Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 23:13:51 -0500
From: Dwedno Smith <dwednomail@hotmail.com>
Subject: Beyond Tunnel Chapter 4

Chapter 4. 			Meeting the strangers.


(From the BT boy's point of view...)



Travis approached the group.

"So who wants to speak for your group?" He said.

The biggest boy stepped forward towards him.

"I will." He said.

"What's your name boy?"

"My name is Tommy. What's yours?"

"That doesn't matter right now. What does is all of you are trespassing on
our property."

"Your property? I thought this was a public mall and it was open to
anyone." Tommy said.

"Was is correct. Since that comet thing came and all but us disappeared we
have taken over this mall and like I said you are trespassing."

"So then we will leave." Tommy said to Travis who still hadn't offered his
name up to them.

"That would be nice but not right away" He said feeling the sudden power of
being in control. Now that all of you are here and you all seem to be
healthy maybe we can find some use for all of you."

He turned and looked up at the other boys.

"Mike, Cody, Keith come down here."

As Travis spoke three boys from above disappeared from the railing and
moments later the elevator dinged and started to go up. A few minutes later
the door opened and they were now down with Travis. He walked towards them.

"Mike stay here and hold a gun on them just incase they try anything. Cody,
you and Keith search them and make sure they are all okay and not half
baked."

That caused Tommy to step forward and speak out.

"Hey big guy there is no reason to search us we are all fine and none of us
are half baked!" he said with insult in his voice.

Travis immediately pointed the gun in Tommy's face as he stepped forward
and spoke out of turn freezing Tommy in his spot.

"Look Thomas around here we do what I say and they are gonna check all of
you and do as I told them to. If you have a problem with that maybe you can
be the first one to die."

With that a little kid ran forward and stood in front of Tommy.

"No Tommy don't let him kill you!" he shouted.

"Who's the little munchkin?" Travis asked Tommy.

"This is Shawn. Tommy said as he pulled Shawn back to him. Shawn everything
is fine. Go back with the others okay?"

"No wait Tom!" Travis said.

Travis walked over and took hold of Shawn and spun him around towards
himself.

"Well he is a mighty fine looking boy." he said as he looked Shawn over and
then looked at Tommy.

"You take good care of this one don't you?"

Tommy had a look of anger on his face as Travis commented so openly about
Shawn and Travis appeared that he wanted to do something as he ogled and
touched Shawn in several places. You could see the look in Shawn's face
that he didn't like it one bit. Tommy reached out for Shawn but Mike who
was standing next to Travis stuck his gun right in Tommy's face immediately
backing him off. Travis thought to himself how this cutie would be a fine
boy to take and have a good time with alone in some private part of the
mall. He would probably be lots of fun! He thought.

"Back off kid!" Mike said to Tommy.

He took a step back and then Travis continued to look Shawn over as he spun
him around and patted his ass.

"Tommy..." Shawn whined.

"Look... whatever your name is... can you just let Shawn come back here?
You are scaring him."

"Yes I know he is scared. I can see it and my name is Travis. I suppose
it's only fair you know it now since I know yours."

"Okay then Travis can you let Shawn come back over here please?"

"Not yet. I think I might want to have a talk with this boy in private."

That comment caused another one of their boys to step up and open his
mouth.

"Look Travis or whatever your name is... I don't understand what you need
to talk to Shawn about so can't you just let him go and come back over with
us?"

"Tommy who is this minion speaking out of turn?"

"First off he isn't a minion he is my brother and Shawn's best friend."

"Oh well that makes all the difference in the world... just not to me. Tell
your brother to be quiet and if I want to talk to him I will approach
him. For now the only one I do want to talk to is you."

Tommy turned and looked at Kyle.

"KY for now just stay back for everyone's sake." He said quietly.

Kyle just nodded and backed away. Choosing to be quiet and take the smart
approach for now. Travis spoke up again.


"Now I think I am gonna leave Mike here in charge and take Shawn for a
little chat."

"No Tommy please don't let him take me anywhere..." Shawn cried out.

With that Shawn began to cry and his fear upset the entire group of boys
even more then they already were. Tommy looked up and noticed that during
all this the other boys that were above all went away to do something else
and only the four down here were left. There seemed to be no one else with
him and the three others. He started running ideas through his mind about
this but so far nothing sounded safe enough to risk. Just as Travis was
about to take Shawn away the elevator dinged once again.

"Who is this now?" Travis said aloud as he turned to see who was coming to
bother him.

The door opened and Bryan, the big guy from earlier walked out and looked
at Travis who was about fifteen feet from the others and a decent distance
from him where he stood at the elevator.

"Travis what are you doing and where are you taking that boy?"

Travis stopped walking and looked at him.

"None of your business Bryan."

"Don't give me that none of your business crap! The others told me that you
had some visitors why didn't you send for me right away?"

"Because you aren't in charge Bryan."

"Oh really? Then who is?"

This whole conversation was going on in front of Tommy and the other boys
but a good twenty feet away and quite loudly at that. It made Tommy think
there was something wrong here and wonder who was really in charge. Tommy
suddenly realized that they weren't paying full attention to them now and
only the kid Mike was holding a gun on them now. Still there wasn't much
that he could do... the other two boys were there but just paying attention
to Bryan and Travis argue and they still had weapons in hand so once again
that left him with little to do.

"Look Travis you know damn well that Kate told me..."

"I don't care what Kate said." Travis barked back at him.

"Oh Travis I don't think that was a smart thing to say." Bryan barked back
at him.

"Why?" he said stupidly.

He pointed up and behind him. Everyone looked up and standing where Bryan
pointed was Kate. This was the first woman the boys had seen since the
comet and she appeared to be quite upset right now.

"Travis why are you acting like such a total ass to Bryan? Do I need to
come down there?" she asked.

He spun around and looked up at her and at the same time he released Shawn
and he ran into Tommy's arms. While Kate began having what was turning into
a somewhat heated conversation with Travis from up above. Shawn was now
safe in Tommy's arms and crying.

"Its okay Shawnee kid. You are safe now he didn't do anything to you."

Just then something caught Bryan's eye and he started to walk over towards
Tommy and the boys. He thought he noticed something but he wasn't totally
sure what he saw. Tommy saw this and pushed Shawn behind him to protect him
just incase something was up again. As Bryan got closer to them someone
from behind Tommy spoke up. It was Ben.

"Let me through." He yelled out.

He came up to the front pushing through the group and up to Tommy. He
looked at Tommy for a second then at Bryan who was approaching. As he stood
next to Tommy Ben smiled widely and then suddenly Bryan who was coming
their way smiled and started to run at us. Ben then took off towards him as
Tommy yelled out to him telling him to stop fearing something was wrong and
not knowing at all where Ben was going. Ben ran at Bryan and none of them
from either side knew what was going on.

"BRYAN!!" Ben yelled out.

They embraced and hugged. They held on tightly for a good minute before
they broke apart. This caught everyone's attention including Kate and
Travis who stopped arguing and looked at what was happening. All the boys
stood and watched without an immediate clue. Bryan looked over at Kate
after he broke the hug.

"Kate its Ben! MY brother Ben!"

She took off running for the elevator and Bryan looked at Ben.

"Benny that is Kate she is the girl that gave me my son and your nephew you
remember her?"

"Yes I do."

Ben was beaming as he turned to us and walked Bryan back over.

"Bry this is Tommy and the guys. I have been living with them and of course
you know Luke."

He looked at Luke.

"My God Luke you are alive and boy have you grown!"

Luke gave Bryan a big hug and was smiling widely. However not everyone was
happy as Travis had a look of total disgust on his face with this new
meeting happening in front of him.

"Mike lower your gun and take the others with you and give us some privacy
please!" Bryan said.

Mike lowered his gun as Bryan asked and told the other two boys to come
with him as all three left together. That left just Travis, Bryan, and Kate
who was now approaching from the elevator. Ben looked at Kate and they
embraced and hugged. She pulled away and they smiled as the family reunion
continued. Ben turned to Tommy.

"Tommy this is Kate, she, and my brother were very close a while back."

Tommy approached them with a lot less fear now however his boys stuck close
to him as confusion still reigned strong among the group. He reached out
his hand to her and they shook.

"Nice to meet you Kate." Tommy said.

"Nice to meet you too Tommy and my do you have a large group of boys. It's
great to see so many others have survived. How did you find us?"

"Totally by accident Kate. We wanted to check out this mall for stuff and
do some shopping so we decided to take a long ride here as a group not
knowing what to expect."

"Wow that's kind of risky isn't it Tom?"

"Yes but four of us were carrying guns we thought we would be okay."

"Apparently you didn't know you would have ten guns on you when you came in
did you Thomas?" Travis replied with some attitude.

Tommy looked at him but didn't reply as he looked back at Kate.

"What's his problem?"

"I am not sure Tom, as she turned and looked at him, but he might need an
attitude adjustment soon."

Travis just rolled his eyes at what she said.

"Yeah, added Tommy, that might be needed... and some... after he grabbed
Shawn from us. I might have to give it too!"

"Well there is no need to worry now boys, she said as she looked at the
others and spoke to them. No one will harm you here; you are all welcomed
and are our friends now."

Again Travis rolled his eyes as Kate made the announcement aloud. He was
really pissed now since he lost his control over the new group of boys and
even more a chance to get at Shawn. He stood there just taking it all in
for now as Bryan handed them their guns back.

"Thanks." Kyle said to him as he took them and gave them back to the
others.

"No problem...he said, sorry... your name?" Bryan asked him.

"Kyle, my name is Kyle I am Tommy's brother."

"Oh well nice to meet you Kyle, and you are welcomed."

Bryan went back over by his brother and put his arm around him.

"Good to see you Benny. I got the note and all but I never in a million
years thought it would end up like this!"

"Yeah I saw that and read what you wrote on it and I never thought I would
see you or any family again Bry even with what you wrote down. After that
comet hit I just figured everyone was gone!"

They both smiled at one another. It was a great feeling for both boys.

"So boys why don't all of you follow us back and you can meet all the
others." Kate said.

"How many of you are here?" Asked Tommy.

"Including my son there are eighteen of us." She replied.

"Wow that is a lot of people!" someone said.

Tommy turned and looked to see who yelled that out.

"Who said that?" he asked.

"I did Tommy, why?" asked Luke.

"No reason just that everyone has been quiet so far and I was surprised to
hear any of you guys talk. He looked at all of them. Its okay guys, Tommy
said we are fine, relax, and enjoy this now no one is going to hurt you
they are our friends!"

He said that like they needed to hear it but for the moment it didn't seem
like Tommy's words meant much to the boys that were with him. They still
appeared to be on guard. The whole group now started to walk and follow
Kate, Bryan and the others to their home area. Travis walked with them but
didn't say anything. He carried his gun at his side and if looks could kill
he wanted Bryan dead but most of all he focused on Shawn! He wanted that
cute boy for sure. Only problem he saw was Tommy but he was pretty sure he
could take care of that eventually. He had no idea at the moment how strong
any of them were but he wasn't thinking rationally right now he was really
thinking with the head in his pants at the moment and all he saw was an
opportunity to take this Shawn boy and have sex with him. His mind was
going a million miles a second while he tried to come up with an idea how
to get the very cute young boy away from the others. In the meantime they
had walked a ways and arrived at their area. Kate asked Mike to go get
everyone. Bryan took the radio and called the other boys from the other
location and told them to come over for a special meeting. They made some
small talk on the radio for a bit. After that he went over to Ben.

"Why don't you introduce me to everyone Ben?"

"Sure."

Ben then walked his brother around and introduced him to all the boys that
he lived with while they waited. This seemed to make some of them relax as
Bryan shook hands with every boy in that group. Finally all the others
arrived after a brief meeting everyone was filled in on what was going on
and all were introduced to one another. Then Kate yelled out for everyone's
attention.

"Thank you. She said as she stood on top of one of the seats and was now
looking down at close to thirty something boys surrounding her. Everyone I
would like to welcome the boys who arrived at our mall today and to all my
boys please greet these people and make them feel welcomed while they are
here. I don't want any problems, as she looked at Travis, and I want their
stay to be a good one without any issues."

She went on to chat a little about the mall and where some of the things
were before she got down. She walked over to Tommy after she got off the
bench.

"Do you have any idea how long you will be staying?"

"Not yet Kate we planned on a day or two just to shop and then we were
going to head back home. It was going to be a group decision but since we
met all of you I really don't know. I am going to have to talk to the boys
and see what they want to do. It's their decision as much as mine."

"Oh well that is very diplomatic of you."

"Thanks but that's how I usually run things unless they get out of control
and then if I have to kick ass!"

He laughed after he said that and a few of the boys that heard him laughed
too as did Kate and Bryan who was at her side during their chat. Slowly and
cautiously the boys started to meet one another, chat, and mingle. It was
obvious that some were not going to get along and some would hit it off
immediately. Caleb started talking to Shawn right away. Something attracted
Caleb to Shawn when Travis started to mess with him and since Caleb was
almost in the same way with Mike and Travis busting his balls he wanted to
meet someone like that so he walked up to him and said hi and they walked
away from the others at Caleb's request and started to chat.

"Hi. Your name is Shawn right? Caleb asked him.

 "Yeah what's your name?" Shawn asked.

"Caleb."

"Neat name."

"Thanks. So how did you guys find us?"

"Tommy who is our protector decided he wanted to take a ride to this place
and do some shopping because he heard it had a lot of stuff in it."

"Yeah well it sure does. I have been here for weeks and I still haven't
seen most of the stores. Wanna go see some?"

"Yeah but let me tell Tommy so he doesn't worry about me."

"You have to tell him?"

"Yes I do it's a rule and besides he loves me and would be really upset if
he tried to find me and didn't know where I was."

"Oh... really he loves you? That sounds gay." Caleb said.

That immediately made Shawn think that Caleb was straight and he backed way
off with his thoughts of friendship.

"Let me go ask okay?"

"Sure."

Caleb waited while Shawn walked over and got Tommy's attention. They talked
for a bit and he turned and headed back over smiling.

"We can go he just said to stay close."

"Sure we can. We will just go up a few floors and look around with them
below us okay?"

"Yeah."

Caleb took off and Shawn followed as they headed for the elevator. He
pushed the button and it dinged. The doors opened a few seconds later and
Travis was standing there.

"Where are you two munchkins going?" he said curiously.

"For a walk." Caleb replied callously.

He looked at Shawn.

"Hey cute boy just be careful around stinky he might give you something
like a disease if you get too close."

He walked away and they got in the elevator.

"He scares me." Shawn said as the doors closed.

"Yeah he does that to me all the time. He says I stink and all but I just
don't like to shower it bothers me that someone might look or..."

He realized what he was saying and even though Shawn was a stranger he
suddenly got embarrassed that he was talking so openly and he got really
quiet. The doors opened on the second floor and they got out.

"Why did you stop telling me about that Caleb, its okay... I am not gonna
laugh at you."

"Really? You don't care what I say to you?"

"Hell no I talk about private things a lot with most of the guys. It's how
we live. We are pretty open and get along great together."

"You mean all of you live together?"

"Yeah in a house about seven or so hours from here."

"Wow that's awesome, I wish I had a house like you do with people that
cared and didn't scare me all the time."

"It might be too early but if you want I can ask Tommy and he might let you
come back with us if you want."

"Ya think I could, I mean there is nothing here for me except Travis and
Mike scaring and always threatening me. I'm afraid they might hurt me some
day."

"I can ask, I can't promise because it's not up to me."

"Awesome!" Caleb said.

That seemed to change Shawn's attitude a little towards Caleb it
appeared. They walked and looked at stuff and made small talk for a bit and
Shawn saw a game store ahead.

"I gotta go in there man, that is why we came!"

"Huh?" Caleb said.

"The games... ya know Playstation, X-box and so on..."

"Oh yeah...I remember... some of the guys took some and brought them to
their areas and they play in their free time."

"They didn't take all the games did they?"

"Heck no that store is huge and had a lot of every game and besides Shawn
there are only three more game stores in this place... remember its huge!
Everything is here ya just have to look for it."

"AWESOME!!" Shawn said.

He ran towards the door and looked in. Row after row of games, music and
electronics... anything you would ever want was in front of him.

"This is too intense! He said. I have to tell the others."

He went over to the railing and below him and over some way were most of
the guys.

"HEY! He yelled down. This got most of their attention and they looked
up. You guys gotta see this it's amazing! The game store up here has tons
of stuff!"

With that most of the guys ran over to Tommy and he told them to be careful
and one of them interrupted Bryan who was talking to Tommy and asked how to
get up there.

"Go right over there. He pointed to the elevator or you can go down there
some and take the escalator up."

Immediately six boys took off as Shawn and Caleb watched and laughed from
above. They went back in the store.

"Do me a favor Caleb don't tell them about the other stores for now just
incase there is something I want and I can't get it."

"Sure, he laughed but you really don't have to worry Shawn like I said I
have been in here lots and there is plenty of almost every game you
need. The other stores have some different titles and games but this is the
biggest."

"Shawn where are you?" Someone yelled from outside.

He ran to the entrance and waved.

"Over here!" he waved to them.

They came running after him and met him at the doorway with Caleb.

"Who's your friend Shawn?" asked one of the boys.

"This is Caleb. Caleb this is Kyle my best friend... Shawn said then he
turned to Caleb to introduce the guys... That is Joey, he pointed to
them... that's Billy and Danny and Luke and Jordan."

"Nice to meet all of you."

"Same here." Said Kyle.

"Well go look guys its massive!" Caleb said.

With that they looked past him in at the store. A ton of ohhhh's and
ahhhh's went up and then they headed inside and started to run around like
kids in a candy store.  Caleb and Shawn went inside with them and Shawn
also started looking around and grabbing anything that looked good for his
system. The frenzy continued as the boys started grabbing more then they
could carry and Kyle was the first to get a hand held basket and filled it
quickly. The others saw this and one yelled out `great idea Kyle' as they
all wound up with a basket shortly after that. Their shopping ended after a
good fifteen or so minutes passed and every one of them seemed content with
their choices. They all left the store and headed back downstairs. As they
got off the elevator they approached the group and Kyle walked up to Tommy.

"Bro I need to put this stuff away can we take a walk out to the bus?"

Tommy looked at Bryan.

"I guess I need to walk them out to the bus."

"Sure no problem, he said I can come if you want."

"That would be great."

Bryan escorted them to the exit doors and as they got there they looked
out. Everything had a small coving of snow on it now and it was still
coming down.

"Wow it snowed more then I thought it was going to." Tommy said,

"Yeah I didn't even know it was snowing out Tom. This is the first snow we
have had since I got here a few weeks ago and from what the others tell me
by now there is usually a lot more on the ground."

"Well that might mean we leave a lot sooner or get stuck here." Tommy said
to Bryan.

"Its up to you, it doesn't look like its going to pile up too deep but we
have plenty of space and from what I know the mall has tons of food and a
great back up generator system so I am sure all of you will be fine if you
stay."

"Thanks Bryan but we weren't planning on a long stay and I will take the
guys aside after if you don't mind and we will have a private chat."

"That's fine with me. Bryan said. Hey I don't have a coat so I will wait
here if it's okay. You guys are still wearing your coats."

"Sure, thanks. I am gonna walk these guys down to the bus and then we'll
walk back as fast as we can."

"Why don't you just pull the bus up to this door Tommy it's a lot easier
then hiking back here."

"You talk like you know where I parked."

"I do. We caught you on camera when you came in. One of the boys told us a
big bus was coming and we ran over and watched you till you got to the
front door."

"Well that explains a lot."


"Huh?" Bryan said.

"We thought we had everything under control but when ten guns were suddenly
pointed at us out of no where it was quite a shock."

"Oh well sorry about that but we had to be careful till we knew who it
was."

"Yeah I know that now but it really threw me and the guys."

"I bet it did."

"Well anyway we'll be back shortly I will bring the bus here."

With that Tommy walked out with the six boys and Bryan watched. Things were
calm now and the remaining boys were with his brother Ben, Kate and whoever
else they met back at their home area probably chatting up a storm. Bryan
waited about ten minutes and finally Tommy pulled up with the bus and
opened the door. Bryan went out and hopped on the bus to see what it looked
like inside.


"Wow this thing is really huge and great. Its got a lot of things from what
I see." He said as he gave it a quick look.

"Yeah we like it a lot. Said Tommy. It was easy to get everyone here this
way."

"I bet. How long did it take?"

 "Well we slept over last night at a motel but the drive was close to eight
hours total."

"Yeah that sounds like right for something this big. It took a few more
hours for you to get here then it took me to get here."

"Oh yeah... you were by us a while back that's right."

"Yup it took me about six hours to get here but I was driving faster till I
hit a little snow and boy do I have a story to tell you later. Remind me
and I will tell you and Ben about the run in I had at a motel. I forgot
about it till you mentioned hotel. I never even told the others this
story."

"That doesn't sound too good."

"It wasn't good at all; it scared the shit out of me!"

"Damn... I can't wait to hear that story now." Tommy said.

"After when we settle in for the night I'll get to it. I mean all of you
will be here at least one night right?"

"Yeah without a doubt maybe two or more. We have to talk it over but one
night for sure."

"Okay let's get back inside if you want."

Bryan took a quick look around the bus and then they all headed back inside
the mall. They walked back to the others and Ben came over.

"Where did you guys go?" he asked them.

"To the bus, Kyle said. We got a ton of games and wanted to put them away
so we went outside and there is more snow now so Tommy drove the bus back
here and we parked it right outside."

"That's great at least when we get back we can play something different."

"Yeah! Said one of the other boys. It was getting boring back at the house
with only fifty or so other games!"

They all started to laugh at that and then they walked back to the
others. They were now a group of approximately thirty with all of them
together and some of Tommy's boys were starting to complain about being
hungry.

"I gotta feed these kids Bryan any suggestions?"

"Sure, not all the food is good but most places had a load of frozen stuff
that is still good. What are you looking to eat?"

That brought about ten different ideas from the group. Bryan looked at
Tommy.

"Bad idea huh?"

"Yeah you can't ask them what they want its murder."

They laughed.

"Well you can go over to the food court and let them go crazy but there is
nothing cooked obviously so I am sure you have been through this before. I
think we are gonna join you and make it special tonight rather then just
what we usually do."

"What is that?" Tommy asked.

"Let them choose what they want and get it themselves." Kate yelled out.

Tommy turned around to his group.

"See you guys are so spoiled they make their own get whatever they want and
I usually cook for most of you."

Kate looked at Bryan when Tommy said that.

"He really does take care of them hon, if he cooks and all I guess he is a
good guy after all."

"Yeah I know Bry I talked to Ben and he told me how good Tommy really is
with all of them while you were gone. Ben told me a lot about how they live
and I really like it a lot."

"What are you saying Kate?"

"Well while I was talking to Ben he said there is an extra house two houses
away from them and he hinted that maybe we could go back there with them
and live there."

"Wow I never thought about doing something like that. Is that what you
would want?"

"Yes I think so Bryan but its only fair you talk to Tommy about it since
its sorta their neighborhood and we would be totally crashing it."

"Okay I will bring it up to him later tonight as things calm down and the
boys get more used to us. I wasn't planning on leaving here but to tell you
the truth Kate I really am not crazy about living in a mall with so many
others and sleeping this way every night, this might be a really great
opportunity for us."

"Well talk to Tommy and see what he says."

"I will as soon as I think its okay. I will!"

She smiled at him and gave him a hug.

"We might actually have a place to live with them as our neighbors if this
works out Bryan. Think of how great that could be. No more huge mall and
all the boys driving us crazy."

"Yeah I know I just hope Tommy likes the idea and says okay. Not that he
could stop us from going back there."

"Yeah I know Bryan but it wouldn't be right to just do something like that
without at least talking it over."

"Yeah I agree and I wouldn't do it without him saying okay. Let's hope he
likes the idea."

Tommy came over and interrupted their talk.

"Sorry to bother you two but I need to feed these monsters they are
bitching about eating and I better feed them before they eat me."

"Sure, Kate said. We don't want that now do we." She smiled at Tommy.

"No I don't, I like living."

They laughed.

"Okay anyone who wants to eat we are going to the food court! Bryan yelled
out to upstairs. Then he got on the radio and told the others who went back
to their side of the mall. Okay we can head over now and whoever shows up
will eat."

"Great, said Tommy. Before he could turn around six boys flew down from
upstairs to meet them at the bottom. Wow, he added that was fast!"

"Yeah I suppose they are hungry too."

"Are you gonna cook something for us?" Caleb and Todd asked.


"Yes guys we are going to make a few things for all of you to have a decent
meal for a change."

"AWESOME!" they shouted.

They headed over to the food court as a group and were almost immediately
met by a group from the other side.

"Who is this?" Tommy asked Bryan.

"The same guys from before but there isn't enough room for everyone on our
side so we decided to live half on one end and half on the other. That way
we can protect the mall too."

"Oh I guess that's a great idea."

"Yeah it's been working so far. So what are we up for?"

"I was thinking if there is a burger place that might be best and easiest
to make."

"Yeah sure there are a few of them and fries and lots of other things you
will see shortly."

"Great." Tommy replied.

"Is there anything other then burgers we can have?" asked one of Tommy's
boys.

"Sure, answered Bryan. What's your name?"

"Its Danny and I would love something besides a burger."

"Well Danny there is an Italian place there and if Tommy wants to cook
burgers I will make spaghetti."

The boys heard him say that and a huge roar went up.

"That's awesome!" one yelled out.

"I haven't had spaghetti in a long time!" Yelled another.

"Guess we are both gonna make something." Bryan said.

"Sounds good to me I could use some pasta myself."

"Yeah me too."

They walked the rest of the way there and when they arrived Bryan stood on
a chair and when the boys quieted down, with a little bit of help from
Bryan yelling shut up he spoke.

"Okay guys look you have two choices. Either spaghetti or burgers. Show of
hands for burgers?"

Three of the boys raised their hands.

"Okay so everyone else wants pasta?"

They roared out yes to him.

"Okay then I will start to heat the water. He said aloud. I am telling all
of you now this is going to take a while to cook so much so all of you need
to be patient!"

He got off the chair and went inside the pasta place and started to clean
up some of the mess that was left behind from last time. Thankfully a bunch
of the boys from both sides pitched in to help and it only took about
thirty minutes to get water in a huge pot and start heating it. Once Bryan
started that Tommy went over to the burger joint and looked for a way to
fire up the grill. All in all about an hour total later... both were close
to being finished and the place started to smell of burgers on one side and
Sauce for the pasta on the other. There were a few small complaints but
everyone knew it would be ready soon. Sparing all the details of cooking,
about twenty minutes later Tommy had cooked up about a dozen cheeseburgers
and a dozen regular ones because as he put it in the past you don't make
enough and they still bitch. Meanwhile Bryan made about twenty pounds of
pasta and was starting to fill plates as the boys got online. Kate was
assigned to sauce or butter as they handed out the food. They all started
to sit and eat either or both foods offered by the guys. Eventually
everyone was full and quite content as a burping game started up after many
of the boys drank way too much soda. It was dark outside now and Tommy
asked Bryan about ice cream privately. He said good idea and stood up.

"Now guys I want everyone to clean up their tables and when the place is
clean and ONLY when it's clean we will all have ice cream!"

A loud cheer went up from the group as they began to quickly throw out
their garbage. After it was all clean three of the boys that were assigned
by Bryan earlier collected the bags of garbage and brought them out a side
door to a dumpster and got rid of the garbage so it wouldn't stink up the
mall. One of the few things that Bryan demanded was to keep the place
clean. They all headed over to one of the ice cream places right after that
and with a bit of patience and lots of scooping by both Bryan and Tommy
another half hour went by and now everyone that wanted ice cream had a full
bowl of it to enjoy. The night ended with all of them having full bellies
for probably the first time in weeks for Bryan's boys and what wound up
being an almost normal night for Tommy's boys when it came to food and
eating. Next up was where to sleep and how things would be handled with
that. Obviously the boys that already live there had their places and
before they settled in for the night a brief discussion was had and Tommy
decided after talking to his group that they would go off to one of the bed
stores and sleep on the mattresses that were already there. He gathered his
group aside and told them what he was expecting from them tonight and where
they were going to sleep. There were some questions and one of the boys
asked about safety so Tommy excused himself and went over by Bryan.

"Hey Bryan one of the boys asked how safe we would be in the mattress store
and I couldn't answer him so I need to know if you can tell me."

"No problem Tommy, you and your guys should be fine we have two boys
watching out the windows on both sides of the mall and all the other doors
locked all the time and we have extra monitors in the main room on our side
so if it helps I can offer you a radio incase something happens but the
boys know they have to stay away and there is two of them awake all night
just incase. They know their job is very important and only once have both
boys fallen asleep and thankfully nothing happened but as weird as it might
sound they are actually trained now and can stay awake most of the night
without a problem."

"Great that makes me feel better even if we are armed I still like the
radio as a back up."

"No problem I will get you one shortly."

"Thanks we are ready to turn in now and as soon as we get some blankets and
pillows we will call it a night."

"I bet that it will be interesting Tom."

"What will?"

"All of you sleeping in one store."

"Yeah I am sure it will take some of us a while to fall asleep but at least
we will try."

"Okay well follow me and I will give you a radio if you want to go now."

"Yeah, thanks."

Tommy followed Bryan and got a radio and a place to get blankets and
pillows for the night. Then he took off with his group and headed to that
store. The boys walked away as a group and headed towards their destination
as Bryan and a few of the others watched them head off. Caleb turned to
Bryan after they were out of earshot.

"They are pretty cool guys. I would love to go back with them Bryan."

Thankfully no one else heard him or was close enough at this point to
comment on what he said.

"Yeah well Caleb I am sure you can ask but as far as I know they are pretty
solid as a group and I don't know if they want to take you with them."

"They might, I asked that Shawn kid and he said he would check for me."

"Then I suppose you will get your answer as soon as he asks Tommy."

"Yeah I guess so. I really don't want to stay here anymore because Travis
and Mike are always threatening me."

"You sorta brought that on yourself by spying on them Caleb so I don't have
a lot of sympathy for you especially since I tried to help you and you blew
me off!"

"No I didn't."

"Then why did you act like a dumb ass after I tried to help you back then?"

"You didn't try to help me all you did was tell me its okay and I felt
better and walked away."

"To me that's you blowing me off kid. I don't know why you don't get that
but either you are really thick headed or don't understand when someone is
trying to help you."

"Yeah whatever." Caleb scoffed. Then he walked away.

That boy is gonna be a real problem. I sure hope he does go with them! He
thought to himself. Bryan headed upstairs after that and found Kate. He
told her what just happened and she just shook her head.

"I don't know what to tell you honey but if things are getting worse here
with that being the perfect example then maybe we should go back with
them."

"Yeah I agree, I think I am gonna go find them and talk to my brother. If
he says something to Tommy then at least it might go over better."

"Okay. I'll be here with the baby and when you get back we can go to bed."

"Sounds good. I am a little beat. I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay Bry."

Meanwhile Caleb had the same idea and after he blew off Bryan he took off
in search of Shawn and the other boys to see if he might be able to go back
with them. He walked and started looking for bedding stores and after a
good thirty minutes he finally found them in a `Mattress for your Back'
store in the rear of the mall on the first level. He stood clear and
watched them for a bit to see what they did and how they acted as a
group. Tommy was standing and watching as the boys each or with a partner
helped make up a bed. Finally he walked to the store entrance and
practically scared the whole group as he announced himself and walked in.

"I am here."

He said as he opened the store door and walked in. Tommy and Kyle both spun
towards him with guns drawn.

"Don't shoot! Please don't shoot its only me Caleb." He whined.

"That's not a smart thing to do kid!" Tommy yelled at him as he lowered his
gun.

"Sorry I was just trying to be friendly." Caleb replied.

"Friendly is fine but not sneaking up on us like that! That's just plain
stupid!" yelled out one of the other kids.

"Its okay Jeremy, you don't have to get upset he wasn't doing it on
purpose."

"I know Tommy but he scared us half to death. What does he want here
anyway?"

With that question Tommy turned back towards him. By now Shawn was at his
side and greeting his new friend at the front door.

"Caleb what do you want here and why did you come all the way over here?"

"I wanted to ask you if I could go back with you when you go home."

The whole room was quiet and everyone heard his question and stopped what
they were doing to look his way. A few laughed at his request but Tommy
remained straight faced.

"We really don't have a lot of room back at the house for anyone else Caleb
and I couldn't tell you without talking to everyone else first."

"Why not I will be good and why would you need everyone's permission? I
thought you were in charge."

"I am in charge to a point but you would be living with all of us and that
requires a group decision so if you want to know we will talk it over and
let you know in the morning. That's the best I can do."

"Okay I guess then I will have to wait."

"Yup. We'll let you know in the morning."

He turned to go and standing in the doorway looking just as surprised as
Caleb was Bryan. He too had found them now and was curious what Caleb was
doing there.  He opened the store door and looked at Caleb.

"What are you doing here bothering these guys?"

"Nothing." He said fearing a problem if word got out that he wanted to
leave.

"Nothing huh? So you checked the mall to find them and came in to talk to
them for no reason?"

All this was once again going on in front of the entire group of boys and
without any problem everyone knew what was happening.

"Yup nothing." Caleb said. Then he headed to the door and walked past Bryan
and out into the mall.

 Bryan looked at Tommy.

"He wanted something what was it?"

"To come back with us."

"I knew it! I had a feeling he was here for that. He said he didn't want to
stay here to me before and I thought he might ask but I didn't think he
would look for you guys."

"Yup he did and what brings you here?"

"I want to talk to my brother."

"Oh, sure."

Ben heard him and dropped the pillow he was holding and walked over from
the bed he was standing at.

"What's up bro?"

"Can I talk to you privately?"

"Sure. He turned to Tommy. Be right back."

"No problem Ben take your time. "They both headed outside and walked a few
feet away.

"So what's up Bry?"

"Do you think that we can come back with you?"

"Are you serious? Ben said with glee. You want to come live by me, I mean
us?"

Bryan smiled at him.

"Yeah we would love to get out of this mall and live some place safer and I
really would like to have a real roof over my head and be closer to
home. So would Katie."

"That would be awesome. I don't know but I can ask Tommy."

"That would be great Ben but do you think he will say yes?"

"Why wouldn't he besides if he didn't you could always move back to our
house."

"Yeah I suppose we could live there but I would really like to be with all
the gang just for safety."

"I understand."

"It would really be great Ben you could live with us and we could be a
family all four of us."

Ben's smile washed off his face.

"What's wrong Ben? Don't you want to live with me and Katie?"

"I... I really love that you want me with you Bryan but I am happy where I
am and I am sorry if this hurts you but I really think it would be better
that I stay where I am, I mean even if Tommy says okay I want you there and
I really want to get to know my nephew and Kate and all but do you really
mind if I stay where I am?"

"No, no it's fine Ben. You could hear the gloominess in his voice as he
answered his brother. You stay where you feel comfortable; after all I
don't want to make you do something that isn't okay with you."

"I'm sorry Bryan but I like it there and I really hope Tommy says yes and
you can be close by but really I do want to be with the guys."

"I understand and I hope he says yes too but I was hoping you could watch
Joel sometimes if Kate and I needed some space."

"I can and I will be happy to do that for you but just at our place. I
suppose if you were to go out or away or wherever I could stay there for a
night or two also but I hope you understand..."

"Yeah I do. How about we ask him now?"

"Sure. I'll go get him."

With that Ben turned and headed back inside while Bryan waited and watched
from a few feet away.

"Tommy? Ben yelled over to him. Can you come outside for a minute?"

Tommy looked over at Ben.

"Sure. He walked around the mattress in front of him and headed towards
Ben.

They walked outside together and over to Bryan.

"What's up guys? What can I do for you?"

"Ummm, well I have a question for you Tom."

"Sure Bryan ask me anything."

"Okay here goes. He paused and took a deep breath. Do you think you would
have some place for us to live out by you?"

"You mean in a separate house or with us?"

"No a separate place. We don't want to cause any problems just get the hell
out of here to a better and safer place."

Tommy paused and the silence was deafening...

"I really have to think about it and honestly I should ask the others since
we all talk about any major decisions. Can it wait till morning?"

"Sure I suppose so. You aren't going right away are you?"

"Right away? You mean first thing in the morning?"

"Yeah are you leaving bright and early?"

"No we are gonna leave around noon."

"Oh okay well if you can discuss it and let me know privately I would
appreciate it."

"Sure thing. As soon as we talk about it I will let you know."

"The morning is fine Tommy."

"Great then we will see you after I get up and I will let you know
privately."

"Thanks a bunch Tom. We really want to get out of here as soon as
possible."

"Well honestly I would like neighbors but its up to everyone."

Bryan and Ben both smiled at his comment.

"Okay I am gonna head back over to Kate and the boy, see you in the
morning."

"Yup, nite."

"Nite Tommy, nite bro."

"Night Bryan, love ya."

"Love you too little brother."

With that Bryan turned and walked away heading back to his family for the
night with hope of good news to follow. Ben and Tommy headed back inside
and Bryan could hear Tommy call the boys together as a group as he walked
away.

I sure hope this works out. He thought to himself as he walked back. I
really don't want to be here much longer and fight with Mike, Caleb or any
of these kids! His thoughts turned to happier things as he started to think
about what he could do in a new house. He smiled and started to quicken his
pace back to Kate.



To be continued....


Coming up next.... Chapter 69 of Tunnel... Tension mounts before the boys
get to know one another and a surprise at the end... will there be
neighbors soon?