Silence filled the van, as Perry, Nicole and Christian wore solemn expressions on their faces— well, technically they all did. It was like the group had lost a big part of them. But.. surviving was something separate and they had to. So that's why they were driving towards that subway station again. the same one they found all the information in.
Maverick, Rexine and Axelle were talking in the back to distract themselves, trying to lighten the mood. But even they knew it wouldn't be easy. Not now, at least.
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"Where are they now?" Dave spoke with a sigh, throwing himself against the couch.
"They seem to be heading towards here? In this general direction." Darren replied, typing away on his laptop.
"Really? How long 'till they get here?" Damian asked, lounging on the couch, scrolling through his phone idly.
"Maybe another 10 minutes and we'll be able to see them." Darren stated, finally closing his laptop.
"Seriously." Emily started. "Why are they so dense??" She complained, bouncing a tennis ball back and forth against the wall.
"To be fair, Ems.. you were pretty darn mean to them." Damian replied, glancing over.
"Hey! It was just for show. I had to. Nathan told me to be mean. But I don't know, it's not like being mean would pull them any closer to us. It's weird." she sighed, letting the tennis ball fall onto the floor, rolling away. "And he said I looked bratty too. He's the actual mean one."
"On the way?" Nathan casually asked, walking into the room. Darren nodded subtly.
"Yeah, it'll take them like 10 minutes.." he replied, walking over to grab a juice packet.
Dave was sprawled out on the couch now, staring up at the ceiling. He wasn't sure how to break all the information to his sister. He hadn't believed it at first too, no matter how gullible he was. The organization was never people he thought would do good. He'd never expect something so.. intense and rather personal. Even though Perry wasn't blood related to them, all of her problems were theirs. But about this? He wasn't so sure if he should intervene.
At first when they had pulled Dave and Darren aside to talk to them, Dave almost immediately left. But because he knew Nicole was Perry's best friend, he stayed just to hear an explanation because.. Dave himself couldn't believe Nicole was actually bad. Or could be that unreasonable. Especially towards Perry, out of everyone.
Darren shoved Dave aside, making some space for himself. He sat, arms crossed over his chest as he sighed softly. Dave was zoned out, but snapped back to reality as he heard Darren's sigh. He knew what kind it was. They were the most similiar to each other, after all.
"Nervous?" He asked simply, in response, Darren's gaze slowly dragged towards his twin brother. He reluctantly nodded.
"Aren't you? What if she thinks we've gone absolutely ballistic too?"
"I guess…We have a better chance of her believing us? Definitely more than them trying to explain anything." Dave gave a little thumbs up, smile a little lopsided.
"Is that a cockroach?!" A rather distant, but also rather recognizable voice spoke. A specific male blueberry.
A sigh from Waylen. "We're in a goddamn apocalypse, and that's what you're worried about?" He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"But it's a flying one.."
". . ." Waylen groaned rather loudly.
Perry and the group were just passing by the house. That was before Dave and Darren appeared out of nowhere (actually from the house), stepping out into Perry's field of vision.
Momentarily, Perry forgot why she was upset. She forgot about everything else. One of the biggest questions even if she didn't voice it— was about them and where they had gone for nearing a week.
She stared, blinked and stared. Before she cracked the smallest smile.
"...You guys are in big trouble." She said, but walked upto them, hugging both of them at once. She pulled back, but her face fell after she saw Emily, Nathan and Damian exit after them.
Silence.
"Seriously?" One word, the tension spiking up immensely.
"Wait!—" Dave shot his hand out to grab her wrist. He was going to explain this to her whether she liked it or not. Whether she got angry at him or not. Perry glanced back at Nicole then back at her brothers. She was trying to decipher if this was some kind of plan to trick her or if this was genuine. Now.. maybe She knew Nicole less than her brothers. So see them with the organization? She had to hear why they'd evenconsider it.
"Explain. I'll give you one chance." Her tone was completely different. It was.. worried. Worry and concern disguised as anger and disgust.
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Dave, Darren and Nathan sat on one couch. They had convinced Perry against her rational thoughts to come inside and hear them out. On the condition that the organization couldn't speak a single word.
"It.. started when you met Lorrell and Ty. Nicole called us over. At first, I was confused. I only saw Nicole so me and Darren went over to hear him out. We didn't know he was with.. Nathan. And when we saw them, we immediately made an excuse to go back. But.. Nicole convinced us to hear him out. Maybe because I felt the genuineness in his voice." Dave started, looking at Perry.
"And.. let's just say I was so shocked I almost walked away. But.. He wasn't lying. The sincerity of Nathan and all of them caught us off guard. They really didn't seem like they were decieving us. We made a whole plan to escape if they really were tricking us."
"What's so genuine that it made Darren act against his beliefs?" Perry spoke. Between the trio; Perry, Dave and Darren.. Darren was probably the most reasonable person, not to mention the most rational thinker out of the three of them. To think he had believed their story, she was both curious and suspicious. Dave was kinda offended.
The rest of the group sat on chairs at a table, probably the dining table nearby, listening.. no, not really. They were distracted. Axelle and Waylen doing god knows what, Nicole and Christian silent with a distant expression. Rexine and Eli passing the time invested in a conversation. Maverick was rather quiet. Eavesdropping, probably.