"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Warhound howled as loud as he could. It jolted Pheo right up, it was the first time he had a deep sleep in this place. He groaned moments after, feeling his muscles ache across his body.
Oddly enough however, there were multiple people who were still sleeping. Warhound went up to them, "Wakey Wakey sunshine!" He shouted aloud obnoxiously. The spit spewing from his mouth.
They still stayed asleep however, not even an inch of movement or a reflex. "Okay then" Warhound cracked his knuckles, "Time for a bit of force." He went in closer, but stopped as soon as possible.
"The hell?" He covered his nose, "Please tell me these guys know how to use the toilet." Warhound slowly went closer, just within arms reach to flip them over.
"What the?"
The person he flipped over was breathing heavily, his eyes and skin were yellow. Warhound went closer to touch him, "He's cold. Squishier than usual too." Pheo went to take a closer look, he had lips that were dry and colored blue.
"We might have a problem." Warhound voiced out to everyone else in the room, looking at the people who were still on the ground.
Pheo kept looking at the kid's body. Though his mind was a scrambled mess from waking up, he could narrow down what illness he had. "That's a bit odd." He muttered out, catching Warhound's attention.
"You know what this is?" He looked at him surprised. "Yeah, yeah…" Pheo kept trying to remember, "It's a zoonotic disease." He shut his eyes to further recall while he was in his groggy state.
"It's mostly transmitted through the urine of infected animals, I don't really know how-"
Pheo opened his ears to see a rat scurrying away. "Where does our food come from?" Warhound took a moment to answer, "I don't know." Hearing this, Pheo reconsidered his opinion of Warhound.
"What's taking so long?" Don asked as he walked in the room. He looked at Warhound, "How did you kill someone to look like that?"
"He isn't dead, he's just-" Warhound took a look to see that the kid he was right next to was now dead. Pheo's eyes widened as he saw the child, he began to run away.
"Check the pantry!" He shouted out before going out of view. Warhound watched as Don did nothing, "Are we going to stop him or just watch him escape?"
"We both know that there's something that binds this kid down here," Don told him. "And he's not heading the right way outside." Pheo ran as fast as he could, how could he forget?
They were living in the mines, an area that even adults often die in due to its poor environment. Gases that could poison or explode, the unbearable heat that radiates from the center of the earth, and suffocating air that they had to breathe.
It was only time for something like this to happen. Pheo put out his arm to stop himself from crashing at the entrance. His heart stopped when he looked inside the room. It was Ryu, sweating profusely with heavy, labored breaths.
He was still sleeping, but he was in pain. All he could do was watch, once again entrapped in that feeling that he hated. Parquatz saw Pheo standing still in his way. He was about to scold him for being out of line, till he saw his face.
I haven't even done anything yet.
He slowly got behind him, following his gaze to see the state that Ryu was in. One of them physically in pain while the other mentally, Parquatz couldn't help but grin ear to ear.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm in."
Pheo told them. He went straight towards Jug's group. Jim laughed, "What made you finally change your mind?" The group looked suspicious of him, the sudden change wasn't his behavior.
"Didn't you want me to join you guys?" Pheo asked, "Besides, this isn't for free."
"You may be something that we wanted, but you aren't something we need." Mark got up and spoke. Pheo rolled his eyes, "Come on, it's pretty obvious that you guys are planning something."
"And you need me for it." He went up in front of Jim, "I'll help you, you know this won't be a loss." Jim smirked, Pheo wasn't what he was before. He was more gutsy, more confident.
Something changed him.
And he was the one who made it happen. "Alright, what's the catch?" Jim asked him bluntly, he knew that everything comes with a price. "Ryu," He told them. "I want him to survive."
"Unnegotiable." He told all of them, a condition he wouldn't budge with. They all looked at each other, wondering if anyone had something to say about it. "Looks like it's a deal then." Jim said before shaking each other's hands.
"By the way, if you want a chance of him surviving before he dies, we're acting a month from now" Jim told them. They all looked at him surprised, "Don't worry, it's possible."
"Especially with him on board now." Jim gestured at Pheo. "You simply have to take gramps for a walk," He told him. "Keep him distracted enough for us to make an escape with the sick guy in tow."
Pheo thought about how Don's been treating him, he felt like he would be betraying him.
For Ryu.
He thought as he nodded, "I can do that easily, Now what's your plan?" Jim got a piece of trash from the ground and threw it at Tom. Instinctively, he jumped away, "What was that for?"
"Explain the plan."
"Alright, alright," Tom sighed. "Me and Mark's going to be setting something up to stop the dog from acting up. Really only leaves Parquatz to roam free."
"I'm in charge of dealing with him," Jen got up and chimed in. "I'll make sure he won't be able to be in our way." Pheo looked at the crew he was going to work with, but noticed something a bit odd.
"And what's Jug doing in all this?" He asked. The question made everyone look at each other, "He was a great leader" Jim stepped in to answer, "But even with how young he is, his ways are old."
"We just decided a group where we all can make decisions is better." He got both of his hands up and laid down. Pheo felt that his answer was lacking, but he understood enough not to pry. "How do I know exactly when it'll happen?"
Tom bursted out laughing at Pheo's question, "You'll know," He chuckled. "Everyone in this damn hole will." His response was odd, but Pheo dismissed it. "I'll be sure to do my job, so do yours." He told them all before going off.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warhound entered the pantry to see it was infested with mice. "I guess this is what happens when you let kids take care of the kitchen." He quickly jumped away as a few of them scurried out the room.
Don was in the room as well, inspecting the stocked bread. It was gnawed on, some of it littered with excrement. "It seems so…" He went in deeper, further revealing just how infested the pantry really was.
"Tell me, how would so many of these rodents enter a locked room with a single entrance?" Warhound transformed, trying to make himself look bigger to prevent the rats from approaching him as he followed behind.
"Maybe two got in and started getting busy." His answer came with a bit of movement in his hips. "There's only bread in here, but there's a strong stench somewhere." Warhound commented as he watched Don move boxes full of stale bread.
He pushed one of the boxes to reveal small holes that the rats could pass through. He looked down the hole, backing off when multiple rats ran off from the inside. Don touched the area nearby, there were small chunks of rocks
"Doesn't this seem manmade?"
Warhound easily pushed aside the boxes that were blocking his view, "I'm sure that way leads to the area we blocked off because it was full of pests" Don stopped to think, "And you said there was a strong smell here?"
"Can you describe it?"
"Yeah," Warhound sniffed the air. "It smells like nuts." He went around, sniffing every once in a while to check if the scent was stronger or not. He pushed aside box after box until they found a cluster of rats.
Don went in and kicked away the rats, revealing a ravaged jar of peanut butter. "Isn't that what Parquatz puts in his meal share?" Warhound picked it up, trying to read the label. Parts of it were scratched off from the rat's claws.
He noticed that the expiration date was past due, "This is probably stolen."
"I'm thinking one of the kids did it," He speculated. "Maybe that kid, Pheo."
Don shook his head, "He wouldn't act without reason."
"There is someone who would, though, the owner of that jar." He grew suspicious of Parquatz, but it only grew as such. "Let's inspect whatever's still good to eat and change rooms for the pantry"
Don took a look to see that Warhound was struggling to move around because of the rats. He sighed, "You move the boxes." His eyes turned purple, making the rats that met his eyes jump from the shocking pain it took them in.
Within seconds, they would run as far away as they could. This allowed Don and Warhound to fix the pantry, barely able to scrape anything useful.