When Life Stops (On Hiatus)

Chapter 3

"Is your hair for real? I mean is the colour real or did you dye it?" He asked softly as he approached her and Pistachio, tilting his head.

"It's real... Why?" Willow was confused, no one had really pointed her hair out before or anything.

"It looks fucking fabolous is why. Oftentimes, people try to get that shade of brown and end up in an absolute shitty look. I was gonna ask how you dyed it but I was wrong apparently." He shrugged his shoulders and smirked a bit, offering a hand to the girl in front of him.

"Where are my fucking manners, I didn't even introduce myself. That's creepy- Anyway, I'm Gabriel." He smelt like marshmallows and the sea, if that made any sense, and Willow was up for it.

"Willow..." She reached over and shook his hand back with her cheeks puffed up slightly.

"Gabe!" Someone yelling from another room interrupted what Gabriel was about to say and with a grumble, the extremely clean languaged man pulled away and turned around, walking away. "What do you want North?!"

***

As noon approached, the house actually started getting a bit more active. Chatter was coming from the kitchen and some of the guys were rushing from place to place, or more so room to room inside the house. There was this vibe in general. A not so quick hurry, if it made any sense at all.

Pistachio had found a comfortable place next to Willow on the couch and his mission, currently, was to bark at each guy that passed by. Meanwhile though, Willow was curled up and asleep, still in clothes from the previous day.

There was a rather serious, tense environment inside the kitchen. The discussion the four main group leads were having was about which route they should follow on their way to the shelter.

They kept their noises low as if not to disturb anyone around, but just the aura from the room alone had most of the members of the Blackbourne-Toma team staying away.

Clearing his throat as he walked in, North looked at the four men gathered around the table with a map on it.

Looking up with the sound that came; Mr B, Marc, Axel and Kota all looked up at North, who was standing rather awkwardly at the entrance of the room.

Finally, after a couple silent moments Axel spoke up with his voice dark and husky, like always. "North, come tell us your opinion on the route, will you?"

With a grunt and a nod, the younger Taylor approached the four and the map on the table, looking down and observing it. Then he looked up, waiting to hear the options.

Mr. Blackbourne went first, his opinion on the route consisting not approaching places people could be at all. By going through the forest areas, they'd make it to the shelter in an approximate of 20 days, adding the time they thought Willow would make them lose.

Kota and Axel were the next. While they partially agreed to Mr. Blackbourne about the forested areas, in their defense they wouldn't be able to carry all the food fifteen people would need for 20 days. So in their idea, making their way a bit closer to residential areas would work in their favour.

Marc's idea, meanwhile, was the combination of both of them. Kind of. He said that residential zones could be a bit too big of a risk to take. If they were outnumbered, maybe they'd be able to take care of that but most people also had guns. And bullets. They didn't have a guarantee of whether they'd survive or not if they were outnumbered and out-weaponed. He said that if they made their way to the shelter through some campsites they could possibly find food and fresh, drinkable water, even getting a good night's sleep if they were lucky.

North, at the end, decided that Marc's idea sounded like the most reasonable one for him, and the other three were quick to tell him to get the rest of the guys to meet up in the kitchen for a quick family meeting. They'd vote, even if there were four 'main' leaders everyone's opinion mattered.

***

Once it had been decided that Marc's idea was the one they'd follow, the guys returned to their jobs. Some were packing up and others were making sure no one was approaching the house, staying on guard.

North, however, he was with Nathan and Kota, an unsure expression on his face.

With confusion, Kota tilted his head and spoke up. "You said you wanted to tell me something? You two? Is there a problem?" His tone was concerned, confused to what they had wanted to talk about.

Nathan looked over at North, and once he got a curt nod from the other he spoke up, keeping his voice low like he wanted to make sure he wasn't heard by everyone.

"We spoke with North, and we both are concerned about this girl. Is she even safe to bring into the team? Couldn't she cause problems or so?" He asked softly, his brows furrowing together.

North continued. "Not that we are doubting your judgement, or Mr. B's, but the worry is still there. What if she's something, someone that could put the entire team, or even worse the entire shelter in danger once we get there?"

Their concerns, it was nothing Kota couldn't understand. At first, he had had his doubts but as she spoke with them during Mr. Blackbourne questioning her, she hadn't seemed like she was lying at all to him. If Mr. B had felt a sense of unease with her, he wouldn't have even offered her help at all too. He knew that, and he had known Owen for years too. He was like a walking lie detector, after all.

Clearing his throat, he nodded his head and pushed his glasses back into proper position on his nose bridge. "I perfectly understand that," he reassured the two. "While I don't have the perfect argument to make you trust her too, I just have a good feeling about her. Mr. B does too, apparently." He let out a gentle sigh, his index finger tapping onto his thigh as he counted in his head.

Twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight...

North nodded his head at that, and so did Nathan. They didn't really seem that convinced, that was for sure, but the team was built on trust. At first, the duo had also been more than skeptical about infusing the Blackbourne team with the Toma team but once they had done it, they had seen how much better they had become as a whole.

"Still," Kota continued as Nathan began turning around to walk out of the kitchen. "Please let someone know if you continue having these concerns, you also matter."

With a small nod and a grunt again, North huffed softly and turned around, speaking from over his shoulder as he did so.

"Thank you, again."

***