Render awoke with a terrified scream. It temporarily deafened everyone nearby, who hadn't even noticed him asleep, and sent the wildlife running with the fear of death and dismemberment. Ryan and Jonah looked up to see Render huddled, arms wrapped tightly around his legs muttering, "No more, no more, no more..."

Shocked, Jonah tried to grab Render's attention. "R-render? Are you alright?"

The infected in question glanced at him with tearful eyes and said, "Please...no more pain." Jonah was scared witless by the suffering he saw in Render's eyes, and he could almost feel the torture the boy went through while in the custody of CEDA.

Ryan shook his head and said, "You gonna be ok, kid?" Render nodded shakily. Ryan sighed in relief, knowing his eardrums would not be blown out again today.

Ellie asked quietly, "Do you need any help?" Render shook his head, not wishing to heap his troubles upon others. Thom sat up, groaning.

"Ugh...what hit me?" He saw the questioning eyes of the others and asked, "What?" Then he spotted Ellie again. "AAA-" Thom was abruptly cut off as Render covered his mouth with his claws.

"Knock it off Thom, she's not going to hurt you," Render said with a growl, seeming to recover from his shock.

Nodding mutely, Thom spit the taste of old blood from Render's claws out of his mouth. He sheepishly said, "Er, sorry Miss Witch." Ellie gave a tiny bob of her head to acknowledge his apology. "So, who are these guys?" A quick introduction was given between the groups. After everything was done and settled, the five just relaxed, glad to be away from the constant pressure of battle and everyday survival. Well, that was until a loud yell was heard from within the forest. The five looked at each other, got up and ran to the source, Ellie on Ryan's back.

Render was the first to find the source of the commotion, and groaned exasperatedly. "Oh my god..." The other four ran into his back and spread out around him

"What...what is it?" Jonah panted, out of breath.

Render simply sighed and said, "Andrew..." They glanced up, and could not believe what they saw. A boy with dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and who was slightly shorter than Render, was running in between the trees, laughing insanely as he was chased by three very angry feral Hunters. Jonah noticed they were all lacking pants, and guessed that Andrew was the thief. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw three pairs of jeans clutched in Andrew's hands. Ryan stared on in disbelief. "Are you KIDDING ME!" Render covered his face in shame and replied with a simple "Nope." Unhappily, Render reached out and grabbed Andrew by the shirt as he ran by. Lifting up the grinning boy, he growled angrily, "What the Hell are you doing?"

Andrew told him happily, "Messing with the zombies."

"Why?" Render growled irritatedly again and speared the Hunter that leaped towards the pair, throwing it to the side. "WHY?" He roared shaking Andrew by the scruff of the neck. Seeing their comrade fall, the other two Hunters fled in the opposite direction. Andrew started choking and Render dropped him in a heap. "Are you INSANE!"

Andrew, now acting serious said, "Sorry. I was really bored waiting for you and Thom to get back. You guys take forever!" Andrew was distracted by the sight of new arrivals. "Who are they?" Growling under his breath, Render once again introduced his friend to the new guys in town.

"Can we PLEASE get back to town? I'm getting tired of all the random bullshit I have to put up with." Render voiced his impatience.

Rolling his eyes, Andrew said in a monotone, "Sure, whatever." The teen turned around and began leading everyone towards Cherrygrove. After several minutes of walking, a rotten stench wafted past them.

Attempting to hold back rising bile, Render choked out, "What the Hell stinks so damn badly?" Looking past a shrub, he saw the decomposing corpse of the Haggard they had defeated yesterday. "Argh, Jesus, we only killed that thing a day ago! How can it be rotting so fast?"

Jonah's group took in the sight before them. Mouth open in shock, Jonah gasped, "What's that?"

Render replied with a grimace, "A Haggard. As big as a Tank and throws steel spikes at you."

Ryan's brow furrowed at the thought of another kind of special infected to battle. Pinching his nose, he said, "Can we keep moving? I think my nose just died."

Ryan and Jonah sighed with relief and hope as the walls of the settlement came into view. Render walked up to the guards, said "I'm back," and walked right on by. The two guards tried not to shake as they let the others go by without a single complaint or comment. Jonah, Ryan, and Ellie stared in awe at the harmony and peace around them. It was a precious commodity in the world of the apocalypse.

Ignoring the sights around them, Render, Andrew and Thom lead the way to a hotel. Not wishing to be left behind, the others rushed to catch up. Render was currently thumbing through the selection of music in his iPod. He quietly sang along as they walked past the buildings and stands showing off their wares. Thom spared Render a glance, but went back to navigating with Andrew. Several minutes later, the hotel came into view between the other businesses and such that you would find in a modern town.

The group strode into the main lobby. "S'up Clark." Render offered a short greeting to the busy Tank working the front desk. The young infected teen turned towards the Jonah's group. "Ok, you guys sign in, we'll go get the rest of our group. Hopefully the lazy bastards are getting ready now." The three teenage boys thumped up the stairs as Jonah and his friends went about registering into the hotel.

"Right then, three people?" Clark asked.

"Five, actually," Ryan said. "Still got Fred and Geoff to worry about."

"Alright then, five it is," Clark said. "Now, we need to discuss a payment of sorts."

"Well, what about," Jonah began when a yell interrupted him.

"Your damn Sentients overran Haven City! Those freaks killed everyone!" Jonah's group ran upstairs to see what the commotion was, coming in as Render said something in reply.

There were other infected now standing beside Jonah's group, as well as Andrew, Eric, Thom, and a fourth boy who had blonde hair, blue eyes, and glasses, and the infected were bristling at the comment, but froze when they heard Render begin growling Hunter esque. Everyone silently moved out of the way as Render stormed out of the room and stalked down the hallway. They looked inside and found a white faced soldier with brown eyes and brown hair, probably a man in his late thirties, staring at them in fear. The humans, except Jonah, dispersed, while a female Hunter with black hair and blue eyes snarled at the man, Ryan following suit, before both walked away. Ellie had small tears in her eyes, and a female Smoker with red hair and green eyes looked as if she was about to join her. The two followed the rest, leaving the soldier behind to regret his actions alone. Jonah simply stared at the man before walking into the room. "Hi," Jonah said, the soldier looking up. "I'm Jonah."

"…Jackson," the man said. He nodded at Jonah's jacket. "How'd a kid like you get a colonel's stripes?"

"My dad," Jonah said, walking over to sit beside Jackson against the wall. He rubbed the collar between his index finger and thumb. "All I have left of him." After that, there was a silence in the room. "So," Jonah said, breaking the silence. "Looks like you just screwed up."

"Big time," Jackson said in agreement. "And considering what those three…sorry, four, if you include Ripper, have done for me, you'd think I'd have the common sense to keep those kinds of things to myself."

"One would think," Jonah said, nodding. "Though calling them freaks probably didn't help much."

"You, uh…heard that, then."

"Most of it." Another silence, which was again broken by Jonah. "You know…I've had a lot of time to think about what's going on now, with how things have turned out since this outbreak…and I wonder if perhaps this thought has occurred to you."

"What would that thought be?" Jackson asked, curious.

"That you and me…we're the freaks in this world," Jonah said, Jackson's eyes registering shock at this statement. But Jonah didn't see it, instead staring at the open door. "We're only part of a small number who hasn't shown signs of being infected so far. Shouldn't we be trying to live in their world rather than them living in ours? Do we really have a say in who can start a fight and who can't?" Jackson looked at Jonah, his expression somewhat dumbfounded. "I can't say that I understand the position you're in or even that I understand where you're coming from. Because I've never had trouble with Sentients. I was saved by Sentients, I've lived with Sentients for almost a month now…I really have no right to complain about the way things are now. I can only accept it." Jonah stood up, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyways, maybe you should talk with Render after you've both cooled down." Jonah walked out of the room, leaving Jackson to his thoughts.

Fred looked around as he tried to figure out where Geoff and Ryan had gotten to. "Ah, shit," he said. "Ryan is gonna be so pissed off." Shrugging, Fred decided to head to the hotel he had been at earlier on a whim. He walked in, stopping as he looked at an angry Ryan and female Hunter, followed by Ellie and a female Smoker, both seeming extremely close to tears. "Um…did…I miss something?" Ryan looked over at Fred, before looking away.

"We'll talk later," Ryan spat. "Right now, I'm going to go out and blow some steam."

"Hoo, boy," Fred said as he walked over to a couch nearby. "I feel sorry for anyone messing with him today."

Sorry this took so long. I would have had it done two days ago, but…well, three days ago, I picked up my copy of Infamous 2 and…well, let's just say that I haven't gotten much sleep these past couple of days.