Yibo sat down on the hay-covered floor and pulled me to him between his legs. He wrapped his arms around me, kissed my cheek, and finally laid his head on my shoulder before asking the three of them, "So first of all, we're glad you're alive and well, He Peng. But how did you get into captivity and when? And Haikuan and Cheng? Why are you here and not in your bunker?"

Since Yibo asked him first, He Peng answered first. "I'm also glad you guys are still alive. I was already caught at the cave. I had gone outside because I needed to empty my bladder and when I went back, I heard something crack. The next moment I felt a blow on the back of my head and I fainted. When I regained consciousness, I was in a kind of wooden cage in another cave. There they held me captive with two meals a day until a week ago. Then they set out with me and joined this King Raha."

"And did any of the Demoids or King Raha speak to you?" I asked.

He Peng shook his head. "No, not directly. I was just asked by this Raha if I knew where Bac was. That was all. No one spoke to me before or after."

Since He Peng didn't say anything else, Yibo pointed with a nod of his head to Haikuan and Cheng, who were sitting close together in the other corner of the small room. Haikuan explained, "We were looking for you. We couldn't reach you on the radios, and since we thought it was important for you to hear our news, we set out. Two nights ago we set out and were captured in the morning, just before dawn."

"And what was the important news?" Asked Yibo.

"We were finally able to make contact with the bunker where you think your parents are. We asked about your parents, but they told us that those four people are not, or ever were, in the bunker. They said they also don't have room for more survivors because they are already overcrowded since the beginning of the apocalypse. They are running out of food, water has to be rationed. The diesel for the generators is also only enough for maybe two weeks." Explained Haikuan.

"Mhhh, so they've been hiding in the bunker non-stop, never going outside?" I asked.

"That's how they communicated it." Said Cheng.

"I understand. What I don't understand is that they must have known that they would have been relatively safe at night. They could have looked for fire trucks from the fire department and used the water in the water tanks. It might be a little stale, but it would be drinkable. And diesel they could get from the broken down cars and trucks. In addition, we saw on the map that the bunker is in a relatively large locality. There should be grocery stores there, too. So why didn't they get anything?" Asked Yibo.

Haikuan and Cheng shrugged their shoulders. "You can't ask us those questions Yibo. We weren't there and we have no idea why they didn't do this or that." Replied Haikuan.

Of course, Haikuan was absolutely right. We really couldn't ask him these questions. Maybe, if we make it out of here alive, we can ask them the question ourselves. Either way, Yibo and I have to go there if we want to get to the last place we know where our parents were. And maybe still are?

Yibo was probably asking himself the same question I was, which is why he seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. I touched his hands, which he had placed around me on my belly. I guess that snapped him out of his thoughts, because he said, "Well, let's go over what we know so far."

"What exactly do you mean?" Asked Cheng.

"Well, where we are, who we're dealing with, what to expect, and how they knew where we were in the first place." Explained Yibo.

"I'll start. We are in an old country house or something like that. We are in captivity of the Demoids and their king Raha, who is still searching for King Bac. Which is probably why we're still alive. I suppose he wants to use us once again as bait to lure Bac in. And he knows Bac definitely wouldn't come if he killed us. So for now, at least my guess is, we're still safe." I said.

"Mn. I agree with you Zhan. As long as Raha doesn't have what he wants, he will let us live. But I doubt right now that Bac will come. We haven't sensed him for days. We haven't been able to make telepathic contact with him since we had to leave the cave. Also, not all of the other flying creatures seem to be on Bac's side. For both of us were delivered to Raha by just such flying creatures." Yibo replied.

He Peng nodded. "I agree with both of you. I saw the Demoids communicating with the creatures. There must have been five or six of them. And about our prison here. I've already searched everything and I've come to the conclusion that they must have been besieging this house for a long time. Because when I arrived here with Raha and the others who held me captive, everything was already like it is now. So a group of Demoids must have been here for a while. Besides, there's only one exit down here. And that is the basement door. But it's usually guarded around the clock by at least two Demoids. We have a window here, but even if there were no bars on the outside, it would be too small. At most, a child not older than 5 years old could fit through it."

"So, in short, we are trapped! And also that this King Bac is probably already dead and doesn't miraculously find out where we are being held and save us. Whereby I'm not even sure if he would save Haikuan and me, because he doesn't even know us. So why take a risk for a handful of people? We are trapped and will be executed eventually!" Said Cheng.

I shook my head. "Not quite Cheng. Bac and his men saved us once before and they didn't know Yibo or He Peng then. Yet they rescued the two of them as well and took them in. I can't tell you why, but I firmly believe he's still alive and planning something. There must be a reason why he withdrew."

"Zhan is absolutely right. King Bac did not know us and despite my open dislike of him and his people, he always treated me fairly. He gave me a safe place to hide. Gave me clothes. He made sure we got 3 meals every day. He and his men trained us. And he made us stronger. He wouldn't just abandon Zhan or us. I think Zhan is right and Bac is planning something." Replied He Peng.

"So I trust Zhan's feeling about King Bac. I know Zhan quite well by now and I know that he only says that when he's really convinced. But I also think that we shouldn't sit around doing nothing, talking and waiting for Day X, whenever it should be. We have to try to get out of here." Said Haikuan.

"I agree with that. We should definitely look for a way out ourselves. Once again, our trick from last time won't work. As He Peng said, the window is too small and the door is guarded. But we also know that the Demoids like to party and drink a lot. Maybe they'll get careless when they've had enough to drink." Replied Yibo.

"Great, now we just have to hope that they drink a lot soon and then let us out of here purely by accident." Said Cheng in frustration.

"They drink almost every day. So we just have to get them to unlock the door when they're drunk. We can't overpower them. They're too strong for that. I mean, the five of us could maybe take down one of them, but certainly not two. After all, they are about 2.50 meters tall and twice as wide as us." Said He Peng.

"You know what they remind me of? Orcs. Except they don't have tusks like orcs." Said Cheng and laughed. Somehow the laughter was contagious and we all laughed for a moment before we started to think.

None of us said anything else. We were all lost in our thoughts, each thinking separately about how to get out of here. Since they took Yibo and my backpacks and our spears, we had no weapons. Well, almost none. They didn't spot my gun when they checked us before they put us in the cage.

And another thought occurred to me. "What if we attract the attention of the jungle fighters?" I asked.

Yibo looked at me in horror and shook his head. "They'll kill us right along with them. And we don't know how they feel about the Demoids."

"They're certainly not friends or allies. We snuck out of town and we did it in the opposite direction of the jungle fighters. And don't forget, here are that lot of Demoids. They would have a fierce fight and maybe we could escape in the process." I suggested.

"ZhanZhan, your idea is daring. Assuming we somehow manage to lure the jungle fighters here, which is hardly possible since we are trapped here, the chance of them not discovering us and not killing us or turning us into their kind and then getting us killed by those black creatures is less than 2%." Said Yibo.

"So well, when we were watching them in the city, not only could I see them, I could feel them. And don't forget, while they were running around the street murdering and pouncing on anything that didn't get away fast enough, we were standing steadfastly on the edge of the roof. They could see us so easily, but either they really didn't see us, or they were ignoring us for a good reason." I explained.

"I'm sorry honey, but that's too speculative for me. I'm attached to my life and I'm attached to your life too. I don't want to take an incalculable risk. Sure, it's possible they saw us. But why should they spare us? You saw what they did to those other people."

"Okay fine. But what about the black flying creatures? We stood side by side on the roof with four of them and they didn't do anything to us!"

"Because they didn't want to draw attention. They were afraid of those jungle warriors too."

"But..."

"ZhanZhan, my love now listen to me. I think it's good that you're taking everything into consideration. But we can't trust in good faith that those jungle warriors or those black creatures won't kill us. And after what we've seen and experienced, especially this morning in the city, even you should know that we certainly can't count on them seeing us as allies." Said Yibo.

Admittedly, at that moment I was disappointed and also a little angry. Of course Yibo was right and the chance of being killed is greater than making them our allies. But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that we have nothing to fear from the black flying creatures or the jungle fighters.

As I said, it's just a feeling. But this feeling is getting stronger and stronger. Even if I can't explain why. And only now that we are trapped, I realize what I had felt in the city. Or rather, that I felt anything at all when I saw those jungle fighters. It was a familiar feeling. But why had it been so familiar to me? And why did the black creatures immediately kill the newly infected?