The creature crawled awkwardly at the wall, adjusting its body at the wooden spikes where it lays.

  Adam was about to pull his pistol from his jacket when Charlie placed his hand on his shoulders.

  Adam looked at him for a few seconds trying to understand what he meant. He stared back at the creature that was still observing them from the wall.

  Suddenly, the monster leaped towards them, however before the creature could even reach them a swift arrow pierced its head. Adam and the rest of the group stepped back as the creature fell to the ground, lifeless.

  Adam looked around to find where the arrow had come from. He realized that it was from one of the watch towers that were scattered all over the village.

  Adam squinted his eyes in the tower's direction until he finally was able to make out a figure of a man with a bow.

  “Most of the residents here know how to defend themselves, one way or another,“ Charlie explained.

  Somehow Adam didn't find it surprising, the fact that this village was prone to monster attack had made them prepared for this type of scenario.

  “We have someone on duty at those watch towers for 24/7“ Kleoff explained as he went near the monster’s corpse as he pulled out the arrow in a way that reminded Adam about Kiel.

  “Bows are more practical so why do you still use guns?“ Kate asked.

  “Arrows are also slower than guns, it was also hard to reload- to be honest everyone here used to have guns instead but we soon realized that ammos would quickly ran out that way so they switched to using bows and only used guns when necessary" Kleoff was the one who answered, he signalled his brother and both of them threw the creature to the fire pit.

  The fire cracked as it engulfed the creature's body, completely devouring it until its grey skin turned black.

  Adam thought that the fire pit was used for cooking for the entire village; it turns out it served a different purpose.

  “It can be used for both,“ Charlie said with a smile as if he realized Adam’s thoughts.

  The crowd eventually settled, they seemed curious but not threatened by the sudden attack, Adam assumed that might be because it was a usual occurrence to them.

  The group returned to circling the fire pit, continuing to discuss their plans on how they would deal with Nolan and his greys.

  “We should go at night, if we could avoid an encounter then our chances would be higher“ Kate suggested, Adam was at her right and Althea at her left while the brothers sat on the other side of the dwindling fire.

  “No, they probably have an advantage at night . We would not be able to see anything but they would- they have far more sharp senses than we do,“ Kleoff replied.

  “But we can’t march in there in broad daylight can we?“ Althea asked, she had been quiet for sometime, probably nervous Adam thought.

  “Maybe we can,“ Charlie answered as he turned his head to look at his younger brother.

  “You mean that?“ His brother asked and Charlie simply replied with a nod.

  “Mean what?“ Adam asked.

  “I think it would be better if we showed you,“ Charlie replied.

  And they did, they paced the same path they did when they first arrived here, finally reaching the Cabin where the brothers reside.

  “We have been here,“ said Kate.

  “Not completely"

  Charlie opened the door with a smile.

  The group followed him closely, he went on to open another door that what Adam assumed led to another room but to his surprise it revealed a staircase leading downwards the cabin.

  The stairs faded into the darkness without any light that could show them any path. Charlie seemed to have forgotten about that part as he hurriedly left and retrieved a flashlight. He lit the flashlight and urged the group to follow him.

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  Althea hesitated, she stared at the darkness and told Adam that she would wait for them to return. Adam understood and said it wouldn't take long before they returned.

  …

  The flashlight did prove to be helpful along with Charlie constantly warning them about their steps as the wooden stairs creaked.

  It wasn't a steep staircase either, but their careful steps made it take almost a minute before they managed to reach the bottom.

  Their steps echoed through the almost empty and cold room, filled with only spiderwebs and some other things that were covered with white cloth.

  Charlie stepped forward and checked the cloths one by one as if to search for something.

  Finally he seemed to have found what he was looking for as a smile was painted on his face, at least Adam thought, he really couldn't tell with the darkness of the room.

  Charlie placed the flashlight at the table facing his direction.

  He suddenly pulled one of the cloths, dust flew all over the place, making Adam cough.

  Finally he looked at the object Charlie revealed and he understood the smile on his face.

  For a first moment in a while he thought that they had a decent chance in fighting against Nolan.

  …

  After climbing the stairs they told Althea about the object and she smiled.

  They all settled with going to the island in the morning after that.

  Charlie told them that they would prepare the things that they would bring to the island and that Adam, Kate and Althea should do so as well.

  Not like they had anything to prepare at all, but Kate and Althea went to one side of the villages to practice with some of the residents in using the bow,

  Meanwhile Adam left the village to check for the car. He found the place peaceful despite the occasional attack of monsters. Wind passed through his face as he traversed the hills, trying his best to remember where he had parked their car.

  He kept his pace slow, afraid that he might miss it. He wished that she brought Kate with him, she would have known the way.

  His walk thankfully didn't last another couple of minutes as he saw the road and the mustang still parked at its side.

  Adam went on to check the car and their fuel, everything seemed to be doing well. After some other check ups he finally decided that there was no problem and that he should return to the village to tell the group that the cars were ready.

  He still wasn’t sure how they would bring the item the brothers showed them or even if the item was still working at all, regardless they must have thought of something they could use.

  With that thought he promptly returned to the village and searched for Althea and Kate. He didn't need to look for a long time. As soon as he arrived at the village gate he saw the two of them talking with the residents.

  Adam slowly approached them and as Kate noticed him she stepped out of the small crowd and moved closer to Adam, leaving Althea alone talking to the villagers.

  “They were wishing us luck” Kate said as she and Adam looked at the crowd from the side.

  “That was nice of them,” Adam replied.

  “Yeah- they also threatened to kill us if we didn't return with the brothers”

  “That’s honestly fair”

  “They told us when Charlie and Kleoff first arrived they thought they were supposed to be protecting the brothers not the other way around”

  “Yeah, didn't Charlie like 17 when he left the village?”

  “18” Kate corrected

  “yeah sure, point is even us didnt think they would be able to survive after leaving the island and now they were able to help an entire group of people”

  “Yeah, they should be fine, im just glad they didn’t turn the likes of Nolan”

  Wait, Adam thought.

  Nolan said something about being completely immune, about none of them were actually immune and that were only resistant to the effects, and when he punctured Kiel’s eye with the crystal his skin started eroding with the grey skin.

  And Charlie had the same grey skin in his hands.

  Adam’s body froze, if Charlie kept moving outside the gaps the effects might hasten.

  He then asked Kate where Charlie was and she replied that he was at the rangers cabin. He then thanked Kate and walked to the Cabin, each step was a little faster than he would like.

  If Nolan was right then this trip only does endanger Charlie more than they initially thought.

  Within a few minutes Adam arrives at the front of the Cabin, he steps on the deck and knocks at the door.

  He heard footsteps approaching to open the door from the other side, It was Charlie.

  “Where’s Kleoff? Are you alone?”

  Charlie stared at him for a moment trying to understand the worry on Adam’s face.

  “He was down stairs, why?”

  “Let me see the hand”

  “Was this about that? im fine” replied Charlie while waving his gloved hand in dismissal.

  Adam then explained his worries, his voice kept low in order to avoid to avoid being heard by Kleoff.

  Charlie on the other hand listened intently, he even made some quick glances at his hand a few times.

  “I understand where your coming from but-”

  Charlie paused to remove the gloves from his hand, revealing the now larger patch of grey in it.

  “This thing isn’t going away, it never would and it kept growing regardless if im in the gap or not so i might as well help”

  “But that could make the effects more drastic”

  Charlie sighed and took a seat as he wore the gloves again.

  “See, when i told you i about it i was still in doubt but now i kinda come to term with it-”

  “The village was well off, thriving on its own, Kleoff was now old enough and doing well and worse came to worst. I still have you to finish the deal, don't I?”

  The deal, Adam repeated in his head. He almost forgot about it. No, he was trying to forget it.

  “still…”

  “It's fine-” Charlie removed his hat and placed it at the table.

  “Why avoid the unavoidable?” He said with a smile.

  …

  After Adam accepted Charlie’s reasoning they heard Kleoff call for them down the basement. They went down to the basement and helped him in carrying the item.

  Adam and Kleoff then proceeded to wait for the rest of the group outside the village and after a few minutes they saw Charlie and Kate pulling a massive st

  eel cart containing the item they saw at the basement.

  A slightly rusted machine gun.