Chapter 12: Eyes can’t see

A cigarette butt fell to the ground near some bushes in those remote slums.

They weren't in the town of Homen; they were too far away to be, and too far away to receive any kind of help from the Central.

Even the minibus they arrived in couldn't help them now. At least a smaller numerical difference would have made the criminals think twice, tough. Instead, they were forced to move away from the extraction point.

But all this was nothing more than a hypothesis that would never be tested. Their present offered no such opportunity.

The owner of the cigarette dying on the ground was a pitiful, small, malnourished man. Perplexed, he fixed his bleary gaze on the group hiding in the darkness.

What he saw was little more than eyes in the shadows, like a cat under a car waiting for its spectator's next move.

They waited. The young Izzy and her companions waited.

“Hey! Not again... Hey, 'Pino'! Why the hell are you standing there?! Move it”

The pale little man was trembling as if he was always anxious, and seeing that his leaders didn't emphasize it seemed like it was 'normal'.

The current reason; just as he managed to distinguish those eyes hidden in the passageway, he also glimpsed Doger's hidden knife and Gitta's crouched, ready posture.

The man wasn't lying to himself. He just wanted to return to his messy rented room and smoke himself to sleep. Accompanying his 'dealers' hadn't been in his plans when he woke up that morning. Indebted to them from a life of drugs and alcohol, they clearly had him close so he wouldn't run away or do something else stupid.

Although maybe that's precisely what they were doing this time.

He remained silent because deep down he knew. It was clear to him that if he revealed the location of that hidden group, a death would ensue. He already had enough problems in his own life without adding 'second-degree murder' to his resume. After all, he wasn't a murderer, yet.

Were his companions?

He was just afraid.

"Goddamnit... Pino!"

"Ah, ah-h yes! I was lighting my cigarette! That's all! That's all!"

Scratching his back, he hurried to the rest of his companions in the distance.

"Let's get this shit over with so that maniac leaves us alone. And your cigarette?"

"Uh, um... I put it out. Yes."

"I swear if you ask me for another one it'll cost you triple!"

Pushing the man violently against a lamppost, the infamous group in white retreated without looking back.

Indeed, these kinds of people weren't the pacifist types to put down their weapons and sit down for a dialogue. If they'd been betrayed, no one would know for sure how things would have turned out.

Asking himself that, Doger leaned back against one of the hallway walls, letting out an exaggerated exhalation. He'd seen Izzy back away with a gesture of forbearance, so he assumed they were finally safe.

"Phew... They're gone. Finally. Damn..." He held his hair with one hand.

"Yeah, this time they've retreated."

"What a relief, Iz," Sein commented, relaxing his shoulders. "...I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if they found us. But they saw us, right?"

"..."

Garwin and Gitta just stepped back and sat down. The latter, leaving the improvised weapon he'd taken back to the dumpster.

Acting calmly, Garwin stood up and picked up one of his bags and looked around.

"Thanks to God nothing happened. Let's get back as soon as possible... How? That's the question.”

"...If we get back to the main street, we'll be able to find our bearings," Izzy commented.

"Let’s do that. Move very carefully."

"Are we really taking the bags?" Doger said.

"We're fine, buddy. Let's not make this trip a mere waste of time. Let's go back and rest."

"...No way. It'll be a WELL-DESERVED rest."

They'd already come too far.

He was right, so they just picked up the pieces and walked briskly out of the darkness of that passageway.

"..."

Izzy could have asked them to be quiet. Even though they were technically safe, that didn't mean they could draw attention to themselves as if nothing had happened. However, her mind was on something else, many other things at that moment.

Their only option was to walk back under the intense midday sun. The minibus, if it had been waiting for them, must have grown tired of waiting and returned to Homen Central, as Garwin guessed.

When a person is lost, the most likely place to find them is where they belong.

They spent about an hour walking, or rather, crawling with sweat pouring down their foreheads.

A woman recognized them and welcomed them at the Central's grand entrance. Izzy's group didn't notice it at the moment, but the entrance was even more covered in wood, sheet metal, bricks, and junk than the first time they arrived.

Another difference was the lack of security. Only two people were acting as lookouts at the entrance, and upon entering, there wasn't a single other person around.

Lunchtime... The exhausted group quickly thought of a coherent justification and ignored the incident.

They took Nisha to get his head wound checked, Garwin carried the rest of their things to the storage room on his own, Doger went to the bathroom, Gitta went off to find Haeri, and Izzy waited at the entrance, followed by Sein, who carried both of their things.

"Miss, where is… everyone?" Izzy asked, wiping away her sweat.

A strange formality considering their similar ages.

"Uhm... If I'm not mistaken... They should be in the cafeteria by lunchtime, but I think something happened. If they’re not in the cafeteria, they’ll be in the gym, I think."

"Thank you."

She headed toward the gym after instructing Sein to leave her things in storage. He had left her a bottle of water first.

The first thing her clear eyes saw was dozens of residents sitting and arguing. The atmosphere resembled that of a political conference that couldn't reach an agreement.

Standing there were Chase's mother, Garwin's father, and several leaders of the congregation.

"They're back!" Garwin's father, Farleigh Stanford, announced, pointing at the young Izzy in the crowd.

"...!"

It would be a lie to say she felt comfortable being the victim of a hundred eyes staring directly at her. Ultimately, she was caught off guard just before she took a drink from her water bottle.

The man who called her approached as quickly as he could with his staff.

"Izzy, where's my boy? Tell me."

"…Garwin."

The face before her was one of concern, and while she hadn't intended to be, it worsened at the young woman's silence.

"...He's returned with all of us. He must be on his way to the storage room."

"Oh, I understand."

The man quickly composed himself calmly, trying to be calm or appear calm. He cleared his throat and raised his gaze to Izzy again.

"Good to know."

"Coach..."

"Hm?"

Izzy had many questions for this man, but since they arrived, she hadn't had the opportunity for a proper audience. Now that they were face to face, she had to ask the most obvious question first.

"What is happening? These people gathered..."

"They're all asking the same thing, all of them, asking for you. But it's a relief to see everyone back. We'll help you unload the supplies from the minibus. Come on, I'll call a couple of guys," he said, limping to his side.

"Wait, sir... Didn't the minibus arrive before we arrived?"

"...What are you saying, girl?"

The man immediately paled. The audience, who had been sighing in relief, was also speechless.

They resumed the argument, but worse.

“This is too much!”

“Is this the... third time, right?”

“It can't be. This can't go on. No, no, no...”

“We have to do something. Come on, think about it.”

The argument grew more and more heated. Feelings of frustration and despair permeated the atmosphere inside the crowded gymnasium.

It had happened before, multiple times.

It hadn't been too long since Homen Central was ‘founded’, but the considerable number of residents that comprised it required great efforts to maintain it, both logistically and, of course, manpower.

Transporting food and other supplies from homes to the supermarket for a hundred people meant large, unmanageable sums, and the available staff was reduced with each trip.

What really worried the community was the fact that they weren't returning. Of all the transport trips made to the supermarket after establishing themselves as a group, none of them resulted in the return of the transporters.

The thought of a simple delay along the way, transportation to other locations, or the idea of ​​an extended stay in the surrounding areas for urgent personal reasons provided justifications for not being alarmed, even if they left doubts in their subconscious.

However, this situation repeated itself and lasted for several days. Now they needed real, clear evidence that nothing bad was happening.

The young woman massaged the back of her neck and cast her light eyes thoughtfully to one side. Izzy had thought about it a lot.

The next chance.

The reason they accepted the trip wasn't just an act of charity or volunteering, after all.

"Are you serious? Izzy?"

"Coach, can I talk to you? Privately."

"..."

The man looked doubtful for a moment, and with a gesture of his hand, he beckoned her to follow him.

After announcing his imminent return to his other followers as they made their way through the crowd, the two entered a spare room with a table and some wooden stools.

"Well? What do you need to talk about?"

"...I can see we're on urgent business. I'll be brief."

Farleigh sat down, not because he was careless, but because of the condition of his leg. He met her gaze and waited.

Izzy immediately sighed.

"What's your perception of the outside?"

"Of the outside? That's a vague question, and it's not as if we have the time for questions like that," the man said.

"I think it's the most appropriate one for this situation."

"Do you think so? In this case, I suppose I have the right to answer in kind; I have no idea."

"..."

Shrumming both shoulders, Farleigh reacted with a strange combination of sarcasm and honesty. It wasn't exactly the answer Izzy was looking for, so she remained silent, waiting for a better one.

"I'm just being honest with you, nothing more. Moving from one place to another because I'm named 'leader' doesn't even give me time to spare the time to explain. It hasn't done me any good, in every way," he commented. "What I want to know is... what happened out there? You're the first ones back... Tsk, no one even deigned to let me know you were coming, either."

"We didn't take the entire route; we had to run certain errands. The minibus was supposed to pick us up after its own errand, but we lost sight of it. We had to walk back."

"Hmph... In that case, you might as well take a seat."

"Don't worry. More importantly, tell me everything you know about this place. Anything would do."

"...What's the point?"

Politely asking for such information wasn't going anywhere. She had to demand it.

If this man hadn't known her for years, he would have reprimanded her for her lack of respect.

"Please…”

“Look, Izzy," he stretched his back slightly and looked at her directly, "we don't know for sure if this is the cause, but some believe these... 'disappearances' are the result of looters trying to rob us at night. We haven't seen them lately for some reason, although before you arrived, there wasn't a single night without an infiltration attempt."

"Is that why they've... widened the entrance?"

"Correct. And not only that, some of us had to stay on watch at night. It's true there's a big conflict going on out there. So what? That's no reason for us to start doing stupid things like stealing or hurting each other."

"Wasn't that a bit of an exaggeration?" Izzy questioned, crossing her arms.

The man gave a short, unintentional laugh.

"Heh... I thought the same thing as you just now, Izzy. I don't know how they do it, but every time we blocked the gates, they were always smashed the next morning.”

“...”

“I didn't remember Homen being such a dangerous town... If these looters really have something to do with the disappearances, we'll have no choice but to block all exits and wait for the police to arrive.”

Acting with perfect serenity, young Izzy Rylee remained silent, listening to the important story, even though their plans weren't in her best interest at all. They meant that if the situation persisted, they would be locked inside Homen Central until further notice. Every single resident, they included.

In a way, there was a silver lining, and that was the arrival of the police. Izzy had planned to contact them, but the lack of cell phone service and the current conditions didn't allow it.

“Were you able to call the police? As far as I understand, there's no working mobile phone service in this area.”

“There isn't. Since the television broadcast a few weeks ago, I don't know anyone who's been able to use one of those devices.

"Coach, so they've been visited personally...?"

"A woman."

"?"

"The same woman who was in charge of this place from Jeylon, maybe you don't know either of them. I don't remember her name now... Her last name was... 'Quinto'..." He scratched his shiny bald head. "She only explained to us that she'd contacted the police. I suppose she told them we were here just to keep us in mind."

"...Where is she?"

"Phew... She's been gone a long time. I think I heard her say she'd come back. But everything I'm saying is just repeating what my friend mentioned."

With the supermarket owner, Jeylon, missing, the only way to find out this woman's whereabouts would be through the man in front of her, but seeing as he knew little about it, he'd have to resort to the previous one.

Izzy had her own guesses about her identity. Obviously, there was one person she had in mind.

Nisha's mother, who had led them to the Homen Central in the first place.

But why didn't she stay in one of the province's (relatively) safest places? Safest, at least compared to the streets.

Why didn't she wait for her own son?

The girl was starting to think there was more to it than just 'waiting for the storm to blow over.' And now there was only one person left with whom she could talk to dissipate her ignorance.

"Good. If you don't have any more questions, I'll sort this out."

"Coach."

"Hm?"

"What if we take over?" Izzy announced, placing the water bottle on the table.

He knew she wasn't merely referring to calming the crowd at the gym; something he could do himself without any inconvenience.

Her serious expression indicated there was more to her thinking.

"What do you mean? And I mean exactly."

"I shall need to call your son."

-[Ø]-

"What are you looking for? I can help you."

"It's nothing."

The boy lowered the bags from his shoulders and stretched them out as he watched Haeri Yong rummage through them. One by one, she tore the plastic wrappers off the large table in the storage room, and if she shook her head, it meant she'd go for the next one.

Calmly, Gitta took out each item and placed it on the table as neatly as possible.

"Be careful when you open them. We have to hand them in."

They were all there, even the ones Garwin and Sein were carrying. If someone were to search for a specific item among all that junk, it would take a long time.

"Found it!"

"What is it..." Gitta poked his head out.

"Nothing!"

Haeri hurriedly hid the colorful plastic package, a pack of special sanitary pads, under her black sweater. Gitta wanted to know what it was, but if it came from one of those bags, it certainly wasn't serious. He let it go.

"...Okay."

"You'd better change those clothes, Gitta. Why did you wear a football uniform to begin with? If you played on the road, that would explain why it took so long."

"Guess I… just got carried away..."

"Gitta…!”

Before he could finish his sentence, a man entered the storage room asking for Gitta. It was Sein who was looking for him.

Haeri swore she saw a look of disgust cross his face for a moment.

"...Sein Deakin? Is that right?" He turned to look at him.

"Yes. I was looking for you for----"

"He's called 'Tag' now. Don't forget your new names, huh?"

Another voice sounded behind Sein; apparently Doger was accompanying him.

"Um... Yes. Gitta, we'll be out again soon. We're letting everyone know."

"Leave? Where to?"

"To the supermarket. Well, we'll meet at the entrance in..."

"After lunch," Doger continued for him. "Let's go find the others, Sein. Let's go."

"..."

After watching them leave the storage room in a hurry, Gitta returned his gaze to the table. This time, he placed both hands on it, his head down and thoughtful.

"Are you going out again?" Haeri asked. "If so, maybe you can bring me something. I could use a change of clothes."

"Haeri..."

"Uh, what's wrong?"

"I want you to come with me."