(E) Chapter 4                                                                                           Silence had covered up the whole shop, and if it was a reality show that had CG’s there would be dots around everyone’s head showing their utter confusion. Except Luhan, of course. Luhan looked as carefree, his expression smug as if he was saying: Hah! I have cigarettes, you don’t! The rest that were sitting just simply looked at the newcomers. The ones named Kai and Tao looked younger than him and that made Luhan feel at ease. He lifted his shoulders to shrug once more before looking over to the people on the floor. Baekhyun’s lips still open, his chocolate still in his mouth and Chen who blinked multiple times trying to grasp the situation.   But then everything happened in less than a second and the two who looked like they weren’t dangerous as they deemed to be, were actually more dangerous than Luhan thought. Kai who was standing casually and Tao who seemed to look at Kai every 3 seconds for an order suddenly retrieved two guns from their jackets with a click, Kai yelled out who was followed by a stammering Tao. “Put your hands up!” Kai said, pointing the gun at them while Tao who was a second late just nodded before motioning to Kai. “Yeah..... What he said…”   Kai took a step closer, squinting just to see the rest who were eating before jerking his head towards them. “You all there, stand up or I will shoot.” Kai managed to say and even then Baekyoung, Baekhyun and Chen looked at each other in confusion, Baekhyuns chocolate falling out of his mouth. Luhan who was already standing chuckled and that made Kai raise an eyebrow. The fact that Luhan wasn’t scared angered the dark haired tan-skinned boy and he lowered his finger on the trigger, sending Luhan a warning glance. “Don’t come close- We don’t know if you’re infected.” Tao mumbled and it was barely audible to Luhan who looked at him as if he was crazy. Luhan moved over to Kai, wrenching the gun away from his fingers and throwing it onto the ground. With a bounce and by the look of it, the gun was not real. Even more so, it was plastic: the type of guns little boys buy when they played spy. “Really?” Luhan asked in disbelief. “You were going to shoot us with that?”   Luhan having experienced multiple situations with guns knew how they looked from afar, how the clicks sounded and how an expert handled it. And by the looks of it, the guns were not real. Relief washed over the people who were sitting down and Baekhyun made a face at the chocolate that fell on the floor, grabbing it and shoving it down his mouth before getting poked by Chen who looked at him with disgust. Baekyoung who had put down his bowl of ramen resumed to grab it and continue eating, deciding to let Luhan take the lead with the two boys. “Just…” Kai scratched the back of his head, his lips. “I… Who the are you?” He decided to ask back forcefully, raising his chin to Luhan who smiled. “We’re survivors.” Luhan answered before frowning at Tao who did not bother about the two boys that were standing. Instead, Tao toddled over to where the smell was and poked his head through the clothes on all fours, his dark shadows making Baekhyun jump back a bit. “Hi.” “H-Hi..” Chen said a bit weirded out by this panda boy who had his eyes on Chen’s bowl of ramen. “Can I have a bite?” Tao asked suddenly and Chen blinked at him, before nodding slowly, his hand grabbing his bowl to twirl the fork and gather ramen noodles. After he did that, he leaned over to feed Tao who gobbled up the whole thing making Chen worry that the boy would eat the fork while he was at it. When Tao swallowed, he wiped his lips and was now staring at Baekhyun who still had a small bit of chocolate left. Baekhyun did not avoid his gaze; instead the young boy grabbed the remaining chocolate and shot it into his own mouth, chewing it while staring back at Tao. His eyes sending him the message: This is mine. Bye. Tao made a face at Baekhyun who stuck his tongue out before moving away from the clothes rack to stand up and glance back at Luhan and Kai who were still standing and talking. “Why are you guys here?” Luhan asked and Kai his lips. “Same reason you are, we needed shelter and food.” Kai pointed outside making Luhan see a white car beside his broken down red one. “We parked our car beside yours in case. At first we thought it was an abandoned car since there were no traces of people.” “You have a car?” Luhan stared at the white car and it was a beaten up one. “Ours broke down.”   Kai smirked, now feeling the power he had was in the vehicle he had that these people did not. “Let us stay for one day and we’ll leave. We travel at night anyway. Tao- Tao, why are you sitting there?!” Kai exclaimed when he saw Tao sitting beside the kind Baekyoung who was feeding him with the remaining soup and noodles he had. “He’s feeding me.” Tao said oblivious of the situation they were in or the small fight of power Luhan and Kai were having, just opening his mouth to take another bite from Baekyoung. “Kai... You should eat, I mean... They even have ramen. I thought you said you miss eating ramen.” “Yeah, why don’t you eat?” Luhan asked, tilting his head at Kai. “Take one bite and you have to bring us with you.” “Excuse me?” Kai asked, walking closer to Luhan and narrowing his eyes at Luhan. “I don’t need your food.”   “What do you mean you don’t need food, Kai. You haven’t eaten in 32 hours.” Tao intercepted, unknowingly making Kai close his eyes trying to control his anger. Tao just continued sitting there, swallowing anything given to him as if he was a food vacuum or a little baby bird.   “Tao, can you stop-“ Kai started and Luhan smiled. “Fine, if you say so.” Luhan answered, turning his body around and walking back just to sit down, taking his own bowl to finish his meal. “Chen, go cook more ramen. Since we have another one here-“, pointing at Tao, “We need more.” Chen, who knew what was going on, nodded. He knew that Luhan was using it as a tactic of survival to get them away from the place, but he could not help but feel sorry for Kai who was standing there watching everyone having a good meal. The high cheek boned dinosaur walked to the hot water, boiling the remaining clean liquid they had left and turned to look at Kai whose stomach grumbled loud enough for him to hear.   “……” Kai looked back at Chen who turned away, not wanting to look at the boy. Chen had a soft heart and the fact that all of them were eating with someone looking at them half starving made him feel bad. His fingers moved to rip off two ramen packs and he quietly arranged the small packets of flavoring, taking a peek at Kai to see him standing still. Then again, people like Kai seemed to have their pride. He could be on his knees dying and he still would refuse to ask for help. Chen took a huff of breath, and when the ramen finished he put the amount of one packet into his bowl leaving the rest for Tao. The blonde haired boy walked over to Kai, handing him the bowl to which Kai looked at him, his eyebrows furrowing. “Just eat.” Chen said and shoved the bowl against Kai’s chest. Kai’s hand lifted up to hold the bowl, Chen heading back to his little circle to eat.   Everyone saw everything, and Luhan pretended he saw nothing. Tao was already leaning against Baekyoung’s shoulder, half asleep with his mouth open. The two seemed to come from a very tiring trip and as strong hearted Luhan was- he did feel a bit better when Kai took the bowl and went to another corner to eat.   “Why did you give him food?” Baekhyun asked, glancing at Chen who took a gulp of water and wiped off his lips. “He needed food.” Chen bit his lower lip and leaned against the wall. “But he isn’t giving us anything back in return.” “It doesn’t matter; we’ll find a way out.” Baekyoung answered in turn of Chen, ruffling his younger brother’s hair. “Maybe he was acting up because he was hungry… Are you sleepy? Let’s sleep. We can change our clothes and shower after we wake up.” It was then Baekhyun felt exhaustion spread over him the moment his brothers words entered his ears. His legs and arms felt numb and Baekyoung seeing that, carefully moved Tao’s head that was on his shoulders to his lap, his other hand going around his younger brother to make him lean against him. “Sleep, Baekhyunie-ah.” “Mhmm.” Baekhyun mumbled back, his eyes immediately feeling heavy. He laid in the crook of his brothers neck, a yawn attacking his features before his eyes closed shielding his senses from the outside world.   Baekyoung who saw that the two were sleeping also started to feel the fatigue of not enough sleep the past three days indulge his senses. His eyes watered and he laid his head on top of Baekhyun’s. His eyes looked over to see Chen looking at him, a smile spreading over his lips before motioning Chen closer. “Sleep, Chen ah. You need the rest. Come here and sit beside Baekhyun.” Baekyoung said and Chen smiled back. It was a sight, seeing someone so kind and helpful at a time like this. Baekhyun and Baekyoung were starting to grow on him. Chen nodded, scooting closer to Baekhyun and leaning against the wall. Baekyoung who had his arm around his younger brother reached to pat Chen on the shoulder, giving it a squeeze of comfort. “You did well so far. I’m proud of you.” The older boy’s comment made Chen close his eyes to stop the tears. It seemed that the emotions he wasn’t feeling the past days decided to hit him now and the worry and wonder of where his parents were were coming back. “Thanks, Baekyoung hyung.” Chen barely replied, his head starting to spin. And before he knew it, he too, was