Silence Falls

Bert traipsed into a small store that had sold divine cinnamon rolls in contrasting flavors and sizes. The exact people he was scouting for were licking their fingers of icing and secreting satiating moans due fitting for the sticky treats baked by Hermanni who donated his time to bake for them after they had accomplished their prolonged duties of staging the mall up for protection against future threats. Alexis was the first one to sight Bert coming while trying to stow a bite size cinnamon ball into her mouth. Dwarfing the ball down by chewing, she exclaimed to him. “Bert, you seriously need to try these!”

“Simmer down, it can’t be that go-“ Bert had been about to finish until he popped one of the small delicacies afforded to him past his lips. Soundlessly, he indulged the treat to shut down his brain for a few lengthy minutes before it restarted back up again. “Holy shit, this is ungodly!” Bert proclaimed with icing all over his mouth, causing the others to laugh at his comeback and how equivalent it was to their own only a few minutes ago.

“See what I mean?!” Alexis giggled, taking the time to lick the tips of her fingers again with yummy delight, a smile breaking out across her face as the deliciousness made her flutter with glee.

Hermanni extended a tray to Bert, grinning as he watched all the little sweets get plucked up in a greedy dash by him as well as the others merging around to try and snag some from over his shoulders.

“Move your fat asses out my way, motherfuckers!” Bam demanded with a mouthful of cinnamon roll balls and a streak of icing on his cheek as he tried to wedge himself through to the front.

“Fuck you, Bam!” Otep snapped, but her sour attitude couldn't even graze Bam’s regular temperamental nature through the newfound love he just discovered he had for those tiny cinnamon rolls.

“BERT! OTEP!”

Everyone swiveled their heads to spot Cris and Connor starting down the mall towards them with urgency. None of the sugar-eaters had stopped to brainstorm why those two were whizzing down the hall so desperately because they all came to the same deduction. It had to be for the exact incentive they all came charging down this very hall for...the fragrant smell of cinnamon rolls. But when the duo came closer, the others could interpret that their faces paraded dire on them. Connor and Cris were both perspiring and rattled over something. Bert and Otep cleaned their sticky hands off while they bounded to their feet from the stools they had utilized. Disturbed by their friends' startling behavior, Bert demanded. “Are you guys alright? What happened down there?”

“Did you find something?” Otep advanced, standing alongside Bert. Her face was not alluding to any emotions.

“You won’t believe where that tunnel led to.” Connor managed to gasp out before he disintegrated onto the nearest available couch to take a breather. Cris toppled down beside him, shutting his eyes as he stooped over and panted heavily.

“What tunnel?” Demitria inquired, glancing to Bert who slapped a hand to his forehead as their recent discovery just reemerged in his brain.

“Fuck me! I forgot to mention that we located a tunnel underneath the basement. Damn baby cinnamon rolls erased my memory!” Bert cursed before pointing an accusatory finger at Hermanni who shrugged with liability, taking full responsibility. Hermanni didn’t regret it though. In fact, he was jovial that he was able to alleviate everyone and lift up their morale with his homemade treats, but now that Cris and Connor returned spooked, Hermanni was starting to get a little apprehensive as to what they exhumed. For once, Hermanni wasn’t sure about who or what had dared to distress two members of his family all because he wasn’t as mentally integrated with everything like he typically was. Perhaps Bert truly had his reasons for indicting those blasted cinnamon balls of his after all!

“And where did this tunnel go?” Otep interrogated Cris, who had finally sat up and opened his eyes again. He was currently leaning his head back on the couch cushion, trying to recall their new findings.

“Outside...onto the main road beside the mall.” Cris briefed them before gulping down a glass of water from Onika that she was using to wash down her rolls to make room for more.

“It leads outside? What else did you see?” Alexis asked, her drawn legs lowering to the floor so she could lean over and immerse herself into Cris’s account.

“It’s not WHAT we saw that made us run in here...it’s WHO almost found us.” Connor reminded Cris, giving him the honors to retell their near abduction.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Are you saying you idiots almost got caught out there!?” Bam demanded, jumping up with ire once again clouding his face. Everyone chose to ignore him, and allowed the story to be told without even sparing a single glance in Bam’s direction.

“Two soldiers almost caught us out on the road, but Connor got us back into the tunnel just in time. From what we could overhear of their conversation, they didn’t get a chance to see or hear us.” Cris rapidly consoled everyone as he held up his hands to quell their spewing outbursts of concern.

“Yeah, that’s what you say!” Bam spat as he folded his arms over his chest. Again, they disregarded him.

“So, they won’t come looking for us then?” Onika softly asked as she held Demitria’s hand who was visibly shaken at the thought of being reclaimed again.

“No, they won’t come looking for us. According to them, we’re not the ones the military is searching for.” Connor reported, his eyes hurdling from Otep and Bert.

“What do you mean?” Bert demanded, his arms crossing over his chest. He was staggered by Connor’s assurance. “Why the hell else would they be out here with their guns shooting escapees down like we’re fucking deers in open season?”

“They’re looking for someone that goes by the name Subject V. Apparently, this guy neutralized two teams of soldiers already.” Cris tattled, earning looks of perplexity of this mysterious Subject V. No one noticed Otep shooting a glance over her at Hermanni in recognition only to find him absent from behind the counter. Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Otep whispered to Bert of her need to use the ladies room, and to update her when she got back. Bert agreed with a nod, and let her go off on her own.

“Subject V…who is that?” Demitria mumbled to herself, trying to evoke if she ever heard that name before, but she only drew up blanks. Everyone eventually looked to Bert considering he was the only person in the group that had lived in the town the longest.

“Have you heard of a Subject V by any chance, Bert?” Bam demanded, narrowing his eyes distrustingly on him.

“Honestly? No. I have never heard anything about a Subject V before. Whoever they are is all news to me.” Bert commented candidly, completely uninformed on this person.

Not believing him for a second, Bam closed the distance between him and Bert so they were nearly toe-to-toe and called him out. “That’s some bullshit lie, Bert, and you fucking know it!”