Jonah walked down the stairs, passing by Ellie and the two female infected from earlier, stopping to introduce himself. "Hi. I'm Jonah," he said, holding out his hand. The Smoker looked at it before taking it hesitantly.

"I'm Screen," she said. She nodded to the Huntress beside her. "This is my sister. Jenna."

"Hi," Jenna said, ignoring his hand. He put it down, shrugging to himself.

"Hey, Ellie, I'm going out for a bit," he said. "Let Ryan know?"

"He's already gone," Ellie said. "Fred and Geoff are here, by the way."

"Oh? Where at?"

"Sitting in the lobby."

"Well, at least they made it," Jonah said. He nodded to three females and walked off. "I'll see you later, then." As he walked into the lobby, he saw Fred and Geoff sitting on the couch, conversing. "Hey, guys," he greeted.

"Jonah," Geoff said, nodding in acknowledgement. "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah. Going out for a bit," Jonah said.

"You sure you want to do that?" Fred asked. "I mean, none of the others have gone out. Well, as far as I know."

"I'll be fine," Jonah said, pulling the hood over his head. "This thing covers all of me pretty well. Long as I manage to keep my face hidden, I should be okay." He walked out of the hotel and down the street, passing people going about their business. He made his way to what he recognized as a park, people walking around, some holding hands, even families that had managed to stay together or find each other after the initial outbreak. He smiled as he watched all this, when he felt something hit his foot.

"Hey, mister!" a little Hunter yelled, waving at Jonah. "Throw us our ball?" Jonah looked down at the baseball by his foot, bent down, and picked it up. He smiled as he tossed it up and down a couple of times.

"Here ya go!" he called back, tossing it underhanded to the little Hunter, who caught it, waving.

"Thank you!" Jonah nodded, pulling his hood forward as he felt it start to fall back with the movement of his head. He continued his walking, deciding to take the path around the park.

"Insensitive little fucker," Ryan mumbled under his breath. "Has the nerve to say that while surrounded by Sentients. If it weren't for Ellie and Jonah, I would probably shred him." He took a couple of breaths, trying to calm himself down. He was perched on top of a light pole, having jumped from a building rooftop onto it. He had learned early on in the infection that Hunters had bodies perfect for free running, an activity he had enjoyed greatly in his late teens and early twenties. It had even proven useful on his job, though he tried to repress those memories once more. "Man, I need some way to relax."

"Hey, back off," he heard. He looked down to see Jonah against a wall, the Spiker from yesterday leading a small posse of infected. "I haven't done anything."

"So? Bein' human is enough for me," the Spiker said. "After that brat came into town with that human scum, my rep's been in the hole."

"Wait…you're that Spiker Render was talking about, aren't you?" Jonah asked, Ryan shaking his head and sighing. He jumped down, putting his hand on the Spiker's shoulder, startling those there.

"Is there a problem here?" Ryan asked. The Spiker jumped back, then hiking his thumb at Jonah.

"Yeah. We got some humans in town. And we gotta clear them out," the Spiker said, grinning. "Wanna join?"

"You know, I'm in a really bad mood right now. And hearing someone talk about my friend like that just isn't helping my mood. I'll give you fellas ten seconds to get out of here and leave my friend alone," Ryan said, cracking the knuckles on his hands by simply flexing his fingers. "Or, we can do this the hard way. And to be honest, I'd prefer the hard way."

"Ryan," Jonah said, his tone suggesting a hint of warning in it.

"Not now, Jonah," Ryan said.

"Uh, boss, maybe we should listen to him," a Boomer said. He scooted over to his boss, gesturing for him to lean closer. "I think this is that Hunter and human we was hearin' 'bout the other day," he whispered into the Spiker's ear. The Spiker seemed to become paler than he was right now and turned to Ryan.

"You know, on second thought, we've got somewhere else to be," he said, chuckling nervously. "Come on, fellas, let's go…do that thing we had planned." With that, the Spiker and his gang ran away, surprising Jonah.

"Ryan, what did you do?" Jonah asked.

"Hmph. Seems news travels fast among Sentient settlements," Ryan said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…um…remember that one stop we made before finally getting here?" Ryan asked, Jonah nodding. "Well, I got into a bit of brawl…against twenty other Sentients. And…um…let's just say we won't be visiting that town ever again."

"How bad were you hurt?" Jonah asked, suddenly concerned.

"Huh? Who said anything about me being hurt? Those guys fucking asked for it," Ryan said, rubbing his head. Jonah looked at him with shock. "What? Something I said? Anyways, I'm dropping you off at the hotel before anyone else decides to mess with you. By the way…how did they know you weren't an infected?"

"Um…they might have seen my hands," Jonah said, tapping his chin. "Maybe we should get some gloves for me. Then again, that might look even more suspicious." Jonah then stopped, looking at Ryan. "Wait, what do you mean, drop me off? You're not staying?"

"I've just…got some steam to blow off, alright?" Ryan replied, gesturing for Jonah to continue his walking. "I'll be done in an hour or two. Just in time for lunch, right?" Jonah thought about it and slowly nodded.

"Alright," Jonah said. "Guess I'll see you when you get back. No reason to babysit me," he continued, walking away, waving over his shoulder. "You go ahead and finish up whatever you're doing. I'll let the others know how long you'll be gone."

"Thanks, kid," Ryan said, running at a building and jumping, using the windows to get up on the roof.

This chapter is separate from The Hybrid in that it shows what two of my characters were doing with the free time before lunch. Next chapter will show a bit of that. Please Review.