Upon the realization of what Kate meant Adam gaped his mouth in shock. He had to look at the image another couple of times before ensuring that the newborn in the picture indeed had black eyes.

  “We weren’t even sure if it was Kiel in this picture,”he argued.

  Kate took the picture and pointed a band at the boy’s arm before handing it back to Adam.

  Adam looked at the band, it was small but still large enough to be read. Within the band were numbers which he assumed was the date of birth or a code of some sort and the name Kiel.

  “But Kiel had green eyes, how could he have black in the picture” Althea pointed out.

  At that moment Adam’s doubt that he had been keeping hidden resurfaced. From the start he knew there was something strange with the boy and even when Beth died something seemed off.

  I'm doing you a favor, Nolan’s voice echoed in his head.

  “Maybe it was a disease?” Althea suggested.

  “What would be unlikely, he had the same regeneration as we do. If it was a disease of some sort he would have healed in no time” Kate pointed out.

  “Genetics then?“

  “His family all had black eyes, assuming that was his family and he wasn't adopted.”

  “No, the mother seemed to have just given birth and kiel was a new born in the picture, there’s no way he was adopted.“ argued Adam.

  Adam crossed her arms as she thought of the implication of this.

  “This could mean that she was affected? like Nolan-” Adam suggested.

  “Thinking about it, Nolan had one green eye, and after he killed Kiel both became green, could it have a connection?“

  “I dont know the answer to that” Kate muttered

  “Was it the reason why Nolan said Kiel felt wrong? Because he was just like him?”

  “If he was, then why weren't there any signs? in a way similar to Nolan who had better strength, regeneration and patches of grey skin”

  “Maybe he did? we just never saw it“

  “Why are we even talking as if Nolan did us a favor“ Althea suddenly spoke, Adam recognized that there was hurt in her voice.

  He realized that they were sounding like they were suspecting the boy of doing something wrong.

  “We were just trying to figure things out,“ Kate explained.

  “Why would that even matter? that man killed Kiel, not only him but also the captain what’s more was that he had the residents of the island hostage and we weren’t sure if they were alive-”

  “Even us would have not been alive if we didn’t manage to escape, both of you were starting to sound that he had a good reason for doing this” Althea said, turning around and heading outside the room.

  Both Adam and Kate were quiet after she left. They knew that Althea had a point.

  That none of this matters more than saving the residents from Nolan. Adam thought that he and Kate both knew something wasn’t right, that maybe figuring this out would help them. But as things currently are, figuring things out might be harder than saving the residents themselves.

  “We should apologize, her mother was still there“ Adam spoke, sitting once again at the bed with a sigh.

  “I’ll go talk to her later,“ Kate replied.

  The silence remained for another couple of minutes before one of them decided to speak.

  “What do you think this all means?”Kate asked.

  “I don't know, there’s no way to figure it out for now, i guess Althea had a point, this wouldn't matter“

  But they were wrong, it did matter, it's just they didn’t know it then.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  After another couple of minutes Kate headed down to talk to Althea, Adam said he wanted to join her but she insisted that he should rest and talk it out tomorrow.

  …

  It was only in the early afternoon and yet Adam was already tired. He closed the door as Kate left and laid by the bed.

  He was worried for a second that the dreams might haunt him even in his sleep.

  Fortunately, his fears didn’t come to reality.

  dreamless sleep came to him and gave him just the rest he needed.

  He was woken by the early morning sunlight that was coming from the room's window.

  He stretched and checked his hand, he still couldn't move it properly and it aches every time he touches it but compared to yesterday it was a big improvement.

  He headed down stairs and saw Kate and Althea talking at the dining table.

  After Adam arrived at the dining table Althea immediately apologized about her behavior yesterday, saying that she was just worried about the residents of the island.

  Adam apologized as well, he explained that they forgot to consider how she was feeling.

  After finally fixing the small discord over the group Althea urged Adam to sit saying that she prepared breakfast for all of them.

  Adam obliged, sitting in one of the wooden chairs as Althea left and went to fetch them some breakfast.

  Right as Adam sat Kate immediately asked what their plan was with getting fuel.

  Adam almost forgot about that with all the things that had been happening.

  Despite this there was one immediate thought that came to his mind.

  The junkyard where Nolan and Beth used to reside. Nolan was the original owner of the car so surely he would have some fuel that they could use.

  the only problem would be that the car had completely run dry and to go there they might have to walk.

  He told his plan to Kate and she agreed as long as she would go with him as well, carrying fuel containers alone might be difficult not to mention the long amount of time the travel would take.

  Kate also argued that she knew the road better than Adam who probably forgot the route there.

  Of course she was right, Adam already forgot the way there but he was worried about leaving Althea alone.

  Just as he thought this Althea arrived with a pan filled with cooked mixed vegetables. After placing the pan at the table she took bowls for all three of them.

  “These were delicious, you sure weren’t mad anymore and poisoned it?”

  Kate said as she took one bite using the fork.

  Althea only replied with a smile.

  Kate coughed, and covered her mouth with one of her hands.

  Adam and Althea laughed while eating their own portion of the meal.

  After everyone finished their breakfast Adam told Althea about their plan. She was worried about the two at first but then agreed on being left in the house. She assured both of them that she should be relatively safer by staying in the house than to join them.

  After everyone had come to terms with the plan Adam started to prepare the things that they would have brought to the road.

  He first went to the car and took his bag and checked its contents. There really wasn't anything there of interest aside from a flashlight and a couple of heavy duty batteries.

  Instead of taking those, he instead removed the more unnecessary contents of the bag such as clothes and left it in the car.

  He slung the bag over his shoulder and checked his jacket. He still had his pistol and two other rounds. The pistol itself still has half rounds and Kate’s probably didn’t have any extra magazine.

  It was probably plenty enough for the trip, he doubted that they would actually encounter any greys. Nolan probably had most of the monsters with him on the island so they really weren’t expecting any trouble.

  After a few minutes Kate got out of the house along with Althea, both carrying four bottles of water.

  Kate threw one of them to Adam who catched it with his other hand. He stored it in the bag along with the other three bottles.

  Althea said her goodbyes and wished them luck. Adam and Kate did the same.

  Althea watched as the two walked away, their figure slowly disappearing from the distance until they were no longer visible from the sight.

  She sighed as she turned around and headed back inside the house.

  …

  While walking Adam was wondering if they would even be able to save the residents. The best case scenario was that they could find fuel at the yard and use it to arrive at North downs and ask the brothers for help.

  Even if the brothers supposedly agree in helping them their chances of success would remain low.

  If they were to attack the island and retrieve the residents they would need a plan and a significant amount of luck.

  Without anyone speaking, the trip proceeded.

  …

  The walk took more than an hour before they could finally arrive at the familiar tall steel walls of the junk yard.

  Adam turned out to be right, they haven’t encountered any of the greys. Not even a single creature.

  He stared at the rusted gate and made his way inside with Kate following him.

  They half expected that the bodies of greys were still lying by the yard but it was empty and bare.

  “that was-”

  Kate pointed at something beside the blue modular house.

  Adam recognized where she was pointing, it was the bike that they attached a side car in. It was still here, Adam almost forgot about that. With that their travel back home should be quicker.

  “I’ll check the house“ Kate declared and Adam replied with only a nod.

  He hoped that there was some ammunition inside but Nolan’s no gun rule made that unlikely.

  As Kate entered the house Adam noticed something by the corner of his eye.

  A chopped flat wood was buried in the ground with a short part of it revealing itself out the ground.

  Adam walked towards it and realized that the ground was slightly elevated in that area.

  Before he could move a step closer he realized what he was looking at. Suddenly he heard a noise behind his back. Kate just got out of the modular house.

  “There were some tanks of fuel it should be enough to- what is that?”

  Suddenly halting when she noticed what Adam was staring at.

  Adam then stepped closer, he crouched by the side of the elevated ground and stared closer at the chopped wood.

  There were engravings and some blood by the side of it.

  The engravings read: BETH