It was the first day in a long time that Dave had off of both cultivation duty and training with Big Daddy and Hit Girl. And miracle of miracles, Todd and Marty were off for the day as well.

So the group of friends were making the most of it by exploring the compound. It was a common activity for newcomers to creep around and try to find hidden areas, and just generally inspect their new home. So this wasn't unusual behavior.

Todd and Marty already knew about some of the secret places from their defense squad training, so they went ahead and showed those off to Dave before they explored further. All of the rooms that they 'discovered' were ones that Todd and Marty showed Dave, such as the auxiliary weapons storage and the underground bunker. Dave was interested (due to his own training) what exactly the defense squad did, so he picked the brains of his friends on what it was they were learning and doing.

They were a little reluctant, at first, to divulge all their training secrets, but Todd spoke up on Dave's behalf.

You know, it's not like it really matters, right? It's not as if we were sworn to secrecy or anything, Plus Dave's going to join in a couple of years anyway," Todd reasoned and Marty shrugged in compliance.

So Dave asked questions as they walked along, trying to remember not to blow his own secret in his excitement.

"Have you guys gotten to kill any zombies yet?" Dave asked, desperately wanting to spill about his last kill, when he'd somehow miraculously struck a creeper through the eyeball with a crossbow, causing Mindy to retrieve the eyeball with the arrow and excitedly suggest he deep it as a trophy. Dave declined.

"No, not yet. We've gone outside though, and it is way, way creepier out there at night." Marty answered, feeling a little smug and superior for his experience.

"Yeah, it's like you can't see anything. They make us wear these vests with light up stripes on it and stuff, so we don't accidently bump into each other and freak out and accidently kill each other." Todd added.

Dave thought that idea was stupid. "Wouldn't that just be like wearing neon signs to the creepers? Like, here I am, come and eat me!" Dave mocked, wailing his arms about and laughing at his own antics.

Todd and Marty joined in the laughter, "I don't know, never had that problem, " Marty replied, chuckling.

"Yeah, the only zombie we've even seen so far was the one that chased you down." Todd admitted.

"You haven't seen any more? But it's your job to kill zombies," Dave replied, incredulous that his friends hadn't even come face-to-face with a creeper since the day he'd first met Mindy.

"Yeah we're still in training through, so I think we're just taking it slow," Marty defended.

Dave thought that was ridiculous. They were in a huge group and heavily armed, but they weren't even getting near zombies? Dave's kill count was already in the second digits and it was just him, Big Daddy and Hit Girl, not a small army of people.

But he didn't press the issue. He couldn't even really debate it unless he admitted to his own experience. So he let it go and asked other questions.

"What are they training you for then?" Dave asked, trying to get a peek at what the squad was teaching its new recruits.

"Oh, they've taught us first aid stuff, and how to best spot a zombie…" Marty started.

"And where to strike to kill!" Todd interrupted, energetically.

"Ha! Yeah… We do a lot of role playing to get us ready. The goal is that we don't have to face any zombies. Cause we only go outside for drills and to get supplies if we need them," Marty explained.

"So… Do you guys sit through lectures with demonstrations then?" Dave asked for clarification.

"Yeah, sort of. We always practice with each other. And we've done target practice down in the bunker. Todd answered.

"So we don't bother you civilians," Marty clarified, teasing Dave, who wasn't bothered by it in the least.

"So are they teaching you strategy, or anything?" Dave asked.

"Yeah," Marty answered, but didn't elaborate.

"Do you guys ever use the roof tops?" Dave pressed on.

"No, you can't get around easily that way. Once you're up there, you're kind of stuck." Todd answered.

Dave thought about how easily Mindy and Damon were able to leap from roof to roof, as if it weren't any more effort than walking, and knew Todd and Marty were definitely missing out. And by the way Dave's parkour training was going, it wouldn't be too long before he could do the same himself.

After that, Dave sort of gave up on asking questions about Marty and Todd's training. He'd been hoping to glean some advice off of his friends that he could apply to his own training, but it had become obvious that he was already light years ahead of his friends in the zombie-killing department. But he wasn't ahead of them in everything. Midway through the afternoon Todd had let on that Marty was getting somewhere in the romance department.

Evidentially one of the girls on the squad was getting along quite well with Marty, and Todd whispered to Dave that some obvious flirting was being exchanged.

This left Dave to think and mope about Katie. Despite living in the same quadrant, and even just down the hall from one another, he hadn't seen much of her at all. Of course his new 'hobby' was probably one of the reasons for this. He hardly ever saw Todd and Marty, let alone a girl he could really only describe as an acquaintance.

And hearing that Marty was making way with a girl confirmed Dave's fears about what being on the Defense squad was doing for his friend's social lives, and how he was missing out. Plus how he was constantly running off in his free time to train with two other outcasts wasn't helping either.

Eventually Todd and Marty had to leave Dave for yet more overnight training, and before they split, Todd let it slip that they were going on another outside evening training mission. Causing Dave to inwardly groan at their naïve excitement. It seemed to him that it was probably only the second time they'd be out at night, and he was right.

This left Dave with an open evening. He wondered about trying to find Damon and Mindy to see if they wanted to hang out, but thought going out while the defense squad was also out was a bad idea. Plus the father-daughter duo was probably busy doing something without him anyway.

Dave's father was on work duty that evening, so he wasn't an option for entertainment either. Dave was about to make his way up towards Chris D'Amico's quarters, even though it made him feel uneasy and intrusive to go knock on his family's door, when he saw Katie in the hall.

When Katie noticed Dave down the hall from her she smiled and waved him over, and all of Dave's ideas about finding Chris vanished from his mind.

"Dave!" She greeted him enthusiastically." It's been like, forever since I've seen you," She told him and he smiled at the revelation that her response must mean that she missed him.

"Yeah, I've been busy with cultivation, and, uh…" Dave stalled; knowing cultivation duty alone wouldn't be enough to explain his absence. "I've been spending a lot of time with Chris," Dave fibbed. And it was a good one because there was no way Katie or anyone would be able to know if it was true or not since no one ever saw Chris, or even knew who he was for that matter.

Katie's reaction verified that since she coked her head to the side and scrunched her brows in confusion. "Chris? ... I don't know him. Does he work in cultivation with you?" She asked him.

"Yeah, he doesn't usually hang around the commons or anything. He, uh, spends a lot of time with his family, I think." Dave explained.

"Oh, okay. So what are your plans tonight?" Katie asked Dave and his face broke out in a grin. "Erika and Simon are always busy with defense squad recently with all the new recruits, so I thought we could hang out, if you're free, of course," Katie added.

"Yeah, sure, of course!" Dave spilled excitedly.

"Yeah? Great! I've got to admit, I'm really excited to get to know you better," Katie said, her face flushed. "There's only ever been like, one other guy like you here, but he was older," She added.

"Oh…" Dave wasn't sure how to respond, he wasn't even sure what Katie was talking about.

"But you shouldn't feel weird or anything, I mean, we've all talked about how it's totally cool. Like, since you're in cultivation and spend a lot of time alone and all." Katie explained.

Dave still wasn't totally sure what Katie was talking about but was too embarrassed to admit it. He just went along with it, figuring Katie was referring to how Dave wasn't on the defense squad like all the other guys his age.

So Dave went to the commons with Katie and they got dinner together. They sat and talked, going into their respective histories. Dave told her about all the different compounds and places he'd lived, and Katie told him about how her dad was one of the two doctors that lived in the compound

Dave almost spat out his dinner in laughter at some of the ridiculous 'medical emergencies' her family had been woken up in the middle of the night with, and Katie peppered Dave with questions about what it was like to live in the wilderness.

Dave thoroughly enjoyed himself, chatting away with Katie. She seemed to be a sweet, smart, and friendly person, and Dave was falling further and further for her as the night progressed.

Katie couldn't complain either. She had lived almost all of her life in the same compound and before this one had only been one other, and she couldn't even remember it, since she'd been so young. So meeting Dave, a person her own age that she could relate to, who had traveled around a lot, and even spent time living in a cave community; was fascinating.

They stayed after finishing their meal to help tidy up and talk some more until curfew time came rolling around. So they both made their way up to their hallway to part ways.

"We should spend more time together. And don't feel like you're not welcome to eat with all of us at meal time!" Katie told him, saying good night.

"Okay, I will," Dave answered, feeling sheepish for his past standoffishness.

"Oh! And tell Chris that he's more than welcome too. I do so want to meet your boyfriend," She added before turning around and disappearing into her room, leaving Dave dumbstruck.

It took a Dave a moment before all of the evening's puzzling moments came together and smacked him in the face. Katie, and probably all of the defense squad, thought he was spending all his time alone, and distancing himself from the group because he was gay.

"Fuck."

New chapter. I can't think of anything else to say, but thanks for reading!