Sorry it took so long for me to update this guys, but this chapter is a lot longer than the others, so maybe that'll make up for it. I hope you are all still enjoying my story, and thankyou all the people who have given me such nice reviews. The next chapter, will be out in a week tops. I promise that it's not like the other times I have said that D: Anyway. yes…Enjoy!
"There! I told you I could make a great tent" Feliciano smiled, admiring his work. "Wow, that actually looks like it will hold. Guess my brother taught you well, sorry we doubted you Feli. And if your finished, do you think you could go get some water?" Gilbert said as he and Lili struggled around with the gas stove. He nodded and began to walk back to the river they had seen while walking "I'll be back soon. Don't get eaten while I'm gone". She waved to him as he went "We will!"
He felt a bit relieved to be on his own for a moment, it was scarier but he could assess their situation better this way. He'd been feeling uneasy for a while, since they'd finished lunch. He couldn't put a finger on what was bothering him so much, and didn't want to bother the others, but if he was alone maybe he could work it out. Reaching the river he dipped the bucket into the water, humming a little as he did so. There was no reason for him to be so worried, anymore than one usually would when faced with a plague of the undead that is.
Placing the full bucket beside him Feliciano took a moment to admire the riverbank, it was rather picturesque, and on a normal day it would have been a great place to go on a picnic. A beautiful, postcard worthy place to spend the day was now just a place to fill his bucket, but he supposed that was the equivalent in this world. Feli bent down and picked up the bucket taking special care so that the water wouldn't spill, when a voice seemed to spring out of no where "You here for the meet?". Feliciano's mouth flung open but is scream was cut short when a hand slid in front of his lips "Shh Shh, Jesus man sorry for scaring you but don't go bringing the dead down on us". Slowly the hand dropped and he could turn to face the stranger, who appeared relatively harmless. "Meet?" Feliciano questioned not quite knowing what else to say.
"The Rennhofstrasse Sanctuary Meet" the man said smiling so that it made him feel a little uncomfortable. Feliciano's tilted his head a little "Sanctuary meet…what..what is that?". The man nodded, apparently having expected for Feliciano not to know, and then began to explain. "Rennhofstrasse is a road just outside of Schellenberg, which wasn't hit that bad when this started. Me and my group cleared the road fortified an old strip-mall and eventually people started coming there for a nights safety, and trading among themselves. Now there's about 50 permanent residents and 100 guest each night, but we keep it well protected. Apparently there's heaps of place just like it all around." It was all a bit to take in, and Feliciano didn't know how long he'd just been standing there before he let out "That's amazing! D..do you think me and my friends could visit there tonight?" it sounded like a great deal, and they were in desperate need of some more food supplies. The other man agreed, telling him it was about 20 minutes walk but they'd have to leave soon to get there before the sun went down. He then picked up the bucket and walked with Feli to meet and inform the others.
"WHO THE FUCK IS THAT!?" Gilbert cried when they emerged from the bushes, pulling out his gun quickly, than realising he probably shouldn't have been so loud. "Gil, it's okay. This guys okay! He knows somewhere safe for us to go tonight." Gilbert exchanged sceptical looks with Lili, before addressing the man "And where exactly might that be sir?". "Leon" he said calmly and then, once the gun had lowered, he proceeded to explain about the trade site. "I don't know" Gilbert said humming in thought "How can we trust you?". Leon stepped forward a little "I guess you can't for sure sir, but I need to leave very soon because I want to be safe tonight, the question is are you coming with me?". Feliciano shot Gilbert a pleading look, and could see that he was torn, before that was Lili piped up "I think we should go. You don't really want to be out in the open tonight do you Gil? And if it is a trick or something we are strong enough to deal with it!"
Gilbert had folded quickly after that and after 5 minutes of repacking they were on their way. Feliciano walked next to Leon, asking him about the people he'd seen come and go, he thought there was a chance that someone they knew had passed through their, apparently no such luck though. The other two walked behind them, occasionally piping in but mainly they just spoke together. The walk seemed a lot quicker than twenty minutes and they arrived at a large set of gates, that had been boarded to hell, just as the sun disappeared. "So which ways in?" Feliciano said as the others caught up. "I just gotta whistle and they open the gates from the inside" Leon said letting out a sharp short whistle and sure enough they began to move aside.
All three nation's jaws dropped a little when they saw inside the gates, it was just as he'd said, but the amount of human activity was something they hadn't seen in a long time. Rows and Rows of little tents and huts lined the inside, all with items sprawled in front of them and people hovering around. "Wow" was all Feli could let out as they stepped in and the gates closed behind them. Leon smiled "Yep! But I believe there's the matter of payment, this place aint free". Gilbert nodded and opened his bag looking for something to give him, eventually pulling out one of his guns "Is this okay? It works great, but we don't really have any ammo left for it?". Leon took the gun and examined it for a moment "yeah it's fine. Now you can set up for the night anywhere, except not in the buildings they are for permanent residents. Feel free to trade, and remember this is only payment for a night so you gotta leave tomorrow" he took a couple of steps away before stopping "Oh and, you will find pretty much everything for sale here. So be careful" before continuing again.
They decided they would split up to look over the site, that way they'd look at everything quicker and meet up by the gates when they were done. Feliciano had moved to the far right of the complex and was admiring the variety of objects that he saw, this place really did have everything from bikes to fridges, but god knows who would need a fridge anymore. By the end of the second row he'd traded away the map of Berne, a cylinder of gas for their camp stove, two water bottles and a blanket. Getting in return 4 cans of beans, 2 cans of peaches, a box of spaghetti to replace the one he'd lost in his camp, and a rather sturdy looking cricket bat that he thought might come in handy. Walking down the third row, he realised he'd been rather enjoying himself, this place seemed about as close to real life as their was now. People shopping, was there anything more human to do he pondered, Cook, Eat, Love.. but he supposed that was happening here as well.
A gruff shout broke his thoughts and he looked around, before realising there wasn't danger of those things and it was probably just someone getting an iffy deal. He laughed approaching the next stall and examining a box of first aid supplies, something they desperately needed. Although Liechtenstein wasn't saying much, he knew she was in a lot of pain, and it wasn't going to get better without first aid. He sighed and pulled out another can of gas, "Can I trade you this for this first aid stuff" he asked, begging that he wouldn't have to pay more. The woman mulled it over before nodding and taking the can "Sure". Feli smiled and flashed a grin "Thankyou" picking up the little box, placing it in his bag and walking around to the next row of shops.
He was met with a site that shook his stomach a little. Gilbert was standing in front of Lili, across from a group of five men who were laughing cruelly and saying something he couldn't quite hear. "Gilbert?" he let out moving towards them, feeling Gilbert's and then the other men's eyes turn on him. "Feliciano don't come over here" he responded. But Feliciano didn't listen and continued to walk until he was beside them, trying desperately to work out what was going on. "Oh another friend of yours?" one of the men said with a sneer. "No. Just leave him out of this. In fact why don't you just leave all of us alone?" Gilbert said with determination, but Feliciano could see fear hidden in his eyes, and that made him uncomfortable. "Give us the girl and we will. There's five of us, versus you, the girl and that scrawny fuck. So were gonna get what we want."
It clicked into place suddenly, Feliciano knew what was going on, and it made his stomach turn again. "Like fuck your getting Lili." Gilbert hissed holding his arms out to the sides in an effort to protect her more. One of the men piped up "Screw this let's just take her" and they approached Gilbert. Feliciano didn't know what to do, but he had to do something and he threw himself in between the men and the other two. As soon as he'd come within arms reach though something had wrapped around his wrist and his feet left the floor "Look guys I caught him" the man spat.
Gilbert pushed Lili back before running forward "LET HIM GO!". "No I think we'll keep him. He has got to be worth a bit" one of the men said grinning." We got someone, so we'll be leaving now. Bye then" another one said as Feliciano thrashed his arms about trying to break free. "Like He-" A loud noise broke over every other sound in the complex for a second and Feliciano's body met the floor again head hitting the ground and vision blurring. "Ahh!" someone let out a scream…Lili? "Holy Shit!" Feliciano's head shook and he couldn't make sense of anything, until Gilbert's voice rung over the others "Get up Feli we're going!" Something lifted him, and his feet began moving, he didn't understand what had happened and his head pounded, but he followed closely to he white tuft of hair in front of him "But it's dark we have no where to go."
"Anywhere's better". Feliciano hadn't realised where they were until the gates began to move in in front of him and he followed Gilbert into the street. The gate closed behind them, and his head cleared a little "What the fuck was that?" but Gilbert just shook his head "Later, we need to get somewhere safe." and began walking down the street. Feliciano's eyes focused and he realised Gilbert was carrying Lili, every inch of his body wanted to be told right now, he understood though, that it was unsafe and followed him silently trying to piece it together.