Biohuman

The night had come as Lee Seng and the others enjoyed good food and laughs. The last bit of food was going on the grill and Lee Seng's kimchi fried rice was finished. He leaned on the chair and burped as he grabbed his cup of water to drink. A phone rang and Garcia pulled his phone out and noticed it was his.

"Hello…?" He quietly spoke. He was quiet for a moment and then he started to nod. "Mmm. I'll come home soon… Where did I go? I told you. I'm with Lee Seng… Mmm, we're almost done so I'll be back soon…. Okay. Bye."

"Gotta go soon?" Ritsuka asked. Garcia slipped his phone back in and looked at Ritsuka, nodding.

"Well, the last of the meat is finishing up. Y'all wanna take some home?" Chloe asked.

"I thought that's what you ordered." Liz pointed at the meat with tongs.

"If I bring any of this back to my team home, they're all gonna be butt hurt that I came here without them."

"Sounds like your group. I dunno how you even deal with them outside of missions."

"They're all quirky and, honestly, that's because none of my members back down from that." Chloe smiled. Lee Seng started to pluck the meat off and set it on Chloe's plate.

"If the group thing works out in a couple of weeks, I want a home." Lee Seng casually mentioned.

"The Third Year district has some of the nicest houses compared to the others." Chloe told him. Garcia nodded to Chloe's remark as well. "There's not a lot of houses left, though. You guys might get the 'less suitable' homes."

"Couldn't be that bad, could it?" Lee Seng asked. Chloe and Liz looked at each other before looking at Manny, who was shaking his head. "It's… that bad?"

"Just hope you don't get the haunted house." Chloe plucked the last of the meat off and set the tongs to the side. "That house is the worst one."

"Ugh, please don't say that. Now I'm scared we're gonna get it." Liz rubbed her hands together. Goosebumps were shooting across her body as she tried to shake the feeling away.

"Haunted house?" Ritsuka was skeptical. "It can't be haunted. Probably some past graduate students made some rumor up to spook people into not getting the house."

"Well… Some scary stuff has happened in that house. A lot of the students who do move there end up leaving." Chloe told them.

"Mmm, and it's the biggest house, technically." Liz added.

"Just call a priest to bless the house." Lee Seng mentioned.

"They've tried multiple times. The house is still… dark."

"Do you believe this too, Garcia?" Lee Seng turned to look at Garcia who was pulling the drawstrings of his hoodie to cover his face.

"I live near that building." Garcia told them.

"You live near it!?! Does anything weird happen?" Chloe loudly asked. It spooked Garcia who closed his eyes for a moment and quickly began to nod.

"Strange things happen. Lights turn on and off. Sometimes… we hear noises coming from it." Garcia slowly pulled the hoodie back to its original state. "Sometimes… I swore I've seen someone coming outside."

"Sounds like squatters using the haunted house story to stay there." Ritsuka shrugged. Garcia got another buzz and pulled his phone out. He read the text message and then stood up.

"You need to go?" Lee Seng looked up at Garcia.

"My group members are worried I won't make it back before the mandated lights out time." Garcia answered.

"Well," Ritsuka stood up. "I guess we should head out, too."

"We split the bill?" Chloe asked.

"Eh, I got it." Lee Seng stood up. He grabbed his school jacket and slipped it back on. He grabbed his backpack and pushed the chair in.

"We should split it. We all chose to come here." Chloe insisted.

"It'd be easier if one of us just paid it. Plus, I don't really mind." Lee Seng smiled.

"I'll handle it." Garcia waved. "Take it as my welcome back and thanks for hanging with me."

"Oh, you don't have to Garcia. We should split it." Liz insisted as well. Garcia looked at the others.

"Fine." Garcia waved. "Pay if you want. I'm paying for you two, though."

"O-okay." Ritsuka gave him a thumbs up. "I'll pay for the next time we go out, then."

"Mmm, I don't mind that." Lee Seng nodded. The group paid and all walked out of the BBQ place. They stood a couple of feet in the front.

"Alright, well… I guess this is where we split?" Liz asked.

"Mmm," Chloe nodded. She turned to look at Garcia. "Are you going towards the portal building?" Garcia nodded. "Wanna go that way together?"

"Sure." Garcia nodded.

"Well, we'll leave first." Chloe waved.

"See ya." The group waved.

"Do we have enough time to walk?" Lee Seng glanced at his cracked watch. He hadn't thought about fixing the watch. "It's like 6pm… We were in that place for like two hours."

"Oh, we have a lot of time. We can walk back." Liz nodded. The three started their way back to the Third Year district. It was starting to really feel like Winter. The last couple of months in the year were closing in.

"Surprised we didn't get snow, yet." Ritsuka spoke. "It's getting really cold now."

"It's supposed to snow tomorrow." Liz remembered. "Honestly, it's only November and it's finally getting around to snowing."

"I can't wait for Thanksgiving. Can't wait to, maybe, go home and eat some good food."

"That's if we can leave." Lee Seng spoke.

"I think the Invasion will keep a lot of the students here this year." Liz assumed. "Some students don't go home for the holidays and just end up spending it here. I think this year I might be one of those few students."

"That will probably be me this year, too." Lee Seng sighed. "Not like I did much on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years, anyways."

"You haven't done much over the holidays?" Ritsuka asked, surprised. Lee Seng nodded.

"When you're me, you don't really get that. The Numbers I usually hung around, were usually too busy. There were a couple of times I got to spend the full holidays with them, but even that's rare." Lee Seng explained.

"Well, if we're all gonna be stuck here for the holidays, we should spend them together." Liz suggested.

"The field group test is right before Thanksgiving, right?" Ritsuka asked.

"Yup." Liz nodded. "We'll have to start preparing for that."

"Do you know what we're doing?" Lee Seng asked as they passed the portal building.

"I've heard some rumors that we're going to Hangar 47." Liz pulled her backpack straps and adjusted herself.

"Hangar 47?" Ritsuka asked. "What's that?"

"An old airplane sight. They call it Hangar 47 here but you guys might know it as the old Airport of Capitol City."

"The airport?" Lee Seng was surprised. "Didn't that place get infested shortly after the serum got released into the world? It caused panic within the city because it's one of the few places left in the city that's unlivable."

"Mmm, the old airport is one of the few places left that's been blocked off. The surrounding areas were abandoned after the monsters ravaged that place." Liz explained. "If the rumors are right, we'll be in Hangar 47 and it's going to be a rough time."

"Why?" Ritsuka asked

"Cars, airplanes, everything was just left. Even all of the cars barricaded the roads in and out. Some Fourth Years went there during their First and Second Years and they've all said Hangar 47 is the place you don't want to go to. The monsters use the darkness of the nooks and crannies to their advantage. We should practice for these kinds of situations just in case we do go to the old airport."

"We should be prepared for anything. Dark places, nooks and crannies, traps."

"Unexpected issues." Lee Seng added.

"I guess this means we'll have to start training soon. When did you guys wanna train?" Liz looked at both of the taller boys for an answer. Lee Seng simply shrugged while Ritsuka placed a finger on his chin and thought about it.

"Are you guys doing anything this weekend?" Ritsuka asked. "I know it's just the three of us for now, but we should probably sit down and talk about this more. If the others aren't well before the field group exam then we'll have to get a mercenary."

"Would they allow three people for the exam?" Lee Seng asked.

"It's four minimum. We have two weeks to figure out whether or not we need a mercenary or not. Otherwise, the mercenaries are banding together to do the mission." Liz explained.

"That means inquiring about our friends in quarantine… How do we do that?" Ritsuka turned to look at Liz and Lee Seng.

"I'll pull some strings and see if I can get a definite answer in two weeks' time." Lee Seng offered.

"Oh, if you could do that, that'd be great!"

"You sure are okay with just using your status to figure this stuff out?" Liz asked. "Kinda giving me mixed signals on whether or not you like your status or not."

"I don't." Lee Seng answered. "I just know when I have to use it and when I don't. I'll ask about our friends in a week and a half. That'll allow us time to focus on training."