“Hey, who are you?” asked Amanda suspectingly.

“Don’t be so hostile. It’s me, Vlad. With my sister Natalia”

The voice and that face was indeed his. That much was certain upon closer look.

“Oh, haha! Long time no see. What brought you two here?” asked Thompson from the doorway.

He quickly got out on the stairs and profoundly eyed the two with kindness.

“Come on in” he said when the two arrived in front of the stairs. They walked closely together and entered the dining room where Emma greeted them with a smile and Mikhail widened his arms for a hug.

“Bring food to our guests, please” said Mikhail.

Vlad and Natalia comfortably sat on the chair and sipped their respective glass juice that was placed on the table in front of them.

“Hey, looks like you guys have become pretty comfortable. And dare I say you made more friends?” said Vlad as he looked at Serena. 

“Her name is Serena. She became part of our group after an interesting encounter non the less” said Mikhail.

“So how is life been going?” asked Vlad.

“Good, good. We bought a few spells for our members. Bought this house for a shelter. And the eight of us were all fun and games until the wave started today” said Mikhail.        

Bold passed through the hallway but retraced his steps to peer into the dining room.

“Wow, hey. It’s you two” said Bold with a smile.   

“Oh hey, Bold. How have you been?” said Vlad

They hugged each other tight and Bold sat on the chair next to them.

“What have you two been doing? You guys just abruptly disappeared after you got that map” said Bold.      

“Oh yeah. The map. I do have some news for you people in regards to that” said Vlad enthusiastically.

“Please tell us” said Bold.

“The map that we found was a riddle that if decoded, would lead us to a special chamber where no danger of an outside attack lurks” said Vlad with enthusiasm.

“Oh, so that’s what the fuss was about. You were acting so secretively” said Amanda rudely towards him while cleaning the dishes.

“Ah, haha. Sorry about that. I was just so excited. I forgot to explain the situation to you guys and left so early” said Vlad with an apologetic smile.  

“Then, what happened? Did you find that place?” asked Bold.

“Yes, we did. Which is why we are here” said Vlad.

After taking a few bites off of his steak Vlad continued.

“It’s located about 30 or 40 or so kilometers to the west from here. The place, it’s hidden underground in the forest and its doors can only be revealed by turning a secret switch that is around there on. You can freely enter and exit it during casual times. However during the waves, it will remain open unless there is exactly 18 person in the facility. And if 18 person stays there then the doors will automatically close until the deadline of the waves”.

“I see, so it’s made specifically to defend people from the waves huh?” muttered Mikhail.

“Yes, which is perfect for us in our current condition” Vlad yelled with excitement.

“Cool, when do we go there?” asked Diego who was silently hearing their conversation as of now.

“Maybe, tomorrow? It’s getting pretty late and dark” said Vlad.

“Yeah. It would be very inconvenient if someone slept on the balcony” said an unknown voice.

They all turned around to realize that Rasputtin, who was on the balcony had said those words. He had already heard all their conversation through the window.

“Who are you?” asked Vlad in a surprised tone.

“I’m Rasputtin Rostislavovich Vasilyev. Mikhail Rasplionrostislavovicnum Vasilyev’s father” said Rasputin playfully.  

“Get the hell out of here” yelled Mikhail.

“Oh come on. This is perfect. It’s exactly just what I need. I’m running away from the banking beaters you see. They’ll beat me turn me into one of their own beaters because I didn’t pay the loan. Please have pity on meeee. I don’t want to be a slave”.

Vlad saw the man’s expressive yet pathetic facial expressions amusingly. 

“Don’t listen to him. He’s as vexing as a vixen” said Mikhail.

“Mikhail, your middle name is Raspilion something something?” asked Bold.

“He gave me that middle name just to fuck with me. No seriously, he would proudly talk about how my middle name was a joke, especially when he was drunk and beating my ass” said Mikhail.

“No, I was just playing around when I said that!” yelled Rasputtin.

“Was beating me up also part of the game?”

“…Kinda”