Extra

by Stayrr

Third

29. Code Zulu Alpha 65-96

Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse! #Chapter 65 - Read Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse! Chapter 65 Online - All Page - FREEWN

Chapter 65: 65

The usual formation is that my uncle is in the front since he has the shield while Dong and Mark are on his side ready to strike when the opportunity presents itself. Kaley and Jared are our shooters while Tatiana independently moves to assist in any way possible.

"Hey bro, can we just use the crowbar next time?" Jared said.

"It's noisy when it breaks and I'd like to keep the padlock for future use." I explained.

"You hoarder!" he joked.

"Yes. I. am." I said with a smile as I opened the gates.

Kaley and I went inside since we're the only ones who know what type of medicine to get first. We took all the antibiotics first while we took an equal number of bandages, antiseptic ointments, rubbing alcohol, paracetamols, painkillers, antihistamines, vitamin supplements, decongestants and everything that could fit in our bags. We grabbed a few plastic bags from the store and we placed more inside. We closed the gate again and I placed the padlock in since there are still more to be taken inside.

We killed a few along the way and it's almost noon when we came back.

"Right on time guys, lunch is almost ready. It took you a few more hours than earlier though, anything happened?" Oscar said while on top of the catwalk.

"Well, we just got lucky on the first run, we stopped by a few more shops and killed a lot more zombies on the way here." I said.

We unloaded it again and Rin was kept busy recording everything though Demi, Derek's daughter was assisting her now.

The guys have fortified the fence by reinforcing where the chain-link fences were connected. They have started on building the fence on the other side and it is much wider than the one built here.

Our small basket of trinkets is now increasing in numbers and is starting to make a pile.

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We gathered in the pool area and we ate lunch with everybody. Today my aunt made fried chicken with a side of mashed potatoes and coleslaw eaten over rice. The smell of the chicken makes my stomach grumble and I immediately headed to the plates with Kaley so we could eat after working diligently.

"Something American! There's still rice though…" Oscar said while I laughed.

"You'll never remove rice from our meals old man, we even eat potatoes with rice, what do you expect?" I said as I poured gravy over my rice.

"Oh, that is a faster way of eating, pouring it in rice to remove the dipping motion, correct?" Tatiana said.

"Never thought of it like that, we just do this since we discovered gravy though." I said as everyone nodded.

"How come we don't encounter gun shops here though?" Kaley asked.

"We're on a special location actually. We're in a big city but we're also in the outermost edge of it. Most of the shops being built here is for the civilians to gather and make this their settlement so that the population would stretch in the edges and not get clumped in the center. That's why we have a lot of food and water to loot more than guns. The closest sporting goods here is located on the next city after Caloocan City which is after ours, Valenzuela City. However, Oscar and I know the guy who owns one of the shops there." I explained.

"Can we reach him though?" she asked.

"I've only sent an email to him but he never responded." I said.

"Oh! The guy with eye patch?" Oscar said.

"Yeah, there're several more shops there but it's gonna be a long ride, probably two hours in a normal day. Besides, there's still a lot of places to look into like police stations and other houses. However, if the time comes that we'd need more guns or ammo, we could stop by their place using the armored van or the HUMVEE that Tatiana brought here. There's still the SUV but Raphael is working on it." I said.

"Kid, isn't there a few isolated ones in the Bulacan area?" Oscar said.

"Those illegal ones? We could go there too but it's a shady neighborhood. We need to be packing if we go there. However, we could get gunpowder in some of the factories near it. We'd definitely need a lot of those when cast our own bullets in the future if we ever start to run out. I still have the reloading equipment here and an ample amount of resources to make them. Although, it would take a while before that happens." I said.

"Wait! How about that old lady who tried to seduce us near the funeral home?" Oscar said.

I got chills when I remembered that place.

"What?! What is that place then?! I need to hear that story!" Kaley exclaimed.

The rest of the group seemed pretty excited on hearing it so I told them.

"It's a small shop on the second floor of the funeral home. It's barely noticeable because of all the signs covering the shop. The place sells low caliber pistols and rifles like the .22 kinds. When I went there with Oscar, the old lady there probably a little younger than him, quickly stood up and eyed us both. We were just checking the place for the first time and she's a bit…frisky." I said.

"HAHAHAHA!!!" Kaley began to laugh.

"Every pistol she gave us, she would accidentally touch my hand or Oscars and everytime she reached for another one, she would bend her body in incriminating poses." I explained.

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The group is now laughing when I started to act out what the old lady there did.

"Sounds like a very lovely woman." Tatiana said.

"Well we found out that her husband was in the marines and was in deployment. We bought a few guns from her though we never came back." I concluded.

"Kid, since we'll be training a few more in the future we could stop by that store again. The .22s could be a good start for beginners rather than the 9mms and the .45 ACPs that we're letting them practice with." Oscar said.

"I agree, she still sells a few 9mms though. I hope she's there somewhere. It's a few kilometers from here though it's closer from where we found Allan." I said.

"So, we're gonna head there next?" Kaley asked.

"I guess so, bullets and guns are equally important than food and water. However, we still have more access to the latter so the former is more important in our situation since we can't replenish them indefinitely. Same thing with medicine, we should save every bit that we could since we will be relying on herbal ones when we ran out in the future." I explained.

"Well it's decided then. Rest for an hour before we go yeah?" I told the group.

We rested for a while then I saw Jonathan approaching me.

"Umm, Sky. Do you mind getting a wheelchair for my grandma when you find something there? My dad insisted on just pushing her here with it instead of driving us here everytime." He said.

"Oh! We have one extra here." I said.

"Really? Is that Ken's spare?" he said.

"No, it was from the ambulance that we uhh…borrowed" I said.

He got taken aback but he just thanked me for it and he brought it to their home.

After we rested, we prepared everything that we needed and we head out using Raphael's pickup truck. It's a F-150 Raptor with bullbars installed on it.

We started to pass where we looted a few stores and we started to drive in the highway. I made a mental note of every shop and house we passed through while the others did the same.

After driving for half an hour, while avoiding cars and killing a few we came across, we finally reached our destination. We cleared the area first while I brought my uncle with me. We headed inside the small gate that leads to a staircase towards the store. I picked the lock for a few moments and then I opened the gate that leads to the small gun store.

Almost half of the guns are missing along with the ammo. It's still a lot though. We brought our bags out and we filled it up. It's still a lot considering the circ.u.mstances and I looked through some of the doc.u.ments in the table.

I was searching for her address if she would be close.

"Bingo! She's very close to Rin's last residence." I said to myself.

We brought down five duffel bags worth of assorted guns and ammo though all of it was for the .22 caliber.

We loaded it in the back and I felt Tatiana tapping my arm.

"Someone's coming. One guy, he's armed." She said while her expression changed.

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Chapter 66: 66

The group tensed when the guy approached us.

"That's enough distance!" I shouted as I raised my rifle.

The guy tensed and he puts his hands up.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" he exclaimed.

He's 20 meters away from us and he has his hands up in the air. He has a crowbar in his hip and a bag over his shoulder. I'm noticing a small handle protruding from his hip.

"Don't move! One of us will check you first. Make a sudden move and I'll shoot you in the head, understand?" I said.

"Sure! Sure! Of course! Please! I need a place to stay at! My place got overrun and I had to leave!" he exclaimed.

I looked at Tatiana and she went down the truck and slowly approached him.

"Turn around." She commanded.

The guy complied and Tatiana began to search him. She found a revolver on his back hip and a few portions of food and water in his bag.

"Where'd you come from?" I asked as I also approached him while I lowered my gun. Tatiana was holding his gear while the rest are on guard.

"I'm from the block there near the stadium." He replied.

"And you just walked here when you saw us?" I said.

"Y-yeah. I was about to head to the DDR camps for refuge and I saw you guys armed with guns and I thought you must be one of them." He said.

"We're not. We're just a special unit different from them. What are your plans then? I could drop you off the camps if you want." I said.

"That would be great! Thanks! Hold on, do you guys live in a different place though?" he asked curiously.

"We do, but I can't tell you where it is if you're already planning to go to the camps." I explained.

"I'm an office worker, I know it won't help you guys much but I think I'll take my chances with you guys. I think this is a fated meeting and I promise you that I'll do whatever you ask me." He said.

I looked at his eyes, no dilation. Breathing seems to be normal though a bit hurried from being pointed a gun. I stared at him for a while and I offered my hand.

"My name's Sky. Come with us then." I said.

"I'm Bobby, nice to meet you guys." He said.

"We'll do the full introductions later. A few are getting close." I said.

The guys killed a few who got a bit close and we let him ride on the back of the pickup.

"Sky!" Kaley pointed to a direction a few meters away.

I looked at it and I saw another sprinter. It's getting close as it ran towards us so I signaled Tatiana.

She looked at me and I said, "Use the shotgun on its feet. Use the Magnum rounds for good measure."

She quickly unloaded the slug in the chamber and then she plucked two Magnum rounds from her hip and she slid it below the Benelli M4. She aimed for its feet and she squeezed the trigger.

BOOM* *BOOM*

She unloaded two shots quickly towards the sprinter's foot and it lost balance immediately and fell down tumbling in the pavement. She was about to finish it with a normal slug as it starts to crawl towards us but Jared shot it with his M70.

psshew*

bolt slide*

It just flopped its head down and was no longer moving. I looked at Bobby and he retched at the sight.

"What was that?!" Bobby exclaimed as he paled in horror at the sight.

"I'll tell you later, we gotta move now." I said.

We drove through some of them though we hit a few on the way. Good thing that a bullbar is installed in his pickup. I told my uncle to go to the address that I found from one of the doc.u.ments in the store.

"What's this place?" he asked.

"It's the address of the owner of the store that we got the guns from. I hope the old lady is there with her husband. If not, we could get a few more guns from that place since half the store is empty." I said.

"Oh? We're taking them then?" he asked.

"Yeah, she has her eccentricities but I think they will be a good addition with our team. Besides, we need more people at the place." I said.

We drove inside the place where I drove Rin before but it's much further in though. I saw the right house number and then we parked the vehicle in front of the gate. I noticed a doorbell with an intercom and I pressed the button to speak into it. The team and Tatiana cleared a few stragglers on the side of the road while Bobby tried to pick a few with his crowbar.

"Hello? Mrs. Smith? Are you there?" I said.

"Who is this?!" a male voice sounded.

"This is Sky, an old customer of Mrs.-"

"Go away! We're not taking in people!" the voice shouted.

"You must be mistaken; we have a place in-"

"Didn't hear what I said? Go away! We won't go to your camps and we won't give up our weapons you hear me?!" the voice bellowed.

"I think we're not welcome here Sky." Kaley said.

"Maybe." I contemplated for a while and I tapped the intercom a set number of times. The group grew confused at what I'm doing but Jared and Tatiana are now focused on the sounds of the beeps in the intercom.

Dash Dash Dash

Dash Dash Dash

Dot Dash Dot

Dot Dash

Dot Dot Dot Dot

After a few seconds, I did the same sequence and the beeps is the only thing you'll hear.

It was Morse code.

A few seconds later, the gate opened and an old man in his 50s, American, and wearing his service uniform appeared. He looks at all of us and then he spoke.

"Come in."

The group then looked at me while Jared is shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"What did you do?" Kaley asks.

"Oorah." I said.

"What?" she asked again.

"Oorah." I repeated myself while I widened my eyes.

"It's a marine yell." Jared whispered.

She gives a look of understanding and my uncle drove the truck inside.

"Mr. Ishiyama?" a voice resounded.

"Mrs. Thelma?!" I said in surprise.

"What are you doing here?! Are you guys alright?" she asks.

"You know them?" the man said.

"Yes, I used to work for his mom back in the day. Johnny, can you tell your wife to prepare something for us?" she said.

"But our food is-"

"No need for that, but thank you. We're here on business. Is this all of you? You mentioned your wife, are there more?" I said.

"Let's talk inside." He said.

We went inside their home and it's a two-story house that is medium sized. There's 9 of them here. I introduced my group while Mrs. Thelma introduced theirs.

"This is Johnny, my sister's husband. That is my sister Joanne. This guy here is my husband, Marco. The couple there is Jimmy their son and Clarice his wife. They got three children which are Judith, Carlo and Jimmy II." she said.

"You in the marines, kid?" Johnny said.

"Why does all of the old military dudes call me kid?" I said to myself.

"No, I just needed to get your attention." I said.

"Well, you did it. What do you want?" he said with a frown.

Joanne suddenly had a look of realization and she exclaimed, "Wait! I remember you! You're the guy with the old army guy who bought a few guns years ago!"

I just nodded and she smiled at me.

"You know this kid dear?" he said to his wife.

We related our story to them about going to Thelma's store that she manages and also going a few years back to her gun shop to buy a few guns and ammunition. What we never knew was that Thelma and Joanne are sisters.

"So, what you're trying to say is that you want us to move to your place where you're the one who's in charge of it? I think I find that a load of bull, no offense. Do you have any proof that you belong to a special unit?" he said.

I pointed to Tatiana and she relayed her orders to him. Hearing her repeat it still gives me a feeling that she's still hiding something. The response is too…robotic. It feels like she has said it many times before.

"I can also let you talk to one of yours." I said as I told him about Oscar. I tried to contact Oscar through the radio and I let Johnny talk to him. After a few minutes of talking to the old man, his mood lightens and his guarded demeanor disappears somewhat.

"Good job old man." I said to myself.

"I see. I understand your situation now. But what I don't understand is how did a US Army Veteran and a Russian Army Soldier and a large group of different people though mostly family follows your orders without question? How did you manage to do that?" he asked.

"Because I can." I said as I looked at him straight in the eye.

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He seemed taken aback from the simple response.

"I can debate for you for hours on how I can do things but, in the end, it's all just words. A man of action like yourself would be more convinced if you could see the place yourself." I said.

"What's your situation on food?" he said.

"What about yours? I believe Thelma manages a store near the gas station. How come you're worried earlier to prepare some with us? I left her a note too." I counter-asked and he was speechless.

"Thanks to that note, I managed to place supplies on the trucks though one of my workers took off with one of the trucks that I was supposed to bring here. We're left with one truck and it's all we have. Johnny is contemplating on going outside to loot a few places but we decided to ration and avoid going out at all costs." Thelma explained.

"I knew that something happened." I said to myself.

"Even though we have a few guns in here, we're not really sure if that is really what it takes since we haven't gone outside yet. The news said a shot to the head is all it takes but I still think it's too dangerous to go out so I convinced him to stay put for now." Joanne added.

"Your problem will be solved if you choose to follow me. We have people, we have supplies, and we have guns. What we need now is more people. You'll have a place to sleep and food to feed your family. All we need from all of you is to contribute and follow my lead." I said earnestly.

"Will you still accept me even with this?" he said as he showed me a prosthetic leg on his right side.

I just smiled and said, "That's it? I have a friend there who can't walk since birth and has a more positive outlook than you, no offense. He traveled from Cavite and left his house just to be here."

"Dear, I think we could help each other and survive together when we come with him. We could start packing our stuff, we could always come back here if we don't like the place." Joanne said to his husband.

Johnny rubbed his glabella and he gave a long sigh.

"Fine. We'll check your place first and we'll decide if we stay or not, is that acceptable?" he said.

"Sure." I said.

"Can we make a stop for my shop at the 2nd floor of the funeral home first? We still left a few when the thing started." Joanne said.

"No need. We already went to your place, that's why I found this address." I said.

Her eyes widened. She said, "Oh! Are the guns still there?"

"Yes, all of it is in our pickup. To be fair with you and as a sign of good faith, we'll split it in half. Sounds good?" I said.

She was taken aback though she seems to mull over something.

"Wait! That is ours!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Was. Last time I checked, the world has gone to shit and everything is fair game now. Do you have the luxury to go back there now and get them back? We cleared a lot of them to get those and I'm being generous letting you keep half of them. You already got half of them in this place so technically we're keeping a quarter of it. You did say you planned on looting other places; will you give them back what you took if they asked for it?" I said flatly.

"I ah-" he was taken aback.

"Dear I think that it's more than generous." Joanne said.

He grumbled for a bit though he relented in the end.

"I'll wait for an hour for you guys to pack up. You could place some of your bags in our truck if you need more space. I'll be in it splitting the guns and ammo." I commanded.

"Thank you." Thelma said to me while I nodded.

They started on packing their stuff so I went back in the pickup. We have two long rifles and 18 handguns with 36 boxes of ammunition. I smiled a bit since it's an even number and could be split evenly. Their family has two vehicles here, a minivan and a coupe. They started on placing their bags on their vehicles at 3:26 PM. We would be a bit late for the broadcast but it would repeat so I did not urge them to hurry.

"It's a lot of them." Kaley said.

"Yeah, we got 10 people in one go." I said.

"Do we need to worry?" she asked.

"I don't think so. Bobby seems to be a normal dude and Johnny is just an overprotective serviceman. We'd learn more about them if we spend more time with them. We need to know a few things like knowing their occupations and what not. However, it's not bad to always keep another eye open just in case. In my opinion, it's still almost a week after it started, the electricity is still on and the water is still being given out. We'll start to worry about people when the resources start to dwindle and the daily necessities ran out. That's why we'll need to get more people in the early stages since they haven't gone to the deep end yet." I said.

"Hmm, true. But wouldn't it be better to find more people that has experienced this first and still turns out to be the good ones?" she replied.

"That is a good hypothesis. We never really know what people are deep down but… this is gonna sound sinister but here me out…" I said as I moved closer to her and whisper.

"We're never gonna get 100% good people. There may be times when we meet good ones at first but turning out to be evil assholes later. If we found the people that you mentioned, it will be the best scenario. That's why we get them to our side, we make them think that this is the best place they could ever have so they regard us like their benefactor or something." I said quietly.

"Isn't that some sort of manipulation then?" she asked.

"Yeah, something like making them obligated to follow our orders. Like when someone helps you a lot and when that person asked for a favor you immediately help them without question. I think that's better than leaving them here to die or killing them because we don't want the risk of them knowing our place. We've been lucky since wandering people would stumble upon the DDR camp first before ours." I explained.

"But what would we do if they do something bad after all that we've done for them?" she asked with a worried expression.

"That is a hard question but with a simple answer. I think you already know the answer to that. Anyway, it's still early to think about that." I said.

"I understand. How long do you think this thing would last though?" she asks.

"In my honest opinion, it will vary between countries. I feel that in this country, I'm thinking 5-10 years at the earliest. The other ones where it's all just separated by borders, probably a lot more. We'll have kids by then." I said innocently.

"I see… wait, what?!" she exclaimed as she looked at me.

"What?" I tried to act normally.

"Kids?!" she silently exclaimed.

"It's an honest estimate. Well, talking about it now is too sudden. We've been together for almost a week now… I-"

She punches me in the arm while she blushes.

"You changed a bit when we got together, when Oscar and your aunt were teasing you with me, you're more fidgety but now you're more…confident. Is there a reason for that?" she asked curiously.

"Don't you know that that's what's being in a relationship is like, you doofus!" I said her words back at her from before.

"You!" she began to playfully punch me a couple of times while I just laughed hysterically.

"C'mon, just help me divide the guns here." I said then Joanne approached me.

"Mr. Ishiyama, my husband would be mad at me but I've decided to let you keep all of what you got from my store. Take it as a sign of good faith from us. Taking us all in without question is the best thing we could hope for." she said.

"Really? I won't be polite then, thanks!" I said with a smile.

I heard some grumbling noise when she went back to their house and I placed all of them back to the duffel bags with a smile.

"You hoarder." Kaley said with a smile.

"Heh, being like Jared huh? I think I'm hoarding people as well." I said while scratching my head.

"You are, but it's really kind of you. I first thought we would be only taking people that has a set of skills." Kaley said.

"Why? I'm the best there is, why would we need another one? I could always teach people." I said with a grin and an innocent look then she kicked me.

"Why are you so violent?!" I said as we talked for a while.

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Johnny's family finally finished loading up their vehicles and we opened the gate and cleared a few on the street before we started to drive towards our compound. The trip has been uneventful and we safely reached the fences. I saw that the side where the fences was connected was reinforced and the fences themselves were also. It was made heavier by adding another roll of the chain-link on it and attaching a metal strip to hold it together. It's sturdier than the earlier version of it though it is much heavier. We parked Raphael's pickup inside the compound while Johnny parked their vehicles outside.

"This is the place. From this fence towards the end is a safe zone. What do you think?" I said.

He gives a solemn expression and Oscar came outside to meet them.

"Col. Oscar Goodman, US Army Veteran. You must be Sgt. Johnny Smith, Marines, right?" they both shook hands.

"I'm retired too, very recently. This place is definitely much better than ours." he said.

"Oscar, I'm thinking of letting them stay at your house, there's nine of them and I think a single room might not fit them." I said.

"How about the other houses here then? Are they all occupied?" Johnny asked.

"Right, we can let other people stay in the other houses now." I said to myself.

"Most of them are looted though, we did a run by them for a few days. The electricity and the water are still running in the other houses though we don't know for how long. Just flip the main switch on since we turned them off. We have panels in the compound though we're gonna start on conserving the usage of electronic devices to further the lifespan on the panels in the future." I explained.

"I think we would like to settle in one of the houses here. Can I pick anything?" he said.

"Sure, there are only two occupied houses here. The one near the court and the gated one near the fishing areas." I explained.

"Hey, can I stay inside the compound?" Bobby asked.

"Sure. Just pick an empty room when we go inside." I said.

I made a small orientation on how things work here. Johnny and his family picked the house where we found the cat that was left there. We left them to their own devices for a while and I said that we have a meeting after dinner and he said he would come with everyone. Their supplies other than their guns were taken to the storage area though everything is accounted for in the inventory that Rin made. Bobby went to the room next to Allan's and Jenny's since the third room has no one occupying it since the two became a couple.

Oscar told me the details of the broadcast and it's the same details like yesterday.

There's still more daylight to burn so I invited anyone that who would like to join a class for basic firearms training. I brought a few pistols with me to the court and I started on training a few. Alex, Esther, Jonathan, Nicole, Alicia, Mark, Dong, Lois and Russel came to the training while Kaley came to watch.

"Hey, Lois is Jared's brother, right?" Kaley said.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"Can he shoot like his brother?" she asked.

"Well, he's a special case. He'd only excel at things when his interest is piqued. When he starts to get bored of it, his performance suffers." I explained.

"Really?" she said.

"Yeah, he's a quick study too, the only problem is that he gets bored easily. That's why his brother goes to lengths like even taunting Lois just to get him to move." I said.

"What made him want to go to practice now?" she said.

"Not sure, we'll know later." I replied.

We assembled on the concrete bleachers once more and I gave a small lecture, the same as last time to drill into their minds the importance of proper handling and discipline when operating a firearm. Since there were exactly nine of them, I brought out the .22 pistols which are all the same Walther P22s. Instead of them shooting at the same time, what I did was I let them go one-by-one so that they could observe the first one first and ask them what they observed from it. We could then have a discussion on what the person did wrong and what improvements on their posture or grip can be given.

"Lois, go first yeah?" I said.

He grabbed the first one, laid it in the table, stripped it and assembled it again. He loaded the magazine with the bullets provided and he aimed at the target and took a shot.

BANG*

Right at the head. He exhales and he fired another shot.

BANG*

It hit the torso this time.

"Go two shots per breath now." I instructed.

BANG* *BANG*

One hole near the earlier one in the head and one a bit off in the right but still at the head area. He exhales and fires the other two.

BANG* *BANG*

It hit the torso once more but one is very offset.

"Good job, you really don't want to join the scouting team?" I said.

"Hmm, maybe, but I'd like to stay at home though." he said.

"Okay, no problem there's plenty of us anyway but I might drag you a few times. Try using your left now." I instructed.

"What? I haven't tried that yet. This is gonna be bad." he said.

"Just try it." I said.

He made a couple of attempts but the distance is way off compared to the shots he made earlier. A few hit the target though and I gave him another full magazine to get his rhythm back with using both hands. The groupings are now much better than before and we heard the click that the gun is empty. I looked at the group in the back and they have a mix of expressions.

"He's good." Kaley said.

He just smiled and he took a seat after making a bow.

"So, what can we learn from that?" I said.

A few of them gave their answers and we started to discuss.

"In the future, I'd like you all to at least be able to do what Lois can. He's already in the next level, even more if he continues to practice, which he doesn't. What we learned from his display is that if you make shots in succession, the accuracy of the following shots starts to move away from the intended target. What we need to do to counter that is that we keep a steady grip and a proper position so that the successive shots won't go too far. Someone go next yeah?" I said.

The rest of them took turns and we discussed every time someone finishes. We continued on training until it was starting to get dark.

"Sky, I noticed that the guns we're using gives less noise and it kicks less." Russel asked.

"Yeah, it is a lower caliber and it's best for practicing not like the shotgun you let loose in the gas station." I said.

"Oh, that was fun though!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, that was crazy." I said.

"Hey! I haven't got the trade for the shotgun I gave you yet. Can I have this instead?" Russel said.

"Sure, I can give you a holster for it. But always keep it in check, that never leaves the holster unless there's an emergency and keep it out of your little sister's reach yeah?" I said as he happily took it.

Nicole then approached me and she said, "Hey, when can I have my own gun then? I'm doing pretty good, right?"

"You are, I just think that it's still not time yet. If Lois wasn't here, you'd be the top student. That little brother of yours is something else. I can give you the pistol but without the bullets though." I said.

"How can that help then?" she asks.

"You can practice quick aiming and field stripping for starters, what most of you struggle with is aiming properly. It would take you guys a few seconds before you properly aim with the sights. What you need to practice is that when you raise it or draw it from the holster, it's already positioned and ready to go. That would be the difference of life and death in the future." I explained.

"Really? I'll keep this one then." she said.

"Clean it first yeah?" I added.

She nodded and we tidied up. We then headed to the compound. We found that Johnny's family is inside there, chatting with everybody. He waved at us and we joined them.

"So, you trained a few of them?" he asked.

"Yeah, there's a few promising ones and a few needs to train normally to get better." I said.

He just nodded with a solemn expression.

"How about your family though? Do you want me to train some of them?" I said.

"My wife, son and Marco knows how to use them. I just want the rest of them to stay here and be safe while we protect them." He said.

Oscar and I looked at each other but Oscar said, "That's fine, but it wouldn't hurt them knowing a few things."

"Does everyone in your compound know how to use firearms?" he asked.

"No, but we plan to train everyone in the future." Oscar said.

"Do you guys even have enough ammo for that?" he asked.

"It doesn't have to be just guns. I've been meaning to teach close-combat weapons or hand-to-hand for a while." I said.

"I disagree, I'd rather have my family not be conscripted as soldiers. They could do other things but not fighting those things." He replied.

"I'd rather teach them to have the knowledge to protect themselves when they need it than needing to protect themselves but don't have the knowledge to. I learned that the hard way." I said earnestly.

"I…" he was finding the words to reply.

"Better to have and not need rather than to need and not have." Oscar and I said.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 69: 69

"I won't just teach them how to fight. There are lots of things to learn here. We have a teacher in one of the houses and she could teach your grandchildren. We have a lot of competent people here that we could learn from, even from you." I explained.

He nodded for a while and he was deep in contemplation. His wife is talking with everyone while his youngest grandchild sat on his lap.

"Alright, I'll follow you. Hmm, I want you to have this as a sign of good faith." He handed me his holster which contains a Desert Eagle. I checked it and it has .50 AE bullets inside and it's full.

Oscar whistled, "That's a sweet gun."

"I had that for a few years. I-"

"Can I have an SW MP M2 instead? I saw your inventory; I remember you have one." I said flatly.

"Grck!" the two old dudes choked at the same time. Kaley was facepalming though smiling while his grandchild is just looking at us in confusion.

"Kid?! You ruined a good moment there!" Oscar yelled.

"What is wrong with you?" Johnny added.

"Well, you're gonna give me a gun, might as well negotiate for a better one." I said while scratching my head.

"Oh boy." Kaley said.

"Wait, you mean to say you don't like the Eagle?!" Johnny's face is starting to redden. It's the first time seeing him giving a different expression from his usual stoic demeanor.

"Well for starters, it's heavy. The recoil is strong, it isn't suitable for rapid shooting. And to top it off, 7 rounds? C'mon man, the MP could hold 18 or 26 if you also give me those extended mags that I saw in the brochure." I explained.

"But! It's .50 AE bullets! There's custom mags for that to be mediated." He said.

"Doing that would make it heavier!" I retorted.

"But! It's a freaking eagle!" he shouted.

"Eagle, Taurus, Rhino what other animal-based guns could you think of? Those all have low bullet capacity. So, the MP, can I have it instead?" I retorted once more with an innocent face.

"You!" he's red all over.

"Woof!" Zeus tried to join the conversation.

"Is that how we sound? It's funny and annoying at the same time." Oscar said to Kaley.

"Yes, Johnny is losing though." Kaley said.

"The kid is good at talking, he has his facts straight though." Oscar said.

"This is not a battle of numbers!" Johnny is starting to get passionate.

"Of course, it is! Are you comparing 26 dead zombies over 7?" I debated.

"The bullets have great stopping power and it could pass through those things and hit a few more!" he exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes with an exasperated exhale.

"Why would you need stopping power for zombies though? And bullets passing through? Are you gonna wait for them to stand in line? Hah! What are you gonna say? Okay Mr. Zombie arms up with each other so I could shoot you?" I retorted.

Oscar began shaking his head laughing.

"!…" he seems to be out of words to say.

"This gun is just a sign of good faith okay? Can you just please accept it? My blood pressure is going haywire. They never told me you were like this…" He said helplessly.

"He's a good kid but with guns he's the devil himself. Only won once with him." Oscar said.

"No, you didn't" I said to myself.

"Just accept it Sky. I thought you really like pistols." Kaley chimed.

"Okay then. Thanks! To be honest this is really cool. I always pick this gun when I'm playing games." I said as we shook hands after but Kaley is smiling at the remark.

He went to the catwalk to talk to his son chatting with Allan.

"Thank you." I heard Joanne said from behind.

"Hmm?" I looked back at the direction of the voice.

"It has been a while since he grew passionate like that. Ever since he got his leg…out of commission, he seemed very depressed and he rarely talks. Add that to what's happening now…" she said.

"If that was me, I'd happily wear that as a badge of honor." Oscar said.

"I hope he does think of it that way too. He's just different, somewhat pessimistic in how he views things." She explained.

"Well it's great for all of you to come here." Oscar said.

"Just don't tell my husband you know…" she trailed.

"Of course, I get it, my wife gets lonely too. Though we always talk as much as possible." Oscar said.

"We do too. It's really hard for me staying at home not knowing whether the next doorbell will be him or a letter." she said solemnly.

"Hmm, that's why they always say that freedom isn't free." Oscar replied.

I then decided to leave them and I headed to the gym to do my daily workout. Tatiana continued to train Kaley while time passes eventually. Kaley's body is slowly getting more flexible and I could notice her legs is starting to grow muscle as I see a few contoured spots that was not visible before.

"You focused on her legs huh?" I said to Tatiana.

"Yeah, I figured that she would be busy with her hands as she's holding guns." She replied.

"I agree, our legs are much stronger than our arms too." I added.

"Hey Sky, I can do this now." She said as she splits on the mat. It was the type where her legs are in the front and in the back. I was surprised at her progress and then she adjusts her position so her legs will be on her sides. She didn't stop there and she went upside down when she raises her body with her hands while she's still in the same position then she closes her legs and landed safely on the mat. Her body is starting to bend on angles but still very far from what Tatiana can do.

"A little progress is still progress." I said to myself.

"Damn. Great job! Both of you!" I said out loud.

We cooled off and then we did this awkward shower again with the three of us. We headed down after we changed our clothes.

When dinner is almost ready, the families from the other houses came and we introduced them with each other.

Tonight, we ate a chicken dish that is prepared with tamarinds which is called Sinampalukang Manok. It's a hearty broth mixed with a few herbs and it tastes savory and slightly sour. As usual, we ate it over rice and I brought out a separate bowl for myself so after I ate a mouthful of rice and the viand, I would sip from the bowl after. The rest are also amused from my other eating habit though Rin is not doing the same as me tonight.

We tidied up for the meeting as we clear the tables. I stood in front of them as I got their attention.

"Good day today! Kinda troubled though." I said.

"What's the problem kid?" Oscar asked.

"We got no Halloween decorations for tomorrow. Everyone outside has gone over the top this time." I said while giving a double finger gun.

"…" everyone else.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!" My uncle Zeidrick along with a select few burst out laughing.

"That was too dark kid." Oscar said as he shook his head.

I saw Kaley in the corner palming her pistol.

"Ahaha…" I laughed weakly.

"Anyway, let's start this thing properly. Let us first welcome our newest addition to the group. Johnny and Marco's family and Bobby who we met earlier."

They stood up for a bit to be welcomed officially.

"I would also like to thank you again for taking me in. This more than I have hoped for." Bobby said.

I nodded then I continued, "Our scouting group made a good haul earlier and we also found a lot of guns from Joanne's shop. We'll be continuing on hauling stuff tomorrow while our builders will continue on fortifying the place. How are we on the status on the fences and the farm?"

"The fences up front are well fortified and we need to work on dismantling the houses in the squatter area tomorrow." Zeidrick said.

"I planted a few seeds in small cups first so we could transfer them eventually in the farm outside. I also helped with Mrs. Amanda with their small garden at home and we could harvest a few stalks of lettuce and beans tomorrow." Charlotte said.

"I made my way to the fish ponds earlier. A few of them could be fished now. We could smoke them tomorrow or just salt them and place them on the freezers. We harvested a few pieces of eggs from the chickens and the feeds you got helped a lot. The rabbits are gonna give birth soon so I separated the males when I noticed the first time." Derek said.

"Okay, that sounds great. Raphael?" I asked.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 70: 70

"I looked at Oscar's SUV. If the M134 is to be mounted there, it would be facing up first. We're gonna connect it through the button where you press so that the door on the roof opens. It's gonna be a few days of work but it's possible, maybe a week or two and it would be done. It's the first time I'm doing this and it might take a while since we need to do this carefully." Raphael said.

"That's good guys, thanks." I said as I nodded.

"Listen up, I will be teaching classes every afternoon after the broadcast ends. We will alternate between ranged weapons, melee weapons and hand-to-hand. Everyone is welcome to attend though I'll be teaching a few at a time. Everyone can sit in to watch and don't be shy to approach the others if you want to learn from them." I said.

"Remember our rules on the lights and noise and don't forget the watch duty for tonight. Any questions?" I added.

"Umm, can I ask why my revolver was taken? I see a few people here with guns and I'm not saying that it's unfair, I'm just wondering though." Bobby said.

"Honestly speaking I don't trust you with a gun yet. You just had it in your back hip without any proper holster to carry it. You don't have the other bullets for it and there's no sign of it being fired yet. Where did you get it? No offense, but I think that it's not yours. Am I correct? You look like a good guy and you are an honest one from evidence. I'm just wary that you might not know on how to use it properly." I explained.

His eyes widened and he was taken aback.

"I-I…" he was speechless.

"I was gonna ask you to come earlier to train with us in the court but you seem to be inside your room for a while. Is there any problem?" I asked.

"Oh, I should've come outside. T-the reason is very embarrassing…" Bobby said weakly.

"What? You milking the dragon or something?" Oscar joked as I facepalmed.

"Ah! N-no… that was my brother's revolver. He… uh, earlier…" his eyes started to water.

"I get it, I can hand you the revolver later but I can't give you the bullets for it yet. Come for the training next time or ask Oscar or Johnny for pointers." I said.

He just nodded and he took a seat as he was comforted by some of the group.

"Bobby, I know what it's like to lose someone very close, I've experienced it before. It's strong of you to not show it earlier when we met you and not just burst out in emotion. So far, we've been very fortunate to not have any casualties. We have a few close calls but we have each other for it. You have us on your back now, whatever happened in your home we could talk about it when you're ready. It's gonna be a hard the following days, weeks or months for you, heck it could even take years I'm not gonna lie to you or sugarcoat it. I can't just say brighten up or man up since that decision is on you on how you want to cope with your loss. Just know that you have people here to rely on yeah?" I said earnestly.

"Thank you." he mouthed.

"Any more questions?" I looked at the group.

"Yeah, kid, you mentioned that you traded numbers with the soldiers at the DDR camps, did anyone contact you yet?" Oscar said.

"So far, Ken is keeping contact with them. But I think they have built a working system there too. We still see their helicopter bringing them supplies and probably most of the people would come there first than over here since most would come over that place first before seeing our place here. It's evidenced since we've never seen any people come here randomly yet. Is there any news from them yet Ken?" I said.

"Oh! Uhh, I only talked to them once but I turned one of the radios here to their frequency to listen in on their conversations. It's mostly just checks on each other positions most of the time and a few banters. Nothing seems out of place from their side." Ken reported.

"Okay, just keep on checking in with them so we have another line of communication." I said.

I saw Johnny raising his hand.

"Yes Johnny?" I said.

"I heard that we have only built fences from the gate there and on the other side where the canal system is. Why is it that we don't cover the whole place around?" he asks.

"Oh, it's a natural barrier. If you even manage to climb to the houses and the walls far back, you'd drop on the body of water after it. We've never seen zombies swim much less float." I said.

"But Oscar mentioned that there are sprinters, right?" he said.

"Oh, you're asking about the special ones? So far, I've only witnessed two types. The sprinters up close and the still ones from the broadcast. However, me and Kaley noticed when I took her outside to practice with the AR-15 a few that exhibits irregular behavior but not like in the case of the special ones. If you're worried about a few of them turning to a special type that could swim in the water it would still be unlikely for them to reach us." I explained.

"How so?" he asks.

"The fishing areas here has a net that covers a perimeter of it. They'd need to pass through 2 sets of nets and they will just end up caught in it not to mention the nets that are below to separate some of the fishes. Even if they did, they might also need to learn how to leap from the water since it's a 3-foot gap to reach the road." I explained.

"Have there been any breaches though?" he asks.

"He's really concerned for security huh? That's good." I said to myself.

"None, if there were any, near the fishing areas is Andrew's and Arthur's houses. They could immediately radio in and Ken would fly the drone in intervals to scout the area." I said.

He gives a few nods and he seem to trust this place more and myself.

The group doesn't have questions anymore so we concluded the meeting. The watch duty for today has been posted and the new guys volunteered to be included in the first watch. Kaley was in the second watch though. We headed for my room again for our nightly ritual of watching a movie. Before we even get to start, I hear someone knocking on the door.

"Hey, Sky the rabbits are giving birth now, want to see them with the girls? I thought it would be later but-" Derek said.

Almost immediately, Kaley and the girls bolted past Derek and I to reach the barn, only Tatiana was left inside with me.

"Rabbits huh? Those are delicious creatures." Tatiana said.

"Yes, don't tell Kaley and the girls in front of them. They'll lynch you hahaha!" I said as Derek also gave a laugh.

We three then made our way inside the barn and I see a group of people watching the rabbits give birth gradually.

"They look like little rats!"

"They're a b-bit ugly without the hairs though…"

"They still look cute though."

"Why are they hairless?"

"We need to wait a couple of weeks."

"Woof!"

"Be quiet Zeus, you're scaring the mother."

"Look! It's giving birth again!"

"OOH~"

"What is that one doing?"

"She's cleaning her baby… wait…."

"NOOOOOO~!"

"She's eating them!"

"Stop it!"

"Zombie rabbit~!"

One of the mothers started to eat her babies and we decided to separate that one from the rest.

"Why did you separate that one though?" Olivia asked.

"Uhh, because she'll probably eat all of them. We're probably gonna eat that one tomorrow." I said scratching my head.

"NOOOOOO~!" some of them protested.

"It's no use keeping her though, everytime she gives birth, she would just keep on eating her babies." Derek said.

"We could make a small hat out of the fur though." I said.

"No! I'm going back now!" Olivia screamed.

"The other ones are still giving birth though…" I said.

"Right! I forgot!" she immediately went back.

"NOOOOO~! Another one is eating their babies!" one of the girls screamed.

"Oh, she's not eating them, she's just eating the placenta." Derek explained.

"Ohh, I see." Charlotte said.

"They're a lot though." Kaley said.

"Do rabbits taste good?" Aya said.

"Of course, I'll share some with you tomorrow." I said.

"Thanks!" Aya said.

We then let Derek took over the procedures as some of them are starting to leave the barn. We said goodbye and we went back to my room. There were 19 babies in total and he grabbed a few more blankets to keep them warm and he said that he would stay and watch them for a few minutes and get back to them every now and then.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 71: 71

"Hey Sky, it's gonna be Halloween tomorrow, right? Can we watch a horror film in advance then?" Olivia asked.

"Sure. Let me find one." I said.

I browsed the list and I played a horror film. It was a slow start and then it gradually punches you in the face. The silent gasps of the girls made me laugh, the sisters are holding me tight while Rin is on Tatiana. We then finished the movie and we began to sleep.

"Umm, Kaley, can you sleep with me tonight? Ahaha…" Olivia said.

"I'm scared too you know!" Kaley said.

"Why did you even pick that Sky?!" Olivia said to me.

"But you said to pick a horror film! It wasn't that bad…" I retorted while laughing.

"Well, you've watched it before! I'll just sleep with you two here then!" she said.

"Olivia if you sleep with Kaley and Sky, I'll be alone!" Rin exclaimed.

"You can sleep with me just for this night then… if you want." Tatiana said to Rin.

"I-I… sure…" she replied weakly.

"It's settled then. Goodnight everyone." Tatiana said as they both leave.

Tatiana was nonchalant while Rin is a bit red on the ears and cheeks.

"Right! I need to set an alarm." Kaley said.

I was positioned at the wall while Kaley is in the middle, Olivia is at the edge as I turned the lights off and a few minutes pass. I was on my side facing the wall as I heard a voice.

"Kaley, do you think mom and dad are still… you know… there?" Olivia whispered.

I just pretended to sleep.

"Of course, they are very much alive. Dad is built for these things; he'll surely protect mom. I just really hope they come soon and see my note." Kaley said.

"What note?" Olivia asks.

"Oh, I haven't told you yet. I left a note there that we went to this place and Sky left the coordinates to this place so they could find us." Kaley said.

"Sky's really a good guy, smart too." Olivia said.

"Yeah, a genius is a better term." Kaley said.

"You like him then? Have you two said 'I love you' to each other at least?" Olivia said.

"…" Me and Kaley.

"We haven't really said that to each other yet, I mean verbally. But I hope she feels the same." I said to myself.

"We haven't really said that to each other yet, I mean verbally. But I hope he feels the same." Kaley said.

I gave a small smirk and a very light exhale from the nose while Olivia silently shrieked in pleasure.

"I'm pregnant." Kaley said.

"WHAT?!" Olivia and I shouted at the same time.

"No! I'm kidding, I knew you were awake! I heard you snort! HAHAHAHA!!!" Kaley exclaimed.

"That was too sudden sis, it almost made me have a heart attack!" Olivia said.

"Damn, me too." I said.

"That was payback for last time!" she said as she chuckled.

"You really got me there, damn. Hey Kaley?" I said.

"Yeah?" she replied while she turned in my direction.

"I love you. I was saying the same thing in my head, what you said to Olivia. This is the first time I've said it to anyone and the first time I'm really sure what I'm feeling. You asked me why I'm fidgety before and suddenly confident. It's actually just with you, I really learned how to talk to people, read their body language, sense what they're feeling etc. It's just with you that I revert back to my old self. I'm not an expert in things romantic since I've never really been in this kind of relationship that we have with anyone before. This is something I feel to progress with, not think to move logically. I-"

She kissed me in the lips and she smiled brightly.

"If you keep on explaining it, it would ruin the moment!" Kaley said as she planted another kiss on me.

"Did you guys just kiss? Better make sure that it's all you do here! I'm still here you know!" Olivia joked.

She whispered the same thing I said to her in my ear and I kissed her again.

"I heard that! Aww, you guys!" Olivia exclaimed.

We gave a laugh and I placed my hand over her, hugging her. I also felt Olivia hugging her sister. We maintained the position as we slowly went to a deep slumber.

I just woke up in a position where I'm in the middle of the girls hugging me. Olivia was now at the wall while Kaley is on the edge.

"How did we end up in this position?" I said to myself.

I looked at the dresser and I saw Kaley's M70 lying next to it. I slowly tried to remove myself from the two and I now felt what Zeus was feeling when he was pinned down by Olivia.

"This girl really has a death grip!" I said to myself.

I looked at the curtain's slits and I surmised that it is still before sunrise so I continued to sleep. The position is a bit uncomfortable though. Two heads with their hairs assaulting my face.

"Don't these two get itchy when they sleep on the back of their heads? Hmm, maybe they just got used to it. I can't even grow my hair since it gets itchy at the back of my neck when I sleep. Dammit, I remembered that I need to have a haircut 3 days ago." I said to myself.

I closed my eyes for a moment and I can't seem to continue sleeping.

"F.u.c.k! I'm fully awake and I can't move! Will I just be talking to myself until sunrise? Well, I do this a lot of times. My left leg is starting to lose feeling, Kaley's leg is on top of it and it must be slowly stopping the circulation. It's gonna get really bad soon." I said to myself.

I tried to slowly shimmy my leg off of Kaley's leg however, Olivia then moved and placed her leg on my right.

"Damn it! Well, it's just a start, it's not losing feeling yet. What is that? *sniff* Is that green apple? Right, it's my favorite shampoo other than cool menthol." I said to myself since their hairs in on my face.

"Hmmrgh…" I heard someone from the two groaning.

"Who was that? They're too close I can't hear who's groaning. What time is it now? I can't even check since Kaley has my arm. It's still dark outside though." I said to myself.

All of a sudden, Kaley's leg once again went over my leg.

"F.U.C.K! Are these two playing a prank on me? Highly unlikely though, Olivia can't hold her laughter for this long. How did she even manage to go to my place?" I said to myself.

I heard some scratching on my door.

"Zeus? Is he awake now? He might wake them up if he continued on doing that." I said to myself.

I tried to whistle for him to stop but I can't whistle with all the hairs in my face. He stopped after a while though. Now I'm back in this position and my right leg is starting to lose feeling.

"Goodbye my legs~ it has been nice knowing you. Is this what Felix feels like having no legs? Hahaha! Damn, I'm starting to miss my daily shows that I watch online. Everything is gone now, good thing I have saved a lot of them. That is the only thing I can do for them, save their memories. Well I do hope they survive too, honestly speaking, some of them will. F.u.c.k, my left leg is losing feeling again." I said to myself.

After a few minutes, Olivia finally let go. I immediately turned to Kaley's side but then she also turned at the same time.

whoosh*

thud*

I fell down the other side of the bed while Kaley was also dragged down since she was hugging me. She's now on top of me while we're both on the floor on the side of the bed. My body hurts a bit while both my legs are numb.

"Hmmm~ Sky? Did we fell down? Did I pull you? Sorry…" she whispered as she rubs her eyes with my shirt.

"No… I was about to turn towards you but you turned as well, I tried to avoid you but my feet are numb…I pushed too hard with my hand and I went over…" I whispered as well.

We are now talking very silently.

"Ahahaha…you could've just nudged me to wake up. Why are your legs numb though?" she asked.

"Well two sisters decided to lean their legs against mine and I decided not to wake the two of them up. It lost feeling after a while." I said.

"Then it's your fault then… am I heavy? Do you want me to move?" she said.

"It's a trap, that question… why would I want a beautiful woman that is embracing me leave? You're crazy." I said.

"Ahahaha, smooth. Wanna see crazy though?" she grins as she starts to grind her body against mine.

"Ah shit. Here we go again." I said to myself.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 72: 72

We're just wearing comfortable clothes since we're sleeping, we haven't had the chance to change yet. She's just wearing a spaghetti top and short shorts while I'm wearing a simple loose shirt and simple shorts.

"She'll wake up, you know that, right?" I reminded her as I whisper.

"Not if we stay quiet. Your legs still numb?" She said as she continues to press her body against mine.

"Yeah, why? Wait, oh boy… " I replied.

"Good… be quiet." she said.

I'm slowly rising in emotion as it gets harder eventually. I looked at the view and besides her beautiful face, her b.r.e.a.s.ts are now against me but every time she pulls back, I see it being in the mercy of gravity. It is getting stretched and clumped every time she moved while one of the tips is starting to protrude to the top. This peculiar situation we're in makes me helpless and excited at the same time.

She planted a kiss in me and our tongues started to move wild. We still have our clothes on and our bodies are just grinding against each other. Her h.i.p.s just move in a simple pattern while we tried to make as little noise as much as possible.

She's starting to hold her mouth close since small gasps are coming out of her mouth. I tried to hold down my grunts too in fear of waking the other person that was sleeping a few inches above us.

"This is really bad… though I can't stop too…" I said to myself.

"Want to head somewhere more private?" I whispered.

She shook her head and she said, "I'm really close…hold on…"

I then started to move my h.i.p.s in opposite her movements as we retained the same movement over and over. She lets out a very soft m.o.a.n and then she loses strength and her weight pressed to my body and she slightly twitched while still pressed against me. I tried to hear if there were movements from the bed, but there seems to be none.

I felt her hands go inside my shorts and she pulled it out. I felt it going through her legs first and it slipped inside somewhere after it pushed aside an article of clothing. I could still feel the soft cloth to the side of it and the supple flesh on the other then it suddenly entered a place that is warm.

I placed my hand on her lower body and then I started to squeeze them around towards me. I'm starting to lose my mind from what we were doing. Add that to the restraint that we need to make as less noise as possible. Her h.i.p.s started to move as I try to match my movement with hers. She then moved slowly since it's making a bit of a fleshy noise. After a few minutes when I was about to release it, I then pulled it out and let it out outside.

We were silently grasping for air as I grabbed a cloth to wipe ourselves. We kissed once more and then we just sat upright and stayed there in silence while we're leaning against each other. Doing it with as little noise as possible is very difficult but definitely something I enjoyed.

"That… that was really crazy. But crazy good." I said.

"Why are there types of crazy?" she chuckled.

"Well that is an example of one. Wanna head out?" I said.

Day 7

We cleaned ourselves and changed clothes then we headed down as we left Olivia still soundly sleeping on the bed. Zeus followed us outside when we headed down and we saw Peanut is in our house sleeping soundly.

The sun is barely rising and I stretched my body then I saw Chris coming inside the gate with Charlotte. They're wearing jogging pants and their shirts are soaked with sweat and they are catching their breaths.

"Hey, you guys jogged outside?" Kaley asked.

"Yeah, Alex joined us too. She's too quick, I could barely keep up with Chris but she just passed us a few times like it's nothing. She kept passing us on our left, it's crazy." Charlotte said.

"Captain 'murica?" I said to myself.

"That's good. Hope more joined you next time. Well, a few of us are going to the gym at night. I have a few treadmills there but hitting the road is fine too." I said.

I then saw Johnny also coming inside the gate with Marco. I waved at them and he made a small salute.

"You guys are early." I said.

"Oh, just a force of habit. We walked around the place and scanned around for any blind spots. There were none so far. You're right, this place can be a fortress in the future." he said.

"Anything you'd recommend we add?" I said.

"Hmmm, so far, none seems to come to mind. Let me think about it first and I'll tell you if I come up with something." He replied.

"Do you have extra rope or string?" Marco said.

"Yes, why?" I replied.

"I'd like to add a net to the hoops in the court. It's much nicer to hear it swoosh when it has one." he explained.

"Oh yeah, so it just drops down and not bounce farther than it should be." I said.

"Won't that be a waste of resources?" Johnny said.

"We could always remove them. Besides, it's good training for one's body if you play sports. It gets boring for some people if you just kept on lifting weights at the gym." I said.

"That is true I guess." He replied while scratching his chin.

Me and Kaley then paid a small visit to the barn before we all gathered at the pool area for breakfast.

Today, my aunt made an omelet with various vegetables mixed into it and a few with just green onions or just simple ones with cheese for the kids. We have coffee or hot chocolate for anyone who wishes to drink it while I mixed the two. A few tried to do what I did and their eyebrows shot up when they tasted it.

"Earpk!" Allan choked.

"What? You didn't like it?" I asked.

"I haven't put sugar in it yet…" he said as he soldiers through the bitterness in his mouth.

We laughed at his face for a while then we continued on eating.

"What's the plan today kid?" Oscar asked.

"I'm thinking of more supply runs but there are still people here on the left side that didn't left their homes. I saw a few heads on the 1st week when we first burned the few bodies that we encountered in this area." I said.

"Do you know them though?" he asked.

"Personally no, I would also like to pay a visit to a place outside to relieve an itch at the back of my head." I said.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kaley asked.

"Last time when I woke up early, Chris and the others were on watch duty. I suddenly felt a presence in the back of my head, like someone is watching me. I immediately turned around but nothing was there." I said.

A few heads now turned in my direction.

"What?! Are you sure?" Kaley exclaimed.

"Not really, it could be anything at this point now. I checked the scope at that time and saw nothing, I even turned the illuminator but there was no movement." I said.

"Where was it from though?" Tatiana said.

"From another house here, the Pineda residence. It's right before we reach the elementary school. It's a big place too, they might still be even inside but I highly doubt it." I said.

"Then it must be them then." Oscar said.

"If it's them, then it's all good, but the feeling I got there is a bit different. I definitely felt something there." I said.

"What?" he asks.

"Eyes. Like the feeling when someone is stalking you from afar but the moment you look back it's gone." I said.

"Hold on, did Chris and the rest felt it?" he said.

"No, they didn't, it's really faint though, not like the prickly feeling and the heavy ones that makes your body slow a bit in fear or disgust. It happened in an instant and it disappears." I explained.

"Well how do you plan on scratching that itch if someone is inside there then? You can't just knock and say, 'Hello is someone there planning to kill me? Blah blah blah…'" he said.

"Well, that's the plan actually. I plan to head there at noon." I said flatly.

"Kid?! Out of all the plans that you made, that's the one that made no sense at all!" he shouted as he almost spat out what he's eating.

The rest are also giving confused glances and worried expressions.

"We passed by their house a few times and nothing happened. They have two houses there inside, one for their stay-in helpers and one for them. They could probably be around 2-3 families inside including the helper's but something was off when we passed by their place and when I looked at their house from the time when I was on watch." I explained.

"What?" they asked.

"There're no signs of people living there." I said.

"H-hold on, please elaborate." Johnny said.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 73: 73

"A few nights before when I used the scope, I did not just look at the window I felt a presence from, I checked all the other windows apart from it and there were no lights on, not even a small lick of fire from a candle. They could be following a same principle with our protocol on lights but on the other nights I checked, there were still none along with the presence I felt. When we passed by their house, the exhaust fan installed on one of the walls is not working and there were no vehicles parked inside. It could be that someone has broken inside their home and stayed there or they have left it already but a few stayed behind." I explained.

"W-what if it's a g-ghost or something?" Olivia asked.

I almost rolled my eyes but I said, "Sorry, but I don't believe in ghosts. Everything must have a scientific explanation. Even this thing that we are facing right now. If this is a supernatural phenomenon which I believe is highly unlikely, we're all f.u.c.k.i.e.d." I said.

"What if it's a special zombie? Like a flying one?" Kaley said.

"Hmm, that is possible but still unlikely. So far, what we've seen from the movement of the special ones are still possible with the human body. Growing appendages like wings or the like is impossible because once a person goes into the state of undeath, it would be impossible to 'create' something from a decomposing body. We need to learn more from this virus to make even a proper assumption. It would be troubling if we ever have flying ones, we might need to build some sort of netting if that ever happens and levitating ones is not even one I think would exist." I explained.

"How do you know all this?" Johnny said.

"Oh, it's just a simple conclusion based on my observation. Anyway, I think we really should drop by that house later yeah?" I said.

"Damn kid, we really should be sending you to work with the scientists in Davao, you might be the one to solve this thing." Oscar said.

I smiled and finished my cup of chocolate-coffee.

"Impossible old man, there are more things that they know that I don't. I just remember stuff and that's it." I said.

"Don't downplay your head kid, you really could be a scientist or something." he replied.

"Hah! Too late now eh?" I replied while chuckling.

"Well, if it was you Sky, what would you do to fix this thing?" Kaley asked.

"If I have the knowledge and the know-how, with our technology, I could say the way is to not create a simple cure. I think I'll make something like a vaccine of some sort that even if we get bitten, we'd still be fine." I said.

"Isn't that a cure then?" Johnny said.

"A simple cure will just remove the virus outright but a vaccine will grant you immunity to it. The virus still exists but it does nothing to us." I explained.

"What difference does it make?" Johnny asked.

"Hmm, I haven't shown you the files from our first meeting before. The earliest one I found about this thing is from 3 years ago. It didn't even look like what we have now and that means that this virus that we have is evolving to a different one eventually. Back to the cure and vaccine talk, if we cure someone from it, what if the person got infected again with a different strand? The vaccine I want to make, if I could, should also evolve with time with the virus." I said.

"W-wait, you lost me there. I thought we were trying to get rid of this thing, why are we living with it now?" he replied.

"Think about it, in a few years' time we won't know what it'll be like. Better make something that would grow with it to contain it than make a cure over and over for a different type. Oh, it's almost 7:00 AM, let's talk about this more later." I said.

"My head. Oh, my little head." Russel said.

We loaded up first and we brought the truck outside. It's the same group of people and I rode on the back with the others. We first went back to the pharmacy that we opened yesterday to sweep the place with all of the available medicine and other supplies. We brought extra bags for now so we could carry them much easily instead of piling them over each other like last time.

"Where do we go next?" my uncle said.

"Go to the Mercury Drug next, it hasn't been looted yet. Puregold has it's gates opened and there must be a few remaining there by now, we'll just go there next time and prioritize the ones that are not looted yet." I said.

"Why didn't they go to this drugstore though? It has plenty of medicine and has some food inside." Kaley asks.

"Look at that appliance store near the street. Most of the people prioritized stealing the most valuable TVs and stuff and although some of them did loot food, most people would forget about medicine." I said.

"Why though?" she said.

"They didn't think that they would need it until they needed to. We live in a third world country, barely anyone here get their weekly checkups like in the other countries. Well, most of the less fortunate ones. People just go to the doctors if they feel something is wrong and some people will be surprised at the price of some of the medicines that they are required to buy. That is because most of the people here would buy OTC drugs first and would wait it out until they feel the medicine that they bought doesn't work but when they actually go to the doctors, their sickness is a whole lot worse than it could be if they got their checkups regularly. Did you experience your mom curing everything with Vick's Vaporub?" I said.

"Oh my god!" Kaley exclaimed.

The rest of the group began to laugh while Tatiana is confused.

"What's that? Is that a cure-all of some sort?" she asks.

"No, actually it's just a menthol ointment most mothers here regarded as a cure-all even though it's not. Have a cold? Use Vicks's. Fever? Use Vicks's. I wouldn't be surprised if Vicks's would be an ingredient that a Filipina scientist would use to cure this thing hahaha!" I explained to her while everybody chuckled.

"Is that so? That's very amusing." she said with a smile.

We arrived at the place and we cleared a small area first before I began opening the locks.

Almost immediately when we raised the roll-up, on the other side of the door is a treasure trove of resources. Everything is still like it was when I entered here before, good thing Lois didn't blab about the 'five-box incident'. We headed inside while Tatiana and a few guarded the entrance. Me and Kaley grabbed pushcarts and we headed over the counters to grab medicinal supplies while Jared and Dong went aisle after aisle for consumables like food and water.

We grabbed antibiotics, painkillers, antiseptics and the like and filled our bags first before the pushcarts. This place is filled and we made three trips for the medical supplies and the food supplies and there is still more left.

"Should we leave a few for other people?" Kaley said.

"Hmm, that is a good idea but we take the most important ones. We leave a few that is easily recognizable by them since they wouldn't even understand how the ones at the back could be used for." I said.

"That sounds fine." she said as he removed a few that are readily recognizable.

We closed the roll-up once again and we made three trips with the truck to clean the place out with the important supplies before leaving a few inside. The food items are what made the trips increase in number. The baskets of biscuits, the cans of food and the gallons of water and different boxes that they are placed in is what made it so much bulkier. Can't complain though, I think the only ones having a hard time is Rin, Demi and Bobby who are in charge of organizing the supplies.

Only Rin has the separate list for the guns though, we have three sources of them now that Johnny is here. Tatiana's case is in my armory now but I found nothing special about it. Before we leave, Johnny asked for a few tools and materials so he could make a hidden safe for the guns that he has brought. I mentioned the gun locker we found under the bed near Andrew's house and he said he'd make use of it.

As we drove back, I saw the other gated community 'Woodlands'. It's a huge place that has a several dozens of big houses that are expensive. I've noticed that their huge gate is barricaded with metal sheets though no one is guarding it.

"Is it still standing or are they doing a bad job of guarding the place?" I said to myself.

"How did you guys managed to loot that place?" Russel asked as we reached the house.

"For starters we are well equipped and most civilians can't clear out that area since it's in the highway. However, Thelma's store got looted very early on since there is a lot of supplies there. It's a matter of time though before people think of their ways to handle the dead." I said.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 74: 74

"How about the gas station though? Are there tankers still left?" he said.

"Unfortunately, no. We have a lot of empty containers that we found in the other houses; you could fill those up first and we could drive the tanker again outside. You could place the containers on the apartment next to Johnny's place." I explained.

He nodded and he grabbed a few people to complete the task.

Raphael then approached me and said, "Hey, I see we have a lot of building materials here but what I need are mechanical parts. Do you have a place here that we could get some? I'd hate to disassemble one of the vehicles here."

"Hmm, what kind do you need?" Oscar said.

"A few that has pistons or the shocks for the motorcycles and a few gears and a chain or a thick rubber belt. I'd need something that could hold the weight of the minigun in the center of the vehicle. How many rounds of ammo are you planning to put in it?" Raphael said.

"About 1000." I replied flatly.

"Wait, what?!" he exclaimed.

"That's approximately 17.2 kilograms." I said.

"H-hold on, how many rounds of ammo do you have?" he said.

We both just smiled and said, "a LOT."

He was flabbergasted at the thought and his eyes widened for a while before it returned to normal.

"Oh yeah, I have a thought. You said Ken's shotgun has its barrel sawn off. Can you do the same with this one?" he said.

"I'm not really sure on that, why though?" Oscar said.

"Because I've checked the measurements before and we would need to remove the seats in order for it to fit in the middle. That's why I'm asking if we could saw the minigun's barrel in half. It's heavy too and removing a portion of it could ease the load on the SUV. I'm asking since I'm not a gunsmith." he said.

"It would affect in how the bullet travels and sprays; I think, so let's scrap that idea for now. How about just placing it in the back of the SUV then?" I said.

"Then it would be much easier. We just need to mount it and I'll just make it move forward a bit after opening the back door and add some sort of stopper so the barrel doesn't hit the frame of the SUV." he said.

"Hold on. That wouldn't be as cool though. Wait a moment, I'll grab something." Oscar said as he went to his house.

After a while, he's carrying a medium-sized case when he went back to us.

"How about this then? Can you mount it on the top?" Oscar said.

We opened a case and I my eyes just light up. It's an XM556. A small version of the minigun that is about half the size that uses 5.56 ammunition instead of the 7.62 that the M134 uses.

"Where the f.u.c.k did you get this old man?! You haven't shown me this yet!" I exclaimed.

"Hah! I was planning to give you the M134 when I get too old to lift it. I bought this in 2017 when it was released, though only the military and the police could purchase them." Oscar said.

"This… this could work. Much easier to mount this than the first one. This is a definitely much lighter than the first gun even with the bullets. The seats could just be adjusted on the side, not removed completely since I will just position this in the normal position and lift it up when the top door is opened." Raphael said.

"It's settled then. There's a bike shop where I bought a few full suits and they have a few motorcycles there. We'll load maybe three on the truck along with a few spare parts so that you have materials to work on." I said as we nodded.

"Here kid, that is definitely yours now." Oscar handed me the keys to the M134 again.

"You're really sure? Thanks, I have a new paperweight in my collection." I joked.

"KID?! You want me to unload this on you?!" he screamed as he lifted the XM556 though it's just pointed on the ground and it's not loaded.

"HAHAHAHA!!! Just kidding old man! Thanks a lot for this! I'll put it near the Barett." I said.

"Sky! Mom said to eat first! The food is getting cold!" Aya said when she approached us.

"Oh, it's already almost 1:00 PM! We three have been talking here a while." I said.

We three then headed to the pool area to grab a plate of sweet and spicy fish that is turned into balls. It was garnished with slices of carrots and potatoes and sprinkled with green peppers and always eaten with rice. The rest are already eating their meals when we joined them.

"What took you guys so long?" Kaley said.

"Oh, we got too excited talking about the SUV and the gun." I said.

"Well, don't forget to eat okay?" she said.

"Of course, thanks." I said as I stole a fish nugget.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"This is for the soft-boiled egg from before! HAHAHAHA!!!" I exclaimed.

She just harrumphed though she did nothing to fight back. Scared from her silence, I just slowly placed one of my nuggets to her bowl after I ate the one that I stole. It seemed to appease her a bit and we just continued on eating.

I then grabbed a few rounds to replenish our ammo and we rested for an hour before we set out again. We headed for the bike shop across the street from the public market and no one even thought of looting the place. There is easily 10 motorcycles here and a lot of other aftermarket parts and a few more protection gear for motorists.

We loaded five motorcycles in the truck and 10 more of the protective gear I've bought before. We also loaded a few boxes of aftermarket parts and spare parts to the truck. We also found reflectors, spray paint, stickers, and a couple of cameras that could be attached on top of helmets. We loaded them all in the truck since our aim for this run is the parts for the gun mount.

When fastening the motorcycles in the truck, across the street, we saw a few people looting the public market. There were five people holding different kinds of handheld weapons and are filling their bags with canned goods. One zombie is in their blind spot, so I sniped it with my AR.

psshew*

The bullet went to its head and it fell down in front of them. They saw me take the shot and the guy in the middle gave me a nod and they went their separate direction.

"You know those guys?" Kaley said.

"No, but they needed the help." I said.

"I wonder why they didn't approach us." She said.

"They must have people at home needing the food. People at homes now are starting to lack food and now they are forced to loot places. If they talked to us, we could've learned about their situation and invited them to our place." I said.

We finally fastened the vehicles and we drove home. As we're driving back, we saw the same group trying to open the bakery next to the elementary school.

I tapped on the roof of the truck to make it stop.

The other group had guarded expressions when they heard the vehicle stop though it eased when they saw it was us.

"W-we were just looting the place; We ran out of food yesterday. What do you guys want?" the guy in the middle said.

"I told you man; they will come after us if we don't move fast!" the guy in the back said.

The guy in the middle and the two next to him had their hands up and I waved them down.

"We're not here for your food. That place is empty though. We looted that yesterday. You'd have more chances on that diner there, we try to not take from everything here." I said.

"You guys soldiers?" the man said.

"Sort of, we need information. What's the situation at your place? I can point out a few places we haven't looted yet in exchange for that." I said.

"Don't tell him man, he'd just go to our place and loot it!" the other guy said.

"That is possible or I could've just killed all of you at the market, that sounds easier than risk talking to you yeah?" I said.

Their group tensed when I said it.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, and thank you for saving us earlier. I just don't feel safe telling where we live with strangers." He replied.

"Sure, that's understandable. Let me guess then. Marcelo?… Libo?… Pulo?… Petron?… Elsewhere?…" I continued on saying different places near here and when I said 'Elsewhere' their breathing changed.

"Gotcha." I said to myself.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 75: 75

"Do you live near Chang's? The Chinese guy with the big house?" I said.

Their group looked at me in shock at what I said. The man gave a bitter smile and looks at me with worry.

"H-how did you know?!" The other guy with a hat said.

"Shut up man!" the guy at back bellowed.

"Too late, I promise you we won't do anything. Back at topic, do you live near Chang's?" I said.

They looked at each other.

"We'd tell you if we could have a gun, please? One of ours got scratched when fighting them up close. He turned after a few hours…" the man said.

"Sorry, I don't think that's a good idea. I could give you protective gear instead. It doesn't run out of bullets like the gun I have here." I negotiated.

"We need guns man!" he said to the other guy.

"Noise attracts them, right?!" the guy in the hat said.

"We'll take the protective gear. It's better than nothing." the guy in the middle said.

"C'mon man! We don't even know them and we're telling them where we live?" the guy at the back said.

"You think I'll took an interest in a place with no food?" I interjected.

"…" everyone in their group.

They contemplated for a while but the man in the middle answered for them.

"Deal. We live near Chang's though a bit further. People are still in there though we heard a couple of gunshots inside." The man said.

My uncle exclaimed, "Hey! You said gunshots?! Let's go there now!"

I looked at my uncle and he has a worried and disgruntled expression.

"Come with us, we'll give you a ride. Save you the trouble of encountering a few of them on your way back." I said.

We gave them a ride in the truck and we run through a couple zombies along the way. My uncle is driving faster than usual since his family is in Chang's place.

"Know someone from Chang's? I'm Jay by the way." the man said.

"Sky, yeah we know someone from there. How many are you in your group? You guys have something secure?" I probed.

"Sorry, still can't tell you guys. We've let someone in before and he stole some food. Is it a relative in there?" Jay said.

"I told you we don't need food. Look at this truck, we're hauling motor parts. I'm looking for the most difficult thing to find. So far, I've only found a few." I said.

"Motor parts?" he asked confused.

"Good people." I said.

"…" their group was silent but mine has a faint smile on their faces.

"You guys have a place then? Jon is my name. Do you take people then? We killed a few of them already! We could help you guys! Right, Bing?" the guy with the hat said as he looked at the guy in the back before.

The guy named 'Bing' just nodded and he kept on staring at Kaley and Tatiana. He just disregarded my look at him and kept on ogling at the two. One of them wearing a jacket with a hood and a facemask back-tapped him and he just snorted. The other guy looked at me with worry and I just have a nonchalant expression.

"Go ahead, try your luck. If you try anything with Tatiana, the tall blonde one, you'd be lucky to have brain damage and live. If you try with Kaley on the other hand… hmmm, let's just say that someone will be either sweeping their teeth on the floor or gurgling blood." I said to them nonchalantly.

The girls gave an amused expression at my remark.

"Bing, heard that? Stop it with that dirty look. We're sorry, I'm Daisy. Nice tats by the way." The person with the facemask said.

"Oh? Didn't notice she was a girl." I said to myself.

"Thanks. Name's Sky. Don't apologize to me, tell it to the girls here." I said as she removed her facemask and hood. She has several tattoos on her neck and chest as she loosens the jacket she's wearing.

"I see no problem, it's just looking. Sky, I'm allowed to do something when they try something else correct?" Tatiana said with an even thicker accent and a menacing tone.

"Of course." I replied.

Bing almost immediately averted his gaze while Daisy gave an amused expression. Kaley just gave me a slight elbow and she was giving a relaxed expression.

"To answer your question Jon, we do, stay with us for a while and we'll head to your place if you want to come with us so I could assess you all first yeah?" I said.

"What do you mean by asses? Like butts?" Bing said with a confused expression.

"…" everyone else.

"Hah! Good one, that's not what I meant. I'll see if I could take your people in or not. I'm cautious like you guys as well and I would not just take anyone I met for the first time outside at this time. It's been a week and I'm not sure how people acts now." I said to them.

"Well, so far, I've taken everyone I've met." I said to myself.

The road we took is a back road going on an intersection past the burger place we looted before. It's a straight road for a mile and we need to take a right turn in order to reach the place after driving a quarter of a mile.

screech*

We finally reached Chang's place and we cleared a few that's walking around though there's a pile in one corner being invaded by flies.

"It's fewer here than my place." I said to myself.

My uncle then went down the truck and called inside.

"KENNY! ARE YOU THERE?!" he shouted for a few times.

A few zombies from afar are starting to look at this direction. Kaley and Jared aimed at a few of them from a few tens of meters and they fell down with each shot.

psshew* *plop*

psshew* *plop*

psshew* *plop*

psshew* *plop*

"They must really be soldiers…" I heard Jon whispering to Jay.

"The one with the sniper gun looks young though…" Jay replied.

A door opened from inside and a few people walked out.

"Pa?! You're here!" a small voice sounded.

We saw a small kid probably in his elementary, rush outside and met him at the other side of the gate. An older lady then stepped in and dragged the kid off the gate.

"Hey! Get away from that drunken fool!" the lady shouted.

"I'm sober for 10 years you bitch! You know you lied at court! I'm taking Kenny and Hannah with me now! Take those two others you brainwashed with yourself and f.u.c.k yourselves!" my uncle bellowed.

"What is going on?" Jay asked me.

"It's complicated stuff." I said.

"Hey, can we go ahead for now? We haven't eaten this morning yet. Just drive a bit forward and look for the yellow gate that is numbered 223." He said.

"Woah, why did you tell him our address?!" Bing exclaimed.

"I think we could trust this group." he replied.

"Good choice." I said to myself.

"He looks more like a person we could trust than you though, big guy." Daisy said to Bing.

"What?!" he exclaimed as the rest chuckled.

I nodded and then their group broke off with us.

Three more figures emerged from one of the houses, A skinny male with pale skin with a disgruntled expression, a female with dark skin like my uncle but petite and another female with a large forehead though she is not as tall as the first two. The last one went to Kenny's side and held him tight with an embrace as she whispers to him something inaudible from my side. They were Cyrill, Joanna and Hannah, Kenny's older siblings.

"What do you want dumb f.u.c.k?!" Cyrill said.

"Didn't the court give you a restraining order? Hmm?!" Joanna said.

"I'm taking Kenny and Hannah with me, then sue me in court if you still could." my uncle replied.

The two grew more furious and they lashed out with their mom.

"Can you even take care of the two?! You barely made a home for us!" Leslie, his wife shouted.

"Bitch?! I was always at work doing overtime after overtime. I was doing all the hard work while not being appreciated even with a proper meal. Do you even know how hard being a truck driver is?! I'd go home at the middle of the night and even a cup of rice isn't in the pot. I'd have to do everything by myself! You could've at least left a cold meal in the table!" my uncle retorted.

"Overtime? Maybe on your side chick you always went to the bar with!" Cyrill shouted.

"That's my f.u.c.k.i.n.g money I earned with my own! You're just a f.u.c.k.i.n.g freeloader who can't even find a decent job! Tell your whore of a mother who's seeing who and we'll see!" he retorted.

"…!" my cousin was stunned.

"How about me then?! I found a job and finished my studies, what did you do?! Where were you?!" Joanna then rebutted with bated breath.

I almost rolled my eyes. "That's years of studies down the drain if you can't figure that out." I said to myself. My cousin Jared that's with me has a frown on his face as he tightly held his gun. I could feel that he's angry and ready to lash out.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 76: 76

"Calm down yeah? Unc. could handle this." I said to him.

The way he tightly held his gun lessened and we continued to keep guard outside.

"Who did you think paid for all of your fees?! Your mom who can't even manage to feed you properly for even a day?! You really think that her being the worst household helper did all that?! That's why all those boys you take home just played with you since you're an idiot." my uncle bellowed.

"The f.u.c.k did you say?!" she replied.

"Truth hurts huh?" I said to myself as Jared squeezed a faint smile.

"Blabber all you want but you can't take them from me!" my aunt shouted.

"Who told you I can't? You don't even own this place. Mr. Chang! Mr. Chang!" he shouted.

"Don't you f.u.c.k.i.n.g dare!" she shouted as well.

Kenny my cousin is just in the corner, eyes red from all their fighting. A few people inside are just watching the four have a shouting match with each other. My aunt's brother is also there but they are doing nothing. A few moments passed then a lean old man with white hair, white mustache and glasses walked out of one of the houses.

"Quiet. You all know that noise attracts them, you want to fight? Go outside and walk 10 kilometers away." the man said calmly with a slight accent.

My uncle and his wife became silent but their breathing is still ragged.

"Mr. Chang, I'm sorry for the noise but I'd like to take my youngest son Kenny and Hannah my second youngest." my uncle said.

"Is that you Mr. Zardon? Long time no see. I seem to understand the squabble here and I think I know the solution." he said.

"Mr. Chang, he's a drunk! My kids will be in harm's way if you let him take them with him." she pleaded.

Mr. Chang still has a calm demeanor then his eyes darted towards me.

"Is that you Mr. Ishiyama? I see that you're correct in your report, sorry for doubting you. Thank you as well for the early warning and I managed to haul everything from my shops before anything happened to me. Do you wish for anything in return?" he asks.

As I was about to reply but Cyrill interrupted.

"I figured, a drunk and a murderer close to each other. Planning to kill someone today again?" Cyrill said to stir a reaction in me.

Kaley almost replied in anger but I stopped her by placing a hand in her wrist.

"Hmm? Big words for an addict. You're looking pale, on withdrawal now? Need some Oxycontin? F.u.c.k! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told everyone here that. What are you doing now? Sniffing rugby or paint thinner? Where's your supplier? Is he dead? Too bad…" I retorted with a smile.

He gave me a glare but he took a look around their compound and he was taken aback from the stares given to him. His hands are balled into a fist and he's just trembling in anger.

SLAP*

"You're a f.u.c.k.i.n.g addict?!" her mom slapped him in the face.

"Great, acting like she doesn't know a thing." I said to myself.

"Mom?!" Joanna was in shock.

"Sky, can you please ask Mr. Chang to let me take my kids?" my uncle pleaded.

"C'mon unc, of course. Mr. Chang, can I have Kenny and Hannah join my group instead? You'd save up on more food and this fight could be over soon as soon as we take them. They're too young to even help around your place." I said.

"I can let you take the little one but the older little girl should stay here. She's of age and she started contributing here when they came in." he said very calmly.

"This stingy old dude. I'll disregard how he looks at people like a product for now." I said to myself.

"What do you want to trade for her then?" I said.

"Guns." he replied.

My uncle looked at me and he laid his shotgun on the ground with the extra slugs that I gave him.

"Not enough." he replied coldly.

"How about this then? Give me Kenny and Hannah. In exchange, I'll give you this kitted AR-15 with 5 magazines with 30 rounds each and that shotgun with the slugs. I'll even add 2 motorcycles if you give me your guandao, not the one on display at your house, the real one I've seen you use before when I came to visit when I was 10." I said.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"N-not the guandao. It's mine." he stuttered.

"You can't even use it anymore; your kids don't know as well. It's just gathering dust now." I replied.

He threw a hateful glance and I just stared nonchalantly.

"You'd need to go out if you start to have less food. You'd need more vehicles for that. I'll throw in 2 suits of protective clothing as a sign of good will. Do you really think that holding onto that weapon is the best course of action for your group now? I know that it's important to you as this is important to me but I promise you that I'll take good care of it." I explained as my hand is placed on the handle of my wakizashi.

All of them are now staring at him as he rubs his glabella with his eyes closed.

"C'mon, I'll accept it even if it's the replica." I said to myself.

"F-fine." he said as I gave a faint smile.

The gate was now opened and Mr. Chang asked his son to get the weapon that I was looking for. My group then placed the two motorcycles down with the two boxes of the protective gear that I promised I would give them. My uncle handed the shotgun to one of Mr. Chang's people and I handed my AR directly to him. His son came out of their door and was carrying a polearm that is a few inches taller than me. I inspected it first and it's the real deal.

The blade shines brightly and it looks like a naginata from Japan but thicker. However, I wish I have one of those instead of this one. It's a bit larger compared to it and this one has a notch at the back of the blade to catch the opponent's weapon with it. The main blade is heavy and the pole is part wood and part metal. It also has a small counterweight on the other end of the pole and it is shaped like a small blunt spike. There is a design of a gray dragon wrapping around the pole and its mouth is where the main blade starts while the tail is in the other end.

I nodded at Mr. Chang and offered a handshake and he reluctantly gave me one.

"Well, it's really hard to let go of something you have for decades. I'm pretty surprised that he agreed." I said to myself.

"No! You're not taking away my kids from me!" my aunt bellowed as we approach them to take Kenny and Hannah.

Cyrill stepped in the middle of us and he threw a punch towards my uncle.

whoosh*

thud*

"You f.u.c.ker better step away or you'll receive more of this." he shouted.

My uncle received it with his face, not even bothering to dodge it. I was about to do something but he balled up his fist and threw a punch of his own at his son.

WHOOSH*

THUD*

"Damn. He really did it." I said to myself.

My uncle is visibly more muscular than my lanky cousin. He has a beer belly but all his muscles from driving trucks and delivering them from place to place and carrying it himself to the warehouses exploded at my cousin's face.

"Grck!" Cyrus sprawled on the floor clutching his face. He was about to get up but I just looked at him dead in the eye and he was frozen in the spot. I brandished the guandao at him and I pointed the blade on his neck. I saw Mr. Chang's eyes glimmer when I wielded his weapon.

I whispered at him, "I'll kill you if you move."

He gnashes his teeth but he never moved a muscle.

"Bitch." I said out loud.

"Well, let go of that weapon and fight me fairly!" he shouted.

"Hah! That's cute. I'd rather not rattle your brain much more so you could at least think like a normal person." I retorted.

"At least I think normally, what is going on in the head of a killer like you?" he retorted as well.

"You'd really like to know? I can kill you, your sister, and your mom here in 10 seconds with this thing. Less if I don't cut you into parts." I said menacingly.

"You!" Joanna shouted.

"Shut the f.u.c.k up too, okay? I'd take less time if you don't have a pound of makeup in your face." I snapped back as I heard a few chuckles all around me. She shrinks down though she's glaring at me and my uncle.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 77: 77

"Kenny, Hannah would you please come here? We'll go home now." my uncle said.

My aunt then lunged forward and she tried to slap my uncle in the face.

SLAP*

SLAP*

SLAP*

She kept on slapping him but he never fought back then he just catches her arms. He motioned for Hannah to take Kenny to the truck and she followed her father.

"NO!" my aunt shouted.

"W-wait! I'd like to come too!" Joanna then started to plead with my dad. Tears started to flow from her eyes but I threw a hateful glare at her.

"Don't fall for it unc, she did this before. I said I would take them before but seeing them still the same assholes, I changed my mind. Unc should have split with them before and I should've been in the court when they decided where my cousins would go to." I said to myself.

"Cyrill, Joanna… I'm disowning the two of you. After all I've done, I should've abandoned all of you when I got the chance before. I promised myself never to be the same idiot again. F.u.c.k the both of you, I'm not your father anymore. And you? You're not half the parent I've been to these kids, stop lying to yourself and take care of the two who still calls you their mother properly." he said as he let go of her arms.

"Mr. Chang, one more tip. Burn the bodies in the streets." I said as he nodded.

My aunt just slapped unc's hands off and she glared at the both of us. Joanna was crying in the floor while Cyrill has an intense glare fixated on me. My group just dispatched of the ones coming closer and my uncle lifted Kenny inside the truck and Hannah lifted herself in too. We all sat in the sidings at the back while Mr. Chang's men locked the gates once again and we drove off to Jay's place. I saw my uncle's face in the side mirror from the back and he has a peaceful expression even from the tears falling from his eyes. The helmet I gave him is now in Kenny's head while the three inside have a moment of their own as we drove. Kenny looked back at me and gave me a small salute as I responded with my own.

I'm holding the guandao with my hands and Kaley and Tatiana is looking at me.

"What?" I said.

"You really traded the motorcycles and the guns for that? Does it do something special?" Tatiana asked.

"Yeah, I know part of the trade was your cousins but you'd take that weapon over the shotgun and the AR?" Kaley asked as well.

"Yeah, this thing could last more than that AR. Let's say he lets a marksman use it and they hit zombies with 100% accuracy, then it's just 150 zombies and you're out of ammo. This thing could kill a whole lot more given time and we could always go back for the five motorcycles in the shop again. I just added the protective gear and the shotgun since we still have a few of them available. This thing has a long reach, though it is heavier than the katana and you need to use it with both hands." I said.

"You said before that you prefer maneuverability and speed over reach and power, right?" Kaley asked as well.

"Yeah, we'll find someone suitable for this, it's a thing of beauty too. Good thing he maintained it this well." I said.

We finally arrived at the place Jay told me to go to and we saw a few zombies around it that are cut down or bludgeoned to death by their weapons. I knocked at their gate and I saw all of them in there with other people, they are happily eating and Jay welcomed us. They are eight people in total.

"Hey, you really came. This is what's left of us. We used to be a lot more but a few left us here and a few you know… turned to one of them." Jay said.

"Are you willing to take us all in?" Jon asked.

"Tell me about yourselves first." I said.

"I'll start then…" Jay said.

Jay was actually a business owner like myself and he and his family is running a small restaurant located further than my stores at Polo nearing the border of it which was near Obando. Jon was his brother and he works at a 7-Eleven. Bing was a bouncer in a club somewhere in the city while Daisy is a tattoo artist and their other companion before that haven't introduced himself is Michael. He's a factory worker that worked on textiles. The other three inside their home was Andres and Veronica which was Jay's parents and the last one was Faith, his wife.

They seem like a normal group and I decided to tell them about my place.

"Alright, the thing is, inside my compound, I'm the one in charge. You look like a normal group and we definitely need people who had experienced the outside even for a while just by themselves. I'd like you all to come with us but there will be a strict set of rules that we all follow inside. Each person is required to contribute their strength and knowledge for the group and everything passes through me first before you do anything else important. You could always voice your opinions with me but I will always have the final say. Just make sure you have a strong argument to convince me to change my mind since I'm a very stubborn individual. If you do the things that I asked, I can give you food, water, shelter, medicine and protection." I explained.

"Aren't you worried that some people might do something bad in spite of what you've done for them? We've had a couple of those and I would not let the same thing happen again here." Bing said.

"A pessimistic and a cautious one eh? He and Johnny will hit it off I bet." I said to myself.

"No, I always pick the people that I think has a good head on their shoulders and I have people back there to protect the place even if we're here." I replied.

"You have more people?" Jay said.

"Yeah, a couple times more than yours." I said.

"You've never had any incidents?" Andres said.

"What do you mean? If you're talking about casualties, none. It's because we are always prepared, and armed. People don't just die stupidly there like in the movies." I said.

"That is impressive but what I mean is that no one has pointed a gun at you or stole from you?" he elaborated.

"As I said, we have a very secure place. However, a very stressed and confused guy pointed a gun at me once." I said.

"Did you kill him then?" he asked.

"I don't kill unless I needed to. He's alive and with the group, he cleared his head and back to his usual self. However, he may have lost the opportunity to make another child since I've kicked him hard in the nuts and I twisted his arm." I told them the story.

"Hah! Did that really happen?" Jon asked.

"Yep." I replied.

After a few more exchanges of words, they all decided to come with us as they packed all of their belongings. Their vehicles were stolen so they would need to ride the truck with us. Good thing we've removed two motorcycles and they wore the protective gear so we could have more space in the truck. The group I first took to scout had amused expressions since those looked exactly like the ones they wore before. They are now wearing proper vests for protection though they still have a few of them on their person like the knee pads and elbow pads along with the gloves.

"Wait, I'd like to confirm if you really are in the army." Bing said to Tatiana.

"Oh boy." I said.

"Well I've only seen the young kid and the girl with the black hair shoot. She's just holding her shotgun and she never fired it. It must be for intimidation like in my job where you put a tough looking guy out front." he explained.

Daisy gave a pensive expression but she still doubts to what Bing was saying.

"If you're really in the army they must've trained you aside from guns. I challenge you to a mano y mano." he said while raising both his hands.

All of us knows what this pervert has on his mind.

"He's trying to cop a feel." we all said to ourselves.

"You're gonna die." I said to him.

"Bah! Stop scaring me, I know what I'm doing." he said with a smirk.

"Knock yourself out." I said with an amused expression.

It wasn't even a minute, not even half of a minute. Heck, not even 10 seconds.

whoosh*

WHACK*

I remember that heel, that jumping spinning hook kick. It hit Bing clean in the jaw and his guard that he put up wasn't even able to block it since it was pushed to the side.

He fell in the ground head first and Tatiana gives a confused reaction.

"Is he dead?" she said.

"…" everyone else.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 78: 78

I facepalmed and the rest of my group had the same expression while Jay's group were dumbstruck at what happened.

I checked Bing with drool flowing down his mouth and I surmised that he's only unconscious. I grabbed the same bottle Oscar let Tatiana sniff when I kicked her and Bing immediately woke up after a few seconds. He spat out a tooth while he looked at it in bewilderment.

"What happened?" he asked as I facepalmed.

"Don't get up yet. You got knocked the f.u.c.k out. Good thing your jaw is still intact." I said.

"It still hurts though." he said.

I almost rolled my eyes and said, "I did warn you though."

"I thought you were kidding… I didn't even see it happen. Ahhhhh~ my jaw hurts." he said.

I gave him a hand to get up after a few minutes and we finally drove home. We passed by Mr. Chang's residence again but no one is outside. You could only hear a few people having an argument and nothing else but the bodies outside are burned. Kenny decided to ride with me on the sidings of the truck since Bing was on the passenger seat with Hannah since his head is still wobbly.

"Hey!" he said.

"Yo!" I replied.

"You look really cool." Kenny said.

"Well you look awesome with that helmet, where did you get it from?" I asked.

"Oh! Dad gave it to me earlier. It's kinda big though…" he replied as his eyes are getting covered by the helmet.

"Aww, he's so cute Sky! How old are you?" Kaley said.

"I'm 6 now, how about you? Are you 37 now? You look like one." Kenny replied without an ounce of worry.

thunk*

I smacked his helmet really hard while I feel the heat emanating from Kaley that almost burns my skin.

"Want us to die here kid?! This is a way to die!" I said to myself.

"What was that for?! It's loud when you knocked on it!" Kenny shouted.

"I'm just testing if the helmet is really strong. It really is strong, I bet it could block a meteor!" I said a white lie to protect ourselves.

"Little shi- little kid, I'm still very young, okay?" Kaley replied with a scary smile while the rest gave amused expressions.

"She's scary Sky, how old is she? Is she a witch?" Kenny said nonchalantly while Kaley stared at me menacingly.

"She's very young, the same age as me. Also, you don't ask them about their age, okay?" I said to Kenny.

"Oh~ Why do we not ask them their age then? She asked my age though… I think old people get mad at that, she's pretty old then? Maybe 47? But you're not 47, right?" he asked again innocently.

"You're really trying to get us killed here, huh?" I said to myself.

"I'm 25! Happy?!" Kaley exclaimed as she huffs while I give a helpless smile.

"Cool." Kenny replied innocently.

I was close to laughing from Kaley's expression. It's a mix of helplessness and frustration.

"Don't argue with a kid yeah? You'll never win." I said.

"He's looking a lot less cute now…" she replied weakly.

"I don't look cute! I'm cool! See this helmet?! It block meteors!" he exclaimed.

The banter continued as we also passed by the Pineda residence after we drove through the elementary school.

"Right, I forgot about this one. It's almost 4:00 PM though and I need to teach a class later. Bah! I'll do it tomorrow; my head feels itchy damn it." I said to myself.

We reached the compound and the group I brought was shocked.

"From this gate here up to the end, is a safe zone. Welcome guys." I said.

"You cleared all this?!" Daisy exclaimed.

"Yeah, took us almost a week." Jared replied.

I saw the tanker parked outside the gate and it's facing the fence.

"Hey Sky! We finished on loading the containers with diesel and there's still light from the sun, we could head to the gas station now for a quick refill. There could be leftover supplies in the small convenience store too." Russel said.

Kaley and the rest guided the new people inside first.

"What about the broadcast though?" I said.

"It still replays right?" he said.

"That's true, I remember Ken recording everything from the start, he got the first broadcast from the replays. I think we could watch it in the meeting. I guess I'll just teach a class today at the gym and take a break from gun training. Let's bring one more person with us yeah?" I said.

"I should've gone to the Pineda residence earlier but gas is more important for the group now." I said to myself

I was about to ask my uncle to come with us but I remembered that he has just got his kids now, I'll give him a break for today and ask somebody else.

"Hold this for a minute yeah?" I said to Russel as I handed him the guandao.

"This looks sick, I remember dad likes this sort of thing, I'll show this to him in a bit." he said as he tries to wave it around.

I called Tatiana over and we three drove the tanker back in the gas station that Russel works at. We cleared a few zombies with our melee weapons and Russel grabbed a pump and he started to load the tanker again.

"Why is there more coming from the right way than the left way?" Tatiana asked.

"The cities are from that way, to the left side is the Bulacan area, they are still a province and it has less population. I believe it also started from the cities too. How long will this take Russel?" I said.

"More than half an hour. We need to get the good stuff, not the bubbles." he said.

"Bubbles?" Tatiana asked.

"You know, it's a gas station trick. You could pump it to maximum speed to fill up a car the fastest way but there will be a lot of foam when you do that instead of the red liquid that the gas actually is. I do that when I have a prick as a customer." he explained to Tatiana.

"Hmm, that's good to know. I never knew that." Tatiana said as she nodded pensively.

"Dude… what happened on your trip? I saw uncle with Kenny and Hannah, did the others… die?" Russel asked solemnly.

I then told him the story of what happened in Mr. Chang's residence.

"I almost turned out like Cyrill, right? I was mad at you for beating me up that time but now I'm thankful for it." he said.

"Hah! Good thing that beating you up worked. That guy is too far gone compared to you." I replied.

I remembered another story from back then but it's not important right now. What I'm looking in the horizon is something we need to be worried about.

"Another sprinter." I said in my head.

I told the two and they tensed up.

"Don't shoot the guns. We're at the center of the gas station, not inside the store like last time. We could cause an explosion if we unloaded one here. Just keep the pump on going as is and get inside the tanker. We'll deal with this with melee weapons." I said.

"H-hold on! One of those things broke Oscar's shotgun, right?! We could still move away!" Russel exclaimed.

"No time, we need to learn how to fight this thing up close and personal. Tatiana, don't block yeah? Just dodge and slice. I'll start the encounter and be the backup" I said.

We walked a bit forward from the truck and we saw the sprinter saw us and it changed direction from the highway towards the gas station we're in. It's running at an incredible speed but the turn it's making is not smooth due to the speed that it's running in. I walked a bit more forward than Tatiana so I could meet it as I drew my blade. Its head locked on to me and I saw it swing its hand towards my neck.

whoosh*

I took a step back but I swung my blade from the right to the left to match her swing.

slice*

plop*

I managed to chop her arm off then it fell on the side.

"NnnYYaRHHH" it screamed but due to its momentum, her charge is still pushing her forward so I dodged her body by diving on its right side and it's now headed to Tatiana.

whoosh*

THUD*

I saw Tatiana spinning downwards and making a sweep toward its feet. It made a spin in the air when it tripped and it fell facing down. It was still alive though, so she drew her knife and stabbed it in the back of the head and it stopped moving.

shhck*

The blood from the knife is dark and sticky and it is almost curdling to form small bits. She wiped it off its clothes and she sheathed the knife.

We both nodded at each other and Russel went outside the tanker with an excited face.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 79: 79

"Holy shit! That hit was like the major league! Oh, A few more minutes on the tanker and we're good to go." Russel said.

"That's good. Different league man, different league. Good thing it didn't do the flying knee that hit Oscar. The aspect that is dangerous from this thing is really its speed. It would be really dangerous if it has gathered momentum and charged straight at us if we didn't notice it coming. It's gonna be a pain in tight spaces." I said.

"It's very different from the running ones since it is travelling at a much higher speed than them correct?" Tatiana said.

"Pivoting is its weakness though, and look at its feet." I said as I pointed at her soles.

"Hmm?" The two checked it.

"The constant running has burned through her shoes and the flesh from her feet is mangled. You could almost see the bone if it weren't for the other stuff that is stuck inside it. We'd need to put a few obstacles on the street in case a few started to run through our fences so that they would slow down or get caught up in it." I said.

"Will there be a chance that they would get sliced into bits if they collide with the fence running at that speed?" Russel asked.

"No, because of the bones. But a few bits would definitely get thrown inside." I contemplated.

"So, we need to replace the gate in the future, correct?" Tatiana asked.

"Yeah, though the chain-link fence is good for now, we'll place a bigger gate when we increase our territory."

Russel checked the truck once more as Tatiana stood guard below it. I picked off a few dozen on the road with my wakizashi and I came back when they waved at me.

"189… This isn't much but it's honest work. More bullets saved, the better." I said to myself.

"Why are you clearing them one by one? Are you just practicing?" Russel asked.

"Something like that, the less of them there the safer we are. We need to prevent a herd as much as possible." I replied.

"Oh! Like in 'The Pacing Unliving'?" he asked.

"Yeah, like that series. The same near the fishing areas where we found the three sprinters. We might need another group outside to start on clearing a few that's across the street near our compound. The more we dispose of here the lesser the chances of a big one roaming the streets." I said.

"But it would be cool to fight one of those herds." he said.

"You little… want me to beat you close to death? You're not C.Norris for f.u.c.ks sake." I said as I shook my head.

"Ahahah… just joking…" he trailed weakly.

We then rode home and the ride is uneventful. I contemplated on stopping by the Pineda residence once more but I stopped myself. It's the same situation with Russel contemplating on going to the convenience store next to the gas station but he stopped himself since there are more important tasks at hand. Daylight is burning and we parked the tanker in the side of the compound.

I checked my watch and it's a few minutes before 5:00 PM. Allan said that a few of them are at the court playing basketball since we don't have gun lessons and the rest are just leisurely hanging about. We headed to the court and I saw them playing a 5-on-5 game. A few are watching at the bleachers and I saw Alex dominating with her skills and height. I also saw some of Jay's group playing while the others are just watching.

"Sky! Come over here!" Kaley said.

I saw her with Daisy and they seem to be talking about something.

"Can you remove your jacket?" Kaley asked.

"Sure…" I said as I removed it.

"That tattoo is a masterpiece. Where did you get it done?" Daisy asked.

"Oh, in Japan. I know an old man there that gave me one, he did it without a pattern too and he used bamboo, it hurts like hell though. You said you were a tattoo artist, right?" I said.

"Yes, I was for five years. Anyway, Kaley was saying that she would like to have a small tattoo, she said that she wanted to have something similar to yours but I haven't seen it whole." she said.

"You're a tattoo artist?! Can I have one as well?!" Russell exclaimed.

"Uh, sure. Have a design ready? Or do you want me to improvise?" she said.

"Oh, Umm, not yet. I'll get back to you if I thought of one." Russel said and she nodded. One of the guys playing was out of breath, so Russel subbed for him.

"Back on topic ahaha… so, some sort of a dragon or a serpent then? Would you like it to be holding something? Where would you like it placed and how big do you want it?" Daisy asked a few questions.

Kaley gave me a glance and she seemed undecided.

"Well, just make sure that the one you're getting is something that you're prepared to look at for the rest of your life, like me. Once it's there, it's there. We have a lot of equipment here but I don't have the lasers to remove them." I said.

"Smooth, I want something like yours though…" Kaley said.

"I might not be able to copy that. See how it was made? It may look like it was just inked normally but you could see an intricate pattern if you look closely. The details on the scales and the claws are a sight to behold, the head of the dragon feels like it might just jump out of his arm. The way it was shaded and inked is phenomenal, and it was done without a trace and with bamboo? Damn, that old guy must've been in the business for years." she said earnestly.

"Hmm? He's not a tattoo artist per say… he's actually a great…" I said to myself and then I had a thought.

"I remember taking a few dozens of those blackening shampoos from the pharmacy. You could have a temporary one first using those." I said to Kaley.

"OHHHH!!!" someone shouted from the bleachers. Jo was on the ground while Jared moved forward with a layup.

"Nasty crossover!" someone shouted.

When the ball was cleared, Jo threw a fast break towards Alex in the opposite side of the ring where no one was guarding her but Lois. Lois tried to block her but she was too tall. She could've dunked it if she wanted to but she just lays it in the basket.

Rin was keeping the score on the side with Olivia and Zeus while Bing is keeping a healthy distance from Zeus.

"Is he afraid of dogs?" I said to myself.

Their appointed rule is just a race to 22 points where each hoop from whatever distance awards one point. There are no time limits or anything and gentleman's ruling for fouls.

The game concluded with Jared's team winning by a point. They wanted to do another game but they noticed me on the side.

"Bro, we finally beat Alex after two tries." Jared said.

"Oh, so you just tired her up?" I teased.

"We're going for another round, wanna join?" he said.

"Maybe next time, I'm teaching a CCW class at the gym now. I'll teach ten people today though a few could watch to gain some insights." I said.

A few of them gave excited expressions and Rin was one of them. I started to walk with Kaley towards the compound.

"You'll finally teach me how to use this knife. Why only 10 people though?" She said.

"Yeah, it took a while. I wouldn't want a few of them stabbing each other before they even learned anything." I said jokingly.

"What? You're immediately using bladed tools? Stop lying, do you have those wooden things?" she said.

"Yeah, I have different sized bokkens lying around. This class will be a bit different when we progress though. You might need to wear that body armor when we start to spar." I said.

"Oh. Right, it's different from just shooting from a distance, we'd learn to dodge while striking too, right?" she said.

"Yeah, I'll teach a few movement techniques too while we're at it. I'll make it fun for them too." I said.

"How so?" Tatiana interjected.

"You'll see. It's just basic training for now though, sparring will be a few sessions in." I said while they looked at each other.

The people who decided to join the class was Kaley, Mark, Dong, Jared, Rin, Chris, Jay, Bing, Lois and Alex. We are gathered at the mat in the gym while a few people are sitting in the gym equipment to watch the class. I placed my guns on the armory first and I brought the bokkens from under the rack where I place my katana. I then tied the katana and the wakizashi together to look the part and I feel a bit of nostalgia.

"Sit here first yeah?" I said to them.

"Okay, let's have a small lecture first. What do you guys think is the most important thing when wielding weapons? Could it be power? Maybe speed? Hmm?" I asked them.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 80: 80

"Precision?" Chris said.

"I think the time when I swiped his button is still on his mind." I said to myself.

"Haha, are you answering or asking?" I said.

"Umm, ah, precision…" he still said half-reluctantly.

"That's right, in my own words, it's what you need to have over these weapons, control. You could be the strongest one or the fastest one but if you don't know how to control your own body to perform the commands from your brain that you want to achieve, it's all useless." I said.

They all give pensive looks as I continued, "For example, let's say you could throw a basketball from end to end easily, how are you confident in controlling it in a way that it always lands on the hoop? How many shots from a gun could you fire continuously and have a grouping that is only a few centimeters apart? Look, we could go on and on about the examples. What I'm trying to say is control trumps everything else. I'm not downplaying your strength or how fast you are since those are important too. There are many more variables to consider here aside from speed, power and control… but- Mark? I'm seeing you scrunching your eyebrows, have a question then?" I said.

"My head is a little woozy from the explanation, can you explain it in a simpler term?" he said.

The rest are also somewhat giving the same look.

"Okay, what is 1 1?" I said.

"…" everyone else.

"I'm not mocking your intelligence guys, answer properly, what is 1 1?" I asked again.

"2…" they all said with furrowed brows.

"That's right the answer is 2, why didn't we answer with 3 or 1 though?" I said.

"Because it's just the right…" Mark was about to say something more but he stopped. A look of realization is on his face same with everybody else while a few in the back nodded in the simple revelation.

"I think we've covered this topic now, it's very similar with math problems, right? Let's have a more physical demonstration." I said as I brought out a pineapple and knife.

"…" everyone else.

"What?" I said to them.

"Nothing…" everyone else.

"Weird huh?" I said back.

Everyone has just a look that are saying that I've read their minds.

"Let's start with a kitchen knife first. Watch me remove the skin from this one." I said.

I meticulously removed some of the leaves on top first and I held it diagonally and then I started on removing the skin. I'm making the slices as precise as possible and I finally made diagonal grooves across the pineapple to remove the eyes and I placed it on top of the chopping board.

"Tada~!" I said.

"…" everyone else.

"Umm, Sky, are you teaching us on how to prepare a pineapple?" Tatiana from the audience said.

"Well, sure, you could call it that. This is just more of a demonstration in knife control. Watch this though." I said as I swiped the knife horizontally without bracing the pineapple.

slice*

They are looking attentively then I raised a very thin slice on top of it and ate it.

"What the…" Russel trailed.

"Cool, huh?" I said. I then flicked my hand several times as they watched in wonder.

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

slice*

I made 10 more quick slices and the pineapple didn't even topple over and the slices are still on top of it and all are even in thickness. When I picked it up and I laid it on the table like poker cards, they are all staring in shock.

"Have a bite, it's sweet." I said.

They then approached the table and carefully examined the slices.

"Holy shit!"

"Damn."

"…"

"How did you do that?!"

"…How?"

A few of them tried to do the same but they failed miserably. Tatiana also tried but she failed to do so as well. The pineapple even toppled though I managed to catch it since it would be a waste of a good pineapple.

"It's better to make a show of strength first to get their bloods pumping yeah?" I said to myself.

They all ate their slices and I said, "The sharp and thin knife also helped but this is an example of perfect control. In the future, I hope that you would be able to reach this standard or something close to it. Though from our theory earlier, being able to do this is like answering 100 on a 1 1 question." I explained.

"More like 1 million." Russel said.

I chuckled and said, "All right, my goal here in teaching you guys is not how to prepare pineapples but to protect yourselves from those things outside. I'd like you to learn how to use melee weapons properly just enough to reach the answer of 2 in the 1 1 question. Any questions before we start with the exercises?" I said.

"Earlier in the gas station, why did you just chop the arm off the zombie instead of going straight for the head?" Russel asked as Tatiana's head also perks up.

"Oh, that time. I saw Tatiana just standing on a stance from my peripheral vision and I figured that she didn't use her knife at first because of its short reach which will only give an answer of 1 to the 1 1 question; the hands of the zombie would claw us first if we do that since it's also charging towards us. So, I made her sweep much easier to accomplish by removing one obstacle, making a 1 1 question into a 1 0 so that her answer of one would be correct." I explained.

"Oh, uh… I think I'm kind of getting your explanation." he said.

"Now, grab a bokken that you're comfortable with or similar to the weapon you have and we'll practice with the basic movements first, can you help me with this Tatiana?" I said.

She obliged and we taught them the proper way in holding them and made a few drills like swinging it in a cross pattern first and then switching to an 'X' pattern next. Tatiana also gave some of her insights and then the class concluded. I looked at my watch and it reads 7:32 PM.

"I have a lot more that I wanted to do but I have so little time. I'll just do my daily routine later after the meeting. It's irritating to not be on schedule." I said to myself while scratching my hair.

"Something wrong?" Kaley said.

"Oh, I'm just irritated that my schedule is a bit off, I'd like to do more things but time is not enough." I said.

"Huh? We got all the time in the world now, don't we?" she said as she bumps me with her shoulder.

I smiled and looked at her, "Shit, you're absolutely right. How's the class though? Did I manage to teach you something?" I said.

"Well of course! I didn't even manage to utter a word since I'm listening so intently." she said while we headed to our room.

"Right, I remember you when you focus. You don't even make so much as a squeak when you're taking things in." I said.

"Well, there's one thing, that makes me not as quiet when I… take it in." she said as she begins to grab that 'thing'.

She's looking at me seductively and I just let her do what she wants with me. Her hands are now inside my pants and I'm starting to feel it rise.

knock* *knock* *knock*

"Bro? A moment please?" we heard from behind the closed door.

We quickly made it look like nothing has happened as I opened the door and I saw Lois.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Jay and his group said that they would like to move into the house at the other end of the road at the canal system. They told me to ask you." he said.

"Tell them it's okay, I'll let them borrow a car to move their stuff but tell them to stay for dinner first and the meeting after yeah?" I said.

"Sure, bye." he said as he walks down the stairs.

I locked the door once again and she looks at me while she's laying on the bed.

"Where were we?" she said as she removed her bra while still wearing her shirt. She's starting to massage her b.r.e.a.s.t while two tips are starting to protrude from the shirt that she's wearing.

I was about to turn the lights off then I heard the door again.

knock* *knock* *knock*

She covered herself with the blanket and I could see the irritation in her face.

I opened the door once again and I saw Russel.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Can I have the pineapple?" he said.

"Sure…" I said.

"…" Kaley was speechless.

"Thanks!" he said as he went down.

I locked the door once more and she removed the blanket. She looks a bit irritated from the disturbances but she's now removed her pants and she's just wearing her underwear and her shirt. I took my shoes off and when I was about to remove my shirt…

knock* *knock* *knock*

"Damn it!" I whispered as I hung my head low. I looked at her and she's now looking very frustrated as she covers herself with the blanket once more.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 81: 81

I opened the door for the third time and the look of irritation is now starting to show in my face as well.

"Yeah?" I said as I looked at the person, or should I say, persons. It was Nicole and Alicia.

"Oh, are you busy? I'd also like to borrow the same kind as the one that you gave me for Alicia. No bullets too of course, I'll help her practice a bit more since we don't have classes today. Oh, hi Kaley!" Nicole said.

"Hi…did you see what's for dinner today?" Kaley asked though I can notice her brows are a bit furrowed.

"Hmm, I think it was stir-fried vegetables." Alicia said.

"That reminds me, I remember that I would need to cook the rabbit too, I'll prepare it later." I said.

"You're really gonna? That's a little sad though." Alicia said.

"Well, she would keep on eating her babies if he gets pregnant again." Kaley said.

"Hmm? You're not against it now? Wanna try to eat it with me then?" I said, visibly surprised.

"Uhh, sure let's try it then. I remember Aya asking for some too." she said.

"Great, I'll prepare one for us later. However, I'm gonna marinate it to grill tomorrow." I said.

I gave Alicia the same pistol, a Walther P22 that Nicole has and they thanked me first before they went on their way.

I then laid next to her and she just wrapped her arm and leg on the side of my body while she's using my left arm as a pillow. She just sighs beside me while I hugged her back.

"Lost the mood then?" I asked.

"Yeah… people kept on knocking the door and the rabbit talk… it's a bit irritating." she said.

"Want me to teach you how to prepare one then? It's very easy." I said.

"Hmm? Okay." she replied.

We got dressed and we grabbed the rabbit from the barn. It's very fluffy and fat, good for eating. Olivia saw us but she ran away when she heard that we're gonna butcher it now.

I first knocked it out and I tied its feet on a string hanging down and then I slit its throat to let it bleed on a container below. After a while of letting it bleed out, I looked at Kaley and even if she looks a bit squeamish, she still paid attention to what I'm doing. I then cut through the joints without damaging the meat on the feet and then I pulled the skin of the rabbit down.

"Wow, I thought you would slowly scr.a.p.e it with a knife like a boar. It looks skinny now too." Kaley said.

"Oh yeah, I remember that you used to hunt with your dad. I thought you would hate to see this happen." I said.

I then sliced the tail, hands, and the head off as I placed the fur with the skin in a separate bin to be used later.

"I could make this into a hat or something." I said to myself.

I started gutting the rabbit now and I first thought Kaley would look away at this part but now she even tried to do it herself.

"Let me try, it's not as cute anymore so I can probably do this." she said.

"Okay, make a small slice there and break the bone in the middle of the legs and put your finger down there and slice it slowly so you don't hit the guts. Okay, make the cut until there and we slowly pull the insides out. Oh! The liver looks good too! We'll save it later with the kidneys and throw the unusable ones out. Good job!" I said.

"Thanks! This was fun! Where do I place the guts?" she said.

"Here, place it here first." I instructed.

"We're done right?" she asked.

"Yeah, we just have to clean up now." I replied.

She has a proud look in her face and we went back to the house after we cleaned up. I also kept the foot of the rabbit since a few people believe it to be lucky.

I grabbed a mortar and pestle and I mixed a few seasonings and herbs to a marinade and I rubbed it against the meat of the rabbit and I set it aside for tomorrow. She watches me work while I explain some of the processes to her.

"It doesn't look like a rabbit now; it looks like a fine cut of meat." she said.

"Hah! Wait till you taste it, it will blow your mind. You'd wish we have this everyday." I replied.

"Hmph! Just say that you're a good cook!" she exclaimed while she looked at me smiling.

"Well, I dabble. How about you though? Did you learn how?" I asked.

"Well no, we just used to eat outside though I can cook a few simple dishes. Not this gourmet style that you're doing." she replied.

"Oh, is that so. It's fun for me to cook so I took a few lessons. It relaxes me. Though one of the reasons is that I really want to taste the food that I'm seeing online. I can't go to their stores but I could at least replicate them." I said.

"Oh! Like Gordon Ramsay? We've been to his other stores and I've met him once. He's a really nice guy and the food was amazing!" she said with a victorious smile.

"What?! I'm so Jealous! Dammit!" I said while I finished preparing the food while she tells me the rest of the story.

"Damn, I could only replicate a few of his dishes from his videos and never tasted the real thing." I said with a hint of jealousy.

"To be fair though, we only went to his restaurant. I'm not sure if he's the one who really cooked it." Kaley said.

"But it's still in his standards! F.u.c.k it! We're kidnapping him now! Grab the AR, we'll go to the airport to steal a plane." I joked as she laughed hysterically.

"W-wait, don't tell me you know how to fly a plane?" she stopped laughing and looked at me.

"The big ones you use? Haven't tried yet but I could fly a small one. I think it's pretty much the same." I said nonchalantly.

"What can't you do huh?" she's now curious.

"Hah! Many things! I'm perfect but not that perfect." I joked.

"What does that even mean! You can't use those words together!" she shook her head.

Like a good coincidence, someone told us that the food outside is ready and we ate our meal with everybody.

Everyone gathered at the meeting after we cleaned up and we started.

"Okay, good job everyone. We are now on our 7th day in survival and we're doing good. Welcome our new people to the group but I'm pretty sure you've interacted with them earlier. Our scouting/ scavenging group will still do the same routine of checking each place slowly and getting supplies from the places not hit yet. We'll keep on going places where there is obviously something inside and just sweep the rest when we start to reach farther places. We might grab a few more containers for gas since I want to fill the apartment next to us with containers of them since we only managed to fill one up. We need to stock up as many as possible and we might need to go to other gasoline stations when the need arises. How are we on the other side of things?" I reported.

"The seeds we planted are still on the greenhouse, a few people here now have shown interest in gardening and I appreciate the help. I'll continue on doing the same thing and teach other people what I know." Charlotte said.

"Same thing here, my family is always helping me with the animals and the baby rabbits are doing good." Derek said.

"We cleared almost half of the squatter area and all the usable materials are stacked in there. We'll start on hauling them as soon as we finish on dismantling all of them." Zeidrick said.

The rest also gave their reports and I watched the broadcast after the meeting which was the same progress report on their parts. We concluded the meeting and then I headed to the gym to finish my daily routine. Only me, Tatiana and Kaley went to the gym today since it's past 9:00 PM. Kaley's body is getting more toned and her body can now bend more than what it used to thanks to Tatiana's training. We three still did our awkward shower together and when we went down, Olivia and Rin are asleep while waiting for us to come down but a movie is already playing.

"We were supposed to watch a movie today correct?" Tatiana said.

"Yeah, we had too much to do today, good thing none of us are at watch duty." Kaley said.

We then headed to each other's rooms and Kaley spooned me throughout the night. I woke up early to cook the rabbit and I also made mashed potatoes to eat it with, though I saved a piece for Aya. It was almost 6:00 AM so I also made coffee and I told my aunt to not include me and Kaley for breakfast since we will be eating separately today. I saw Jay and his wife helping out my aunt and he just nodded at me and they continued doing their business.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 82: 82

Day 8

I went back to my house and I placed them in a neat plate and then onto a small table and then I headed upstairs. I opened the door with my other hand and I slowly woke up Kaley with the fragrant smell of the rabbit.

sniff* *sniff*

She opened her eyes and she started to look around.

"Good morning!" I said.

"Hey… you cooked breakfast? It smells good…" she said though she still looked a bit sleepy.

"Here, let's eat. Breakfast in bed!" I sliced a piece for her and she ate the small piece from my fork. Her eyes widened and I saw her chewing it with a happy smile.

"This is good! The mashed potatoes too! Give me another one!" she opened her mouth and I fed her again.

"Enjoying being pampered, are we?" I teased.

She chuckled and she sliced a piece and fed me as well.

"Eat too, I don't want to be the only one getting fat." she said laughing.

"Then why did the cake disappear though?" I said.

"Hmm! W-we three ate it all when you were sleeping last t-time…" she fidgets.

I laughed and I said, "Really~? Okay, I understand. I once ate a whole chicken once when I was in college."

Her eyes widened and she said, "Really? How?!"

"You know, I burned the rice and was too lazy to cook another batch. I was supposed to eat a quarter of it and save some for later but I ate it whole. I was full until the other day too." I told the story.

"HAHAHA!!!" she continued to laugh and we ate merrily. She places the table down on the floor and we sat on the bed while I'm drinking coffee. The cup was still half-full and she took it away from me. I was about to take it back but then I saw her face.

"We didn't do it yesterday after the gym and you quickly fell asleep, I tried to do it by myself and it wasn't enough you know…" she told me with a pout.

"You could've woken me up you know." I said while I start to place my hand around her hip.

"Well, you did a lot yesterday, I thought you were too tired." she said as her hand sn.a.k.e.d through my shorts.

My hand slowly went up and I touched her left b.r.e.a.s.t while her right hand is moving somewhere. Her left hand is on the back of her head so I could reach her better, my left hand went under her shirt and I managed to reach the side of it and I slowly tried to grab the whole thing. She looked at me and we started on kissing. Muffled m.o.a.ns are the only thing you hear and my left hand searched lower. Her hand on me tightens when I pinched the small piece of flesh in her nether regions. She slowly moistens and I began to have an easier time sliding my finger inside her. We had a kissing session for a few minutes and then her hand holding me moved faster and I didn't manage to hold it in. She gave a cute giggle and she whispered in my ear.

"Lay down." she said in a commanding tone.

She sat in my face and she started on moving. Her h.i.p.s moved in different directions when I started to hit certain spots inside her. Viewing her from this angle with her smile makes the excitement I'm feeling much stronger. She leaned a bit forward and now her hands are on the wall while her chest started to jiggle when she moves her h.i.p.s. I grabbed her b.r.e.a.s.ts by the handful and she made a muffled m.o.a.n with her closed mouth. Her full weight pressing against me is starting to slowly make me lose a bit of air though I continued on enjoying my other meal.

Her h.i.p.s stopped moving and one of her hands cupped my hand holding her chest as she started to twitch on top of me. I removed myself from the position and she looked back at me though she's now on all fours. I pulled her legs down and now she's lying face down and I raised her h.i.p.s a little and I positioned myself over and then I entered her. I slowly thrusted while her face is on the side eyes closed but her teeth is biting her lower lip. Her hands now reached for my body and now I used it to spread her cheeks further apart. The sight made me very weak in the knees but I pushed on. Right as I was about to let it out, I pulled it off and her hands took care of it for me. I released it on her chest and I kissed her again. We stopped after a while and we cleaned ourselves after.

I headed to my gun safe and I pulled out a bullpup from one of the displays and attached a red dot sight.

"Wow, that looks different. What is that called?" Kaley asked.

"Oh, it's a bullpup rifle, the magazine is located at the back. This is an Israeli gun that they call a Tavor, it's light too." I said.

She tried to lift it up and she nodded a few times.

"What does this switch do?" she asks.

"Oh, it's for selective fire like with the HK416. You can use that instead of the AR-15 today if you like." I said.

"Umm, I'd rather keep the AR, I don't like the way this feels though. I'd like to train more with the AR by using it everyday." She said.

"Okay, then. I'll just ready this for later." I said.

She pulls out her tanto and she swung it in a cross pattern then an 'X' pattern. Some swings made good sounds but some definitely needs more work.

"How's that?" she said while proudly smiling.

I then drew my wakizashi and did the same thing in a quick and single flowing motion. Then I looked at her while the sound of the wakizashi clicking on the scabbard resounds.

"Show off." She said pouting.

"Well it took me a long time to do that and you've only trained for a few hours. I can't help it though." I trailed.

"Can't help what?" she asked.

"Being amazing." I said as I made an exaggerated pose.

She jabbed me and I stole a kiss from her. She was a bit surprised and she blushed for a few moments.

"You're amazing too, can't help doing that." I smirked.

"Hmm~? Who's being a bit assertive now huh?" she replied.

We kissed for a while and we stopped when we heard a knock from the door calling us for breakfast. It was Aya who called us so I gave her the leg that I saved for her. My aunt must've forgotten to tell her daughter not to call us for breakfast.

"Hmm!" Aya exclaimed.

"That was good huh?" I said smiling.

"Aya, can you sneak a bite for Olivia? I think she'll enjoy it." Kaley said.

We three gave menacing looks and we both watched Aya look for Olivia in the pool area. We were hiding on the side watching Olivia took a bite. Aya was smiling the whole time when Olivia took another bite.

"This is really good! Did your mom cook this?" Olivia asked.

"No, it was Sky." Aya replied.

Her expression changed a bit and she continued, "Oh, he helped make breakfast then?"

We then walked forward and greeted her.

"Hey, like my cooking then?" I said.

The look on her face, priceless. She's in an inner turmoil of whether she asks for another bite or condemn me for letting her eat the rabbit.

"I think Olivia doesn't like it as much, there's still a lot there. If you can't finish it all you could probably give it to-" I was cut off.

"Please share it with me!" Olivia exclaimed.

"You liked it then? It's what me and Sky ate for breakfast." Kaley interjected.

"What?! Sis?! OMG, the betrayal!" Olivia exclaimed.

"I'll have your share then…" Kaley said while approaching Aya.

"No! It's really good, I'll admit. Is that all that's left?" Olivia said while looking at the plate.

"I could kill one more if you like…" I teased.

"NOOO~! Umm, wait- umm AHHH!" she rambled as the inner turmoil continues.

She finally gave up and she shared the rabbit with Aya for breakfast. The breakfast for today was fried chicken and it doesn't look much different from the rabbit when fried. Me and Kaley just sat down with everyone while I grabbed another cup of coffee for us.

I saw Jay approached me and he said, "Hey, thank you for taking us in. Whatever you ask, we will do it without question as long as it's between our capabilities. We finally had a full belly and a good night of sleep. Bing even overslept from the comfort of the cushion from the house there. Is there anything you want us to help with for now?"

"You're welcome. I'm thinking since you have experience in dealing with those things outside, I'd like your group with a few of mine to be a clearing group just a few blocks outside the fence. You'd slowly thin out the numbers of them here but don't go too far out." I said.

Oscar interjects, "What if they meet people kid?"

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 83: 83

"We'll make a protocol then. Tatiana will be with you guys just to be sure. We take them in but they need to surrender their weapons and be searched thoroughly. If they won't even comply for a simple security check then there's nothing to talk about. We go about our own ways and if they don't do that, Tatiana knows what to do." I explained.

"I thought Tatiana needs to be by your side at all times?" Oscar said.

"I think it's useless to protect someone you can't even beat yeah?" I glanced at Tatiana.

"Hah~ sure, I'll accompany them. I'll beat you in the future." she smirked.

"She actually agreed. Great." I said to myself.

"Are you sure kid?" Oscar said.

The rest of the group has solemn expressions.

"I said before, we don't kill until we needed to. If they walk away with a peaceful undertone, that's fine, we let them. If they try to do something which could harm our group, we fight back. We don't have the luxury to bring out the goodness of people and wait for them to change their ways. They get the stick if they don't accept the carrot." I explained.

"I agree with that. The phrase 'keep you friends close and your enemies closer' is bullshit. People who say that clearly haven't been in the war. It only takes a moment of carelessness before it's all over. I learned that the hard way." Johnny said as he touches his prosthetic leg.

"We need someone who can read people then." Kaley said.

"Look who's talking, can't you always tell when I fib?" I said.

"Kid, you've been pretty good on reading people too. Everyone you have taken in are good people." Oscar said.

The people I've taken in gave a smile when Oscar spoke.

"So, are you two going to different groups then?" Tatiana asked.

"Nope, she's mine." I said flatly.

"Wow, getting territorial now kid?" Oscar smiled.

I looked at Kaley and she was blushing while shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Well boss decreed it, thy will be done, hahahaha!" Mark chimed while laughing.

"I think I kind of announced it in the public though, nevermind that, I'd like to keep her close as always." I said to myself.

"I think I could do it Sky…" Kaley said.

I looked at her and she looks serious and determined. I rubbed my glabella and I gave a long sigh. Oscar looked at me with a solemn expression while the rest of the group waited to hear my decision.

"Fine, let's try it for now, but Tatiana and Mark will be always at your side and I'll give you something later. Don't go past the elementary school and just around the place first like we did on the right side." I said as I looked at her straight in the eye.

"Are you sure Kaley? Sky would murder all of us if anything happens to you." Oscar said while smiling.

"Yes, I'm sure. Besides, Tatiana and Mark are with me." She said with a serious look.

"Okay then, it's settled. My group today will be Jared, Dong, Zardon…Lois and Nicole. The clearing group will be Tatiana, Kaley, Mark, Jay, Bing, Jon and Marco. I'll give you your protective gear for later and we'll start in 30 minutes. The rest just continue on what you're doing and fill more containers with gas. Grab a few people if you need help with them yeah?" I ordered.

I then went back to my room and grabbed a few guns for the new members of my group. I gave Lois a 10/22 rifle with a few attachments, a 1911 pistol and a combat knife. For Nicole, I handed her a few magazines for her .22 pistol and I handed her a Kukri, it looks like a machete but the end tip is much heavier and larger for the purpose of chopping.

Jay's group got a small upgrade from their melee weapons since I gave them proper ones and I handed a .38 special revolver to Jay and a Maverick 88 to Jon. Marco already has a Sig Sauer P320 from their armory so I just let him roll with that.

I gave all of them extra ammunition and protective gear and I contemplated on what I would give Kaley. I opened a case from one of my Liberty Safes and I pulled out one of my CZ P-09 pistols. I loaded it with bullets and gave an extra magazine to Kaley.

"Here, replace it with the M9. This is a CZ P-09 and it hold 191 9mm bullets, a few bullets more than the one you are using. This will be more comfortable for you and the recoil will be more manageable with this compensator here…" I explained to her the features of the gun.

"Sky…" she trailed while looking at me.

"Hmm?" I said as I grabbed a flare gun in another case.

"Thanks for trusting me." She said.

"Yeah, yeah. If I could help it, I'd like you to stay with me at all times." I replied.

"It's just a few houses from this place okay? I have a good teacher… W-wait hold up. Is that a grenade?!" she said then she exclaimed mid-sentence.

"Yeah. Put two of these at this pouch. This is a flare gun; I know you have one of this at airplanes. You pull that trigger and I'll rush back yeah? You could also point it at people and shoot them with it though the accuracy is very low and you need to be close to do a bit damage. Have this too." I said as I tied my wakizashi to her hip and replaced the tanto on it.

"Sky? This is a bit much don't you think? What will you use now?" she said embarrassingly.

"I still think this isn't enough. I'll give a shotgun to Mark too. Tell me if they moved an inch from you, I'll beat them when you come back. Also, I think it's time for this." I said to her with a worried expression and then I took the katana from the rack and placed the tanto back.

"SKY! I'm gonna be fine, okay? I'll be really careful so focus on your mission too. I'll also murder every last one of them if you don't come back too, okay?" she said as she gives me a tight hug.

"Is this how parents feel when they send their kids to college? I'm so stressed!" I said to myself.

I had the IWI Tavor slung on my shoulders, Glock 19s on my torso and the katana on my hip while Kaley has the AR-15 on her back, the CZ P-09 on her hip holster and my wakizashi on her other hip.

"You going to war kid? Hah! You armed Kaley to the teeth too. If she had two pistols on her torso and a tattoo on the arm, she'd look like the girl version of you." Oscar heartily laughed.

"Yeah, I'm a beauty too I might say." I joked while Kaley gave an overhead kick.

whoosh*

I just tilted my head to avoid it and I smirked.

"Learning the ropes eh? The kick was a bit slow but you pulled it off without any indication, good job." I praised.

"If she could learn my kick I did with Tatiana now…" I planned in my head.

"Mark, Tatiana, take good care of her yeah?" I sternly said.

They both nodded and then my aunt approached me.

"Take care of my three kids too, Lois sometimes spaces out but he's really smart. Nicole sometimes get her emotions ahead of herself and Jared much more. Good thing he follows you like a commander." My aunt said.

"Sure thing. I promise we'll come back with all of them. Nicole! Save that for later yeah?" I saw Nicole on the catwalk kissing Alicia in the mouth while Allan and Jenny were a bit uncomfortable watching the two beside them.

We brought the truck out while Kaley and her group started to walk outside the fence.

"Where do we go first?" My uncle asked.

"Let's go to the Pineda residence first. I was itching to go to this place yesterday." I said.

It's a few minutes but we finally reached the destination.

"Jared guard the truck with Lois and Nicole while we three go inside. Radio in if something happens." I told them.

The gates were high so I used the truck as a boost and I jumped down the gate to unlock the locks from inside. We first went to the house of the keeper to check it out while Dong guards the door.

I threw an alarm inside and waited for a while before we come inside. Nothing seems to be attracted to the alarm so we went further in. I drew my katana and I reached for a flashlight in my belt. I shone the light over but my uncle flicked the switch in the corner which lighted the whole place up.

click*

"Oh, I didn't see that there, ahaha…" I said as I scratched my nose.

"…" the two.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 84: 84

"Nothing seems to be here though." My uncle said as he looked around.

"But why is there a lot of food here though? Did they hole up in the main house?" Dong said as he took a small glance.

"Maybe, want me to mark this house first?" my uncle asked.

"Yeah, go ahead. Eyes up on this big house next. It's much bigger than my house." I said.

"Why is it so big though?" Dong asked.

"Oh, the owner of this house were politicians. But this house is already built before they became politicians. Wait, that didn't explain anything at all." I said as they shake their heads

I knocked multiple times first and I waited for some sort of reaction. There seems to be no one answering so I pulled out a roll of duct tape from the bag I always carry.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Dong said.

"Oh, just wait and see." I said as I taped a few strips to a window. After a reasonable size was taped, I elbowed it and a crack was produced and the sound is almost non-existent. The two nodded with a smile when they saw what I did.

"Are you a burglar or something?" Dong said.

"Hey, don't talk to your boss like that. Hah! I'll be a good one if I ever become one." I joked as I peeled the duct tape of with the shards on it and laid it on the side.

I then pulled out one more alarm from the bag and I threw it inside the hole from the window where I peeled the duct tape over.

tick*

tick*

tick*

ringggggg*

A few more minutes pass and nothing happened inside. I even took a whiff inside and it smelled like nothing.

"What are you smelling the house for?" my uncle said.

"Decay. If anything is dead on this floor, we would smell it right now." I explained.

With nothing seeming out of the ordinary, I picked the lock and we went inside. I looked for the switch for the lights now but when I found it, the lights won't open. I pointed my flashlight at the ceiling and I found out the bulbs were missing or broken though a few is still intact. The two saw it and they tensed.

"Someone could still be here or the breaker for this place was turned off." I said.

We checked the 1st floor first while Dong guarded the stairs. We checked the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the two other rooms inside.

The living room has still all the appliances inside while the kitchen has them too along with other canned goods and several sacks of rice left. The food left is still substantial for a few families when I checked a few from the cupboards and the other drawers.

"They have a lot here; do they have guns too?" I said to myself.

My uncle opened the refrigerator and he found several cans of beer with a few sodas and chocolates inside. On a corner of it is a wine rack with a few dozen bottles of different kinds. He just touched the bottles and moved on. I opened one of the doors and one is a tool shed for brooms and other cleaning materials while the other leads to a staircase for the bas.e.m.e.nt.

We called Dong over and now he's guarding this side of the door. We headed down and it's a laundry room with a few washing machines, dryers, and sacks of detergent powder. We headed up and I went to the bathroom. Aside from a few hygiene products, there's a first aid kit inside their medicine cabinet with a few OTC drugs.

"This floor is clear now. Let's head up." I said to them.

We headed to the 2nd floor now and we slowly ascended the stairs. There are four rooms in total and we checked each one. They were the children's rooms and what we found inside are clothes, smart phones, computers, a few toys, snacks and etc.

"Why are there a lot of their supplies and personal items here? There's no sign of zombies here though. This is really weird; I really should've come here the first time I noticed something was wrong." I said to myself.

We went to the last floor and we found two doors left and right.

"Get ready." I told them.

I readied my bullpup and my uncle raises his shield while Dong drew his pistol. My uncle reached for the doorknob on the right and it is unlocked. I stopped him from opening it then I pressed my ear against it but I heard nothing from the other side.

I knocked a few times to check if someone is inside.

knock* *knock* *knock*

"Hello?" I called.

knock* *knock* *knock*

"Hello~!" I called again.

knock* *knock* *knock*

"Hello~! Is someone inside?" I called one last time to be sure.

When I gave the signal, my uncle opened the door and we were shocked. We found the other type here.

There were seven zombies just standing completely still and they are all looking at us except for the one by the window. They never moved, they never breathed and they never did…anything. They all just… stared. They still have several bitemarks on their bodies and the blood on their clothes are dried and black. A few bits and pieces of their body is on the floor and it is like a Pollock painting.

"Is this what I felt from before?" I said to myself.

"Are this the completely still ones?" Dong said.

"Yeah, it's really off-putting seeing them this close." I said.

"What do we do? Kill them now?" My uncle said.

"Wait a moment. I'll call Oscar. Close the door first." I said.

bzzt*

"Oscar? This is Sky, copy?"

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Kid? Copy."

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Contact Rod for me, will you? We found seven of those still ones in the Pineda residence. Ask him if he needs more samples."

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Roger."

bzzt*

While we waited, I opened the other door and we saw a meeting room but there was no one inside. It has a long table with chairs and a monitor and at the far back is an isolated room separated by a glass door. I went inside the glass door and I found a note in the table.

"To anyone that might stumble upon this house in the future, please, just do it for me. There's a gun inside the safe behind the painting. Please, I can't pull the trigger, they're family. Why us?! Why am I the only one left?! Why?! This is unfair!"

I left the note there and looked behind the painting. There's an unlocked safe with the keys to this place and a revolver with a box of ammunition sitting inside. It appears to might have contain more but it was already taken. I took a look at the family picture in the desk and I saw everyone inside the other door except one, Karen Ann Pineda.

"Could she be the one looking from the window on the other door last time? But there was a zombie at the spot now." I said to myself.

bzzt*

"Kid, he said that they have enough samples. Besides, it's too far."

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Okay, I'll dispose of them then. There's still an unknown risk of these things being here if we left them alone here."

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Sure kid."

bzzt*

"Do we just kill them here then?" asked Dong.

"No, we kill them outside. Let's cover them with blankets first and tie them just to be sure. They're doing nothing for now and we'll be cleaning the houses later so let's just do it outside." I said.

"Can't we just leave them here?" my uncle said.

"I won't bet on the risk that they would stay like that forever. Remember the videos? The effects progress after an indeterminate amount of time. Who knows, they might move around in a few days and infect people. However, we have never seen normal zombies turn to this type or the sprinters." I said.

I looked at the seven bodies and I noticed something peculiar. Their eyes are moving. When they see a moving person, their eyes follow. I started walking from left to right and their pupils follow me though they never did anything else. The two saw what was happening and they tried to do the same. What's weird was their pupils could look at different directions like a chameleon. I felt chills run down my spine everytime their eyes move in different directions.

"This is really weird." Dong said.

I readied my bullpup rifle just in case they move while the two covered them with blankets and tied their arms. It took a while but we finally led them below.

"Bro, what's that?!" Jared asked while he saw the figures covered in blankets.

"Those still ones, I think we'll call them sentries, you should see their eyes. I'll kill them outside." I said.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 85: 85

I opened the gate and I drew my katana. With a simple flick of the wrist, I started to dispose of them one by one. When it's the last zombie, I had a thought. I removed the cover and I placed it in the middle of the street.

"Hey, what are you doing with it?" Nicole asked.

"Just had an idea. Jared, cover me yeah?" I said as I let it face the truck and it's now looking at them.

"Weird." Lois said.

"Good naming them sentries. It's like the statues on the main quest of what you're playing before." Jared said.

"Unc, can you stand about 15 feet in front of it? Keep the shield up though." I said as I went the other way.

"What are we doing?" my uncle said.

"Wait a moment, I'll attract a few." I said.

I came back after a few moments with five of them. I started going diagonally and I avoided the sentries' line of sight but I'm far closer than it than my uncle. When the zombies got a few feet near the sentry, it happened.

"Woah." my uncle said.

I was 8-10 feet from the sentry but the zombies avoided me and then they started on straddling towards my uncle. I slowly sidestepped to get to the line of sight of the sentry and then its eyes split up between me and my uncle and the zombies coming from the back are now splitting between us. When I went back to its blind spot, its eyes went back to my uncle but the zombies that split up still went after me while the last zombie I attracted went to my uncle.

"This is vital information. Should definitely tell this to everyone." I said to myself.

I then brandished my katana and got rid of the ones I attracted while my group did the same. The group is just looking at me and then I sliced the head off of the sentry cleanly.

slice*

plop*

The head fell to the ground but its eyes are still staring at me. I wrapped the head in cloth and I placed it in the truck.

"We're taking that?!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Yeah, this is something we might have a use in the compound. We might need to find an aquarium or a jar. Too bad I've killed the other six. This is something really vital, let's get everything from this place first and we check a few of the houses near here before we go back. We took a lot of time here since the house is too big." I said.

They then started on hauling the stuff inside while I went back to the 3rd floor to get the revolver and the box of .357 rounds. I then went to the other room where they came from and I inspected the place. This seems to be the master bedroom and it's similar to the rooms on the second floor but bigger. I checked for any hidden doors but I found nothing. There's a few fancy clothes and jewelry here but there's not much gear we could use for zombies.

"She must've taken the important ones. Where did she go then?" I said to myself.

Aside from the essentials, I took the electronic gadgets from the rooms and I found a bag of Marijuana on the nightstand on the master bedroom with an empty medicine container.

"This does not look prescribed by a doctor. Wait, this bottle for sleeping pills, overdosed?" I said to myself.

I remembered the 7 figures earlier and one of them don't have any bitemarks.

"Did the last one overdosed on this? Why is Karen the only one left alive?" I asked myself.

I just placed the bag of Marijuana on my bag and figured I might have use for them later on for trading or any medical issue. There's also a wine cabinet here with more bottles than in the kitchen and they are much more expensive. I also checked each bathroom for any pills or any other things I might find. On one of the cabinets on the bathrooms, I found a very… phallic object. I left it alone and I shook my head.

"That thing could be used as a bludgeoning weapon. It's like a Barbarian with Brutal Critical if it hits you. Well, if that makes you happy… I'm not gonna bring that home though." I said to myself.

We finished loading the truck and the head was placed carefully in a corner. Half of the truck was full so we went inside a few more houses near it. Surprisingly, one of them has a few solar panels installed and we unhooked them with the inverters and the battery for our compound. We grabbed a few containers for the gas at home and 20 empty ones filled the rest of the truck along with a few essentials that we found.

There are still more zombies past the gas station since it's in the highway. In this place, we encounter 7-9 zombies every time we make a stop and we are not using firearms as long as we could. It's possible as long as you make a proper formation with your group and they follow you properly.

We headed back and I found out that there are a few people inside the fence and a few of them are familiar faces. A guy there smiled and waved at me though I disregarded him.

"Where's Kaley and the rest?" I asked Allan on top of the catwalk.

"Oh, they're making one more trip before they take a rest. Oscar told the people below to stay at the fence here first and wait for you. They might be back in a few minutes though." he said.

"Sky! Sky! Remember me?" one of them said. It's a guy wearing ragged clothing but has an expensive watch on his wrist. He has gold teeth and has an air of arrogance.

"The f.u.c.k is this guy doing here? Out of all the people that would stay at their homes, this guy actually survived?" I said to myself.

"Hey man! Hey!" the guy shouted.

"SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!!" I bellowed.

The man stops calling me and the few are taken aback.

"You know that guy Sky? He keeps on saying that you were bros, he never stopped talking since he got here." Allan said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"I know this guy but we're not close." I said.

"C'mon man! We've known each other for years I-" he looked at the fence and he stopped.

Kaley and the group came back and her eyes brightened when she saw us back. I waved at her and she waved back at me. I jumped down the truck and opened the first fence for them.

roll* *roll* *roll* *roll* *roll*

I checked her body for any signs of scars or wounds. I even checked the magazine of the AR and the CZ if it was used.

"Hey, it's embarrassing, stop doing that here! We never fired a shot; we just used our melee weapons and I killed a few using your wakizashi." She said with a proud look.

We then walked towards the group again and I looked at each one of them. There is 7 of them all in all. They are looking at me with wary expressions though that guy has the same bullshit expression as always.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! C'mon man! Talk to me! I-" he tries to get my attention.

"You checked them for weapons?" I asked.

"Yeah, we did. I found 2 pistols from the woman there with a cap, her name is Aubrey and she complied in surrendering them to us. The others have nothing on them and we let them all in after Kaley made a brief talk with them." Tatiana reported.

"That's good. Good to see your family here Anthony." I turned to a guy with a large forehead carrying his daughter with his wife by his side.

"Huh? You know me?" he replied.

I laughed and said, "Anthony Del Mundo, we're classmates in the elementary school here. We used to play online games every afternoon after school. Remember Gunbound X?"

"Hold on, wait he doesn't look like you at all. Are you Sky?" he said with a confused expression.

His eyebrows were scrunched at first then it shot up in realization.

"What's up man?" I said as he gave her daughter to his wife then he gave me a handshake.

"Holy shit man. It's really you? Didn't even recognize you!" he exclaimed.

"Well, it's been 2 decades more or less and I haven't been attending our reunions. Is this all of you?" I said.

"Yeah, we decided to hole up in my house. This is my wife Laura, my daughter Bailey, my cousin Benjie and my dad Roy." He introduced some of the group.

I looked at the other two and they introduced themselves as well. The other female was Aubrey, she was the person with the pistols earlier, she works as security guard at a bank. The last one… the last one was an asshole; his name is Diego.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 86: 86

"The six of you can come inside now, Diego stay here since we need to have a talk." I said.

"H-hey man, I don't want any trouble alright?" he said.

"Is there something wrong with him Sky?" Kaley asked.

"Yeah, something is definitely wrong with this asshole. Asshole, take off all your clothes." I said.

"Woah! Woah! Hey man! Be cool, alright? I'm not gonna take my clothes in front of all these people here okay!" he pleaded.

"Then f.u.c.k.i.n.g leave this place." I said.

"Sky… he seems a pretty chill guy, I think we shoul-" Mark said before I cut him off.

"My place, my rules. I will personally drive you to the DDR camp there but I highly doubt they'll accept you with what you're carrying." I said sternly.

"W-wait, Tatiana checked him earlier." Kaley said.

He starts to sweat profusely and his eyes darted left and right. He suddenly gave a few involuntary ticks and he looks very different from the person before. Kaley is just observing him now and she has a different expression.

"C'mon man, I'm clean alright? Just, j-just lay it easy man!" he stutters.

"Okay, don't take off your clothes. Hand me your bag first." I said.

He gave an almost unnoticeable smirk and he throws it at me.

"Knock yourself out." He said.

"Idiot." I said to myself.

I opened his bag and I dropped all the contents at the pavement. The bag is empty but there is still some weight to it.

"C'mon man, it's just clothes and a bit of food there alright?" he said but his nervous ticks are still occurring.

"Gonna go down swinging huh?" I said as I turned the bag inside out.

There's a seam inside that was sticking out like a nail. I cut it open and a few syringes and a plastic bag with a white substance fell out. He looked at me in shock while the others did as well.

"Still shooting yeah? I'll be taking this with me and flush it down the toilet." I said.

He suddenly placed his hands inside his pants and he pulled out a small metal piece and he lunged towards me.

"Sky!" Kaley shouted.

"Damn it." I said to myself as I drew my blade.

slice*

plop*

"AHHHHHH!!! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G PRICK!!! I'LL MURDER ALL OF YOU!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

His right arm falls off his body and blood started to spray out. He once again rushed towards me despite the look in his face but a gunshot rang before I tried to knock him out.

BANG*

The body fell limp on the pavement and blood is slowly flowing from his head. I looked at my side and I saw Tatiana has her pistol out while everybody was frozen on the spot. I just nodded at Tatiana while she did the same as she holstered her pistol.

A few people now went outside when they heard the gunshot and they were shocked when they saw the display.

"Holy shit, the f.u.c.k happened here?!" Oscar exclaimed.

I waved the packets of meth in my hand then I pointed at the shiv on the dismembered arm and he understood.

"F.u.c.k.i.n.g junkie." Oscar said.

From his bag, aside from his clothes there was a small weighing scale, a few rolls of cash, a lighter and a notebook also hidden on the other seams. Oscar dispersed the crowd and the only ones left outside was me, Kaley and Tatiana. Allan and Jenny were on the catwalk as usual but everyone was silent.

"Let's move this thing outside first." I told them.

I brought the pedicab first and I placed the body inside. I notice that Tatiana is rubbing Kaley's back and Kaley won't look at me but she's trembling.

"We'll talk later yeah? Help me with the fence." I asked.

We three worked in silence and we burned the body after I took everything of importance from him.

I broke the silence when we reached the gate and I said, "Sorry, you shouldn't have seen that."

"H-hold on, I'm the one who should be apologizing, I deemed the guy to be included to live with us. It would've been so much worse if you didn't check him." Kaley stammered.

"I'm sorry too. I didn't know where he got this shiv I-" Tatiana chimed.

"Drop that shiv now!" I interrupted Tatiana. I had goosebumps in my body when I saw her casually holding it.

"Huh? But-" she looks confused.

"Drop it! For the love of all things living!" I shouted.

"She must've not noticed where he pulled it out from." I said to myself.

"W-wait why?" they are now confused.

"You didn't see where he pulled that from? He used to be in prison." I said.

"Umm, so?" Kaley said.

"F.U.C.K!" she cursed.

"I told you so." I said to myself.

When Tatiana heard the word 'prison' she immediately threw it away. It landed outside the fence and it bounced a few times before sliding off. She now has an angry and disgusted expression.

"You don't get it do you? It's becau-" I said to Kaley then I was cut off.

"It was hidden inside his ass! That's why I didn't saw it! AHHH! F.U.C.K!" Tatiana shouted on the top of her lungs.

"First time I saw you explode like that, HAHAHAHA!!!" I laughed.

"W-wait, ass? You mean t-th- Ew! Why would he put it there?" Kaley exclaimed when the truth was finally revealed.

"Prisoners used to hide things there like knives or drugs since security would confiscate contraband if it was seen inside their cells. It took the both of you a long time before you got it. Oh man…" I explained as I was holding my laughter back.

Tatiana immediately went to a faucet and washed her hands thoroughly. She headed to my house as she looks for soap and a drink to forget about it.

I looked at her then I said, "Hey, you don't have to worry about it. That guy has been in and out of prison and he could fool anyone if you're not familiar with the guy. He was the one who was selling to my cousin and that's why I know him. He tried to sell to me too but I reported him."

"But why did he act like you're bestfriends? He never knew that you reported him?" she asked.

"He's an abuser of those things for a long time. He's very unstable when you try to take his substances. I probed to see a reaction and a reaction is what I got. He never knew it was me. It was a good call for Oscar to not let them in yet." I explained.

Tatiana finally joined us and she said, "You could've told me sooner."

"I did. You're the one who wanted more explanations, hah! What did it smell like? HAHAHAHA!!!" I teased and laughed maniacally.

"I didn't smell it! F.U.C.K!" she storms off.

We headed to the pool area and almost everyone is there. They all wore solemn expressions as they looked at me. I explained to them what I know about Diego and what happened before we killed him. Allan also explained before what happened and they very much understand the situation.

"I'd like to remind you all to be careful with who we interact with outside. We don't need to be hostile, just vigilant. Always be ready to react when something happens. We shouldn't be too lax or too optimistic that we will always meet good people. Let us make it a rule to hold the newcomers first on the first layer of the fence before we let them inside the compound." I said.

Kaley still has a somewhat sad expression and I still think she felt responsible for what happened. I tried cheering her up but I feel that she wants to drop the subject for now.

"Well this is the first time someone not infected was killed. I tried disabling him but Tatiana made the decision. Can't blame her though, It's the right call. I'm still thinking I could save everyone I encounter. I need to toughen up a bit more." I said to myself.

Everyone still has solemn expressions and the food is being brought out for everyone.

"Oscar, is the president's line always open? Can you call him after lunch?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's not the one always answering it but sometimes he just picks it up from whoever did." he said.

"I might have found something out without them noticing." I said as I told him about the sentries.

He gave me different expressions when I relayed my findings to him.

"You sure that that's what happened kid?" he asks while the rest of my group confirms it.

"Damn, I'm not sure if they've discovered it but they never told me of that yet. It could be another version of it though, we're not sure." He added.

"That's a valid point too. They would've probably noticed that those things do that as well." I said.

"From the broadcasts, all they've said was they discovered them, there were no mention of their findings. Could they be hiding it?" Kaley said.

"Well, could they be hiding it then?" Johnny repeated what Kaley said and he looked at me.

"For what reason though? Aren't we supposed to help each other, right?" Rin said.

"Easy. Those who solves this thing first will rule the world. As easy as that." I said with a straight face.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 87: 87

Everyone became silent after that simple statement.

"B-but why don't we all just work together and solve this thing?!" Olivia said as she heard us talking.

"If that ever happens in the first place, this thing wouldn't even had happened." I said.

"Hmm? Why do you think that?" Johnny said.

"In my opinion, this is not the end of the world as the holy book says or a supernatural one. Somewhere, someone or a group of people made this and spread it around the world. There could be multitudes of reasons on why they did it, it could even be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g accident. The point is, that is what we humans are, we are all the same but we are all different." I said.

"Wait, you lost me there kid." Oscar said.

"If everyone got along in the first place, will there be need of military presence? Will there be borders? Will there be wars? Or even this pandemic? No, there would not. Sure, we have people having the same mindset as all of us that are trying to save this world but there are also people who don't." I explained.

"But you also said that this could be just an accident, correct?" Tatiana said.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't categorize this thing as a cliché. What? Someone accidentally dropped the vial that contains the virus on the floor? Let's say the person holding it is clumsy, they still made the virus that killed a lot of people. Granted we already have a few of those in circulation. Damn, I'm going down a rabbit hole. My food's cold now." I said while slicing another sausage.

"W-wait, what are the things we have in circulation?" Johnny said.

"Hmm? This is conspiracy theory stuff though, Alcohol? Drugs? Cigarettes? Some even say that HIV is man-made. Some people even argue that these things are made to counter the most devastating species on Earth." I trailed.

"Hmm?" everyone has confused faces.

"Really? It's us, humans. I read in a book that we might need to do something evil just to save humanity. It's even the point of some villains in a few books and films. It can be removing half the people in the world with a snap or making a virus that would leave only a few people after it's over. In short words, a reset or a culling. To be honest though, everything that this world suffers from is caused by us humans. Well, except for natural disasters of course." I said.

"Wait, so you agree with the people that does these things?" Johnny asked.

"Don't get me wrong here, I only agree to the sentiment that we're the ones causing all the trouble in this world. What I don't agree about is the way they resolve the situation. Like Olivia said, if people could just work with each other, that would be for the best. Too bad that we don't work that way. We're too focused on what we could achieve now and what we could take from each other that we forget what we could achieve together." I said with a helpless sigh.

"What do you mean by that? War brought us the technology that we have now, correct?" Tatiana asked.

"Yeah, kid. She's right. The smartphones that you kids use came from the wars that we participated in." Oscar said.

"Hmm, let me put this in what I think about that. I deeply respect what all three of you have done for your country but hear me out. Communication devices was the result from wars, correct? What was the cause of wars then?" I asked.

"Conflict." Johnny said.

"Right, people having different ideas. Can you honestly say that we won't be able to make our communication devices that we have now if we don't have wars? That is different from that! Technology will advance on its own whether we fight each other or not! That is like saying that people will grow stupid if we never had conflict. It is a fuel to a cause but I think that conflict should not be the driving force in how we advance ourselves. Can you say the same with all the other inventions that are made? F.u.c.k me then. We could be living through different planets by now and our population crisis could be solved by that. We could be exploring the galaxy, people bent on territory can infinitely explore it, f.u.c.k! We could even place our bodies to indestructible ones so we could live forever and death will never be an issue." I said earnestly. My eyes are a bit watery and I stared at everyone while shaking my head.

The group looked at me with mixed expressions.

"But that's impossible right now. F.u.c.k.i.n.g humans, am I right? If we all just got along… if we all just got along…" I trailed.

"Damn, kid. I never thought of it like that. But still… I can't find the words to say right now." Oscar said.

The rest of the group wore somber expressions.

"Well, it's just something to think about to pass the time. We do what we can right? It's just an ideal world that I wish to have instead of this. A man can at least dream right?" I concluded with a smile.

"My head hurts. Is this some sort of Philosophy class?" Russel said.

"Hah! Did you just rope us in this class kid?" Oscar said.

"Hmm, I didn't though but it's fun to talk about it sometimes. Oops, it's past two o'clock already. We've been talking for a while, damn." I exclaimed as I hurriedly finished my food.

Turns out, I was the only one not finished yet since I've been doing much of the talking.

"Take a break for now kid. I'm itching to go outside. I've been holed up in this place for a while and I need to stretch these old bones of mine. Where do I go next?" Oscar said.

"There's still a lot more places to visit. The bike shop still has a few more motorcycles that we could use. We could fill up the tanker again with gas and search the convenience store next to it. A few places we passed by is the road going to Elsewhere, there are a few diners there and I think I saw a small pharmacy like the one we went to. However, if you drove past the DDR camp on the highschool entrance, there's also a petrol station there and a bus terminal. There's a lot more to scavenge from, just go for the places that has a lot first. We can sweep the looted ones later." I said.

"Stop saying 'we' kid. Stay here for now okay? Just find something to do here eh?" he said.

"A break is good too, I guess." I scratched my head and then I thought of something to do.

Oscar led the scouting/ scavenging group for now and he brought the truck while Russel made a run for gas with Tatiana and Jared. The clearings will be only for the mornings so a few could help with other work to be done inside the compound. I grabbed my guandao and attempted to go outside to clear a few but Kaley stopped me.

"Nope, stay here. You're taking a break, right?" she said.

"Yeah, doing this is taking a break. I'll take this for a spin too." I said as I spun it around.

"Are you Guan Yu or something now? When did you turn part Chinese then?" Zeidrick interjected.

I laughed and I said, "Hah! I'll use this like a naginata. I want Rin to try and use this but I think she can't even lift this or even knows how to use this thing. If we have a lighter one it would be possible."

"Well we have an engineer here; can't we just make one?" Kaley said.

"Hmm, we might need a blacksmith rather than an engineer to make it. They could make something like it but we need the authentic stuff. It just doesn't feel right in my hands like when I hold a machete." I said.

"Oh boy." my uncle said.

"What do you mean?" Kaley asked.

"Hmm, how do I put these into words then? Hmm… craftsmanship, maybe? I can't find the right word." I said reluctantly.

"What is that called? It looks cool!" I heard behind me.

"Cool! That's the word!" I exclaimed.

"…" everyone else.

I looked behind me and I saw Aya was the one who spoke.

"Hey, nice catch! This is called a guandao, this is a Chinese polearm." I explained as she nodded pensively.

"Back on topic, why don't you just make one then? I mean a personalized one where you could decide on how it would look?" Kaley said.

"Oh? Like my katana? I could, I just don't have the right tools for it." I said.

"Hold up, wait a second. You made that and this too?!" Kaley exclaimed as she pointed at the blades in our h.i.p.s.

"Yeah." I said.

"And the tanto?" Aya added.

"Yeah." I replied.

"W-when?! Are you a blacksmith too?!" Kaley said in surprise.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 88: 88

"When I was in Japan, before I got the tattoo. I was the helper though, I'm not the one to made it to be completely honest. Old man Kaiseki made it for me, I've known him since I was a kid. I remember the processes exactly in my head but I've never really tried making one solo yet. We'd need different tools from what we have here though like a forge and an anvil. Those different types of hammers too, we could use power tools but that defeats the point of making it authentic. What we have here is more of building or repairing structures or vehicles." I explained.

I saw someone approach from the back and he tapped me.

"W-wait, I'm the engineer here, are you saying that making that is uncool?! It looks awesome for f.u.c.ks sake!" Raphael said while he pointed at the SUV he's working on.

"Well, that looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome. More, if it gets finished. I'm talking about martial weapons not like the guns that we have. Heck, just make something that you like. This is just a personal preference for me." I said.

"Oh, I thought you were shitting on my work. Hah! My bad, my bad." Raphael said as he continued on working on the SUV.

"After you're done with that, I have another project in mind. I'd like to have a huge smelter made. We have a lot of scrap metal here. If we identify each one, we could make new weapons or more bullets with it. I have a small one for melting lead scraps from the range but I want something bigger." I said to Raphael.

"H-hey! Easy now! I'm still not done with this thing and you want to pile on more?! Let me finish this one first before you tell me what's next!" he exclaimed while smiling.

I smiled as I tried walking towards the fence but Kaley pulled me.

"Hey! I'm serious! Take a break for once!" she exclaimed.

I helplessly smiled and said, "Okay, let's have a date then! Know how to fish?"

"Umm, not really. A date huh? We never actually did that yet… sure!" she said as she smiled.

I grabbed my tacklebox and a few other gears and we two headed to the fishing areas. I dug up some bait first and I showed her how to place it on the hook and she followed it perfectly. We sat inside on one of the small houses at the middle of the fishing area and we could already see a few swimming at a few spots. I tied a floater before the three hooks in the line and I casted it in the water.

"Okay, this is a spin casting rod and just do the same motion that I did." I said.

The line flew a few meters away from mine and the floaters started on bobbing up and down.

"What do we do next?" she asked.

"Wait for a tug, if you feel it, immediately pull the rod and- wait!" I shouted as I pulled the rod backwards.

"You caught one?!" Kaley shouted.

"Yeah! Watch how I do it yeah?" I said as I give a bit of slack to the line since the fish is still fighting. I reeled a bit and I started pulling against the direction it was going. A few moments later, it got tired and I easily reeled it in and I placed it in a bucket filled with water.

"That was exciting, where did you learn to fish? Did you take classes too?" she asked.

"Oh, I learned from my grandfather on my mother's side. When I was little, we had a fishing boat in the provinces and he used to take me fishing every morning. Sometimes, we'd be in the boat for a few days and we eat what we caught since we only have rice in the Styrofoam containers that we brought." I said.

"That's nice, hey, about earlier…" she trailed.

"Hmm? I told you, don't worry about it." I said.

"Please listen, I'm serious here. I'm very sorry for what I did. I think I wouldn't be that confident on doing this thing again. Not only did I put your life at risk, I've also put everyone else too. And now we're just fishing like nothing has happened…" She said.

"I said it's alright right? Don't beat yourself over it." I replied.

I saw her rod lowering and she looked at me with a frown. Her breathing became erratic as she yelled.

"Why are you not mad at me?! You yelled at Mark when he disobeyed orders right? Yell at me or something will you?!" she exclaimed.

I gave a long sigh. We laid our rods on the floor.

"Nothing bad happened right? Isn't that all that matters? We have everyone there to help-"

"That's not the point I was saying! You treat your life like it's nothing! You have people here that need you!" she yelled.

"…" I was speechless.

She stared at the ground while she's hugging her knees. I was sitting with my legs crossed and I was just looking at her. We sat in silence; I just noticed her cheeks getting invaded by the tears flowing from her eyes.

"Kaley… I don't know how to say this. Ever since my parents died, I think I've lost something in here." I tapped my temple.

"It's a weird feeling, like something snapped or something broke off. I can't explain it properly. I don't know, sometimes I feel like I can't die." I added.

"What do you mean?" she said quietly as she sniffs.

"Not really sure, it's weird to me as well. Have you ever had that feeling when what you have studied the night before your exam was exactly the one in the papers? You have experienced that right?" I said then she nodded.

"Like when you feel that everything is under control. That's what I was feeling earlier, that time when the fence fell when Mark disregarded orders was a different case. You did what I told you and what's at fault there was Diego." I said.

"I was the one who took him inside, didn't I?" she asked.

"True, you did. I'm not against users even if one of them killed both my parents. Some of them could change if given enough time. That guy earlier just made a very stupid decision to pick drugs over his life. If you think about it, we did everyone a favor by killing him when he reacted violently. Remember the talk earlier by doing something evil for something good? This is a small example of it." I said.

"W-wait, you're changing the subject! We're talking about you here! You can say that you feel invincible and all that but you're still the same as us. You'd still bleed, you'd still have broken bones and you could still die…" she said earnestly as she looked at me.

"She got me good…" I said to myself.

"I really don't want to remember things as much back then but this photographic memory really sucks sometimes. Do you know what's really hard after losing your parents? Trying to live after losing them. The trip that I planned to cool my head off? I'm actually tethered by a rope at each side pulling at me. One side really wants me to live on while the other…" I trailed.

Her head immediately snapped towards my direction and then she cried once more.

"Please don't continue what you're saying. I-I'm sorry for bringing it up. M-mom should be here talking to you a-about this stuff not m-me." she stuttered as she tries to complete what she wants to say.

"Hey, I'm fine now aren't I? It's a thing of the past and I wouldn't pick that card, not anymore. There's too much that I have to live for now just to throw it all away." I said as I wiped the tears from her eyes.

"…" she was silent.

"And as I was about to say earlier, we have each other's back yeah? When Mark made a mistake, I corrected it. When Diego made his, Tatiana corrected it. Nobody's perfect, well…" I trailed.

Her head lifts up.

"…except for you." I said while grinning.

flick*

snag*

"OW! KALEY! WHAT THE F.U.C.K! SHIT!" I exclaimed.

"OMG! OMG! I'M SO SORRY!!!" she yelled.

What happened was she flicked the rod towards my direction and then the hook flew and it pierced my ear.

"Oh no! What do we do?! Do we pull it out?!" she exclaimed.

"No! See the end of the hook here? The small nub at the end? That's why we use this for fish since they won't be able to wriggle of it since their mouth will rupture when they pull. Why are we even talking like we're having a lesson here? Let's stop by Alex's place to borrow pliers or something. Cut the line first!" I yelled.

"Okay, okay, hold on…" she stammered.

"If you cut me with that too, oh boy…" I said.

"Please don't talk, my hands are shaking." she stammered.

snip*

The fishing line was now cut and then I tidied up the fishing equipment first and we started to walk towards Alex's house.

ding* *dong*

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 89: 89

I was ringing their bell but no one seems to answer.

"They might be inside the compound…" I said to myself.

"F.u.c.k it! Let's just go back to the compound where I'm sure there will be tools to remove this." I said to Kaley.

"Umm, ah, are you okay? You're bleeding a bit. Let me wipe it off…" she sheepishly said.

"Wait, don't! The small threads on that towel might get caught up in the hook making it worse." I said.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean for it to happen…" she slowly followed from behind.

"Yeah, yeah. Flicking the rod definitely wouldn't bring the hook with it…" I jokingly said.

I managed to tick her off and she replied, "Well you said earlier that sometimes you feel you can't die! Right?!"

"Yeah, but I didn't say it wouldn't hurt now would it? Are you really trying to get me killed now?" I replied sarcastically.

She harrumphed, "You already said to don't worry about that, so I'm not worrying about it."

"Yeah, stop worrying about that, worry about this hook that's making me bleed out… oh god, I'm seeing the light…" I said then I acted extremely exaggerated.

"Stop moving it around!" she exclaimed.

We continued our banter as we approached the gate. Allan saw us and he first noticed the blood on my ear, flowing to my neck. I also saw Aubrey guarding the gate with them.

"What happened man?!" he asked.

I just pointed at Kaley and Kaley went back to being her worried self.

"Turns out, Kaley is really good at fishing. She managed to catch a human being while I only caught a milk fish…Ow!" I joked then she kicked me.

"Is Oscar back?" Kaley asked as she attacked me a second time.

"Oh, they came back earlier with the tanker and the truck but they went out again." Jenny said.

"Guess we'll have to do this ourselves…" I said.

We went to our room and then I removed my gear and I stood in front of the mirror while Kaley turned all of the lights on. I grabbed all the tools needed and I disinfected them all first while Kaley cleaned my ear after.

"Good thing that it's just a small hole and it didn't rip some of the skin apart. Here, cut the hook in that part and pull the other one after." I handed her small pliers and she positioned herself while I readied a cotton ball with alcohol.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah, go ahead." I replied.

ssnnaap*

"Ouch, that stings. Cut it quickly next time so it doesn't bend." I said while I placed the cotton ball in my wound.

We then sat in silence after as we took a breather.

She's just looking at my ear while we're sitting in front of the table.

"It won't heal faster if you stare at it." I said.

"Sorry, I just noticed that you have no piercings." She said.

"Oh, never really find the charm in earrings. I see you have two in each ear. I'll just leave this wound here and hope it closes up nicely." I said as I looked at her ears.

She chuckled and said, "I thought you would say something like it would get in the way or something."

"Hah! That is true though, what if by some chance you had a dangling earring and someone grabbed it by force? This one time…" I continued on telling her the story where I witnessed a thief snatching an earring off of a lady on the street.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, that really happened. Her ears were leaking blood all over when the kid ripped it off her ear." I said.

"Good thing I didn't pull it out earlier…" she said sheepishly.

I chuckled then I pulled out my phone.

"Now we need to take a photo of this. Hold the hook in front of us!" I added.

"Wait, w-why?" she said.

"Well, this is still a fun memory. You know, considering the circ.u.mstances. We'll start to forget about the problem as soon as we start to joke about it." I said as I took the photo.

click*

In the photo, I acted I was in pain while she makes an embarrassed pose. We took a few more.

"Hey, I'm sorry again. It seems like all I do is apologize to you." She said.

"Hah! 'tis but a scratch! Well, a hole to be exact. Wait, where's the fish that I caught? Did you bring it here? I only carried the tackle box and the rods." I said.

"I think we forgot it at the small house." Kaley replied then the radio buzzed.

bzzt*

"Sky? Derek said you might have left a fish in a bucket. He brought it here. He said he placed it on your sink."

bzzt*

It was Allan who radioed in.

bzzt*

"Tell him thanks, we forgot to pick it up earlier when I got hooked."

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Hah! I told him the story; he's laughing his ass out when he went back."

bzzt*

bzzt*

"Alright, thanks for the heads up."

bzzt*

We ended the short talk and we two headed down towards the kitchen.

"What are you gonna do with it?" Kaley said.

"Oh, I'm making Sashimi." I replied.

"Wow! I like those! Can I help?" she asked.

"Sure, as long as you stay away from the pointed objects." I joked.

She harrumphed and decided throw another jab at me.

"Hahaha… this requires a delicate touch." I said.

I cleaned the fish first and then I removed all of its scales. I cut open the fish and removed the guts and the gills.

shhck*

I then removed the flesh off from the first side and then the next one by removing the bone with its tail and head. I then grabbed two tweezers and handed her one.

"Here, feel the bones with your hand and remove them one by one." I instructed.

Her face lightens up as she picks up the tweezers and started on removing a few.

"There's a lot here." She said.

"Yeah, are you done?" I said as I lifted my part up.

"W-wait! How are you so fast?!" she exclaimed.

"Heh, I've had lots of practice, that's why. I'll start on the garnish and I'll ready a few things. Keep on doing that and avoid plucking some of the meat so when I slice it later it's still uniform." I instructed.

She nodded a few times and now she's focused on her work. I thinly chopped radish and I poured soy sauce on a small dish. I also brought out wasabi paste and I grated ginger and garlic.

Kaley finally finished her part then I thinly sliced everything and plated it neatly and symmetrically. It looks like a flower blooming the way I plate it.

"Wow~! Is that Sashimi?!" Rin saw us and she yelled.

"Yeah, want to eat with us?" I said.

"Okay, thanks! Sorry for disturbing your little date here, it has been a while since I've eaten this." She said as we all took a bite.

"Hmm! This is really good! Did you catch this just now? It tastes really fresh." Rin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I could've gotten more if a hook didn't fly through my ear." I said.

"Drop that subject now, will you?!" she said while she blushed in embarrassment.

Rin saw the wound in my ear and then I told what happened to her while Kaley shrinks down.

"That happened?! Hahahaha!" she laughed hysterically.

I dipped the Sashimi in sauce as I add a few portions of wasabi and ginger. We mixed and matched the toppings as we three slowly eat the food.

"Hey Rin, I haven't asked yet. How did you end up in Manila anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, I was living with my dad in Japan when I was young but when he passed, me and my mom moved here instead and started our own lives." She said.

"Where's your mom though?" Kaley asked.

"Oh, she overworked herself by raising me up and she also passed right after I finished highschool. I was supposed to go to college as a working student but I need more money to sustain myself. I've been switching between jobs and I finally landed here. Good thing I won the lottery by being noticed by boss. Didn't imagine having OCD would save my life." She said while getting another portion.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, it's also lucky for me to find you. There's so much I wanted to do in the day and if I do what I assigned you to do now my head would get bald." I said with a faint smile.

"Is that so…" Kaley chimed as she told the story about her parents as well.

"My stupid parents decided to take on a trip somewhere where they didn't even tell where they would be going to their kids. They're off the grid too and we have no way of contacting them." She said.

"Right, Olivia told me too. Well, she said your dad knows a few things and she said that they will definitely come back." Rin said

"Right. Rin, is there any chance that you know how to use a naginata? I have a guandao at the armory, could you perhaps substitute it for that?" I asked.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 90: 90

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know how to use any weapons. I'm just fascinated with all of them so I read about them in my spare time." She explained.

"That's too bad. Well, anyone can't always be a fighter, can they? That would be too easy." I said to myself.

"Hmm, do you want to start learning though? I could teach a bo class though I'm not that great at it compared to katanas." I said.

"What's a bo?" Kaley asked.

"It's a staff." Rin said.

"Wait, it's different from the polearm, right? Why would you teach her how to use a staff then?" she asked.

"It's the most versatile weapon actually. It's similar when using a shorter stick, the only difference with it is that you use it with both hands. It could be used for anything. It can slice, chop, sweep, thrust and smash etc." I said.

The two are now giving me confused expressions.

"Hmm, how do I explain it correctly… Basically, you could perform the movements of different types of weapons by using a staff or a stick. However, the lethality is reduced since you know… it's just a staff. It could build a foundation for which you want to specialize though. For example, a main use of a spear is piercing, a naginata is mainly for slashing etc. Similar with an axe and a machete." I tried to explain it as best I could.

"But you could still perform the other movements from using other weapons too, right?" Kaley asked.

"Sure, you could. But it would be more difficult to use since it's intended use for it is not being utilized properly. Like using a Kukri for a thrust since the tip is heavy, it would be harder to perform it. Let's just say that it could be used to test affinity. Like if you're more comfortable in a certain movement. You can find out what weapon is more suited to you if you practice with something that could do everything. Well, some people never moved away from the staff and mastered them, those that have done that are awesome as well since they have grasped every movement of a weapon well." I replied.

"Hmm, I think I'll try to do that on the next lesson…" Rin said.

"Anyway, just continue on attending our CCW class and we'll find someone suitable for the guandao. Kaley might be first in line since she's experienced in two handed rods." I teased.

Rin gave a chuckle while Kaley shook her head in embarassment.

Olivia came in and she saw us eating.

"Hey! You're eating Sky's cooking without telling me!" she exclaimed.

"You won't like this, trust me." Kaley said.

"B-but it looks good…" she replied.

"Then try it then, remember that I warned you." Kaley said.

"Okay…" she said as she took a bite.

chomp*

We three looked at her relaxed expression changing to fear.

"Hey, you good?" I asked.

"It's g-good, b-but w-why is it s-spicy?" she stuttered while she hiccupped a few times.

"I told you, you won't like it since you place every topping you see on the food, hahahaha!" Kaley almost cackled.

"W-w-water please!" she exclaimed while she blows some air from her lips.

I headed to the refrigerator and I poured a glass of milk.

"Try this, it will be better than water. Swish it in your mouth so the heat will be contained for a bit." I said as I handed her the glass.

She drank a mouthful and she swish the milk in her mouth. I could see a single tear in her eye that is about to fall down but it never did.

"She's not that good on spicy stuff huh?" I said to myself.

"Learned your lesson now? I told you before that putting every topping you see won't make it taste good." Kaley said.

"But that was a different case! We were eating ice cream and there's a huge pile of toppings to be put on!" she retorted.

"Speaking of that, we have a lot of those in the freezers below. Want me to grab you a tub?" I asked.

"Right! The one we got from the first run." Kaley said.

"It's a weird combination though, fish and ice cream…" Olivia said.

"Hah! We're not gonna mush them together okay? It's just for desserts to remove the fishy taste in our mouth." I explained.

I grabbed a small tub of strawberry-flavored ice cream and we each are eating a cup of it when I saw the gate open. I saw my truck entering though there's another vehicle that parked outside. Oscar was with Jay and they brought another truck that has stainless steel beams on its sidings. This truck is used mostly for animals and it did contain six cows and two calves.

"See this kid?! Bahahaha!!!" Oscar exclaimed.

"Damn! Where did you find them?!" I was surprised.

"Jay pointed us to the butcher shop where he used to buy his meat products for their small restaurant. He remembered that there were farm animals there and we found this truck with the cows inside! One of the cows is pregnant too!" Oscar said.

I patted Jay on the back and said, "This is a great find, we could place them near the court since there is a plot of land there at the back of the stage."

We called Derek over and he was happy seeing more animals to be taken care of. He seems to have something in his mind and he spoke.

"Sky, since everything here is secure now, we decided to move back to our old house. I'll still take care of the animals from this compound and the other ones outside. Is that okay?" he asked.

"That's okay. It's a first come first served basis on the houses now. Better get back to your old place where it's comfortable. Is your family okay with it though? Considering what happened there?" I asked.

"We talked about it last night and they all agreed. The kids would want to have their own rooms back and me and my wife could have some more privacy." He said as he scratches his head.

"Hah! Miss the 'cuddling' eh?" Oscar said while heartily laughing.

"Okay then, no problems." I said.

We concluded the conversation and the truck went towards the court. He borrowed a few 2x2s and a few feet of rope so he could lead and place the cows in the court later since there's a small plot of land there where they could graze temporarily.

The broadcast is about to start so we grouped in the living room.

The president is in his usual combat gear and even though he's about the same age as Oscar, you could see him full of vigor.

"Greetings, we're going strong in our 2nd week, don't we?" he said.

"The whole of Davao City will be reclaimed in a few more weeks. We're slowly creeping on the 50% mark and if we managed to reach 100%, we'll start on building a huge wall around it so we could have a city that we could say that's ours!" he exclaimed proudly.

"Think we could do that kid?" Oscar said.

"With our people? It would probably take a few months. This barangay? If I could rope in the soldiers at the DDR camp next to us, a month would be possible." I said confidently.

"Hah! We could bargain with him to lend us his troops in exchange for the information that you have." He replied.

"No, we just give the information out. I'd be happy if he gives us one of those jeeps with the .50 Cal attached to it." I said as he nodded and mulling about something.

The broadcast continued, "The power for your houses will last for a few more days before it gets cut off eventually. We'll prioritize the resources for this city first and the DDR camps across the country. I suggest to get your hands on a generator and some gas to power your house if you're not in one of them. Conserve it and start to use other lighting alternatives. Take care not to burn your house when you do and keep safe. Starting this day, the broadcasts will be changing its timeslot from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. We're still standing strong and I guarantee that all of us will survive this and rebuild again!"

I almost cringed at the end because of the cheesy line. The broadcast ended and we once again staring at ourselves in the reflection of the TV.

"Power is gonna go out at the end of the week. Kid, we need to have more solar panels in this place to power-up the other houses." Oscar said.

"I agree, we could get a lot from the depot and a few more construction materials. Going on the other side of the highway, there is a place there where we bought our solar generators which is close to the place where they sell water tanks. We should go to those places tomorrow to install a tank on each house. The water is not running out soon but we need to have a huge stock before it gets cut off as well." I said.

"But they said before that they will be protecting the dams, right?" Jared asked.

"They did, but we would never know for how long they could. Well, it would just keep running on its own but we need to secure our own source too." I explained.

"Are we sure that what we're drinking is clean?" Kaley inquired.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 91: 91

"We've been drinking the mineral water from the places that we scavenged from and there's still a lot. The water we use for other necessities is from the dams. We have a filtration system here in case you're worried and we could always boil them or use our purifying tablets before we drink them." I explained.

"You're always ready you boy scout." she replied.

Everyone agreed to the plan and I gathered a group at the gym again to teach hand-to-hand fighting.

Those who joined are Chris, Russel, Jay, Bing, Jared, Mark, Dong, Alex, Jonathan and Marco.

Kaley didn't join the class since she was already being taught personally by Tatiana. However, the both of them are watching from the side.

I brought out gloves and hand-wraps for the group to put on.

"Sky, are we learning boxing today?" Chris said as his eyes lit up.

"Yeah, teach the others how to use those hand-wraps too yeah?" I said.

"Why boxing though? Isn't it dangerous to punch them in the face?" Jay asked.

"Well yes, but it's better than nothing eh? Besides this could also help if we encounter other people or in cases where we're disarmed and we don't have a weapon at hand. Boxing isn't just about punching someone, it teaches footwork, reading an opponent's movement, dodging etc." I explained.

"Okay, everybody stand up and put your fists up at a bit below eye-level. Place your dominant hand behind while the other in front. Do it with your feet as well while your dominant arm is slightly lower than the other one." I added.

"If you're right-handed, it would be called the orthodox stance and a southpaw if you use the other. There are rare cases of ambidextrous people that could use both but that's another topic for another lesson. But if you by chance are ambidextrous, tell me but use a stance you're most comfortable for now." I explained.

I taught them the different types of punches after and we coded each one by numbers. In numerical order, it is Jab, Straight, Left Hook, Right Hook, Left Upper and Right Upper.

We did a few combinations so they would remember through their bodies. I corrected some of them with their form as they punch and after that we headed to the punching bags.

"We only have five here, so take three minutes each and switch with the others holding it for you. However, one from the audience will be holding it since we'll be on the mitts. Tatiana, can you set a timer please?" I said as I slammed the mitts together.

bam* *bam*

I called Chris over and we started. He never ran out of breath in the 5-minute session but the problem still lies in his footwork. He produced crisp sounds with his jabs and you barely notice the shoulder moving. His straight is a bit lacking since when he steps up, his rhythm changes and his positioning gets worse.

I called Russel next and he kept both his hands close to his chin and he started to weave left and right.

"Oh boy." I said to myself.

"Russel don't give me that figure eight movement, you can't use that version of that technique in real life! It's a different version from what you see in the animations!" I said as I shook my head.

"It's cool though." he replied.

"Hah! Just do it normally first will you?" I said as I positioned the gloves for where he should hit it.

He kept on doing what he wants but his punches definitely have power in them.

Jared and Alex are much taller than me so their punches are going at an angle lower. I adjusted by raising my hands a bit more so they would have targets that are the same height as them.

We made a full rotation thrice with everyone and I noticed that a few were out of breath.

I let them rest and I said, "Okay, that sums up our lesson for today. We'll go light for now and we increase the load as we go on. Chris jogs everyday and it helped him a lot. If you didn't notice, he was never out of breath the whole time. Stamina is very important and we need to train it everyday. That's it for now and we'll continue this in a few days you all could always use the gym to practice what you learn. Any questions?"

"Umm, can I have a go with you again?" Chris said as everyone looked at him.

A snort was heard a few people behind him.

"You? You're barely an a.d.u.l.t, why don't you practice a bit more eh?" I heard Bing talking his mouth off.

Charlotte was fuming at the side but she stopped when she saw me.

"You're really a masochist eh?" I said to myself.

I saw Chris frown and he stood up.

"Huh? Want to have a go with me then?" Bing said while he stood up as well.

"Bullying a kid now are we? Want to get knocked out again?" Tatiana said as she hopped off the stationary bicycle.

Like a wet puppy, Bing shrinks down on the mat while Jay consoles him by patting his back.

Chris was still standing but he's looking at me.

"You sure? I'd be punching as well." I said with a grin.

He nodded and they gave us space. I threw him a headguard and he frowned when he saw that I'm not wearing one.

"You're not wearing one?" he asked.

"Yeah, any problem?" I replied with a smirk.

"…" he was quiet.

"He's a good kid but he always wanted to be treated the same." I concluded in my head.

Tatiana signaled and Chris dashed towards me. He threw a few combinations and I kept on stepping towards his left side. He's struggling to connect since he's in the orthodox stance and he always plant his feet on the ground after he closes in.

"C'mon, notice your weak point. I can't spoon-feed everything." I said in my head.

He kept on throwing punches and it starts to slow down. When Tatiana said that it's the last 10 seconds, I whispered.

"Guard." I said in a cold tone.

bam* *BAM*

I threw a quick one-two when he raised both of his hands on his head. The first jab was guarded successfully but the right straight threw his head back through the guard. He fell on his butt and he struggled to get up.

Some of the audience winced from the sound made and Charlotte threw a worried expression at Chris.

"Time." Tatiana said.

The gym was silent while Charlotte ran towards Chris.

"Damn! That was awesome! It hurts though…" Chris shouted then he winced.

I saw his nose bleeding but he was smiling and there was a fire in his eyes. We touched gloves after and I said, "You good? Don't stand up quickly yeah?"

He nodded while Charlotte wiped his nose with a handkerchief.

"Okay, who else wants to spar?" I said to the group.

"…" the group.

I saw a hand slowly rising up and I saw it was Bing's hand.

"Hahaha! Watch kid, I'll show you how it's done! I won't wear headgear too!" He exclaimed.

"Yup, definitely a masochist." I said in my head.

Tatiana set the timer and she waved her hand down with a smirk.

He also rushed towards me with his big body but there was no technique whatsoever. It's a telegraphed punch after telegraphed punch. He never remembered the lessons, he kept going on swinging wildly.

"Hah! You don't know anything but to dodge? I-"

We were very close in proximity and I twisted my h.i.p.s and delivered a body blow to his right torso.

THUD*

"Grck!" he produced a sound.

I was about to follow up with a right hook to his face but he waved his hands.

"T-time out." He said with a wince.

Everyone else was holding their laughter when he limped towards Jay.

"You alright big guy?" Jay said.

"Yeah…" he said in a high-pitched voice.

The class was concluded when Aya went up to call us for dinner.

We cleaned up the equipment first and we headed down.

"You don't hold back do you?" Kaley said.

"No, I did." I said nonchalantly.

"Show off." She said while smiling.

We had tomato soup for dinner with a side of bread and cheese. We all ate together and we started the meeting after.

"Okay, let's welcome our new additions for our group, Aubrey and Mark's family. We knew from earlier that she's a security guard while Mark is also an engineer like Raphael. These two jobs are different in nature but they both help in the security of our community." I said.

They all took a small bow in front of everyone. Aubrey decided to stay inside the compound while Mark and his family will stay in a different house to accommodate their numbers. They will be staying on the house further than Derek's house where the shoes and umbrellas are on the side.

Every new member will still be processed by Oscar to have a file made for them. Aside from that, they will all be briefed about what we already know except for a few classified ones.

"Okay, one more topic to place in the table…" I took the head that was now placed in a large mason jar and I showed it to everybody.

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Chapter 92: 92

The group stared in shock at what I showed them. The mason jar I picked is the perfect size for the head since it is completely upright when placed in it. The thing is, when it was placed on the group, its eyes darted around everyone and its movements made everyone it took a look at grimace either from disgust or fright.

I retold the story with the sentries to them and I listened to their opinions.

"Old man, have you called them yet?" I asked.

"They said that they have already dissected each one and now they are lacking whole ones to test what you've witnessed. Now they're trying to find more of them." He replied but his look tells me something.

"What? They didn't notice its eyes? Or is this a 3rd type or an evolution of the still ones?" I said to myself. I just stared back at Oscar for an instant and maintained the look I had before.

"Too bad I've already killed the other six. Well, we're too far apart for them to pick this up here. The logical choice is to find more there. The thing is, this sentry is by far, more dangerous than the sprinter." I said.

"Hmm? It just guides a few zombies at you right?" Lois said.

"Yeah. The sprinter is more deadly." Jared added.

"Hear me out, I said by far. It can only guide zombies to a few feet just by looking at you but what if there are sprinters in the mix that are guided? You could be perfectly hidden but just a glance from this thing and you are a target." I explained while I closed the laptop.

"This is just a theory, but what if in the future, the distance that it could cover increases by a mile or more? Ultimately, we don't know 100% on what this kind does. We haven't tried them with sprinters yet so we never know if it works on them. Before, I saw a sprinter lock on our direction when it's still a few meters away. Aside from sound, we also know that they could also sense us from sight even if their eyes are distorted from the ones we have." I added.

"Wait a minute, you said that when that special kind looks at a certain direction, it just goes there? Can't we just place that head facing outside and nothing will come to this place?" Ken asked.

"No, I think it needs to look at a living organism first. When I got in range of the sentry, one of its eyes locked at my direction and a few followed me even when I was out of range from the sentry. The thing is, if the zombie it guided to me got too close, it won't change its direction even if it looked the other way." I explained.

"So, does that mean that we still can't use this head then?" Kaley said.

"Hmm, we're really not sure in what this does. I was hoping to do what Ken was thinking but it might be dangerous if we rely on a tool that we don't even know the use of." I said.

"So, we kill it then?" Jared said.

"That's the reasonable solution." Johnny said.

"I really don't want to let go of this thing but we're really not equipped to handle this thing and discover its secrets. If only we had a scientist and a proper lab, we could do our own research here." I said.

"In my opinion, I think we shouldn't research this thing at all." Raphael said.

"But why?" Jared asked.

"Well, this thing caused the deaths of a lot of people, some I know, my point is that I don't want to rely on something that caused this to solve this. It just doesn't feel right." Raphael explained.

"Yeah, you got a point there, but knowing your enemy is half the battle. Granted we don't have the proper equipment to study them, we'll just learn a few of their secrets the hard way." I said.

"But what do we do with the head then?" Jared asked.

"I say we keep it and bring it a few times outside to see what it could do more." Oscar suggested.

"I suggest we dispose of it now since it's dangerous to even have a head here inside our place." Johnny said.

A few other people gave their opinions and I thought of what we should do with this head. I rubbed my glabella while they voiced their concerns and ideas.

"Okay, I've made a decision. We keep this thing but we do not place it here." I said.

"Where would you place it then?" Kaley asked.

"My old house. I'll place this in one of my safes for now and I'll move it tomorrow morning. I'm really curious in what this thing does and I'd like to know more from it through trial and error." I said.

"Might need to check on that guy too." I said to myself.

"Wait, you still have access to your old house?" Kaley said.

"Yeah, we already did some work on it before. Why would I sell it?" I said.

"Wait. Sky, isn't this thing just a ticking time bomb if we just place this anywhere?" Raphael said.

"There's a workaround for this thing." I replied.

"What?" he asked.

"Heh. How does sight work?" I asked.

"Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g tell us the answer kid!" Oscar yelled.

"To see, you need light. If you remove the light completely, we can't see anything. Last time I checked; this thing is still human in its physiology. Even if other animals have ways to manage in the dark, we humans rely on our eyes. A simple solution is just to cover it completely so its eyes won't manage to lock into anyone." I explained.

"How can you be so sure that doing that will keep us safe?" Johnny asked.

"Our people from watch duty. I did say we learn how this thing works the hard way. Besides, I'll put this in my safe covered by layers of cloth just to be sure. Don't forget the distance needed before it starts to guide other towards to where it is looking at." I said.

"Alright kid, I agree with that." he replied.

"Kaley, go with Sky tomorrow okay? Take a break from clearing the dead here and just let Jay's group do it for now. We have a protocol for people coming now so it's fine if you're absent for a day." Oscar said.

We concluded the meeting and I went to the gym to do my daily workout with Kaley and Tatiana.

Tatiana was coaching Kaley in some of the exercises and then I noticed her picking up the mitts and pointing at me. She slammed it twice and she smiled.

"I wanna see it up close, your technique." she said.

"Aren't you training Kaley?" I said while I pulled myself once more from the bar.

"I'm fine Sky, I remember the exercises that she taught me. You could have a go with her, the sparring earlier ended very quickly." Kaley said while she arched her back on the opposite side.

"Okay then, just a 3-minute round then. I have a few more exercises I haven't done yet." I said.

She raised the mitts and we waited for the timer to beep. Just as I was about to hit a jab, she quickly moved her hand towards my face. I quickly tilted my head to avoid it.

"This woman…" I said to myself.

She smirked and then she placed the mitts in front of me again.

"You're slow." she said.

"Taunting me won't help." I said.

I stopped the up and down motion from my stance. I relaxed my whole body and I started to slowly pace from left to right. My hands are not clenched and they are open inside my boxing gloves.

"Speed huh? Let's change a gear for now." I said to myself.

swish*

POP*

The mitt made a crisp sound and I looked at her. She was surprised and she was too late on moving the mitts before me.

"You're slow." I said her words back at her.

She smirked once more but her face is more serious. This was not mitt training anymore; it was a battle of reaction time. She placed her hands holding the mitts in different positions but as soon as I was a fraction of a second slower, she would flick her hands towards me as well. I find this exercise fun so I gave it a go. I missed a few times but she never landed a hit on my head since the mitt is heavier than the gloves.

We switched equipment and it was finally her turn. Her punches are sharp and quick but what surprised me is the punches that she threw. Sometimes, I would think that it's a feint but she would continue on with it but it was immediately followed by another punch by the same hand. It could either be a jab, a hook or an upper. The first hit will be crisp but the following one would be full power or another feint. She would sometimes feint with her other hand as well and that makes figuring out what punch would come next harder.

"That's interesting." I said to myself.

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Chapter 93: 93

I just caught all of her punches and never bothered to throw my own when I held the mitts. I tried to study it and burn it in my memory. I even forgo the exercises I haven't done yet and hearing the beep from the alarm made me stop.

She smirked and we three did the same awkward shower as before.

"Damn… it's a long day." I said.

"Yeah, I'm tired too…" Kaley said.

"I'm gonna turn the lights off now." I said.

"Okay." She replied.

Her back was facing me and I wrapped my hands around her. My mind was starting to drift off but then I feel her moving her h.i.p.s towards me.

"Kaley?" I said.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Stop moving… I thought you were dreaming or something." I whispered.

"Well… I'm not." she said as she moved her h.i.p.s against me again.

"Kaley… I'm tired…" I replied weakly.

"Really? Your body seems to think otherwise…" she whispered as she started rubbing against me more.

I feel it getting stiff from the stimulation of her plump butt and I felt her hand going under my underwear.

"Well, you kept on rubbing it, that's what happens when you rub it…" I said sarcastically.

"Want me to stop then?" she giggles.

"Well, I didn't say stop…" I replied.

I started to move my left arm that she's using as a pillow towards her ample b.r.e.a.s.ts while my right hand hugging her went lower. She's slowly tugging me while I squeeze what I could squeeze and felt what I could felt while I'm breathing at the back of her neck. My right hand is inside her and I feel it starting to get a lot tighter and wetter.

She removed her hand tugging me and I heard her spit on it and she placed her hand on the tip. Her hand slides a lot smoother but I felt her legs spread a bit and she pointed it somewhere. When it slid halfway, my fingers inside felt her tighten a bit while she m.o.a.ned. I slowly moved back and forth while she places her left hand on top of my hand that is massaging her chest.

I started on kissing her neck and her right hand is now wrapped in my head while we slowly moved with ragged breaths. She's now soaking wet while my hand twirls around her spot. She's balling her fist at my head while a few of my hair are getting pulled as the pleasure builds up.

"Move faster…" she whispered.

When I heard her, I slid it all the way to the base and I moved much closer and I removed my right hand inside her while my left hand stayed at the same place. My right hand wrapped on her h.i.p.s and then I started to slowly move at first while gradually speeding up. Skin is now slapping against skin and her m.o.a.ns fuels me even more. After a while, she lets out a gasp. She's shaking for a bit and then I pulled it out.

"Wait… you still haven't, right?" she asked while out of breath.

"Yeah, this position is a bit uncomfortable for me…" I whispered.

"Oh, then do what you want with me then… you can put it wherever you want…" she said.

"You dirty little…" I said as she grinned.

I laid her on her back and I spread her legs wide as I caress it. I placed it at the same place and I started to thrust. I buried my head in her mounds and my hand cupped the both of them.

"You really like those huh…" she chuckled.

I smiled and I started on sucking one of the tips. She twitched when I did that and her hands are over her head. Her eyes are closed but she's giving me a euphoric smile.

I then sat upright while I watch her b.r.e.a.s.t jiggle with each thrust that I made. Her left hand started to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t while pinching the tip and her right hand going in circular motions in the lower part of her body. As I was about to release it all, she actually went earlier than me again and liquid spurted out from her. She rolled her eyes and her mouth is agape while I climaxed after a few moments. I fell on top of her while she's twitching and I kissed her on the lips while her m.o.a.ns are muffled from what happened. She gave a smile and she turned me over while kissing me.

"T-that was intense… that was my first-time doing t-that…" she said while she catches her breath.

"What?" I asked while I caress her hair.

"You know… don't make me say it out loud… it's embarrassing…" she said weakly.

"Oh, 'that'. I see…" I said with a smirk.

She blushes but I kissed her again, I was resting my head in her chest and we eventually fell asleep after we cleaned up for a bit.

Day 9

We woke up the next morning feeling refreshed so we put on some clothes and we headed down after a quick shower. We all gathered at the pool and I looked at everyone. I didn't even notice myself staring at them for a while.

"Sky? Something wrong?" Kaley nudged me.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy that we're growing at a steady pace despite you trying to kill me." I joked.

whoosh*

She tried to kick me but I pulled the tie off her hair. She hissed once more but I quickly made my way to the pool area.

We had a simple breakfast for today and I grabbed two cups of coffee for me and Kaley after we finished eating a vegetable omelet.

"Okay, my group will go to the store that has water tanks and generators while we make a quick stop to my old house. Oscar will bring the closed truck from South to place the panels in since the truck from yesterday hasn't been cleaned yet. That's my plan for the morning today. How's the situation on the squatter area?" I said.

"It's clear now, we hauled the metal parts towards the small scrapyard while the wood parts are stored inside the covered court for now. What do you plan to do with it?" Zeidrick asked.

"I would like to make the plot of land in the open court a large barn. We'll move the shooting targets from the open court to the open area where the houses from the squatter area was before. We have more people so we could do more projects here. Johnny, I'd like to assign you to oversee this place while we're gone. I can trust you with that yeah?" I said.

"Sure thing. My family is here too, I'll do my best to hold this fort." He said seriously.

"Are we clearing the streets again?" Jay asked.

"You could but I will be taking Kaley with me for now, you could try to bring a few people in but let them stay at the first layer of the fences if you see some. Just don't move past the elementary school and be very careful. What other things to do is either accompany Oscar with some of you or help with the labor in building the barn." I said.

"Okay then." He nodded.

"Oh yeah, unc. can you grab some people and make a mound of dirt at the wall of the covered court?" I said to Zeidrick.

"S-sure. What would you do with it?" he asked.

"Just to stop the lead bits if anything misses the targets I'll be placing there. It could be a place where we sift some lead bits when I start to reload some of our ammo." I explained.

"Reload? Isn't that just switching the mags?" Russel chimed.

"No, what I mean by reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling them by myself rather than buying from the shops. It helps a lot if you want to save a bit of money when you shoot a lot of rounds in the range." I explained.

"Oh! That's why I notice you picking up some of the casings we use." Russel replied.

"Yeah, that's about it. It's a useful skill to learn too." I said.

"Are you gonna make me more slugs kid?" Oscar asked.

"Did you mean birdshot? Of course birdshot master." I joked.

"Listen here you little shit! I-" he grumbled more unintelligible terms but I continued.

"Hahaha! I plan on reloading what we have but I have a lot of different kinds of ammo stored from before. Mostly 9mms and 5.56s since those are what I use mostly. I told you to pick up after yourself when you use your slugs. Wait, are you running out?" I asked.

"Bah! Me?! You must be kidding kid, I still have a few thousand in my armory." he retorted.

"Then I'll focus on what I use mainly, my head itches when I see a space in where I place the ammo." I said.

"I'll keep a lookout when I see a few casings. Dad would always make me scout the place every few hours." Jimmy, Johnny's son said.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for that, just leave them in the buckets near the pile in the workshop."

"Anything for me?" Anthony asked.

"Do you know how to make a smelter?" I asked.

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Chapter 94: 94

"I made one before by using some play-sand and plaster. It could melt a few metals but not steel or iron." he said.

"Hmm, okay then. Try to make one for now so I could see what it does. Ask Oscar about the materials and he will give you all that you need. Kindly make it at the scrapyard… wait, how is it powered then?" I asked.

"Whatever you want. Wood, coals or gas, I prefer to use a propane tank so we could replace it easily when we start to make something bigger. I plan to make something as huge as a bucket first to show you." he explained.

"That's good, do you need more people to help you?" I asked.

"Uhh, not for now. My dad and cousin will do for now while my wife helps with the other household stuff." he said.

"Alright. Kaley, Tatiana, Zardon, Mark, Dong and Jared on me. We'll bring the truck and go get a few water tanks and generators. It's a few miles past the DDR Camp. Get ready in a few minutes." I said.

"Okay, Jay, Bing, Jo, Aubrey, Jonathan, and Nicole on me. Wait a minute, I'll grab some gear for you." Oscar said.

We filled the vehicles with gas and we suited up. I handed them extra magazines in case something happens and we head out.

"I miss you already guys." I said as I laughed.

"Me too, we'll finally get some peace and quiet." Jared said as the group chuckled.

"Yeah, Oscar is fun to be with but we always go in guns blazing. It's fun to shoot guns but he never has that finesse that you have when we go on runs." Dong said.

"Yup, he's definitely a loud guy." I said.

"It's like the difference of a pirate and a ninja." Mark said.

"Well to be fair, he's really old. His bones would creak out if he started on sneaking around and jumping over walls." I said while smiling.

"That is true, being old is a bitch sometimes." my uncle said.

We started to drive in the highway while we talked casually. There were no signs of people outside, only zombies littered the streets. We finally reached our destination and we saw the stores. There's a few dozen in front of it so I drew my katana first. They backed me up and I dived in.

There were three in front of me so I brandished my katana immediately.

"Let's go back to basics, shall we?" I said to myself.

slash*

Southeast to Northwest.

slash*

West to East.

chop*

Finally, North to South.

They fell after the quick encounter and I looked back and they are also busy. We're in a spear formation where Tatiana and Mark are on my Southeast and Southwest While Kaley is behind me followed by Jared, Dong and Zardon.

I controlled the pace in which we are going. We reached the store after a few minutes of killing a few and I immediately headed for the locks as they made a semi-circle at my back.

"Oh, I finally found another difference, we're pretty quick with Oscar while we're a bit slower when we're with you." Jared said with a laugh.

"Hah! I'm extra careful, that's why. Focus there yeah?" I said.

I finally opened the gate and we drove inside then we closed the gate after. There are several types of tanks here ranging from plastic, metal and glass. There's different shapes and sizes and I immediately checked inside if there were people inside the office.

There was none in here and all I saw aside from a few paperwork inside was a set of keys for a truck that they use to deliver some of them. It's a 6-wheeler truck though it does not have the horizontal bar that bisects our truck in the middle.

"Do we take this truck too? We could definitely use it back home." Zardon said.

"Yeah we'll use that to haul more containers. Take those rectangular plastic ones first that could fit 50 gallons and load all it could carry in that truck. Tie it firmly when you stack them so it doesn't get thrown off." I said.

"What do we place here then?" Mark asked.

"Place the 100-gallon ones and choose the polyethylene ones. Forget about the metal ones for now since they would rust over time. Let's get the easiest one to load first and we'll load the metal ones and the glass ones at a later date." I said.

"Polytele-what?" Dong said.

"The plastic ones, sorry." I explained.

"Speak the common tongue bro, we're normal people here." Jared said while laughing.

"Heh, fill everything up, we'll come back for the generators later." I said.

"How about these containers though? They look like the ones where Russel puts gas on." Kaley said in the corner.

"Where?" I said as I walked near her.

"Here." She pointed on a pile covered by a tarp.

"This is good, we'll come back for these things later. They are all the same size and color too. We could definitely fill the apartment there with these containers filled with gas. The other containers there are starting to vary in size making it waste space in stacking them." I said while I mull over in what to do.

We loaded the trucks and we securely tied it so it won't fall off when we hit a speed bump. Aside from the containers we also found a few thick tarps, jacks, ropes and a toolbox that contained a few things. We grabbed what we could carry since it wouldn't hurt to have extra stuff lying around.

"Everything is ready, shall we go now?" my uncle said.

We then headed back after dispatching a few on the way out. We got several of those 50-gallon tanks and the 100-gallon tanks. I was driving the smaller truck we found in the store and the drive home was eventful.

The soldiers from the DDR camp never seem to mind us when we went back the same way. They just assumed a pose when we came the first time.

"Where do you think they get their food?" Kaley asked.

"Probably from the helicopters and the stock from the hospital and the school. They're probably well-stocked since we've never seen them scavenge for food." I said.

"Yeah, and their numbers are way more than ours. They are easily a few thousand. They might be rationing them unlike us." Kaley said.

"Maybe." I replied

"But I'm sure they haven't noticed that our portions are getting fewer. We're conditioning all of us in a way they all won't notice. Oscar and my aunt are the only ones who know." I said to myself.

"It would be cool to have a helicopter." Jared said.

"I'd like a mobile suit instead or the Iron Tuxedo." I laughed.

"That's like the robot thingy right? What is the Iron Tuxedo? Another parody?" Kaley said.

"Yeah, something like that." I smiled.

"Well that's impossible to have." Jared said.

"Hah! If Japan or US actually make a working one, we'll head there immediately." I said.

"Hey, what else do we need from our place then? Realistically speaking?" Kaley asked.

"Oh, after the barn is finished, I'd like it have more animals like pigs, sheeps, horses and ducks since we already have chickens, rabbits and goats." I said.

"No, I mean equipment-wise." She explained.

"Oh, after we get plenty of what we have here, I would like to grab those mobile dental and clinical vans from PLV." I said.

"Oh, the ones parked on the side where I went to school?" Jared said.

"Yeah, when I was passing by there, I saw a few still there parked near your school near the fire station. We could probably get a fire truck as well. I hope nobody got to them yet." I said.

"Oh! There's the police academy close there too, we could probably get a few guns there as well." Jared said.

"That's good, we could always use a lot more. I hope it's still intact, most of the police probably equipped themselves from the guns there when this thing happened." I said.

"Right, I hope there could at least be a few left there. I remember seeing a MK-14 when I glanced at the people there having a small lecture. A few of them are carrying one when they patrol too." He said.

We reached home and we unloaded the containers.

"Russel, ask a few people to grab a few of this and place the 100-gallon ones at the back wall behind the pool area and some at the bas.e.m.e.nt and at each house. Contact the other families to grab their own and start to fill them with water. We'll be coming back with those containers you fill with gas later so you could empty the tanker." I said.

"All of them?" he said.

"Yeah, all of them, fill it up yeah?" I said.

"Okay then." He said as he stretched his back.

"Do we bring the 6-wheeler again?" my uncle said.

"Of course, let's fill it up one more time and we'll fill the other one with a few generators." I said.

"It's like we have the whole world now." He replied.

"Hah! It's like we had a blank check." I said.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 95: 95

We made another trip and we filled the truck with the small 1-gallon containers. We got 128 pieces and we headed to the generator store from across the street.

slash*

slash*

slash*

slash*

I made my way quickly and the rest followed. The katana was definitely more deadly than the wakizashi since it's longer and I wouldn't have to adjust my position from each strike.

Kaley would still use the CZ and the wakizashi from time to time but she felt more comfortable with the AR-15.

"Trying to copy Sky's style, correct?" Tatiana said.

Kaley smiled when Tatiana noticed what's she's doing.

"I try to do it too since it's effective. However, I can't switch between hands like he did. Sky, you're ambidextrous correct?" she said.

"Uh, no. I just practiced on using my left hand a lot. My right arm is dominant against my left though you could say that I'm ambidextrous but not born to be one. However, I tend to use the katana with my right from habit but I could switch them up just fine." I explained as I tried to open the two padlocks for the roll-up.

"You really had a lot of time on your hands." Kaley said while helplessly smiling.

"Heh, guard the outside for now, unc. Come with me inside." I said.

The rest took their stances and they waited for us scout the place first.

It's mostly filled with gas-powered generators while there's a few solar ones. On the wall beside the counter are a few car batteries that I took a mental note of it. The place was clear so I headed outside to guard for zombies as I let my uncle and the rest haul the items.

My katana is on my right while the Glock 19 is on my left. I left Kaley and Tatiana on the truck while I moved a bit forward to clear more zombies around.

"What are you doing?!" Kaley exclaimed.

"He's clearing as much of them as possible. He did the same when we were getting gas. He said to kill as much as possible to reduce the risk of them." Tatiana said.

"Kaley, watch my back yeah? Tatiana watch for the guys loading the truck from any blind spots, I'll stretch my bones for a while." I said.

"Catch." I heard Kaley say as she threw my wakizashi over.

I caught it after quickly holstering my Glock.

"Smooth." She said.

I fastened the sheath on my belt and I drew it with my left hand. I felt a nostalgic feeling but my head started to itch.

"Nope." I said as I sheathed it back and threw it towards Kaley.

"Why?!" she exclaimed.

"It's asymmetrical. My head itches if I hold them together." I replied flatly.

"Pfft!" I heard her hold her laughter.

I drew the pistol once more and I started on moving in a semi-circle to clear a few that I encounter.

Quick flowing slash after quick flowing slash. Bodies are hitting the floor each time I swing my blade. Kaley would occasionally help by bringing down one or two that are in a clump. Jared started on aiming on the few that are 100-500 yards away to practice his shooting. The sound of the muffled M70 is always followed by his cheer when I notice from my peripheral vision that a figure from far away would fall down.

"Nice shooting." Kaley praised.

"Thanks, I start to have trouble when it reaches 600 yards." Jared said.

"Why would you need to shoot that far though?" Kaley asked.

"Well, it's awesome to do it. Sky can shoot much farther than me since he can read the wind properly." he replied.

"How far is his record then?" Tatiana asked.

"1000 yards. We went to an outdoor range once. The guys there said he was just lucky so he unloaded the 4 bullets that are left in the M24 that Oscar gave him. Long story short, the guys there ate their words. They said after that the world record is 2707 yards and they started to downplay him." he replied.

"What did he say then?" Kaley asked.

"Nothing, I thought he was gonna talk back but he just kept on smiling on a corner." he replied.

I was still within earshot hearing their conversation and I just said to myself, "I already went past that record. Though it is still shorter than the top record by a lot, I could unload a whole clip and still hit accurately at that distance."

The group is taking a bit of time now since the generators and the car batteries are much heavier than the plastic water tanks. They would lift it up over the truck while Jared slides it in place.

I never did use my pistol because of Kaley backing me up so I just holstered it and drew the scabbard. I would use it as a stick for deflecting hands while I use the katana for finishing them off. I kinda felt like Ikkaku when he first appeared in the show I was watching before.

After half an hour, I managed to kill a few dozen before they called me over. I flicked the katana to get rid of the blood invading the blade. I wiped the still remaining blood off by using a rag and noticed that the blood never reached the hand guard.

"Well, I wouldn't need to clean it like last time. The reach definitely helped with that." I said to myself.

"No sprinters today huh?" Jared said.

"Why, you want to see one that badly?" I asked.

"Well, it's actually very easy to deal with these things now." Jared said.

"It's better that way doesn't it?" I said.

"Well, I hope we could at least see one or two." He replied.

"Then walk home." I said with a frown.

"W-what? I just said that it got a bit easier." He replied.

"Sky?" Kaley said.

"I thought you got it already, we're fighting for our lives here don't we? And here you are complaining that it's easy? Look around will you? Tell that to those who are dead now." I said while facing him.

"Whoa there now." My uncle tried to diffuse the situation.

"…" Jared was silent.

"I know what you feel alright? You're a great shot and this feels like restarting a game you've finished a thousand times. But get it in your head that this your life now. It would take probably a few years or even a few decades to get it back the way it was. Remember that your little sister won't experience what we did before this happened. We're all doing what we can to at least give them comfort while they are stranded on the confines of our walls. Don't start on getting complacent on what we are doing here." I said.

His eyes are slowly turning red while I heard him sniffle. Everyone else is silent while my uncle tried to guide him inside the truck.

"Sky, but more sprinters coming towards us means that there would be less the other people would face, correct?" Tatiana said.

"No, he's right. I'm sorry. I never thought of it that way. Alright, I'll take 60%" he said.

"60%? You sure? That would sting a lot. I'll take 60% as well." I said.

"Oh boy." My uncle said and Dong and Mark were wearing amused expressions since they know what's going on.

"W-wait, what's happening?" Kaley was confused.

I removed the glove from my right hand and Jared lifted his shirt at the back where the vest won't reach. I threw a huge slap at his lower back while he flinched.

"I'll just give him 20%" I said to myself.

SLAP*

"Attiti… that was 60?! F.U.C.K!" he exclaimed while rubbing his back.

"What are you guys doing?" Kaley was still confused.

"I think some sort of punishment system? Like in the mafia where they cut off a finger when a subordinate makes a mistake, correct?" Tatiana guessed.

"Yeah, the kids made it so the awkwardness after a conflict is resolved immediately." My uncle explained.

"Hah! It took too much time to resolve something and the awkward wait after it is too long. So we just did this. Your turn now." I said as I lifted the shirt from my back.

"Why are you getting hit as well?" Kaley asked.

"Well, I'm wrong too. Tatiana's right in saying that. We could at least handle ourselves but the people who can't will surely die from those things. Rather have the sprinters go to those who can handle them than those who cannot." I explained.

"You guys…" she facepalmed.

SLAP*

"Ouch! It stings! Your big hand gives you an extra surface area!" I protested.

"Hah! It's still 60% though!" he retorted.

We both have red marks on our back while we drove home.

"Can we all do that with each other then?" Tatiana suggested.

"I think I wouldn't want to…" Kaley trailed.

"C'mon, it's only when we made mistakes, correct?" she replied.

"I'm down." Mark said.

"Me as well." Dong said.

"Nope, don't drag an old man to that stupid game." Zardon said.

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 96: 96

We headed back to the compound while we saw Oscar and his group carefully unloading the panels.

"That's a lot." Kaley said.

"For a couple of houses, sure. But for this whole place, we need a lot more. However, most of the houses is still unoccupied and the few solar generators could power up a few basic utilities like lights or charging a few devices. This is all for the future." Oscar said.

"Okay, it's almost noon, I'll take the head to my old house." I said.

"Kid, take Kaley with you okay?" Oscar said.

"Sure, want to come with me?" I said to Kaley.

"Your old house huh? Sure, is there someone there I need to be wary of?" she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, Jude is there. He's alone though, he has been taking care of the house ever since we moved here." I said nonchalantly.

"Wait, what?! There is really someone there?! I thought that place was just empty when we were clearing last time!" she exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, we never told anyone. I just can't let go of the house before so I kept it and asked someone to live there for free as long as they kept it clean. It's fully stocked too." I explained.

"Wait, so what you're trying to say is that your old house has someone living in it? But why was he left there and not invited to come here?" Kaley asked.

"Hah! Better check inside the house first before you say anything." Oscar said.

"What?" Kaley said confused.

"Let's just say that the time Oscar and I was living there, we also made some modifications on it." I added.

I went up to my room and I picked up the mason jar that contained the sentries' head. It was covered by 3 layers of dark fabric to prevent it from seeing anything. Allan closed the gate for us and we made our way towards my old house.

It's a 3-story house covered by large gate that leads to our garage that extends upwards up to the terrace in the second floor so no one could climb over it like last time. It has a small staircase on the side of the gate that leads to the receiving area. I opened the small gate first and we walked up the stairs and I stopped at the door.

A few moments pass and Kaley's confusion is showing more clearly on her face.

"Aren't you gonna knock?" she said.

"Just wait. I had CCTVs here installed as well, he'll see us eventually." I said as I pointed at a camera on the corner.

click*

The door's lock clicking open was heard and a smell of ramen permeated our noses.

"Hey." the man said while he opens the door.

The man could be said to be a very simple guy but he's very monotonous. Even his facial expression is the same. His speech just has a certain tone that makes you question if he has any emotion.

"Hey~ Jude~" I said with a small tune.

"Please stop, you always sing that song when you meet me. Come in. Oh? You're with someone, come in as well." Jude said with no emotion.

"Excuse the intrusion." I said nonchalantly.

"This is your house man, stop saying things." He said quietly.

Kaley was just growing more and more confused from our interaction.

"Would you like some?" Jude reached out his bowl of noodles.

"Nah, but thank you. I'm just here to store something." I replied.

"Oh, ok. I'll just eat here. How about you?" He said.

"Umm, ah- I'm fine thank you." Kaley nervously said.

"We'll head up now, is that beef with green onions and garlic?" I replied.

"Good nose." he said nonchalantly as he slurps the soup.

When we reached the second floor, I opened the door to enter it and when it closed, Kaley started to talk.

"Sky! Who was that?! He feels so… chill." She said.

"Oh, he's Jude. I remember telling you his name." I said.

"No! Not that! Of course, I know his name! How did you two meet?!" she asked.

"Oh, he's a rescue." I said.

"Wait, w-what? Like a puppy or something?" she grew more confused as the conversation continues.

"We met at a coffee shop. Stop saying I'm a rescue, wait… I am. I haven't thanked you properly yet, thanks." Jude said from behind.

The door is already open without any noise and it was closed without any noise as well.

"O-oh…" Kaley was startled when Jude suddenly popped up.

"The keys, here. I locked it, I forgot." He handed me the keys to the rooms and he went back down.

"Hold on, I really need to hear this story. A coffee shop?!" she exclaimed.

"Hah! It is just a very boring story. The coffee shop I was at was full but I just saw him buy a coffee as well but there were no more seats. I waved at him to sit down in the chair in front me and we just sat there for half a day without speaking. He's actually talking a lot more now I might say." I said as I find the keys to one of the two rooms.

"And?" she said.

"And what?" I asked.

"The story! Why did it suddenly get weird here?!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, hahaha! That's the end of it. You know my kind treasures peace and solitude. That half a day just sitting alone not speaking just made us friends. Everytime I go to that coffee shop, he'll show up sometimes and he would sit with me." I said.

"Even if there were free seats?" she asked.

"Yeah, it removes the awkward moment to ask someone if their other seat is taken. We'll just come and leave without a word." I said.

"B-but how did you two get to know each other then? And he was just at this house all this time? I saw Jay knocking in this place before when we thought this was not your house but no one answered. Is he really a human?" she asked.

"Oh, I found out when I glanced at his laptop that he was looking for a place to move at. I talked to him and he agreed in the condition that he would keep this place always squeaky clean. I've left this house for a few months after we moved to the compound. If he doesn't know who's in front of the door, he won't open it. He saw me with you now so he did. Hey, that's rude. Forgot me from before?" I explained.

"Oh, right. But wait, you gave this house just like that?!" she was flabbergasted.

"Yeah, this place looks awesome right?" I said.

"You really have weird friends…" she said with a smile.

"Hah! We'll talk later, let's just leave this thing here." I said as I opened one of the safes in the room and placed the mason jar inside a corner.

"I doubt this could do anything as long as it sees darkness. Putting this here just makes the compound relax a bit." I said to myself.

I waved goodbye at Jude and he did the same. I heard the door locking and we went back to the compound. Oscar saw us coming back and he approached Kaley.

"So, how was it?!" he was pretty excited.

"It's… really different. It's very calm there… to say the least." Kaley said.

"Right?! When I went with Sky there the first time I was really off-putted by that guy! He's like the old version of Sky… but weirder!" he exclaimed.

"That is maybe why they hit it off… is he safe there though?" she replied.

"Yes, pretty much. I've left an AR-15 chambered in .22 LR there as well with several hundred rounds. He gets excited when he touches a gun and he's a good shot as well." I said.

"Really? He has this very robot-like expression the whole time though…" she said.

"Bah! If you call smiling normally excited!" Oscar said while he cackles.

"Anyway, enough about Jude. He's pretty secure there. What's for lunch?" I asked.

"Oh, it's…" he told me that it was meatloaf.

We ate together again and we discussed the next plan for the afternoon.

"Okay, we need to go back to the store where we found several sacks of feed. We need to take the ones for cows. Oscar, are you done with the panels or is there more inside?" I said.

"We only took the ones in display and the few boxes behind it that also contains the panels. I took a few inverters to set up the panels later. We also found a few electrical tools that I placed in a toolbox. We also took several boxes of lightbulbs and lamps." He replied.

"We took a bit of time clearing the place since there is a bit of them there and we weren't able to go to their storage area since the closed truck is almost full. I figured that there would be more there but we can't find the manifest that has the codes where they are in their storage area. All the boxes there are similar and it would take too long if we checked each one." Jay added.

We we're talking for a while then we heard our radio buzzing.

bzzt*

"Sky, do you know an old man named Matthew? She's with an old lady named Marisha, they said they were pointed at this direction by a note with coordinates on it. Sky?"

bzzt*

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001