out right now.]
"That was the goal," Daniel replied mentally, eyes fixed on the road. "Fear is an excellent control tool when logic fails. Now that she knows I know, she'll think seventy times before doing anything against Ethan."
[I thought you weren't a hero.]
"I'm not." He shrugged, calmly turning the wheel. "But I'm also not going to watch a child die when I can help."
Truthfully, if Sara tried to kill any adult he didn't care about, Daniel wouldn't lift a finger. But children were a red line.
Not out of divine kindness, but out of principle. There was an innocence in their ignorance that deserved to be preserved, or at least not crushed by a lunatic listening to AM radio in her own head.
That was when the notification appeared, floating in translucent blue letters at the edge of his vision.
[Mission completed: Shock the people of the town]
[Reward received: 2 attribute points, 2 skill points, 200 silver coins]
[Congratulations! You managed to be so problematic that even people trapped in a supernatural hell found you shocking. That takes talent.]
Daniel allowed himself a brief, satisfied smile. At least I won't need to do anything drastic.
The coin balance climbed to 800. Not bad for a day's work.
When Daniel returned, Boyd and the priest were already gone. Tian-Chen was waiting for him so she could lock up the diner.
The place was empty now. The crowd had dispersed, each person returning to their tense routines, carrying the weight of the recent news.
Donna, who saw him arrive, was already leaning over Jade, shaking his shoulder firmly. "Hey, kid. Wake up. You can't sleep here all day."
Jade muttered something unintelligible, lazily swatting her hand away. He was completely out cold, mouth slightly open, a thin line of drool still visible at the corner of his lips.
Donna sighed. "This one sleeps like a rock."
"Let me try," Tian-Chen said, stepping closer, bending down and saying something in Jade's ear.
Nothing.
"WAKE UP, PRINCESS!" Donna shouted right into his ear, losing patience, her voice echoing through the diner.
The effect was immediate.
Jade jolted upright, nearly falling off the bench. He was wearing expensive clothes, now wrinkled and dirty, his hair a complete mess. "WHAT THE F—"
He blinked several times, disoriented, rubbed his head with a groan. His red, puffy eyes slowly focused on Donna, who stood there with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," she said sarcastically. "The meeting's over. You slept through the whole thing."
Jade ran a hand over his face, still processing where he was. Memories from the night before came back in painful fragments. Tobey. The broken glass. The stone. The burial.
Reality hit him like a punch to the gut.
"Ah, shit..." he muttered hoarsely. He sank back into the chair, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. "How long was I out?"
"Long enough." Donna pulled out a chair and sat in front of him, her expression softening slightly. "Look, I know you're going through hell. But you can't shut down like that. Not here. It's not safe."
Jade didn't respond right away. He just sat there, breathing deeply, trying to piece together what was left of his sanity.
Tabitha gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Donna's right. You need to take care of yourself. For you. And for Tobey."
The mention of the name made Jade squeeze his eyes shut, his jaw tightening. "I know."
"Good. Now get up. We're going to Colony House. There's space there for you to actually rest. A real bed. Hot food. And people who won't let you sleep on a moldy table," Donna said.
Jade looked at her, surprised. "Colony House?"
Donna explained about the choosing ceremony and that she was taking them to see the place.
"All right." He finally agreed, his voice drained. "I'll go."
"Great." She clapped her hands once, the sound echoing. "My van's parked next to the diner. We're all going together."
"Daniel, can I ride in your car?" Ethan asked, eyes shining with hope.
Daniel tilted his head, pretending to think seriously. "Depends. Do you promise not to drool on the Italian leather upholstery?"
"I PROMISE!"
"Then you can." He shrugged, the corner of his mouth twitching in a near-smile. "But if you break anything, you're paying for it. And I charge a lot."
"DAD!" Ethan pointed at the armored vehicle. "Can I ride in Daniel's car? Please? He said I could!"
Jim opened his mouth to automatically refuse, but Julie beat him to it.
"I want to go too," she said firmly, looking straight at her parents with that teenage determination that didn't accept no as an answer.
Tabitha and Jim exchanged a look.
"You can all go, if you want. There's plenty of space," Daniel said.
"If it were me, I'd choose Daniel too," Donna added, jerking her chin toward the vehicle. "That beauty there probably has more comfort than my entire house."
The remark pulled a reluctant smile from Jim. He sighed, defeated by logic and his children's insistence. "Fine. But exemplary behavior. Understood?"
"YES!" Ethan practically shouted, already running toward the vehicle.
Jade, who had been watching the whole interaction in silence, shrugged. "I'll go with Daniel too, if you don't mind."
"The more, the merrier." Daniel opened the side door with a theatrical gesture. "Welcome aboard the Apocalypse Express. Come in and enjoy the air conditioning while it lasts."
Julie didn't hesitate. The moment the door opened, she practically flew inside, climbing the steps and dropping into the passenger seat as if claiming territory.
Daniel raised an eyebrow as he settled behind the wheel. "Comfortable there, champ?"
She fastened her seatbelt, pretending not to notice the teasing tone. "Very."
Behind them, Jim cleared his throat loudly, a clear 'I'm watching you.'
[Overprotective father detected. Threat level: High.]
"I noticed."
Ethan climbed in right after, his wide eyes taking in every detail of the interior. "THIS IS AWESOME!"
Tabitha got in carefully, helping Ethan settle, but even she couldn't stop herself from absorbing the luxury around her.
Jade entered and sat on the couch where Sara had been minutes earlier. He sank into the soft leather with a long sigh, his shoulders relaxing for the first time in hours.
Jim was the last one in, his hand resting on the handle for a second longer than necessary. He looked inside, then at Daniel behind the wheel, and finally at his children already settled in.
The gun.
The thought pulsed uncomfortably in his mind. Daniel had put it away in there. Somewhere. Probably within reach.
Every paternal instinct screamed at him to refuse, to grab his kids and go back to Donna's van, where at least there wasn't a hidden firearm just a few feet from Ethan.
But then Julie laughed at something Daniel said. Ethan was spinning in his seat with a smile Jim hadn't seen since the fallen tree. And Tabitha... Tabitha seemed to breathe without that crushing weight on her shoulders for the first time in days.
Jim let out a breath and climbed in, closing the door behind him with a heavy click.
He didn't like the situation. Not at all. But he also couldn't ignore one basic fact: since they had arrived, Daniel hadn't done anything against them. Quite the opposite.
The interior of the vehicle was absurdly luxurious compared to the rest of the town. The air conditioning worked perfectly, blowing clean, cool air. Built-in LED lighting along the edges of the ceiling cast a soft, warm glow that didn't strain the eyes.
"It's like those celebrity motorhomes you see on TV," Julie commented, still adjusting in the front seat, fingers exploring the controls beside it. "Like rock stars or something."
Ethan was mesmerized, spinning in his seat like it was a toy. "It has a TV! A HUGE TV!"
Jim, ever the engineer, couldn't help analyzing it technically. His eyes scanned the ceiling, the joints, the visible systems. The sound insulation must be exceptional. And the suspension... probably pneumatic, considering the armor weight.
Daniel took the driver's seat, adjusting the mirror to see everyone settled behind him. "Comfortable?"
"Very," Tabitha admitted, still processing the contrast between the luxury inside and the nightmare outside.
"Great." Daniel turned the key. The V8 roared, making the vehicle vibrate slightly with contained power. "Next stop: Colony House. Try not to drool on the upholstery."
Julie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
Ahead of them, Donna's van was already running, waiting. The vehicle was old, dented in places, its paint peeling. A stark contrast to the luxurious war tank behind it.
Donna honked once, a short, impatient tap, then pulled away slowly.
Daniel followed, keeping a comfortable distance, the engine humming low as they crossed the empty streets.
Inside the motorhome, for the first time since arriving there, the Matthews family breathed something close to relief.
It was temporary. Fragile. But it was something.
And in that place, something was already more than most people ever got.
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