*Kimberly Martin's POV:

"Alright, just to let you know, there are hundreds of bedrooms in the E.I.H. They're mainly bedrooms bunkers, so four people can share a room. It comes with a bathroom and dressers as well", Alex spoke up, trying to get our minds off of what went down.

"Cool! But what about the garden, pharmacy, and cafeteria sections? Don't you guys have that?", Hikari asked him.

"Sections? I mean, we have a pharmacy room where we store our medicine, and a gym and cafeteria. We don't refer to these rooms as sections though. The garden room is in there, where the man is entering into", Alex said in bewilderment before pointing.

When the man to our far right opened a door, I could only see a glimpse of the inside: just a bunch of trees and bushes with fruits and veggies in them. It had to be bigger than the one at our own shelter, especially when there's more people here.

"That's where we grow our fruits and vegetables with artificial sunlight and water. Several people are assigned to watch over the plants to make sure everything is good. Everyone here has a role to this place. Some help with plumbing and electrical issues, others cook the food, and some teach the few little kids that we have here. Their parents are experi-babies and their power was passed down to them. Everyone has equal contribution."

"Wait, so what you are saying is that if me and my boyfriend Beval have a child, that child may be an experi-baby too?", Gaia asked with concern.

"If one parent is experimented and the other is not, then its fifty-fifty. If both are, then most likely the child will be too", Alex explained before looking at his watch. "I have to hurry and show you to your bedrooms, lunch is starting soon. Come, let's go. We are almost there."

It wasn't long before he opened a door at the very end of the shelter, leading us to a long hallway. It was similar to a hotel hallway, but instead of the typical tan walls of a hotel hallway, it was a warm, welcoming, smooth concrete.  As we walked down, I saw that the doors of the suites were a cream-ish white color. The knobs were silver.

It wasn't long before he showed me, Celosia, Gaia and Hikari to our room. It was at that very end of the hallway which intersected into a "T" with two other hallways.

"Alright, this is suite 37. You four girls will be staying in this suite. Lunch will start in a half an hour. I'll send Beval, Danny and Tyler to their room. Enjoy", Alex smiled at us before sending me a wink.

I swear, that guy gave me such "Brad" vibes. He reminded me of those rich, preppy white boys from Jefferson High school who tried to flirt with girls from our high school. He even has the hair: that damn bowl cut.

Alex was a cool guy, and yet, highly cringey. I hated that.

"Yeah, thanks", I said with my teeth clenched, walking into the room.

"Hey Kimberly, you know I was wondering, maybe a little later we could-"

With no regrets, I shut the door right then and there, cutting Alex off. I could hear Beval from outside, laughing at him.

"Okay, I'll just see you during lunch then", I heard Alex chuckle in embarrassment. It was muffled, but I could still hear his voice. As he was walking off with our male friends, I could hear him beating himself up about his approach.

I leaned against the door, letting out a sigh in relief before Celosia started laughing at me.

"It looks like someone has a crush on Kim," she sneered.

"Shut up. He's such a dork", I blushed, flopping onto the bottom bunk-bed.

The room gave a summer camp vibe. But it was something that I could live with. The bunk-beds were sustained by black metal bars and the sheets were a dark blue. The blankets were gray, along with the pillows. The walls were red. The room itself was small, but livable.

"I got dibs on the top bed, haha!", Hikari laughed at Celosia, racing up the latter.

"Aw no fair, I wanted top", Celosia whined playfully before tickling Hikari.

I chuckled, closing my eyes for a few moments. But as those two knuckleheads were playing, I felt eyes on me. Glancing at Gaia, I realized it was her.

"Yes?", I asked nonchalantly.

I never liked Gaia, but I disliked her even more when she abandoned Celosia during her time of need. She left her to fend for herself while she was grieving Shimizu, which...hooray...turned out to be alive this whole time. I didn't respect that, not one bit. I didn't respect her.

"I wanted to thank you", she said shyly as she approached my bed. She began playing with her fingers.

"For what?" I asked in confusion. I was not ready for that. Not one bit.

"For saving my life from those drunk guys. One of them were going to stomp me out, but you turned into a tiger and scared him off. You helped me up on my feet. I appreciate that. Really."

I'll admit. I was completely cut off guard by that. I wasn't expecting that not one bit. Yeah, me and Gaia weren't the best of friends, but I wasn't going to let her get killed. Regardless of what people thought or heard about me, I wasn't evil. I just didn't have the time nor the energy for bullshit. I'm not saying I didn't have moments when I started shit, but one thing about me was that I didn't like drama. I just turned 21 a few months prior. Eventually all that drama that you loved as a teen starts to get old.

I had already seen and been through enough, from having abusive family members who treated me differently because I was the only experi-baby in the family, to spending five annoying years in a depressing shelter, watching the two bestest of friends: Celosia and Gaia, grow more and more distant from each other.

I'm not going to lie...it was heartbreaking, even for me. It irked me that I had to go through that.

Yes, I didn't like Gaia, but I basically took her place instead of having both of us be Celosia's best friend, but then again, she was just as responsible for why they aren't as close anymore.

But just like Celosia and Hikari, even I wanted things to go back to normal.

"It's alright. You don't have to thank me", I waved it off before sitting up straight, leaning closer to her so that the others didn't hear me. "If anything, you need to talk to Celosia."

"W-why?", Gaia asked with a scrunched up face as she glanced back at her.

"Okay." I scooted closer to her, trying to get her to understand. "Think about it. We have Shimizu back, right? Right. So wouldn't it be amazing if both of his friends weren't beefing and were buddy-buddy again?"

"I'm not beefing with Celosia. I just feel like she left me..," Gaia's eyes glared into mine with resentment. "Left me...for you. And of course, knowing you, you saw no problem with that."

Before I could say anything in response, Gaia left the suite, slamming the door behind her. I groaned in defeat before flopping my head unto the pillow.

"Um, what was that about?", Celosia asked with concern as she and Hikari looked down at me from the top bunk-bed.

"Nothing, she was just hungry", I lied, turning my body away from them.

During lunch time, me, Celosia and Hikari entered the Cafeteria. There had to be a few thousand people there, the cafeteria was three times the size of our shelter's.

After being in line for what felt like forever, we got our food and headed off to look for the guys. It took a minute, but we eventually found Gaia, Beval, Danny, Tyler, Shimizu and Alex all standing near each other.

When Shimizu spotted us, he excitedly waved us over, then pointed over towards the entrance.

"He wants us to go with him? Where?" I thought to myself.

Following Shimizu, he took us to an area of the shelter that looks similar to an office for politicians. It had a large, oval, wooden table with several chairs around it. There was a blue and green stripped flag that said E.I.H on it.

I sat in a chair next to Celosia, whom was next to Hikari.

Before we really began eating, Shimizu made a deep sigh.

"I wanted us to get away from all that commotion. Wow, it's been so long since we've sat down together like this. We have so much to talk about", he claimed, his blue eyes lightening up from happiness. "So, what was the shelter like? I was told by Trevor that you said it wasn't the best."

Silence overcame us as we all looked at each other, all thinking the same thing.

"It was a nightmare! It was dull, gloomy, and we had to literally fight for survival! We never had enough food or water. It was so boring in there. Let me not get started on your friends: Beval fainted after cooking too much, Gaia was always studying her science books and if she wasn't, she was kissing Beval, Kimberly was still mean, Celosia cried a lot, and Danny was still a weir-," Hikari stopped as she saw our angry glares directed right at her. "Um, heheh. But besides that, your friends are great and took great care of me", she nervously finished with a smile.

"Well, I'm sorry you guys had to go through that. Just be sure that you are safe and sound. We have internet and television here, that way you can see everything that is going on in the world. It keeps you updated", Shimizu sympathized before taking a bite of his food.

"Tell us about yourself Shimizu? How have you been?", Danny asked.

"I've been great. Don't get me wrong, running a shelter can be draining, but it can be done if everyone helps one another and plays their part. I'm sure you've all met my girlfriend Ashley, we've been dating for a year."

"Oh, we've met her", Celosia replied sarcastically, but changed her attitude after I gave her a look. "Sweet girl."

"Yeah", Shimizu nodded before glancing at Celosia for a lengthy period of time as she ate.

I wasn't sure if Shimizu still carried out those feelings he had for Celosia years ago. If he did, then he was in a sticky situation of having a girlfriend while still being in love with his high school crush. I couldn't imagine myself in that predicament.

It meant he had to choose between Ashley or Celosia.

If he lost his feelings towards Celosia, then it would be all good on his side, but not exactly all good on Celosia's. She would have so much love for him that wouldn't be able to go anywhere because it's not reciprocated. I could only imagine the pain she is feeling right now, knowing the boy she loved for so long is in love with someone else.