Swain was annoyed he couldn't go rest after the eventful day he had, but followed behind Brody anyway. Brody told the group they had to meet the leader of the student center group. Sylas was surprised there was already a recognized leader after only half a day because there should be many people here who didn't know each other before.
As they walked through the hallways of the student center they were stopped several times. Sometimes it was to ask Brody about the new group, and other times it was because one of the survivors recognized one of Sylas's group.
Each interaction caught Sylas's attention as he noticed anyone coming up to the group would move away from him. They didn't avoid him from the start, but after greeting whoever they came for, the person would subtly move away from him. After the first two occurrences, Sylas moved around the group and watched as the person almost mirrored his steps in order to maintain distance. Sylas watched the faces of the survivors moving away and found it interesting that they didn't even seem to notice what they were doing.
Sylas didn't understand what was happening, but before he could think about it too deeply, they arrived in front of a door. The sign next to the door said Guidance Center and they could hear several people's muffled voices coming from within. Brody knocked loudly on the door causing the voices to stop.
An unknown woman opened the door. She was at most 5'2", with deep brown hair, bright red lipstick, and dim green eyes. She wore short jean shorts and a crop top which accentuated her figure. She lazily looked over the group, finally landing on Brody. "New batch?"
Brody nodded his head while staring, noticeably, at the woman's crop top. She ignored his gaze, saying "Follow me." as she walked into the room. The room was a decent size, about 30x30 with doors leading to guidance counselor's offices lining the walls. There were tens of candles lit to illuminate the large room. There was a small portable gas grill near the windows with meat sizzling on it.
In the room there were three guys sitting in office chairs, the chairs were in a position that suggested two of the guys were originally facing the third. One of the guys was Eric. The one that came to the student center with them, but quickly disappeared when they stepped inside. It was clear to Sylas that Eric was charged with giving the boss information about who they found before the group arrived at his door.
There were also three more women in the room who were sitting next to each other on the floor against the wall near the guys. While they didn't really have any really remarkable features, Sylas did notice their clothing was all similar to the woman leading the group in.
The man in the center stood up with a large smile plastered on his face. He had a buzz cut, wire framed glasses over his brown eyes, and a mustache that made Sylas shiver. "Hahaha If it isn't Swain Shieldgrove! The baseball extraordinaire! I've seen your games many times." The man loudly exclaimed as he walked up to Swain, pulling him into a one-armed hug as a greeting. "I'm Brock Creighton, the guidance counselor. Or at least, a former guidance counselor." He said as he pointed to one of the offices which had his name on the plaque.
Sylas noticed Sam, who was lightly leaning against him, flinched when Brock introduced himself. Filing the thought to the back of his mind for the moment, he started paying attention again as Swain introduced their group one by one. Brock kept the smile plastered on his face like he had undergone too many botox procedures the entire time and shook each person's hand as they were introduced.
After the introductions on Sylas's side was complete, Brock took charge again. "I should introduce you to my right hand man! This is Dexter Sawchain." Brock pointed to the other male in the room. The guy looked more rat-like than human. His hair was also in a buzz cut, brown eyes so dark they appeared black, with a pointy nose, and front teeth a bit too big for his face. Dexter gave a creepy grin as he was introduced and waved at the group, but his eyes never really left the girls sitting against the wall.
Brock sat back in his chair as he addressed the group. "So, you've gotten here where you're safe after, from what I've heard, a pretty rough journey. What do you plan to do now?" Quickly interrupting Swain before he could start speaking, Brock added "And I don't mean tonight. What are your plans for tomorrow? What about for the next week?"
Swain waited to make sure Brock was finished speaking this time before giving a generic answer. "We aren't really sure yet. We're more of a ragtag group that banded together because of the chaos so I certainly can't speak on their behalf, but I was thinking about continuing to look for people as we wait to see if the government or military has a response to everything that's going on."
As he heard Swain's plan to stay, Brock's grin got even bigger. "Sounds great! That's what we're doing too. You guys must be tired so Brody can show you to a room you guys can stay in for the night. We raided a dorm or two so we have plenty of bedding for everyone." He waved his hand around the room as he said the last part indicating towards the piles of blankets in the corner of the room.
"Head back this way tomorrow morning if anyone wants to join the patrols or wants to help us survive in any way." With those last words, Brock sent them off to follow Brody. Brody led them to a stockpile of blankets where each person grabbed one or two for themselves and a pillow. They were then shown to an open study room.
The room wasn't large at 10x15, but it would be good enough. The door and entire interior wall was made out of glass so there was no privacy, but they were basically five strangers anyway so they didn't even have privacy from each other. The nice thing was there wasn't a large table in this study room. Instead there were multiple bean bags that could be used as a mattress.
By the time the group had claimed their bean bags and were beginning to sit down, Brody, who they hadn't realized left, returned with a small propane grill and a pot. "I know you guys have some food in your packs so here you go. Have a hot meal."
Setting them down, Brody left quickly after Swain thanked him. Sylas stood back up, closing and locking the door to the room. These rooms were soundproofed to allow for better study environments so he was going to take advantage of it. Calling Sam over towards the door he addressed the entire group "Figure out what we can eat tonight so we can pass out for the night."
Professor Medina accepted his words as her task and started going through the backpacks to gather ingredients. Sylas looked at Sam and whispered "Hey, why did you flinch when Brock introduced himself?" Sam looked shocked at his words for a moment then equipped a small smile and winked. "Thanks for paying attention to me. I'll tell the group so I don't have to say it twice."
Sylas and Sam went back to the center of the room with the rest of the group and sat down. Sam sat for a moment before beginning. "Diana and Professor Medina may be aware of this already because it affects us." She took a breath and sighed when she began again.
"Brock Creighton is known around the university for being too friendly towards women. There have been several accounts circulating through the female dorms of him trying to get touchy and getting upset when called out for it. I know there was an official investigation done internally by the university two years ago and he's still here so I'm assuming they didn't find anything on him. New rumors have started since then, but it's always 'My roommate said' or 'My classmate was' and not any first hand accounts. So you have to remember that it could all be false. There could just be a Cam that decided she hated him."
Everyone in the room knew what Cam had done because of their close connection with Sam or being a part of the nursing program so they nodded their heads when she finished speaking. Seeing Sam was done, Sylas spoke up this time. "With that said, still be careful. We don't know if those rumors have any validity and it's better safe than sorry. We'll keep the door locked and try not to go out on your own, ladies. Of course, you can ignore my suggestions because I'm certainly not looking to control your actions."
He finished speaking and stood up, opening a window to the outside allowing air flow into the room. He clapped his hands together. "Alright, let's get cooking."
Professor Medina put together several cans of vegetables and some rice to make a filling meal for the group. They had to go around and ask for some utensils, but were eventually able to eat. Everyone got comfortable in their bean bags just as the sun was fully down and it became too dark to easily move around.
"In the morning we'll make a plan of what we want to do. Don't head out before then. Diana, Professor Medina, if you want to stay in our group that's fine, but if not then I'll have to ask you to immerse yourself with these guys then. I'll give you the night to think about it."
With grunts and murmurs of affirmation, the group relaxed in their bean bags to sleep. Sam was sprawled across hers with her head on Sylas's stomach. She was able to instantly fall asleep just like any other night and any other uncomfortable position.
Sylas laid there listening to his wife breathe. He went over the day and what he had learned so far. Thinking about the sensation of mana he began to concentrate on his abdominal area, searching for the warmth he'd felt several times before. Over the next few minutes he felt a heat starting to rise so he focused on it, but was unable to grasp anything. He didn't feel like he was controlling the warmth, only that it was spreading.
Taking a step back from the situation, he realized the warmth wasn't moving in any fashion he had felt before. When he used [Rotting Bolt] or absorbed the mana from hunts, he could feel specific pathways the mana was taking, but this warmth was radiating instead of going down a path. He realized that the source of warmth was actually his wife's head which was laying on his stomach.
Sylas smiled and ran his fingers through her dirty blonde hair. He could barely see her face in the dim moonlight, but he saw a smile grace her face. He fully relaxed his body and joined her in a deep and well deserved sleep.